Round 17

The stone beneath them creaked ominously, a sound like teeth grinding together in the silence of the tower's base. The ancient runes on the walls pulsed with malevolent energy, each beat making the air inside the pit grow colder by a degree. Jeane dropped down into the darkness, her fireball spell illuminating slick stone walls that seemed to absorb the light rather than reflect it back.

Halie moved to help Seraphine lower Merrin carefully down into the pit, her hands steady despite the cold seeping through stone like liquid ice. The ancient magic here felt wrong—like nails on a chalkboard that you could feel in your teeth—but she'd dealt with dark power before, and this was manageable if they were careful.

"Jeane," Halie called softly as she descended, "be cautious down there—the pressure plates might be linked to other traps or worse." Her eyes flicked back to the skeletons, still held at bay by Seraphine's ward but pressing closer with each passing moment. The air inside the pit was thick with ancient magic that pressed against her skin like a physical weight.

Seraphine watched Jeane lower herself into the pit, her heart clenching at the risk she was taking. Every moment felt fraught with danger as she struggled to maintain both the ward and the teleportation spell keeping Merrin stable. The skeletons pressed closer to their position, their empty eye sockets seeming to bore into them even as Seraphine'...

Varrika kept her eyes fixed on the skeletons, crossbow aimed squarely at their skulls. Their movements were jerky, unnatural, but there was an undeniable intelligence behind those empty sockets, a hunger that set her teeth on edge. Jeane's right—we can't afford to leave Merrin down there any longer than necessary. But rushing into this pit trap could be just as fatal.

"Seraphine," she called out over her shoulder, not taking her gaze off the approaching skeletons, "you've got our escape route ready if this..."