Round 2

As Sister Hale finishes her assessment, the rusted gate creaks louder, its hinges straining against the weight of the iron spikes. The sound is accompanied by a faint scratching noise coming from within the gate, as if something is trying to claw its way out. The air grows heavy with tension as the party stands frozen in response.

Jeane's crimson eyes narrow in the fading light, her pale skin almost glowing against the ash-heavy darkness. She can feel the faint disturbance of arcane energies in the air, like a spider sensing vibration on its web. "This is not natural darkness," she says coolly to Silra and Hale, though her words are directed at whoever - or whatever - has just acted against them. The silence that follows is oppressive, punctuated only by the scratching from beyond the gate.

Silra doesn't move immediately when the lantern dies - she's listening, her pointed ears twitching slightly in the sudden darkness. The scratching from beyond the gate intensifies, and she feels the wrongness of Jeane's observation: this isn't just arcane interference. Magic can create light, yes, but it can also mask it - and right now, all ambient light seems to be draining away specifically around them. "Jeane," she says softly into the growing darkness, her voice barely carrying sound, "I think I know what's happening."