Vampires and Voltaire: Maxius gauntlet

Maxius: Not Just One Vampire

The hallway past Count Maxius is the only way out. The Hero expects to handle one more vampire, but Safiria warns that this is no ordinary opponent. The friends freed from the castle’s traps stand ready to help. Before the battle, she urges the Hero to take aid from one of them, rather than face the Count alone.

Each offers a different companion or keepsake. Safiria can temporarily become a spirit orb; Bubble offers her cat’s witchcraft and antimagic; Constantin lends a knife made to fight vampires. Kimberly offers a small plastic Pony Gary Yellow as a reassuring guardian, while Voltaire lends his Wounded Heart against eldritch horrors—admitting that it did not protect him from the brain-sucker. These are choices of assistance, with powers described by their owners, rather than proof that the Hero carries every protection at once.

Five ghoul minions block the hallway. After the Hero defeats them, Maxius appears in black flame, accusing his guest of harming his pets and offering a lesson in manners. The first battle goes against him, but he disappears rather than letting it end the pursuit. Praising the Hero’s strength, he says it confirms his choice of sacrifice. More minions will occupy the group while he prepares the ritual.

The Hero fights through the vampire minions, then meets Barnabus. The little butler offers a good night’s rest by knocking the intruder out. The Hero laughs at the threat from a tiny moglin, and Voltaire warns against underestimating the cute ones. Barnabus proves tough, but is defeated. His declaration that he has been slain provokes Maxius’s fury.

The Count returns in a monstrous form, raging that the guests have killed his butler. The Hero answers that they were kidnapped and have been trying to escape, not repay hospitality with violence. Constantin, Kimberly, Voltaire, Bubble, and Safiria stand behind their rescuer. While Maxius prepares the final confrontation, Barnabus opens an eye and cheers him on. His tragic farewell was no reliable account of his final fate.

Maxius: The Sacrifice He Never Intended

The second confrontation ends with Maxius himself standing on the ritual circle. He protests, glows, and vanishes into blue light. Barnabus explains what the group has witnessed: a ritual sacrifice, but not the one his master wanted. The Hero has survived the role intended for them, and the Count has supplied the sacrifice instead. His threat ends without his escape to a triumphant life on Lore.

Barnabus is still present and talking, despite the apparent death he performed earlier. He no longer wants to fight. His regret is that Maxius cannot finish the rest of the ritual, which could reverse the exile and bring the castle, with everyone inside, permanently back to Lore. Safiria immediately asks whether he knows how to perform it. He does: he has helped prepare it for centuries, and now finds himself in need of a new master.

Constantin recognizes the danger in her interest. He demands to know what she is plotting and promises to watch her until the Blood Moon sets. Safiria tells him that she will do what she believes necessary. In his conversation afterward, Constantin explains the wider concern: Solani’s leadership has brought a tentative peace between lycans and vampires, and he fears what finishing Maxius’s ritual might do to that truce.

Safiria still appears as the Vampire Queen’s ghost. She confirms that the ritual has begun with Maxius as its sacrifice, and considers what completing it could bring back from Gehenna. Its completion and her permanent return have not yet been shown. The companions have overcome the Count’s five-stage gauntlet, but the possibility he created remains. Their escape from his intended sacrifice opens a new dispute over who should use the unfinished ritual, and for what purpose.