The engine dies. The truck falls into the same heavy silence as the night around the cathedral, and the borrowed comfort inside it turns brittle.
Elizabeth looks at the glowing broken-star doors, then back at Thadeus, and the answer lands on her face before she says it. This place is not a sanctuary. It is a trap.
Elizabeth Bathory
This was never a church. It is where they gather.
The truck suddenly feels like a glass cage. Beyond the windshield, robed figures move under the cathedral lights, and the route that led them here now looks planned from the start.
Elizabeth Bathory
Victor was warning us without saying it. Stars of Divinity are not just a crew at Knight's End, they are the whole machine. Ramirez is the front, Elias was their paper route, and this is the center.
Thadeus Jovanović
The house was only safe until they found us again.
✓ Quest Accepted
Enter the cathedral
“Thadeus hears something that causes him to lower his binoculars. A low growling noise, filled with both hatred and pain. Thadeus looks below the truck and sees another pale zombie, this one seemingly missing its jaw. Thadeus quickly stands up and pulls out Peacebringer, currently in its sword form, and slashes through the zombie's head, dropping it. Elizabeth sees the commotion and quickly joins Thadeus on top of the truck. Thadeus then spots several dozen more zombies, a mix of male and female, slowly work their way towards the truck.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Agility, rolled +0)
Thadeus lowers the binoculars at the sound below the cab, a wet growl full of pain and hate. He leans over the truck bed, spots the pale jawless shape crawling under the bumper, and drops onto it with Peacebringer already in hand.
The blue blade flashes once. The zombie’s head splits apart and goes slack in the gravel, and Thadeus lands hard beside the truck with the weapon still up.
Elizabeth Bathory
Thadeus.
Elizabeth scrambles up from the cab and climbs onto the truck bed, eyes locked on the ground where the body falls still. Her face tightens as she looks past him toward the fields.
Thadeus Jovanović
More of them are coming.
Dozens of pale figures press out of the corn, slow and uneven, male and female shapes moving toward the headlights in a widening line. The cathedral’s broken-star doors glow behind them like a beacon aimed at the road, and the truck feels suddenly surrounded.
✓ Quest Accepted
Escape the zombie swarm
− Scene Quest Removed
Enter the cathedral
“Thadeus looks down at the truck bed, seeing the box of holy water, and scrambles to pocket them. He can carry a dozen in his coat with relative ease. On a hunch, Thadeus grabs one of the jars of holy water, and heaves it into the group of zombies. The holy water crashes and bursts into a blue flame, engulfing the either crowd of zombies until they are nothing more than a glowing purple ash. "Thank you, Trevor. Do you want a couple of these jars of holy water, Elizabeth?" She recoils from them, saying, "I'm perfectly capable with my own abilities, thank you." A little confused, Thadeus shakes his head in understanding and hops off the truck. "Forgetting something?" Elizabeth says, giving him that mischievous smile. Thadeus turns around, motions Elizabeth over to him. She jumps from the truck, into his waiting arms, where Thadeus catches and holds her, for a little longer than necessary, but he does so out of love for her”
SUCCESS (Legendary Agility, rolled -1)
Thadeus snatches the holy water box off the truck bed and stuffs jars into his coat with fast, practiced hands. Gravel rattles under his boots as he swings one jar out toward the front line.
The bottle shatters in the headlights, and blue fire blooms across the roadside. The nearest dead figures collapse into glowing ash, their line breaking apart in a flash of purple embers.
Thadeus Jovanović
Thank you, Trevor. Do you want a couple of these jars, Elizabeth?
Elizabeth Bathory
I'm perfectly capable with my own abilities, thank you.
Thadeus gives a small nod, hops down from the truck, and reaches back with one arm as Elizabeth steps toward him from the bed.
Elizabeth Bathory
Forgetting something?
He turns, opens his arms, and catches her as she jumps into them. For one breath, the road, the corn, and the cathedral all fall away behind her shoulder.
“Thadeus sets Elizabeth back down, heart filled with purpose, "Let's go. I'm pretty sure we've lost the element of surprise." Elizabeth quips back, "If we even had it." Thadeus thinks, "She's probably right." The two of the run down the path to the cathedral. Thadeus concentrates and morphs Peacebringer into its flail form. Elizabeth centers her eyes onto the cathedral, her hands slowly extending to sharp claws, ready to slash anything in her or Thadeus's way.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Agility, rolled +0)
Thadeus Jovanović
Let's go. I'm pretty sure we've lost the element of surprise.
Elizabeth Bathory
If we even had it.
Thadeus Jovanović
She's probably right.
Thadeus sets her down and turns from the truck, Peacebringer shifting in his grip as it reshapes into its flail form with a hard metallic click.
Elizabeth squares up beside him, eyes fixed on the cathedral, her hands lengthening into sharp claws as the corn trembles at the road's edge.
Then they run together across the shoulder and onto the broken path, blue ash crunching underfoot while the glowing doors wait ahead.
“Thadeus and Elizabeth are standing in front of the towering doors of the cathedral. Up close the doors have sharp metal posts sticking about two inches from the door in symmetrical, fixed intervals. Thadeus is able to find the door knocker he observed the purple robed woman use earlier. He takes hold of it, and slams it against the door three times, waiting for a response from the inside. He gets his answer, as the 20- foot door in front of him slowly groans open, then just as quickly closes as Thadeus and Elizabeth pass through. Thadeus doesn't see a door handle on the inside of the cathedral. They won't be able to escape the way they came in.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Agility, rolled -2)
Thadeus reaches the door and finds the knocker where the robed woman used it. He raps three hard times, and the heavy slab answers with a deep, dragging groan.
The cathedral opens just enough for him and Elizabeth to slip through, the air inside cool and stale against their faces. As soon as they clear the threshold, the door hammers shut behind them, loud enough to shake the metal posts.
Thadeus Jovanović
There is no handle on this side.
Elizabeth Bathory
Then somebody wanted us in here.
Outside, the last blue flame gutters out in the corn. Inside, the cathedral swallows the road noise, and the sealed doorway leaves them cut off from the truck and the way back.
In the hush, a faint vibration travels through the floor, as if the building itself has noticed them. Somewhere deeper ahead, the route opens, but the refuge behind them is now part of the trap.
Quest Complete
Go to the church on the city’s edge
New Gift: Sanctuary Seeker