Desmond halted at the sight of Jessica. The one person who gave him the least bit of humanity in the party, bloodied and rattled to the core. His very insides twisted and contorted, he was unable to move and Ghan took notice of it quickly.

Your friend is hurt, The companion said bluntly.

"No kidding, Ghan," Desmond said. "Gabriel has her, his healing can do better than my science."

But can his healing bring back the dead? Ghan asked.

"Don't even go there," the stitcher snapped. "She isn't dead, not while Gabriel is around. Hell, we've got an angel of fury here. I doubt anyone will die soon without superb vengeance."

Aren't you capable of the same? Ghan asked.

Desmond watched Jessica, limp and broken, as she was tended to by the war leader. The subtle light was warm and cool at the same time, contradicting forces of death and life pulling together the sinews of muscle and repairing bone. What was Jessica to him anyway? She was but a member of the party but...she gave him the humanity lost to him. The support to smile in dire times.

"She's.." Desmond sighed.

She's our sister, Ghan finished. Someone like family.

The stitcher looked down. "Let's go, Ghan. We still have the riddle to solve." Desmond and his companion moved to Marcus and the rest, his gaze met the archangel's and continued to work.

"What's the plan? Have you guys found anything?"

The sudden thud on the ground near them surprised Desmond. His eyes wandered to the origin and found Otael with the Minister just beside him.

"Otael!" Desmond said. "The Minister too! Ghan get Otael, I won't be able to lift him. I'll get the Minister."

With having said that, Desmond tried his best to heave one of the Minister's arms over his shoulders and walked towards the group. Ghan inserted himself below the other and stood easily with Otael on its back. The two brought their friends closer to safety.

"Guys, we need medical attention," Desmond said as he pulled out some of his tools. The stitcher began basic first aid, or what he knew as basic stitching: close the openings [which were now wounds instead of mouth, anus, eyes and nostrils]. He took out his blowtorch and heated the needles to cleanse them of anything. With the thread he had, he began to work. Those that were sorely bleeding, he would try to cauterize later but right now they needed better attention.

Marcus approached the group to see a battered Otael, a red and white covered Jessica, and a very oddly placed door frame by where Gabriel was standing. Did he build that? Septimius ruined his train of thought by running up to Marcus and asking him about the book and how the chains were removed. But I don't have the book? For a moment, Marcus thought everyone was going insane.

"I uhh, found the number thirteen inside of an iron maiden and twenty-three inside of that book you gave me, Septimius..."

Marcus walked himself and Lissette over to where the Coffin and sat on it. With a blank stare at the rest of the group, he said to Lissette, "I'm starting to get the feeling that our group is constantly surrounded by death." Marcus laced his hand with Lissette's as he brought it closer to his face and softly kissed it.

He was slightly upset that Marcus had left the book behind but it had a number in it so just one more for the riddle. Now they had five numbers, 2 from the church, Marcus found 6, 13, and 23, they had the 20 from the butcher. A random assortment of numbers as far as he knew. However there had to be a reason behind the numbers so he decided to go back to the tombstones. He walked by them slowly, reading each name and began taking note of the amount of tombstones there were. 26 tombstones, I wonder if... he turned back and walked over to the 2nd one, D... 6 is H... 13 is E... 23 is A... 20 is T. Mix the letters around and it spells Death. He looked at the tombstone with the question "What is my name?" Could death be the answer? They only had one chance... but it made sense he guessed? He licked his lips with the anticipation of failing. Normally he'd risk it, but it wasn't just his life he was toying with. He looked around at everyone, Desmond was stitching up the injured, Gabriel was healing Jessica, they were all tired, so did they even have a choice? He grit his teeth and sighed. He began writing the letters down on the tombstone with his finger. Magic trailed behind and he wrote the word "DEATH" in white letters. He drew back and held his breath in expectation.

Septimius began to write on the tombstone, and when he was finished, he realized nothing at all had happened. He scratched his head for a moment, his heart stopping as he thought that he got it wrong. Then, he saw everyone looking at him and sighing.

He looked forward. He wrote on the tombstone with his name, and not the crypt.

Septim-DEATH-ius, The Sheperd

He smacked his head in exasperation. First he tripped over his own two feet and now he did this. What was wrong with him? He smiled sheepishly at his audience and walked over to the crypt. He wrote the word again, sweat covered his forehead as he realized that this was for real. He really hoped he didn't fuck up again.

"Ah, Adric! Glad to have you with us! We're tracking the bastards that dared to harm Lady Jessica. Bring your various tools to bear, we'll need them"

Ahriman stood before the mysterious crypt. Seeing no place to write on it, he stands facing the door and says "Your name is Death."

Septimius walked toward the crypt hesitantly, looking at the blank space with the pen and small bottle of ink next to it. Cautiously, with sweat beading down his forehead and everybody watching him, he began to write the word "Death" with shaky hands on the blank slab. He had already messed up twice now, he couldn't do it again to his crew. This had to be right, or they were all, royally, screwed.

As he gingerly wrote the final letter and placed the feather pen back into its original holding, Septimius waited. For a moment, nothing happened, and his stomach dropped along with everyone else's around him. Had they been wrong? It seemed so clear to them that this was the answer. How had it been incorrect?

As Septimius' head drooped and he looked to the ground, he felt a rumbling underneath his feet. Darting his eyes forward, the door of the crypt began to slowly but surely move off to the side. The rock slab had given way to a pitch black room, mildly illuminated by the rapidly setting the sun. Septimius' eyes lit up like a kindling fire, and everyone jumped up, except of course for Jessica, Otael, and THe Minister, who would eventually be tended to by Gabriel. Eventually. Jessica was still gravely injured, however the bleeding had stopped, so Gabriel moved on to the larger concerns in the other two. Ahriman stood in front of the entrance "Your name is Death."

"We know that now," Ravin replied.

The rest of the group, however, stepped inside eagerly. Dust kicked up and into their nostrils as they stepped in. The room was completely empty and looked as though it had not been open in centuries, at least. Other than the dust, however, it was virtually spotless. As they looked to the back end of the room, they saw a skeleton of what was once a man, his bony hands grasping another piece of parchment.

Septimius rolled his eyes and picked it up, glancing at it. He read it off to the rest of the group. They didn't have time for the last riddle. It was only a half hour til sundown, maybe even less.

You have made it so far, young heroes,
But now you face your greatest test
It is time for the final riddle, and you will be free:

You wear it like armor
Yet it makes you utterly vulnerable

What is it?

Ahriman suspected the answer to this riddle, ruling out the other possibility by common sense. It had been his own downfall. "I suspect the answer is our Pride. It can make you attack dear friends, lose sight of your limitations, and refuse help that might save your life. I fell victim to this sin." he said.

Ahriman and Liss both waited for something to happen, however they were met with silence. They looked back to the outside of the crypt, noticing that the sun was now only minutes away from setting. They didn't have much time.

Meanwhile outside, Jessica started to wake up... tho slowly. She can't move at the moment, her bleeding injuries just got closed and her skin was still incredibly pale, she was feeling too weak to even try to stand up but she felt a big relief for being able to wake up once again. Jessica was still feelig a great pain comming from her broken arm and ribs, but it wasn't worse than the pain from before, she decided to stay still and look for her friends with her hearing.

She could sense Gabriel that was treating other 2 of her companions, one of them was Otael, and judging by the other man's clothes it was the minister... but where are the others?, what happened?. She could sense that the big tomb with the riddle that they were trying to fogure out was opened and that noises were comming from the inside "They probably solved the riddle and got inside..." she smiled slightly, happy that her friends could figure out the riddle her "perception" of the world around her was still a bit numb, but as the minutes start to pass she should be able to hear what was happening inside the tomb. Jessica started to breathe deeply and endure the pain from the wounds left... tho even if she was to be healed completly, the blood lost and the tiredness from the fight from earlier wouldn't let her move anyways.

Minister stepped forward with the group. "Could the answer be mortality? The living try to justify killing these monsters with the fact that we are indeed living. The vampires, the zombies, those blasphemous undead. They are not living, they are immortal." Minister paused, bringing his crossbows together in a brief flash of light so that they turned into the Holy Trinity sword once more. He wanted to be prepared, just in case.