Is it still a near death experience if you actually die?
We recently did battle with a great and terrible dragon! After a long and hard fought battle (and the unfortunate death of the one called Dantroe) we were able to kill it, with a magic missile of all things dealing the final blow!
Unfortunately, the dragon was right over us when it died, and about 600 feet in the air. While the others were able to get out of the way or otherwise survive it's crash landing, I was not so lucky. The last thing I remember seeing was a large piece of bone coming right at me.
The next thing I knew, I was floating in a dark void. I looked around trying to get my orientation but could not immediately figure out where I was. But from the little I could remember, and from what I'd heard from stories of others who had died (and eventually been resurrected) I could at least figure out that I was dead. Except something was off; usually those who have died find themselves in a more pleasant environment. Either they find themselves floating in clouds, or on a sunny field of grass, or they wake up in a warm but suitably grimy tavern with busty bar-maids and a perpetual bar-fight going on. Basically, they wake up having been transported to whatever afterlife is appropriate, depending on the person, their specific god(s) worshiped, and whether said god(s) feel they have proven their worth or not (even the worshipper of Vecna I once spoke with on this subject was quickly greeted by an infernal entity and told where to go and what to do).
And then I heard a tremendous roar out in the darkness! Had I ended up in the abyssal void?! I didn't think I'd behaved that badly! I mean, sure, I'd played more than my share of tricks on those seven-fold-veil elves, and I'll admit there's times I would have liked to have done certain things differently when I was working as a mercenary, but never anything so bad I'd think it would warrant being trapped in the abyss! Then again, I'm sure plenty of others who got stuck in the abyss would say the same thing.
I was really getting worried, but then Dantroe appeared in front of me! Turns out he'd woken up in a similar situation, and wasn't sure where we were either, but had eventually spotted me. I at least was glad to see someone else besides whatever was roaring! And I figured one as pious as him certainly wouldn't end up in the void.
And then it hit me! We were still in the pocket dimension! There was so little connection to the celestial realms here that we weren't able to be pulled to where we'd normally go! And the roaring was from the dragon who'd just died too and was in the same predicament!
From my (albeit limited) knowledge, we should be able to exit through the same portal we came in through when alive, we just needed to find it. Dantroe was the one to feel warmth coming from one direction, and then spot the dim light in the distance. We quickly moved toward it as we remembered the demons in the area and did not want to become a meal for them! Luckily, we were able to move very quickly and unnoticed to the portal. Right after Dantroe went through, and just before I went through, I called out into the dark void as loud as I could: "The portal is over here dragon! It was nothing personal when I killed you!" and then I dived through the portal before getting any response.
Quickly we were back in our normal plane, and immediately we could feel our respective afterlives pulling. Dantroe and I exchanged brief farewells and wished each other luck wherever we ended up. Nice fellow, that Dantroe. I must say I'm sorry for the part I played in his death; had I not turned him into a dragon, things might have gone differently. Ah well, I'm certain he's in a better place now.
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