Adaran feels suddenly free--free of pain, loosed and limber.
And then he looks down and sees his body. It is fading. Everything around him is fading.
He is in a dark place, and voices whip around his ears like whispers, like chanting.
Then a bright light returns.
Adaran sees that he is in a corridor. The walls seem blurry. He has no weapons or armor. The corridor seems to end in a bright light quite a distance away.
A figure is walking toward him, lithely like a woman, but he can hardly tell the form any more than a shadow.
A voice speaks in his head, echoing as if ten voices were not quite synchronized. It is a pleasant, female voice.
"As much as I hate to say this," the voice says, "your nightmares have just begun. You are in the ethereal plane, home to many lost souls, and there are many, many lost souls around the Temple of Ashmere. The crypt locks souls here, and they will seek your doom. Long since has their sanity departed. There is no death or peace for the departed in this place."
Her voice begins to fade.
"I will lock them, keep them from you, as much as I am able. But I fear that will not be enough. Find the keeper of the key. Get that key and pray your companions find a way to get you back to your body."
Her figure fades further, her voice dying. "I protect the good in this crypt.
My name is..."
Then she is gone.
You are in a corridor with misty, blurry brick walls. A path leads forward toward a light.
