Chapter III

The First Steps

After arriving in Yharnam, the former Byrgenwerth scholars set about finding places to stay. Laurence and Caryll arranged for a stay at a large inn that had only one room left available, so Gehrman and Maria chose to wander the busy streets and see what they could find, taking their own baggage with them.

"How well do you know Yharnam?" asked Gehrman as the two of them strolled down the road from the inn.

"Not very well," answered Maria. "The only time I've ever been here was when I was passing through on my way from Cainhurst. I'm not very familiar with the ins and outs of this place."

"Don't worry," said Gehrman. "I used to live here before I went to Byrgenwerth. I know a place where we can stay. We can just leave Laurence to his strange ramblings until he's ready to get to work."

They went on through the city. The streets twisted and wound their way through a huge maze of various buildings and led to bridges and walkways that made Yharnam seem very counterintuitive in design. Gehrman led Maria through a narrow alleyway, and they soon found themselves in a secluded area between the surrounding buildings, out of sight from any of the nearby streets. In the center of the area was an old, abandoned house surrounded by gardens that hadn't been taken care of in a long time.

"Here we are," said Gehrman. "I had several homes in Yharnam back when I was looking for work before going to Byrgenwerth. This was one of them."

They walked up the old garden's cobblestone pathway and entered the house. The small, dusty place had a few simple furnishings. There was a small fireplace, but it was cold and lifeless. The two companions put down their bags and sat down at a small table to rest.

"So, what now?" asked Maria.

"Whatever Laurence wants, I suppose," said Gehrman. "This whole thing was his idea to begin with. I imagine that we will need to go back into the old underground labyrinth to see if there is more blood to be found. Laurence only brought a few blood samples with him, and some of them are tainted. We certainly don't want to be performing transfusions with tainted blood, even if it is the blood of the Great Ones."

"Speaking of transfusions," said Maria, "what exactly happened to that... unfortunate case at Byrgenwerth? Does anyone know the full details of what caused it?"

"I don't know," said Gehrman. "The subject was terribly ill before the project began. When it was discovered that the Old Blood had amazing healing properties, he was the obvious choice for a first test subject. A few days after the transfusion, Laurence was prepared to declare the experiment a total success. But just as the boy was well again, you could see what happened. I know I did. It happened so suddenly. His limbs lengthened, hair grew all over his body, and his pained screams turned to horrific, inhuman snarls. He was no longer himself. He was a beast, and I felt such sorrow. It hurt me to do what I did, but I didn't know what else could be done."

"You did the right thing," assured Maria. "He had become a threat to everyone who came near. It was very brave of you to go into that room when nobody else would. And you did it so quickly, too."

"I did it quickly because I didn't want him to suffer any longer," said Gehrman. "Even though he put up a fight, I couldn't help but feel sorry for him."

"And are we to assume that the Old Blood is what caused it?" asked Maria.

"Maybe. Perhaps it was one of the tainted blood samples. There's no real way of knowing without further research."

"Then it's just as well that we go back into the labyrinth," said Maria. "But I say that we should use caution this time."

"Why is that?" asked Gehrman. "Nothing bad happened in there last time. You don't think it's dangerous, do you?"

"Possibly," said Maria. "Let us examine the evidence. It's apparent that the labyrinth is the tomb that was carved from the earth by the ancient civilization of Pthumeru. Now, even some people unfamiliar with the history of Cainhurst Castle have made assertions that Annalise, the queen of Cainhurst Castle, is ageless. Well, that's true. She is immortal. But what few people outside of Cainhurst know is that Queen Annalise is distantly related to Pthumerian royalty, possibly even to Queen Yharnam, the namesake of this city. Thus, it can be extrapolated that she owes her immortality to her Pthumerian heritage, and so it can be assumed that the Pthumerian rulers were also immortal, and that they live on within the tombs."

"Then why was it abandoned when Provost Willem sent us there?"

"We didn't search the entire labyrinth. There is still much left unexplored. I'm worried that the old rulers of Pthumeru will be unhappy with someone disturbing their tombs, so we should be prepared to defend ourselves. That responsibility falls to you and me. I'm expected to become a guard of Annalise, and you've been teaching yourself to fight your entire life. Haven't you?"

"Yes," said Gehrman. "Yharnam can be a rough place at times. That's how I was able to handle the incident at Byrgenwerth. While I am convinced that the labyrinth is uninhabited, I will bring my blade just in case, if it makes you feel at ease. I assume you have a weapon of your own?"

Maria opened one of her bags and took out a sheathed sword. Unlike Gehrman's blade, it had a proper guard and pommel. While it was curved, the curvature was not as extreme as that of Gehrman's blade, and it was much narrower.

"This type of sword is the Cainhurst chikage," said Maria. "I absolutely hate it."

Gehrman nearly burst out laughing at Maria's bluntness. "Then why did you bring it?"

"It's the weapon of the guards of the Queen," Maria explained. "The reiterpallasch, which I greatly prefer, is for standard Cainhurst knights. They wouldn't let me take one of those, so I'm stuck with this thing."

"What's so bad about it?" asked Gehrman.

"It utilizes an arcane power to increase its killing potential, which would be great if that power weren't directly linked to the life force of the wielder. I've fought with this sword, and while even small cuts with it can be deadly, I feel so drained when using it. The reiterpallasch is so much better, you have no idea. Unlike the chikage, the reiterpallasch's effectiveness depends only on your skill."

"Don't worry," said Gehrman. "Trust me, you're not going to have to use it. Even if the Pthumerian royals are still alive, they've long since left the labyrinth. Tomorrow, we'll meet up with Laurence and Caryll, and we'll go from there."

Author's note: Walking and talking, standing and talking, sitting and talking, standing and then sitting down for more talking, people talking in a room. And they're always talking. I promise that this whole fic isn't going to be like this. The exciting stuff starts in the next chapter. By the way, I still want you people to give me a name and gender for the player character, if you would be so kind.

There was one review asking if Vicar Amelia would be in the story, and the answer is maybe, but not until much later. This point in the story is long before Amelia's lifetime. And I really would like to include her. She's my second favorite boss fight in the game, next to Gehrman, and I think that there's a lot of potential for expanding her character.