The Soul of Solitude

Their steps quietly echoed back at them off the hard surfaces that surrounded them. Tenever flipped his spell to wide area indirect illumination and clicked his pistol-mounted flashlight on, throwing a single beam far ahead of them.

Their guide moved forwards calmly, making very little noise considering her size and apparent mass. She paused, making hand gestures for "slow advance" and "use caution", as the corridor they were moving down opened up into a larger clearing - large enough that Tenever's weapon light vanished into darkness

The orc proceeded straight out into the open. Tenever moved at her shoulder, double-tapping one foot to signal Astarlane to move. The sorcerer scowled, readying a cold blue flame in one cupped hand, but followed.

Ahead of them rose an artifice at once part of and separate from the ruins. It was thickly organic, rising from the cracked floor in a smooth growth like braided muscle, but it was the same gray stone as the walls and floor.

It seemed to shrink from their approach.