I don't quite get the eavesdropping opportunity on them right past the Ashina castle gate. If they aren't friendly to Ashina (and Isshin kills them), why do they say that Genichiro is on "their" side? Whose side?

L + Rat

They kind of remind me of Nuppeppō, yokai that resemble blobby lumps of meat given arms and legs that frequent temple grounds.

Nuppeppō are described as deceptive killers, but more strangely is that while they reek of rot, eating their flesh may grant eternal youth. Other accounts suggest they are created by reanimating discarded corpse matter.

There's even a story of one particularly fast Nuppeppō eluding capture in the castle of Tokugawa Ieyasu, but it was mercifully sent back to the mountains to be kept from harm... Sounds an awful lot like Badger's route, doesn't it?

Was farming on the crimson variants for the shura ending when suddenly one of them dropped a smoke bomb very similar to Owl's. I coulda been seeing things since I was extremely tired but it was still surprising. It could also be a rare move that they do like when the Lone shadows jump back while swing at you.

These guys are surprisingly deadly. On my current charmless run, I had trouble even killing the ones before the armored warrior boss fight in Senpou. I've yet to get the timing down on deflecting their basic counter-attack.

Is it possible to anti-air deathblow one of these assassins? I once had the prompt appear for a second while fighting one who jumped in the air on the roofs in Senpou. Never got it again.

I want to dropkick them into a pit of rabid dogs

***** them and their hats

*****ING HELL I HATE THESE LITTLE*****S