The front door shudders on its hinges. Pale hands rake the panels, and the wood gives a hard crack.
Thadeus Jovanović
The hinge line is failing fast.
Thadeus snaps Peacebringer forward, the chain whip flashing blue as it uncoils toward the gap.
Elizabeth Bathory
Now, Thadeus. Push them back.
Elizabeth plants herself beside him, one hand lifted, her focus tightening as the things at the threshold recoil.
A taller figure in the street pauses behind the swarm, half-hidden by the press of bodies, watching the doorway like it owns the night.
The door buckles inward another inch. If Thadeus clears the entry now, he can break the pack and reach whatever is driving it before the house is overrun.
✓ Quest Accepted
Hold the front door
Director's note
In the background, continue having the police defend themselves from the zombie hoard, while the tall figure can be seen holding a police officer up by the neck, the officer struggling to break free
“Thadeus and Elizabeth push their way outside onto the front porch. With inhuman speed, Elizabeth dashes towards the first zombie in sight, slashing her clawed hand directly through its throat, dropping it instantly. She rushes quickly through three more closest to her. Meanwhile, Thadeus twirls Peacebringer and whips it in a counter-clockwise monitor, snapping through a group of six zombies, slicing through all six in their midsection, causing them to burst into flame, then turn to ash. Several more of the creatures limp their way towards Thadeus and Elizabeth..”
SUCCESS (Legendary Agility, rolled -1)
Thadeus and Elizabeth burst onto the porch as the door frame behind them shivers under the press. The nearest bodies stagger into the light, and Elizabeth is already moving.
Her clawed hand tears through the first attacker’s throat in a single wet slash, and the thing drops without a sound.
She cuts through three more in a blur, driving them back off the boards before they can crowd the steps.
Thadeus twists Peacebringer wide, the chain snapping in a hard counter-clockwise arc through a knot of six.
The weapon catches them across the middle, blue light flaring into fire as all six break apart and crumble to ash.
More of the undead keep coming, dragging themselves forward in a loose, strangely timed line. Behind them, the tall figure in the street lifts a police officer by the neck while the officer claws at the arm holding him.
“Elizabeth strikes down another zombie, then sees the tall figure down the street. She watches as the figure, still holding the police officer, twists the officer neck with a brutal crunch sound, causing the officer to go limp and pass away. The figure tosses the body down the road, nearly 25 feet, causing a group of nearby zombies to run after it. Thadeus cracks Peacebringer toward another group of zombies, turning them all to dust. Elizabeth calls out to Thadeus, "That's the real threat here," gesturing towards the tall ceeature. Thadeus agrees, saying he will secure the front porch and have her rush the tall figure. Elizabeth grins, and rushes towards the tall figure.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Agility, rolled +0)
Peacebringer snaps again in Thadeus’s hands, and the porch clears in a burst of pale dust. The nearest bodies simply lose shape and fall apart at the steps.
Elizabeth Bathory
That is the real threat here.
She points past the ash and the broken boards, not at the porch, but at the tall figure in the street. Its grip tightens on the officer’s throat.
There is a brutal crunch from down the road. The officer goes limp, and the tall figure hurls the body aside. The nearby dead turn and lurch after it like they have been summoned.
Thadeus Jovanović
I’ll hold the porch. Go get him.
Elizabeth flashes a hard grin and breaks into a run off the porch, angling straight for the tall figure while Thadeus squares himself at the threshold.
The remaining undead reach the front walk in a loose, coordinated push, but the line at the steps stays intact for the moment.
Quest Complete
Hold the front door
New Gift: Unwavering Sentinel
Director's note
While Elizabeth is picked up by the creature, she is unable to escape for the moment
“With the front porch clear of any threat, Thadeus lays Peacebringer in front of the door, whispering to himself, "I really need this to work." Concentrating his will, Thadeus places his hand on Peacebringer, morphing its form again, expanding into a blue barrier, replacing the opening of the front door into a glowing barrier, protecting the entrance to the home. As he's doing this, Elizabeth strikes out at the tall figure, going for its throat. Elizabeth is surprised when her slash seems to go through it, as if it was an hallucination, passing through it harmlessly. The tall creature turns around and picks up Elizabeth by the throat, her now struggling to break free just as the police officer did..”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +1)
Thadeus sets Peacebringer flat before the ruined doorway, then presses his palm to it and feeds it a steady, focused will. Blue light swells across the frame of the entry, knitting into a bright barrier where the door gap was.
Thadeus Jovanović
I really need this to work.
The barrier locks into place with a low hum, sealing the porch from the house in a glowing sheet of light. The splintered opening is no longer open space, just hard blue resistance.
Outside, Elizabeth’s charge reaches the tall figure. She slashes at its throat, but the blade cuts through empty air like smoke. The creature does not even flinch.
It turns with abrupt speed and clamps a hand around Elizabeth’s neck, lifting her off balance. Her boots scrape at the street, and her hands strike at its arm as the police line behind her keeps fighting the dead.
Through the barrier, the front room glows behind Thadeus while, beyond Elizabeth, the feral man’s listless eyes catch the streetlight for a dead, empty instant. The tall figure holds her up like she weighs nothing.
The barrier holds, but the attack has split the fight in two. Elizabeth is trapped in the street, and the porch is sealed behind Thadeus as the next move hangs in the air.
✓ Quest Accepted
Protect Elizabeth from the tall figure
“Does Thadeus see a way to strike the tall figure, since he observed Elizabeth's attack go through the creature harmlessly?”
YES, BUT (Unlikely, rolled 31)
Thadeus Jovanović
The creature is intangible to her strikes, but the way it grips her neck suggests a physical anchor that might be vulnerable to a different kind of force.
Thadeus observes the way the tall figure's fingers indent the skin of Elizabeth's throat, confirming that while the entity ignores her blade, it maintains a solid, physical hold on its prey.
“Knowing the creature must have a weakness, he rushes inside, grabbing a bottle of Elias's holy water from an end table, jumps back out on the front porch and curls the jar at the tall figure. The jar shatters at the creature's feet, causing blue flame to erupt on the ground. The flame appears to eat at the tall figure, causing it to drop Elizabeth to the ground. Elizabeth stays on her knees, her hands holding her throat, unable to stand and catching her breath. The tall figure steps out of the blue fire and snaps its fingers, causing it to phase out of existence. All of the zombies in Thadeus's view drop limp and lifeless. The surviving police officers look around, trying to comprehend what they just witnessed.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Agility, rolled +0)
Thadeus surges inside, grabs the holy water bottle from the end table, and comes back out in one hard motion. He snaps his arm forward and hurls it low.
The jar bursts at the tall figure’s feet. Blue fire flares across the porch boards, licking up its legs and forcing its grip open.
Elizabeth drops to her knees on the street edge, both hands clamped to her throat, dragging in air through a ragged cough.
The tall figure steps out of the burning patch like it has already decided the fire is over. One sharp snap of its fingers, and its outline thins.
Around them, the undead bodies go slack and fall where they stand. A few police officers recoil behind their pistols, staring from the street to the sudden stillness.
The blue flames gutter on the porch. Elizabeth stays down, and the officers are left looking between Thadeus and the empty space where the threat was.
Quest Complete
Protect Elizabeth from the tall figure
+ New Item Acquired
Holy water bottle