Thadeus and Elizabeth step off the final stair into an ancient catacomb hallway. Empty stone alcoves gape from both walls, each one wide enough for a body, now stripped bare.
The passage is dim and narrow, lit only by the faint blue pulse of Peacebringer in Thadeus’s hand. The light barely reaches a few feet ahead before the dark swallows it.
A soft grinding rolls through the stone, distant but steady, like gears turning somewhere under the cathedral. The sound points deeper into the tunnels, toward whatever the hidden circle is moving behind sealed walls.
Thadeus Jovanović
The hallway is built for the dead, but it is being used now.
Elizabeth slows beside him, scanning the empty niches and the shadows between them. The alcoves and the machine noise make the route feel less like a burial place and more like a storage system.
Ahead, the passage bends out of sight, and the grinding grows a fraction louder. Somewhere beyond that turn are the names, books, and prisoners Storm warned them about.
“Thadeus holds Elizabeth's hand, causing her to stop moving. Thadeus asks, "What happened to you earlier, when you fell through?" Elizabeth's eyes lock with Thadeus, "I landed in a tomb. It looked similar to these halls, but there was no exit. At one point, I felt the floor move on me, so I braced myself against the wall. Sure enough, the room shifted where I saw a beam of light come through, and I heard that creature trying to seduce. I just locked on that voice, and propelled myself to you." Thadeus grinned, "Remind me to never get on your bad side." Elizabeth grinned, "As long as your bad with me, you're okay."”
Thadeus eases Elizabeth to a stop and takes her hand. The blue glow from Peacebringer wavers over their fingers as they face each other in the narrow stone.
Thadeus Jovanović
What happened to you earlier, when you fell through?
Elizabeth Bathory
I landed in a tomb. It looked like these halls, but there was no way out. The floor shifted, I braced on the wall, heard that thing talking, and went straight for your voice.
Thadeus Jovanović
Remind me to never get on your bad side.
Elizabeth Bathory
As long as your bad is with me, you are fine.
“Thadeus releases Elizabeth's hand, and they keep moving down the catacombs. While they are walking, Elizabeth takes out her phone, "Damn," she thinks, "No signal down here. I wonder what Marla and Elias are seeing on the camera feed." Thadeus walks further, when he here's a click from below him. Reacting quickly, he steps back as a guillotine blade drops inches from his foot, barely missing him.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Agility, rolled +0)
Thadeus lets go and they move again, shoulder to shoulder in the tight stone corridor. Elizabeth checks her phone under the blue wash from Peacebringer, then folds it away with a small, irritated shake of her head. The tunnel swallows the screen light fast, but the distant grind keeps rolling ahead of them.
Elizabeth Bathory
No signal down here. I wonder what Marla and Elias are seeing on the camera feed.
They pass another row of empty alcoves. Thadeus keeps his pace careful, Peacebringer low, the blade-light sliding over old stone and dust. The floor answers with a hard click under his boot.
He jerks back just as a guillotine blade drops from a slot in the ceiling, slamming into the floor where his foot was a heartbeat before.
Thadeus Jovanović
The trap is in the floor and ceiling, not the walls.
Elizabeth Bathory
That was aimed for you. Keep moving, but watch the ground.
The blade shudders in place, then starts to grind back up out of sight, leaving a narrow cut in the stone and an open path ahead that still hums with hidden motion.
“Thadeus has an idea. He channels Peacebringer's power into himself, and starts to levitate. He puts Peacebringer back on his belt, while still floating. "May I?" He asks Elizabeth. She blushes, and jokes, "Such a gentleman". Thadeus scoops us Elizabeth and is carrying her, while floating through the catacombs, avoiding any further traps.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +2)
Thadeus rises off the stone without a sound, Peacebringer dimming as he guides it to his belt. The blue glow stays with him, a little halo over the tunnel floor, while the grinding ahead seems to answer his movement.
Thadeus Jovanović
May I?
Elizabeth Bathory
Such a gentleman.
Elizabeth steps in close, and Thadeus lifts her cleanly into his arms. Her surprise turns quick into a grin as the corridor’s trap line passes harmlessly beneath them.
He floats them forward, careful and steady, keeping to the center of the hall. The old floor clicks again somewhere ahead, but nothing reaches them this time.
Elizabeth Bathory
This is absurd. Convenient, but absurd.
The catacombs open toward a darker bend, where the grinding grows louder and more deliberate. Stone shifts somewhere beyond the next turn, like a door or platform waking up.