"Secret pathways are pretty much the norm for larger noble residences, a city lord's mansion, much less a castle or the likes? They're bound to have a secret way out or three. People who got to such high positions rarely have clean hands after all, and that usually made them at least somewhat paranoid about their own skins." - Gunther Björnskūld, the "Castle Breaker", famed mercenary captain circa 419 VA.
"Oh, heya Reed! What'cha doing here?" Said a short-haired, freckled woman who held a bloody hammer in each of her hands as they walked into the port area. A tall mustached man with a long billhook in his hands followed along behind her. "Here to join in the fun?"
Unlike the more… unorganized way the people rioted and looted within the city, the port area was handled in a much more orderly manner. Groups of thugs tore down the doors to some stores and warehouses and emptied them out, while they left others alone.
Reinhardt even saw the obvious look of schadenfreude on the faces of the merchants who were left alone and watched their rivals get robbed blind.
"Hi, Cass," replied Elfriede to the freckled woman. Reinhardt recalled that she had mentioned an old acquaintance of hers was amongst those who pulled off the distraction west of town. Must be that freckled woman then. "Afraid not. Here on business. Could we borrow Arne for a bit? Got a place to find around here."
"Eh, the boys have things in hand anyway, why not. I'll come along too," said the freckled woman as she pushed the tall man behind her towards Reinhardt's group. "Not like we got much better to do at the moment, and it's getting boring to crack some unresisting lardsack's face."
"We're looking for a specific building in the ports," said Elfriede to Arne, who had stepped closer, while she mostly ignored Cassie's antics. The freckled woman had a talent for causing mayhem, which made her something of a loose cannon, but a useful one when used well.
"Well, I'm born and raised right around here, so if you got enough clues to go around I'm pretty sure I could lead you to whatever you're looking for," said the tall, mustached man. He tried to project a calm, steady look, but Elfriede caught a slight flinch and shiver from him when Mischka came closer with Lars in tow.
"He will give you the details," said Elfriede as she pointed to Lars. For his own part, Lars came forward and quickly laid out all the details he could remember. They talked for a few minutes as Arne questioned him for details, before the mustached man nodded.
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"Yeah, I think I know the place he meant. It's a mostly unused warehouse around the fifth dock," said Arne with some confidence. "Follow me then. I'll lead the way there."
Despite how the looting had gone on for hours now, the docks were a large place, and so far most of the looting happened in the first three docks, which were where the richest merchants had their businesses.
With Arne and Cassie ahead of them, the thugs let Reinhardt's group pass without any fuss - not that any of them were insane enough to mess with such a large group of armed people to begin with - and they made their way through the docks at a quick pace.
Where the first three docks were organized neatly, with decorated storefronts and roads paved with bricks, the fourth dock - which was separated by a distance to the first three - was noticeably worse. The brick-paved roads gave way to mud, and the stench of fish guts mixed with uncleaned excrements of every sort, human or otherwise.
The fifth dock was in the same squalorous condition as the fourth, and there Arne quickly led the group towards the inner side of the dock. Here and there, they noticed how the people that lived there peeked out from behind their shutters and curtains, too afraid to come out from their ramshackle shacks.
When they neared the area Arne mentioned, Elfriede paused for a moment. Reinhardt was about to ask her what happened, but she gave him a gesture to be quiet, and slowly walked towards a different direction, where she knelt and placed her hand on the mud.
"It was faint, but there's air circulating into an underground path around here," she stated after a while. Then she raised her head and turned towards Arne. "Looks like you got it in one. It's headed in that direction."
Between Arne's knowledge of the docks, and Elfriede's magical sense, they quickly found the warehouse they were looking for. It was an unassuming, dirty building. Only notable by the lack of signs of activity around it. Elfriede had traced the underground path towards that warehouse, though, and through her senses, she noticed around a dozen people who discreetly kept guard inside the building.
"Around a dozen inside. The underground path isn't a big one. I'd be surprised if more than thirty could even take it at once," said Elfriede quietly after she searched the warehouse and its surroundings. "Do we take care of those inside first and take their place?"
"Better not," said Reinhardt as he shook his head. "The noise of a battle might alert the runaways, if any. For all we know they might have another escape route, so I'd rather wait for them to come here, then hit them."
"Works for me. I'll get them in place then," said Elfriede before she got up and immediately arranged for their hundred-strong force to hide themselves in the surroundings of the warehouse.
In a few cases, they hid themselves inside the nearby residences. The residents were silenced with a hand over the mouth, then a gesture to remain silent coupled with a few coins. They were all too happy to remain silent after that.
They had some difficulty with Mischka's group, as their size made them rather difficult to hide, but after some finagling and a few words from Cassie and Arne, they hid the larger members in another warehouse a short distance away.
After nearly another half hour of waiting, Elfriede finally gave a few silent gestures. She had sensed people in the underground path, and they were arriving soon.