Thadeus sets Elizabeth against the reception desk, exactly where the last scene left them. Her face is flushed, but not from the chase, from shame. The Chain Block’s blue light flickers over her trembling hands.
Elizabeth Bathory
I did not tell you the last part. The seal cannot hold unless someone stays behind to take its place.
The words land hard. The humming garden floor buckles farther out in the hall, and the long shadows in the lobby seem to lean toward them.
Thadeus Jovanović
The sacrifice was always part of this.
Chaos
Ah. There it is. The door was never free.
Elizabeth swallows, eyes fixed on the pulsing pedestal. She looks ready to argue, or beg, but her shoulders sag instead. The lobby answers with another low shudder.
Elizabeth Bathory
If the Corridor closes, it takes a witness with it. Someone has to be the final lock.
Chaos watches Thadeus now, still and alert, as if waiting to see what kind of sacrifice a man like him will accept.
“Thadeus calms himself, trying to think out the situation. He begins to chuckle, then laugh, then full on howl with laughter, having to catch his breath. Chaos looks at Thadeus with appears to be a puzzled look. "So human, did you make a decision?" Thadeus, has facial expression now stoic, "Yes Chaos, I have." Thadeus takes Peacebringer and strikes down at Elizabeth. Her expression is shock as she is cut in two and then disappears in a blue mist. This was another echo in the realm, and Chaos was nearly able to trick Thadeus, but Thadeus remembered that intent was the key to fix the Chain Block, not sacrifice.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +0)
Thadeus lets out one short laugh, then another, and the sound breaks open into a hard, breathless howl. The reception desk rattles beside him.
Chaos tilts his head, puzzled now, while Elizabeth watches from the floor, uncertain whether she is seeing mockery or grief.
Chaos
So human, did you make a decision?
Thadeus Jovanović
Yes, Chaos. I have.
Thadeus cuts the laughter off cold. He raises the Peacebringer, not at the living woman, but at the shape of her lie.
The blade of blue light comes down. Elizabeth splits into a burst of mist and static, and the blue glow snaps through her like it is tearing paper.
Where she was, the air empties. The echo collapses, leaving only the desk, the trembling floor, and the Chain Block’s steady pulse.
Chaos stands very still, staring at the vanishing mist, while somewhere deeper in the building a hidden latch clicks once, as if the real mechanism has just noticed Thadeus.
Thadeus leaves Skyscraper lobby reception behind and arrives at Blue Lake.
“Chaos, having witnessed Thadeus see through the god's deception, is enraged and rockets himself at Thadeus. Thadeus attempts to brace for the hit, but the deity is too quick. Chaos launches Thadeus through the reception area, causing Thadeus to fly through the main entrance windows, glass exploding everywhere. Thadeus is hurled back into the forest, landing in a deep blue lake. Stunned, Thadeus begins sinking down into the water below.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Agility, rolled +1)
Cold water slams around Thadeus, swallowing the sound of the building behind him. Blue light shivers under the surface, then fades as he sinks past a veil of dark reeds and reflected sky.
Above, the lake mouth glitters with broken glass and a bright rectangle of forest beyond. The water below is clearer than it should be, and something pale glints near the bottom, steady as a marker.
Thadeus Jovanović
The lake floor is visible. So is a stone shape near the silt.
Thadeus twists his body, arrests the fall, and drives for the lighted side of the lake. The current from the building spill slows under him, as if the water itself is letting go.
His boots touch down in soft mud beside a half-buried stone pedestal, its slot dark and waiting. A thin ripple runs across the water, and the surface behind him settles shut like a lid.
On the shore, Chaos stands framed by the trees, motionless for a beat, then starts toward the waterline with his scythe lowered. His gaze locks on Thadeus, sharp and unreadable.
Chaos
You survive the throw. Good. Now tell me what you just sealed.
✓ Quest Accepted
Escape the Eternal Corridor
“Seeing the stone pedestal, Thadeus tries inserting his wooden sword into the opening. As if by fate, he finds it fits snugly at the base. He quickly turns the handle, which he hears both a click from the stone, and the handle of the sword snap off, leaving it broken. Thadeus leaves the wooden sword behind, no longer usable. Chaos lunges toward Thadeus again, but this time Thadeus is quick enough to hold up Peacebringer to shield himself. Thadeus's weapon instantly releases a blinding blue light towards the deity, and an explosion of energy bursts out, causing Thadeus and Chaos to blown back 20 feet each.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Agility, rolled -1)
Thadeus jams the wooden sword into the pedestal slot and twists. Stone answers with a dry click, and the handle snaps in his hand.
He drops the broken grip in the mud as the pedestal stays half-buried and silent, the lake holding its breath around him.
Chaos lunges from the shore, scythe cutting low through the damp air.
Thadeus snaps the Peacebringer up between them, bracing behind it.
Blue light detonates off the weapon in a hard, blinding burst. The shockwave hurls Thadeus backward across the shallows and throws Chaos back toward the trees.
Water explodes around them, then slaps flat again, leaving the pedestal exposed and the broken sword behind.
Chaos
Interesting. That was not fear.
“With some distance between them, Thadeus looks around the lake, and sees a stone obelisk raise from the ground. He thinks he sees a portal forming in front of it. Not able to determine where it leads, he races towards it. This opening will be the only chance to escape this reality and return to his own.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Agility, rolled +1)