When refugees from distant Minkai took part in founding the town of Sandpoint over half a century ago, they brought with them a seed of a cherry tree, a tree native to their homeland. Planted in the centre of newly founded town, the seed grew into a sapling, that grew into a great tree, towering over the town square and blooming with pink cherry blossoms every spring without fail. The spring breeze would gently pluck the blossoms from the tree's branches and let them flutter to the ground, until the town square would look as though it had been covered with a soft pink carpet.<br/><br/>This year, the cherry blossoms were blooming as usual, but instead of being cast free by the wind they were currently being torn down with brute force by a torrential downpour. A freak storm had brought heavy rains and gale-force winds, complete with thunder and lightning, to a normally balmy spring evening. The<em>Rusty Dragon</em>, Sandpoint's oldest tavern located in the town square behind the cherry tree, was particularly full tonight, not least because its patrons were less than enthusiastic about leaving the shelter of a roof overhead and the warmth of roaring fireplaces and strong drink in exchange for being pissed upon by the sky on the way home.<br/><br/>The premise's owner, one Ameiko Kaijitsu, a young ex-adventurer - much more youthful than a typical owner of such an establishment - of Minkan descent who bought the place with the spoils of adventure and settled down to a less dangerous, if less exciting, life several years ago, didn't mind the late hours so long as the ale and<em>sake</em>(and coins) kept flowing, which they did. Talk turned to the recent rash of goblin attacks on the nearby roads making travel dangerous, and complaints about the uselessness of the town watch in doing something about the nasty little buggers, although to be honest the watch had barely enough numbers to police the town as is, let alone go out on extended patrol. There were rumours that the goblins had gotten their dirty hands on a stash of fireworks from somewhere, which they used to great effect making horses and pack animals panic before launching their raids. Thankfully there had been no deaths so far, although not a few travelers had suffered injuries while fighting off goblins and more than one farmer or merchant had to abandon a fully laden cart to escape with nothing more than their life and the clothes on their back.<br/><br/>In other words, it was a dark and stormy night... but it was warm and dry inside Ameiko Kaijitsu's tavern, the<em>Rusty Dragon</em>. (And certain people would say that it was warm and wet inside Ameiko, whether out of jest or out of more... intimate experience).<br/><br/>One character in particular held the attention of many patrons as he launched into his tale of daring danger and escape from the goblins. Old Beaver the Diver was in his sixties, his thin frame little more than skin and bones, with but a few wisps of white hair remaining on his scalp. He had lost nearly all his teeth but his skillful tongue was dripping honey as usual. The old rascal had braved the azure depths to part more clams and pinch more pearls than ten other men combined in their lifetimes.<br/><br/>"Fo there I waf, walking through Brinethump Marth to my ufual diving groundf, when fuddenly I waf ambuthed by a gang of green mufferf! They had their dogcleaverf all tharp-like, chafing me af I ran for my life! Then I hear thif weird exploding found behind my back, and I couldn't help but to turn around to take a peek. Fireworkf! The goblinf thomehow got their ftinking handf on a whole bunch of rocketf! Fo I dove into the first thream I faw, and thwam and thwam until I couldn't hold my breath no more. And when I finally furfaced I faw that I had thook off the mufferf, but had no idea where I waf. I looked around and faw thomething incredible - a half funken thip, grounded in the mud. 'Kaijitfu Orchid' it faid on the bow. Curiofity got the better of me and I ducked infide the wreck for a better look - old thkeletons everywhere, but I went deeper and found a hold of treafure cheth, thill clofed and fealed! I went clofe to one to fee what waf infide, but af I approached I heard the creaking of bonef and faw thkeletons rifing from their thlumber. Of courthe I ran for my life... but not before picking thif up from the wreck."<br/><br/>To prove his tale of a haunted shipwreck filled with treasure just waiting to be looted, Old Beaver opened his palm to reveal a gold coin, the noble metal untarnished despite the untold years it had spent in the grimy brine of Brinestump Marsh. It was of unmistakeable Minkan minting, with a dragon on one side of the coin and the head of a long-dead emperor on the other.