Thread: A Whole New World (Collector x Hardor)

Lua'Nal Val'Nareth grinned as she made her way through the temple. It was always satisfying to explore drow ruins on the surface her people had once lived there and were only now finding a foothold in the surface world once more. Lua was one of the first surface-born daughters of a great House lesser Houses and Houseless clans had been living on the surface for a few generations now, but it was only recently that the Greater Houses were making their way up to the surface to gain a foothold. Lua was a daughter of one of the highest Houses her mother would become the Divine Empress of the drow should the current one perish along with her female heirs, of course. Lua'Nal stood at 5'11, which was a bit above average for a female drow, with ivory white hair and golden eyes. Her ebony skin was criss-crossed with golden tattoos in runic script, which would slither and shift across her body when needed. Most other arcane spellcasters preferred spellbooks, but Lua had always considered them a weakness. Books could be lost or stolen, but a tattoo was considerably harder to pilfer. Her rather scant attire served two purposes first and foremost, it showcased her body. Female drow loved to flaunt their beauty beautiful daughters were a status symbol, so it would not do for a daughter of a High House to dress conservatively. Second, it served to give her some respite from the oppressive heat of the jungle she was exploring. Lua might have been surface-born, making her accustomed to the sun's harsh rays, but even she could only tolerate so much heat. The humidity of the jungle had only served to make her skin glisten with sweat more quickly. And glisten it did had any of her expedition party been able to keep up with her, they would have seen the very embodiment of drow sensuality in her form. But Lua had left her party behind partially because she wanted to claim the glory of her findings for herself - she hated sharing credit - and partially because the others she traveled with were soft, city-raised brats, some of whom hadn't even been born on the surface. Of course, this didn't mean that Lua wasn't a brat, far from it it simply meant she was a brat with some life experience. Lua made her way deeper into the inner sanctum, her grin spreading wider as she saw an ornate rod in the shape of a serpemt on a pedestal. In her experience, anything placed on a pedestal was important, though it was also likely trapped. She carefully made her way up to the pedestal, making sure not to trigger any traps, then circled it carefully for several minutes. In that time, she cast various detection spells, doing her best to make sure that there were no wards or traps on the pedestal itself. Once she was satisfied that she wouldn't set anything off, she reached out and touched the rod. Before her hand could close around the rod, everything changed instantly and drastically. For one thing, the temperature went from being unbearably hot to freezing cold, as evidenced by the snow that was now whipping around her. For another, it went from being the afternoon to pitch black, though it could have been anytime in theory since the colder months tended to be darker sooner. Even though Lua's bare feet had a protective spell cast on them to prevent any damage or callousing, she had not prepared a spell to help her endure extreme cold. The sweat on her skin conducted the cold very well, causing goosebumps to break out all over her and forcing Lua to let out a yelp of surprise and pain at the sudden drop in temperature. Before Lua could even consider what to do next, her thoughts were interrupted by a pair of very bright lights moving very quickly towards her. She didn't have time to fathom what they might be, let alone react to them, before the car hit her.