Swamped

"Well, you have a choice," Ember explains. "I can knock you unconscious for the trip, or I can leave you conscious and you most likely become very disoriented, if not downright nauseous, from exposing your senses directly to the ethereal pathways."

"Neither of those options sounds good if there are hostiles on the other side."

"You see why it's the hard way, then."

You give this some thought. You remember the trip through the gateway wasn't exactly smooth. So it does make some sense that traveling without its aid, however exactly that works, could be rougher on your senses and your stomach.

"What if I close my eyes?"

"That's just one sense. And even if you could block them all off without losing consciousness, how would you know you'd arrived?"

"Good point," you sigh. "So the best option is, go anyways, get captured, hope we can escape?"

Rider suddenly speaks up. You'd almost forgotten he was here, he's been so quiet.

"Actually, I believe I may have a better idea."