Elias’s truck rolls to a stop outside Knight’s End, where the broken-star mark still stains the glass and concrete like a bruise. The place is quiet, but not empty. The cathedral’s trail has led here, and now the last door waits.
Thadeus Jovanović
This is where the chain ends.
Inside the dim entry, the air is stale with dust and old smoke. Donny Ramirez stands by a panel of monitors and papers, one hand on the wall as if he is holding the whole network upright. He turns at their footsteps without surprise.
Donny Ramirez
You made it farther than most. But this place was never just a club, it was a nerve center. Cut me down here, and something else keeps moving.
Elizabeth Bathory
Then tell us what keeps moving, Donny. Or sit down and let it die with you.
Donny’s eyes flick to the keys, the files, the remaining marks on the screen. He looks less like a king now, more like a man cornered by the truth he built. The room waits on Thadeus, Elias tight beside him, the Holy Cross heavy in the silence.
Donny Ramirez
The key opens what you already found. The broken-star routes, the records, the names, all of it feeds forward. Take me in, and the chain breaks. Miss, and it keeps finding people like Elias.
Everything narrows to a single choice, with Donny exposed, the network mapped, and the last answer hanging in the air.
“Donny Ramirez's eyes begin to glow red, and his form begins to shift. His body grows dramatically, while his skin turns a deep shade of blue. His face contorts into something demonic, with large sharp teeth protruding from his mouth. Thadeus remembers seeing a similar monster in the Grimoire, "Oh god, Donny is...a vampire." Almost as in response, the vampiric form of Donny swipes at Thadeus and Elizabeth with his giants claws, tossing them to the side of the room. Elias tries throwing the Cross at the vampire Donny, and watches as it strikes to, making the creature recoil. The Cross flies true and returns to Elias, who effortlessly catches it.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Agility, rolled +3)
Donny’s eyes flare red, and his body swells out of the blue robe like something forcing its way through skin. Thadeus catches the shape from the grimoire, and the name lands in his mind with a cold jolt.
Thadeus Jovanović
Oh god. Donny is a vampire.
The vampire lunges with a brutal swipe. Thadeus twists with the blow, taking Elizabeth with him, and both of them are thrown hard across the room.
Elias steps in fast, hurls the Holy Cross, and it cracks into Donny’s chest with a flash of force. Donny reels back, hissing, and the Cross snaps free through the air.
Elias catches it cleanly on the return, steady as if the motion has always belonged to him. The grimoire’s warning and the weapon’s answer finally match.
Donny slams against the monitor wall, exposed and shaking, while a loose file spills from the panel at his feet. Thadeus sees a stamped room number on the page before it skids under a desk.
Donny Ramirez
No, wait. You do not understand what is above this room.
“The air seems to change, almost being lighter. Thadeus, still prone on the ground, looks up to see Donny hold out one of the bottles of holy water, but instead of throwing, he mutters something to himself. Vampire Donny seems to hear what Elias said, because he starts to back away from Elias. With a quick shout, Elias yells, "Hydro Storm!" Out of thin air, the room starts to fill with blue-green rain, as if someone set off the sprinkler system. Donny cries is pain, as his skin begins to bubble, then burst, flames consuming him until he turns to black ash. Thadeus helps Elizabeth up to her feet, then goes to Elias, "I knew you would be the one to save us. Thank you, Elias Belmont."”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled -1)
The room empties in a burst of wet blue light, then Donny is only black ash drifting over the consoles. Thadeus gets one hand under Elizabeth and helps her upright.
Elizabeth steadies on her feet, breathing hard, eyes still on the fading stain where Donny stood.
Thadeus Jovanović
The fight is over.
Thadeus crosses to Elias, slow and careful, the Holy Cross still in his grip.
Thadeus Jovanović
I knew you would be the one to save us. Thank you, Elias Belmont.
Elias
I... I think it worked.
He looks from the Cross to the ash, stunned but standing. On the floor, the spilled page with the stamped room number lies half under the desk, and the broken-star monitors flicker in the settling quiet.
Quest Complete
Find the Stars of Divinity inner circle
New Gift: Divine Insight
The monitors dimmed to static. Black ash drifted over the consoles where Donny had stood.
Thadeus Jovanović
Good. The chain is broken here.
Elizabeth Bathory
For now, yes. That was not the source, only the hand.
Thadeus looked once at the broken-star mark, then at the ruined room.
Knight’s End was no longer a living nerve, only a dead chamber of smoke, ash, and failing screens. Thadeus Jovanović stood with Elizabeth Bathory in the hush after violence, knowing the club had fallen but the true center still waited above and beyond. What remained here was consequence, and the hard relief of a door finally closed.