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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Black Omega" data-source="post: 1222104" data-attributes="member: 79">Also no in evidence was the Black Snake treasury, much to Volar’s disappointment.  Just empty rooms, open boxes, and windows.  Black Snake and the others had escaped without a trace.Departing the building, the ground found a pile of Ghost Dragon bodies, sliced up and battered, the gang members who had been following them, keeping an eye on Mindra.There was no time to investigate, however.  A tough looking bald man was calling out the group, back in the Challenge Square.  And this time it was different, the ‘Black Snake Elite Guard’ was on hand.  The first people from the gang Bansho Kishu had fought who actually wore armor.  Apparently not very elite, however.  Their opening spell volley was a sleep spell and several of the Elite Guard fell in the snow while running into view.The battle started easily enough, with several of the Elite Guard falling to the katanas of Kaz, Verick and Toshiro.  But then the tone of the battle changed.  After a spell took control of Kaz and sent him after Mir, the archers who had been firing one shot a round suddenly picked up the pace.  A second shugenja made her presence known with a fireball.  Volar used a spell to protect himself from the arrows, but Mindra was not so lucky, getting peppered by volley after volley.  At least one real fighter was mixed in with the ‘Elite Guard’ and he was left open shots at both Mir and Mindra in turn.  Mir was saved by a handy dispel magic that freed Kaz from the spells mental effect.Even so, Bansho Kishu endured.  Verick tried to chase down the female shugenja, who simply vanished and reappeared on the top of a building.  Chasing her up there, she easily avoided him again but then the brash Lion saw a chance at the other spell caster.  Leaping off the building, he let his momentum carry him down onto the shugenja, his katana flashing once, slicing the spell caster perfectly in half.The other spell caster turned to wind and disappeared quickly while the group finished off the rabble.  Not much of an elite guard at all.  But several people in the group had been hurt badly, Mindra coming close to death.  Most of the so called Elite Guard had no tattoos at all, causing Volar to speculate they were probably mercenaries.Deciding to play it safe, the group retreated using teleport spells to take them back to the Bansho Kishu estate, rather than taking any chances by trying to walk through the Crab Caves.  Mindra’s Iron Monkey charm had been destroyed in the battle against the ‘Elite Guard’.  Verick had a meeting with a certain Scorpion lady he was fond of.  And the group wanted to meet with Agnar Glitterune to get some items identified.Along the way, they ran into a procession.  A number of local men dressed in paper and paper mache armor colored to resemble the armor of the Crab Clan.  As they marched along, they were trading bits of armor for drinks, tobacco and kisses from lovely ladies.  Toshiro and Kaz fumed as they watched this, while a helpful Scorpion vassal merchant explained the story behind Liberation Day.  How the Crab Clan had conquered Ryoko Owari while the Scorpion were fighting the Lion.  And how their samurai had grown corrupt and soft in the City of Stories.Volar cut off the story, he had little time for talk.  He needed to know what the items recovered from the Elite Guard were, and how much gold they might be worth to him.Their friend the gnome looked over the items.  Sandals of Spider Climb, Ring of Protection, nothing too exotic.  While discussing what to do with the items, Mir heard the sound of someone on the roof.  The Gnome quickly ducked into a hidden room.  Keen survival instincts had kept Glitterune alive for years now.  Mir sent her familiar out for a look, but it was quickly shot with a couple of arrows.  There was time to get a glimpse of figures on the rooftop before a vial was swung down into the door, the front of the building erupting into flames.Mir ran outside the put out the fire while Volar followed and Toshiro, Kaz and Mindra went out the back.  Finding themselves in a silence field, Toshiro was struck by a painful weapon he had met before.  Go Go’s dishonorable chain.  Toshiro saw the leather armored girl on the roof and fled along the side of the building after gesturing for the others to follow.  They didn’t, Kaz climbing up after Go Go to attack her while Mindra waited in the alley.  Volar cast a stinking cloud over the rooftop and Mindra waited just below it, feeling along the rooftop for Kaz’s leg.  Not much use, since Kaz was following Go Go up the roof.  And losing the battle slowly.  Her trip attacks slowing him down for the other savagely dishonorable strikes.   When Kaz succumbed to the Stinking Cloud, a final strike sent him falling off the roof to land with a sickening thud by Mindra, who was finally able to heal the Crab.  But only a little, the area of silence stifling his more potent spells.  Kaz and Mindra both ran inside to escape Go Go while a stone wall outside from Poison Sawada cut Toshiro off from the others.  Black Snake himself jumped over to the other side of the wall to challenge Toshiro.  Only to find the fierce Crab was…gone.  No where to be seen.In fact, as peasants stared on, Toshiro had run inside a ceramics shop and was hiding in the corner, using his family katana to try and pry open a spot behind Volar so he could ask for help.  Volar didn’t even say a word to Toshiro, but he did use a Passwall spell to open up a spot for Toshiro to come out.  Toshiro’s recently awakened katana had quite a lot to say, however.  The katana of honor and truth was not at all pleased about being used as a implement of woodworking and made sure Toshiro knew it.Black Snake was forced to chase down Toshiro, jumping back over the stone wall to finally confront the Crab samurai.  Even then, Toshiro held back, forcing Black Snake to attack first.  To Toshiro’s disappointment, Black Snake jumped in with lightning speed, getting one single attack off, then backing away out of reach.  Trying to neutralize the enemy spell casters, Mir sent her familiar out with ‘Curse of the Brute’ trying to catch the Black Snake shugenja.  Failing that, the thrush went after Poison Sawada, who was otherwise standing in place, arms crossed, as unmoving as a statue as he watched the battle.  The attack failed to effect him, and a moment later he had summoned a earth elemental to pound the bird.  The thrush would have died if not for Volar and Mir both casting spells to dismiss the elemental.[GM Note:  Another close call for the familiar, one where I really did expect the thrush to die. I won’t be at all surprised if the thrush dies before the campaign finishes.  I wonder if raise dead works on a familiar?  It should, I suppose.  But the loss of Con for a 1HD creature would only affect the Fort save since it’s based on the Master’s base saves and it’s own fort.  It’s hit points would be unaffected it seems like.]Toshiro finally attacked, supported by Kaz and Verick.  Volar alertly cast a spell to teleport Toshiro and himself away from the battle, 40 feet away.  Mindra healed up Toshiro again and he joined the battle one more time.  When Black Snake called for healing, Poison Sawada healed him up, from a distance.  Then announced his contract at an end.  With a flourish, Sawada drew his arms over his chest and simply disappeared into the ground.The last of the battle was brief and to the point.  Black Snake tried to fight then flee, but the fighters of Bansho Kishu were too fast for him.  Corner, Black Snake fought to the finish.  But it ended inevitably, with his bloody death, by Verick’s hand.Go Go had not appeared again, except for a brief moment, her firebombs turning the back of the gnome’s building into an inferno.  Poison Sawada was gone as well.  All that was left was dead bodies, fire and perhaps an end to this feud.</blockquote>

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