Round 14 Transcript

Silra’s fingers find a thin silver thread looped around the altar’s base; she cuts it cleanly, but the severed end snaps, ringing the iron bell above and sending a shrill clang through the ruins. The sound echoes across the ash‑choked road, drawing the attention of nearby city guard patrols. The alarm is now active, forcing the party to act quickly.

Jeane’s eyes scan the ash-choked ground methodically as she murmurs an arcane phrase, her fingers tracing a subtle sigil in the air. The world shifts to shades of grey and pulsing energies—the altar before them glows with a sickly green aura, the tripwire already identified by Silra flares brighter, but her spell reveals something worse: threads of magic spreading outward like a spider’s web beneath their feet. detect magic

The spell pulses outwards from your position, painting the immediate area in shimmering colours and revealing hidden magical energies. You spot multiple threads radiating outwards from the building, forming a complex network of tripwires and wards designed to alert occupants to intruders.

The ash storm offers cover, but it also blinds her to the guard’s approach; she needs an angle before they arrive in force and turn this into a fight none of them can win. Her eyes trace the crumbling architecture—the collapsed archway there might provide concealment, the old sewer grate at the street corner could offer a route beneath the ground if it's not sealed tight with rubble. Silra surveys the ruins for escape routes, noting guard patrol patterns through the ash storm.

She draws her unholy symbol and begins to pray for silence, her voice soft but focused in contrast to Jeane’s earlier spellwork. The air around the bell shimmers with a subtle, non-damaging energy as she invokes divine intervention. "Silence," I whisper, "so that our purpose may remain unprofaned by violence."

The ringing stops abruptly, and for one minute, no sound can escape this immediate area. I signal to Silra and Jeane with urgent hand gestures—toward the collapsed archway she identified earlier—and begin to back away slowly, my eyes fixed on the approaching guards until we’re fully hidden from their view. [Sister Hale attempts to cast Silence for 1 minute; DC 10 Cleric spellcasting. If successful, the bell remains quiet and the party can attempt stealth checks to escape notice.]