The two of you walk through the multi-layered ruin with little difficulty. As before, the majority of the beasts you see keep their distance, while sharp barks from Steffon ward off the remainder.
"Y"know, I'm curious," you tell him as the two of you enter a burned-out warehouse loaded with exotic weaponry. "The beasts aboveground don't give a shit about fire, and I don't think they have a big issue with screamin', neither. What's up with these ones?"
"It's a combination of things," he says, pointing towards a cluster of firearms. "That one there, the one with a bayonet. I think a lot of them have lingering trauma from when the Church burned the city down. The aggressive ones, Djura and I just punched in the face and yelled at until they went away. They got the hint before long."
"Shit," he grumbles. "Roof had a leak since the last time I checked it. Think these blades are still good?"
"Not with that much rust. That big curved one might be alright. How long have you two been here?"
"I can't even tell at this point; you can't exactly tell time here. We lost a couple harvests early on before we got wise to the seasons. It's gotta be a few years at least. Didn't have a gray hair on my head when we first arrived."
He bundles up the weapons into a thick pack and hoists it onto his back with surprisingly-little effort. "Come on, the food and water stores are about a mile east."
"It wasn't just the two of us originally," he tells you. "There were about a dozen of us originally sent to clean up the beasts and we all stuck with Djura when he decided to stay. Four of them left about two weeks in, said it was just the heat of the moment and that they had lives aboveground. Lost a couple to sickness and the rest to the big bastard that lives down there." He points to a large chapel in the near distance, the path to which is lined with a bevy of burning crosses.
"What, the local Grand Dragon?"
"Never heard of that. No, just a real big, real mean beast that breathes poison. Ambushed us while we were scavenging for leftover supplies."
You reach a large barn, surprisingly untouched by the flames. Veggies and potatoes in various stages of adulthood line the carefully-maintained fields. Inside, the food stockpile is impeccably organized, most likely a product of the pair's never-ending boredom.
"So what made ye stay?"
"Owed a debt to Djura. He got me out of a bad place when I was younger." He spends a few moments carefully scrutinizing a pair of plump tubers before shrugging and putting them both in his pack. "Plus, and don't you dare tell him I said this, he needs someone to watch out for him. He's impulsive and stubborn at the same time, so he'll make rash decisions and then stick with them out of sheer thick-headedness. Hence..." He gestures to the burning hellscape in which he and Djura are trying to drag sustenance from dying earth, isolated from the outside world and alone save for a horde of mindlessly violent horrors.
You help him pack up some tins of water and an assortment of produce. He declines your offer to shoulder some of the load, locks up the barn, and bids you to follow him back to the tower.
"Djura's a good man and he's not stupid. He knows the beasts aren't in any real danger, but he's stubborn and he's afraid to go back aboveground after burning so many bridges. Pretending to need convincing was his way of saving face; he's been waiting for an opportunity like this for a long time. We're both very grateful for the chance to do some good."
He smiles. "Plus, these potatoes taste fucking awful."
Djura's waiting for you at the base of the tower, lugging a massive case with one hand. From this distance, you can see just how bulky he is, particularly his upper body. Probably needs that kind of build to handle his contraptions' recoil.
"Let's go," he says, turning on his heel and marching towards Yharnam.
[] Talk to Djura
-[] About?
[] Keep talking to Steffon
-[] About?
[] Stay quiet, skip directly to Yharnam arrival
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