after all, hadn't she been warned one thousand times? People were always assuring her that her life would 'Be certain to fall into the dark pits of evil if she were not more careful in her decisions.' It was almost ironic that the old hags' prophecies had come true--literally. Eshylin couldn't help but chuckle to herself at her present blight. Here she was, the dead center of Dragon country, and she had fallen into a 'dark pit of'... of something. She didn't know what exactly, but whatever it was, it smelled something terrible. And, oddly enough, the whole situation was brought about by a poor decision the girl had made.

Some hours ago, Eshylin had begun climbing a section of high hills and black rocks. Little vegetaion was seen and even less life or movement. This should have encouraged the woman to turn back, but, stubbern as she was, she'd gladly accepted the challenge... And the challenge accepted her. After she'd climbed a mile or two, the woman had run across a narrow ravine-like passage. She'd trudged forward without thought or concern and almost immidiately discovered a natural 'weak spot' in the earth. Fortunately, this 'spot' was covering a kind of circular pit, not a chasim. Here she'd sat, rather uncomfortably, for a while now. Listening to nothing but the thought of her head and the sound of her breathing.

Then it began to rain.

Puh dum. Puh dum. A horse's canter reached Eshylin's ears. She was certain she'd officially gone crazy and begun dreaming things. Who on earth would be all the way out here? Puh dum. Puh dum. No, she couldn't be crazy for there it was again. She strained her senses and hoped to judge how far away the steed was... Puh dum. Puh dum. It was getting louder. Certainly it was no more than a hundred feet away.

She began to shout.

Kristara slowed Scarlyle to a trot. The horse bucked a little at the delay. He wanted, very much, to get out of the rains.

Kristara: What was that?

She thought she'd heard something--a woman maybe.

Kristara: We'd better look around, just in case.

Greatly annoyed, Scarlyle obeyed the command and followed the sound.