| *Above me there is nothing but an empty void*
????..We approached the portal with some trepidation and made to enter. But something prevented us, we could not go in! Why was this? Another Drow soul floated above us and entered smoothly, why could we not? Was it because we were still living or was it because this portal did not lead to Lloth? SD and I pondered over this problem and resolved to track another Drow soul, one that would lead us to another door.
For what seemed like a lifetime and yet seemed like the blink of an eye we stood in front of another black portal through which Drow souls entered. Again we were rejected! On and on we searched and tracked. Two further portals rejected us. I began to feel despair. Were we now destined to spend the rest of our lives trapped on this plane, never to go anywhere? Eventually we came across another portal. This one accepted us. We passed over the threshold and stepped into??.nothing!
I lost contact with SD. All around was an empty blackness. Yet the sensation I felt was like falling down a great hole, tumbling over head over heels and spinning around at the same time. I felt I was travelling at a tremendous speed but at the same time incredibly slowly. Nor could I work out whether I moved upwards or down. I cried out for SD, but I could not hear the sound of my voice. If she heard me I did not hear any reply. I searched frantically with my eyes as I spun and tumbled but could see nothing, nothing but empty blackness!
Suddenly, without warning, I was being attacked by a horde of hideous beings. These things were not particularly large, but were multi-limbed, each with claws tipped with vicious talons. What looked like a head, appeared eyeless with a mouth filled with countless sharp pointed teeth. The whole body was covered in stinking matted fur. I reached for my sword and lashed out as best I could as I continued to free fall. Many vicious claws swung at me, slashing and piercing at every inch of my body. I should have been ripped to shreds, covered in mortal lacerations. But just as my sword was passing ineffectually through these monstrous beings, so too were their claws. The monsters had no substance, they were spectral! Then my mind exploded in a burning white light as excruciating pain pierced through my body. The claws may have been passing through me but I was feeling the touch of every hit. Mentally I was being slashed to death! I passed out??
???.I came to. I felt I was lying on cold damp flagstones. I could not move. My whole body was experiencing a pain so extreme, it is impossible to describe. With the pain so bad, I could not even scream. I tried to concentrate my mind, to focus my thoughts on my Melee-Magthere training in an attempt to blot out the pain, but it was no use. For a brief second, I opened my eyes. I saw just a short distance away, the great doors of the Divine Mothers temple. I had made it. But at what cost? Then through the agonies of my pain I felt something touch me, the very faintest of touches, but a touch just the same. My mind screamed in further agonies. Once more I passed out??..
I watch, I assess, I report.
Vel'drav l' sil'in qu'ellar d'Hun?ett zotrethen??Jal zhal sha-rasa!!!
Lloth tlu laoles, dosst handmaiden orn naut hojh dos!!!! |