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A slender regal looking elf sitting and sipping from a wine glass looks over at the intrusion.
"Calm down. Tis early still. The others will show soon enough. It seems you are part of the brawn on the team as I will play the part of the brains. The name is Galandaro of the elven Tinalmathian family from Kyonin. And you are...?"
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Near the Venture-Captain stands a lithe young woman with otherworldly looks. Long blond hair flow on her shoulders, with golden locks. Her eyes seem to be made of gold as well. She's covered in an outlandish-looking mithral armor, and seems to prize her darkwood bow a lot. As each and every person enters the room, the aasimar studies them carefully, as if trying to discern something a simple glance wouldn't reveal.
"I'm Silver Crusader Ennoia, servant of the Empyreal Lady Falayna." she explains. "Well met!"
Arriving at the Lantern Lodge in Absalom’s Petal District, the team is ushered into an immaculately maintained garden where Venture-Captain Amara Li is found pruning a rose bush. She rises gracefully while handing the gardening shears to a servant and tugging off her gloves.
“Thank you for coming,” she says, gesturing for the group to walk with her through the garden.
“I am sending you to Minkai, on the other side of Golarion. The lands of Tian Xia are rich in mysteries unknown here in the Inner Sea. There is one legend in particular that has intrigued me for many years, and astute agents many find it an opportunity to see their investigations chronicled for their colleagues to read and admire. In the land of Minkai, a mansion sits atop a hill, where no one dares to venture. It is called Hinojai, and stories tell that it was the home of a wealthy and powerful woman before the fall of Imperial Lung Wa a century ago. It is a long trip, but I strongly suspect the manifestations are genuine and worth the trek. You see, there is but one thing more interesting than discovering a haunting—discovering how it came to be.
Your transportation is arranged, of course. Hinojai sits in a triangle between two villages and a small town named Nagura. Nagura is large enough to allow you to do any last minute provisioning you require, as well as any background investigation you may wish to do. Remember that the Pathfinder Society is not as well-known in Minkai as it is in the Inner Sea. Be mindful of local traditions and represent the Pathfinder Society in a positive light—do not upset the local people! Damaged relationships only hurt future agents who may be following up on your discoveries. Finally, remember your mission is to discover what happened at Hinojai, not burn it to the ground. Protect and defend yourself, by all means, but we seek the truth, we do not destroy it.”
Slightly rankled by Darvik's blunt manner, Amara Li never-the-less answers his question.
"I do not know many details about the precise nature of what troubles Hinojai, but ghosts are within the realm of possibilities. I suggest you save your investigations for when you arrive in Nagura."
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"Appears to be a risky venture to send a team of Pathfinders to a supposedly haunted house. Why not let the local authorities there handle the investigation if there are no relics and such to bring back? I dare say my knowledge of ghosts and the eerie is rather limited. Hopefully others here have sufficient knowledge in those areas." Galandaro asks during the brief.
Continuing your stroll through the gardens, Amara Li happily continues to answer questions.
“Ah, but this no random haunted mansion. The noblewoman who lived in Hinojai prior to its haunting has been linked to an organization called the Way of the Kirin, which the Pathfinder Society also has an interest in.”
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The assembled Pathfinders have noticed that one of their fellows...seems off. He appears a hulking, brooding tiefling or dragon-kin, or maybe a mix of both. Large horns protrude from his head, and sharp teeth protrude from his jaws. He tries to focus on their assignment, but seems to be having some difficulties.
The tiefling occasionally thrashes or has his face contort strangely. His erratic behavior is unnerving, and his shifty eyes stare at the others for a moment, though he does not appear to see them.
Despite his apparent difficulties, it is clear he has been listening.
"What do we know of this Way of the Kirin? Why is the Society interested in that?" he asks.
"The Way of the Kirin is an organization that existed before the fall of Imperial Lung Wa, with an extensive trading network and mercenary armies that they contracted only to clients who met certain criteria. Their outlook would not have been incompatible with that of the Pathfinder Society.”
The Venture-Captain frowns as Darvik reemerges from the shadows.
"By all accounts, the organization no longer exists, but any knowledge left behind would be quite valuable for the Society."
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A small man, a Halfling by all appearances, sits with a pipe in his hand and a book on his knee. He listens with interest to the story being told. "Ghosts are certainly within our experience as Pathfinders." he says, the pipe smoke settling in a haze around his head. His voice is flat and expressionless, but his gray eyes glint with excitement.
He thinks to himself about the house, the lady, and the Way of the Kirin.
Jakarno knows that The Way of the Kirin was dedicated to fairness for common people and to opposing political corruption.
Nagura is a small but active town at the crossroads of three major highways. It serves as a hub for transportation and the distribution of lumber, rice, and other foodstuffs between several smaller villages and two larger cities. Besides numerous residences, the town offers accommodation for merchants and travelers, a general store, and a number of cottage industries such as pottery and weaving. Smoke wafts in the sky from the chimney’s of active ceramic kilns, while the street is filled with the scents and sounds of vendors selling both raw and cooked food items from booths. To the west of town, a large residence for government officials sits empty and waiting, reserved for the local samurai or the representative of the regency. To the east are a number of shrines to various gods, separated from the rest of town by a bright red torii gate.
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Ennoia spends the next couple of hours in Nagura, visiting temples and discussing matters with priests who might know something valuable.
Later, she returns with a handful of information. "I've learned quite a bit. Hinojai was originally owned by a benevolent noblewoman named Minasako Himiju. She disappeared around the same time as many unsolved murders and atrocities associated with the manor began, approximately 90 years ago. The mansion is now abandoned but always appears in fair condition even today. Shadowy figures have been seen on the property from a distance, but have never been identified. Lastly, over the last century, the worst supernatural events concerning Hinojai have involved a mysterious fog descending from the house. No one who goes into that fog is ever seen again."
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The Halfling, who introduces himself as Ferris Hidemann, is solitary and secretive during the trip, and upon arrival in Nagura he is furtive but alert. He nods along with Ennoia's report, leaning in and listening closely as she adds information new to him. "I would be very interested to observe this fog. It does seem to be a defence mechanism of some sort, keeping the curious away." he says.
Meandering stone steps, overgrown with vegetation in places, climb the slope of a hill underneath sheltering trees. On the final landing before the mansion itself is a freestanding moon gate—a circular stone gate that opens between the trees. The surface of the landing itself is stone and decorated with a sundial fashioned from colored tiles. The sundial’s blade rises two feet from the landing like a shark fin pointed toward the moon gate. Beyond the gate, a final set of stairs ascends to the house.
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Ennoia looks a bit startled. "Why don't we knock and ask to come in? Wouldn't it be the polite thing to do? I mean, it isn't very honorable to intrude uninvited... right?"
Once her companions have re-explained things to her, she nods at Jakarno's proposal. "Oh, in that case we could approach unseen... but will that stop the ghosts from seeing us?"
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"I'll go," Insidion sneers. "I...have a way with people," he chuckles.
But looking up at the manor, he says "Though I am not sure what good knocking will do. Clearly, this place has been abandoned for a hundred years, and anyone else here has no right to be here either. If anyone is here, it's a squatter, and they'll likely be hostile."
As the three of you reach the sundial, Insidion hears the pleading cries to hurry coming from nowhere and everywhere.
Six ghostly figures appear on the landing. Apparitions of a woman and two small children huddle together, flanked by spectral armored figures with drawn blades. A robed and hooded woman stands apart from the others pointing down the stairs. The children sob as their mother pleads to some unseen person to hurry. The hooded figure calls out sharply,
“You’re too late. It is sundown. Their lives are forfeit!”
Despair, futility, and the feeling of being tricked wash over any witnesses standing on the staircase as the spectral soldiers raise their blades and fall upon the family.