"Keep your guns on them!" Kaiden snapped loudly, his voice cutting through the air like a cleaver. No one save he or Sabatine had actually brought guns, but his command would either confuse or frighten the beaten watchmen and either worked for him. He held his own pistol right at the speaking fellow's eye, his face professionally unreadable. The telltale click of pulling the hammer back audible, casting fear in the guard's eyes. The fact that small psychological trick actually worked when it didn't make his semi-automatic pistol any more deadly showed these were just hired toughs with no forethought or strategy. Or at least this one was. 

"How many men are up there?" Kaiden asked, edging his gun upwards a fraction of an inch to give off the impression he was fixing his aim to kill him soundlessly. "How many men!?" 

"Uh! Uhm over a dozen I think? N-Not all together. They're spread out over the entire mansion." Kaiden could see him sweating. "You'll only run into one or two if any at all! I swear, please god don't kill me..." 

"We won't kill you." The Lieutenant said softly, pausing for effect. "We'll do far worse if you or your friends try anything. Caperelli! You and Higgs stay down here with our new friends. In fact, everyone stay down here except for the Lieutenant and I. If we're not back shortly, you can torture them or use them to negotiate, your choice. Just be efficient with the resources you have." 

"And you think you're going up without me?" Tilda interjected. 

Kaiden spun on her. "Yes, this isn't a story. This is one of our men captured. If you want details I can tell you later. Higgs, make sure she stays down here, and if she gets by you then mark down I will no longer require her services." 

Tilda's jaw dropped, but Kaiden could tell after a moment he wasn't being unnecessarily mean, only thorough. Everyone here would die for Otis if it came to that, and they simply did not want it to come to that. Kaiden slid the hammer back and nodded for Sabatine to follow, stepping over a prone and bruised thug into the corridor, finding the stairway in a matter of moments. He hoped the door wasn't a particularly loud one. The railing was basic, made of local timber and scratched from years of use. If he had to guess, they had made this lower area as a basement before they even realized the gas was inhabiting the mountain around them. He wondered how much there was left, and after awhile if he could capitalize on the business.