Round 38 Transcript

At The base of a crumbling stone tower, the pressure shifts from waiting to immediate risk. The ward answers the party's presence with a fresh pulse through the stone and no one can mistake it for safety. The nearest sign of danger is now Skeletons: Undead remnants of the tower's original defenders, now animated by dark magic to endlessly guard their ancient home.. Someone has to answer that change now.

I don't like this. The air tastes wrong—the tower isn't just empty, it's hungry. We need to be smart about this. Varrika, keep your crossbow ready and watch Jeane's pit opening closely. Merrin, I'm coming down after you, stay quiet and listen. Seraphine, can you feel the magic? Something old and angry is stirring below. I'll descend first. If Jeane needs me, a cleric's shield might be more useful than a sorcerer's fire in that confined space. And someone has to keep Merrin safe up here from whatever those wards are summoning.

My heart hammers as I strain to hear over the blood pounding in my ears. The scraping sound intensifies, echoing up from the depths. Jeane's light flickers, dancing on the pit walls and casting long, shifting shadows. "Jeane!" I hiss into the darkness, my voice quavering. "What's down there?"

The scraping stops abruptly, leaving only the distant pulse of the wards. I hold my breath, fingers tightening on the crossbow. Whatever it is, it heard me. And now it knows we're here. I glance up at Varrika and Seraphine, their faces etched with the same fear gnawing at my gut. We need to get Jeane out of there, but charging in blind could be worse than leaving her. The tower's magic is alive, hungry, and I don't know if we're the prey or the offering. "Varrika," I whisper, "keep that crossbow ready. Seraphine, any ideas on how to reach Jeane without bringing the whole damn tower down on our heads?"

Seraphine shakes her head, eyes wide and haunted. "I've never felt anything like this. The runes... they're not just wards. They're feeding on something."

I swallow hard, trying to push down the rising panic. "Then we need to find Jeane before whatever's hungry gets its teeth into her."