Jaims stops at the oak doors, one hand still guiding the dazed waitress by the arm. Moonlight spills through the gap ahead, washing the Grand Gallery in silver and shadow.
Inside, a lone figure stands at a display case, leaning in with a thief's patience. The case lid is open, and something inside has been disturbed.
Jaims Tepes
The intruder is already inside my sanctuary.
Jaims eases the door wider without a sound. The waitress hangs back, glassy-eyed, while the figure turns at the movement, alert and ready to run.
Mara
Who is there?
The voice is young, tense, and familiar with trouble, but not with this house. Jaims can see a phone in the intruder's hand, lit with a live camera feed, pointed toward the display and the hall beyond.
Whatever the intruder has found, it ties this castle to the modern world. If Jaims speaks carefully, he can learn why they are here before they see too much.
✓ Quest Accepted
Identify the intruder in the castle
✓ Quest Accepted
Recover the disturbed item from the display case
“"my advice" I say with a predatory smile "is you put that back how you found it and leave the way you came."”
SUCCESS (Great Psychology, rolled +1)
The intruder freezes, then slowly lowers the phone. The screen still throws blue light over their hands as they look from the display case to the doorway, weighing retreat against pride.
Jaims Tepes
My advice is to put that back the way you found it and leave the way you came.
The words land cleanly. The intruder’s shoulders tighten, and they glance down at the disturbed case as if just noticing how exposed they are.
Mara
You are not security.
The waitress remains half-hidden behind Jaims, glassy-eyed and silent, while the intruder’s grip loosens on the phone. The live camera feed keeps rolling for a second longer, then their thumb hovers over the screen without pressing.
Mara
If I walk out, I want to know what this place is. No lies.
A torn strip of paper lies near the case, pale against the dark floor. The intruder bends, snatches it back from the edge of the display, and edges toward the hall, keeping their eyes on Jaims instead of the room.
Director's note
I pronounce it priv-asee
“"I am the master of this castle and I would like to know how you invaded my privacy this way. Most can't enter Castlevania" I look down at the paper. "What is that?"”
SUCCESS (Great Willpower, rolled +0)
Jaims lets the silence do the work. The intruder stops edging back and straightens under the pressure of his stare.
Jaims Tepes
I am the master of this castle. You will explain how you got in, and what that is.
His words land like a door locking. The intruder’s eyes flick to the paper, then back to him, and the fight drains into calculation.
Mara
Fine. I came in through an old service passage under the west archive. It was already open.
Jaims looks down at the torn strip in the intruder’s hand. Its edge is charred, and a line of neat handwriting runs across it.
Jaims Tepes
What is that?
Mara
A clue. A map fragment. I found it near the case, and it points deeper inside.
Behind Jaims, the waitress stays silent, still dazed and held. The intruder waits, tense but pinned, as if deciding whether the fragment is worth giving up.
Director's note
demons, ghouls, lesser vampires, imp's, the Gorgon Sisters, Pan The God, and many other supernatural creatures reside in Castlevania's deeper forums
“"My advice for that is don't. The residents of this castle don't take well to intruders"”
SUCCESS (Great Psychology, rolled +1)
The intruder goes still, then lowers the torn scrap with two fingers like it has suddenly become expensive. Their shoulders tighten, and the phone dips toward their thigh.
Mara
Right. Message received. You can have it.
They hold the fragment out, carefully, not quite meeting Jaims's eyes. The neat handwriting flashes once in the gallery light before the paper leaves their hand.
The waitress watches from the doorway, breathing shallowly, while the intruder’s jaw works as if they are measuring the cost of staying.
Mara
I got in through the west archive passage. Opened from the inside already. I did not make that happen.
Mara
If you want the rest of this map, you should know I did not come here alone at first.
The open case gapes between them, disturbed and empty now where the clue had been, and the gallery feels a little more like Jaims's territory than it did a moment ago.
Quest Complete
Recover the disturbed item from the display case
Skill Upgrade: Psychology Great→Superb
+ New Item Acquired
Torn strip of paper
“A mixture of rage and terror for the other flares in my eyes "who else came in here and were did they go?"”
SUCCESS (Superb Psychology, rolled +0)
Jaims lets the question land like a threat with teeth. The intruder’s face changes at once, caution giving way to a hard, practical fear.
Mara
Two others. One stayed by the west passage, one moved deeper, toward the lower galleries.
Mara
I never saw the first one’s face. The second wore gloves, dark coat, knew the hallways better than I did.
The waitress shifts in Jaims’s grip, dazed but listening, while the intruder swallows and glances once toward the open case.
Mara
If you want a name, I do not have one. But they took the route past the music room. That is where they disappeared.
For a moment, the gallery goes very still, the torn strip now the smallest thing in the room and the only thing that feels certain.
Mara
I can point you there. If you are done making me guess whether I leave here alive.
Director's note
As an original vampire I'm almost impossible to kill
“"you will help me find the others and then you will all leave her alive provided you don't touch anything or anyone attempts to take my life. My name is Jaims Tepes. Yours is?"”
SUCCESS (Superb Psychology, rolled +1)
Jaims Tepes
You will help me find the others, then you all leave her alive. Do not touch anything, and no one tries to take my life. My name is Jaims Tepes. Yours?
Mara
I am Mara. And yes, I will help.
Mara
I did not come here to die in some museum aisle. I came for a way out, and for what this place is hiding.
The Waitress
Alive. Good. Just keep talking like this, whatever this is.
Mara lowers the smartphone a fraction, then points with two fingers toward the corridor beyond the gallery, careful not to step away from Jaims.
Mara
The one in gloves went that way. Fast, but not panicked. Like they knew which turns to skip.
The waitress stays where Jaims holds her, and the torn strip of paper lies at his side like a small, burnt breadcrumb on the floor.
Quest Complete
Identify the intruder in the castle
Attribute Upgrade: Willpower Great→Superb