Round 44

Seraphine was already moving, her sharp eyes fixed on the window where the shadow had begun to thicken and take shape. The air around them seemed to grow heavy, charged with a wrongness that made her skin crawl. "I think... I think we've run out of time to circle this issue," she said, her voice tight but controlled. She knew better than most what ancient magic could do when stirred awake—especially predatory magic like this.

Jeane pulled her hand back from the ward stone, palm tingling with stolen energy and wrongness. The ward was not passive—the magic pulsed like a heartbeat drawing breath, then gathered in a desperate gulp. This thing upstairs wasn't just sleeping—it was feeding through these wards like veins into its own chest. And now it knew they were here because something had woken up the dinner bell. She turned to face the others, her crimson eyes hard. "Merrin, get your halfling ass back through that wall window before whatever's making that shadow double our trouble."