FractalFiction: Haematophagy (First Night)

Reached the village at 20:48 local time. Harris and his team have made good use of their week here. I've been handed pretty detailed surveys of the immediate countryside, and there's a full sensor and imaging setup on-line in the Erescu Catacombs. The locals are friendly, though Harris tells me communication has been difficult as the only person with a working knowledge of the local dialect is Mera, who arrived with me today.

I'm eager to get to the castle ruins, but it'll probably be a further week before we can start work as a landslide stopped the forward team from surveying the hillside. I guess it just shows how dangerous this place can be; we're a hundred miles from the nearest hospital, and we have to hope that if there's an emergency the weather will be clear enough for an airlift. Best not to tempt fate, of course, but I really want the primary excavation to go ahead as soon as possible.

The bright side is that Harris has been able to get further ahead with the secondary work than I could've hoped, and he has a number of items already for me to look over. The Catacombs are in an ideal position below the village, well defended over the centuries. There's evidence of some looting and grave robbery, but far less than I expected. We may get lucky and find something extraordinary.

A scouting party will try and find a way past the landslide tomorrow morning. The weather's holding, and if they can find a safe path I'll be pushing to have the safety checks at the primary site completed within 48 hours.

That's all for now. Dr Joe Rookwood out.