Day 4,586

We began our exploration this morning. There were twenty of us, myself and Eina included.

The fortress was not far away, but we had to circumvent the forest that had grown inside the city in order to reach it. We could have passed through the forest, but Adren didn’t want us to take any chances. We don’t know if monsters lurk within its shadows, and it is best to be safe than regret anything.

It took us nearly an hour of navigating the empty streets, checking some of the shops we saw for anything we can use. But none caught our interest. There was nothing left in the city except decaying buildings and overgrown parks.

When we reached the fortress, we split into four groups to cover a large area. The keep was larger than Varen’s Hold, with broken towers and collapsed rooms, blocking some of the area. It would take us time to fully search each and every chamber.

For the next five hours, we scoured the fortress. The armory was no longer accessible, but most of the living quarters were still intact. Unfortunately, all of it held nothing but broken beds, cobwebs, and scurrying mice.

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The kitchen we left unchecked as we deemed it unimportant. Instead, we made our way into the war room where we hoped to find more records about Urnos and, we had hoped, about Thuron as well.

For some reason, the doors of the war room were sealed shut, and we immediately raised our guards before letting one of the mages open it. As soon as he did, we burst through the doorway, weapons at the ready.

And there we found two armored skeletons. Judging by their rusty armors, they must be high-ranking officials. Generals, perhaps.

They had obviously died inside the room, though why they chose to seal themselves was an interesting mystery. One of them held a thick leather book covered in dusts, which we inspected. The pages were stiff and crumbling, but some of it were still readable. By the looks of it, the book is some kind of journal.

But the skeletons were not the only thing that caught our attention. At the large table dominating the room was a huge map, fully intact with the words still coherent. We were delighted by this discovery, and so we grabbed all the other books and maps from the war room. Before we left though, I murmured apologies to the skeletons.

By the time we had returned to camp, it was already midnight. We ate dinner with the other soldiers and Slayers, celebrating our success. The research team will begin deciphering the maps and journals we’ve brought back with us.

There is still plenty of time left before we depart. Tomorrow, we will continue our search.