The portcullis finishes rattling overhead. In the corridor behind it, four robed figures stand shoulder to shoulder in the dim light, blocking the records room like a second gate.
They strip off their purple robes in perfect unison.
Storm’s face looks back at Thadeus. Then Storm’s face again. And again. Four identical women, same posture, same cold stillness.
Thadeus Jovanović
Four of her.
Elizabeth shifts beside him, claws half-raised, eyes locked on the copies. The records room light burns behind the gate, unreachable for the moment.
The four Storms step forward together, not rushing, just closing the last gap with synchronized intent. They are here to keep the names sealed, and Thadeus can see the fight before it starts.
“Thadeus decides the best solution would be the simplest. He grabs one of his jars of holy water and tosses it at the doppelganger, waiting to see the reaction.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Agility, rolled +2)
Thadeus snatches a jar from his coat and snaps his arm across the corridor. The glass arcs low, spinning toward the nearest Storm’s face.
It hits with a sharp crack. Holy water bursts over her hood and chest, and the four copies break their rhythm at once.
The struck Storm recoils hard, hands flying up as her outline shivers in the torchlight. The other three flinch a beat later, their perfect formation finally imperfect.
Elizabeth steps in beside Thadeus, claws angled forward, staring at the one that took the hit. The records room light keeps burning behind them, open and exposed.
From behind, the fast footsteps hit the corridor mouth and stop short. Someone else is close now, and the sound makes the hallway feel narrower.
The four Storms split their attention between the wet one, Thadeus, and the rear approach. The cleanest path to the records room is still open, but only for a second longer.
“Watching that the holy water did not react to Storm, he concludes these creatures are not undead. Thadeus pulls out Peacebringer, concentrating to change it took its whip form, and whips down the hallway, striking the four Storms from left to right, causing all four to double over, and collapse to the floor.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Agility, rolled +0)
Thadeus snaps Peacebringer open into its whip form and drives it down the line before the Storms can reset. The blue-lit chain lashes from left to right, cracking across the first robe, then the next, then the next, then the last.
All four double over at once. One drops to a knee, another folds into the stone, and the wet one from the holy water splashes hard against the wall, breath knocked out of her.
Thadeus Jovanović
They are solid. Not undead.
Elizabeth surges forward beside him, claws up, ready to press the opening. Behind them, the footsteps in the corridor mouth stop moving and turn into a tense pause.
Storm
There are names below. Keep swinging, and you will still lose them.
The records room light burns steady past the open gate, but the shadows at the corridor mouth thicken with whoever just arrived from behind.
The four Storms remain staggered on the floor, the passage briefly clear, the sealed room exposed for one hard decision.
“Thadeus dashes back into the records room, and looks into the one of last file cabinets still open. He reaches in, and instead of finding files, he finds a lone metal skeleton key. He pockets it. Meanwhile, Elizabeth rushes the four doppelganger while they are stunned, and slashes with her claws. By the time she's done, all four have collapsed to the stone floor, no longer moving.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Agility, rolled -1)
Thadeus cuts back into the records room as Elizabeth lunges past the threshold, claws flashing for the stunned copies. The nearest Storm jerks up too late, and the others scramble to recover on the stone.
A last-open cabinet hangs crooked beside the wall of files. Thadeus yanks it wider, rifles the drawer by feel, and his fingers close on a cold metal skeleton key instead of paper.
Thadeus Jovanović
A key. Not a file.
He pockets it at once. Behind him, Elizabeth drives her attack home, forcing the four mirrored women down into the floor in a storm of claws and retreating cloth.
One Storm collapses on her side, another folds forward and stays there, and the last two stop moving with their purple robes bunched under them. The open room goes strangely still.
From the corridor mouth, the waiting footsteps shift again, closer now. The records room remains lit, exposed, and briefly theirs, but the path behind them is tightening.
+ New Item Acquired
Metal Skeleton Key
✓ Quest Accepted
Find the skeleton key's lock