Round 651

The air grew thick with dust and the scent of ancient stone as the chamber rumbled around them. Merrin hauled Varrika forward through the narrow gap, her wiry arms trembling with exertion. The dwarf warrior's face was pale, her breathing ragged as she clutched her mace in one hand and Merrin's shoulder with the other. "Fuck," Merrin hissed, muscles burning. "How much further?" She craned her neck, trying to see past the curve of the passage ahead. The air grew thicker, harder to breathe, and a distant chanting seemed to vibrate through the stone itself.

Varrika's voice emerged as a pained grunt. "Can't... can't go much further." Her ankle screamed with each step, but she knew they had no choice. She glanced back over her shoulder, eyes wide with terror. The walls were definitely moving now, closing in with slow, inexorable pressure. The chanting grew louder, and suddenly a voice boomed through the chamber. "You will not escape me!" it cried, echoing off the stone walls. The ground shuddered again, more violently this time, sending a spray of water into the air.

Merrin's eyes widened as she spotted something glinting in the darkness ahead—a narrow opening in the wall, just wide enough for them to squeeze through. "There!" she exclaimed, pointing. "Move your ass, Varikka!" She pushed harder, dragging the dwarf warrior toward the gap even as the water level began to rise around their feet.

Varrika's fingers found purchase on the rough stone edge of the opening, and with a final desperate heave from Merrin, she managed to wriggle through. The halfling followed close behind, both of them collapsing onto solid ground on the other side, gasping for breath. The water pursued them, flooding through the gap with alarming speed, but they'd made it—at least out of immediate danger.

For now.