111 The Trap - Part 2

Trapped.

Stuck in a manor that didn't have much going for it aside from the furniture having the thickest layers of dust Olivia had ever seen.

The windows were boarded up from the outside, and after a check of the doors, they too were locked.

Now, with Olivia's strength, none of this should have mattered. But when trying to push open the back door and the boards after breaking the glass, they hardly moved. She didn't know what they had done, but it was like trying to push against a massive rock. Even her strength had limits.

The wood was very thick, but that in and of itself shouldn't have been enough. It's likely that, knowing she has the strength of an Orc, they did something outside to strengthen the boards and the doors.

"None of them are budging. Just what did they do to make them so sturdy."

"Are you sure it is not because it has a sturdy lock," Ameril said as she headed towards the door at the rear of the manor.

Olivia was about to say how even if that was the case, it shouldn't have held up against her strength, but when she thought about it, it was a possibility. Like the boards on the windows, the doors were thick as well. Even thicker if anything. With how paranoid and angry the previous chief had been it is possible that he beefed up security in this place, which could mean having more than a simple lock. That would have explained the boards as well, but being on the outside didn't make sense.

Well, it did seem like he was losing him mind as well, that may have been another explanation.

Back to the doors, with how thick it is, there could be some more complex locking system inside it. It probably wouldn't take much, metal bars that stretched through the door and then entered the frame and the wall.

None of them could recall seeing something like that when they entered the place, but none were really looking for it. They had been too focused on being repulsed by the chief's advances.

Ameril got to work, pulling out her lock-picking set.

She cracked her fingers, and then slowly ran them across her tools as she eyed the keyhole of the door.

"Ah, you should work."

'She really looks like she knows what she's doing. She must have really got into it from all her escape attempts. You easily see she is loving this.'

And Olivia was right. Where she normally had a demure smile on her face, or the smile she sometimes showed her and the group when trying new things, she now had a rather odd grin as she brought her tools up to the keyhole.

'It's actually kind of freaking me out.'

To see someone who was nobility enjoy picking locks as if she was having the time of her life trapped in this dilapidated manor was just…strange.

Ameril shifted and rotated her lock-picking tools around inside the keyhole, focusing completely on what she was doing. The same could be said for the rest of the group who were watching her with rapt attention to see if she could do it.

Then all of a sudden, a click could be heard.

"There we go. Lock…picked."

Ameril giggled to herself a little after that, which just added to the oddness a little. But as soon as she was done and her tools went into her bag, she stood up and was the same prim and proper lady that she was before.

"Was she like that when you were searching the rooms," Olivia whispered to Lyrika.

"Yes, it was…weird."

Olivia just nodded as Ameril turned to her and stepped to the side to allow her through to try the door again.

"Okay, let's try it again."

Olivia turned the door handle, but like before the door did not budge. So, using all her strength, she pushed and slammed against the door to knock it down.

But alas…it remained where it was.

"Looks like it wasn't the lock."

The look on Ameril's face clearly showed she was disappointed, but it was good that they had checked, as it could have been that simple.

…

Next up to the table was Lyrika, who looked at the door as if studying its weak points.

As she was doing this, Ameril, Kathleen and Beatrix were wandering around the house, looking for any other ways out of the place as well as anything that could be useful to do so.

"Why don't we take it off its hinges?"

'Ah, then if there is something pushing against it on the outside, we could just pull it inside instead.'

So that was the next plan, which first meant they needed something to pry the nails out of the massive hinges that spanned most of the door.

"We cannot find any other ways out of this manor. We even ventured into the basement, but it was just a dead end." Ameril, Kathleen and Beatrix, came back to the rest of them with disappointed looks on their faces. But, while they couldn't find a way out, they did bring back supplies that could be useful.

Placing all that they had found on a nearby table, Olivia could see some rope, a tinderbox, a couple of weapons and some other bits and bobs. It was the weapons that Olivia was interested in, as one of them was a sickle, like what a few of the villagers had outside.

'Might have been one of the servants or something.'

It was curved and had a good edge to it, but it wasn't flimsy or weak. It looked like the perfect implement to wrap around a few nails to pry them out.

Before she could grab it, Lyrika reached over and took hold of the tool, seemingly having the same idea as her. She then turned to the door and slid it over one of the nails that was poking out slightly. Then with little to no effort, Lyrika took hold of the sickle and wrenched the nail out of its hole.

For others, a bit more roughness was needed. The nails were too embedded to just get the sickle behind them, so some prying of the wood around them was needed before it was possible.

A few nails in, Ameril had managed to find another blade, much smaller than the sickle but similar in shape, which she handed to Olivia who then got to work taking out some of the others.

With her strength added into the mix, they were able to pull all of the nails out, and the stretching hinges just swung away from the door.

They were still embedded into the frame, but it no longer held the door, so with a simple pull of the handle it would just…

"Huh."

'…It's still not moving."

Again, using her strength to the fullest, she pulled at the door. It did budge slightly when she did that, but it was nowhere near what they needed it to do.

"Just what did they do to this door."

…

"Magic."

The group hearing this, turned to the one who had spoken, finding Philly staring at the door and not at the book she usually carried. It would seem that all it took to stop her from writing was being trapped with the threat of imminent death. Good to know.

"I'm sure that either magic or some magical-based alchemical mixture has been applied to the wood," Philly stated matter-of-factly with her arms crossed. "It's the only explanation."

Well, it was a possibility. There was nothing to say the idea was worse or better than the other two, so Olivia let Philly have at it.

By now, the manor had been thoroughly searched and raided. They were unable to find any other way to exit the place, but they managed to loot the place of a few valuable items that they had found. A couple of pica pouches were hidden, as well as some jewellery.

Some people would call it theft…Olivia saw it more as compensation for being put in this position.

Philly got to work inspecting the door, looking all along it, trying to find…whatever she was looking for. She wrote a few things down, and everyone else could only watch and wonder what she was going to do.

She moved over to the table of loot and had a gander before her eyes spotted a couple of items that she took.

One of the items was a pouch of spices that Beatrix had brought over. Olivia wondered why such a thing was valuable, but everyone's eyes lit up when they saw it. It turns out spices are more native to the Elven kingdom, and you had to pay quite a lot of coin in order to get them. They were used sparingly, so a pouch could last a long while, and they had managed to find two, that would definitely improve their meals going forward.

The other time that she took was one of the knives that had been lying around. Rather than use it for its intended purpose, she ended up using her own blade to scrape metal from the blade.

'What is she doing?'

She then jumped to her potion pouch and pulled out a small bottle, to which she added these two ingredients. She then gave it a quick shake, which caused the colour to change from the blue that it was originally to a nasty-looking green.

"This should do it."

Before anyone could say anything else, Philly opened up the bottle and just splashed it against the door, doing it several times to practically cover the whole thing.

Lyrika headed out of the kitchen as soon as she did that, and it wasn't long before Olivia too figured out why. The smell of…whatever that potion was, mixing with the wood of the door was just atrocious. How Philly was even able to stand next to it to coat the door, she did not know.

But before long it was done. Philly stood back…and then fell backwards having inhaled too much of the horrible brew. Olivia quickly moved to catch her.

"Okay, let's get you out of this room."

Philly could only slightly nod her head at that, as Olivia took her to where Lyrika was hiding.

…

Then they played the waiting game.

It wasn't a very fun game.

Philly said that the smell would dissipate after a while, so before any of them could even attempt to try the door again, they had to wait it out. They had the time, as it wasn't even morning yet.

They spent their time mostly in silence. A few of them spoke up at times, trying to start a conversation, but it wasn't really the fun chatty mood, so didn't happen.

But before it could go on for too long, Lyrika and Philly gave the all-clear, meaning that it was safe to re-enter the room.

For the fourth time, Olivia stood before the door. If this didn't work, what was the plan next? Try and hack at it with a sword or knife.

But as she reached the door handle, and pressed her weight into it, she felt the door creek. It strained against the pressure, and this time she could feel it buckling.

The last vestiges of whatever had been keeping it in place were waning, and the door was coming down. Freedom was in their sights.

All they had to do now was to get past the angry villagers, guards and the chief.