A Desperate Gambit
This book can be found in a chest in the library at Highfall. Allegedly based on a true story, it describes the destruction of the people of Fortahn.
Coordinates¶
| X | Y | Z |
|---|---|---|
| 5969 | 76 | -1076 |
Transcription¶
Dahlin placed the final brick, and the entire living population of Fortahn was shrouded in darkness. No more uniforms, insignias of rank, or devices made from primal catalysts remained. Nothing but a huddled mass of fearful flesh.
For a moment which could have been a minute or an hour, only the sounds of wind and thunder were audible, aside from the occasional nervously twitching leg or cough in the small cave turned hidden passage where they waited.
But, as all silences do among the living, this one eventually broke, as a child began to complain about why she couldn’t go back to the surface to find her toy. Before she could finish her sentence, however, Dahlin’s hands clamped down over her mouth. A whispered warning from her mother, a local councilwoman, echoed in the hushed passage:
"Don’t think about anything except the wind.”
For a few tense moments, everyone stood stock still. Finally, shoulders slumping, they returned to waiting, and eventually fell asleep. A devastating mistake.
Suddenly, there was nothing but chaos and gnashing teeth. Screams began to echo through the passage. Huge slimy bodies pressed against the throngs of hopeless as perfectly circular holes revealed the clouded sky above.
Dahlin laid his weight into the bricks which barred their escape, but by the time the hallway lights illuminated the passage made tomb, only seventeen others remained alive. Any who had held a position of authority or knew state secrets were gone, and most of the others laid on the ground in a gory heap. Reeling and vomiting, Dahlin took the little girl’s hand and led her out of the still-burning town. The gambit had failed.
(Author's Note: This narrative was based on a true story.)