The Filthy Ratonga Part II

Curse me for a fool! The witch Kirsteh must surely be addling my senses. For as I spoke to her tonight, she appeared not as a filthy Ratonga at all, but a beautiful Gnome. I must regain control of my faculties! If someone such as her can dupe the likes of me, then I fear my sanity is surely slipping away. I try to comfort myself with the thought that it is mere parlor trickery, a simple illusion that clouds an already overthinking mind. However, the doubts inevitably seep back into the darkest recesses. Yes! The mind plays tricks... you play tricks back!

Bah! I hope to speak no more of the vile witch now that I have completed her task and collected my reward. The ethereal ones of the Fallen Gate were no match this time for me and my allies, the lizard and the twins. I feel it necessary to mention a strange occurrence this evening that slightly puzzles me. While decimating the denizens of the Gate, we happened upon a curious fellow. A dwarf no less. A dwarf that far from Qeynos? What madness is this? He called himself Ment and he was a brilliant sort. Brilliantly clad, not brilliant of intellect. No, I dare say he was far short of that. The metal that encased his girth shone brightly even in the depths of the Gate. He had an aura about him, this holy man, an emerald hue that seemed to emanate from his very pores! He is stalwart and brave and his self-righteousness is sickening. I don't trust him.

Perhaps the holy man could lend some clarity to the nightmares that have plagued me these many months. They are always the same... carnage, turmoil, strife, destruction, and then the vast emptiness of the abyss. At first the floating sensation is a cold, dark blanket wrapping itself around me, comforting me. But that is fleeting as I topple and tailspin towards some unknown depths. In the end, my bones lay battered and motionless. Intact, but incapable of movement. As the light of consciousness flickers and fades from me there is one word that echoes almost elusively in my ears. Another.