Thadeus wakes on the couch to water running upstairs and Elizabeth’s soft humming. The house feels hollow where Elias and Marla were, like they have gone back to their own lives. The Belmont Family Grimoire rests on the oak table, waiting in the dim light.
He picks up the heavy book. Its cover is warm, and the faint glow from before brightens as if it recognizes him.
The pages begin to turn on their own, fast at first, then slowing on illustrated deaths, ruined keeps, and names repeated across generations.
One story catches and holds. A Belmont rides with a Speaker and Alucard, and Dracula falls. Another shows a lone Belmont storming the castle, ending him again, and again, in a life that seems to refuse to stay buried.
Then the earlier note about the feral man lands differently. The listless eyes were not mindless at all. They belong to a thrall, bound to something larger, something steering the outbreak from behind the violence.
Thadeus lowers the book at last, mind crowded with centuries of blood and burden. The humming upstairs goes on, and the glowing grimoire waits open in his hands.
+ New Item Acquired
Belmont Family Grimoire
“As Thadeus continues to pour through the Grimoire, he finds a chapter of the book called the Bestiary. It's an index of all of the monsters and creatures the Belmonts have fought over the centuries. Every horror movie with a supernatural monster seems to be listed here - werewolves, vampires, mummies, devils, the list goes on. Thadeus thinks to himself, "I cannot believe this is all real. I grew up playing games and defeating these monsters. And Elias is a Belmont? This just isn't real." He composes himself and keeps reading, until he finds something called "The Creature". It's a tall figure that looks like Frankenstein's monster, wearing a long dark coat, torn pants and barefoot, with what looks like two metal spikes coming out its neck. Thadeus contemplates if this is what Elizabeth encountered on the street last night.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Reasoning, rolled +2)
Thadeus turns another page, and the index title Bestiary fills the spread. Names of old nightmares march in neat columns, each one cross-referenced like a grim catalog.
Thadeus Jovanović
I cannot believe this is real. I grew up beating these things in games. And Elias is a Belmont... this just isn't real.
He steadies his breathing and keeps reading. The glow from the emblem on the cover thins across the paper like pale smoke.
Werewolves, vampires, mummies, devils, all of it is there, treated like history instead of fiction.
Then he finds the entry marked The Creature. A tall man in a long dark coat, torn pants, barefoot, with metal spikes jutting from his neck.
Thadeus Jovanović
That is the thing from the street last night.
The page does not leave it as rumor. It names the Creature as an older kind of servant horror, dangerous when directed and worse when left loose.
Quest Complete
Identify the Tall Figure
Director's note
The scene outside of the house is now daylight, the neighborhood clean up as if nothing happened the previous night, except for some broken strands of police tape found in the front yard
“Thadeus waves Elizabeth over to show her what he found within the Grimoire. Elizabeth's face grows shocked, "Yeah, that looks like the thing that nearly choked me. What do we do now?" Thadeus looks back at Elizabeth, "For now, nothing. I'd like to continue reading and if there's anything else that may be useful to us." Elizabeth nods and heads over to the kitchen to start preparing breakfast, leaving Thadeus to read on.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Reasoning, rolled -1)
Thadeus lifts a hand from the book and angles it toward Elizabeth. The emblem on the cover pulses once, faint and cold, as if it recognizes her coming closer.
Elizabeth Bathory
Yeah. That is the thing from the street. What do we do now?
Thadeus Jovanović
For now, nothing. I want to keep reading and see if there is anything else useful.
Elizabeth studies the page a beat longer, then gives a short nod. She turns away from the table and heads for the kitchen, the old floorboards answering under her steps.
Thadeus reads on. The bestiary entry does not just name the Creature, it warns that beings like it are often only the visible hand of something directing them.
Thadeus Jovanović
A servant horror. That means the real threat is still somewhere behind it.
The next line lands harder. The tall figure is described not as a monster in the usual sense, but as an anchor point, something that gathers lesser bodies into a pattern.
From the kitchen, a cabinet door clicks open. In the quiet room, the Grimoire’s glow stays steady, and the page waits for Thadeus to decide how far down this rabbit hole he keeps going.