# Tunnel Ten

Author: Mattariel
Tags: Gore, Horror, Kobold, Monster, Poetry

A somewhat rough experiment in horror poetry. Hopefully it's enjoyable and horrible (in the right aspect).
Cheers to  mercrantos for checking it over and giving his thoughts.

Tunnel Ten

_Allow me to spin you a tale,_

_It crops up now and then,_

_This is why kobolds regale,_

_The tale of tunnel ten._

_Our scouting teams were hunting,_

_Searching for veins of ore,_

_But what we wound up confronting,_

_Would shake them to their core._

_Just us four kobolds, it was,_

_Me and the scout, Calu,_

_The miners Eraz and Luqoz,_

_Had a list of jobs to do._

_The air was thin, not an unknown,_

_But plain cave gave way to craft,_

_And the atmosphere chilled to the bone,_

_As we braved the choking shaft._

_We're each clad in a complex mask,_

_To breathe where others falter,_

_We marked the path, as was our task,_

_Then stumbled upon an altar._

_No All-Drake worship took place here,_

_A relief of beasts unknown,_

_We all looked on in budding fear,_

_But pressed on, with doubts grown._

_We delved into the darkest deep,_

_Beyond a tight crevasse,_

_But once within, our scales did creep,_

_To sounds of breaking glass._

_We had brought no lamp,_

_No open flame,_

_Not in this blackdamp._

_Where from it came?_

_A shudder,_

_A shiver,_

_A glint of eyes,_

_A judder,_

_A quiver,_

_And Eraz's cries._

_Just Eraz's reverb all around,_

_Besides Calu's harsh mutters,_

_Demanding calm, ears to ground,_

_When we noticed the gutters._

_Troughs of blood, darkened and dried,_

_Butchering tools, rusted and snapped,_

_Threaded, rotting flesh bound, tied,_

_We went to leave, then found us trapped._

_The way out then crumbled in,_

_Rocks and brick piled deep,_

_And came with it such a din,_

_Followed by a chirp and creep._

_We all froze,_

_Then a screech_

_Three mouths came gnashing,_

_Teeth in rows,_

_Limbs at reach,_

_Many, clawed and a-thrashing._

_Pursuit,_

_Walls gashed,_

_We all panicked and fled,_

_Astute,_

_Calu dashed,_

_We followed as he led._

_This place, a vast maze,_

_Twisted, turning, winding,_

_In pursuit, the beast stays,_

_Until the fear was blinding._

_Luqoz tripped,_

_Landed, shaken_

_Scales ripped,_

_As he was taken._

_Us three scattered, scampered,_

_Luqoz's fall giving time,_

_As we ran off, unhampered,_

_Seeking a way out to climb._

_Foul corruption lined these crazed halls,_

_Tortured forms and carved cadavers,_

_Traps and viscera filled pitfalls,_

_Until I stumbled on where It gathers._

_A nest of meat, pus-filled and seeping,_

_And bones of a thousand kin,_

_When I heard the far-off sound of weeping,_

_Then a scream of pain, torn skin._

_My courage sundered fast,_

_As I fought to not be unnerved,_

_I hoped I wasn't now the last,_

_But t'was not what I observed._

_Calu stumbled in the vile room,_

_He stared blank at Eraz's cleft head,_

_He held it, as bloody as this tomb,_

_Then he, himself, fell dead._

_A shriek,_

_I fled,_

_It chased me away,_

_And, weak,_

_With dread,_

_For an escape, I did pray._

_Running blind,_

_A slow death,_

_Yet it was my only chance,_

_Just to find,_

_On hard breath,_

_Some other route to advance._

_Endless halls of decay,_

_All dead ends, all 'round,_

_So without further delay,_

_Turned to the entrance we found_

_Collapsed, no exit in this geometry,_

_But air poured through the gaps,_

_A lucky miracle of stoichiometry_

_And the kobold standard; traps._

_A wire,_

_Flint and steeled,_

_Time to throw myself on the sword,_

_I'd expire,_

_Exit sealed,_

_By explosive or just be gored._

_The click, the blast,_

_I would breathe my last..._

_Yet I breathe again,_

_I stand, through strain._

_A ringing,_

_Vision swims,_

_But I see a way through,_

_Flesh flinging,_

_Bits of limbs,_

_I stood and I flew._

_High on life, death postponed,_

_But pain soon sets in deep,_

_I laugh, dry, intoned,_

_And collapsed in fell sleep._

_I awake in my clan,_

_As a lone survivor, then,_

_And explain the whole span,_

_The grim tale,_

_Of Tunnel Ten._

Source: https://sofurry.com/s/J1OwyEP1