Releasing an arrow which swiftly found its mark in the right eye socket of a zombie, Sashura quickly drew another of her dwindling quiver and she took aim at another of the undead. A zombie fell as Franz Weiss pulverized the head of one with his cudgel and a series of gunshots rang out as Wilhelm fired off a volley from his repeater rifle. There was just no end to these things, grimly thought the Kislevite as she shot another zombie through the forehead.

The zombies poured into the store in a tide with arms outstretched as each of the undead sought to bring down one of the survivors and devour their still warm flesh. Inch by inch, Sashura and the Imperials were being pushed back as they were constantly forced to take steps back for the zombies at the back kept on the pushing the ones in front of them. Soon they were forced to climb up a staircase leading to the second floor with Sashura being the first to go and followed by the Road Warden and then the Handgunner with Franz continuously bashing in the skulls of the dead with his bloodied cudgel.

At the top of the staircase by a railing which overlooked the hallway where the front door was, Sashura was quick to take aim and loose another arrow which killed a zombie. Muttering a curse in her native tongue, she felt as if she was hardly doing much again the undead horde and with her arrows now running low, she was quick to switch to her Shaska. Franz was quick to ascend the staircase after the other two Imperials made it to the top with both of them also running dangerously low on both shot and powder.

Zombies gave chase towards them and Sashura was quick to grab the writer by the arm and she pulled him up while thrusting her sword forwards to stab a zombie in the mouth. The undead creature seemed hardly bothered as it tried to grab the Kislevite with its mouth further sliding into the blade. With a hiss of disgust, the sell-sword proceeded to deliver a sharp kick which knocked the zombie down the stairs and it knocked down the one behind it and the other behind that.

Creating a bit of space for themselves at the least, Sashura then drew her dagger while readying for the dead to come at them.

'This way!' shouted Rickert Grim as he fired his pistol at the ascending undead while pointing down a hallway with a broken window at the end of the hall.

'You all first!' shouted Sashura as swept her Shaska to the side and buried the blade into the head of a zombie. The Imperials looked about ready to argue but one very serious look from the Kislevite made it clear that there would be no arguments. Focusing back on the dead as she heard the sounds of their feet stepping upon the floorboards, Sashura then cut off the hand of another zombie which was about to grab her foot.

Not having time to finish off the zombie, the sell-sword then began to sprint towards the end of the hallway where the loud crash of glass shattering sounded. Sheathing her blades as she ran, Sashura saw her companions take turns jump out of from the window. The Kislevite then followed without giving it much thought to just how insane doing such an act was and she felt a brief sense of weightlessness before quickly falling below.

Pushed out of the front door of the blockhouse, Vanyra Skorrisdottir glanced back with a look of annoyance towards the armed humans who had so rudely hosted her. Noticing the gun barrels which were trained on her, the Dwarf Engineer shook her head and went back out into the fetid streets with the dozens of rotted corpses lying around. The idea of using the bodies for cover and then throwing a few grenades at the humans inside the building had crossed her mind but she quickly dismissed it for there were more pressing matters to attend to.

The Sigmarite Cathedral was only couple of blocks away with a wandering horde of zombies blocking her path. Were she a warrior like the infamous Slayer, Gotrek Gurnisson, the idea of just hacking and slashing a swathe through the dead would be her first option but such was not the case for the Engineer. Taking a deep breath of the foul air while trying to steel her nerves, Vanyra strode forth while keeping a watchful eye on any zombies which may be lying in wait.

For a few tense minutes, she was forced to trudge over the piled up corpses again, the wind blew coldly against her while the distant moans of the dead could be heard. A raspy groan sounded to her right and Vanyra swiftly swiveled to the direction and brought up her crossbow to face this threat. Much to the dwarf's disgust, she saw that it was a zombified human child, a boy with a messy mop of dark brown hair, broken teeth which chattered and dead milky white orbs for eyes.

Barely giving it any thought, Vanyra fired a bolt into the undead child and proceeded to make her way passed the piles of corpses. Fortunately, there were no zombies lying in wait for the dwarf who soon managed to get clear back into the streets where several other undead shambled and moaned. Keeping low and quiet as she tried to avoid the largest groups of the dead, the Engineer darkly wondered exactly how many of things were there.

It did not take long for Vanyra to find her way to the Cathedral where the numbers of the dead had also thinned out. To her surprise, she found several corpses piled up around the entrance of the structure and she heard a deep booming voice bellowing a prayer to the Empire's founder as a group of men stood together in a semi-circular formation, each one was armed with a wide variety of weapons that were coated with blood. At least there were survivors she thought as she proceeded to go further towards the church.

'Over there father! Another one!' shouted one human dressed in chainmail and the red vestments similar to those of an Empire Warrior Priest. The formation of humans turned their eyes towards Vanyra with weapons drawn and for an alarmed moment, she was thought that they would attack her.

'Wait! I am still alive!' shouted the dwarf and the group of humans began to curiously looked to one another before single bald headed man equipped with a warhammer, plate armour and garb of another Sigmarite priest stepped forward.

'You are alive?' questioned the Priest with some disbelief 'we we were starting to think that we may be the only living souls left in this towns.'

'I am manling and there are others as well' replied Vanyra who cautiously looked over her shoulder to see a number of zombies shambling towards the cathedral. 'I don't have much time to explain' the dwarf then said 'but I think I know what is causing all of this and I need your help to stop it.'

The Warrior Priest's eyes widened in surprise and he spoke while gesturing for her to follow him 'come with me then, you can explain it to the Lector.'

The Engineer nodded and was pleased that at least these humans seemed more hospitable than the last group. She wondered if she should tell them about the brigands but decided to remain silent first and try to learn more about the situation. As the Warrior Priest ushered Vanyra in towards the cathedral she noticed that the armed humans who stood guard were composed of mostly Sigmarite priests but there were also warriors carrying the sigils of other human deities such as Morr, Taal, Myrmidia and Ulric.

To her further surprise as well, she also noticed that all of them were armed with melee weapons while the Taal worshippers carried either swords or spear with bows and empty quivers upon their backs. The gods of the humans must be smiling down on these holy men if they had been able to last so long, then again though, she was aware that the followers of the death god, Morr were highly proficient in fighting the undead and supposedly they had powers that assisted them in such. Whatever the case, she was not about to let her guard down for it was moments like this when everything just goes to hell.

Agony shot up through the legs of Sashura Kostina as her booted feet landed amidst a pile of rotting garbage. Pained grunts were heard around her as the Imperials who accompanied the sell-sword also just experienced an equally hard landing. Steadily getting up while worried that the bones within her legs had been broken, it was to the relief of the Kislevite that the pain was not too great and that she could still stand.

'Is everyone all right?' growled the voice of the Road Warden and the sell-sword could hardly see for there was very little light.

'Fantastic' groaned the voice of Franz before a moan of pain sounded out from the old handgunner.

'Shallya's Tears my legs…' said Wilhelm who sounded as if he was speaking through gritted teeth.

Due to the darkness which surrounded them, Sashura could barely see the immediate area while the moans of the dead were still heard from inside the Apothecary shop. Knowing full well that the zombies would be upon them soon, the group had to get moving as soon as possible.

'We have to go, now!' said the sell-sword as she regained her footing and her legs still felt wobbly from the pain. The men around her did likewise but a shout of pain was heard from the old soldier as she then heard him collapse to the ground.

'Are you okay old man?' asked the Road Warden.

'Agh! my legs… I think their broken' replied Wilhelm and Sashura suddenly then heard the sound of a body slamming into the ground after falling from the window of the Apothecary shop.

'Well we can't just leave you, come on, I will carry you' offered Franz Weiss and the sell-sword saw the man hand Rickert Grim his bag which had was also filled with medicine they had taken from the shop. The writer from the Altdorf Press proved to be surprisingly strong enough to be able to carry the old man upon his back. Franz then gave the rest of them a barely perceptible thumbs up as soon as the old man was secured.

'I take point' announced Sashura as she still held onto her shaska and dagger. The Imperials reluctantly agreed and allowed the sell-sword to take the lead where they were forced move through the darkness until finally they came out into the streets behind the shop. 'Come, we go' whispered the sell-sword and the Imperials followed her while moving as quietly as possible and sticking to the shadows.

The air within the Sigmarite cathedral was one charged with tension and fear as several human refugees looked to the Dwarf Engineer with eyes that held a mixture of either suspicion or desperate hope as the smell of burning insence hardly blocked out the stench of unwashed bodies and death from outside. Men and women (the former of which were mostly those too young or too old to fight) were quick to clamour around Vanyra as many began asking all at once if she had seen one of their missing loved ones or if the Imperial Army or if a Dwarfen one had come down from the mountains. The Warrior Priest who had brought her inside was able to somewhat calm the crowd with a few well placed words and the humans reluctantly dispersed.

Priestesses wearing the white robes of the healing goddess, Shallya, could be seen ministering to the sick and wounded. The Dwarf noted rather darkly that more than a few had vestments that was stained with blood and some had that haunted look or one of disbelief towards what was going on now. Clergy members of other human gods could be seen within the temple as well and it caused the dwarf to wonder why they were not defending the holy places of their deities.

With a shrug, she guessed that perhaps they simply locked the doors and fled or the placed had already been overrun. It didn't matter much to Vanyra right now for she had more important matters to deal with. It did not take long before the Dwarf was finally brought to the great shrine of Sigmar where the high priest, the Lector was quietly praying to the Empire's founder.

'Father Cloten' spoke the Warrior Priest who had accompanied Vanyra and the more senior Warrior Priest stopped with his prayer and he turned around to face both the dwarf and her chaperone.

'Brother Leofric' nodded the older Warrior Priest who was an old man who looked to be well passed his prime. In her travels across the Empire, Vanyra had met more than a few older humans who were still quite capable of going toe to toe with things such as orcs but this fellow was clearly not like them for the older priest looked as if he could only carry a walking stick.

'And who is this you have brought here?' asked the older priest as he looked to Vanyra and he gave her that rather warm and fatherly look which the Sigmarite priests seemed to hold for her kind.

'I am Vanyra Skorrisdottir' spoke the dwarf as she introduced herself 'and I believe I know how to stop this zombie infestation.'

Her words drew looks from the surrounding humans which ranged from skeptical to hopeful and many began to whisper among themselves. The old priest gave her a questioning look as well for it was clear that he too did not believe her.

'You know what is causing all of this then?' asked the old priest.

'No, I just know that there is something here that can stop it' replied the dwarf.

'Please tell us' spoke the old priest with a hint of desperation 'if there anything we can do to stop this evil from spreading further out into the Empire then it is our duty to Sigmar that we do it.'

Well this was proving easy thought Vanyra who then continued 'what I need manling is a… key or something similar here because whatever it is that is making the dead rise is coming from the local lordling's manor.'

The old priest's eyes widened with shock at her words and at the corner of her eye, Vanyra noticed the way the other Warrior Priest seemed to tense up.

'You know about the key?' asked the old priest.

'I don't have much time to explain manling' shrugged Vanrya 'but I just know that it is what we need to put these blighters back in the grave'.

The old priest then became silent for a moment as it looked like he struggled with making a tough decision. He then looked towards the scared group of townsfolk who had overheard their conversation.

'Give it to her!' one man shouted and soon many people began to voice the same sentiments as they were filled with a desperate sense of hope. The old priest sighed and he looked towards Vanyra with a tired and guilty look.

'I trust in the honour of your people my dear that you will do the right thing, but before you go, there is something you need to know' spoke the old man in a very reluctant manner.

'Aye, what is it then?' asked Vanyra.

'It is best if we speak about this in private' replied the old priest 'for it is something that may be difficult to hear…'

Swinging her shaska to the right and beheading a zombie that lurched towards her, Sashura stepped to the left in time to avoid the undead thing's fall before stabbing another in the eye with her dagger. The path back to the warehouse was still thick with the dead and stealth had become more difficult due to the various items in their packs which clinked and clacked with each step. Having already run out of ammunition for their ranged weapons, they had been forced to fight the zombies up close.

For the sell-sword though, close quarters combat was something she was quite used to for in the past, Sashura had fought on multiple occasions against the diseased followers of the Plague God. For the Imperials though, the Franz was unable to fight due to carrying Wilhelm while the Road Warden, Rickert Grim wielded a hatchet which proved quite capable of chopping through flesh and bone. Adrenaline coursed through the mercenary's system as she continued to hack and slash her way past several zombies with precise decapitation strikes or stabs into the eye sockets.

The sound of their movements drew the attentions of more zombies that attempted to swarm them and it was only due to the slowness of the dead that the living survivors had been able to avoid being overwhelmed. Eventually, they managed to make it back to the warehouse where the underground tunnel which led to the inn remained open with the dead still pursuing them. The Road Warden was quick to shut the door behind them as they entered the warehouse and he locked the door as dead hands began to pound upon the wooden surface.

'Well that went well' commented Wilhelm as Franz set him down 'old Ranald must be throwing us a bone.

'Lets hope is that' added Sashura as she warily watched the door and wondered with some worry just how long it would last. She hoped that her companion was still alive out there and that the dwarf would be able to find another way in.

Taking a seat upon a simple wooden chair which like most others in the Empire was intended for the height of humans, Vanyra found herself to be in an office of sorts, most likely it was the place where the Lector ran the day to day affairs of the cathedral.

'So what is this about manling?' asked the Engineer who wondered what the old priest knew.

The old man had settled himself upon a wooden chair which was placed behind a writing desk with a lighted glass lantern upon the surface. The office space was a very bare room with little in the way of decoration as wooden bookshelves were placed on one side and a single hammer of Sigmar placed over the doorway.

'What we speak of here' the old priest then said 'you must please, promise me that no one else hears about it.'

'Is it that bad manling?' asked Vanyra who found herself to be more than a bit curious.

'Aye' somberly nodded the priest who then began to look towards the hammer of Sigmar above the door.

'Then I promise in the name of the Ancestors that whatever it is you have to say will not be spoken of outside these walls' pledged Vanyra in a solemn manner which seemed bring great relief to the old priest.

'It is like this then' began the priest as he steepled his fingers and rested his bald forehead upon his hands 'this town, Mordensdorf was not always what it once was, for you see, something had settled down here long before we had.

'Was the town built over elf ruins then?' asked Vanyra with some disdain for a great many of the human cities across the Old World had been constructed over the places where the elves had once lived, before the Dawi kicked their skinny arses out during the War of Vengeance.

'No it was not' replied the old priest as he shook his head and added 'neither was it dwarfen in origin.'

Curious at this, Vanyra was unaware of any other major civilizations that had once inhabited the lands that would become the Empire, unless one counted the greenskins but that was far from unlikely. Could it be that perhaps one of the ancient human tribes had managed to build some semblance of a proper civilization during the time of the Goblin Wars? It was possible for she had heard stories of places such as Mourkain in the lands which would later become the Border Princes.

'So what was it then?' asked Vanyra.

'That I do not know' answered the old man 'but what I can tell is that a few decades ago, some group of adventurers had once found treasure around this area and not only that, but they had also found an entire series of catacombs beneath the earth where more treasure could be found. Within months, adventurers and mercenaries from around the Empire began pouring in, seeking to lay claim to the treasures below while many merchants and more unsavory folk began to come in to take advantage of the treasure seekers.'

Sounds a lot like Karak Azgal thought Vanyra for although she had never been there, she had heard many stories of the place from her father and brother who had been adventurers as well in their time. As the stories went, Karak Azgal or Dragon Crag as it is also called was only partially reclaimed by her people after being lost for centuries to the greenskins and the skaven. Many adventurers and treasure seekers from around the world came to the hold seeking lost dwarfish wealth and in time, a shanty town called Deadgate had been built outside of the Hold which according to Vanyra's father was as he described it, one of the biggest krut-holes in the Old World.

'I…' continued the old priest 'I was one of those adventurers who came to this place back in the early days, I travelled here with a Witch Hunter war band for we had heard of a some ancient evil that lay within the ruins, something which one band of adventurers had accidentally awoken.'

This started to sound like some story out of one of those cheap pfennig dreadful books one could find around the Empire thought Vanyra. 'And you humans just built this town… over what? Some ancient burial ground where this evil laid asleep for gods knows how long?' asked the dwarf with some incredulity'

'I know that as silly as it sounds' sighed the priest 'that is exactly what happened here and the warband I traveled sought to cleanse the ruins of that evil.'

'And I take it that your Warband was not successful?' Vanrya then said.

'No…' replied the priest with guilt and shame 'many among our war band were slain and soon they rose up as unholy abominations... we... we had failed in our sacred mission and all we could do was seal it away… deep in the darkness below.'

'What was it then?' asked Vanyra with some worry for it was starting to look like she would be heading down into these ruins.

'There was a corpse' replied the old priest 'an ancient and withered corpse that was the source of the evil but it seems impossible that it had somehow managed to escape, we sealed it with rituals of sanctity.'

'Well clearly manling, whatever you and your party did was not enough' then said Vanyra as she folded her arms.

'Please Mein Frau, you must finish what we had set out to do all those years ago' spoke the priest in a begging tone 'I am too old to help you but the best I can do is offer you Sigmar's blessing as well as the aid of one of the others of my Order.'

'I will move faster on my own manling' Vanyra then said 'just give me the key and stay put, I will head down there and deal with whatever it is you couldn't handle.'

A brief flash of anger and resentment was etched upon the old man's expression as the dwarf's words cut into him. With a tired sigh, the old man then got up and he leaned back a little and pulled open what was probably one of the drawers on his side of the table. From the drawer, the old man removed a small oaken lockbox that had many wax seals with strips of paper sticking out of it.

The old priest then opened the box, breaking the seals and from it, he produced a small round stone sphere that was as large as a human man's fist and highly decorated with symbols that were unknown to the Engineer.

'This is the key' the old priest spoke as he handed the sphere to Vanyra 'take it to the catacombs beneath the baron's manor and use it to open the gate.' Taking the sphere from the old man, the dwarf studied it for a moment and she nodded before setting it in her pack and the priest spoke 'now go and may your Ancestor Gods guide you…'