Day 6

I write this by the glow of the staff's eye. I have come into the mines and started to explore the ancient halls of the Dwarf Kingdom. What I have found here has surprised me. I knew from what N'Ras had told me that there was a city in the mountain but I could never have imagined one so grand. Indeed it was hard enough to imagine a city inside a mountain at all after spending my whole life in a treetop town. The sheer scale of this place is a wonder to me. I have only explored a small area of the city but it has taken me until I became weary to cover that amount. I have no way of determining the hour since the sun is behind the rocky ceiling.

Toward the entrance to the mine and exit to the outside world are vast corridors. The glow from my staff could not reach the distant ends before being consumed by the shadows. Rails run along these corridors; I assume they were once used by carts to transport the precious gems mined here from where they were uncovered to the city or the outside to be taken and sold to the traders in the village.

It was these rails that I followed into the city proper. The track split in two at one point and I chose the left route, thereby ending up here. It would be my guess that the right fork leads to where the gems were originally found. I will explore that place in due time.

As I travelled the left path I was led into a giant cavern. Again the glow from my staff was not enough to light everything but as I wandered about the place I found buildings carved out of the walls. Are they still called buildings in this case? They were not built so much as already there - rather the spaces now here were carved out of the solid mountain core. At first I looked inside every room I came across for clues as to why the dwarves of the mountain had died out but after repeatedly not finding anything I decided only to check a few rooms every so often and focus on exploring pathways and alleys of the city. I was disappointed not to find anything of value the dwarves took from the Humen after the battle N'Ras told me of not long ago.

Perhaps an hour ago I found myself at the top of a hill in the city. From it the glow of the staff reached far and I could see enough to guess which parts I had already walked and where I had not yet been. I also saw a very faint red glow from a building atop another hill further on. I closed the eye in the staff and the glow persisted. Curious, I made my way towards it. It was coming from the runic carvings on the wall of the house I have now decided to sleep in. I cannot work out what it is but it gives off enough light for me not to need the staff in its immediate vicinity and I would like to leave the staff dark while I sleep so that it does not attract the attention of anything that may still be in these quiet caverns. When I awaken I will continue exploring the city. There is so much of it left to see. I will not call this house my camp just yet so I will keep my things with me.

The Dwarf City