So be it.

- And then the attack is intercepted. There's a subtle flash, and the creature unravels and falls apart, specks of shadow dropping to the ground, and there's a tall woman standing with her back to Tsubaki. She's dressed like a warrior from a period film, and holding a closed umbrella in her left hand - currently propped up on her shoulder - and an unsheathed sword in her right. 

...What?

"Who are you?"

"Let's get to relative safety first. Introductions later." 

"Where? There's a barrier, and some kind of poison gas."

"There's a building Ban's servants should avoid - it repels youkai, but the effect vanishes once within, so your servants should be unaffected once they cross that boundary. It will be safer than here."

Servants...? Later.

"Which one?"

"A warehouse on the outskirts..." She gestures to a tall building barely visible from where they are. "Follow me."

In the absence of a better plan, that will have to do. She picks up Nanami again.

Nyanko follows with pretty clear wariness.

The warehouse she leads them to looks somewhat less abandoned than most of the buildings - but it makes the youkai all feel uneasy, until they actually cross the threshold at which point that and the general sense of oppression from the barrier all let up. 

"Whew. That's better."

"Yeah."

"Now - who are you?" she demands of the newcomer.

"Sayuri," she says. "An exorcist. I've been investigating that collector's activities."

"What is a collector?"

"Someone who accumulates items of spiritual power, or spiritual items of historic importance, or powerful youkai sealed such that they're useless except as statements of the collector's power... That kind of thing. That man works for an infamous collector, and he's known for being ruthless in pursuit of his targets."

Not a nice person then. "Oh."

"He likely is after my perfect body..."

The strange woman smiles a little. "Now, certainly, though I'm unsure why he came here - though it might have been for the Lucky Cats... One of the most famous exorcism tools produced by the White Mist were powerful ceramic cats - though I don't recognize your form from the catalogues..."

"There was an old man too, before the collector attacked. I think he's been here before."

"That old man would be the last of the White Mist potters, most likely - though he has no spiritual power."

"So he's not really involved, then."

"Possibly. Possibly not."

"He's not on the collector's side, anyway."

"No. Collectors are the sort that the White Mist have always scorned."