By the time Ethan reached the cellar, everything was already going to shit. He had slipped on the slick floor and ended up falling flat on his face. When he sat up, he saw a damn rat looking at him. Now how could a place this nice have rats?! Then again, this rat just scurried away... it was a lot better than those horrible bugs he had to deal with in Louisiana. He shook those thoughts out of his mind and hopped up again. He took out the list he received and noticed it was a lot of mundane things. He turned it over and saw a handwritten note scrawled on the back:

"Dear Ethan Winters, Please bring the following to my chambers within the next three hours. If you are even a minute late, I will not hesitate to kill you. :-) - Wine (I am assuming you will recognize which one you are to bring) - The packages our servants left in the cellar on accident. There are several so be careful with them. - Shrek 2 on Blu-Ray (For Daniela) There is not much to fetch, of course, but I know you walk very slowly and get lost easily which is why I have decided to give you so much time. Good luck, - Lady Dimitrescu"

Ethan looked around and sighed. He wondered if Lady Dimitrescu knew that her cellar was flooded with some gross red liquid. He prayed to God it was just spillt wine and not human blood. Regardless, he was going to have to wade through this and hunt for the things Lady D wanted or Else... He took his jacket off and set it on the floor, hoping that the rats didn't go and nest in his pockets. He considered taking off all of his clothes so that they wouldn't get wet but thought it would be very... awkward.

"If Rose ever hears about this and isn't thoroughly impressed with what I did for her... sigh. Can't say I won't be disappointed," he thought aloud.

He saw a random bottle of wine sticking out of one of the shelves but it was hardly impressive. It only stuck out to him because it was in his peripheral vision; that was about it. He figured this bottle of wine that she wanted would have to be unique, maybe even sexy... Whatever that meant. He chose to keep walking for a bit longer until something else intrigued him. Eventually, he found his way out of the liquid and into some grungy dungeon area. It looked like a bizarre medieval torture chamber. Knowing the vibes around here, it probably was.

"Um, yeah... What the fuck is all this?" he grumbled. Truthfully, he was only saying things out loud to remember that this was reality. It wasn't a vision nor was it a random nightmare he was having again, but real life. Yes, he was walking around in the cellar (and now dungeon) of a nine-foot tall vampire mistress. Oh, life was so strange...

Shaking away these thoughts, he continued walking until he noticed a cart with several boxes and packages stacked on top of it. They were haphazardly lined up like a dangerous game of Jenga. Ethan plucked one of the boxes off and looked at it carefully. He recognized it to be an Amazon package but... how the hell did Amazon even make it to this place? He assumed the Duke acted like a proxy serviceman in the sense that like, Lady Dimitrescu (or anyone else) bought something, the Duke went and retrieved it from a larger location, and then brought it back to the village. But he didn't see any bank; how did they service credit cards or currency conversions? No, Ethan had no time to be thinking about something stupid like that. He had already accepted the fact that reality was odd enough.

He picked them up and realized this was going to be extremely difficult to manage. There were about six medium sized packages. He decided to stack them up and leave them until he had retrieved the other things. After he got everything, he could push the stupid cart to push them around again. He continued walking around through the dungeon, noting the lingering scent of Rot and Sadness hanging in the air. The vibes were not pleasant in the slightest.

"Okay, now where's Shrek? Heh, you know what, I feel like if I keep walking a bit more, I could run into him," Ethan chuckled. He didn't know why he was making jokes but it eased the misery of going through a dank (A/N: no not dank mlg pro) dungeon. That joke wasn't even coherent.

A bit later he found the Shrek series box set but noticed it was the DVD version. Apparently, Daniela wanted the Blu-Ray edition. Ethan had no fucking idea what the difference was but he knew that she would know (and care) if he brought the wrong version. He poked his head into one of the cells and, strangely enough, noticed the right version sitting on the ugly-ass bed. On God, he didn't remember seeing that at all the first time he combed through here.

"You're really slow, you know that?"

Ethan paused. He kind of hoped that was a random thought that jumped into his mind instead of a ghost or something. He slowly turned around (to further the point that he was slow) and noticed Bela standing there. She flashed him a faint smile.

"I- No, wait, how did you get here?"

"Oh, I mess around here a lot because I adore the vibes. If you turn some of the lights on," she said, gesturing to the walls, "it's not as depressing. It kind of turns into more of a gothcore thing, you know?"

Ethan didn't know what she meant but noticed there were some of those 'fairy lights' hanging up on the walls. Odd... Where were the electrical outlets? Or like, the stupid light switches?

Bela held up a hand and vanished for a few moments, coming back with the cryptic packages in her arms. "Here, I think you're kinda funny so I'm gonna help you out so you don't die. Maybe you think Mother is joking about it but... she loses her temper so easily and then just kills people. You would not be the first or last random guy to get killed over something like being slow."

"Oh thank God, I've been stressing over this for a while now. Like, yeah there's not a lot of stuff on this list but how the fuck am I supposed to bring them all up? I think it was a sneaky plot to just kill me for breaking the vases," Ethan rambled.

"Actually, you might not be far from the mark on that one, bud! Anyway, come on. You have the wine right?" she asked, staring at him. "...Right?"

"Was it the shitty looking bottle on the shelf back there? Because there's no way in hell your mom wants one that looks so bland. I was expecting something way more sexy."

Bela tilted her head to the side and hummed in thought. She couldn't even remember what the hell he was going on about. "No... I think that may just be another random bottle. In case you didn't know, we have a lot of wine here. I know where we can find a bottle that will satisfy her but we have to take the random route. Follow me."

She started walking off, holding the packages while Ethan held onto stupid Shrek 2. Shouldn't it have been the opposite way around? Ugh! Both of them walked until they made it to a dimly lit kitchen that was filled up with random goodies and snacks. Ethan hadn't realized how damn hungry he was until he saw some meat lying on the counter... His stomach roared and he sheepishly looked around.

"I uh... I haven't eaten much since getting here," he mumbled.

"Hmm, I'll ask Mother if we can send you off with some meats or whatever. You should take them to the Duke and get some nice dinner! That guy must be a wizard 'cause I asked him to cook up something for me once and he made one of the best foods I'd ever eaten," Bela said excitedly. Ethan was intrigued... A man who could cook was a chad in his eyes.

She set the packages down on a counter and pointed towards the back room. "Go in there and you'll find the big wine bottle. I really think that's the one she wants."

Ethan half-ran over to the back and indeed found a large bottle of 'Sanguis Virginis' wine. It fit the bill for being extra and large and impressive so he brought it back with him. He reached for his phone to check the time but realized something was fucked up.

"Oh no... Oh my fucking God. Dude, I just realized something. I left my damn phone AND my jacket in the cellar. Oh man, the rats are gonna have a field day in there," he groaned, panic taking over his whole being.

"RIGHT! That's why you look so weird! I was thinking you looked a lot scrawnier than usual!" Bela said with a laugh.

"I am not scrawny... But ugh, I guess we can just get my shit back later. Let's hurry up before your mom kills me."

He took a moment to think about this scenario. If he brought this stuff back, Bela in tow, only holding a bottle of wine and a Shrek Blu-Ray, Lady Dimitrescu would probably be super pissed off. He could imagine her saying something like, 'Oh how dare you force my daughter to help you?!' before slicing him up into little cubes. Sigh... Ethan never got anything easy in life. He took a basket and shoved everything in before starting off.

"Oh, Ethan, I'll go get your ugly jacket for you. Consider it a thanks for hanging out with us and also finding Daniela's movie... even though I'm the one who put it there," Bela said with a smirk. She slinked off before Ethan could even reply, though he felt content. Not about his jacket being called ugly but for being helped in any kind of way.

He carried everything up the stairs and banged on Lady Dimitrescu's door, panting from how Heavy this stupid basket of packages was. What the hell did she even order? The door opened cryptically... Lady D was not there but was instead sitting at her vanity applying lipstick. Ethan remembered his 'sidequests' of retrieving things for the Duke and made a mental note of where she put her makeup.

"Well, Mr. Winters, you're lucky. You made it with 15 minutes to spare! Now let me see that basket, please," she asked, taking the basket gingerly. She sifted through everything and hummed happily. "Okay, I will not kill you this time simply because you've amused me and my daughters greatly and, frankly, they needed the entertainment."

Ethan spaced out and didn't bother listening to a word she said. He was too preoccupied thinking about what would happen if he just stole her lipstick and ran out. Would she even notice? Probably... Just then a thought manifested in his pea-sized brain. He could sneak into the bathroom and find some leftover makeup or whatever in there. He remembered that whenever he tried to find ibuprofen in his bathroom at home he would have to sift through the random makeup Mia had stocked the drawers with. He cleared his throat and shyly looked around.

"Um... Can I wash up in your bathroom? It's been a long time since I cleaned up."

"Sure? The washroom is in the room behind us, over there," Lady Dimitrescu pointed to the door behind her.

Ethan gave another awkward smile and walked to the bathroom. The first thing he noticed was that it was a lot smaller than he expected. Not surprising that a bathroom was small and not like, elaborately decorated but hey... Couldn't they afford a grand bathroom? Whatevs, he just used the toilet like any normal person would and then hopped up, flushed, and walked over to the sink. He looked in the mirror and grimaced.

"Oh god, I look horrible. I really am grimy looking," he groaned. He washed his face and touched up his hair before fishing around in the drawers. He pocketed some eyeliner, foundation, and lipstick before heading out into the main room again.

"Right... If you're finished with everything, here's the key to the next place," she said, handing him a small key. It hardly looked interesting but what did he know? "Please send my best regards to Donna. I saw her venting on his priv about something so maybe if you pass along a greeting, it will cheer her up. Best of luck to you in the rest of your journeys. If the need arises, feel free to visit our castle again anytime."

"Hey, that could be pretty cool. I'll definitely stop by again someday! Thanks for like, not killing me. I know I've been kinda cringe and fail but man... Someday I'll become more 'based', or whatever," Ethan said.

Lady Dimitrescu squinted. She knew that Heisenberg said 'based' sometimes but didn't know what it meant. Hopefully he wasn't already tainting Ethan with stupid shit. She kind of liked the idea that there were people on the same level as her in terms of meme knowledge.

After Ethan left the room and said goodbye again, he stood in the foyer trying to remember how the hell to get out of the castle and back to the main village. Wait... his stupid jacket was still missing! He so badly wanted to scroll through Tiktok and see what memes were trending... Sigh. As he lurked around, Bela manifested before him again holding a bag of mysteries and his beloved jacket.

"Oh thank God. I was getting worried 'cause that jacket cost like, 75 bucks. I got it at Costco for a really good deal. Hey, do you-"

"Ethan, I'm sorry but I have no time to hear you ramble about Costco. I have like, games to play. Anyway, in that bag you'll find a bunch of chicken and beef so that you can mess around with the Duke and have him cook food for you. Mother said if you can catch the fish in the ponds outside, you can eat those too. Thanks for hanging out with us, I'll spam you on Tiktok later!" Bela said. She handed him all the stuff and vanished again... Ominous!

After observing all the food and making sure it wasn't like... moldy or gross or some crap, he decided to take it along with him. He made a mental note to say hey to "Donna" or whomever but wasn't even sure who that was. Was that the cryptic lady in the back from that one time? He kind of thought that was just a mannequin, but okay... He assumed he would figure everything out after having a chat with the Duke.