[center][h1]The Beast[/h1] Andri, and Elizabeth.[/center]

Elizabeth  looked calmly at the giant she was partnered with, and shrugged. She  wondered how he worked in battle, given his stature. [color=magenta]"Okay big guy,  let's get to work."[/color] She smiled at him, and walked into the old church.  It stank, like death itself, and she was not prepared for that. She  almost gagged, before realizing how childish it would make her appear.  [color=magenta]"Okay, Andri, let's go upstairs and check it out."[/color] She pointed at the  broken stairs, and looked around for something they could use as a  makeshift bridge. Finding a plank of discarded, and rotten looking wood,  she sighed. [color=magenta]"I guess that's our bridge, help me move it."[/color]

There  were like a myriad of questions roaming in Andri's mind, but pretty  much all of them could be summarized with no more than six words: What  the hell was going on ? He hadn't forgotten about those... stranges  occurrences... in the tavern, and if he'd still been in the military he  would probably find himself in front of a disgruntled, high ranking  officer interrogating him as a witness. But this wasn't Seren's Folley,  and the smell that was literally blowing into his face told him that  this wasn't the appropriate place to ask non essential questions.  Essential - that would be sheer survival in here he felt. He noticed Liz  smiling at him while entering the church. The place didn't look as  ruined as he had it expected to be, but the stairs were gone. "I hope  this thing won't break when I put my feet on it." he commented on the  object Elizabeth had found before he could, then helped lifting it and  moving it into place. "I've got a rope and a grapple with me, just in  case we need to come over other obstacles."

Elizabeth  was appreciative of his preparations, and she nodded as he brought up  his rope and grapple. [color=magenta]"It shouldn't be too flimsy. I'm sure you can walk  on it, and if not we'll find another way to get you across."[/color] She took a  deep breath-immediately regretting it because of the smell-and took her  first step onto the board. It creaked beneath her weight, and she bit  her lip, unsure if her gigantic companion could make it across. [color=magenta]"I don't  know about this Andri, we may have to find another way for you to get  up. I'm going to go across though."[/color] She carried on, taking light steps. 

"I'll  try it. It won't be such a long drop down if it breaks." He didn't add  it to his words, but he felt that it could be wise to utilize any  possibility to save time. Carefully he placed his right foot onto the  wooden board and he could just feel it sag more and more with every step  he took. But it was uneven, and he took his time to just stand still on  it and feel which was the right direction where the board would be at  its strongest. Maybe it looked as if he was evading an invisible enemy -  or just being drunk again, vermiculating. Finally, he made it and had  to supress a loud cough as the concentration of soot that had  accumulated over the years was increasing up here. "Okay, let's go on."

Elizabeth  watched with increasing worry as he walked over, his steps strange, he  looked as if he was drunk. She let out an audible sigh as he made it  over, glad she didn't have to go rescuing him. [color=magenta]"Good job, Andri."[/color] she  said, smiling until she saw his face as he suppressed a cough. [color=magenta]"Do you  need some water? I have plenty, don't want you dying on me."[/color] She  laughed, but it was filled with actual concern. She needed him in peak  condition, or they would be a lost cause facing the undead. She pulled  her knapsack off of one of her shoulders, offering it up to him.

"No,  no, thanks. It was just a plume of dust I've hit." His head was more  closer to the domed ceiling where all of the dirt had deposited, thereby  staining the beautiful ceiling frescoes. "Over the years I've learned to  feel the ground I'm standing on. Very important thing. And speaking of  it..." He made a gesture with his flat hand, indicating a direction. "It  is just me or does the floor lean downwards a tiny bit ?" He seesawed,  using gravity as his reference for what was a straight downward  direction here.

Elizabeth  hadn't noticed it before, but when she looked down, she saw that there  was in fact a dip in the floor. [color=magenta]"It may just be unstable, we should move  on before it collapses."[/color] she took a few steps backwards, wary of the floor. She poked at spots with her foot, to see if it was soft or  unsafe. [color=magenta]"I think, the sooner we investigate, the better. Then we can  move on downstairs and check in with the others."[/color]

"You're  right." he answered and mumbled in a low voice "Sometimes I really hate  it being a giant. If there's any weak spot in the floor and I hit it...  that'll be fun." So he did what Liz did and started poking at spots  looking abnormal. They made progress however and the next door wasn't  far. Even before going through the Gothic arch, Andri noticed that there  was a flow of fresh, cold air coming out of it. The room was small, but  there was a bed and some other shabby furniture in it so it obviously  wasn't just a storeroom. The assassin stepped over to the large, broken  window, and looked down. "Ouch. " He commented on the damage that could  be seen on the cathedral's roof and looking further down at on of the  spots that were rather hidden behind bushes when one was standing  outside he saw a crushed young man. "Something powerful must've thrown  him right out of the building." he diagnosed the situation and quickly  stepped away from the hole in the wall.

Elizabeth  walked into the room with Andri, her weapon prepped at her side. She  could feel the fresh air, and rushed towards the window, breathing in  deeply. After a small glance down at the man that had been tossed  through the glass, she blanched, and stopped taking in the fresh air.  [color=magenta]"This entire place...it's...tainted. Even the fresh air, it's all full  of death."[/color] Her tone was solemn, this place was really weighing down on  her. "Do you think it's still around? In another room maybe?" She asked,  referencing the beast that had thrown that poor boy out the window. 

"We  better assume j..." He never managed to finish his words. There was a  deafening bang coming from... Andri looked around, confused. Then he saw  the fluctuation of that little amount of light that was coming through  the narrow gaps in the wooden ceiling. Apparently, thus far up here, the  ceiling and the floor of the room above were one and the same, rather  thin layer of wooden boards - and something hammered onto them either  with its bare fists or - which was more likely - with something made out  of metal. "There has to be another staircase somewhere. We go up or  wait until it comes down ?"

Elizabeth  tensed as she heard the fists pounding above them, glancing at Andri to  see if he had heard it as well. [color=magenta]"I think we should go up and get the  drop on it, we can't give it the chance to get to us first."[/color] With her  whip ready in her hand, she started to silently creep out of the room.  She waited patiently for Andri, encouraging him to take his time, she  didn't want the giant to alert anyone. 

Andri  glanced at the unusual weapon while slowly moving forward. "In case  it's a big monstrosity... don't hesitate to hit it with full force even  if there could be one of my arms coming around from behind its neck."  His view was totally concentrated on the floor and the things they were  approaching since at his weight, one step on the wrong spot would  probably cause a far louder noise than if Liz did it. They quickly found  another staircase, this one in far better shape than the last one, and  they could hear the yet unknown creature screaming as if in a total  frenzy. The assassin got his garrote ready as they silently approached  the door. "Who goes in first ?"

Elizabeth  shivered at the blood curdling screams, goosebumps forming on her arms.  She turned to Andri as he adressed her, and made a bit of room for him  to push through. [color=magenta]"You first, I need a bit of space to get my whip  moving. Don't worry, I'll be right behind you."[/color] Elizabeth crept towards  the door, and when he gave her the signal for 'okay', she slowly turned  the knob. The door creaked, and Elizabeth had no time to curse as she  heard the creature go silent. Through the crack in the doorway, she saw  the grotesque creature, which had turned to face the door. It roared,  and rushed towards Andri.

There  were two basic ways to enter a room with an enemy inside: The fast and  loud one or the slow and silent one. Andri hoped that the latter one  would work out as the creature was still busy bashing the wooden floor.  However that badly lubricated door spoiled the entire plan. The moment  he wanted to rush in he saw the creature already coming for him. Let it  come out and fight it in the hallway ? It could just throw them above  the balustrade, so the room would be it! Andri accelerated for what was  just doomed to be a head-on collision, ramming his foot into the  creature's big belly. The maneuver had some effect but this... thing...  had just been thrown back and recovered quickly. The assassin got out of  its way to let Elizabeth start her attack. He would then try to go  around and come from behind.

Elizabeth  rushed in behind Andri, using his distraction to start spinning her  whip. It gained momentum, moving so fast it was a blur to the untrained  eye. With a flick of her wrist, she snapped the dart of her whip,  sending it flying towards the creature. The dart was at the end of it's  range, and it simply scratched the chest of the creature, drawing a thin  line of blood that looked like tar. With a heavy hiss, the creature  recoiled for an instant, before charging at Elizabeth. Elizabeth quickly  rolled to avoid its charge, folding her chain whip so that the  sharpened dart was held in her hand like a dagger. It charged for her  again, but this time she was ready to take it head on.

This  was so disgusting. The decay literally leaked out of this beefy entity  of death. Andri now had to fight not only the beast, but the strong urge  to puke right away. This wouldn't have anything to do with  assassination, this would be just ugly he thought. At least his body,  including his hands, was covered in leather clothing, so there was a  very slim chance that he would get out of this without being infected  with whatever diseases this thing was bringing along. He couldn't follow  the whip's movement, it was just too fast for him. He just saw a volume  of air that was blurrily mixed with something that appeared to be a  chain. As the creature charged for her, he followed. He really would  have liked to give that thing a kick into the neck at full speed, but  that could unintentionally thrust it closer to Liz, killing the precious  space between her and it. He put the garrote back into the pocket and  instead went for the array of throwing daggers. This would be far less  effective, but with that thing charging around all the time he would  have to wait for an opportunity to start strangling it.

Elizabeth  had braced herself for impact, but when the beast hit her, she was  pushed back against the wall because of the force. With a grunt, she  plunged her dart into the beast's abdomen. It squealed, and its blood  dripped onto her hands, but it didn't fall. [i]I'm screwed[/i], she  thought, as the beast pushed her against the wall. It was enraged, and  although Elizabeth continued to twist her dart into it's chest, it  didn't seem to be having much of an effect. The creatures mangled claws  pushed into her shoulders, and Elizabeth screamed in pain. [color=magenta]"Andri! Do  something!"[/color] she cried, twisting desperately to escape the beast's grasp.

In  horror, Andri had to watch what happened. His daggers indeed did not  have that much of an effect. In fact, they only seemed to make this  thing even more infuriated. And it was his fault... Now he charged,  coming in as laterally as the limited width of the room allowed him to  do. Having only three more steps to go, he jumped, kicking the creature  from the side at its shoulder in an attempt to get its attention  immediately. There was a cracking sound, but apart from its left arm now  dangling from its massive body, the beast was far from backing down.  Andri's face now was distorted by pure aggression. He pulled out the  garrote again and got it over the beast's head. Instead of pulling with  his arms, he just gripped the handles tightly while pushing his foot  against the enemy's back in a forward and downward direction. It almost  looked as if he wanted to start climbing a vertical wall with the aid of  a rope thrown over its top. There was a choking sound and the creature  finally let go of Liz. However, now it started trying to get rid of him,  shaking violently. It turned its head, and turned it, and turned it...  Its current state of decay seemed to have loosened enough tendons so  that it could move it into rather unnatural angles, far enough to sink  its rotting teeth into Andri's glove. He screamed, not even knowing if  the bite was actually penetrating the leather or just squashing the back  of his hand. He had to continue this as long as he could, buy as much  time he could... The creature now wasn't able to look forward and  thereby entirely occupied by him.

Elizabeth  screamed as the claws were torn from her shoulders, she knew she would  feel the full force of the pain whenever the adrenaline rush calmed  down, so she would have to takw advantage of the situation now. She  watched in horror as the beast's head turned all the way around, decay  leaking from the loose tendons. The sight made her want to vomit, but  she knew it was her only chance to do something. With a silent grunt,  she lurched forwards, her feet unsteady. Though the beast's head was  already starting to revolve back around to look at her, it didn't have  any time to react when Liz stabbed her dart between the loose skin of  it's neck. Using her remaining strength, she pulled upwards, hopefully  snapping it's brittle spinal cord. The beast screamed in pain, but she  assumed she had been successful as the screech turned into a gurgle. With  a victorious smile, Elizabeth dropped to the floor next to the  creature. With blood dripping from her shoulder wounds, she managed a  tired sentence.[color=magenta]"I will never deal with necromancers ever  again. Now come over here and patch me up, please."[/color]

It  was dead. Dead again. Finally. Andri could feel a liquid accumulate  between his skin and his left glove - he was sure that this wasn't sweat  alone. It felt so warm and sticky. He could still move all of the  fingers, though not as strong as he was used to. Attempting to ignore  the pain for the moment, he kneeled down in front of Elizabeth. "Damnit!  I'll see what I can do." Speaking this, he shoved the upper piece of  his leather armor upwards so he could rip out a strip from the cloth he  was wearing below it. These years of duty in the conventional forces did  pay off right now as he had received very basic medical training as  just every soldier did - injuries like these were prone to happen in the  field and the experts weren't always available in time. Just like now.  The bandage was very makeshift, but it would keep the blood loss at bay,  at least for a while. He tried to limit the force he applied when  wrapping the cloth strips around her shoulders, but he couldn't do  entirely without it. "Can you walk ?"

Elizabeth  closed her eyes as he wrapped her shoulders, allowing her head to  throb. She was tired, and all she wanted was sleep. With a sigh, she  opened her eyes as he asked her if she could walk. [color=magenta]"I can  walk, it's just a shoulder wound. I can't believe I have to get my  armor fixed, again. Do you know how expensive the shoulders  are?"[/color] She laughed, but it was half-hearted. She attempted to  pull herself up without using her arms, finaly she had to give in and  ask for help. [color=magenta]"Do you mind helping a poor lady?"[/color]  she asked, feeling a bit less tired. They had work to do, and she  couldn't leave her partner alone, no matter how much she wanted to go to  bed right then and there. [color=magenta]"I have no clue how I'll swing  my whip, I wish he had just got me in the face. I would rather have my  shoulder blades."[/color]

Andri  looked at her. "If that thing had gotten me or you in the face, me or  you probably would be dead right now." As it likely wouldn't do good if  he helped her to stand up by pulling at her arms, he wrapped his still  healthy right arm carefully around her upper body, trying not to touch  areas a man had not to touch unless given permission. Then he started  lifting himself and her slowly before releasing his arm. The assassin  just had to pull off his left glove now, and the moment he did so a  chunk of blood splashed onto the floor. He immediately ripped off  another small strip of cloth and wrapped it around his own hand before  pulling the badly dented glove back on. "I'm afraid this could cause an  ugly infection, let's hope it doesn't start while we're in here."

Elizabeth  tried to help him as much as she could, but she was practically  helpless. She gasped when he revealed his hand to her, and her eyes  flashed with concern. If he didn't get that treated, it would become  infected, and without immediate care he would probably have to have it  amputated. [color=magenta]"Come here, let me see it."[/color] She walked over to him, and  carefully dropped her knapsack from her shoulders. The pain was  excruciating as it rubbed against her shoulders, but she didn't let him  see it. Slowly she dived down and reached into her bag for her  water-skin. [color=magenta]"Let's wash it off, it won't do much without medicine, but it  will help."[/color] She grabbed for his hand and let the water run over it. 

Andri  had to clench his teeth although it was only water. If it had been  alcohol, he likely would have screamed. However it was somewhat  reassuring to see the water wash everything away on top of where his  torn open skin ended. "I should have thought of bringing a considerable  amount of water here with me myself." But he hadn't. He was just so used  to go with what he considered a minimum of additional equipment.  "Thanks." Having noticed how helpless Liz had been when he had lifted  her onto her feet, he said: "If you feel your legs weakening, don't  hesitate to tell me. Mine are still fine and perhaps I could try and  carry you for a while." 

Elizabeth  lamely rubbed his back as she saw him clench his teeth. The water  obviously pained him, but she knew it would feel better if then having  his hand cut off. [color=magenta]"I have some dried beef, would you like some? Be  honest, I brought enough for both of us to have a small ration."[/color] She  stared into his eyes, to see if he would give off any signs of hunger.  She knew they needed to get back to work soon enough, but there was no  point in going back to fighting too early. "I'll be fine, thank you  though. I'm just tired." 

Andri  smiled a bit. "I take the ration." The situation seemed calm at the  moment, so better to eat something now than not being able to do so at a  later stage of their hunt. "I think we should continue to survey the  upper levels before following the others downwards. We might have to go a  long way then but just imagine if that thing had followed us and staged  a surprise attack from behind." He searched for something to sit on as  he could profit from a bit of rest, too. What he found was an old,  ruined table that could be used for that purpose. He offered a large  part of it to Liz.

Elizabeth  went to sit down next to Andri, taking her knapsack with her. She dug  around in it, and took out the dried beef. It was wrapped in parchment  paper, so she unwrapped it and handed Andri three pieces, saving another  three for herself. [color=magenta]"I thought this would be easy, becoming a hunter and  all. My father was rather good at it, so I figured I would take after  him. It turned out to be harder than I thought it would be, but I'm glad  I'm not amazing at it. It makes me work even harder."[/color] She sighed,  closing her eyes. She was glad that they could sit down and relax just  for a moment. Andri wasn't a bad partner, so far.

Andri  placed himself next to her with the desk creaking. "To be honest, this  is my very first hunt without my mentor. I'm basically a rookie.  Something like witches or necromancers isn't included in the military's  textbooks." He took a big bite from the drief beef. "Your style appears  amazing to me. I've never seen something like this before. Did your  father teach you this or did you learn it by yourself ?

[color=magenta]"My  style? Oh...no...I don't really have a style. My father taught me how  to use a chain whip, I'm still horrid at it. You should have seen him in  action, before he settled down. It was like lightning. Striking so  hard, so fast."[/color] Elizabeth reminisced, thinking back to when her father  would spar with the guards at the manor. She strived to be like him, and  was very pleased when Andri said her style amazed him. [color=magenta]"You are a great  fighter, it takes a lot of effort for someone of your stature to sneak  around like you do. Books or no, you work well."[/color] She smiled at him,  nibbling on her beef. 

In  his mind, Andri tried to visually imagine what Elizabeth was describing  to him, but he utterly failed and gave up. He was a bit astonished  about her statement of him being a great fighter. Up to this point, he  had thought of this fight to be a bad mishap on his part as he had not  been able to prevent that creature from almost killing her. He smiled  back, then replied: "I never found out the name of the guy that came up  with the idea of assigning me to the infiltrators. Up to that point I  had been convinced of not being good at any style of fighting. But  then... I don't know what gives me this ability."

Elizabeth  chuckled, feeling great that they could just take the time to relax in  such a horrible situation. [color=magenta]"I think they gave you the right assignment, you handle it well."[/color] She finished her ration, and put the remaining  pieces into her knapsack. With a sigh, she pulled herself up and looked  wearily out of the door. [color=magenta]"We need to finish clearing the upstairs area,  no more sitting around unfortunately. Come on Andri."[/color] She walked out of  the door, and attempted to sneak upstairs.

The assassin didn't waste any time as Elizabeth had summarized the situation perfectly. He collected the throwing knifes still being stuck in the undead creature's back and wiped them. He had no ammunition to waste. Having stepped out of the door and seeing another staircase, he mumbled "How many damn floors does this cathedral have ? It's enormous." He started moving up the stairs. Everytime one of his feet approached the ground he slowed it down dramatically and made sure that he would make contact not only at the slowest possible speed between the sole and the floor, but also without rubbing against it. As he was behind Liz he had the opportunity to look at the way she did it, and it wasn't much different. It appeared that she basically knew how to do it very well, it was a matter of more training. On the next floor, he took a look over the balustrade. "We're very far up here." It seemed they were approaching the roof truss as the next thing that came was a long ladder that lead through a hatch in the ceiling.

Elizabeth was on edge the entire time they crept throughout the upper area of the cathedral. Andri was right, it was gigantic. Soon enough though, they reached the uppermost floor, and she peered thoughtfully at the ladder that led up to the roof. "We can turn back, since there aren't any undead. Or we could try to get up to the roof in our condition, and do a quick scan of the area?" She considered the grapple and rope Andri had brought, and started hashing out a plan using those to pull her up. Then she considered Andri's injured hand, and shook her head. [color=magenta]"I doubt we could manage it. If there's anything up there, we would have to lure it down."[/color]

"I could try to get up there. One hand is still working fine. However it's risky: I'd be alone up there unless we find a way to get you up there as well." He hadn't thought about his rope and grapple yet. His mind was focused on how one could lure any uninvited guests down. "Do you think the beef could work as a bait ?" He paused, then added with a frustrated voice: "Oh no... that would still require one of us to climb and place it there."

[color=magenta]"There's always the grapple, but I doubt you could pull me all the way up with one working hand. Although, that would be an impressive feat."[/color] Elizabeth gazed up into the hatch on the roof, and bit her lip in thought. [color=magenta]"I don't think we can manage it, unfortunately. We can both try going up the ladder on our own, and if that doesn't work out, we stay down here and call our job done."[/color] She looked to Andri, wondering what he would think of the plan. If only they hadn't gotten injured, then they would have completed their job thoroughly, without any afterthought. 

Andri didn't say a word. He stood there, thinking about the plan and staring at a somewhat random direction while donig so. Then his speech sprung back to life: [color=00a99d]"This really doesn't please me, but I think what you said is true."[/color] He looked at the ladder, then gripped the rung firmly with his right hand and bent his left arm around the ladder stringer. His progress was slow, but he did move. If there just wouldn't be another of these vicious monstrosities waiting for them right behind that hatch.

Elizabeth watched as he slowly made his way up, rung by rung. She felt like motivating him, but he would probably take it the wrong way, so she stayed silent. [color=magenta]"Peek at the roof before you're all the way up, so you can come back down as soon as possible."[/color] She suggested, her head rising as he went up further and further. She was impressed by his progress, but she didn't want him to push it at all.

It took a while, but finally Andri's head reached the hatch and he took that last step it required so that he could peek around. The floor was littered with mice droppings, the debris of a few tiles that had come down and the dust of total abandonment. He looked down and informed Liz about the situation as lowly as the distance allowed: [color=00a99d]"It [i]seems[/i] to be quiet up here, but I'll have a closer look."[/color] and he heaved himself through the opening.

"Eenie meenie miney moe," came a croaking voice from down Andri, almost as though coming from the walls themselves. "Catch a tiger by the toe, if it hollars let it go,"  The voice got louder and louder. "My mother told me to pick the very best one," Suddenly a hand with no body reached out and took Andri by the ankle yanking him back into the darkness. "And you are it," 

Elizabeth nodded as Andri went up through the hatch, he said it looked empty, so he should be fine. With a grimace, Elizabeth started up the ladder. She advanced, but it was slow and pathetic at best. "Andri you there? I'm making my way up right now, so hold tight." She waited patiently on the middle rung, for a response or some sort of acknowledgement. There wasn't one, it was silent. [color=magenta]"Andri? Come on now, don't you play with me."[/color] Elizabeth picked up her pace, starting to get concerned. As she made it to the top rung, she peeked inside of the hatch, and saw no sign of Andri. She coughed because of the thick layer of dust in the room, and swore because she had just lost her partner. "Andri?" She asked, her voice low and weak. She didn't want to alert whatever had taken Andri, in her condition she would never survive a fight. 

With a pained grunt, Elizabeth pulled herself up and over the hatch. On the inside, she worked her way onto her feet and looked around, in a wimpy battle stance. She kicked up a ton of dust, causing her to be thrown into a small coughing fit. There was no one in the room, she was alone. Whatever had taken Andri was long gone by now, she looked around for holes that a giant could fit through, but there weren't any. With a bit of panic, she sat down on the floor of the room, not caring how messy it was. 

Suddenly the floor around Liz vanished, sending her tumbling into an unknown room.