Suneku nods, still keeping up appearances, his eyes and hands running the walls, looking for moisture - and cover.

Why give Lee more time to prepare a gambit against me? I've told him I'm here seeking traitors to Noronu, and so far Lee himself seems the most likely culprit. I figured it was a safe lie but I had no idea it would strike so close to the mark. Or perhaps his plots are against the Oni alone, not that it does me any good if that's true. Regardless, it is time to bring this part of the charade to a noisy end.

Suneku moves to the kegs next, palming his well-used flint striker as he measures out what he hopes is just enough powder to create a disorienting bang and a cloud of acrid smoke, and not to detonate the entire magazine.

I hope Kiara's close enough to hear this. It's high time the girl got to dance.

Kiara slid one of her shorter blades out, leaning close to the artist as she gingerly pulled his hand up.

"Care to share why this Rock character is waiting? For who?" She purred as she flicked her blade under his fingernails, deft, swift motions that merely cleaned out the dirt. The blade paused on the third fingernail, a little pressure, not enough to break the skin, but a reminder that it was indeed a knife. Paired with the quirk of a brow, her face indicated that she was particularly curious about his answer. And that she was also in a rush to get going.

"Waiting?" the guard gasps. "We're working as fast as we can!"

---

(Toshiba's Prestidigitation: 1d20+3 = 21)

Toshiba might not be good at stupid little magic tricks like Kagemaru is, but Lady Luck smiles on his foolhardy plan, turning Quennel's look away just as Toshiba-as-Oni-as-Suneku sparks off some powder.

Bang!

---

"Ah! Oh God!" the guard in Kiara's grasp squirms.

---

Both Quennel and Rock flinch away from Toshiba, giving the wily ninja valuable seconds to either attack or fade from view. The only flaw in his plan is so minor as to be almost not worth mentioning at all: the cloak that conceals his Blue Oni armor is now slightly on fire. Just a bit, you know.

With a flourish that acts to spread the blackpowder smoke around even more, Toshiba tears the flaming cape from his shoulders and tosses it near - but not on top of - the powder kegs.

With luck, that should hold their attention, unless they want the entire cavern system to be remodeled. Now, as old Master Sinan used to say... 'Ninja! Vanish!'

Toshiba fades into the flickering shadows. First order of business would be to regroup with Kiara and let her know the gloves were off.

(Toshiba's Sneak: 1d20+20 = 30
Rock's Notice: 1d20+14 = 16 DISTRACTED!)

Toshiba's theatrics ensure a clean sneak, getting him out of the danger zone well before Lee and DuMont can think to look for him again.

"Sacrebleu!" DuMont cries. "Can he have...burnt before our eyes like this?"
"No," Rock says. "No...no - we've been tricked!" He looks to DuMont. "He almost detonated the entire magazine with us right there! IMPOSTER!" He turns to call further down the tunnels. "IMPOSTER! STOP RAIDEN SUNEKU AT ALL COSTS!"

---

"STOP RAIDEN SUNEKU AT ALL COSTS!" comes the echo to Kiara, Kagemaru and Bumi. Bumi looks to Kagemaru, who looks to Kiara, who looks to - no, actually everybody else is looking at her now.

"What is going on?" the guard in her clutches whines.

The answer seems to come in the the shape of the Blue Oni sprinting out of the next tunnel toward Team Ninja, with howls and shouts echoing through the entire cave system as the secret army turns to the task of hunting him down.

"Awesome!" Bumi comments. "Are we fighting? Please say we're staying for the fight, that would be so fucking sweet!"

Oh hell-o yes. Kiara nearly kicked the guard in her swift movement to stand upright, switching to a more proactive blade all in one motion. "I don't care if it's an entire army. I want some fight." In a tunnel no less! All grouped together in line for her just waiting for a cookout! There was no hiding the grin on her face, a cheerful wave cast to the Blue Oni as he swiftly approached. The idea that they run and safely escape simply didn't dawn on her as an option.

(Kagemaru uses Quick On Your Feet to make a free Ambush check:
Kagemaru's Tactics: 1d20+14 = 24
Guard's Notice: 1d20+11 = 27 UNTRICKED!)

Kagemaru lashes out with his shadow powers, trying to create some hiding places by dousing the torches that light the cave, but the guards are too close to be fooled, streaming your way with drawn swords!

(INITIATIVE!

Toshiba: 2d20.hi+18 = 37
Kagemaru: 1d20+14 = 29
Kiara: 1d20+15 = 27
Guards: 1d20+11 = 27 - but Kiara has the higher total bonus, so she goes before them.

ROUND ONE!

Toshiba and Kagemaru delay, letting Kiara have a go at it first. And boy, does she - Kiara uses her breath weapon!

Kiara's Attack: 1d20+13 = 17 Good enough!
Damage: 3d6+3 = 20

Let's give her victims a reflex save, DC 16:

Mook 1: 1d20+7 = 13 FAIL
Mook 2: 1d20+7 = 20 SUCCESS!
Mook 3: 1d20+7 = 10 FAIL
Mook 4: 1d20+7 = 15 FAIL
Mook 5: 1d20+7 = 23 SUCCESS!
Mook 6: 1d20+7 = 24 SUCCESS!

Everyone's on fire! Some more so than others!

Damage saves - who dies right now?

Mook 1 vs DC 20: 1d20+8 = 18 DEAD!
Mook 2 vs DC 15: 1d20+8 = 15 BARELY NOT DEAD!
Mook 3 vs DC 20: 1d20+8 = 27 NOT DEAD!
Mook 4 vs DC 20: 1d20+8 = 16 DEAD!
Mook 5 vs DC 15: 1d20+8 = 16 NOT DEAD!
Mook 6 vs DC 15: 1d20+8 = 11 DEAD!

So that's half of them fried up crispy...

...and now the survivors have to make Will saves or panic.

Mook 2 vs DC 10: 1d20+7 = 19 STILL STANDING!
Mook 3 vs DC 20: 1d20+7 = 16 ARGH OH MY GODS PUT IT OUT PUT IT OUT!
Mook 5 vs DC 10: 1d20+7 = 12 STILL UP!

So one more mook drops out of the fight.)

The ninjas wisely stay behind Kiara as she inhales, then bursts a scorchingly hot gust of flame into the tunnel, catching the half dozen pursuers with ease! The ones one might arguably call lucky succumb quickly, but the others stumble out on their own two feet still, covered in burning clothes and sizzling skin! One seems to actually recognize his predicament and drops to the floor screaming, rolling around like a madman to quench the flames, while the final two seem determined to press their attack no matter what!

"Rock Lee!" Toshiba hisses over the crackling gout of flame. "We still need him for what he knows about Noronu's army. There's a foreigner too, he'd be nice to question as well. Otherwise, I care not."

(Toshiba moves in for the kill on one of the injured guards, then attacks with the Shank! trick:

Toshiba's Attack: 1d20+9 = 28

No further rolls necessary - the guard automatically fails his damage save. Better luck next life, pal.

And Kagemaru, not one to be left out of the frenzy, tries out his shuriken:

Kagemaru's Attack: 1d20+13 = 22 Hit!
Kagemaru's Damage: 1d4+1 = 2

Guard's damage save vs DC 16: 1d20+8 = 9 SCHOOLED!)

With the operative parameters of the combat settled (don't kill people whose names I know), Toshiba sprints into the fray, meeting one of the screaming, charging, flaming mercenaries with a single precise stab through the ribs. The screaming turns to sputtering as the man stumbles back and clatters to the ground. That just leaves one - well, it left one until Kagemaru casually hurled a shadow shuriken into his neck. The man drops to his knees as he stumbles onto the floor and rolls, clutching at his neck, not sure whether the fire on his back or the punctured carotid is the bigger problem, but one or the other sees him come to a flailing stop shortly.

Bumi stares at the mayhem before her, wide-eyed and slack-jawed. When she finally speaks, it's something like this: "You...you guys are awesome."

---

On the other side of the tunnel, Rock Lee waits cowered behind a, well, rock. This is all going to shit. It's going to shit so fast and thoroughly, in fact, that he's not sure how many gods he's pissed off to have this happen to him. Yesterday, oh yesterday, everything was just fine, he was a good general in charge of a strong secret army poised to forever alter the political landscape of this island empire, finally bringing to power Lady Ikishi, the saviour of his people. But today? Today he's let the Blue fucking Oni into the heart of his operation, and that...that bandit has screwed up everything. There are only two possibilities: either the Oni, one of Ikishi's chief agents, has gone rogue and is now dismantling her plans from the inside, which sees Rock dead for inadvertently helping him do just that - or Ikishi sent him here to not just intimidate him, but painfully dismantle his whole operation, for reasons Rock finds too horrifying to even speculate on. Could it be that his sister has angered Ikishi somehow? One of their other people? Or is this the point after all those years, as Rock has always secretly feared, that Ikishi's generosity makes way for her true designs?

His mind is not eased when the sounds of fighting from inside the side cave go quiet within seconds - and what was that burst of light and heat that sent his men screaming in the first place? Rock looks over to another group of his mercenaries, who now surely regret being so fast at the scene of the action.

"You!" Rock hisses. "Get in there and fight the Oni!"
"All due respect, General Lee," one of them replies. "You get in there first!"
"I pay you, you ungrateful bastards!" Rock growls. "Get in there! Five hundred...a thousand pieces of silver for the Oni's head!"
"He's the Blue Oni, General," the merc replies. "You're gonna have to do a lot better than that."
"Actually," another merc weighs in, "why don't we just split the coffers and get out of here? The pay for this gig was shit anyway."
"This is mutiny!" Rock shouts.
"No, this is a renegotiation," the merc says, before drawing his gonne and leveling it at Rock. "We'll have the key to the money chest now, General."

Kagemaru zips through the shadows with Toshiba as they near the bend of the tunnel Rock is in. As Kagemaru peeks around the corner, a curious scene is playing out. His own guards are threatening Rock with their weapons.

After a quick assessment of the situation and the room layout, Kagemaru motions Toshiba to stay behind the edge until he hears the signal... and more importantly, hold Kiara off until then.

(Kagemaru’s Sneak: 1d20+31 = 43 ABSOLUTE SHADOW)

While the guards are distracted by their greedy longings Kage dashes from shadow to shadow until he's behind the whole group.

(Kagemaru’s Prestidigitation: 1d20+18 = 22)
(Guard’s Notice: 1d20+11 = 21)

With a swift motion, Kage pulls the gonne of the nearest guard right out of his obi!

(SURPRISE ROUND! Kagemaru attacks the guard threatening Rock.

Kagemaru’s Attack: 1d20+7+5-4 = 22 Hit!
Kagemaru’s Damage: 3d6 = 9

Guard’s Damage Save vs DC 14: 1d20+8 = 9 BOOM HEADSHOT)

Kagemaru may never have been taught how to handle a firearm, but he’s a ninja - those guys could probably kill you with half a blood sausage. Speaking of which...Greedy Guard’s skull goes KERSPLAT! as the gonne’s leaden bullet finds a new home, dropping him to the floor. It is now that the remaining four mercenaries in this part of the tunnel realize that there is a living fucking shadow-ninja-thing right in their middle and it just snuck up on them and killed one of them.

(Guard’s Resolve vs DC 15: 1d20+8 = 28 HOT BURNING MORALE!)

The reaction is depressingly predictable - these guys aren’t intimidated. In fact, they’re out for blood now!

(INITIATIVE!

Kagemaru: 1d20+14 = 18
Guards...er...Mercenaries: 1d20+11 = 16

ROUND ONE!

Kagemaru moves to grapple the closest armed mercenary: 1d20+17 = 35
Merc Alpha: 1d20+11 = 28 GRAPPLED!

Alpha struggles: 1d20+11 = 13
Kagemaru counters: 1d20+17 = 20 and uses his Neck Snap grapple benefit for a cheap insta-kill.)

The closest of the mercenaries swings for Kagemaru, who catches the wild strike with his shadow garotte and in three swift moves wraps it under the merc’s chin before kicking out his legs, drawing the noose tight and producing a sickly cracking sound.

That’s your neck, Jack.

(Mercs Bravo and Charlie pull their gonnes and attempt to ventilate Kagemaru:

Bravo’s Attack: 1d20+10 = 13 NOOOOPE
Charlie’s Attack: 1d20+10 = 25 LUCKY SHOT!
Charlie’s Damage: 3d6 = 5 Not worth writing home about…

Delta, whose gonne Kage snatched earlier, tries to bullrush him!

Delta’s Athletics: 1d20+11 = 20
Kage’s Athletics: 1d20+14 = 33 NOOOOOOOOOPE

Delta is shoved back five feet and sprawled!)

The as yet untouched two mercenaries step back from the whirling mass of shadow, drawing their gonnes and discharging them into the dark - one goes completely wild, the other just barely misses the ninja and his razor-sharp reflexes. It puts his back to the merc he disarmed earlier, though, and that guy figures it might be a good idea to try to tackle the shadow creature before him. It’s really not. Without taking his eyes off the armed adversaries, Kagemaru backhands him - pow, straight in the kisser! - and he all but bounces off, falling to the floor.

(ROUND TWO!

Oops, forgot all about Kage’s Sneak Attack dice - not that it mattered so far, but we’ll be including those going forward. How about that nice, sprawled Delta for a first course, in fact? Kagemaru goes for a Pummel!

Kagemaru’s Attack: 1d20+13 = 23 HIT!
Kagemaru’s Damage: 3d6+15+3d6 = 37

Delta’s Damage Save vs DC...28? Oh man. Poor bastard: 1d20+8 = 13

The merc isn’t through being humiliated, however: Kagemaru flips back over him, landing just in front of his scrambling hands - and when the merc looks up, it’s right into Kagemaru’s kick, which lifts him off his feet, just long enough for the second kick to hit and knock him straight into the next cave wall. The merc lets out a sigh as he crumbles to the ground with a couple of snapped bones and a concussion.

(Bravo and Charlie attack, wielding their gonnes as melee weapons!

Bravo’s Attack #1: 1d20+10 = 13 Nope.
Bravo’s Attack #2: 1d20+10 = 17 Noooope.
Charlie’s Attack #1: 1d20+10 = 27 Well, that’s one.
Charlie’s Attack #2: 1d20+10 = 22 But not two.

Charlie’s Damage is 1d6 = 4 subdual.

Kagemaru’s Fort save vs DC 12: 1d20+4 = 7 Failed!

Kagemaru becomes Fatigued.

That display does not come without leaving Kagemaru open to counter-attack, however, as the two remaining mercs come at him with their spent gonnes, trying to bludgeon him into submission! Kagemaru shifts and dodges most of the strikes, but can’t help one particularly good blow getting him in what is (maybe) still his jaw.

(ROUND THREE!

Kagemaru grapples Charlie to pay him back for his insolence: 1d20+17 = 37
Charlie’s response: 1d20+11 = 28 NICE TRY, KID.

Charlie is held, and being held leads to struggling…

Charlie’s Athletics: 1d20+11 = 13
Kagemaru uses Neck Snap again: 1d20+17 = 32)

Charlie’s victorious elation is short lived, as he soon finds that his close encounter with Kagemaru has left him with a shadow garotte wrapped around his neck - Kagemaru turns and draws the loop closed, pulling the merc over his shoulder and snapping his neck in one swift move.

(Bravo uses Total Defense to make a Standard Move away from Kage, gaining a +4 Lil’ Bitch bonus to Defense.

ROUND FOUR!

Kagemaru favors the fleeing Bravo with some shuriken, using the Cheap Shot trick: 1d20+13-2-4 = 15 JUST ABOUT ENOUGH!

Bravo’s down to 20 feet of speed.

Kagemaru’s damage: 1d4+1 = 3

Bravo’s Damage Save vs DC 11: 1d20+8 = 26 SUCCESS!

Kagemaru attacks again: 1d20+13-2 = 18 HIT!
Kagemaru’s damage: 1d4+1 = 3

Bravo’s Damage Save vs DC 13: 1d20+8 = 27 SUCCESS!

...and Bravo fucking books it, running (20 feet x 4) = 80 feet, out of Kagemaru’s shuriken range.)

The last merc flees the scene, dodging and weaving as best as he can while Kagemaru’s shuriken chase him - one opens a bloody gash on his leg, but the merc limps away, further into the tunnel. Kagemaru’s annoyance breaks through his mask, and with a sigh, he exits his fighting stance and whistles. Within the second, Kiara comes charging down the tunnel, blowing past Kagemaru, the bodies and Rock with a maniacal laugh as she chases down the escaping merc. Toshiba, for his part, prefers to simply walk up to the massacre; he’s the Blue fucking Oni, after all, and he doesn’t have to chase after rabble like that.

Rock, meanwhile, scrambles to his feet, backing up against the cave wall behind him.

“Who...the fuck are you, really? What do you want?” He looks around at the carnage before him. “Look, whatever it is, I’ll give it to you! I only ask that you spare me! Okay? That’s a deal we can all live with, yes?”