Old Diary

The old diary is a journal that was discovered by Aoife in the tunnels beneath the ruins of Orlbar. Its author is an unknown earth genasi, and it outlines the plight of the "Draunn-children" and their life of secrecy before they were discovered and killed.

## Entries

There are several years' worth of entries in the old diary although there are only around 2 entries per month. Many of the entries are either too worn or ripped to be legible, and a majority of the entries that remain are somewhat mundane, detailing a lot of similar events or interactions in the tunnels and basements of Orlbar. The following three entries, in order of date, are the most notable:

### ENTRY #1 - dated Eleint 3, 1448 DR

*Sadhbh’s brother is coming, so she told us we had to stay in the tunnels again today, and close them off. Eabha gets scared of the dark, so her mom has to hide with us to get her to stop crying so we don’t get caught. I can tell her mom doesn’t like us, though. She tries to hide it, but she always looks a little scared when she’s around a group of us. It makes me mad, and sad. At least, even though she isn’t a Draunn-child herself like her kid, Eabha’s mom still cares about her. Not many of us have that. Most of our parents didn’t want us because of what we were. Niamh, Eoghan, Caoimhe, Cillian, Fiadh, Meabh, Donnacha, me… all of our parents gave us to Sadhbh to drown us in the mountain river, but she secretly kept us instead. Maybe that makes her our mom instead.*

*Niall said our parents trust Sadhbh because Tadhg- the really big, scary man who’s been leading Orlbar for a really long time- is her dad, and her brother- the guy visiting today- is Tadgh’s enforcer. I wonder if she really cares about us or if she’s working for them secretly. Sometimes it feels like we’re trapped when we have to hide in the tunnels all day like this. At least in some of the basements, if we’re really lucky, we get to see the sun peeking through the boards on the windows. I like those days.*

### ENTRY #2 - dated Uktar 21, 1452 DR

*I feel the mountain sometimes. It seems weird to say. I wonder if the others do, too, but I don’t want to ask. I feel like if the few humans who know about us overheard, they’d get scared, and they’re already uneasy around us. It never goes away, no matter how many years pass. They’ll never not see us as cursed. Even Sadhgh just feels guilty because her own kid ended up a Draunn-child and she did nothing when Tagdh killed him. That’s probably why she “rescued” all of us. Not that she told us that herself. I was supposed to be in the tunnels with the others because Malachi came to visit Sadhgh again, but I snuck back into the basement and heard them talking about it. If she’s not careful, she’s going to let something slip to him one of these days and all of the Draunn-children are going to pay for her mistake.*

*I wish I could sink underground, past the tunnels, past everything. The people here don’t care about us at all, and I’m sick of being stuck here. Maybe we are cursed. Maybe we are the product of some big evil creature of the mountain. But they’re just as evil, for forcing us to live this way, if we want to live at all. At least the mountain wants something more for me. I can feel it.*

### ENTRY #3 - dated Summertide 15, 1453

*They know about us. I don’t know how, but they do. Someone must have told them. The mountain was right. It knew we couldn’t trust anyone but ourselves. They started scouring the safehomes yesterday and they found the tunnels. Luckily some of us managed to sneak out. Fiadh, Eoghan, Meabh and I raced through the town in the dead of night, just managing to avoid the torchlight from the mobs, and sneak out to the abandoned shack on the mountainside. It was the most terrified I’ve ever been in my life… to know how much they fear us is one thing, but to stare their hate in the face and see just how much they want us dead? I don’t think I’ll ever stop seeing it in my nightmares. Thankfully it looks like they haven’t thought to check the mountain shack yet, or at the very least, they haven’t looked under the floorboards.*

*But we got separated from the other Draunn-children. Eoghan is beside himself because he doesn’t know where his sister is, but I stopped him from going back out there. He’s not a fighter. Even if he did find Caoimhe, he wouldn’t stand a chance getting out of here. The humans are everywhere; we could see them from the cliffside, crawling through every crevice of the town like bloodthirsty rats. The only one who might be able to fight through it is me. I’m so scared, but I can’t tell the others. They’re even younger than I am, and they’re barely holding it together.*

*Maybe I’ll get lucky. They’re searching for us, but they haven’t found any of us yet. The mountain is calling to me, but maybe it can protect me one last time. I have to find the others while there’s still a chance that they’re safe. And so long as Fiadh, Eoghan and Maebh stay here, they’ll be alright.*

*Saoirse. Niamh. Eabha. Cillian. Donnacha. Niall. Caoimhe... I’m coming back for you all, if it’s the last thing I do.*

(This entry is the final entry in the journal)

## Trivia

* One of the entries is dated in Summertide, which is a regional name for the month of Flamerule