Role

Chapter 5

The mission was an abject failure from the first moments. A detachment of
twelve was reduced to ten by the time they had all reached the end of the
deployment rope. Two recruits were simply unaccounted for. Perhaps they
had gone AWOL, but a slick of blood at the bottom of the rope indicated
otherwise. Shit.

The first day felt like a month. The Captain and Seargant argued in
hushed tones and it quickly became clear that they detachment was lost.
Fearing mutiny, a vote was taken and the decision was made to attempt a
return to the surface. Backtracking proved fruitless. The map that had
been made simply did not reflect the reality of the terrain. Being simply
"lost" became "hopelessly lost and hunted by chittering monsters in the
dark" very quickly. Ten became seven by the end of the first day.

They awoke the next morning to find that the youngest member of the team
had used the tongue-swallowing technique to escape. Six.

Three days later the Captain ran shrieking into the darkness. Five.

A week after that they entered a massive chamber and risked a flight to
the top. Whether they were bats or bugs or whatever up there, they drank
the blood of two more. Four.

Four. They were not the toughest, simply the luckiest, but their luck
persisted. They survived two months down there, creeping, searching for
the currents that would lead them to the Overworld, all thoughts of maps
and runes forgotten. It was while they were sleeping that Eck saw the
door.