Dust rains from the bunker ceiling as the boom fades. Elias bolts for the monitors, pale and breathing hard. Thadeus turns from the hidden study toward the main room, where the front entrance hangs open and broken.
A figure stands in the debris, perfectly still. Erzsebet Báthory lifts her red gaze to Thadeus and ignores everyone else, as if the room belongs to her already.
Elias
Thadeus, the cameras just went black. Something forced that door open from outside.
Thadeus Jovanović
That is not a normal break-in.
Marla freezes near the study doorway, phone half-raised. Elizabeth steps beside Thadeus, tense and quiet, feeling the air go cold around Erzsebet's stare.
Erzsebet Báthory
Elizabeth. You still answer to my blood, whether you admit it or not.
Elizabeth Bathory
No. Not anymore.
Erzsebet's attention stays on Thadeus, her expression calm and merciless, while the open doorway behind her frames the bunker like a wound. Whatever force brought her here is aimed at Elizabeth, and Thadeus is the one being invited to decide what happens next.
“Thadeus speaks cautiously to Erzsebet, "I know who you are, vampire. I saw you in a dream," Elizabeth glares at Thadeus, whispering "What do you mean you saw her in a dream?" Thadeus quietly says back, "I'll explain later." Turning his attention back to Erzsebet, Thadeus continues, "Are you responsible for the recent events with the undead?" Erzsebet shows a slight smirk, "In a way, yes, they are of my creation. More importantly, you have something that doesn't belong to you." The air chills almost instantly with her words. Erzsebet points to Elizabeth, "She is not of your kind. She has a destiny to fulfill." Elizabeth goes pale, her usual confidence seemingly fading at her mother's presence.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Diplomacy, rolled +1)
Thadeus keeps his voice even, and Erzsebet lets the answer land without moving. The smirk on her mouth says he has touched the right nerve.
Erzsebet Báthory
In a way, yes. They are of my creation. More importantly, you have something that does not belong to you.
The air drops colder around the room. Marla lowers her phone a fraction, Elias goes rigid by the monitors, and Elizabeth’s face drains at the edge of Erzsebet’s stare.
Erzsebet Báthory
She is not of your kind. She has a destiny to fulfill.
Thadeus Jovanović
Thadeus stays between them, calm but unyielding. That is not your decision.
Elizabeth Bathory
No, not here. Not in front of him.
Erzsebet’s gaze flicks past Thadeus to the hidden study, then back to Elizabeth. The room holds in a brittle standoff, with the shattered doorway breathing cold night behind her.
“Thadeus stands firmly in front of Elizabeth, who is now staring to tremble slightly. Thadeus takes out Peacebringer, still in its original chain whip form, glowing with an intense blue aura. He stares daggers at Erzsebet, declaring, "Elizabeth isn't going anywhere. You're going to have to go through me first." Erzsebet roars with laughter, then looks again at Thadeus, "Oh, you were serious? I'm sorry, that was embarrassing. Okay, I understand." Before Thadeus can react to her statement, his chest goes cold, then explodes with pain. Erzsebet strikes a clawed hand through his chest, the nails piercing directly through him. He coughs, blood splattering on Erzsebet's dress. "What a mess," she says as she retracts her clawed hand back, causing Thadeus to collapse to floor, dropping Peacebringer in the process. Elizabeth screams, "Thadeus!!!" Thadeus clutches his chest, trying to not to lose consciousness from the attack.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Health, rolled -1)
Thadeus brings Peacebringer up as blue light spills across the broken floor. He plants himself in front of Elizabeth, chest squared, taking the blow meant for her before it can land.
Thadeus Jovanović
Elizabeth is staying here. You come through me first.
Erzsebet Báthory
Oh, you meant that literally.
Her laugh cuts thin and sharp through the room. In one blur, Erzsebet drives a clawed hand into Thadeus’s chest, cold and burning at once, and blood spatters her dress.
Peacebringer slips from his grip and clatters near the monitors. Thadeus folds toward the floor, one hand crushing against the wound as he fights to stay awake.
Elizabeth Bathory
Thadeus!
Erzsebet Báthory
Now we can speak plainly.
“Thadeus maintains his vision long enough to see Elizabeth drop to her knees and hold him up, Sounding desperate, Elizabeth cries, "No, no, no, you can't die. You can't leave me like this." Thadeus smiles, "I'm okay, I'm not...going anywhere." Thadeus coughs, more blood coming out, as he slowly loses consciousness. Elizabeth gently lays him down, then lunges at Erzsebet with her clawed hands, Elizabeth's eyes as red as the sun. Erzsebet chuckles. As Elizabeth's hands appears to strike true, Erzsebet disappears into a white mist, the mist floating out of the broken entrance to the Hideout. The party hears Erzsebet's disembodied voice say, "You have one month, Elizabeth, to return to me. If you don't, I'll see to it that this world you've made for yourself is destroyed, never to return again. Don't make me wait."”
SUCCESS (Legendary Health, rolled +0)
Marla sees the room tilt with Thadeus’s blood, Elizabeth catching his shoulders before he slips fully away. The blue glow from Peacebringer crawls over the broken floor, and Erzsebet waits in the gap like she owns the doorway.
Elizabeth Bathory
No, no, no. You cannot die. You cannot leave me like this.
Thadeus Jovanović
I’m okay. I’m not going anywhere.
Thadeus’s answer comes thin, but it lands. Elizabeth lowers him carefully, rage tightening her whole body as she rises from her knees.
Her face changes in one hard breath, red flooding her eyes as she launches at Erzsebet with bare hands and a scream caught in her throat.
Erzsebet Báthory
There, that is the daughter I remember.
Elizabeth’s strike cuts into white mist instead of flesh. Erzsebet unthreads herself at the threshold and drifts back through the broken entrance.
Erzsebet Báthory
You have one month, Elizabeth. Return to me, or I will ruin this little world you made. Do not keep me waiting.
“Elizabeth, overcome with incredible rage, slams her fist through the Hideout's concrete wall, creating a foot wide hole in the wall. Marla and Elias pick up Thadeus, each one taking a shoulder, and move him to the couch. Once on the couch, Marla calls 911, pleading for EMS to arrive as soon as possible. For Thadeus, the world seems to blur in and out. He briefly sees visions of his family in his youth, his brief memory of living in Europe, and other memories. He sees his escaping the riot in Detroit, meeting Elias in his shop, seeing Marla in the alleyway behind him, then he sees his first meeting with Elizabeth, at his front door. He sees his battle to stop the Revenant clan, the Eternal Corridor and its horrifying resident, Chaos. He sees the encounters with the Stars of Divinity religious group. All of his memories come to him in an instant, and then disappear. Thadeus last thought before he falls asleep, "If this is it, I can accept it."”
SUCCESS (Legendary Health, rolled +1)
Elizabeth turns from the doorway and drives a fist into the concrete. The wall bursts inward, dust and chips raining over the hideout as a rough hole opens beside the broken frame.
Marla and Elias rush in together, each taking one of Thadeus’s shoulders. They haul him upright, careful and fast, while the floor shudders under the last curl of mist at the entrance.
They get him to the couch and lower him down. The room narrows to the couch, the blood, and the sharp little glow of Peacebringer on the floor.
Marla Brewer
Nine one one, please, EMS as fast as you can. He is badly hurt.
Marla keeps the phone to her ear, voice tight and steady. Elias stays braced beside the couch, one hand near Thadeus’s shoulder, watching the doorway and the new hole in the wall.
Thadeus Jovanović
His thoughts blur into faces, streets, fire, and old doors. Family, Europe, Detroit, Elias’s shop, Marla in the alley, Elizabeth at the front door, the Corridor, Chaos, the Stars of Divinity.
Thadeus Jovanović
If this is it, I can accept it.
The room softens at the edges. Thadeus slips under, while Marla’s call keeps going in the background and Elizabeth stands in the wreckage, breathing hard.