Round 18

As Jeane's gaze swept the darkness, her crimson eyes seemed to burn with an inner fire, illuminating the twisted forms that writhed around Sister Hale like living shadows. The air was heavy with malevolent intent, and the whispers of the damned echoed through the ruins, a chilling accompaniment to the scraping sound that grew louder by the second. Gravedigger Renn's frantic warnings still lingered in Jeane's mind, his fearful words echoing through the darkness as if spoken directly into her ear.

The ground shuddered violently beneath their feet once more, and the massive chitinous limb burst forth from the depths, its claws scrabbling against the stone near the grating like a living thing. The air thickened with anticipation, the weight of the unknown pressing down upon them like a physical force. And then, in an instant, the rubble behind Sister Hale shifted, revealing a narrow opening in the wall - a portal to the depths that lay hidden beneath Gravehill's ruins.

Jeane's arcane energy flared as she sensed something moving beneath the grating, her senses on high alert for any sign of movement beyond what they could see directly. The voice, too, had grown louder, its raspy whisper weaving in and out of the darkness like a living thing, its words a maddening refrain that seemed to drive them closer to the edge. "Turn back...while you still can..." it hissed, its malevolent presence suffocating Jeane's very breath.