Round 9

As Halie approaches the trapdoor's edge, her holy symbol held out like a ward against the creeping corruption, the flickering glow from the walls casts eerie shadows on the stone floor below. The air is thick with an otherworldly energy, and the runes on the trapdoor seem to writhe like living serpents, their pulsing power coursing through Merrin's veins like a cold, dark river. Halie's eyes narrow as she examines the binding seals, her concern evident in every line of her face.

Merrin's hands tremble with each pick strike, the ancient mechanism creaking and groaning in protest as the group falls silent. The flickering glow grows brighter, illuminating the narrow corridor beyond the trapdoor, its power seeming to stir the very stones themselves. Halie's voice cuts through the tension, her words laced with a sense of urgency: "Sisters, these binding seals are ancient and dangerous—designed to contain as much as to protect."