Nico spun around in that white corridor to see an extremely pale man eyeing them rather hungrily. She tried her usual bluster and bravado, demanding to know who he was. He calmly demanded to know what she was doing and why she thought it a good idea to alter this layered spell. He also told her that she had to open the door. Apparently he was under a geas that prevented him from doing so. His job was to protect this place. He couldn't remember when it began but it was in a time of kings in old Londinium.
Oddly enough, he didn't speak medieval.
Nico point blank refused to open the door. If there was something in there worth sealing up, she sure wasn't going to release it.
He explained that the people who sealed it in weren't good people. What sort of good people would use one like him as a guardian? He stated that the entity inside may be simply trapped and in need of freedom. If it were released, he could leave also and all he wanted was to leave. He didn't seem to know about the apocalypse so Nico lied about their guns being capable of shooting both fire and lazers (figuring that should be scary enough).
All that did was get him to back away to the end of the corridor as they approached, leaving through the door. Of course, that gave him the advantage because they didn't know what he would be doing at the other end of the door. They knew he could be invisible, at the very least. So they set up camp against that door and tried to regroup.
After about an hour of trying to keep everyone's spirits up (Rochelle, in particular, felt at death's door), Nico radioed Gipontel for help. He seemed quite enthusiastic to get involved and a couple hours later he was coming in through the corridor, having met the men-in-black but having not met the vampire.
Feeling a bit more confident (she probably shouldn't have), Nico opened the door and demanded to talk to the vampire. They wanted out. The vampire re-iterated his demands. They had to open the door. Nico threatened him a bit more. He turned to mist and advanced. Moments later even the mist was invisible. Gipontel panicked a bit, though he could still "see" the invisible vampire and they all backed up down the corridor.
Finally when they had their backs to the wall, Nico offered the vampire a third option. "Come with us. We can break the geas."
He reappeared and they talked for a bit. He introduced himself as Malkiah. His memories seemed pretty scrambled and Nico pointed out the inconsistencies, which just made Malkiah grow more cross in that unearthly yet dominant kind of way he did so well. In the end, they called a truce so they could all take a look at the books in the place.
Gipontel figured out that the entity behind the door was thought to be a "supernal dragon" whose reemergence would mark the end of the world. The group of mages who used to live here both worshipped and trapped it here after accidentally summoning it, fearing what it might unleash. Gipontel seemed pretty keen on letting it out, figuring it would be an enemy to the Abyssals at least.
Nico wasn't too keen on letting out any new supernatural thing so barred that idea entirely.
Malkiah stated that if they freed him, he would obey Nico's demands and help her fight the demonic scourge. Apocalypses and the destruction of the human race meant the destruction of his kind as well. Jack's werewolf blood and regeneration could keep him fed, after all, though with the side effect of making him more aggressive.
Gipontel offered the team a private place to talk about the Malkiah situation and, upon their agreement, spirited them all away to a place in his pocket.
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