It all began with a bump in the night. Alligail had been the only Broken Dagger representitive managing the bar that late at night, though there hadn't been much to manage. A trio turned to a duo, leaving Alligail with only the catwoman, Hafwyn. They were joined first with only noises; a hoarse whisper that seemed to come from below their feet. Alligail listened closer, pressing her ear to the floorboards only to discover that the whispers they were hearing were the tip of the iceberg.
Brave souls they were, the duo decided to investigate. They moved to the cellar, though not before being joined by another, a Matsuri Kato. Once again a trio, they opened the door with bated breath - only to have it blow open with a rush of the whisperings from below.
Then everything went quiet.
They began their descent into the cellar of the Broken Dagger tavern. The ground beneath the building had born witness to much bloodshed and death - there was no telling what the soil under their feet had eaten up, and god only knew how much blood it had drank.
Curiously, they found a man locked in the cellar. The poor fellow was unhealthy at best, though both Kato and Hafwyn knew that not everything was as it seemed. He uttered a single word, one which they all knew was not a friendly sign. The cellar door slammed shut of its own accord, and the trio defended themselves, hacking and burning the man to a gushing corpse's end. The temperature plummeted, more than one would think Hafwyn's ice magics could be responsible; it robbed them of their body heat, even as the dirt underneath their feet began to soften and give way, opening up to devour the three who had ventured.
Terror had struck, and the trio fled. Once the cellar door was opened, however, there were but two standing on solid ground. Of the child, there was nothing.
* * *
Alligial was fortunate. Her heritage saved her body, though it did little to save her mind. The airless, lightless nothingness of the earth brought only one thing - dreams. Terrible dreams. Images of faces would flash by, followed usually by terrible deaths, real or not. There was Quincy, Pritchard, Phlynn - even Doc D'Rael's face would slip through the young Dagger employee's mind, though it was terribly disfigured, almost unrecognizable. A flash, or three, with images of battles done against terrible opponents. A drow, a vampire, even another who had Alligail's position, just before she had been eaten before the Dagger owner's very eyes.
Whenever she awoke, Alligail may doubt she had - for the earth had not released her.