With all her preparations, it seemed if there was a rat in the waiting it didn't dare to approach her right away. Or at least it was clever enough to not get caught when she walked in holding fire at ready. Oil at ready alongside her small torch, she managed to proceed without an incident, at first, before a screech above interrupted her entry. A cloud of dozens of bats descended and flew past her, wings striking her briefly and the screeches echoing loudly in the chamber as the bats escaped through the doorway, leaving her in the room their noise spreading to the distance, their rush having messed up her hair but at least she was not bitten or otherwise harmed.<br/><br/>Approaching the dead person was an easy enough affair now that the room's nasty little surprise had been sprung, and moving to the corpse she could pull the book to freedom from those pants pocket without an incident. Its covers were treated leather, and had survived even as the dead person's flesh had not. Its pages were somewhat green-shaded, but the writing on them was still clear enough to be read. Most of the early pages were sticky and it looked like it would be possible to pull them open to read, but it might also break some of the pages if that was done. The last few pages were easier to open, and the text clear along them.<br/><br/><em>"-in the dark, watching me. They are still wary, I managed to surprise their last warrior and I think they are more afraid of that than they are of a direct fight at least. I have set out traps to buy myself some time. I think the damn goblins are masking part of the tunnels. Clay layers that have been magically treated to seem like stone. I found four secret passages already just breaking thin, weak walls.<br/><br/>The orcs are the strange threat here. I try and avoid them for most part, but they have built a whole network of tunnels along the floors. These middle ones seem to be the safest for now. I will try and set up a a small base, I got food and water here, and I have the lift working. I've actually been able to bring up some of the real prize though: There's still some good iron ore here, and if my dwarven friend is right, there might be even more beneath the mines. Four stories of chambers like this though. I have to move slow, and set up my traps to keep those buggerts off my trail."</em><br/><br/>There was some blood on the pages, which had grown more green along most of it, but beneath the stain the text continued again, readable and clean enough to not have to guess any of the words.<br/><br/><em>"I have expected to be attacked now and then, but having a knife stuck in my back without warning was still a chilling experience. I got the goblin wench in the neck with my pick, but I think they attacked my dwarven friend too. Damn. I should have asked him for his full name, not just nickname like that. We did confirm what I needed to know though. The old paths to the caverns below the mine are still open. Both in the mine storage, where it looks like someone tunneled in there from below, and the main shaft which apparently is still watched over by goblins. I should have anticipated that. I mean I thought orcs are in control up here and goblins are just their kickable lackeys, but the goblins actually had a <strong>king</strong> in the area along with a lot of forces back then. I marked down the way in the fourth floor with some chalk, up higher than goblins can reach. All the way to the main shaft. My dwarf friend claims storage room looked safer way to go, but if it was the way that the great enemy marched up from ,I'd be willing to bet that its watched from below in case someone is stupid enough to go down there without an army along."</em>