Personal Diary of Dastot Inkbolt, Warrior Academic of Nanirasrathkogsak, 27 Opal
As soon as we entered, we began to find small animal body parts and things scattered about for no discernible reason.
Then we came across a wind-beaten corpse, lying out in the cold. This was extremely surprising, given that Litast Atekathel claimed to have heard each of the others die in the tunnels. It is possible that the corpse was dragged out or moved away after reanimating, but who would do such a thing? And if it were a shambling undead, how did it fall again so close to its deathplace, with not a mark on its body? We have no choice but to doubt the testimony of Litast, an unreliable narrator all told already. Why would he conceal the fact that at least one other dwarf left the tunnels? Guilt at his own cowardice? Or a darker reason?
The corpse was identified as that of the heroic Doren Wavewheeled.
Not long after that, we found a second skeleton, that of Rimtar Vipertrades, the "spy from the mountainhome". Perhaps the two were working together? Did they escape? Fake their own deaths only for the undead to catch up to them? But why would they wait till Litast was gone? Did he himself kill them after escaping? We could think of no definite answers, so continued on with heavy hearts.
Another body was found, wollen clothes scattered around the fragmented bones, tossed and inflated by the wind.
Almost at once, we located the entrance hidden under the outdoor food cache, as well as the wagon, and the various dometic supplies necesarry for a healthy settlement blown horribly hither and thither in the gale. For some reason, this sight was nearly as upsetting as the corpses. I took a second battleaxe from the wagon... a weapon they had not managed to retrieve in time, from the account.
We managed to get into the cover of the entrance. Clearly, they had not connected the drawbridge in time, or the horrific events would never have occurred. Though on reflection, I somehow feel that there was more to the tragedy than this.
We found the barricade, but decided to check the bedrooms first. So far, no undead. Their still and trade depot are still outside... either disaster struck early or they delayed too long. From the meagre supplies blown about, it appeared that they had built or created very little.
With nothing else left to do, we entered the tunnel that Litast dug to escape, down which several dwarves must have later crawled bloodied and afraid... at the end of which waited, we were sure, a band of fearsome and relentless undead. Doren's battleaxe was found here too... he must have dropped it while escaping.
The tunnel, seemingly endless, finished all too quickly. And at last we were in the bloody and soiled space where so many died only months ago. The cracks in the floor left by desperate struggles and inhuman blows were evident, the bloodstains and strips of torn flesh still lingered, dried and frozen there. For months, desperate for moisture, the dwarves had beaten on the walls in their fury, and tunnelled down into the centre of the mountain.
And there I saw it. Scratched into the freezing ice, their fingers must have been blackening with frost even as they did it, was the last testament of Momuz Floorhours, Scholar of the Distracting Rainy-Point. In it was the secret of the glorious yet treacherous - oh now, I call it treacherous - mountain range. The origin of the eternal shimmering rainclouds above its gentle vallys. And its connection with the land of creeping undead and freezing ice to the North. In his diggings for water the scholar had, I know not how but by some arcane measurements or divine inspiration, uncovered the terrible link between the two, and revelaed the nature of this tantalising - deadly - mountain.
The truth is worse than the devils of hell that walk this earth. I cannot go to Planchamber now - those that live among such evil - no, Trueattic must know. The machinations of Litast are made icily clear to me now - and how he was driven to such evil, I now know - why he killed so many and behaved in such a way. His account is spurious and fake. It is clear that he is a much more dangerous individual than he seems. And he is mad. Truly, he could not live with the knowledge and not be mad.
This matter must be made known to the Mountainhome, but for fear - deadly fear - that the warped secret of the Distracting Rainy-point should be known is too much. Some things should not be told. It is too late for me. So I must entrust this diary to my companions, and bid them go to Trueattic at once with news of my death. Only by that may they escape the terrible, maddening nature of this mountain. And they cannot know the contents of these papers. Even now, the scratched message and diagrams, which I have not shown them, are unpicking the workings of my mind - the horror! It is too awful. Find the Litast traitor - he is the key. Do not come here: to find out this terrible secret in the place where it is so powerful will be deadly. It assaults the brain, and I cannot live for long without the darkness creeping into me. You would go insane as well. Instead, find the warped, sick dwarf known as Litast, and make him
talk. After that, your course should be obvious, and perhaps this evil will be stopped.
I send my companions from this place now. And me, whose mind has already felt the workings of this ungodly thing? Who has shouldered a burden too heavy for mortals to bear without breaking under the strain?
My corpse will guard this unholy place.
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