Four hounds, two one each. And the looming creature beyond stopped, peeked around the corner unseen given that the two girls had been busy against the hounds then slunk off. The dogs pounce trying to leap up and snap their jaws around the throats of the girls to tare them out.

But they had not been successful in doing this. Dogs leaped back avoiding blows from swords that had been leveled against them.

The dogs, not totally bright but far from completely stupid tried to attack from different angles in hopes of dragging the pair to the ground off of their feet. One would feign an attack while another would dart in from a different angle as they made an attack against the first. They may have been successful too if there had been more dogs on each and could approach them from their blind side.

It had been Cora that drew first blood as she grazed one of the hounds that moved in for a feint attack, a graze that danced along the ribcage of the dog though it let out a yelp as it sprang back.

It took about ten minutes but in the end the dogs had laid prone, slaughtered by the blades of the two girls. But it had been then before they had time to rest that a creature burst around the corner of the cavern. It was a brute, a large brute just under 10' in height with greasy long green hair and skin covered in orange warts.

It carried with it a crude club, a thick branch of small log that it carried in both hands, mangy deer hides that had been crudely stitched together. An ogre! It bellowed out a crude battle cry as it charged forward first at Ryu who had seemed to be the closest to it at the moment.

Normally something like this would have been exhausting, yet their infinite stamina kept them from getting tired as they swung their blades over and over again. In the end they were victorious, at least without any heavy injuries. At the moment they began to move on however, they could only watch in horror as the figure of a new challenger appeared in front of them.

They froze abruptly in hope the creature didn't notice her, unfortunately his cry and charge towards Ryu made it obvious he already did. The simple strength and bestiality of this thing were mainly the reasons not to come to such a place, but their earlier prisoner didn't tell them, though circumstances couldn't be changed they would have to try.

Ryu quickly bent down, grabbed the dagger at the peak with the hand she was carrying the water with and darted it in the direction of the creature. Not to hurt him in general but to keep his attention on the redhead while the black haired knight would try to avoid him somehow.

The squire would wait for his first attack, yet decided not to strike at all before he would be not interested in her anymore. Every now and then she swung her sword to display a simple threat for the ogre, all the while Cora tried to sneak around him. Cora intended to pounce on him and stab him in the back quickly, this would be the least dangerous way though they would still have to get to this point. An ogre seemed quite dumb and plain, at least from the stories Ryu had read in books earlier, until then she never had a chance to prove it.

SMASH! The ogre brought what would have been a lethal blow down upon the shield that it easily broke. He may not have been the smartest being in the caverns but he had certainly been the strongest. He had followed this blow up with a kick that he had leveled at the red head as he closed the gap with her.

He had been drawn by the thrown dagger though he had side stepped it with no real difficulty even if he seemed clumsy in doing so.

Dimly aware of Cora he proved his smarts for an ogre by keeping her in mind when she had been out of his sight, like a very young child. Thus he had been able to bring his club back in order to parry her sword. His eyes were on Ryu for the most but flickered back to the Ryu as he dealt with the two, trying to dismantle them one at a time.

Fortunately the wine bottle didn't break too as the shield turned into a shattered mess of broken pieces, which Ryu quickly discarded to get some space to move her arm again. Their first tactic had failed, yet it wasn't a fairly wise one as they should have struck quick and without mercy, thus the creature was still alive and a real threat compared to the hounds.

The strike hurt a little as she began to move her arm a bit, fortunately nothing was broken next to the shield. However, it seemed he couldn't fight against both of them if they assaulted him from different angles, given his fairly large weapon and not really smooth movements. It might or might not have been a good idea that she left the Dagger on the ground at the moment, she would have to fight her way to it anyways.

They didn't care about this ogre at all, he was just an obstacle in their way. Since he had parried the sword of Cora once it was her turn to attack him once again, yet given the time he would try to block it once again Ryu would make an attempt to slaughter him from another angle than before, at least as far away as possible in their surroundings.

The ogre had thought about the ceiling for a fleeting moment, striking it, collapsing it then forget that the moment of brilliance had occurred to him. He did not try to block Cora's blade as it came towards him but rather back stepped as he tried to keep the two more or less in front of him.

Even as he moved though the blade came away crimson from a grazing strike that angered more then hurt the ogre. But he had his orders. They had been drilled into his head time and time again and while instinct told him to lash out it had only been this training that had kept his will intact.

Fight defensively. That had been what he had been told though numbers had been against him. That may have proven his down fall in the long run if he had not been able to use any real sort of offense until ...

"Now is that anyway to treat guests? A voice echoed down the corridor as a figure came into view as it stepped around a corner. His eyes had been a blazing red, fingernails long and wicked looking he had been as pale as an albino with no hair on his features. Fangs drooped down over his lips while he had been adorned it black clothing that seemed outdated.

Around his neck there had been a silver medallion of a wolf. His arms crossed over his chest passively as he directed his gaze at the trio ...

They could have kept going like this all day, the creature could get tired and they couldn't though they still depended on sleep. Unfortunately this creature kept avoiding any lethal strike, he made it quite hard and frustrating to get him out of the way so they could keep going.

It was quite comfortable that at some point a familiar appearance stepped around a corner they could see quite clearly, he wasn't the one they had caught obviously, but he was definitely one of their kind. The two girls retracted from the ogre a bit to give themselves space to move, yet they doubted he'd attack since such a move would not have been very smart.

"We are just passing through here. We won't stay long." Ryu stretched her arms a bit as the fight had made her muscles a bit tense. The vampire, at least he appeared like one, would be a perfect target for their newly discovered strategies, it was just a problem they had another participant around, a special someone which would give him enough backup if he intended to fight.

"How do you treat your guests here anyways?" Cora asked as she pointed the peak of her blade at him. "For our part, we take on our hosts by ourselves." Of course he could see all their equipment, given the garlic and the water he might even know what's going on, but maybe his thirst or simple stupidity would let him act stupidly. Even if not, they would fight their way through the caverns to erase every threat they encounter.

"The mines are rather large, to large to see to evry matter personally I'm afraid. Not to mention that I am usually asleep at this hour." He seemed to look beyond the point of the sword that had been leveled in his direction as if he had been unafraid of it. There had been a small grin on his lips as he regarded the pair for a moment.

No doubt he could have figured out what they had been planning. Garlic about the next for starters ...

"But you have no desire to simply pass on through. No, you planned on making this your destination. No worries ... the vampires have been troublesome bring more attention then they have been worth. Yes," he said in a smooth voice, "they need to be dealt with ..."

It was quite confusing what the figure had said, at least after they had met some guardians and were stuck with him and the ogre. He didn't appear afraid, not even really cared about them but enough to get into a conversation with the knight and her squire. However, they would need a plan to get through.

"That's none of your business...", the knight said before her thought finally came to an end, "...but it doesn't sound like you really like the other inhabitans of the mines either. And I think I know exactly what your point is, mister." It was then Cora let her sword return into a less agressive position as the peak of the blade rested against the ground, but she was still aware of her surroundings.

"Maybe we could make some sort of arrangement, we could take care of the 'troublesome' vampires if you have something valuable to offer.", Ryu mentioned as if the two had the same thought at the time.

"They are troublesome, like parasites simply taking and taking without regards to their environment, their mere presence has driven off all the game in the area and they are far less picky in what they will consume. As a result they tend to spawn, giving rise to other children of the night."

He said cooly, step ling his hands together as he spoke given that Cora's posture had been more relaxed.

"Offer?" There seemed to be power behind his voice, almost a domineering effect to his crimson gaze as he turned it on Ryu. He considered for a small moment before continuing. "I can get you by the guardians of this place easy enough," he gestured towards the ogre. "That and I can point out all those pesky traps that have been set into place to protect them as they sleep."

Traps. They didn't even consider this small part in their adventure as they made their way through it, the cave was no exception and it would likely put their journey to an early end if they weren't careful. Or if they would trust him and he betrayed the pair, next to the fact he stopped the ogre's attacks they had no evidence that he was telling the truth or would help them so easily.

"I see we have a deal then. Of course... if you accept it." Cora sounded less willing to attack or cause any kind of trouble, yet Ryu was not sure about it at all, but she was just the squire so she would have to accept anyway. Perhaps it was a trap, maybe not, but there was no other choice. In the end it was just a dream they would finish someday.

"Still, I have one question...", Ryu mentioned as she made some steps forward and picked up her dagger, just to attach it to her boot again. "Why didn't you take care of them by yourself if you know where and what types the traps are, why didn't you do it even if you could bypass the guardians?"

"Simple, really," he stated with a particular ease to his voice, his fingers still steppled together as he spoke, his voice softer now though still quite audible. "I sleep when they do. If not for that ogre there," he pointed at the hulking brute, "I would not have awakened now. He roused me when you had been busy with them."

His gaze flickered to the dead hounds. "I suppose I could have arranged to be roused from my rest earlier but I lacked the zeal that you obviously possess and just had been so use to things by then, unhappy but unwilling to take those necessary steps."

He paused for a moment, drew in air to his lungs so he could push it past his vocal chords since he did not need it to breath, only to speak. "But now the opportunity has presented itself to me and so I shall take advantage of that. Other would be slayers perished against the hounds and proved to weak other wise and not capable of bypassing the traps let alone having the will to slay vampires at any cost."

"As you can see we eliminated these hounds...", she pointed at the dead ones he was looking at, "... and I think this proves our determination quite well. With your help we might easily bypass the traps and when we come to the point where we have to do our job, we will get it done. We didn't travel this far to simply return now, not even to give up in general. This place is our target, this is our destination and even if we fail, we were at least trying. You won't lose anything here."

Cora made a step towards the vampire as Ryu turned around to check their backside for any possible threat. However, if it was true that he awakened by the noise of the ogre, it could be possible that others were lurking around the place too, or were just too tired to check as they saw that one of them was missing.

"If there is nothing else we have to talk about, then go ahead and show the way, no need to waste time here anymore."

As if he had been reading her mind the vampire spoke to Ryu. "The others are still sleeping. Sound does not wake us from our slumber. Physical injury does and physically shaking does the trick as in this case. Let us go."

He had lead the way down the corridor which he came, the ogre taking up the rear. Along the way he pointed out a few things, where not to step for starters, trip wire to step over and other guardians that he got them around, mostly hounds that knew both he and the ogre and had not attacked off hand as they would have most assuredly do.

He halted. "Dead fall," he uttered then glanced to a smooth wall, pressed on a slightly discolored stone and opened up a secret passage. The corridor lead into a large chamber with dozens of coffins. He ignored these as he glided towards the opposite end of the room.

"Dummies ... elaborate dummies ..." had been all the explanation that he gave as he opened up another secret passage told them about a pit trap on the eastern side of the corridor then came to another room line with coffins all upright against the wall.

"And now we are truly here ..." he spoke, he glanced to Cora as he spoke then pointed out one of the fancier coffins. "That one is empty." He pointed towards another. "And that is Master's."

Either way the two were better off, that was the thought that inhabited the red haired student's head as they went deeper into the caverns. They could have done nothing and left them all alone, but then they decided to get down there. But instead of frightening it turned out to be exciting, an entertaining adventure compared to the campus life.

The two tried to remember as many things as possible in case they had to get out of there quick for whatever reason, they didn't hope for the worst but this was likely to happen. An interesting thing was that there seemed to be more coffins than the vampire had told them, unfortunately he wouldn't pay for it anymore. Maybe he thought they wouldn't even make it.

Traps were a thing these vampires knew how to handle, there were only a few but since nobody posessed a map of this place they would likely run into one of them. Just a minor addition to the guardians anyways.

However, as they reached some other coffins and he pointed out one of those, they had no real idea what 'Master' could mean to them, but they guessed it was the leader of some sort. "Shall we?" She glanced over her shoulder and Ryu carefully walked close to her so she could give her some cover. "Open up already, miss. I am not going to stay for dinner." Whether or not, they were wasting time, thus Cora didn't hesitate to walk up to it in an attempt to open it up.

"You're not? Such a pity that well miss out on such a lovely diner quest," the vampire mused though his words seemed eerie and could be taken in the light of a victim. Still he hung back in a relaxed gesture with his fingers pressed together as he watched the pair as they pulled open the coffin.

Inside had been a tall human, his clothes old and outdated being a black suit. His skin had been a creamy white, two fangs extended from his upper lip covering the lower one in a sharp over bit. He slept, and even despite his sleep he wore a monocle on a gold chain. At his left side had been a waist high walking stick topped with a silver bat in flight that clanked out of the coffin as it feel to the ground with nothing keeping it upright as the coffin had been opened.

In sleep Master had his hands crossed over his chest though it had been easy enough to draw a hand away to uncover his heart. Stake and mallet came to bare and as they staked the vampire it's eyes flung opened as a long his left his throat.

A pale hand stretched out to clasp at Cora's throat and would have crushed her wind pipe with his remaining strength if not for the strength of the vampire with them.

He grabbed Master's arm at the wrist then pried his fingers loose with his other hand. He had an easy enough time of it seeing how he was not in his death throes. The staked vampire blared with light, then crumbled away to dust leaving behind a pile of ash, some small bones and the monocle ...