The ascent up the winding path was slow, shrouded in a fog so thick it muffled all sound, making the silence of the Beneviento Estate feel oppressive.
Theodore felt the psychological pressure building, but his mind was already resisting the environment.
"They want us to feel afraid, to be careful, to analyze every step,"
Theodore explained to the group, his voice low.
"It's a classic horror mechanic. But we're not playing their game."
They reached the manor's front door. It was locked, naturally, with a large, elaborate combination lock requiring an intricate series of steps to unlock—a classic Resident Evil progression stopper.
Ethan sighed, already bracing himself for the tedious scavenger hunt.
"We need the three crests, or maybe a set of doll eyes. This is going to take hours."
"Hours are for normies,"
Theodore countered, his eyes scanning the structure. He pulled out the Ascalon sword.
"The puzzle requires patience; impatience requires brute force."
He pointed the sword not at the lock, but at the heavy, intricate stone masonry surrounding the doorframe.
"The structural integrity here is based on late 15th-century Romanian construction. It's meant to look formidable, but it's just stone and mortar."
Theodore activated Eagle Eyes.
The stone structure immediately highlighted the subtle, weak points in the cement joints in a sickly yellow-green overlay.
He began striking the weak points with the pommel of his Ascalon sword, methodically dismantling the frame until he had carved out a section just wide enough for Alcina to step through. He ignored the beautifully crafted, locked door entirely.
CRACK! CRUNCH!
Alcina watched with a satisfied, predatory smile.
"Elegant destruction. Why waste time on keys when one can simply break the wall?"
Ethan, however, was still fighting his own internalized game rules. He stared at the destroyed wall and the perfectly intact lock.
"I... I feel like I'm going to fail a mission objective. This is deeply wrong."
"Get over it, Ethan. In this world, I am the objective. The developer rules don't apply to the administrator,"
Theodore said, stepping through the large hole.
Inside, the house was a confusing maze of shadow and silent dolls.
The atmosphere was designed to play on personal trauma, but Alcina and her daughters—who had just been cured of decades of parasitic control—were now resistant to mere mind games.
"This room requires us to smell the flower to trigger the hallucination and solve the puzzle box,"
Cassandra whispered, remembering the few times Miranda had brought them here.
"We skip the hallucinations,"
Theodore declared. He pulled out a handful of Firebombs (Dark Souls).
"Daughters, where is the main ventilation shaft for the house?"
Alcina asked.
Bela immediately pointed up.
"The heat vent in the ceiling, used to circulate warm air during winter. It runs through this central hall."
Theodore lobbed a Firebomb directly into the vent.
The ancient, dry air immediately drew the flame, sending a rush of heat and smoke throughout the floor.
"The heat will confuse Donna's sensory projection and disrupt the ambient fungus that controls the hallucinations,"
Theodore explained.
"We're glitching the puzzle."
As the room filled with smoke, the air shimmered, and Donna Beneviento's main puppet, Angie, let out a screech that sounded more like a software error than a threat.
The required puzzle items—a key, a necklace, and a hidden music box piece—were not revealed through the terrifying, lengthy hallucination sequence.
Instead, the heat and smoke caused the ancient house mechanics to fail. A hidden compartment sprang open near the mantlepiece, ejecting the needed items onto the floor in a pile of dust.
"See?"
Theodore said, scooping up the loot.
"Fast travel achieved."
Ethan could only watch, a blank expression settling on his face as his brain slowly began to accept Theodore's reality.
He was becoming accustomed to the chaos.
Alcina, seeing his success, knelt before a locked, heavy door leading downstairs.
"My Lord,"
She said, her voice full of respect.
"This door requires a pressure plate activated by a heavy body. However, the mechanism is slow and loud. How shall we proceed?"
Theodore looked at the door, then at the towering, powerful Alcina, and a fresh grin spread across his face.
"We don't need a pressure plate, Alcina. We need a cannon."