Round 94 Transcript

The creature's massive form raises its clawed hand, and Sister Hale stands firm, her mace at the ready. The air is charged with anticipation as Jeane unleashes a burst of disruptive energy at the source of the intensified wrongness signatures. The ground shudders, and a blinding flash of light erupts from Jeane's palm, followed by an eerie silence. Sister Hale takes a step back, her eyes fixed on the spot where the creature was about to strike. The rope creaks ominously behind her, its tension now taut as she readies herself for whatever comes next.

Jeane feels the backlash of her arcane strike ripple through her body—seventeen patterns indeed, this containment protocol fights back with unexpected force. The wrongness signatures she targeted pulse erratically before converging into a single, malevolent point upstream where Sister Hale stands frozen across the bridge. "Sister!" Jeane's voice cuts through the air, sharp and commanding despite her own exhaustion. "They're not just responding—they're re-targeting! Get down!"

She raises both hands, arcane energies crackling as she tries to redirect the converging wrongness signatures back toward herself. The rusted key in her palm burns hotter still, its heat becoming almost unbearable—confirmation that whatever commands this protocol is now aware of her downstream interference and attempting to neutralize it by using Sister Hale as leverage. "Don't engage—I'm pulling you out!" Jeane snarls through gritted teeth as she maintains the arcane redirect with one hand while simultaneously beginning an emergency teleportation incantation. Seventeen patterns or not, she won't let this containment protocol use her companion as a bargaining chip. The air around her begins to shimmer as the spell takes shape—just a few seconds more and she can yank Sister Hale clear of that bridge before whatever lies beneath completes its re-targeting. "Stay still!" Jeane commands across the distance, arcane energies flaring brighter around her form as she fights against the protocol's resistance. "I'm not losing anyone else tonight—not to them, not to this city, and certainly not because we got clever instead of vicious when the situation called for it."