Bandit's Journal

[Most of the earlier entries in this journal are too stained by blood to be read.]

Day 30: Pickings been slim lately. We've been raiding the same trade routes for too long. Traders have either grown wise or found safer roads. Vala says we'll need to start ranging further if we want to keep eating. Supplies are running low. Geren keeps talking about a big haul just around the corner, says our luck's bound to turn soon. Here's hoping the tough old bastard's right.

Day 32: The quake hit without warning. Rocks rained down, the whole cave groaning like it might come down on our heads. When the dust settled, our only exit was gone -- nothing but a solid wall of red stone. We're sealed in like the dead. Geren sent Gols and Vala to check the path down to the food stores. That way's caved in too. We've started digging.

Day 33: Rations are thin. We didn't have much food left to begin with. Gols is already counting every bite. Geren says we have enough for a week if we stretch it. But I think there's too many mouths and too few crumbs. Vala says we can dig out, but that it'll take time, time and strength, both of which we're soon going to be running low on. Vren hasn't stopped cowering. Useless n'wah.

Day 34: Scratching. We all heard it in the big room last night. Thought it was Vren trying to play a stupid trick at first, but the look on his face said it all. It wasn't him. Something's moving in the walls. Frantic, deliberate. Scraping claws against rock. Geren says it's just the cave settling, but no one believes that. Later, we all laid in our beds, pretending to sleep, lying still in the dark, waiting. The scratching stopped for a time. The silence was worse.

Day 35: Scratching's back. Louder now. Closer. We're digging faster, but every time we chip away at the rock, the scratching grows more frantic, like whatever's inside is trying to get to us. Vren swears he heard clicking too. Vala told him to shut up, but her voice was telling. She heard it too. She's scared. I guess we all are.

Day 36: Food's gone. We're not digging quickly enough. Gols says we have the wrong kind of pick for this rock. It doesn't matter, none of us have the strength to swing it much longer. Geren keeps staring at Vren. Vren keeps staring at me. Gols stares at the wall. Vala's withdrawn into herself. We need to get out of here quick, but when we dig the scratching becomes more desperate. Something's trying to get to us, something wants us. We need to get out of here.

Day 37: I woke to the sound of stone cracking. It came from the big room, where the scratching is. Gols says it's just the walls shifting, but we all know better. Something's in there. It's in the walls. Scratching, chittering, scrabbling. It's getting harder to keep track of the days now. No sunrise. And little sleep.

Day ??: We take turns digging in ten-minute shifts. Any longer and we collapse. The air tastes foul. If the gods are merciful, we'll break through to the surface before whatever's on the other side of that wall breaks through to us.

Day ??: Finally, some luck. We can see the entrance again.. Gols broke through the last layer of stone, but the effort entirely blunted our only pick. Doesn't matter. We can almost taste the open air! The scratching in the big room quickened the moment the rock fell away. I hear it even in my sleep, what little I get anyway.

Day ??: Gols is dead. Vala too, and Geren. It happened too fast. The scratching stopped, suddenly, and then we heard it -- a horrifying crumbling sound, like rock being torn apart, like claws dragging through bone. Then the screaming. Not a fight, not a struggle -- just slaughter. Vren and I were near the entrance, our shift tunnelling. We didn't go to look for the others. We didn't need to. The silence that followed was enough. We ran.

Day ??: It's just me and Vren now. We don't speak. We barely move. The air is thick. The dark is suffocating. We 'barricaded' ourselves in this sorry corner. A table. Some broken barrels... It won't be enough. Neither of us are strong enough for a fight. Not that it would matter, the rest were torn apart. Vren and I listened as they were devoured. I never thought Geren would ever scream like he did.

Day ??: Vren doesn't speak anymore. Just stares at the wall. Is he already dead? Am I? Can't bear to speak either. Can't move my legs. The darkness is deafening with the noise of these monsters. They're still hunting us. I know it. It won't be long now. We have no escape. It won't be long. Mother, forgive me. I'm so scared. I'm sorry for everything I did, I'm so sor