12. Sanguine Horror

Reeling from the backlash of using coins, Jason staggers as Gary praises his deceptive tactics. Rufus explains the wall-binding magic ended with its caster. Jason frees a captive woman, Farrah, who pointedly questions Gary and Rufus about needing a stranger to save her.

Jason inspects a tooth-carved altar and an advanced ritual tome he cannot fully read. Farrah examines it while Jason finds a sack of salt—useful for magic circles—and notes Farrah’s suppression collar lacks a key since Cressida fell into the pit. Jason learns Gary is a Leonid, highlighting Jason’s outsider status.

Heat and smell from the blood pit intensify. Gary and Rufus report the remaining cultists likely fled. Jason receives quest rewards, then Farrah identifies the ritual’s aim: creating a sanguine horror, an apocalypse beast made of carrion leeches that multiplies by feeding on blood.

Noting the room’s growing heat and the timing of sacrifices, Jason realizes they may not have interrupted the ritual but instead completed it by throwing multiple bodies into the pit. A new quest to destroy the sanguine horror appears as Farrah confirms the danger.

With no reliable guidance from the tome and their abilities suppressed by collars, Rufus, Gary, Farrah, and Jason decide to descend immediately to confront the nascent horror while it remains vulnerable, intending to stop it before it becomes an unstoppable world-ender.