Round 71 Transcript

As Silra's hand closes around the dimmest fragment, her palm wound throbs in agony, and the cut's edges feel warm and wrong. The pale blue-green halo pulsing on the pedestal seems to be growing brighter, casting an eerie glow over the chamber. Halie's spiritual barrier magic flares up in response to Silra's touch, creating a shimmering aura around her face. The walls here remain completely still, their living tissue movement paused as if holding breath while watching this controlled experiment play out. However, the grinding noise from below grows louder, and the pressure plate's reactivation cycle is nearing completion. The air is thick with the sweet-sick scent of corruption, and Silra can feel something moving beneath her skin, definitely not just sensation but active movement of whatever this gas solidified into when it got into her bloodstream. The brightest halo on right pulses fastest, casting an almost blinding blue-white intensity over the chamber. The dimmest halo on Silra's left hand pulses slower, but each pulse still pulls corruption deeper into her system through that wound site like it's drinking directly from the infection. With only a few seconds left before the trap fully reactivates at accelerated speed, Silra must decide whether to drop the fragment and hope to grab the next one in sequence quickly enough to maintain control of the experiment, or risk permanent damage by holding on to the dimmest artifact.

I'm at twenty-five seconds since initial contact, and I can already feel permanent damage setting in—my arm's gone colder than the crypt air, veins darkening like ink spreading through paper. The pedestal's halo pulses slower than the others, ten per second instead of fifteen on the next one over, but each pulse still pulls corruption deeper into my system through that wound site like it's drinking directly from the infection. I'm timing this mentally—visually tracking symptom onset so we can calculate safe grab times for each fragment if anyone has to touch them. Jeane's flame is barely holding at 1% and flickering with every pulse of corruption—I need her maintaining that shield as long as possible even if it means accelerating her own contamination slightly. Halie's watching me like I'm a test subject, spiritual barrier shimmering around her face while she catalogs symptoms. Those walls are living tissue grown into the architecture—can see them move subtly when I look closely through corrupted vision. Whatever owns this facility has been feeding on victims for decades probably, maybe centuries. The grinding noise from below is getting closer now—the pressure plate's reactivation cycle nearing completion. We've got maybe thirty seconds before that trap fully reactivates at accelerated speed and starts closing walls again. If I drop this fragment now, we lose the controlled experiment sequence—someone will have to grab randomly next time, which means whoever grabs one of those middle fragments suffers worse corruption faster than necessary. The brightest halo on right pulses fastest: almost blinding blue-white intensity that probably fries nervous system permanently in seconds of contact—I'm not about to let anyone touch that. My palm wound is definitely spreading faster—cut's edges seem to be moving like liquid beneath the skin's surface, and I swear I can feel something writhing in there with each pulse of the pedestal's light. The sweet-sick syrup sensation in my insides is moving toward my arm now, attracted to the fresh entry point—I'm already past twenty-five seconds since initial contact. At thirty, temporary damage becomes permanent deterioration. I need to decide whether dropping this fragment preserves enough function for me to grab the next one if needed, or if I'm already too far gone from this first touch. If I hold on past thirty and then can't grip properly for the next attempt, we lose controlled sequence entirely. But if I drop now without confirming safe grab window, we're back to blind trial-and-error panic grabs that's how people become permanent fixtures in haunted facilities. Halie's spiritual barrier shimmers more visibly as she watches—I can see concern in her eyes despite trying to maintain professional detachment. She knows I won't drop this fragment until absolutely necessary because giving up control means losing tactical advantage, but pushing past thirty is probably the point of no return for temporary damage becoming permanent. My vision's already blurring from the corruption seepage—probably twenty seconds left before I reach that limit. Jeane's flame barely holds at 1% output between her palms. She can feel her arcane focus failing even at this weak concentration—I need her to maintain that shield as long as possible, but if she falls back on physical barrier magic completely, that means accelerating her own corruption slightly. I'm not about to let Aethera bitch notice anything beyond her own reflection anyway—she's been useless so far except for looking concerned from a safe distance. The dimmest halo pulses slower than the others: maybe ten pulses per second compared to fifteen on the next one over. That suggests transmission speed scales linearly with pulse frequency—but we need exact measurements to calculate safe grab times for each fragment. If physical contact accelerates corruption beyond what we're already experiencing through respiratory contamination, then this controlled experiment approach was necessary even if it means sacrificing one person's arm temporarily. I'm at twenty-eight seconds now—three more pulses before I reach thirty and likely permanent deterioration from this first touch. I concentrate hard to maintain my grip despite the ice spreading up my forearm. Each pulse of that pedestal's light pulls more corruption into my system through the wound site—I can feel it drinking directly from the infection like parasitic growth. My vision blurs worse with each passing moment—probably twenty-nine seconds now. The sweet-sick syrup sensation has reached my elbow, moving toward my shoulder through veins visible beneath translucent skin. At thirty seconds exactly, I drop the fragment and stumble back. My arm feels dead below the elbow already—but I can still move fingers slightly, which means not completely ruined yet. That dimmest halo's pulse slowed after I let go: probably eleven seconds between pulses now instead of ten when I touched it. If we maintain this timing, that suggests safe grab window for the next fragment is approximately twelve to fourteen seconds—whoever grabs the next one up has maybe thirteen seconds before visible symptoms start appearing. We need to test the second pedestal immediately while my grip still functions enough to assist with timing.*

I watch Silra drop the fragment—her arm dead below the elbow but still functional enough for now. That was controlled experiment worth doing even if it means she's permanently damaged from this first touch. I can see her counting pulses on that dimmest halo: eleven seconds between them now instead of ten when she grabbed it. If we maintain this timing, that suggests safe grab window for the next fragment is approximately twelve to fourteen seconds—whoever grabs the second one up has maybe thirteen seconds before visible symptoms start appearing.

My flame barely holds at 1% output between my palms—I can feel corruption seepage compromising arcane focus with each passing moment despite weak control. The sweet-sick scent here is stronger now that we're closer to those pedestals—probably because whatever gas generates it comes from below through these exact same tunnels. I need to decide whether this weak flame output will even last long enough for us to test all six pedestals in sequence, or if maintaining it means accelerating my own corruption slightly. Whatever consciousness owns this facility clearly waited until we were all contaminated through breathing before presenting this choice—make us choose which one of us suffers worst while others watch, or stay trapped upstairs until walls finish consuming us system-wide. Those grinding sounds from below suggest active mechanism preparing to crush us between walls at accelerated speed now that trap's reactivation cycle is completing.

I can see Halie watching Silra closely with obvious concern despite trying to maintain professional detachment—her spiritual barrier shimmers more visibly as she monitors everyone for corruption spread. She's cataloging symptoms probably, marking time and visible deterioration signs so we can track escalation pattern. I'm counting on her attention because physical contact might accelerate transmission beyond what we're already experiencing—I need to know exactly how fast each pedestal grabs corrupt tissue before someone suffers permanent damage from middle-tier fragments. That brightest halo on right pulses fastest: almost blinding blue-white intensity that probably fries nervous system permanently in seconds of contact. I'm not about to let anyone touch that—I've seen what kind of damage nerve corruption does even through minimal exposure, and that intensity suggests instant death or permanent vegetable state.*

The walls here are living tissue grown as part of the architectural system—I can see their surface move subtly when I look closely despite trying to ignore it. Whatever's downstairs has been awake for decades probably, maybe centuries, feeding on victims like us who wander into its territory. Those halos aren't natural crystal glow—they're actively generating corruption field that accelerates transmission through direct contact. Silra's arm is already turning translucent with dark veins visible beneath pale skin like stained glass catching light from behind. She can still move fingers slightly, which means not completely ruined yet—but pushing past thirty seconds was definitely permanent damage threshold even for controlled experiment approach.

I maintain my weak flame at 1% output between palms despite arcane strain. The grinding noise is getting closer now—probably twenty seconds until trap fully reactivates and walls start moving again. If we don't test the next pedestal immediately after Silra's release, we lose this controlled sequence and have to grab randomly next time, which means whoever gets one of those middle fragments suffers worse corruption faster than necessary. I need to decide whether my flame output will even last long enough for me to attempt the second pedestal—if it fails completely before we finish testing all six, then I'll need to fall back on physical barrier magic even if that means accelerating my own corruption slightly. But maintaining this weak 1% control is already getting harder—I can feel seepage compromising arcane stability with each passing moment.