Chapter 156: CLVI. The Road to the Chamber.

Didn't Rowie say one year ago after he tried The Very Essence of Fantasy that the Patriarch was in reality experimented with the unnatural? The former pup had either got his information wrong, or Maximillian Reynolds was lying once again. Something plausible, but he could also be trying to test Vanilla in person. He knew that she was not ordinary, and her powers and fighting abilities had skyrocketed as her arsenal grew up. 

Or perhaps there was indeed something nasty below there. Something that required some extra helping hands, something that not even he nor his armed followers were able to confront.

"Follow me inside," The old man said and returned from the limestone door he had just appeared from. "I'll show you the way."

Vanilla kept Avrevm Bacvlvm gripped below her leather jacket. She'd press the diamond if he or his followers tried anything. She crossed.