"Sometimes, things just lined up the right way and what was supposed to be a tough job ended up being far easier than you'd expect. Don't go around hoping for that to happen all the time though. That just gets your dumb ass killed most of the time. Just take them as they come." - Garron Fletcher-Weiss, retired veteran mercenary.

"You… surrender?" asked Elfriede with some doubt creeping into her voice. The logical part of her screamed to be wary of a trap, yet at the same time, all those men and women before her had disarmed themselves and raised their hands. Two of Nina's people were already collecting their spears to be brought to those defending the stairs. "How do I know this isn't just some trick?"

"Look… lady. I've seen with my own eyes what you can do back in Fort Ascher. We wouldn't stand a chance even with just you against us," said the man who seemed in command after he gave a long, resigned sigh. "You can do whatever you want with me. Just… Please let my people live. They deserve better than this bullshit."

"They're clear," reported Nina to her, her tone similarly one full of unasked questions. Her people had just finished gathering the dropped weapons and were hauling it over to the team that held the stairwell. Nina had told nearly half of their group to head there and help reinforce their defenses. "They've really disarmed themselves, even down to the small blades we usually kept hidden. It's a bit early to say so… but they might mean it."

"All right then. I'll take your surrender for now. Your fates aren't up for me to decide, so we'll get to that later," said Elfriede bluntly. Their group was left with herself, Nina, Nicole, and two of Nina's thugs. "One of you will lead us to the drawbridge's mechanism. The rest stay here."

"I will do it. All of you, stay here and behave yourselves," said the man who had called the shots so far.

Elfriede noticed how several of the soldiers there changed their expression at his words, one of… unwillingness perhaps? Maybe resignation too. They had made the same expression when the man had asked her to do "whatever she wanted" with him earlier. Apparently a commander held in high regard by his men, then.

He led her and Nina - they had left Nicole and the other two to watch the rest - through a locked door at the other end of the room. It led to a short corridor with another door on its end, that one unlocked. A simple setup which allowed defenders inside the room to hold it as a chokepoint as needed.

The man motioned for them to be quiet as he tried to open the door silently. Inside the room were many contraptions of heavy chains and levers, that Elfriede could not make heads or tails on. Not just that, but she also sensed three people inside the room.

One of them was a bearded man in finer armor than she had seen any of the guards or soldiers wore. Next to him, were two young women in the same uniform as what the local soldiers wore. Elfriede had not missed the frown of disgust on the two women's faces, their ruffled tunics, nor how the man's hands was hungrily groping one of the women's chest under her clothes.

Elfriede noticed the man turn their way as he heard them enter, how his face started to contort with outrage. She also noticed the man with her make a slow, deliberate motion with his thumb across his neck, as well as the surprised, questioning looks on the young women when they saw the gesture. Then he nodded.

"What in the God-King's name gave you the gall to interrupt- Aaaaaaaaagh- *gurgle*" said the bearded man in outrage before his shout turned into a pained cry, then to a wet, throaty gurgle.

The woman who had frowned in disgust behind him had silently drawn her dagger and plunged it between the seams of his armor. Right into his kidney, if Elfriede guessed right. Then the woman he was groping also drew her dagger and stabbed it through his throat from the side, until its point came out the other side.

As the man dropped to the ground and clutched his profusely bleeding throat, the girl who had stabbed him from behind kicked him hard right between his legs, while her friend, while shirt was torn because the man's bracer caught on it while he fell, spat on his face.

"Fucking asshole," she had said.

Then both women turned towards Elfriede and Nina with questioning eyes. The man with them ordered them to lay down their weapons and stand to the side. Both women obeyed the order reluctantly, while the man walked towards the contraptions and worked on several levers.

Almost immediately, Elfriede could hear the sound of chains being drawn in by the mechanisms. Another pair of chains were instead released from where they were anchored. She assumed those were the ones that held the drawbridge in place.

After a few minutes, the rattling of the chains finally ceased, and silence once again reigned inside the room. The man looked towards her with a complicated expression, while the two women who raised their hands on the side seemed full of questions.

"There, the drawbridge's down, and the portcullis are opened. They won't be able to close them again unless they get in here," said the man with another resigned sigh.

"Lars? What the hell is going on?" asked one of the girls from the side, the one with the torn shirt, Elfriede noticed, as she raised one arm and used the other to hold her torn tunic together.

"Pretty much what it seemed like, Meryl," said the man, now identified as Lars. "These ladies are most likely affiliated with that army just outside town. I've just surrendered our whole unit to them. So please, behave yourselves for the meantime."

"Why are you doing this?" asked Nina from the side, now full of curiosity. "I can get wanting to live. This shithole of a kingdom ain't worth dying for and all… but you've gone above that already."

"It's precisely that. This shithole isn't worth dying for. Too many of my friends had died already for the fucking lies those priests and nobles spout everyday," said Lars, with a dejected sigh. His words were quite emotional, enough that Elfriede decided that the man was either genuine, or was a very good actor. "I've had enough. Might as well throw my lot with the 'infidels' if it meant a possibly better life for them."

"One question… Lars, wasn't it?" asked Elfriede at last. Now that they had the drawbridge down, all they had to do was hold until their reinforcements arrived. With Salicia and Grünhildr holding the stairwell, she had little doubt they would hold without issue. "You said for us to do whatever we like to you. Why would we want to do that?"

"Oh right. Of course you didn't know," sighed Lars as if he lamented his life. "I had orchestrated the ambushes, and the surprise attack against Fort Ascher. I had assumed your people would want a pound of flesh from me for that."