Excerpt from the Journal of Eregad Malut

3 / 7 / 211 AS
That new church down on Mire Street went dark last night. Gods know how it happened, but we’re not waiting for it to happen to us as well. Even as I write this, Korin is trying to get the others packed and organised so we can go. She’s splitting us up into squads so we’ll attract less of the beasts, but still be able to support each other. I’m on the high road, so if this is the last entry, the birds got me.

4 / 7 / 211 AS
We survived!.. Mostly. Merlos got shot by some blood-mad hunter with a repeating crossbow, but the rest of us got to the first overwatch site unharmed. Now we’ve just got to dig in and provide covering fire for the two ground squads until the others get up out of the sewers at the next overwatch point. Here’s hoping they make it, I really don’t want to be hacking my way through hordes of beasts before we’ve even reached the tax office.
The others gave the signal, we’re moving out.

5 / 7 / 211 AS
Well, I’m officially terrified. I’m writing this from an abandoned apartment ten blocks from the North Gate Plaza. We should be deep in the Ib territory right now, but so far it’s only corpses. Something’s up with Zakrugos too, barely transforming and giving me flashes of fear and hostility.
Melthiad noticed something weird about some of the corpses as well, started muttering something in Infernal and drawing all these nonsensical diagrams. I got those dumped on me while Korin does the productive stuff of course, never should have told her my invocations. Not that they’re helping much, it’s all standard Infernal, it’s the content that’s nonsense. Best guess is that they’re anatomical diagrams, but the internals are just wrong. I’m going to go down to the basement, see if it’ll make more sense if I see the diagrams and corpses side by side.
—x—
... If we have to fight these guys, I am going to die. Zakrugos literally refuses to even touch the corpses, and I can kind of understand why. I managed to cut one open with my dagger, and the diagrams aren’t wrong, which raises questions of itself. It’s like they’re a completely different species, just wearing the skin of the original cultists like some macarbre jester’s suit. Even the limbs are different, but they just fit in perfectly until you open them, and then they bulge and split out, ice pale liquid twisting and running from the join. They kind of remind me of bony slugs, the way they twist and writhe on the examination table. Even in death the cultists of Ib remain as putrid and foul as the beasts behind us.

6 / 7 / 211 AS
Korin hasn’t come back since yesterday. Technically that puts me in charge as her second, but I just can’t deal with that right now. I let Merlos take charge since he’s the one who fought so hard for us to take this gate.
... Korin didn’t deserve this. I’m basically stuck with Melthiad now due to the ”tolls of stress”. What does that even mean? Zakrugos has started spouting nonsense as well, as if I need more reasons to be trapped in here. I think Zakrugos is affecting Melthiad too, he’s been getting more erratic ever since I walked in he~—~. ‘ ~
[Translator’s Note: At this point, the phrase “read the last fourth” has been scrawled across the page in infernal, partially obscuring the end of the previous paragraph]
... Bollocks.

8 / 7 / 211 AS
Merlos is once again dead, or whatever was pretending to be him is anyway. We even found Korin’s corpse in the basement, looks like he was halfway through skinning so one of his buddies could get a new meat suit. On the downside, he wasn’t wrong when he ‘suggested’ that I was too distraught and emotional to lead, and that’s only gotten worse after finding out I was sleeping 20ft from the dead and partially flayed body of my mentor. I’m now too paranoid to trust anyone else to take my place however, so I’m just hoping Zakrugos will continue to keep me vaguely sane. ... Yep, we’re all going to die.
Melthiad is now my second, if only because he’s even more perceptive than me when it comes to these things. There won’t be any more splitting up or scouting now though, we’re ten blocks from the gate, and then we’re free of this miserable wreck of a city. We’re taking a day to recuperate and ready ourselves for the big push, and then effectively charging the plaza come morning. The gates are still barricaded, but as long as we can clear a path to the gatehouse we can get up into the military district and then throw a rope down from the wall.

9 / 7 / 211 AS
Two hours till dawn, not that it’ll matter with this fog. Problem with being in the docks, occasionally it gets so thick you can’t even tell a minotaur from a halfling. There’s still nineteen of us left, but we can’t afford a running battle all the way to the gate. I’m going to take them across the roofs, see if we can’t bypass some of the chaff down below. Everyone’s still on edge from the past few days, but it’s not like waiting will make it any better. Well, here goes nothing.
—x—
Someone rigged one of the fucking buildings to collapse. We only had a few people on it when it went down, but now we’ve got no way forwards and there’s beasts all round the doors.
No way back, no way forwards. We’re probably going to lose the fog soon, I’m going to check the basement for a sewer access.
—x—
We just got hit by some kinda tsunami, I don’t think it’s just beasts down there. No sewer access, but I don’t think that’s going to be an issue if this keeps up. I think we’re going to have to retreat, hope they don’t see us in the fog.

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(Final closing entry from after the event planned)