Round 488

The chamber shudders around them, a low groan of straining stone that sets Merrin's teeth on edge. She clings to the precarious ledge with both hands, boots scrabbling for purchase on slick rock as the rising waters lap hungrily at her calves. The current tugs insistently, trying to pull her off balance and into the depths below.

Varrika moves behind her, solid and heavy despite the obvious agony written across her face in every line of her body. Her injured ankle makes each step a visible struggle, but she presses on with grim determination. They've barely managed to squeeze through the rapidly flooding passage and onto this narrow ledge—no more than two feet wide in places—and Merrin knows it won't last long.

The Guardian looms above them still, its metal claws scraping against the ceiling in a relentless search for purchase. She can hear the sound even over the rush of water filling the chamber: that grating scrape of sharp edges against stone. It's found something—a crack, a weakness—and she sees the massive shape beginning to shift downward.

"Move!" Varrika snarls, her voice barely audible over the roar of flooding waters. She stumbles forward, solid and heavy, nearly bowling Merrin over as she lunges through the narrow gap between the rising water and the crumbling wall. Merrin catches her arm instinctively, hauling the dwarf woman back onto the precarious ledge with a grunt of effort. The momentum sends them both staggering backward, and Merrin feels her injured ankle scream in protest as it buckles under the sudden weight.

They crash to their knees on the slick stone surface, water already swirling around their boots. The Guardian above them is descending faster now, metal claws finding purchase in the crumbling ceiling. Merrin knows they have seconds before it's upon them, maybe less. The ledge beneath them creaks ominously, shifting under their combined weight.

"We need to—" Varrika starts, but her words are cut off as another section of ceiling gives way with a resounding crack. Rubble tumbles down around them, and the rising waters surge forward, hungry and relentless. Merrin grabs for anything solid as the stone beneath her feet begins to crumble away entirely.