text: [Themes: Fantasy]
  
  > go downwards
  Lornedei climbs down.
  
  The clearing is almost perfectly round and thirty or so paces across. It is surrounded by the forbidden forest on all sides.
  A giant black oak stands in solitude in the middle of the clearing. Many of its roots stick out of the ground like snakes arching to suffocate their prey. Steps are cut in the oak to provide an easy way up.
  
  A stone altar stands in the shadow of the big oak. Dry grass and shrubs are still rooted in the dead soil, and more of the deformed bushes grow in a loose circle around the oak and the altar.
  
  An old stone well gurgles softly not far from a crumbling stone house. On the other side of the clearing, three paths lead into the forbidden forest.
  
  The great roots under the giant oak have slid aside revealing a passage.
  
  The sleepwalker is here, spinning slowly.
  Black smoke seeps out of the darkness between the trees. The smoke gathers itself until a dark pillar of smoke is formed. In erratic, twitching moves, it comes closer.
  
  It stops next to the staring Lornedei. It starts to turn slowly, releasing veils of broken smoke from its ragged surface. They dissolve in the air and new ones form to take their place.
  "The maker of horrors at night. The roaming nightmare. I thought they were stories."
  Lornedei frowns. She seems to be listening.
  And there truly is a sound, distant, from the forest. It sounds like something that does not want to be heard. Careful, tentative.
  
  > examine the nightmare
  A ragged pillar of smoke shifting in black and purple. It is floating just above ground level. It spins around its own axis like a slow motion whirlwind.
  There is an angry buzzing from nearby. Lornedei looks around, mystified.
  "Pft, which is it, oh smelly it is. Stubborn, umpf, thing." Suddenly, the firefly comes out of the opening to the stone house, dragging a piece of straw. One end of it touches the ground while the other end, with the firefly in unsteady flight through the air, is at level with Lornedei's knees. "Hiya!" With a terrible boost of tiny wings, the fly gets the straw totally off the ground and stays hovering at eye level. "Oh dear, you are back." The fly and the straw, despite intense buzzing, starts to sink. Quickly, Lornedei grabs the straw and stops it from falling.
  
  "Phew! Thankee Girl. Let me rest. Was waiting for you." Lornedei sticks the end of the straw in her hair so that the other end sticks out in front of her face. After a moment, the fly starts pacing the piece of straw.
  "You were in the smoke were you not? I feared you being lost Girl. Oh, dear. I must tell a story now. About a little boy." Lornedei sits down on the ground to listen.
  
  "He is an ugly one, if you can say so about a spirit. He was not always so. He was a boy once, born in a village not far from yours. That was a long time ago you see. An odd child he was, yes he was. He sat by the pond for much time, lost in the sight of his own face in the water, catching..." the fly stops pacing for a moment and seems to shudder. "I heard from rumor I did don't you know, He caught fireflies and he... He pulled...Oh, dear, I will not speak of that. He was wicked! Then his parents died. He was alone and he took care of himself. How, no one could tell, as he was still only a little boy.
  
  Then the magician came. The villagers were relieved to see the boy go with him, and no one knows where they went. For many years the boy was gone, yes he was. When he came back, a young man with riches and fancy ways, he moved in to the old home of his family, and said he had gotten rich from trade in the far lands and wished to set up business in his home village." The firefly makes an angry buzzing and starts pacing the straw again.
  
  "I must make this story of less length I believe. He did not make trade honestly, tricks he had, power he had gained and fooled the villagers he did, and rose to a man of importance despite him being still young. Then his gaze fell on the merchant's daughter, and he wished her for himself. There was nothing but desire in his mind and when the girl's father refused him the still too young girl, a spell was cast. With magic he tried to force her to him, but something went wrong, very wrong."
  
  "The spell he cast was powerful. The girl ran from her father in desperation one night, threw herself on a horse and rode for her love. She was in a hurry and fell. The girl was several years younger than you Girl, and the Elder's knew something was amiss. They traced the magic spell to Raccdaha.
  
  The Elder's council banished him from the village and from his own body in the ancient sentence of severance. Death but no rest. A very cruel punishment and Raccdaha was in fact the last one they kept in the House of Penance. He became one of the forgotten ones, chased into the vast forest.
  
  He did not remain forgotten though. He remembered his name as some of them might if they are strong enough. He grew strong. The hatred he felt poisoned big parts of the old forest and gave some kind of life to the other forgotten souls that dwelled there.
  
  He fed the spirits with lies and promises of life. When they finally felt the same rage as him, he fed on their collective hatred and he could possess a poor wanderer's body for a while. Before his temporary body was used up, he joined the light bearers without them knowing. Their numbers started to decrease until there was very few left. He spread lies. The people grew afraid of magic, and the remaining light bearers had only one place to go. From their castle in the field of Unification, they tried to maintain the three great oaks for many years, but the day came when they had to flee even that haven. Me, cannot tell where they fled, or how. Perhaps if you go there, the place is now the field of despair, you could find knowledge. Me, yes me I don't know the rest of this story, only that Raccdaha came to rest somewhere, not able to move on, not able to live. I believe that he may be guarding the entrance to somewhere where he cannot go, waiting."
  
  The firefly is quiet for a long moment. Then it walks over to the end of the straw and with a powerful buzzing, the straw is dislodged from Lornedei's hair. The fly pipes up again. "I will be off. Good luck Girl, he may be strong but remember that he is only a big foolish and vain child." The fly and the straw disappear with a flash, leaving a scent of burnt straw in the air.
  
  > look at the bone
  As far as Lornedei can gather, it's a bone from a dear's leg. It has plenty of bite marks on it so this might have been one of Deini's unfortunate preys.
  
  > enter well
  "No Master, I will not go down there."
  The roots under the big oak stir restlessly.
  
  > Go north
  Hesitantly she takes a few steps forward, but she has no idea in what directions the paths lead. Uncertain, she looks up at you.
  
  > enter the roots
  Lornedei drops down into the opening between the roots of the black oak. She tumbles down into cool dark water.
  
  Caves (Among the Restless Roots)
  The space she is in is not more then twice Lornedei's length in any direction. The tangle of roots makes the space seem smaller yet. The pale mass of roots stirs restlessly. Below her, the inky water of the river flows past.
  
  The roots on the south wall have slid apart enough to reveal a narrow passage through rock and soil.