Role

Chapter 5

It took some time before she grew accustomed enough with her thoughts to
stand, but no sooner had she done so she encountered another seemingly
insurmountable problem. The knowledge and experiences that had kept her alive
within the perils of the Underdark were gone, replaced by memories of study
and service in the court of noble Drow. She could still see that person, knew
intimately who she had been, but the vision and. memories of that life swam
cloudy through the waters of her mind.

Still, through the muddle of her new self she saw clearly her blood oath, that
pledge to survive at all costs. Eria had found her power, and with time she
knew she would master it. She only needed to survive, only needed to grow.
Silently then she wondered again at the wisp that had responded to her need:
was it a manifestation of her own or a response from the Divine? Perhaps she
would encounter the answer to that question as well in time, and that thought
gave her comfort.

With the Underdark inaccessible and dangerous, she knew that her only
opportunity for life would be to ascend toward the surface. The surface would
have its own perils, not least of which included the slavers that destroyed
her home, but staying here meant a sure death by starvation. With a turn of
her hand and a spoken word, she made herself invisible. The sense of doing
magic was not the shocking experience she expected, and soon she was moving.

The golem outside her cave gave a passing motion toward her, but did not
otherwise react. At the far end of the chamber past the crystalline pillars,
she found a stairwell, and through that a portal. The master inside of her
mind knew the words, and the portal opened for her to reveal a harsh tunnel of
cut stone and water. She imagined that once entering, she would be unable to
return. This life, this surface existence, would be her only way forward. Eria
paused only a moment to reflect on that, and judged that her life here had
truly ended the day she left. She stepped forward into the portal, and when
her vision cleared she found herself standing within the Galadon sewers.