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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Black Omega" data-source="post: 729157" data-attributes="member: 79">A new set of guards were with the group as they set off for the river docks, but they were more friendly and helpful than the group from the previous day.  Arriving at the spot the note mentioned the group paused to look around.  Mir had Thrush fly up and scout around but there was no one on the roofs of the warehouses there.  Then from inside a warehouse a figure walked into view.  A ronin in heavy armor, his face heavily scarred, his jaw disfigured, like it had been smashed at some point.  His hands resting on the hilt of his katana and wakizashi, he walked into the middle of the street and calmly looked over the group.  “You should have accepted the offer from Shigeto.  Toshiro! I used to be a Crab samurai.  I have no desire to fight you.  You can stand down, my fight’s not with you!”Toshiro knew this guy from chats with his old pal Sho. A samurai named Ago, part of the same family that Sho had been in, and using the same katana/wakizashi style Sho had used.  A really tough fighter.“We stand with our friends.  I don’t want to fight you either, but we won’t back down!”  Toshiro called out, drawing his katana.Ago nodded calmly  “I can respect bravery.  I’ll make sure your swords are sent back to your families.  For the rest of you, you have a few seconds to make peace with your gods.”Verick was just snickering in the background “One guy against all of us?”“And he knows who we are, and he’s not worried about it.  Don’t underestimate him.”   Mir commented.There was a soft sound of chanting from where Ago stood and suddenly he almost seemed to vibrate.  Volar recognized a haste spell when he saw it.  Laughing, the flower decorated elf gestured and a magical Web descended down over the area where Ago stood, stranded fastened to the warehouses on either side, cutting him off from the group and hopefully catching whoever cast the haste as well.“Plan B!”  Ago yelled from inside the web and then there was silence.  Mir’s thrush didn’t see anything moving in the area.  Assuming Ago had not simply retreated, Mir cast Silence on her thrush familiar and sent him higher to keep an eye out.  Toshiro switched to his bow while Volar and Mindra cast protective spells.  Verick got devious though, retreating out of sight behind a shack.  He had noticed the Thunderguards with the group were edging over behind them, acting suspiciously.  Verick used his amulet to take on the appearance of a Thunderguard and came into view, asking the guards “What’s happening?”‘A fight, just relax and watch.”  One of the guards answered.Then suddenly Ago appeared, his blades gone void black and doing their best to slice Mindra into little monkey bits.  Mindra didn’t even pretend to be brave, the monkey scampered away immediately, running for his life.  Toshiro snapped off a shot from his bow then dropped it and drew his katana again.  Volar’s dispel magic slowed down Ago, but his twin swords still did terrible damage to Toshiro next.  Toshiro hacked back viciously and Mir moved up to heal Toshiro before Ago could get another shot in. The guards kept edging over behind the group and Verick asked in mock excitement “What’s up?”“Just watch, kid.  We’ll show you how this is done.”  The guard answered.“No, I’ll show you!”  Verick snarled, dropping the illusion and charging forward to engage Ago, helping Toshiro flank.  Mir’s thrush noticed a new group on the scene as well.  Skulking at a corner watch the battle were some cheap punks, watching intently.  Mir warned the group about it and Toshiro yelled to the guards to go handle those punks.  “Hai!  At once!”  one of the guards answered, and then they started looking around to try and see what punks Toshiro was talking about.  Somehow...they just didn’t see them.The battle got bloody quickly.  An invisible shugenja was healing Ago and keeping him going while Mindra and Mir kept Toshiro and Verick up and fighting.  The silenced Thrush was causing problems for both sides in healing their fighters by swooping down over the battle, but was definitely hurting Ago more.Toshiro swung high with powerful strikes, trying to take Ago’s head off in one stroke while Verick kept slipping in from the side, sneaky stabs finding the weak spots in Ago’s armor.  Once Volar hasted Verick, Ago was losing ground fast and suddenly he broke away and ran around the corner of the warehouse, guzzling down a potion quickly.  Verick yelled out “After him!  We’ve got him now!”Verick was the first around the corner and Ago’s two swords struck with lethal precision, the katana finding a critical spot and drawing a dark gout of blood from Verick’s body.  Mindra was fast on Verick’s heels though and healed the young Lion again while Toshiro ran around the corner, moving to flank Ago again.  A spell from the invisible caster caused a bluish mist to rise around the fighters and Toshiro staggered, then slumped to the ground, asleep.  Even Mindra’s screeches were not enough to wake the Crab samurai.  But before Ago could act, Volar struck with a barrage of magic missiles and Verick kept stubbornly attacking, a perfect slash of his sword lopping Ago’s head off in one stroke.The invisible caster retreated quickly, unseen.  And slowly the group relaxed, realizing they had won.  Toshiro took a full minute to wake up but then he made sure Ago’s head was cut off and put on a spike with a message proclaiming what had happened.  But Toshiro also collected Ago’s swords, planning to make arrangements later to see his Daisho was sent back to the man’s family.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~With that settled, Toshiro stalked over to the guards “Why didn’t you chase down those thugs?”  he asked angrily.  “We never even saw them!”  a guard protested.  “Where were they at?”That did make Toshiro pause.  He had never seen the punks either.  But Verick passed along what the guards had said to him “I don’t know why they stopped, but they were up to –something-.  I’m just not sure what yet.  We can’t trust these guys.”   A sentiment all agreed with.  But the guards had not actually done anything more than act suspiciously, so they weren’t sent away.While the group conferred, they were approached by some men in red kimono trimmed with yellow.  Rivals to Shigeto’s Strong Arm Firemen, these were the Fire Eaters.  And if the group needed any help with those cheap Strong Arm thugs, they were willing to cooperate.And so another announcement was posted publicly at the square there.  A challenge from Verick and his group to the Strong Arm Firemen for tomorrow morning at their headquarters.  While debating what to do next Mir noticed another punk watching the group.  A fast Hold Person failed to free the boy and he took off running at full speed down an alley.  Toshiro, Volar and Mindra took of running after the punk, letting the thrush guide them where the boy was fleeing.  Verick and Mir, and the guards, followed more slowly, taking their time.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The punk was running from alley to alley like a bat out of hell, then rushed into a tea shop, trying to shake his pursuers.  Seconds later, Toshiro burst into the teashop, snarling “No one move!”Faced with a heavily armored samurai, covered with blood and brandishing a katana, the teashop owner immediately prostrated himself on the ground, crying out “I’ve not done anything, I swear!  It’s not me!”  As Toshiro glared down at the man, the teashop owner glanced several times off to the side toward the bar.  Picking up the hint, Toshiro dived over the bar and came up with a firm grip on the punk who had been following them.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Meanwhile, Verick, the guards, and Mir were walking along the street, bringing up the rear.  Suddenly from an alleyway several punks came running out, saps in hand.  And they certainly knew how to use them, both Mir and Verick were hammered be precision strikes to subdue.Verick was definitely surprised by the sudden attack.  “What?  But the guards are with us!”  he snarled.  Katana drawn in a flash, Verick glared back toward Mir, the punks, and the guards,  and growled “Your only chance to live is to run.”A second passed and then the guards took off running past Verick, disappearing from the scene as the dumfounded young Lion looked on.  The punks finished knocking Mir out then two grabbed her to run away as two more got in Verick’s way to block him chasing.  Verick cut through the two punks as fast as he could, but it wasn’t enough.  By the time he was looking, the other two punks and their unconscious burden had disappeared.[DM Note:  Terribly bad luck for Mir.  First Mir and Verick rolled terribly to spot the ambush.  Then Mir rolled bad on init and took two rounds of sneak attacks.  Verick’s ‘your only chance to live is to run’ comment was just priceless.  The guards had been looking for a chance to help Mir get captured.  So the guards fleeing at this point was very natural.  And the look on Verick’s player’s face…]~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Volar, Mindra and Toshiro were just getting ready to question the punk when the guards came running up.  “Verick and Mir are in trouble!” one guard yelled.“Then what are you doing here?”  Toshiro asked, frowning.“Verick told us our only chance was to run.  He’s a Lion, I’m sure he knew the tactical situation better than we did, so we followed his orders.”  The guard said breathlessly.Yeah, right.  Verick showed up soon after and though the guards pretended there must have been a misunderstanding, the group wasn’t buying it.  They could not simply grab and interrogate Thunderguards without it causing trouble.  But it was made very clear to the guards if the group saw them again, there would be trouble.The punk was no fool either.  He knew he was in deep deep trouble and he was even eager to cut a deal.  He’d tell all willingly if he’d be allowed to go free.  Toshiro agreed to this and the punk spilled his guts.  He was part of a gang, they were hired by some fatso named Buka to follow Mir around wherever she went.  And if the chance came they were to grab her and deliver her to a certain spot.  Men waiting there would pay them 1,000 gold for Mir, alive and unspoiled.  He had no idea why Buka wanted her, and didn’t really care.  None of his business, really.Volar was quick to say “Toshiro, you said you would not kill him, but you didn’t say I would not kill him.”  Toshiro was tempted, but he was also honorable.  An honorable samurai doesn’t look for loopholes or let others dishonor his word.  And so the punk was set free.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Thrush, Mir’s familiar, was chattering this whole time “Mir’s in trouble, I can’t contact her, Mir’s in trouble, help her, Mir’s in trouble!”  Volar managed to calm down the bird and ask it to go up looking for Mir.  Rushing over to where the punks were supposed to take Mir didn’t work, whoever it was had apparently already taken off.  But asking around revealed some guards had gone out with a wager.  By this time Mir had awakened and could confirm through Thrush she was unharmed, but all her items, weapons, money, etc had been taken and she was locked up inside some boxes on a wager, tied up very securely.With Thrush’s help the group tracked to the wagon to the north gate and took off riding up the road as fast as they could, hoping to catch up to Mir before the wager got to where ever it was taking her.  It would be close…Next up:  Saving Mir!  Fighting the Firemen!  And more trouble with guards!</blockquote>

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