Round 97 Transcript

As Jeane steps back onto the bridge, Sister Hale's eyes snap open, her gaze unfocused for a moment before she takes stock of her surroundings. She sits up, rubbing her head and wincing in pain as she tries to remember how she got there. "Jeane?" she calls out, her voice groggy from the teleportation spell. The ground beneath the bridge begins to rumble ominously, and the sound of scraping metal echoes through the air. The dark shape on the bridge starts to stir, its claws scrabbling against the stone as it begins to re-target Sister Hale. With a surge of adrenaline, Sister Hale readies her mace, preparing to defend herself once more.

The ash-choked air makes it hard to see more than a few feet ahead, but that sound was too deliberate to be just wind or structural settling. "Jeane," I call upstream, voice steady despite my racing heart. "We've got movement under the road—something's crawling down there."

My fingers tighten around the hilt of my mace as I peer into the shadows, eyes straining to catch any sign of motion. The ground beneath the bridge begins to rumble ominously, and the sound of scraping metal echoes through the air. I take a cautious step forward, ready to defend myself if whatever's down there decides we're worth investigating.

"What did you mean by 'seventeen patterns'—is this some kind of ritual?" I ask, trying to keep my tone level even as fear coils cold in my stomach. The thought of being trapped on this bridge with unseen threats below and the possibility of city guard approaching from above makes my skin crawl. I glance back upstream toward where Jeane disappeared, then downstream at the dark shape still struggling to its feet. We're caught between dangers—if we move forward, whatever's under the road might follow us; if we stay here, that creature on the bridge could recover and attack again. And you said something about a quarantine system? I shift my grip on the mace, ready to swing at anything that emerges from the shadows. We need options fast—what can you do from there?*