Under the surface

Hurtelt's dagger quickly passes through the first throat of the closest temporarily incapacitated Plumard, the cut doesn't immediately cause it to bleed due to how clean it was... Once he passes and delivers a few more vital strikes to others of the groups the initial one's throat bursts open and sprays blood everywhere, followed by the others in-order.

Zudite is mesmerized by this efficient means of disposing of them, only coming to when the first one starts bleeding out... He steps forth and thrusts his palm forwards, a thin stone spear extending from the ground and stabbing one of the Plumards in the belly.

Dythi had also approached, killing two Plumards in quick succession with his spear as Tildanird steps around and kills a third.

Etredi cowers behind everyone, frozen at the sudden violence... Keeping an eye on Hurtelt as he expertly kills the enemy.

There's only around ten left as the dazzled Plumard survived come to, immediately leaping at Hurtelt and Tildanird.

Hurtelt cuts one down and casts an Aard at the other charging him, throwing some into the pool of blood.

Tildanird gets bitten on the arm but stabs the offending creature in the face with a silver stake, delivering a brutal kick to another which tries to claw his Achilies Tendon. However, he hadn't noticed one of the Plumards leaping down at him from above...

Luckily Dythi slams his shield into it, knocking it to the floor and pinning it to the ground with his spear, the Vampire screeching and squirming as it tries to escape to attack them further.

The surviving Plumards that'd fallen into the pool of blood struggle to get out, their mangy fur slick with clotted blood slippery enough to stop the from immediately climbing out. Dythi using his spear finishes them off as the others watch...

They all fall to the floor breathing raggedly with the obvious exception of Hurtelt who kicks all the bodies into the pool as the others take a rest.

Hurtelt sighs and sheathes his dagger, "With this the Vampires will probably not notice their dead kin for a while... Plumards are notoriously shameless among them, not uncommonly engaging in cannibalism.

Dythi sighs as he's wrapping Tildanirds arm in bandages, "The plan already needs changing, this isn't where we need to be, or if it is, is too dangerous for us to tread... I mean, we're struggling with these creatures as it is, and they're the weakest Vampires..."

Zudite shakes his head, "No, the mental connect is stronger than ever... We're almost directly under Margarita I think."

Hurtelt "Wouldn't that mean this place is likely under the basement of the Mansion?... Shit. I'd thought just digging a hole into Margarita's friends cell and collected her would be relatively easy, but now it seems we need to go through here..."

Dythi "I don't think we have a choice..."

Tildanird "Guys... I'm bleeding, I don't think we can get through here like this..." he mutters with a solemn look, guilty that his injury would likely cause their rescue to fail.

Hurtelt shakes his head, "You stupid? Looks at that." he says gesturing towards the stream of blood. "That's human blood, with this smelling up the place the Vampires wouldn't bat an eye at you."

Tildanird slowly nods and smiles, "Thanks... Heh, bat, nice one."

Zudite "How're we going to go through complete darkness though? The Vampires may not need light, but we do!"

Hurtelt pulls ou a vial from the bag on his hip, "See this? This is a Cat potion, it'll allow me to see, you guys follow behind me and I'll lead."

Etredi "W-why don't you just let us drink that too!?" she asks, stuttering slightly from fear.

Hurtelt "Have you listened to nothing I've said in the past? Witcher potions will kill regular people a hundred times over, the toxins are way too much for you... There're even potions that are too much for Vampires." he says, patting his bag.

Dythi nods, "Well, we don't really have any other option, lead on Hurtelt, I place my trust in you." he says.

Hurtelt nods, downing the vial in one go and shaking at black veins becoming apparent on his face and body, his skin becoming pale and clammy as he eyes get brighter and more cat-like than they were previously. "Alright, Zudite, hold onto the back of my clothes, the others do the same in a line... Don't make any loud sounds, or talk above a whisper. Got it?"

They nod and do as he says, Zudite dispelling the light spell as they begin following Hurtelt as he leads them up the stairs and through the exit.

*Cork*

Hurtelt downs another potion as they walk, groaning in pain as the toxins invade his body... Fortunately, the effects of the Blizzard potion are worth the pain, his reflexes, and eyesight becoming much sharper.

They slowly walk through the hallway, ignoring the side rooms and instead following the grove in the ground that flows with blood... The Witcher can hear Etredi trembling from behind, the strange monstrous sounds of Vampires coming from all around them as the slowly make their way through the ruins.

The more they walk, the more apparent screams of pain and loud pleading for mercy can be heard. Eventually the group exit the hallway and enter a large cavern, Hurtelt stopping abrubtly as he looks up, mouth agape at the scene laid out before him.

A huge stone monolith sits in the middle of the clearing with numerous chains hanging off of it, cages hang at the end of them with people sitting inside, numerous cuts covered in what Hurtelt could only imagine to be an anti-coagulant substance. The wounds bleed profusely, dripping down into large stone outcroppings which gathers all the blood into grooves that flow down to the ground.

Hurtelt could spot a few human-looking people with goblets in their hands, collecting fresh blood from the grooves and imbibing from them.