Round 26

Jeane stepped forward again, her crimson eyes fixed on the pulsating symbols that crawled across the gate's surface. The magic felt wrong—old and dark, sentient in a way that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. She signaled Merrin to back away from the gate immediately. "Put those iron tools down. Now." Merrin complied, stepping back with her hands raised. "Got it. No poking the angry magic door with metal things. Message received."

Halie documented the runes carefully from a distance, her blue-grey eyes narrowed in concentration. The magic felt wrong—slick and hungry, alive in some way, watching them through the symbols. Whatever was inside that tower knew they were here now, and whatever it was... it wasn't natural. "Merrin," she said sharply, "do NOT touch those iron tools yet. Seraphine," she turned to the wizard, "cast a detection spell if you have one that won't disrupt the ward itself—something non-arcane, careful."

Merrin took a careful step back from the gate, her dark eyes fixed on the pulsing runes. Whatever was in there knew they were here now. She swallowed hard, trying to keep her nerves steady. "Any bright ideas, ladies?" she muttered under her breath, her fingers twitching towards her lockpicks before she caught herself and let her hands fall back to her sides.

Seraphine approached the ancient gate cautiously, her sharp eyes tracing the complex runes etched into its surface. The air crackled around them, a tangible energy humming with an unsettling, predatory presence. "The magic in these runes... it's bound with something dark and ancient," she murmured, more to herself than anyone else. "A power older than any I've encountered before." Her fingers hovered just above the symbols, not quite touching.

The tower loomed above them, its stone face weathered by centuries of wind and rain. The gate itself seemed to pulse with a malevolent light, each rune glowing and fading in sequence like a heartbeat. From somewhere deep within the structure came another slow thud—the sound of something large moving through ancient corridors.

Jeane hissed under her breath, "We need to understand what this ward does before we try to disable it." She turned to Halie. "Can you sense anything divine about this magic? Any way to counter its power?"