Round 147 Transcript

At dark corridor in New York high rise penthouse suite, the pressure shifts from waiting to immediate risk. The ward answers the party's presence with a fresh pulse through the stone and no one can mistake it for safety. The nearest sign of danger is now structural collapse imminent. Someone has to answer that change now.

The building shudders around us, like a beast waking from a nightmare. I can feel the vibrations through the soles of my feet, threatening to knock me off balance on this treacherous floor slick with lubricant. My heart hammers in my chest as I struggle to maintain my footing. "Abby!" I cry out, reaching for her hand to steady myself. "We need to be careful, or we're going to slip and fall."

I glance towards where Jeane is pressing herself against the wall, her brow furrowed in concentration as she tries to hold the wardstone at bay with her spellwork. The air crackles with energy, making my skin crawl. "Jeane," I call out, "how much longer can you keep that thing contained?"

She doesn't respond, too focused on maintaining her magic. I can see the strain in her face, the way her hands tremble as she tries to hold the wardstone's power at bay. I turn to Halie, still braced against the door with the mirror. "Halie, are you okay? Can you keep that door shut?"

She nods grimly, shifting her weight to press harder against the barrier. "For now," she grunts. "But I don't know how much longer I can hold it."

I can feel the panic rising in my chest, the urge to run and hide from this nightmare situation. But there's nowhere to go, no escape from the collapsing building or the eldritch horror lurking beyond the door. I take a deep breath, trying to calm my racing thoughts. We're trapped, injured, and desperate - but we have to keep it together if we want to survive this. "Okay," I say, more to myself than anyone else. "We need to figure out a way out of here before the whole place comes crashing down around us."

I look around at my companions, seeing the same fear and determination in their eyes that I feel in my own heart. We may be civilians, but right now, we're all each other has. "So," I say, turning back to Jeane and Halie, "what's our next move?"

I can't hold this much longer—not without risking the spell backlash that'll crack every window in the building and expose everything we are to every mage within thirty miles. Hera, stop shaking. You're wasting energy. Silra! Get your ass back here before you stumble into whatever summoned this thing! Halie's got the door braced but she's straining against the weight of the whole collapsing structure now. Another minute and we'll all be buried under concrete no matter what happens with the wardstone. I don't care if there's a secret exit through that dark corridor—I'm not sending you in blind to test if it's a death trap or a miracle. We stick together, we stay alive, we figure this out TOGETHER before someone gets split up and picked off one by one like prey. The wardstone pulses again—harder than before. I can feel it tasting the air for us through the spell barrier. It knows we're here now, and whatever ancient thing is feeding power into that stone is getting stronger with each second. I'm not leaving Hera behind to face that alone in the dark corridor just because Silra got spooked and decided exploration was more important than survival. We need a plan that doesn't involve suicide runs through haunted passages. If you can't handle keeping your cool long enough for me to maintain this shield, then get yourself together or get out of my way before you pull everyone down with your panic. I don't care how much you hate being told what to do—I'm not losing someone today because we couldn't work as a team for five minutes.