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The heat of battle rushing through her at the prospect of encountering a denizen of the shadowlands for the first time. It may have looked like a human, but even she knew how the taint could affect people. She even felt her strike hit, but its evil was so strong it simply shrugged off her kiho like it was nothing.

The dagger flashed and adrenaline flowed as she leaped back, her hand barely swatting it down before it could dig into emerald fabric and soft flesh beneath. Then hands turned to fists as the attack confirmed that the guised creature before her needed to be neutralized fast before anyone else could be hurt. She readied herself to attack in a much more harmful manner when...


She managed to catch herself just in time as panicked and confused gaze fell upon her fellow shugenja. She had absolutely no problem obeying the command, even to the point of retreating to the opposite wall in case her attacker was not as ready to relent as she.

Her confusion only grew when the woman spoke, but the Crab seemed to have everything well under control, and her own tension faded a great deal when the Jade Strike confirmed that everything had been one huge misunderstanding.

Then they marched off to pursue what she could only assume was the soldier she had seen upon arrival, unfortunately leaving her alone with these strange people. Well... duty first.

"Forgive me. I only acted in self defense. Is anyone hurt?" she started with a nervous bow before brandishing the medicine kit as if it would explain everything.

[Void Point Spent to Reduce Damage by 10]

Miyako simply glared at the dragon. "We do not need your help." Her words more blunt than any that the group had heard her speak before. "Self Defense is no excuse. You entered a war zone and when asked for identification, you attacked..." And with that said, she moved passed the dragon if so allowed and moved down the hallway. "Ujina-san, we do need to meet Rokugushokan, if you would come with us to find Kaiu-san so we can leave this place."

Denbe looked back and forth between the two uncertainly, before staring down at the corpses and feeling a small wave of revulsion. So that was what the shadowlands were in person. All his life he'd been prepared to deal with maho. Disgusting and dark. But this, this was worse, more direct. A creature entirely of taint.

He had to respect the Crabs.

That train of thought fortunately saved him much of the discomfort of standing near the two women.

"Errr, yes. I believe they went after him this way," the Hare said, indicating the direction that the Crabs had hustled down, and decided he was ready to go. They had to do this, and it was better not to be late. He didn't want any more possible provocations than they'd already chocked up. Stopping for a moment, he briefly bowed to Masuyo as they left, a little extra deep in a sort of apology for Miyako's uncharacteristic harshness, before he'd hustle off to find their crustacean.

"Stupid, Stupid, Stupid...." Miyako muttered as she stormed away, hoping that either Kojiro or Denbe would keep her on track as she blasted through the castle intent on her mission of finding their errant Crab so they could meet this guy and then leave. Though who she was calling stupid was up for debate since no names were mentioned.

"I could have killed her..." Her own perspective on things quite bit skewed but at least the object of her tirade was known, wasn't it? "A smart person would have run...but no, the Dragon just attacked..."She swung around and glared at Denbe. "She attacked me!!! and you were just standing there. Telling me she was a friend...Some friend!" And just that easily, Denbe was placed back on the scales of worthiness and found a bit lacking.

"Let's get this over with."

"I wasn't informed of this... Nice to see that the Rokugushokan would rather inform scorpions than other crab clan first." Said Kagae irritably staring despondently at his unfinished meal, "I'll starve then, the kami seem certain of this fact."

Pushing his meal away from him he would stand and wait to see if they knew where the Rokugushokan's office was.

Though Kojiro likely did not know the way, it would take negligible effort to find a soldier on duty to escort the four of them to the office - unlike most sliding paper doors that they use here for the comfort and peace of mind of non-Crabs, this one was closed by a thick wooden door.

Upon calling out his presence to the general, the escort would say, "Kaiu-sama, the guests that have requested an audience with you have arrived."

A gruff command would respond, though it was barely audible: "Well? Send them in already."

The samurai would grab ahold of the iron ring for a handle and pull the door open, bowing as he would allow you to pass.

It was an extravagant office, definitely, but only to those who were militaristically minded. There were several sets of armor and weapon displays, but most of the room was covered with maps (some with manual edits to it, as well as other markings that likely indicated troop deployments).

At the far wall of the room, however, was a black table of thick durable build with a furnish so fine that you could see your reflection in it.

Opposite the table, back to the wall, was a man with a fine brustly beard, dark hair motted with traces of white here and there. He had thick eyebrows that would make Edwin jealous, his thinning hairline barely visible beneath the helmet he wore, just as intricate as his plated armor that he had donned. He was a burly bulky man, with a hand with meaty fingers holding a pipe up to his mouth, letting out a few puffs of smoke. It looked as if this man was possibly a solid wall of muscle.

... and he was probably about two inches shorter than Miyako.

"You're the Jade Magistrate's Wardens, hm? Raicho made it sound like there would be more of you." He would take a deep inhale from his pipe, and let out a thick continuous stream of smoke for several seconds. "Come now, sit," he would say, looking patient but sounding otherwise.

"They disappeared during a situation with some bandits. We have not been able to find them nor have we seen them since." Miyako smiled gently, pulling her composure together now that that 'Dragon' was out of her sight and she could focus.

At the command to sit, Miyako did so, replying with a polite "Thank you." Once everyone was situated, Miyako began. "Kuni Raicho, as you know, asked us to investigate a situation with a missing Jade Magistrate and his disappearance was tied to his investigation of the Twilight mountains strange occurrences first reported by this castle. If possible, we'd like to see the reports directly if possible or perhaps someone who witnessed them. Further, we will need to go into the mountains for the investigation to see if the Jade Magistrate can be found. For that, we ask for your permission as well as the opportunity to freshen our supplies."

[Etiquette/Awareness + Sincerity Emphasis + Free Raise with Voice
7k4 + 3 +5 etiquette mastery Rank 3 = 46
Free Raise: To gloss over without suspicion about the missing party members.]