In a mad terror I fled that dread township. As I ran, not even bothering to assess the ground ahead of me, I vowed to myself to never return to the world of mans and their... depravity. I must admit I do not know for how long I fled into the night, openly weeping and tripping over traitorous roots in the underbrush.
'Why?!' I screamed at the baleful moon. 'Why must I suffer this torment?!'
'TELL ME, YOU FILTHY ANIMAL! WHY?! WHY CAN I FIND NO TRACE OF MY BRETHREN!?'
'CURSE YOU, YOU VILE CREATURE! CURSE YOU! CURSE YOU! CURSE YOU!-'
'Wait up. Fly's undone.'
'CURSE YOUUU!!!'
When I at last came to my senses I was drenched in cat-life, the full barbarity of my onslaught made bareface to me.
'What have I done to you, friend?' I asked the lifeless sack sadly. 'I did not know I had such murder in my heart.' I laid the corpse gently on the ground and wiped my beard clean in a nearby watering hole. I wept, whispering apologies to her and caressing her until she was once again a most glorious beard. When I was satisfied I returned to the dead cat.
I looked at the corpse at my feet and I looked at the bloodied poker in my hands. Raindrops began to fall and a rumble of thunder in the distance forewarned of a stormy night ahead. I looked at the corpse.
'Fresh meat,' I gasped. 'It has been so... so long...'
What have I become?
---
Day 380: As I slept I heard loud heavy thuds coming from at least seven miles hence. I could not see clearly but it appeared to be some sort of monster, at least a hundred feet in height. I have heard the tragic stories of the gargantuan devils that walk this earth and I do not mean to become one of them. By morning it was gone and I was glad to be alive.
---
Day 385: While barefoot I stepped on the filth of an animal! For shame!
---
Day 399: Gemclod! Fortress of legend! The last sanctuary of the dwarven race, I have found it while searching for onions, what luck! My searching is over! I can see the entrance as plain as the daylight on my beard! One more valley and I am home!
'Well... this is unusual.'
Though my beard was silent, I could feel its concurrence. Scattered around the entrance to the fortress were shanks of rotting meat, decayed fish-flesh, uprooted plants, and b-barrels upon b-b-barrels of b-b-booze I-
My belly full of wine and my heart flowing with the ecstasy of reunion I ran to beloved Gemclod with open arms and great leaping strides!
'Brothers! O Brothers! Sing me songs! Let me hear your voices once more! Let me sleep in the cool embrace of the mountain again!'
I then understood the situation with more clarity.
I ran! I ran for dearest life! I made a solemn promise to myself that the next time I saw an auspicious hole clefting the mountainside I would keep my emotions firmly under control.
Day 431:
'Brothers! My brothers! Come out and greet dear Sirocco, he has missed you so!-'
'Oh noooo!'
---
Day 432: My beard was singed. I fear it may be some time before she forgives me.
---
Day 448: Footprints! Dwarf-sized, I believe, unless it is an elephant again! I am most unskilled at tracking anything other than slugs.
---
Day 450: Oh I am so happy! So happy indeed! I have found fellow brothers! They are not the brothers from my old mountain home but brothers they are nonetheless! They too are looking for Gemclod! They cannot say how far we are but they have given me new clothes and enough beer to fill two dwarven bellies! The excitement is too much for me, I think I shall have to put this pen down. Goodbye, broken poker stick! Goodbye, open night skies! Goodbye, sobriety! Goodbye, miserable loneliness!
Hello, Gemclod!
Hello!