Heading to the farm...

Torpor looks at his comrades, "I am faster than he is, perhaps i should do this?" looking to the farmers "Unless there is something else we could do for them as my friend says."

After fumbling a bit, followed by some in-mouth cursing, Sun managed to reply over his commlink: "You need to recover from earlier. You're barely hanging in there as it is."

((Sun has very good defenses physically. Astrally less so, but still some armor, thanks to Mystic Armor. He also took no damage during the last fight, so still has all his 12 physical and 14 stun boxes available. No idea how he'd stand against someone with astral capabilities, but chances are it'll be better than someone who has 2 physical boxes left ))

Torpor chuckles, and says over comms "Tis but a flesh wound. But seriously, i just need to go first. Fire three rounds at her, i have narcojet rounds loaded in my other pistol. Unless of course she's a spirit then no matter what we do, I'm pretty sure we lose. "

Sun keeps talking into the commlink, loud enough to make sure people on the other side of the line will hear him, not realizing it's actually uncomfortably loud for people listening on their commlinks.

"Nobody's gonna shoot anyone here. Look at her. She's got a sword, not a gun! If we really have to fight her, and not some creature in the forest, I'll take care of it. Let's keep this fight fair and square, alright?"

His tone in the last sentence makes it clear there's only one acceptable answer to that question.

The elf's muscle looks tone, like she probably knows how to handle the sword on her back. She seems definitely dressed for battle as her clothing is armored. She will not be considerably more difficult to deal with than the weasels.

To Sun, she says, "My safety is already at risk. A bear, wolf or kamaitachi are of little concern to me or those here. We can defend ourselves against such threats. The loss of our peach tree is of far greater concern. I lay my life on the line to defend it and if you are to take even a single twig from it, you must do the same."

"Can't you just plant the stones within the fruit to grow more peach trees? It wouldn't be such a liability anymore."

Wujen speaks up, "All that has been asked is enough of the wood to make a couple of stakes. we don't want the whole tree, and even some fallen wood from it would be acceptable. We *must* have that wood as a matter of life or death to stop a creature that feeds on the innocent, but we did not come to steal it, as I explained earlier."

Using his Trode interface he replies on comms, "I could boost reflexes of either of you, though the magic only really works on those who aren't already benefitting from a similar effect. This would likely be seen as interference though, and she can see into astral space just fine. I doubt she would miss the casting."

"I'm not really comfortable with the deal she's offering. I made it clear we just needed a small portion of the wood, a couple of pounds at most. She asked if I'd be willing to take someone's hand or life for it, or die for it. Seems like a lot for some wood, I'm not really certain what her game is."

Back to the commlink, still that little bit too loud for comfort: "I wish there could be a way that wouldn't require hurting these people. As there doesn't seem a different way than to fight for what's most precious to them, I prefer a battle of champions over beating up every poor chummer here. At least they can hand it over proudly without being overrun by chummers plundering their tree."

Wujen replies over comms, "The problem is I don't know how far she is going to push this. She's clearly dangerous, and that weapon she's carrying is magically active as well, probably a weapon focus. I don't want to hurt her, let alone kill or seriously injure her, and I am *not* going to stand here and let these people execute me if she manages to pin you or something."

Still slightly too loud over the commlink: "Thanks for the faith in my fighting skills, buddy!"

A crackling burst of static comes over the comms.
Seems KingFisher hasn't fixed the comms settings after her bike ride.
"If there's someone there, tell them ....*a long burst of static followed by frantic beeping as someone is fiddling with the settings on the comms link rather badly.

The sound does clear up.
"I don't know where you lot are. I can just make out something about a guardian and a peach tree.
I really wish I'd learned some Elvish it would be so useful right now.
Say the name of the thing we're trying to kill. If she knows what that is, she won't fight you.
If she doesn't then you're probably going to have a fight on your hands.
I'm trying the front door, Kami watch over us all."

Sun almost drops his commlink when trying to adjust it, thinking the crackling comes from his commlink, before he replies, talking as loudly as before, but coming over way more loudly as he accidentally turned microphone volume to maximum.

"Good thinking! Thanks!"

He turns to the elf. "Hey, did you ever fight a Jiangshi? We got one running around in our sprawl, killing innocents left and right. Peach wood apparently is the only way to kill them. That's why we're looking for some of the wood. I understand you don't want to just give the wood away, to avoid traders, merchants and suits to demand your entire tree worth of wood, just to have a fancy paperweight in their office. We need it to kill a Jiangshi, though. We'd rather not fight you. On the contrary, we could use all the help we can get in our fight against that monster."

WuJen replies over comms, "I actually opened the conversation with that. I don't know that she wants a fight, something about this seems more ritualistic. She opened her end by asking how much we needed and if I'd be willing to cut off someone's hand, Kill them or die to get it."

"Also, I speak Elvish. What is it you want to say?"

A feint whisper comes across the Astral, the priestess is dividing her attention.
"Don't offer valuables, she's not a merchant. Offer to trade a Boon. If you have to mention the one who sent this is also talking to the priest who guards another peach tree."

A ripple in the Astral and the Priestess returns as a slightly more clear voice.
"Ask her how much she'd risk to prevent a Ba from rising? This thing is death to us all if it gets any stronger. She can fight us sure, we might defeat her, she might defeat us. What is certain is that we both lose if the Ba rises."

WuJen replies "I actually told her I had no money but would be willing to work for it. She does not seem hostile but she's not offering anything but a fight. Something about this seems off.

A whisper comes across the Astral.
"Guardians sometimes test those who come before them.
They view the wood as extremely valuable, you have to show it means the same to you. It isn't whether you fight or not that matters its that you show your willingness to risk death for it. She won't kill you if you fight as you will have proved your virtue by blood. "

"Sure. We can hope that's the case. They are putting a pretty high price on a couple of pounds of wood. We don't want their whole tree, or even enough to hurt it. I imagine we'd make do with a splinter if we had to. At this point I may just make it my life's work to develop a spell that creates the magical equivalent to whatever a targets allergies are"

Torpor says over comm, "to be honest, i only need a couple pieces to put in a capsule round. A little dmso, peach wood, capsule round. I can shoot it where it stands. A small branch that has fallen off would be enough." Loud enough to be heard by those standing around us.

WuJen says, "Until we know more, we need to err on the side of caution. DMSO works for getting chemicals into your system through absorption through the skin. I don't know if that will be enough for putting down something like the Jiangshi. I'd not even feel comfortable trying low velocity rounds made of the wood, they might not survive being fired intact enough to hurt the thing. Often times too much processing renders otherwise magically active resources inert and useless for Magic."

"Perfect would be a bo staff with sharpened ends. I can just impale it then."

"Or a couple of stakes fitted into sockets on the end of a regular bo staff... but yes. Regardless, we don't need enough to harm the tree, and unless they are taking all the wood and running it through a lumber mill or something any fallen wood should be fine."

((as I mentioned before, comms aren't working out here. They can function as direct transmitters over a short distance with the team at the farm, but they don't have the matrix access to reach back to the others. However, to avoid having to retconn your chat, I will assume Kingfisher projected over here since it takes less than a minute for her to do so))

To Sun, the elf says, "Years of selective breeding have created a peach tree that has fruit, but no seeds. A peach pit is rather large and takes up much of the fruit, so they marketed it as a peach with more fruit in it. However the true intention was to force farmers to purchase seeds from the corporation that supplied them, and once they did, other seeds were quietly bred away. Then the corporation with the pitless peach seeds was hit with an explosion and many of the seeds they had been holding onto were lost. As time went on, the surviving trees died off until now when only a few remain. Many other crops were similarly devastated as a result of that day."

She does not seem to react to the mentioning of Jiangshi and says, "Such a creature is not known to me. But if your need is as desperate as you say, then you should be willing to go to desperate lengths to acquire it."

She then adds, "If you wish to prepare your champion with magic, I will not consider it interference unless you do it after our battle has commenced. I intend to do the same, myself. You have 30 seconds to prepare."

With no further word, she stands at the opposite side of the clearing and removes a necklace with a blue charm on it from a pocket in her vest. Placing it around her neck, she holds the charm between her palms and whispers over it. She calls out to the other squatters and says, "Regardless of how you feel about the outcome of this battle, you will all obey the rules as I have set them forth, for better or worse."

The guards keep their shotguns leveled at WuJen and Torpor while others who are unarmed clear the area, though they are clearly unhappy about the match. They murmur among each other and a couple of them seem to be crying.