Round 85

Halie's voice cut through the tense silence: "Merrin—wait!" The cleric took a cautious step back from the ward's perimeter, her blue-grey eyes wide with apprehension. The slow footsteps inside had stopped entirely—a development far more ominous than their previous approach. Whatever lay beyond the gate was no longer merely watching them; it was waiting, and the silence felt like the calm before a storm.

Merrin crouched low, her quick eyes scanning for any sign of movement or trap mechanisms. The halfling woman's mind raced, calculating angles and escape routes even as her rogue's instincts screamed warnings about the ancient magic that pulsed through every stone. Jeane watched with growing frustration—torn between admiration for Merrin's curiosity and exasperation at her apparent inability to heed warnings.

The wizard Seraphine stepped closer, his sharp elven eyes narrowed in concentration as he studied the writhing symbols. "The runes are not just symbols,"

Jeane called out sharply: "Merrin—stay back! Those runes are tasting us already." The succubus woman's crimson eyes blazed with barely contained urgency, her voluptuous form tensing as each new wave of magical appetite washed over them from the ward.