Round 18

The air crackled with arcane energy as the glyphs pulsed hungrily, drawing power from something deeper within the earth. Merrin fired another bolt at the tree trunk, the shaft embedding itself deep into one of the pulsing symbols. The glyph cracked audibly, and for a moment it seemed the flow of power might break—but then it repaired itself with a sickening squelch, the magic visibly thicker now than before.

"Shit!" Merrin hissed, already nocking her next shot. "These things are alive—they're repairing damage!"

Varrika moved forward, her dwarven stubbornness warring with her survival instincts. "We need to end this quickly! Before more of those things come up!"

Seraphine finished the last few words of her purification spell, feeling the arcane energy coalesce around her. The air crackled with power as she released it, a shimmering wave of energy that struck the lead spider even as Jeane's dark blast hit it from the other side.

The creature screamed—a high-pitched screech that set their teeth on edge—as both spells struck simultaneously. Its body dissolved into shadow and darkness that seemed to feed back into the glyphs on the tree trunk, but the magic pulsed hungrily, drawing more power in instead of breaking.

"Did we—" Merrin began, but was cut off as another spider leapt from the wall-maw directly at Halie.

The cleric reacted instinctively, bringing her mace up just in time to smash the beast out of the air. The impact sent a jolt through her arms, and she stumbled back, panting with exertion.

"Thanks," she gasped to Varrika, who had moved to cover her flank. "But we need to—"

A tendril of dark energy lashed out from one of the repaired glyphs, wrapping around Seraphine's ankle and yanking her off balance. She cried out in surprise as she fell, her spell components scattering across the stone floor.

"Seraphine!" Merrin shouted, already firing a bolt at the glyph that had attacked her friend—but the energy deflected the shot with ease, the ward spirit's power growing stronger by the moment.

Jeane sped toward Seraphine, her wings beating furiously as she tried to reach the fallen wizard before.