Shadowed Tower - 04 "Whitewood"

The party came out of Cairn Nan Arq and the Shadowed Tower, deciding what they were going to do next. Preparing to leave for the northern village, Rowen spots fresh tracks near the pond and heading toward the now fordable river to the south. Recognizing the tracks as the recently deceased Tom's, with one booted foot and one bare foot, they quickly discover his dug up grave. Deciding he is still in league with the demon, they feel obligated to run him down and make sure he stays dead.

They head south across the river, Rowen's sword Hawkwing picking up the vague demonic presence of Dead Tom, who's tracks eventually lead into a scrub choked ravine to the east of the road.

Rowen takes her wolf form and leads Graham into the ravine, while Cinder, Khabsha and Jorel follow alongside, waiting for sign that they have found Tom. A little ways in they do find Tom, hidden in a dark space. Rowen is about the get the jump on him when Cinder shouts from above, "Have you found anything yet?" Thus alerted, Tom takes off running.

Even on his best day Tom would have been no match for a wolf, and Rowen quickly trips him up. unfortunately , before she can do more than harass him, he convulses and does some transforming of his own, becoming a monstrous creature, half spider, half man. Rowen-wolf and spiderbeast engage. Chitonous legs are snapped and the creature that was once Tom nearly bites Rowen when the fates intervene and she miraculously evades the attack, reversing the situation and snapping Tom's neck with her powerful jaws. In his spasms of death, he rattles off, "You are too late! Chaos cannot be stopped the world will burn!"

When the others join them in the ravine's base, they search the body before, wanting no repeat of events, Cinder burns it to ash. In Tom's crude pack they find two books. One is a Dinari tome and the other a Kuranani book. The Kuranani book is a evil looking thing, covering anatomy and dark surgical practices. The Dinari book, when examined with a spell of Understanding, turns out to be alchemical work on a special substance called Nightfire, which is apparently highly explosive when exposed to even the smallest light source.

In the area where Tom was hiding before the chase, they find a hastily inscribed circle in the dirt and a lingering feel of magic in the area, as if Tom were casting some kind of spell just before he was found.

The group decides to send Joril North to report to Wheat Hill and Lord Talis' men what has transpired at the tower, while they continue travelling south a ways, to see where Tom might have been heading.
Before long they reach a village called Whitewood. While no one seems to know of Tom or his business, the Headman is rather rude, and obviously looks down on Syvani. Still, they are grudgingly given food and a bed for the night. Somewhere between house arrest and guest status, they are nonetheless able to study the books further.

Cinder finds a crease in the Kuranani book, where something had obviously recently been studied. A surgical procedure in where a foreign object can be placed into a living subject's abdomen. Dots are connected and they all remember the "wounds" on Jory Talis's stomach that had been magically healed even before their arrival. In the morning they decide to go North again, to warn Jory. Headman Gowen "offers' to send four guards with the party, nominally to ensure their safety but more obviously to act as guards on the group.

Important Names
Whitewood Village: Along the trade road in Ffom. South of Shadow Tower.
Gowan: Racist Headman of Whitewood.
Mary: Gowan's timid wife.
Jimmy: Village Guard. Nicest of the lot.
Ann: Fisherman's wife. Provided characters with clothing and info.
Kadig and Ewin: Village warriors.