Sulika and her team approached a heavy, wooden double door with a thick iron slat laying horizontally across it, locking it in place. The slat wasn’t held in place by any mechanism or lock. It’d just been pushed through the gap between the two handles and the door, then fed into a hole in the wall. As silly as it might seem, the cultists were trusting in the sheer weight of the iron to keep the door shut. And it would’ve done a marvelous job of keeping most people out.

But Sulika couldn’t help but frown at the waste of iron. Who would use such a primitive device? Didn’t they know this much iron could have bought them a mansion in any capital city across the world? Magic was cheaper to use, easily replaced, and the maintenance would’ve only run them a bronze plate or two. Whereas just buying this much iron must’ve cost more than a dozen gold coins.

“Zarud, think you can open it?” Sulika asked without taking her eyes off the door. Zarud’s answer was a quiet snort as he stepped past her and approached the door. He grabbed the iron with both hands and, with a quiet grunt of effort, slid the bar out of the hole in the wall. Sulika heard him take a sharp breath in before lifting the heavy metal bar off the door and slowly turning to face them.

Sulika noticed the discoloration in his face and quickly motioned for the others to get out of his way. Zarud duck walked the slat a few feet from the door and carefully set it on the ground, taking extra precautions to keep it from alerting the cultists they suspected were just behind the door.

“Remember, take them alive if possible. But if they don’t want to surrender, I’m not willing to risk your lives just to capture these dickbags. Is that clear?” She asked, while waiting for Zarud to get ready.

"Aye.”

“Yes.”

“Of course.”

“Why the fuck are we still wasting our time discussing this?” Zarud snapped. Though he’d done his best to keep his voice low, Sulika still winced at the reverberation of his voice in the otherwise silent warehouse... Sulika startled at the realization and looked around. It was too quiet; she could hear nothing from beyond the door, and worse yet, she could hear nothing coming from the way they’d came. Not even the panicked warehouse workers, which should’ve set off her danger sense earlier. They should have been able to hear them trying to return by now, but there was nothing.

“Get that door open, now!” Sulika said in a normal voice. They’d been discovered - she didn’t know how, or when, but she could sense it; like a hundred cold needles tickling the skin on the back of her neck.

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Derrick returned his beloved Warhammer Rosa to its holster on his back and took hold of the handle with his right hand while keeping his shield raised with his left. Zarud placed his left hand on the handle and raised his battle-axe to shoulder level.

A silent message passed between them - they put all their weight into the door and pulled... The door didn’t budge. Sulika looked between the two of them. “It’s a push to open door, guys.”

“Oh, for Cyndarr’s sake... They could be done with the ritual before you idiots remember how to work a door.” Ralocan grumbled and stepped forward. He lifted his leg and shoved his boot into the exact center of the two doors - The doors swung open and slammed against the inner walls with a mighty *crash!*

Sulika reacted quickly and thrust her wand into Ralocan’s back. “Abbas: Shield,” she said, casting the quickest defensive spell in her repertoire in time to block two beams of purple energy from smashing into Ralocan’s chest. As Sulika was casting her spell, Oladi was moving into action; her nose and mouth elongated into a gray beak with a sharp point, her neck lengthened slightly, and a wave of feathers cascaded from her scalp to the soles of her feet. At her level, Oladi was capable of casting Monstrous Shape in between one step and the next. Shapeshifting was a great party trick, kids loved it... But that was when she was shifting into a bunny, or some other small, fuzzy creature. The beast standing in front of Sulika now, was anything but cute and cuddly.

Dark feathers covered her entire body. Though most of it was hidden beneath her robes, a pair of large wings replaced her arms and her slender feet doubled in size and grew wickedly sharp talons. This was Oladi’s trump card - a monstrous form she gained upon reaching level twenty-five and undertaking some mysterious ritual that ended with her bedbound for a month afterwards.

Sulika thought the form was fascinating. It was just a shame she could only maintain it for three minutes a day...

Oladi wasted no time in ducking around Ralocan’s body and sprinting into the room, her powerful legs giving her an incredible boost of speed for the duration of her transformation.

Zarud shoved Ralocan back before he and Derrick charged into the room with their weapons drawn and battle cries on their lips. The two of them blocked arrows and dodged spells as they sprinted after Oladi - who, if the screams of pain were any sign, had found the cultists.

“You, okay?” Sulika asked, while moving into the room.

“Thanks to your shield. Sorry about jumping ahead like that. I guess my nerves got to me.” He said, laughing somewhat weakly.

“Happens to all of us. Just don’t do it again.”

“Understood.” He agreed without hesitation.

Sulika noted the sheepish look on his face and shook her head slightly; They were all tense right now. She couldn’t fault him for making a mistake in the moment... But if they still had a job on the morrow, she would drill him until he never made that mistake again. Shit like that is why the average life expectancy of a hunter is twenty-five, and she had no intention of allowing any of her people to become just another statistic.