Miso only finds cursory references to the Kaijitsu name and he doesn't recognize the names as any immediate family. Korada is a prominent patron for many people in the region but ultimately the stories of the kami and oni of the Forest of Spirits are the most relevant. Speaking of which, Jennix has finished checking the door and signals that it is safe.
This repulsive chamber is a charnel house of death and decay, its glowering walls a vision of madness, sin, and unsated lusts. Countless figures are carved into the walls, glaring, pleading, and screaming in silence. But on closer inspection, the carved figures are revealed to be the rotting corpses of araneas, humans, hobgoblins, and more impaled on the walls, their anguished features frozen at the moment of death. To the east, a wide, open pit gapes in the floor. At the opposite end of the room, a ragged spur of stone supports a bloodstained iron frame above a bed of nails.
The broken and mutilated body of an aranea hangs partially filleted on the iron frame in the west of the room. a wrinkled, ancient Tian
woman—next to the captive aranea. She cackles as you enter, tearing off a strip of the captive aranea’s skin and noisily smacking her lips as she eats it.
Zach looses a volley of arrows at the woman.
Luckily Zachary is able to catch the old-woman-but-really-an-oni off-guard and sinks his first two arrows into her! As she howls in anger and turns to you, her teeth grow out beyond her lips into a set of great tusks, her neck lengthens and bows forward, and her skin takes on a reddish hue. "You have troubled the Five Storms for the last time, mortals. It is long past due that we intervened directly and the honor comes to me to begin the engagement."
Not able to see Jennix, she flies across the room at Miso , her naginata flying in an arc at the monk's legs. Luckily the old oni is as rusty as the color of her skin.
Zach wordlessly looses another set of arrows at the creature.
Terflynn hexes the oni with the desire to sleep.
Miso grimaces as the oni's naginata strikes him, but tries to focus on her demise instead. He spends a Swift action to enter Dragon Style, then five-foot-steps and flurries!
Zachary plants an arrow into the oni as Miso lands a punch to her face. Although Jennix misses, Terflynn comes in to save the day by waving his hand an putting the oni to sleep!
flesh (+2 do-maru; see page 60), thundering blade of the House
of Sugimatu (+1 thundering naginata; see page 61), masterwork
repeating crossbow, flawed crystal ball (the subject of the
scrying automatically notices the magical sensor created by the
crystal ball), clear spindle ioun stone, ring of protection +2
Aura moderate evocation; CL 9th
Slot armor; Price 20,550 gp; Weight 30 lbs.
Once per day as a standard action, the wearer of this +2 domaru armor (Pathfinder RPG Ultimate Combat 128) can activate the armor to heal 4d8+9 points of damage and end any and all of the following conditions affecting the wearer: ability damage, blinded, confused, dazzled, deafened, diseased, exhausted, fatigued, nauseated, poisoned, and sickened. In addition, this effect functions as break enchantment upon a single additional effect of the wearer’s choice that is affecting the wearer and that can be legally affected by this effect. Such healing, however, comes at a cost. The do-maru of broken flesh creates vivid, ugly scars on the wearer, who takes 1d4 points of Charisma damage each time this ability is used.
Do-maru is medium armor that provides a +5 armor bonus. The armor has an arcane spell failure chance of 25%, a maximum Dexterity bonus of +4, and an armor check penalty of –4. Do-maru costs 200 gp and weighs 30 lbs.
Aura moderate evocation; CL 7th
Slot none; Price 28,415 gp; Weight 9 lbs.
Once per day as a standard action, the bearer of this +1 thundering naginata (Ultimate Combat 133) can strike the blade against the ground, causing it to ring with a deafening clangor that functions as the shout spell.
Stolen by Munasukaru years ago, the thundering blade is the ancestral weapon of the Sugimatu family, one of the five imperial families of Minkai. The thundering blade is imbued with royal honor, and bestows one permanent negative level on any creature without honor that attempts to wield it (such as oni, traitors, kinslayers, and the like). The negative level remains as long as the weapon is in hand and disappears when the weapon is no longer wielded. This negative level cannot be overcome in any way (including by restoration spells) while the weapon is wielded.
A naginata is a two-handed martial melee weapon that deals 1d8 points of slashing damage and has a critical modifier of ×4. A naginata is a reach weapon. A naginata costs 35 gp and weighs 9 lbs.
At the foot of the mangled aranea are 6 potions of cure serious wounds.
A 20-foot-wide circular stone doorway lies at the bottom of the open pit 30 feet down, surrounded by a dozen golden figurines. Contorted humanoid faces and limbs lie frozen in stone within the doorway. This was the kimon, the demon gate created by Anamurumon to allow the Five Storms to escape the House of Withered Blossoms. The portal is now sealed and inactive, but it still radiates faint primal conjuration magic. Just as the spirits of the forest feared, the oni seem to have found a way out of their prison and are now loose in Tian Xia, sworn to prevent Ameiko's rise to power.
The 12 golden figurines arranged around the kimon at the bottom of the pit depict the figures of the Tian zodiac, and are each worth 100 gp.
With Munasukaru slain and the discovery of the kimon, the kami are no longer barred from entering the House of Withered Blossoms. When you exit the pagoda, the kami are waiting for you, eager to learn what you discovered.
Miyaro offers to guide you through rest of the Forest of Spirits and into Minkai. She believes that rebellion is coming to Minkai, but that while many Minkaians might wish to see the Jade Regent gone, those opposed to his rule have no strong leadership, and many factions squabble among themselves. Miyaro tells you that you will emerge from the Forest of Spirits in a rural area in northern Minkai, where a large group of ronin are said to have retreated to. These dishonored ronin, it is said, are ready to rebel against the Jade Regent, but they cannot do so alone. If you can find the leader of the ronin, a man named Hirabashi Jiro, and tell him what you have learned in the House of Withered Blossoms, you might gain a powerful ally in their future struggle against the Jade Regent.
Terflynn explains what they encountered within, showing the figurines and explaining the magic related to the onis' escape. He shows the rubbings of the walls he took and describes some of the statues with clinical detail, much to the discomfort of many of the listeners. When he hears of the ronin, he responds. "I believe this to be the right course of action. Let us enlist these ronin to help us consolidate the factions and end this Jade Regent. And let us be paid well for it." Terflynn says with a mild smirk.