CH11: A Taste of Whats to Come

It dragged itself with difficulty entering it's domain. This new prisoner was heavier than the snatcher had expected. It's prize was an easy catch; caught from behind and was easily beaten. The snatcher took the half nude man along with his weapons and placed him within the large sack. The track back to the chapel was a simple route. Only the snatchers know the secret paths through the districts. Once placed in a cell, the captive will wait for his judgement. All who were captured would be imprisoned for the night. What the gods do to those taken shall be decided. It took slightly longer than taking a normal man, but the snatcher reached the chapel. It stopped for a moment to feel a bit of rustling in the bag. The large man must be restless. As it entered into the building, the rustling continued, but with more ferocity. It had to move quickly before it struggled too much. Reaching the dungeon level, the man in the bag was now punching and kicking the bag to find a way out. The snatcher stopped at the door of the cell to look in the bag.

A fist rocketed out of the bag, smashing into the snatcher's face. It reeled back from the blow, almost letting go of the bag. The snatcher whipped back and screeched into the bag. It was soon met with a boot to the head. The beast falls through the cell door and into the cell while the large sack slumps to the ground. A grunt escapes from the bag as it ruffles.

Krieg pulls himself out of the bag, drawing his axe and walking towards the downed snatcher. Before the latter could do anything it's form was mutilated by the jagged axe blades.

"IT'S MY JOB TO CARRY SACKS OF MEAT AROUND!" his voice echoing through the dungeon.

*Groans* How long were we out?

Krieg took a moment to check his surroundings. Within the dark stood walls of rusted iron bars. The smell of blood, fresh and old. Wandering about, he finds a set of stairs leading downward. A hush sound of whimpering and muttering could be heard below. Stepping down, the sound increased only slightly. Looking over the side, a woman sat in a corner. Her hands clenched together in fear. Krieg descended the stairs to see if she was alright. Immediately she attempted to move away from him.

"Leave me be!" the woman cried. "Please do not take me!"

She must be scared out her mind. I know this a long shot but could you try to calm her down?

"QUIET OR THE MEAT MAGGOTS WILL SERVE YOU TO THEIR MASTERS!" Krieg roared out.

The woman only shrieks in fear, cowering in the corner.

Smooth...

"I beg of you! Please don't take me!" the woman says holding her head in her hands. She repeats her words over and over, each one quieter than the last. Krieg could only stare as the woman muttered on.

She's completely lost it. Not stable enough to be talked to. As much as I don't like it, we can't do anything for her. Best to leave her be.

Krieg merely walked away, leaving the mad woman to whatever fate awaited her. Returning to the cell room, he moves by the snatcher's corpse and comes upon another set of stairs. Ascending upward, the psycho finds other pathways leading elsewhere, but continues up in order to find where exactly he was. Reaching the top, Krieg was welcome to the sight of what looked to be a cathedral. Across the way were two more snatchers who spotted him immediately.

"YOU CAN'T KIDNAP MY DREAMS!" Krieg roars as he charges the two. He lunges at the closest, slashing his axe into it's torso. The first snatcher reels back from the blow. It's partner arrives and slashes at the psycho. It's claws make contact with flesh leaving small gashes. Krieg merely laughs before returning the gesture in kind. His buzz axe revs up. In one quick motion, a cascade of blood explodes from the snatcher as the jagged weapon makes contact. The beast falls as it's counterparts attempts to kick. Krieg merely sweeps it's other leg from under and brings his axe onto the down snatcher's face.

With nothing in sight to kill, Krieg takes a moment to check his surroundings. Looking back to where he came from, he could see a large stature atop a balcony. The decryption of the bizarre creature he once saw in the Grand Cathedral. Looking back he could see the door at the far end of the cathedral. Approaching it he could find that the door was not locked. Creaking wood echoed as the door opened. Before the psycho was a territory unfamiliar. The night sky was the same as it was before he was knocked out. The moon shined high above, illuminating the area just a bit to see around. He was met with a street leading to the psycho's left and right. Over the ledge Krieg could see a familiar bulk of meat, snorting like before.

Another giant pig... great...

"GIMME YOUR BACON!"

Krieg leaps off the side, catching the pig off guard. His body lands onto it's back followed by the buzz axe landing into the beast's head, making it let out a loud squeal. It begins to buck, moving frantically trying to get the psycho off him. Krieg merely laughs as he cuts further into the pig's skull.

"THE BEST KIND OF MEAT IS THE ONE YOU CHOP UP YOURSELF! PART OF MY COOKBOOK. ORDER NOW FOR $995."

You can sell your book once YOU know how to write properly...

After a minute of carving, the pig's motions begin to slow until it comes to halt and collapses dead on the street. Krieg removes his axe from the carcass and notices that he has an audience. A pack of rabid dogs apparently heard the commotion and came over to find food. With the pig dead, the mutts focused on the psycho and attacked. Two dogs lunged right at Krieg who manged to bat them away. Another comes from behind as he is distracted and bite's him in the leg. Krieg simply grunt's in pain.

"I AM NOT A CHEW TOY!"

The dog continued to deepen it's teeth into flesh, not noticing a axe swinging towards it's neck. Krieg managed to slay the beast, unfortunately the head of the dog was still latched to his leg. Another dog attacked from behind, snapping it's jaws on his shoulders. Krieg's anger increased from their attacks. He grabs the dog, rips it from his shoulder, damaging it further, and proceeds to break the mutt in half with his knee. The dog whelps in pain before going limp. The psycho throws the corpse at the other dogs and proceeds to burn them with his hellfire breath. Their burning flesh fills the air. A putrid stench that not even the psycho would approve of. The remaining dogs that did not pounce flee knowing their was no food for them at the moment.

Krieg took a moment to remove the dog head still latched to his leg. He merely gives the head a glance before punting it down the street.

"AND IT'S GOOD!" he cries out in joy.

Yeah great kick. Now can we please find a way out of here?

Krieg wandered down towards a large wooden gate where the dogs prowled. Before the gate were corpses, bent down in what looks to be prayer. The voice wondered if they why were they praying, and what were they praying to. Attempting to open the gate proved a waste of time, as nothing Krieg did could make it budge. Giving up after throwing a small tantrum, the psycho traveled around the area in order to find a way out. Nowhere on street level could he find an exit. Rather he encountered more locals, dogs, and even witches he countered before. It kept the psycho occupied, but the voice was getting impatient. He did not want to be trapped in a dead area of the town. So the voice managed to convince his other to look back in the cathedral. Maybe they missed something along the way.

Returning once more into the cathedral, Krieg went downward. Immediately, not noticing it the first time, he finds a passageway leading to a new set of rooms. Within lied walls made of cell bars, denizens scattered about, perhaps imprisoned like he was. Approaching any of them caused them to be hostile to the psycho. Krieg slew them as they tried to claw out his shown eye. Entering the adjacent room, Krieg found himself facing two more snatchers who came at him. One swung it's bag in order to knock him down. Krieg merely ducked before smashing his head into the creature's jaw. It's head snaps back from the blow. Krieg takes this opportunity and slashes the creature's throat with his buzz axe. The second snatcher merely raises it's open hand. Suddenly a force of energy pulls Krieg towards the snatcher. It raises it's bare foot and makes contact with Krieg's stomach. The psycho falls to the ground with a slight grunt of pain. The snatcher moves to stomp on him, but Krieg moves out of the way. Taking his axe, he catches the snatcher by it's other leg and severs it's foot. The creature falls, screaming in a pain and rage before it is silenced by an axe to the face.

Leaving the corpses behind him, Krieg comes across a hole in the wall behind the snatcher's room. Through it was a tunnel that stretched on for a bit.

Maybe this will lead us back to familiar territory...

Reaching the end, Krieg hopped down to a path leading towards an open area, a large door, and the skeletal remains of a rather large monstrosity. It looked devoid of any forms of flesh and blood. Only ragged fur stuck itself to the large and withering bone structure. Krieg merely ignored it as he approached the gate behind it. However, before he could take another step, an burst of electricity erupted across the skeletal beast. As if it was merely sleeping, the beast raised it's form upwards and letting out a trembling cry. Electrical energy blasting out as the beast roared it looked towards the psycho and began to pounce.

Darkbeast Paarl OST

It brings it claw towards him with quick precision. Krieg attempts to move out of the way, but gets grazed along the chest by the beast's claws. The moment it made contact with his flesh, a surge of electricity flows through the psycho's body. The pain causes Krieg to convulse. Not able to move, he gets knocked away by another strike by the beast. The pain soon fades allowing Krieg to stand.

This is by far the weirdest thing we've fought in this the creepiest, but definitely weird.

Krieg rushed the beast as it did the same. He swings wildly at it's skull. The beast returns with it's own swipes. Krieg manages to avoid getting hit, managing to get a few hits of his own. The beast bring's it's claws up to strike down on it's prey. Before it could strike, Krieg smashes his axe into the creature's leg. The beast buckles from the strike but continues to attack it's prey. The darkbeast goes in for a bite, but Krieg manages to move out of the way in time. The psycho weaves through the frame of the beast, causing it to move frequently trying to find him. The beast not like being fooled, leaps into to air, slamming down onto the psycho. Krieg could feel the air escape his lungs form the force. Crawling out of the electric beast, he climbs on top of it. Being shocked as he moved, Krieg ignored the feeling in order to reach the head. The beast bucks to get the psycho off, but it was too late. Krieg makes one large leap into the air. Bringing his axe down, he smashes his axe down into the skull of the darkbeast. The blow causes it to crumble to the ground, letting out a pained yelp in the process. Another burst of electricity erupts, then appears to be absent from the beast.

"NO MEAT ON THEM BONES!" he roared. "YOU'RE ONLY GOOD FOR A TOOTHPICK!"

Krieg wails on the beast as it is prone. It quickly stands up, swiping at Krieg in the process. The beast leaps away from the psycho's onslaught, trying to maintain distance.

"DON'T RUN FROM ME!" Krieg yells.

As he approaches, the beast lets out another roar, more electricity erupts into it's body once more. It swipes it's claws out towards Krieg. An electrical way surges towards him, but he managed to dodge at the last second. The beast smashes it's claw into the ground. Krieg moves to attack, but then a blast from the beast's claw knocks him back. The beast smashes the ground again, attempting to kill it's prey. Krieg moves out of each strike and blast radius and moves to flank. He connects his axe to the creature's legs. The beast moves away only to immediately lunge back into the fight. Energy starts to flux around the beast. Danger senses telling him to move, Krieg retreats back as a wave of energy explodes from the beast.

Krieg moves in with a roar almost rivaling the beast's and brings down his buzz axe upon the beast's skull. Once more it crumbles, electric energy fading as before. Krieg stomps down hard onto the skull, attempting to smash it to pieces. The beast retaliated by opening it's mouth. Before the psycho could react, the beast breaths an electrical breath into his face. It knocks Krieg away from the beast as he impacts into the wall behind him, leaving cracks. Krieg manages to shrug off the damage, but sees the beast approaching. It reels it's head back, ready for another electric breath.

"A BATTLE BETWEEN DRAGONS OF OLD, FACING OFF IN ORDER TO WIN THE HAND OF A FAIR MAIDEN!" said Krieg before taking a deep breath.

As the beast unleashes it's breath, Krieg breaths out his hellfire. The force of each breath collide with one another, neither of them failing to end.

This defies many laws of physics... who am I kidding at this point it doesn't really matter...

Not wanting to give an inch, Krieg rushes the beast as he continues to spew hellfire. He soon gets envelops in the electricity along with his own flames. Pushing through reaches out for the beast's skull. The beast pours more out from it's jaw. Krieg could feels his entire body being cooked from the inside out. He kept going despite feeling the numbness throughout his body. Krieg managed to grab the skull of the beast and clamped its jaws shut. The electricity trying to spew from it's mouth begin spewing out the open ares of it's skull. Using all of his strength, Krieg managed to yank the beast hard almost severing the skull from it;s spine. Taking one last deep breath, Krieg blasted the beast with torrent of flame. Fur singed to nothing. Bones started to become char and ash. The beast struggles to escape, but the grip the psycho had seemed like trying to escape the claws of a apex predator. Soon the beast's struggles lessened, until it completely ceased. All that remained was the charred skull of the once darkbeast. Krieg merely held the large skull in the palm of his scorched hands.

"ALAS POOR YORICK!" Krieg chuckled darkly before tossing the skull away.

Walking up to the large gate, Krieg pushed on it. The door managed to give way slowly as the psycho soon found himself in a place he visited earlier.

Back in the burning district huh? At least we can make our way back. Question is where do we go now?

It took some time for Krieg to return to the Cathedral Ward. Beasts continued to prowl about the scorched area of Old Yharnam, so the psycho took his time having his fill of fun. Wandering the ward for some time, the two sides could not find a way towards their next destination. The attempted to travel past the grand cathedral, coming across rogue hunters along the way. They did give Krieg, but they were nowhere as a challenge like Gascoigne. The two tried to team up, but it only proved fatal as they could not predict the wild and rambunctious attacks from the psychotic vault hunter.

Traveling past them, he followed down a steep path leading to a lower district coming across a large executioner. Disposing it was not difficult but Krieg did want to keep it's axe. The voice managed to convince him it was not worth his time. Past the executioner, Krieg stepped into a large circular room. in the center stood an empty pedestal, and across the way was a set of doors. Approaching the door, he tries to open it. With continuous effort, the door failed to budge. Krieg decided to try else and began to walk away.

However, something made Krieg come to a complete halt. For the first time in possibly a while, the psycho stood there in silence. He turned his head behind him, then looked up and around.

What's wrong? You're acting almost sane like.

The psycho did not answer. He only kept looking around. He felt something wrong with his surroundings. As if he was being watched.

Look let's just look for another way around. Hey. Are you listening.

Krieg turned back to the doorway and started walking back. Almost entranced to approach.

Look you're wasting time. Why don't we go kill more beasts. That will keep you busy while I think of something.

Krieg stops before being in close proximity with the door. The voice telling him to go kill was too much of an offer to refuse. Though the psycho persona was surprised the voice could not sensed what he sensed. Immediately not caring, he storms out of the room and goes hunting for beasts.

Back near the door, something invisible to the regular eye retracts it's limb, not able to catch it's prey.

It took some time, but Krieg managed to find a new place not found before. An alternate path near the way to Old Yharnam brought him beofre an old and decrepit door. It was the only place left to look that is accessible.

Reaching out to the door he attempts to move it. Again, the door before the psycho does not budge. Before he could leave though, a voice echos from the opposite side of the door.

"The password..." the old and withered voice moaned.

Password? Do we know any password? maybe there is a clue we may have missed. I mean unless me missed some-

"FEAR THE OLD BLOOD!" Krieg yells out.

The doors slowly open to the psycho. The voice could only feel surprised.

How... do you remember? Then again I forgot that maybe the old man's word could be used. You've bested me in thinking. Congrats.

"SUCK IT, BRAIN!" the psycho yells in triumph.

Walking through the door frame, Krieg finds the skeletal remains of what looked to be an old hunter. The voice pondered who spoke behind the door. Was it really the skeleton, or something else? The psycho merely walked past the bones and walked down the set of stairs. Reaching the bottom, the vault hunter walks out into a thick forest.

We must be on the right track. Let's go.

Krieg stepped into the Forbidden Woods, and began his way onto finding the truth.