Chapter 252
Upstairs is basically destroyed. Empty bottles and debris everywhere, the door knocked off the hinges and numerous monster bodies on the floor, recently killed, going by the fresh blood.
I don’t hear anything moving nearby, and I don’t smell anything but death, spilled potions and old traces of black witches. I circle the room once, finding that the witch smells all exited the building at about the same time.
[It is safe to come up, but it’s a mess up here.] I send to Karl, who leads everyone else upstairs while I step outside to check for a trail. With as little luck, they headed for Alpha Conway and his pack, the nearest stable settlement. Yes, there their scents are, 5 Black Witches and one child went East towards werewolf territory.
But I also smell another human scent, that leads towards a nearby shed. That structure is demolished now, as if something big smashed through it, but I don’t smell blood, or a human trail leaving.
"Come help me with this debris. I think there’s a shelter under the shed that has a survivor inside." I call softly to the others, trying not to attract attention from any monsters in the vicinity.
In seconds we’ve cleaned enough to see the trap door set in the floor, from which I can smell witch. Not dark magic though, so this might have been a visiting white witch, or a very young one.
"Hello down there. We’re from Arcana, is anyone alive in there?" Karl calls down and a tapping sound answers. I’ll take that as a yes.
We carefully lift the door and shine a flashlight down into what was the witches root cellar. Mason jars of fruits and vegetables line the walls and one very mangled young woman sits in the middle, missing a leg. I don’t think that was recent, there’s no scent of blood coming from her. Every bit of skin I can see is scarred and her black hair is matted and caked in dirt. When she smiles in relief I can see she has no tongue.
What in the world happened here?