Because they're his little conspiracy buddies? I doubt Van Synt would be doing his little power grab without some lackeys.

The complement of city guard doesn't strike me as unusual. I'm thinking a bit of L.A. Confidential here: those guys may not even know what this is really about, or they may think they're doing the wrong thing for the right reason.

How does getting rid of Sadatsugu quietly consolidate his power, though?

Well, whatever's going down in the warehouse, it'll happen without a trial. That puts the story of what happened in Van Synt's hands.

Haven't posted yet because I'm still waiting for answers to my questions:

1. Is there a back door?
2. How many guard can Takao see?

and add:

3. Could Toshi carry Sadatsugu by himself?

As posted in the other thread, I will be on travel for a bit, and I don't mind GM control if you need it to move the plot forward.

I dig the Hanse, btw. Especially the "zue Tuer".

There are actually two back doors; Toshi's heading to scout out the first. There are eight guardsmen with Van Synt at the front door. As for carrying Sadatsugu, Toshi could certainly drag him out of there, but Toshi's not strong enough to straight up carry the ninja any serious distance, so this wouldn't make for a particularly quick getaway. Then again, you'd only have to reach a carriage or something.

I think Takao may be able to carry the ninja a bit further, with Str 16, so I'll take him. You mention a carriage: are those common? I don't recall them being mentioned before. I know this is a Hanse settlement, but I still have mostly Japanese architecture in mind when thinking about the location.

I'm a bit worried that Van Synt has actually surrounded the place. After all, that's what his men did at Adler's place.

Are the two back doors on different sides of the building? Can one be reached from the other easily on the outside of the building? I'm thinking about sealing the door through which we leave from the outside, with boxes, barrels, or whatever may be around, if that buys us some time. Using a ram from the inside effectively should be a bit harder. All of this of course only makes sense if it's not easy to reach one door from either of the others.

I take it the guards are armed with gonnes as well?

Are there any other ways out? Skylights, or maybe sewer grates?

Fighting is my least favored option. Takao should be able to take down 2-3, maybe 4 guards in a good round of rolling, but that will still potentially expose Toshi and Sadatsugu to gunfire.
If we are surrounded, that's what I'll go for, though. Wait on the side of the door until they break through, then fall on them as they come through the door. If I fight Sanjuro-style (keeping the saya on the sword and using it more in a bludgeoning fashion), would that be -4 to hit and subdual damage?

Carriages are reasonably common, a bigger issue is getting horses for them at this time of day. (Toshiba groans here as he remembers how this whole thing kicked off with him stealing a horse.) Hmm...a handcart would probably do for carrying a body and you can find one of these, but it will of course be slower to travel that way. Advantage: you can just grab one and don't have to waste time on getting horses.

Toshi reports nobody at his back entrance.

The two back doors lead to different alleys, so while one could go around a few corners and end up at the other entrance, it's hardly a straight shot, which would favor your plan.

Yes, the guardsmen have swords and gonnes.

The warehouse has ninja-compatible roof hatches, but neither you nor Toshi really stand a chance of reaching them in time. As for sewers, sorry, Kargbeck is not metropolitan enough for that - small ditches at the sides of roads where the refuse can run are the best they've got.

Yes, you would take the -4 to hit to inflict subdual damage.

If Aiko has a sneak attack available, would the pummel action count as being out of combat?

No, it would not. I don't think the Fatigued special effect of that would really be worth tracking anyway, you're all trying to beat down his ass.

I'm keeping an eye on the warehouse door until we are out of sight. If I have to fight these guys, I'd rather do it where they can't line up and shoot me all at once.

Adam, how hard do you plan to stab Adler? Another Grapple win like that from Aiko and she'll be able to pin and restrain him, so right now it looks like you might get him alive - if you want to.

Well, Sadatsugu's still alive and he got stabbed pretty hard. So, that hard or less.

I can't help myself but be suspicious after Toshi's last remark. It might be all well-meaning, and the sentiment is getting lost over the web.

I'd like Takao to do a Sense Motive to see if Toshi genuinely wants to help out or if there might be some ulterior motive:
1d20+20 = 28

That...is an interesting result.

How do you want to play this?

I wasn't going to give him a sword either way, but the relationship would have soured at this point if Takao was suspicious of Toshi. After all, no one knew that we were in the ware house, and someone must have told. Once suspicion is aroused, it's very easy to blame other bad stuff on the suspected perpetrator.

If you want Toshi to convince Takao nevertheless to hand over a sword, isn't that a different check? There should be some penalty applied to the check, as asking a samurai to part with his katana is somewhat extraordinary. Had I had a wakizashi, I would have given it to him.

At this point, though, I think all Takao's Sense Motive check means is that Takao thinks Toshi is an honest and genuine ally, and if you activate the crit, I'd say Takao would violently defend Toshi's honor in this regard, so sure is he of his assessment, regardless of what Toshi's actual motivation and attitude are.

It's cool either way. As you said, this check is for Takao thinking Toshi has the best of intentions for asking for the weapon; convincing Takao to do so would be an Impress check on Toshi's part.

Who is Nagiko? I assume you mean Nagani?

Takao hasn't met the Count, or vice versa, and, re-reading the information that was shared about him, doesn't know much about him either. None of the events at the theater were relayed, apart from the fact that the Count didn't do it, right?

Oops, yes, edited.

And yes, Takao doesn't know much about the Count. Things have been a littl too chaotic to keep everyone up to full speed.

This will end well...