Letters to a Valkyrie

DAY ONE

Note: I started writing this journal on Day Four, and my recollections of these first few days are hazy at best. Constant mental tampering will do that to you, I guess. As such, my account may have some holes and some events may be out of order.

I woke up in a white room. There was no sense of its size, it could have been infinite or ended within an arm's reach. There were others in this room, and we all had no memory. We didn't even know our own names.

We bickered for a short while before the Manifest arrived (told you I'd talk about him!). He is even taller than I am, nearly nine feet, and appears to be clad in black robes, though there is no body beneath it, nor substance to the robes themselves, as some of us would learn.

I don't quite remember all of what he said, though he seemed to imply that we had all voluntarily given up our memories to come here and serve the Lady. Behind him was a door that I don't recall being there before, but my memory at that point is less than reliable. The endless white room was, apparently, the entrance chamber to a test of some kind, according to the manifest. If we made it through, we were worthy of serving the Lady.

Most of us were understandably against just blindly taking this test. I don't recall who it was that finally managed it, but we convinced him (I think?) to at least give us our names. He may have been planning to return them that whole time, or perhaps they were meant to be returned once we had made it through the test. Either way, we were all given our names and ages back.

My unfortunate compatriots were:

· Alexandra Drend, a kind, though stiff, tiefling paladin with white skin and red hair (oh NO). She was a captain in the Knights of Myth Drannor before coming here.

· Tallulah Rose, a tiefling spellcaster of some sort. I don't actually know what kind yet. She has red skin and white hair, and is Alexandra's sister. She also flirts constantly, though I don't think she realizes she's doing it.

· Crampernap Hodgeswell, a kenku rogue, but not your normal raven kenku. He looks like one of those tropical birds I saw on voyages to the southern seas. All yellow and green. He's adorable.

· Locklin Lacklass, a human bard. He's pretty cute, but not a redhead so not my type, apparently? I don't actually know, to be honest. Great ass, though. Good with kids, too. Or one kid, at least.

· Helem Anis, a very quiet half-elf druid. I think she likes Tallulah? Not certain yet. Lots of pain in her past as well, though this seems to be the norm.

· Dafruq, a dwarven warrior of some variety. He disappeared after the test though.

· Dil Vasool, a cleric of a race I had never seen before. Apparently, they are called Loxodons? They look like hairless mammoths, just human sized. And shaped, I guess. Dil also hasn't been seen since we reached Sigil.

We went through the door to see what this test was, and it was at this point that I learned that were the Lady of Pain mortal, she would be intensely sadistic and manipulative. The test was a maze. She would watch us wander around until we either died, whether to the maze's other denizens or more "natural" means or found a door. Frankly, I don't blame Ciarnali (you'll meet her soon) for her feelings towards the Lady whatsoever.

As we entered the maze, Dafruq and Dil separated from the group. The rest of us wandered into a large room covered in vines and bark. It was then, when one of us stepped on him, that we met Sprocket.

· Sprocket, a warforged fighter. He is three years old and claims to be something called a Sah-moo-ree? He uses a weapon similar to an axe, but the head looks like a smaller version of the saw blades they used in the Ten Towns lumbermills. It spins. Loudly. And messily.