Through the small door

Christina had to crouch to get through the doorframe, as if the door wasn’t designed for regular humans. A dwarf or half ling would feel right at home here, she thought to herself as she entered a cramped hallway. The ceiling was quite low and the hall was dim and damp, with only a few small windows here and there to illuminate her way. Her initial hunch of this being a servant’s area seemed correct, if the servants were a smaller race. Not unheard of in some parts of the country, where halflings are sometimes treated like second-class citizens. Regardless of its original purpose, the size of the hallway made Christina’s movements slow and awkward.

Multiple minutes had gone by and Christina had made little progress. Despite her great conditioning, moving at such a low crouch was using muscles that she didn’t know she had, and her thighs were starting to burn. Finally the hallway opened up into some sort of kitchen or prep area, though the ceiling height stayed the same. Surprisingly, the room seemed recently used. Christina noted the lack of dust, a few vegetables and scraps on some of the counters, and a few dimly-lit torches on the walls. Do these monsters have their own hierarchy and servants?

The hairs on the back of her neck started to stand up as she felt an uneasy feeling wash over her. Is someone watching me? she wondered to herself, darting her head around to see if she could spy anyone. A faint noise could be heard, almost from every direction. A high-pitched scratching…no wait, is that laughter? Whatever it was, it was slowly getting louder and closer. Christina tried to scan around for the source, awkwardly trying to twist her waist while still in this crouched position.