* After fighting off a gnoll hunting party, Young Tom's escorts lead their charge south of
the road.  The scant reminders of civilization quickly fall away behind them as they
approach the river: pine and fir trees grow more thickly here, and occasionally a massive
bloodwood pushes all other vegetation aside.
* Young Tom prattles on about the bravery of his escort, stopping only when he reaches a
strange landmark.  A pair of bloodwoods--each one over twenty feet around--grows up at
skew angles from the same sooty, heavily knotted trunk.  The boy's expression grows
serious when he points at those trees.
<Young Tom> Tomas says that the Empire used magic to attack the dral here, back before my
great-grandfather was even born.  He says that after the dral eventually beat the Empire
back from the river, they healed this tree to mark the first time they ever went to war.
* LaughingBear wades through the foliage to examine the bloodwoods up close. "Hmm."
* Dral1 nods.
* The bark of these bloodwoods has lost some of the fibrous, scratchy texture typical of
the trees, and seems to have hardened into something more firm than is natural.
<Klizurk> Interesting.
<Young Tom>  We're not far now.  We should hurry.  Tomas says that the night people and
the gnolls often fight at dusk, and we don't want to be out when that happens.
* LaughingBear nods. "Of course. Let's go."
<Dral2> And thank you, Tom, for the history lesson.
* Dral2 smiles warmly.
* The child smiles up at the dral and then hurries through the forest, leading his escort
eastward.  The river whispers faintly to the right, but never comes close enough to be
visible.  Somewhere beyond the wooded walls around them, the sun begins to dip below the
horizon.  The forest here seems to grow dark and cold very quickly as dusk falls.
* Fash hurries along.
* Finally, a dim light flashes through the trees ahead and Young Tom stops dead in his
tracks.  "Don't go any farther!"
* LaughingBear stops in his tracks and looks up ahead. "What is that, young one?"
<Young Tom> That's where Tomas lives, but when we're close enough to see his house we have
to stop and call for him.
* The child lowers his voice to a loud whisper.  "He has traps."
<Dral1> Ah, I see.
* LaughingBear nods.
<Dral1> A wise precaution.
<Klizurk> So...  you want to yell for him then?
<Dral1> He is unlikely to recognize our voices, after all.
* Young Tom nods at the dral's statement, and then again in answer to Klizurk's question. 
He cups his hands to his mouth and shouts.  "Master Tomas!"  His little voice nearly
cracks with the effort.  "I've come with guests!"
* LaughingBear stands up straight and prepares to greet the stranger.
* The forest continues to grow cold and dark for a while after Young Tom's shout, but
after a time a pale blue light breaks away from the lights of the house and comes bobbing
and drifting toward the group.  As it approaches, the light appears to be about the size
of a human's head.  When the light is within spitting distance, Young Tom runs up to it
and beckons his escort to follow.  "Come...
...on, it's safe now!"
* Fash follows.
* Dral1 follows the boy.
* LaughingBear trots along to keep up with Young Tom.
* Dral2 walks behind Laughing Bear.
* Klizurk walks along.
* The hovering light leads Young Tom and the others several hundred feet before coming
more or less to a stop in front of what appears to be part of a fallen bloodwood tree. 
The trunk is half buried and lies on its side, but even so it stands nearly twenty feet
high at the top.  It has windows carved up and down its fifty-foot length, and the door is
near the middle of one of these long sides.
<LaughingBear> Charming home.
<Dral2> And quite interesting, too.
<Dral1> It's certainly a better home than most humans build.
* LaughingBear chuckles.
* One end of the trunk has a long brass chimney with two bent joints and a conical top;
even with the thin tendril of smoke coming out of the pipe the thing looks more like a
tube on an alchemical jar than anything else.  Beyond that detail, though, the home is
very... natural looking.
<Klizurk> You can't be serious comparing that to human homes.  I mean, comparing anything
to human homes...  *chuckle* That's kinda funny.
* The bluish light fades, falling as it breaks apart, and a handful of what appear to be
badly burned leaves falls into the dirt beside the trunk-house.  Young Tom knocks loudly
on the wooden door.
* LaughingBear waits patiently behind the boy.
* Before long, the door opens.  Warmth and light spill out onto Young Tom and his escort,
and an old human with a wrinkly bald head holds it open to grin toothily at them all. 
"Welcome, welcome," he says in a surprisingly strong voice.
* Fash goes inside.
* Dral1 bows deeply. "Greetings, Runesmith."
* LaughingBear bows as well. "Well met."
* Klizurk bows and walks in after the others. "Good evening."
* Dral2 bows. "Thank you. Greetings, sir."
* The old man--who must be Master Tomas--waves the group inside his home.  "And greetings
to you all as well.  I wasn't expecting guests, but it's a good thing you came when you
did.  The Bloody Paw gnolls have been getting a bit uppity lately."  The old man stands
without a stoop, and even though his head is bald he has a very short--and very
gray--beard and moustache.
<Dral1> Oh, is that why they were carrying severed hands?
* Master Tomas clucks his tongue disapprovingly.  "Met up with them then, did you?  Sorry
to hear it, but yes.  I'm surprised they found anybody to take hands from, the way people
have been hiding with the curse going 'round.  The baroness is trying to get merchants to
use the river route, might have been some of them..."
<Klizurk> Unfortunate, that.
<Dral1> They won't take any more hands.  They have been cleansed.
* LaughingBear frowns and clacks his beak together.
<LaughingBear> Are they many around here? The gnolls, I mean.
* The inside of this runesmith's home feels nearly as natural as the outside.  Warm globes
of light like the blue one outside flicker with sunny yellow light in glass lanterns, and
rope baskets hand like vines from the rounded ceiling.  The floor is level, and made of
packed dirt.  Although the home is walled off to the left with only a door to suggest
further space, it is as open and comfortable as an inn's common room to the right.  Master
Tomas wordlessly ushers the group into that space as he takes their questions.
<Master Tomas> Well, more than there were.  I've told Young Tom about the night folk, but
between the dral and the baroness and now the gnolls, they've pretty much disappeared. 
Can't compete.
* LaughingBear nods as he is ushered along.
<Master Tomas> Good to hear that you took care of some of those gnolls, though.  They
haven't lost a hunting party since they found my home, the furry basta--oh, sorry Young
Tom.  You get my drift, though.
* The old man directs his guests into some large bloodwood chairs and bustles about,
apparently preparing tea as he chats with them.
* LaughingBear takes a seat when he is prompted and makes himself comfortable.
* Fash follows suit.
* Klizurk sits down and takes off her crestguard (Kith version of a helmet), putting her
pack (and rather larger armory), guard, and shield down to the left of her seat.
* Dral2 finds a seat. "It is good to see fallen bloodwoods being put to good use. Your
home is truly a place of comfort."
* Master Tomas seems delighted by the compliment.  His blue eyes flash brightly as he
passes out tea in bowl-like wooden cups.  Young Tomas sits quietly and sips at his tea,
apparently familiar with this ritual.  "Thank you for saying so, friend dral.  I don't
know how much you know about the runesmiths, but I'm part of what you'd call the
naturalist branch.  Mostly I work with organic materials, whereas the metallurgic branch
that's more popular up in the Lakelands focuses on smelted metals."
* LaughingBear thanks Tomas as he is handed a cup of tea. He takes the cup in both hands
and savors the aroma of the tea before taking a careful sip. "Beautiful work, sir. If you
don't mind me asking, why is it that the church doesn't seem to approve of runesmithing?"
<Master Tomas> Church?  Oh, them.  Well, I once heard that two gods worked together to
give magic to mortals a long, long time ago.  The other gods weren't very happy about
that, the story goes, and only one of those first two gods survived the pantheon's wrath.
<Master Thomas> Personally, though, I figure they just don't like it when people harness
supernatural power that doesn't come from the gods.
* Klizurk nods. "I know I would be annoyed as well if a similar thing happened to me."
<Dral1> I really don't see what the fuss is.  If the gods gave them magic, the power came
from the gods anyway.  What's the big problem?
<Dral1> Humans are strange.
* LaughingBear nods. "The spirits do not seem displeased with your work, however. I see no
reason to be opposed."
* Young Tom stifles a yawn, and the elder Tomas takes the child's tea from him.  "You get
off to bed, young one.  You know where your room is."  After he shoos the child through
the door to the closed-off part of his home, Master Tomas turns his attention back to his
other guests.  "I'm of the mind that they have the right to be suspicious, but as long as
we all work together to clean up the mess made by the Serpent and his foul little cult,
then we can debate theology from noon to night without raising our bile."
<Klizurk> Agreed.
* LaughingBear chuckles. "A good way to put it."
<Master Tomas> Speaking of which... I assume that Young Tom didn't risk his mother's wrath
by bringing a bunch of *adventurers* out to my home just before nightfall on a social
call.  What's the trouble?
* The old man's gaze is sharp as he takes the seat that Young Tom vacated and looks around
at the recruits.
<Klizurk> We encountered what we believe to be the Serpant's work in a, ahem, 'modified'
Goodman Mavis.
<LaughingBear> We're here to ask you for help on the cursed ones. We've captured one
alive, but we have no idea what causes the curse nor how to cure him.
* Klizurk nods. "We captured Mavis, but have no idea on how to go about curing him short
of, well... killing him. And that's something we'd like to avoid."
<Master Tomas> Goodman Mavis, eh?  Poor fellow.  I've heard a bit about the curse from
Young Tom and from the Evenor folk when I go into town.  You say you captured him, though? 
Alive?  Tell me everything.
<Dral1> We trapped him!
* Klizurk laughs. "Yes."
* Fash relates the shapechanging, the pit, and Dral1's wild martial antics.
* Master Tomas listens intently, asking a few pointed questions here and there.  He sniffs
when he doesn't get enough answers, and clucks his tongue when he does, but eventually
he's gotten every bit of information that he can from the recruits.
* LaughingBear sips his tea and watches Master Tomas serenely, patiently awaiting his
response.
* The old man pushes himself out of the chair and begins pacing the room.  "I mentioned
shortly after you arrived that there are two different branches of runecrafting.  Well,
actually there's a third one called 'fleshcrafting.'  Forbidden stuff, but the Serpent was
a genius at it.  He not only brought that branch back from rightful obscurity, but he
improved on it in new and frightening ways."
* LaughingBear shudders, and his feathers lift a bit from the skin. "Fleshcrafting....
I've now seen the results when you shape fallen trees into artful shapes, but what happens
when you shape living flesh?"
<Master Tomas> Ah, well.  Runecrafting in all its forms is about using materials and
shapes to channel power.  It doesn't create anything... not really.  It just sort of moves
energy around.  In most cases that means that the material on which runes are carved is
converted into magical energy.  With a living body, though...
<Master Tomas> It's unpredictable at best, lethal, at worst.  The Serpent's first efforts
killed his subjects.  After that, he decided to work with the materials on hand, and
animate the bodies of the dead by using their bodies as fuel.  Even later experiments fell
back onto this method.  Failures would continue to operate in death, until they become
naught but skeletons, and then disembodied spirits trapped by pure power.
<Master Tomas> The trick, as I understand it, is that fleshcrafting feeds on the spirit as
well as the body.  That allows the energy to go on even when the fuel is gone.
<Fash> So a fleshcrafted soldier is nearly impossible to stop?
* LaughingBear shudders again.
<Fash> Are they undead or something else?
* Klizurk rubs her chin. "From the sound of it, if you could set the spirit free, then the
magic would collapse, right?"
<Master Tomas> A perfectly created one, yes.  The Serpent's personal troops were
practically invincible.  He trained a fair number of pupils, though.  Humans, meeri,
centaur, kobolds, and probably others besides.  Their talent rarely matched that of their
master, so many examples of fleshcrafting I've seen since the War have been less powerful.
<Dral1> That's probably why we could stop this one.  He certainly didn't seem very
invincible.
<Klizurk> Far from it.
<Fash> Well invincible maybe, all-powerful, no.
<Master Tomas> Undead?  You mean like restless corpses?  I suppose they're similar.  But
if the spirit is freed from the body, then the runes--even the memory of those
runes--should lose its fuel and cease to function.
<Fash> An unkillable opponent can still be held down.
* Master Tomas nods at Klizurk.  "Just as you suggested, good kith.  As to the nature of
whatever curse you found..."
<LaughingBear> Is there any other way to destroy the curse other than to release the
spirit? Any way to allow the body to revert to its original state?
<Fash> If this curse has to do with runes, why are we afraid of touching the infected?
<Master Tomas> I think I can answer both questions at once.  The Serpent's later
experiments were designed to keep the subjects alive, possibly indefinitely.  I don't know
how exactly he did it, but I theorize that he designed elegant runes and crude ones
together.  They likely fed on the body more than the spirit, allowing a subject to support
the rune simply by eating and sleeping.  If that's true, then a subject might actually
carry energy channeled by a rune in his blood or spit.  Who knows what that might do to
somebody who came in contact with it...
<Fash> Hmm.
* Klizurk nods. "An understandable risk, and it's thankful we knew of it."
* LaughingBear nods as well.
<Fash> Would there be any way to protect ourselves from this errant energy?
* The old man scratches his bearded cheek.  "As far as how to remove the curse without
destroying the body or spirit... I might be able to design runes to counteract whatever
has been done here, and to protect you from it.  But to do that I'll need to know more
about how these runes were designed.  I'm not a fleshcrafter, after all."
<Fash> You wouldn't happen to know any, would you?
<LaughingBear> Would it help to take a look at Goodman Mavis, perhaps?
<Master Tomas> It might, good vriak.  But I'd need as much of my research materials at
hand as possible, and I wouldn't risk an escape by having him brought here.  I do know of
another runesmith who once lived near Evenor.  Young Tomas tells me that the site of her
old home is considered haunted now, and I don't think that many of the townsfolk knew that
she was a runesmith when she was alive.  It's a gamble, but the so-called haunting
suggests to me that she might have been a fleshcrafter when she was alive.  If she was, I
can't think of anybody else who might have unleashed this curse.
<Klizurk> So, we should investigate this haunted house for possible materials that would
aid in further figuring how to break this fleshcrafting?
<Master Tomas> That's about it, yes.  Runesmithing is a very... wordy practice.  Your best
bet is some kind of book, or possibly a runestick.  That is, as you've probably guessed, a
stick covered in runes.
* LaughingBear 's feathers appear to be ruffling again. "Forgive my question, but since
she was a fleshcrafter, is it possible that she may still be around, even if she is no
longer alive?"
<Dral1> If she is, I have the perfect plan to deal with her.
* Master Tomas wrinkles his nose.  "It's possible, but unlikely.  I heard rumors that the
Serpent covered himself in runes before his death as he sought immortality, for all the
good it did him.  Normally, though, fleshcrafters prefer to put runes on others.  The
risks of an imperfect rune on living flesh are high, but she may have decided that they
were worth the benefits.  I cannot say with certainty."
* LaughingBear nods grimly.
<LaughingBear> We'll be careful, certainly, and Dral's plan haven't failed us yet.
* LaughingBear manages a more lighthearted chuckle.
<Dral2> What all do you know of this runesmith? Did you ever meet her in person?
<Klizurk> Given we've only seen one of his plans, that would be a difficult record to
break.
<LaughingBear> Two, if you count his charge against the gnolls earlier this evening.
<Dral1> It was a very good plan, except for the part where they shot me.
<Dral1> I could do without that.
<Master Tomas> Oh, I tried with her once to discuss the craft, but she wasn't having any
of it.  I just assumed she wasn't much for company.  They say her house burned down, so
maybe she had enemies and didn't trust people.  I couldn't say, though.  I didn't get much
out of that meeting.
<Klizurk> Yes, I can see how being shot would be painful.
* LaughingBear nods. His feathers seem to be smoothing down again. "If her house burned
down, what would be the best place to search?"
<Klizurk> Suppose she had a vault of some kind?
* The old man smiles wearily.  "Why, her house of course.  What's left of it, anyway.  She
probably had some kind of safe that would keep her most valuable research materials safe
in the event of any accident."
<Dral2> Are there any particular runes or symbols to watch out for? Traps, maybe?
* Master Tomas scratches his cheek again.  "There are any number of runes that could be
part of a trap.  It would take days for me to list out all the ones I know, and I don't
know all of them by any means.  Be wary of any runes that you see, but one way or another
I think our best hope in learning more about this curse lies in bringing anything back
from the ruin's of Old Meg's house.  However you see fit."
* LaughingBear nods. "We'll do our best. Thank you for your help, Master Tomas."
* Klizurk hisses appreciatively and bows her head. "Thank you for seeing us and giving
your aid in this matter."
<Dral2> Yes, you have been most helpful.
<Master Tomas> I do what I can, adventurers.  There is one other thing, of course.  It's
night now, and without Young Tom you might have some trouble getting back to Evenor.  Why
don't you stay here for the night and leave after breakfast tomorrow morning?  It beats
sleeping on your feet.
<Dral1> Oh, okay!
<Fash> Thank you.
<LaughingBear> You're very kind, sir.
<Klizurk> Only if our presence wouldn't be imposing.  Is there anything I may do to repay
the kindness?
<Dral2> A very kind gesture, indeed.
* Master Tomas grins.  "Well, I'm sure that there will be plenty of runesmithing
information I can use in whatever research material you find.  As long as you can bring
something back, I'd consider it a kindness as well.  For now, though, help me move these
chairs out of the way while I get some bedding for you.
<LaughingBear> Gladly.