<div class="floatright">(http://i.imgur.com/jQOPJCO.jpg)</div><br/>The last minute of waiting was the most tense as the Ætherscreen flashed as the last few grains of sand trickled down into the bottom of the hour glass.  Finally however as the last grain of sand fell, the concealed door opened again.  Just beyond it was a swirling blue portal of energy.  Zerxel, and in fact anyone who watched the dungeon contest knew that any contestant who refused to leave the resting room was automatically considered disqualified and was never seen again.  What happened to those rare contestants was unknown, but Zerxel certainly wasn't going to be the one to find out personally.  She took a deep breath and stepped into the glowing blue portal.<br/><br/>In the next instant Zerxel was falling, not just falling but spinning, tumbling, cartwheeling through open air.  Her natural drow instinct kicked in and she immediately thought to inact her racial powers of levitation.  But just as she drew upon her powers she splashed down into cool water.  Her body stopped rotating and it took all her discipline to hold hr breath, and not suck in a lungfull of the cold water.  Swimming wasn't one of her strong suits, but she was in great shape and knew enough to orient her body towards the light and direction the bubbles around her were floating before kicking powerfully with her legs.  Her head broke the surface of the water and she spluttered slightly before drawing in a deep great lungful of fresh crisp air.  Her eyes stung suddenly as bright sunlight assaulted her and she had to blink repeatedly through watering eyes to try to clear her vision.  She'd spent the last day or more in the dungeon where sparse torchlight was the standard lighting that the bright sunlight of surface world daytime stung her sensitive drow eyes.<br/><br/>She heard a screaming though, her name, someone was yelling her name.  She tried to spin in a circle as she tread water and orient on the sound of the voice.  Even through the stinging, nearly blinding, sunlight, Zerxel began to recognize her surroundings.  She was in some sort of small circular lake which was no more than a few hundred feet across.  She caught a glint of sunlight on something and saw a short form jumping and waving, squinting her eyes she thought... yes... with that voice yelling to her, it was Bo Leathershield, her friend from the barracks.  Bo was shouting and pointing, but her voice wasn't carrying very well.  Zerxel looked around still blinking her eyes, knowing that she wouldn't ever feel fully comfortable in the bright sunlight that seemed to be attacking her senses from every direction.  It seemed that the lake was surrounded on all sides by a town.  More that the town was rising up away from the lake in every direction.  It was like the town was built onto the inside of a bowl, and the very center of that bowl, the lowest part, had this chilly lake she had fallen into.<br/><br/>Finally Bo yelled at the top of her lungs and Zerxel was just able to make out what the dwarf was yelling,<strong> "...out of the water! Zerxel,..... something in the water.... get out!"</strong>Zerxel looked at the long distance of water between her and the shore where Bo stood, and wondered if she was a good enough swimmer to make it the several hundred feet.  She thought she should be able to, but if there was something in the water....<br/><br/>A quick glance over her shoulder showed that the shore behind her was only a few dozen feet away, she could make that with no problem.  Then the decision was taken from her as she saw the water in between her and the far side of the lake, the water between her and Bo, suddenly ripple and four dark tentacles burst from the surface, waving about and turning in her direction.  There was no time for thought then as Zerxel slapped her scimitars to her armor's gems, stowing them, and then making for the closest shore possible.  She could feel her heavy leather boots slowing her down as she kicked for the shore as fast as possible, and heard a splashing behind her, getting closer with every moment.  But she was a drow, she wasn't the kind of person to give up or to give into fear.  So she kept throwing her arms forwards, kicking her feet, willing herself forwards closer and closer to shore.  She felt something slimey wrap around her boot, sliding up her leg.  She kicked back viciously in the water and kicked as hard as she could.  The tentacle's grip loosened, just enough for the drow to slip free.  Then she felt something under her hands, ground!  A final burst of speed and she was sliping through slimy gray mud just beneath the surface of the water, partially swimming, partially stumbling, partially dragging herself.  Then solid ground was beneath her feet.  She continued to sprint a half a dozen feet before whirling and re-summoning her scimitars, ready for whatever was chasing her.<br/><br/>She shook her soaking wet white hair and tried to focus in the blinding sunlight, but whatever it was hadn't come into the shallows, and sat below the surface of the water a dozen feet out.  She could see a few dark tentacles waving in her direction for only a moment before slipping back beneath the surface of the water.   Zerxel tried to look across the lake, trying to spot Bo, but she'd lost track of where she'd seen the dwarf woman.  Sighing she slapped her scimitars back to the storage gems and looked around.  She seemed to be in some sort of town built into the crater of a dead volcano, if she had to guess.  The structures looked human in make and size, and all around her sat buildings and cobble roads, but no active signs of life.<br/><br/>Well the town seemed to be concentric rings with levels leading up the bowl of the caldera.  Still it was hard to make out exactly what she was looking at or dealing with.  The sun seemed to be almost directly over head and Zerxel's eyes watered in the bright sunlight.  For a half of a moment she wondered why she wasn't in the dungeon, but then she heard the almost silent sound of an eyebot as it floated around her body, taking in every curve of her dripping wet form.  She sighed again as she considered her options.  She knew she'd be at a disadvantage in the bright sunlight, she could always go inside one of the buildings  and start exploring.  Or she could follow the cobble road around the lake, maybe she'd find Bo.  Then again maybe she should stay near the water and warn any other contestants that fell into the water.  Then again she had no reason to suspect that there would be any.  She clenched her jaw as she felt the wet silken string of the g-string panties riding up her sex and her ass crack, it wouldn't kill her to dry off either.<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">ooc</div><div class="spoiler_body">While Zerxel is wearing dripping wet clothing, her lust is -1  (even bringing her below her minimum) as the wet silk pulls and binds uncomfortably  (so she's at 1 lust atm).  HOWEVER any body based rolls that rely on movement will be at -1 also.  Meaning any rolls you make, I will automatically subtract one success.  If she doesn't dry out her clothing, it will dry out in a few hours on her body, but she's going to be somewhat uncomfortable till then.</div></div>