by jkayati
Guards are never placed in the house, elite or not. Each house has a Sentry that gives you the initial value(s) you 'll need to defeat. If you dishonor the house by stealing all the treasures, then the Sentry is discarded, and the house is left empty until the next round. At the start of the next round, you'll draw a new Sentry and three new treasures.If you can't beat any guard, he's discarded to the discard pile.
Elite treasures do stay in the house.
You do add a treasure when you fail to defeat any guard.
You must defeat the Sentry first to gain the first "standard" treasure, then defeat normal guards for all other "standard" treasures. When only "elite" treasures are left, then you must fight the elite guard.
I'd encourage you to go over the rulebook again, including sidebars, carefully. It's all there. :D