"Hey" said the Bakeneko Loranor, moving the tip of her ears.
"What?" asked the Naga.
"I'm surrre now. I hearrd somebody"
"Oh, I already told you, the cassstle isss cursssed."
The Bakeneko unsheated her sword, snifing the air.
"It's faint... but it's there" she said with a whisper to her comrade. The Naga tasted the air with her tongue.
"... yesss.... ghossstsss don't ssssmell" It smelled human... with some floral touches, a bit elven?
"Curses" thought the hidding Priestess of Caocao, disguised as one of the servants of the Oni King. Not always you can stalk monsters, and their damned senses!
She quickly left the shadows.
"Greetings comrades!" she said to the two monster women.
The yokai saw the Kunoichi... it was that half-elf... how was she called? Bah. Anyway, that explained the human smell... but.
"What arrre you doing down therrre?" asked with suspicion the Bakeneko.
"Shift end, I'm here for the change of guard" the disguised Miko quickly said.
"..."
"... The change of guarrrd is alrrready on the Dungeon... and you don't have prisonerrr watch duty" the Bakeneko stared at the Kunoichi half elf... something... she thought something was off... but half-elves and humans are so difficult to difference, if not for the pointy ears...
"IT'SSSS A HUMAN!!!" suddendly exclaimed the Naga, who had been tasting the air.
"What?!!"
"GET HER!!!!"
"Curses" thought the priestess of Caocao, quickly preparing to fight: luckily she was blocking the only way out of the dungeon, so the yokai couldn't want off somebody of her presence. The problem was that she was blocking the only way out of the dungeon, so the monsters will try to get over her!!
"I don't know how you get out of the dungeon!" hissed the Bakeneko. "But once we get you again, I will perrrrsonaly tie you so tight that rrrope and yourrr flesh will become one, Ho-man!!!"
https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca88777 ... QwiFVCaopc
When the door opened, first the villagers couldn't believe it.
"How... how did you do this?" the maidens of the village asked, suprised, as they saw their Yokai guards defeated on the floor of the dungeon.
"It was the Cao's will" said the Miko of the Temple of Caocao, as she unbound the girls. "Hey...where are the men and the elder?" she asked: as she looked over the dungeon, there where only the maidens of the surrounding villages that had been raided by the forces of the Oni King.
"They... they are left out of the castle, in the fields and the mines" said one of the liberated villager woman, who still had her clothes. Others weren't as fortunate. "They don't leave men within the castle walls."
"And not only human men" noted other. "Aside of the Oni King, there it's no yokai men either!"
"So basically he was building himself a big harem" the priestess in disguise pondered.
"I don't know" said other of the liberated maidens of the village, as she rubbed her wrists after having been tied in such uncomfortable positions.
"Why you say that?" asked the Priestess, cutting the ropes of other of the prisoners.
"The one who came always down here was a Kitsune General, called Yumi. A cruel demoness" she said.
Finally, all the women in the dungeon where free... all sixty two of them. They where way more than she expected to find!
"And there must be about one thousand of enslaved humans working outside, in the fields, mines and expanding the Fortress of the Oni King" pointed one of the prisoners... this was way more that a single Miko could handle!
The priestess decided, to try to get the villager women to freedom, and then she will need to go to the near city of Shirokawa, to warn the authorities and try to gather an army to stop the massing forces of the Oni King... but before that, she will need to learn the plan of the king of the ogres, along with his nefarious general, the demoness Yumi...
"But first, we need to take you out there" she said to the villager women.
"How will we leave the prison? There are seals to ward off humans!"
The Miko hadn't noticed them before, but there they where. Really, if they didn't stopped her from coming in, she doubted of their usefulness, but she needed to calm down the maidens.
"I will take care of the seals... for now, I will need you girls to grab the pieces of your clothes you may still have, and wear them. Once you leave the castle, it's a long way to your villages from the mountains of the Oni. There are some sacks of rice in the dungeon, so get that as well, and anything you girls can need for some days of journey...
As well, I would precise some help from you, to tie down and strip the guards!"
"you-you didn't killed them!!" said scared the villagers.
"There was no need. Now, strip and tie them! Grab their weapons, clothes and armors!"
"For what? Just slice their throats" said angry one of the women. The time in captivity and abuse by the guards didn't made her more merciful.
"It's against the teachings of the Cao" the Priestess said. "So please do as I say, and quick!"
The prisoners quickly spreaded over the dungeon, to get anything they could for the jailbreak.
Luckily for the Miko, there was plenty of binding material in the Dungeon... and she could put it in some good use!
"Dear" the Miko said to one of the women, as she picked up the senseless Naga. "That's a Galaw orc you are trying to tie. Some ropes will not do.
Try some chains!"
You ladies have a nice dungeon down there