Almost all locations feature decorative sheds with sealed doors. Ocasionally, the decorative shed gets replaced with a cage or shed with interactive doors that, once opened, cannot be closed again. See below.
Types of cages and sheds[]
Bear cage[]
This cage contains a captured bear. Getting near the closed cage won't incite a reaction, but opening it will free the bear inside, which will proceed to attack the player and any enemies they spot, like regular wild bears.
A bear's cage is one of the items players can buy and set in their garden.
Barbarian shed[]
Identifiable by a pale door with a small slot at eye level, these sheds hide groups of barbarians. Opening them will cause a seemingly endless amount of barbarians to pop out and attack the player and other NPCs. The same penalties as being spotted by regular barbarians apply, including being counted as witnesses in the mission score. Opening these sheds is counterproductive to finishing a mission with a high score, but you may do so for fun or to farm alchemy ingredients by killing barbarians.
Hostage cage[]
Only seen during "Rescue" missions. These cages are similar in appearance to bear cages, only they contain your mission targets instead. Getting near them will cause the hostages to scream for help (this doesn't seem to alert enemies), while opening them will free the hostage who will proceed to follow the player as an ally.