Im sat here with my journal im my lap..writing by the light of my UW...Corum, Shawna and Xap are sleeping fast already...but I cannot seem to find rest at all. The beast was..ferocious..more than I had expected...and reluctant to let me go. It seems endless, and the dank dark atmosphere is pressing at my nerves. I can just about see Corum wrapped in his cloak, each of his breaths slow and deep, he must be weary, it was a long fight. My light does not cast far enough to catch anything but Shawnas feet, but I can hear her breathing softly. Xaphious is somewhere to my left..I am not entirely sure...my eyes are too quick to deceive me in this vile place. The echoes reverberate around the walls and are amplified one thousandfold, drifting back to assail my ears to vibrate the very bones of my body. The blackness is oppressive... perhaps this is what the depths of the ravine feel like, close and heavy..walling you in.
It took what seemed like a gods age to prepare and wait..and then, what seemed like mere flits of time to get where we needed to be. I was stunned...I thought it would be a long an arduous trek to the beast...it was short, and with the four of us it was no problem at all. What I did not realise is the beast itself is the trek, is where the exhausting task lies...and still lies ahead of me, and Shawna also. I have to commend Corum...he agreed to spend the night in this hell hole with us, to help us out tomorrow, and Xaphious...he is the whole reason I am here..that any of us are here. He is such a good man, I will repay him and find away to repay this act of kindness he has shown me also....somehow...

It will be a very long hard night...of that I am sure. I do not think I can sleep in this place. No matter how much I wish to..what rest there is to be found will be broken by the sound of my own heartbeart drumming in my ears and the feel of the darkness as it pushes against my skin.

Corum finally killed the beast after Shawna and I got caught trying to retreat from it's rage..I fought for a long while before the demon finally overcame me...but there was no more I could do..Shawna came bounding in..and it was a much harder fight for her. I could see each blow was hitting home hard...I was amazed at her tenacity. She just stood firm in the face of it's fury...a woman I will forever look up to..her courage is undeniable. Corum, ever the gentleman wanted to allow us the chance first I think...but when we were both stuck staring into the gaping maw of a beast daring us to try and retreat from his path again....he had no choice but to rescue us. His fight was just as laborious...his ..purple..UW slashed angrily with each vicious stroke...I think the beast almost had him once...it will allow you to face it but do not dare turn your back for it will tear into it..I darent lean back against the wall, the gashes are deep I know...it almost broke my back in two...it hits so hard, like nothing I have ever faced...I have no Cleric and I am apprehensive about whether these wounds will scar..I shall not see them, so it makes no matter to me I suppose.

As the beast fell I could feel the tension seep from my body..I had been stood there facing it's wrath for what seemed an age...as it tore into Shawna and Xap, as it almost took every ounce of life from them...helpless, uttely helpless to do anything other than stand and watch. I ached to slide my weapon between it's ribs...but had I died the others would never have forgiven me. Corum bottled a little of it's blood, cradling his prize safely into his pack...I do not blame him...when I face the beast again on the morrow I shall come away with it's blood...of that..I am adamant

I did something today...before I sent myself into this vile abyss....I finally banked it. It has been so long, I will never ever get rid of it....but it was time to stop carrying it with me. Looking at it 50 times everyday was slowly killing me I think...it's done.

As I sit here writing..unease filtering to every muscle of my body....a bird found me. How in Valorn a bird managed to fly into this place I will never know...but it found me...and it's note made me smile. A poem, at just the right moment...words I needed at just the very momentI was feeling the strain....it made me remember others are thinking of me

Thank you so very much Spyne...I think that saved me from more than I can explain this night