The swamp’s fog clings to your boots and shrouds the gnarled trees in ghostly tendrils. Through the murk, the silhouette of a mansion emerges—tall, angular, and unnervingly silent. Every step closer makes the air heavier, thick with the scent of stagnant water and the faint rot of old graves. At the door, your pick slides into the lock, and with a muted click, the way inside opens.
The interior is deathly still. Dust motes shimmer in the slanted beams of moonlight, cobwebs curtain the corners, and the floorboards groan as though the house itself resents your presence. Room after room yields nothing but silence and shadows… until you reach the master chamber.
At the center, brazenly displayed, rests a golden lock-box. It gleams with an otherworldly luster. The sound of its latch breaking is deafening in the quiet, and when the lid opens, your breath falters—inside lies a ruby skull, its surface slick with fresh, dripping blood. The curse inside you trembles violently. This is no trinket. This is a [Doom Token].
Before you can react further, the air curdles. A chill like grave-soil washes over you as a figure steps from the shadows—the mansion’s master. His skin is pale as bone, eyes burning with crimson fire, fangs catching the dim candlelight. The Vampire Lord. His presence radiates hunger, malice, and dominion, and the truth is inescapable: this relic will not be taken without blood.
The clash is inevitable—steel against fang, spell against shadow. The Doom Token throbs in your grasp, as though the cursed relic itself urges you to fight on. The battle is desperate, the very walls trembling with unleashed power. At last, the Vampire Lord collapses, his scream cut short into silence. The ruby skull glows in your hand, heavy and triumphant.
You know where you must go next—back to the shrine of the cult. Back to the ones who sent you down this cursed path.
[Defeat the Vampire Lord, claim the Doom Token, and return to the Cult Shrine to continue…]