The Barrow Downs Expedition, Day V
I finally managed to get some sleep, a really deep sleep in fact...worryingly so, as when I awoke, two of the men were missing...including the man on watch.
Kirseth and I gathered those who remained and lead a search party. The historians stayed behind at camp.
Kirseth found pairs of footprints leading in to a barrow; we reluctantly followed.
Inside was dark and dank, and the air was foul. We followed the signs of disturbed dust and footprints. Further inside we saw signs of struggle; dried blood and a broken blade. There were some strange coins and relics upon the floor, presumably dropped by the men we were following. Had they run off in the night for treasure, or were they lured away?
I picked up the treasures, and placed them in my satchel.
Upon the walls were strange rune stones. Kirseth and I made sure to make rubbings of the symbols.
Further in the barrow, we were ambushed by something that looked to have been once human. Decaying, skeletal remains given life. We fought fiercely, and the thing was destroyed...though it is unsure if it was truly destroyed for good.
Deeper we moved through the barrows, decaying bones and grime underfoot. Eventually, we came across the corpse of a fellow hunter who joined us on the expedition.
Kirseth spotted a second body, a slumped figure in the corner, who appeared to be the man who kept watch that night. It was not apparent whether he was dead or alive.
Before we had chance to stop him, one of the hunters who joined the search party ran towards the body in mourning - but in a flash, the man who kept watch charged and ran him through with his blade. He was not himself, he barely looked alive. The rest of the party loosed their at the moving corpse and he dropped...for how long, I am unsure.
We decided it was too dangerous to continue, we had found the men we were looking for and should leave the barrow. We made for the exit, going through the tight, maze-like structure fighting more of the corpses that had emerged.
Eventually we emerged in the light, grime-covered and foul-smelling - but alive.
We made it back to camp and told our story. We all agreed we should leave and make for Bree.
The journey was uneventful, but quiet and full of mourning. Once we reached the Hunter's Lodge, I handed over most of the treasure and the rubbings we had made and received a nice payment for them. It felt rather wrong, but I kept a few of the coins for myself, knowing they would sell well on the market. I am not proud of this, but our need is dire.
Before heading home to Hookworth, we hit the Bree marketplace. The ancient coins fetched a high price and for the first time in a while we had a comfortable amount of coin.
