Ranger's Diary

"I've got bad news for the elf. I'll have to tell him that his wife was still alive when he blocked that passage and fled the dungeon. Our expedition is the third one he gathered to recover his wife's remains from the caves. The first two didn't even reach the rubble. We were the 'lucky' ones. We've been wandering these halls and passages for over a month. We fell back when we encountered groups of monsters that were simply too powerful to face, then crept back to pick them off one by one, or look for ways around them. Finally we made it. I don't know how the elf even found this place. – So much time has passed, a few dozen years I believe. But he managed it. He cried out for our kineticist, and nodded to the pile of boulders blocking the passage. "Clear the path," he said, then stepped aside and turned his back. I suppose he was remembering the monsters dragging his wife into the darkness, as he crawled away and blew the passage with his last remaining bomb. Once they'd opened a small hole in the rubble, I crawled in to see what was on the other side, as I'm the party's scout. When I reached the other side, I knew right away that something was wrong. Someone had clearly tried to clear the rubble from the other side. I kept exploring, and found signs of an old battle. There were scorch marks on the rocks from alchemical bombs, and the walls were scarred with sword strikes. And then I found it – an abandoned camp with makeshift tools, where whoever had tried to clear the rubble once lived. After exploring the camp and collecting a few things, I'd become almost certain that this was the elf's friend. I'm telling you, it's a curse to be a scout. You take the greatest risks, and you're most often the one who delivers bad news to the party. Shame on you, dragon. You might have warned me about this. Or maybe you didn't know... *** The elf seemed to take the news calmly. You can't tell whether he's devastated. – He's just pale and silent. Scarcely says a word. But his black eyes flare from time to time. I call him 'Grandpa', though the elf looks younger than me. He pays me back by calling me 'Red'. Well, at least he talks to me sometimes. He hardly acknowledges the rest of the party. I have a feeling that he's decided to find his wife's bones and then just lie down and die there beside her. He paid us up front, so it shouldn't bother me, I suppose. Should it? We've done clearing the rubble, and we're making our way forward again. *** I found a second camp. I think the woman withdrew here once she realized that she was never going to be able to clear that rubble. This place is situated beside an underground lake, and it's much more comfortable: there's a hearth made of stone, rough shelves, a sleeping nook made to keep away the cold that creeps in from the water. The cave walls are covered with mosaics made of pebbles. The woman made all sorts of things: flowers and figures of animals, the sun and the moon. I looked at it all, and didn't know how I'd ever bring the elf here. Everything here suggested that she survived, and never gave up. She was waiting – and waiting for a long time at that. But the camp was abandoned a very long time. I found many footprints of monsters running through it. And something else, which looked very much like... no, I should banish the thought from my mind. When I returned to the others, I heard the scariest sound that one can imagine in these dungeons. A soft, sweet song echoing down the tunnel. I couldn't make out any words at that distance. I ran, glad of my escape. I will tell them I found an empty camp, but we should avoid the place. It's far too dangerous. We don't want to encounter the Wicked Chanter, do we? No, we don't! Even the dragon warned us what a terrible monster it was. And if we will stay well away from the underground lake, the elf will never have to see the mosaic on the wall."