Ada, Neva and Marcelle fought their way through the warehouse. Both wolfkin did their best to avoid killing. Ada used her wooden sword to knock out a kidnapper within the warehouse. Bending down, she struck the woman with the flat side. The beastkin jerked up for a moment before falling limp to the warehouse floor. Afterwards, she dabbed the tip against the beastkin's bleeding nose smearing blood across the wood. Marcelle had wrapped her tail around a foxkin's neck. Her repeated attempts to chop the tail with a hatchet had proven useless. In the end, the woman had broken her hatchet and fallen unconscious. Marcelle's eyes glowed with delight as she tossed the beastkin away with ease.
Now in the warehouse, the four adventurers stood with six unconscious beastkin lying on the floor. Hannah had watched the fighting impassively, waiting for it to end.
"Is he here? Fritz you alive?" Neva asked. She looked around the warehouse. Rotten timber was stacked high all around. Mounds of coiled thick rope were tossed every which way. Rusted iron saws and tools littered the area. Ada sniffed the air.
"I can't smell anything." She said. "Maybe we can wake one of them up? Question them?"
"Let's take a look around. Maybe there's more clues." Neva said.
The three separated in different directions to investigate the warehouse. Ada kept sniffing the air. Neva searched the belongings of the defeated thugs. Marcelle took her time, taunting and slapping their unconscious defeated enemies.
Stopping in a particular spot. Ada breathed in deeply. An earthen smell seemed to extend in this particular area.
"Somethings here." Ada said confidently.
"An underground tunnel? A hidden basement?" Marcelle asked.
"Maybe. We'll see."
Crouching down, she ran her hand over the smooth wooden floors. Something caught her eyes as she touched a particular section of the floor. Pressing into it, a section of the floor wiggled.
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
"Gotcha. Over here. There's a trapdoor." Ada said as she motioned towards the others. Neva and Marcelle hurried over. Hannah followed as if completely bored with the situation. Grabbing onto a side, Ada removed the cover.
A wooden staircase led down to a large basement. Three heavily armed, convicts wielding spears and fully armored in chainmail stood at the ready. Behind them a crossbow bolt shot out. Ada's eyes went wide as she ducked to the floor just in time to feel the metal barb catch a strand of her blonde hair.
"You never should have come here!" one of the spearmen shouted.
Marcelle lazily reached into her dimensional bag. Drawing out another flask, she tossed it to the basement floor. A cloud of gray smoke erupted at the feet of the spearmen. The sounds of hacking and coughing came from below. Hannah dropped down into the basement entirely unconcerned.
"At least you didn't miss this time." Ada taunted. Marcelle hissed at Ada.
"My genius is lost upon you. You should be thanking me. I've saved us plenty of time. You should praise me. Go on." Marcelle commanded, crossing her arms. Neva rolled her eyes, as Ada scoffed.
"Alright genius, how long until the sleep bomb goes away? There's no wind underground." Marcelle's face distorted as her mouth formed silent objections.
"It still would have been faster than fighting them!" Marcelle finally said. "Granted I would have loved to see you struggle!"
"Me? I would have mopped the floor with them!" Ada retorted. Neva moved towards the basement. A burning torch illuminated the sleeping guards. Hannah seemed entirely unperturbed as she looked up at Neva.
"Whatever you say." Marcelle scoffed.
A sudden gust of violent whipping wind drew the gas from the tunnel. The gray smoke of the sleeping gas vanished from the mouth of the tunnel. Ada and Marcelle blinked in confusion as they looked into the tunnel. Hannah's voice broke the silence.
"There. Let us proceed. How you escaped astounds me."
"Yeah, yeah. Follow the wight into the dark tunnels. Come on girls, we're making some bad decisions tonight." Neva said with a grimace. Her scars twisted along her face as she looked down at the powerful undead.
Ada went down the stairs first. Neva and Marcelle followed behind. In the basement, a singular tunnel extended down into the earth. A torch burned on the wall next to the entrance. The tunnel was only wide enough for one person. With some effort, two people could turn sideways and pass by another. Ada grabbed the sputtering torch off the wall. Stepping over the sleeping beastkin, Neva took the lead as they moved down the dark winding tunnel deeper into the kidnapper's hideout.