Tunnel Snakes

It was worse then I believed, mother, yet in the end we've won a victory.  Perhaps not as solid of one as we would have hoped, but we've yet to really go over what was recovered from under the mountain.  We've done well, I think, given what we had to start with.  But that is, as yet, not for me to truly judge.  I do not know if, or how, the others report back to their parents.  I would hope so.  T

We entered the mountain not long after the Bright One was cut down by the Shinobi.  Torches kept the base lit - I wonder that they did not simply set up portable generators and use electricity.  Tradition?  We do not know yet if the Fomorians, or one of Mikaboshi's lieutenants was in charge, though given what we found later, I suspect the latter.

With the sentries eliminated, there was no resistance for some time.  We reached what amounted to a kitchen, and I had begun to wonder.  This tunnel must have gone down a good deal.  It could have held hundreds of Fomorians and Shinobi for all we still know, we did not explore the entirety of the complex.  As Alanna-san, choosing a poor time to do so, made a meal, I traveled back down the tunnel.  Something in your blood just told me to go.  As I listened, the words and gestures needed to create a sort of silent alarm across the tunnel came to me.  Thank you, mother, for this gift.  I have not done so before, but this sort of thing...it can and will save lives, mother.

Moira-san found tracks for us.  One branch led to a bedroom, with a hound of the Great Enemy within.  It did not breach the door when it was slammed shut.  The other contained a study of some sort, a handful of Shinobi, another hound, and what I believe to be the leader.

The creature's name was Hideki, and it was a Tengu.  With the Shinobi following it's orders, it could only have fallen into service of Mikaboshi.  It lies dead under the mountain, but...it took an incredible amount of damage, mother.  There should be swifter ways of dealing with such a creature beyond bludgeoning it to death before someone finally manages to find a weak spot. The Shinobi were effectively distracted by Moira-san and Aren-san.  I am still unsure of what happened after, but somehow, the scattered papers had caught fire.

Aren-san recovered some of them.  I have no idea how she managed to always grab ones that were not aflame, but she did.  Alanna-san recovered the Tengu's katana as well as the creature's mask. I fully intend to study them later.  Perhaps by speaking to their kami, we can learn more.  I only hope that they have not been corrupted utterly by their proximity to Hideki.  

We escaped through a hidden tunnel.  Something...happened in that tunnel, mother.  It is almost as if something prodded the divine flame within me.  There is new strength now...but I have had little enough time to discover it.  We've still yet to clean up after the attack, and I have yet to sleep.  It hasn't yet troubled me, but I believe I would like to.

There is nothing else of note to mention.  Nothing more then the usual strangeness of comments between Alanna-san and Moira-san.  Even if they both tried and failed to convince me that the other was the greater pervert.  I have no interest at all in discovering the answer to that mystery.  No one has an interest in discovering that answer.  Not if they value their sanity or their dignity.