At night, they split into three. While not all their members had experience in stealth and thievery, none of them did really, they were all at least level 3. The middle of Tier 1 might seem low for most, but as most humans never reached the first level it was more than enough. The increase in physical abilities was different for each of them, but after 3 levels, it was significant. This is what they were leaning on. As a team of 3 they could clear any house in minutes, but that would be overkill and it would take multiple nights between a stealthy approach, break-in and exit for each house and building in the village. It was a small village, but not that small.
The Fire Druid was conflicted. He had been assigned the most houses by the other two, however, one was left off his list on purpose. He had even volunteered to do it. Someone had to check the mayor's house and workplace, why not him? He had the most experience with the man and was also the most motivated to search for something. Maybe he should have been less forceful in showing his opinions of the man. He had not actually planned to burn down his house after searching it, but one mention of that and suddenly he was met with serious stares. Maybe he should be more careful with his words, venting was important, but his team had to trust him as well.
He had been through a couple basements by now, the night was going well. The basement entrances were usually outdoors and the basements themselves were relatively small. Searching for hidden panels was not something he was great at, but a spell designed for this purpose was within his capabilities. A quick cast and nothing found. Again. Well, that was not anything new. Last house had a hit at least, he had finally gotten a hit, it was near the floor under a cupboard. He had put his hand in there to grab the object only to find out exactly what it was. That's when he found out it was a mouse trap. He was very happy to be alone when the scream escaped him. He would never have lived that down.
He snuck back out of the cellar, another dud. His list was not getting short just yet, but it was getting more and more annoying. His next house was of particular interest, it was the farmstead of the farmer who had attacked him. There had too at least be something interesting there, right? Getting his hopes slightly up, he made his way to the south side of town for his most interesting part of the night. Searching a farmer's house.
The house was unassuming. He had been here before when looking through the village, the house looked like any other. A small wooden house, with a thatched roof. Next to it was a field of wheat, a field of fucking wheat. It was so boring that he almost ignored it again, even though he knew its owner had tried to assassinate him. Maybe that was the point, hide in normality. If so, that farmer/assassin had done an excellent job. It was truly boring and plain. He was not the most careful person in the world and truly did not know how to be very stealthy. He decided on the second option, full force. A casting later and he held a blade made of flame in his hand.
He ran to the house in a sprint and cut the door in half with his flame blade. A kick later and the door flew inward. Stepping through into the house, he took in the indoors. It was the same as the outside, a dirt floor, wooden counter, table, chairs and finally a hatch into the floor. He stopped looking and focused on the hatch, this was it, this was what he was looking for. He kneeled over the hatch and sliced the lock with the blade. Pushing open the hatch, he jumped down into a large room. It was strange, the room was larger than the whole house above. It was paved with stone tiles and generally looked better. There was a small alcove with food and water buckets, a full kitchen with knives and what looked like a primitive oven. On the other side was a larger bed, larger than he had in the inn. That was just unfair. He threw away the flame blade, which vanished before it hit the floor. He needed both hands for this next part.
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Centring himself, he began the next casting. This searched for traps and hidden secrets. How the spell knew what was and was not a secret was beyond him, but it had worked before, so he had faith in its effectiveness. It worked this time as well, drawing his attention the opposite wall, specifically, a stone that looked slightly out of place now that he focussed on it. Even with his small amount of experience with trap walls, he knew what to do here. He pressed his palm to the stone which moved slightly more inward. A click later and the wall began to turn, he stepped on the small platform and found himself in a small hallway leading further downward. He should call for his team. He should wait for his team to get here.
This was a massive red flag. However, he was not that kind of person. If he was truly honest with himself, he was still pissed off they did not trust him. Deciding to compromise he pulled up another spell, a sending spell this time. A casting later and he felt the connection waiting, now to compose the message. Let us be quick. Found something in the farmer's basement. Hatch in the house, stone in the wall. Going to check it out. Sending the message on, he did not wait for a response and walked onward.
The hallway had gotten dark fast. No torches either, so he decided to cast a quick flame spell in his hand. He chose his left hand for this; he was better at right hand casting, but he wanted to keep that one free. He was not an idiot, there was plenty of evidence to the contrary, but it was true. He knew that he could handle a lot, but there were plenty of things out of his wheelhouse. He also knew that he could not handle everything on his own. Still, it had been a rough week. He was angry. annoyed and tired. He wanted to get this mission over with. His food supplies had run out days ago, so he had been living on village food for a long time and it sucked. He wanted to be done with this, he needed to be done with this.
The hallway finally ended a couple minutes walking later. It was a long tunnel and likely ended in a central location. There were probably other entrances as well. This was big. There was a larger issue with all this, a conspiracy. Maybe not with the whole village, but definitely with a larger part of it. The hallway ended in a room; it was circular with 3 other entrances he could see. In the middle there were a series of rings and in the centre of that was a cage. Next to cage, presumably out of reach, lay several needles and syringes. The cage was not made of metal, or at least not steel. It was too shiny for that. He knew what it was when he spotted the monster inside the cage, he saw the fangs and instantly knew what it was. Inside that silver cage was a vampire. SHIT. He was so utterly fucked.