Stairs creaked, especially old ones. Jagred had found the sound adoring before, as it reminded him of the house he grew up in, but now in this particular setting, it was a nuisance. He frowned as he descended the steps, keeping his foot as light as possible. However, the wooden panels groaned just the same, and he feared for his cover. Fortunately, no corpses appeared to be waiting around at the foot of the stairs, else they would have come running by now. Then where was the noise from earlier? Hopefully from somewhere else in the building, as stairs were often not ideal fighting positions. Awful footholds, not to mention the awkward firing angel. 

 Just as he was reaching the turn in the stairwell, Jagred heard another creak. He stopped dead in his track. That was not his. He only got time to aim the crossbow straight ahead when a loud shout reached his ears. The dead had always been quiet, so this one really took him by surprise, his finger almost pulled the trigger when a figure appeared, carrying a bloody bat, and was most definitely not a corpse. Jagred stopped himself just short of putting a bolt in the newcomer’s ribcage, and once he recognized who she was, he knew he would have regretted it if he had been slower. 

 “Oh, you.”-In response to the young woman’s awkward greetings, Jagred uttered, still haven’t got over his initial shock. Once he realized his weapon was still pointed at her, he lowered his arms, swallowing dry before taking a few steps toward.-“Quite an entrance there. Love the scream.”-His lips formed a half-smiled, but no sarcasm sipped into his voice.