Round 170 Transcript

I keep the spanner tight on the screw thread, eyes on Jeane's approach and Halie's intervention. Forty minutes was the estimate, but the building's demands have started to sharpen—the psychic pressure feels like teeth now, specific and insistent. Halie's got her hand on Jeane's arm, playing mediator between predator and prey. I respect the cleric's nerve, but that doesn't change the timeline or the stakes here. "Forty minutes," I say to no one in particular, voice carrying over the mechanical whirring. "Unless someone wants to explain how we're magically compressing time or suppressing a succubus's nature?"

The building groans around us, not patiently—reminding me that every second wasted means it gets louder, angrier. I finish securing the plate and set down the tool. "Because if no one's got miracle solutions, then I need to focus on repairs, and Jeane needs to either back off or Halie needs to actually restrain her properly before she goes full monster mode."