Round 28

The darkness of the tunnel swallowed the trio whole, the only sound the soft crunch of gravel beneath their feet. The air was heavy with the scent of decay, a noxious miasma that clung to their skin like a shroud. Sister Hale's eyes watered as she inhaled deeply, her cleric senses reeling from the putrid stench.

Gravedigger Renn hesitated, his fear-smell wafting up to mingle with the musky salt smell that had grown stronger with each step. Silra's gaze flickered to him, her rogue senses on high alert as she tracked every tell: the walls pulsing faster in time with their movement, the wrong musky salt smell growing stronger, Renn's fear-smell mixing with it all into something almost familiar.

It was a scent that reminded her of the Old City charnel houses after months of neglect, where rot and decay had consumed everything in their path. The ground thrums beneath her boots felt deliberate, as if someone was counting them down into a territory that didn't welcome intruders. Jeane's voice cut through the silence, her words low and even. "We need to be careful," she said. "Whatever is down here, it's responding to our presence. We don't know what we're up against."