The two blue-armored constructs remain fixed at the lower entrance, axes ready and attention unchanged. Thadeus rushes up the metal stairwell as the clockwork booms beneath him.
At the top, he reaches an ornate wooden door framed by dark stone. Elizabeth’s voice comes clearly through it, strained and unaware of his presence.
Elizabeth Bathory
Stop! Let me go! Whatever you want, stop and let me go!
Her cry breaks into a ragged breath, followed by a muffled scrape beyond the door. No footsteps approach from the hall, and the lock remains unseen.
Thadeus Jovanović
The voice is unmistakably Elizabeth, but I cannot tell whether this is truly her or a recording meant to draw me inside.
Peacebringer glows blue in Thadeus’s hand. Below, Elias, Marcus, and Sally remain in the alchemical laboratory, out of sight and beyond immediate reach.
Elizabeth Bathory
Please, someone, help me!
✓ Quest Accepted
Confirm whether Elizabeth is behind the door
“Thadeus pushes the door open, revealing a large ballroom. The entire floor is covered with blood red carpet. The walls adorned with various marble statues, as if they were carved directly into the walls themselves. The ceiling above is all glass, allowing the blood red moon's light to cover the entire room. On his left, Thadeus sees Elizabeth, her arms shackled to the wall, but with no visible mark on her neck. Before Thadeus can run to her, his attention turns towards the far end of the ballroom, the voice of Erzsebet Bathory hitting him like a sledgehammer, "So you've found your way here, human. I'm astonished you survived from our last encounter." Thadeus finds himself paralyzed by her gaze.”
SUCCESS (Superb Strength, rolled +1)
Thadeus pushes the ornate door open. A vast ballroom lies beyond, its floor buried beneath blood-red carpet and its walls carved into rows of marble statues.
Above, a glass ceiling exposes the blood-red moon, bathing every statue and crimson fiber in cold scarlet light. Elizabeth hangs to his left, arms shackled to the wall, her neck unmarked.
Elizabeth Bathory
Thadeus! Do not come closer. It is a trap!
Before he can cross the carpet, a presence at the ballroom’s far end seizes his attention. Erzsebet Báthory stands beneath the moonlight, her gaze fixed upon him.
Erzsebet Báthory
So you have found your way here, human. I am astonished you survived our last encounter.
Her voice strikes with the force of a sledgehammer. Thadeus’s muscles lock in place, Peacebringer frozen in his hand as the ballroom stretches vast and silent between them.
Erzsebet Báthory
You crossed half my castle for her. Tell me, does that devotion make you brave, or merely predictable?
Quest Complete
Confirm whether Elizabeth is behind the door