What is that? The young boy pointed his finger, just a bare inch away
from the hot flask and the old man swatted it away with the patience of
practice.
Don't touch that, boy. He growled, waving his hand away. It was a typical
exchange between master and apprentice, Methrahni full of questions and
Neetun too busy to answer. It was this curiosity that drove the young boy
to begin studying his master's magics by moonlight.
Over the years, he learned much from his private studies, but he was also
growing older and the lure of the world began to take hold of him. A young
nymph caught his eye while he was collecting herbs. She lured him deep into
the woods where she and her sisters got a hold of him. It was weeks before
he woke again, bleary, nude, and starved half to death.
On returning to his master's home, he was chided for his wayward ways,
though the old man didn't seem that concerned. The next morning, Methrahni
woke feeling feverish. Something was wrong with him, but after weeks of
'shirking his duties' the old man wouldn't let him rest. By the light of
the moon, he was forced to do his own research into what was making him ill.
Days before the full moon, he discovered that he had been infected with a
form of lycanthropy and he went without sleep, attempting to cure it. On
the day before the full moon, his potion was finished. He quaffed it and
settled in for a night of sleep.
When he woke, nearly every bottle in the old man's shop was broken and blood
was splattered everywhere. Filled with concern, Methrahni stepped ouside,
where the half eaten corpse of his Master was laid before him. The quiet
retreat of the man's home meant that he would not be discovered for weeks.
Weeks which Methrani put to use attempting to cure himself.
What he learned was that the disease could not be cured, though it could be
controlled. Logic became his weapon against the animal madness and deep
meditation brought him the clarity of mind to transcend the primal urges
that rushed through him monthly. He gave up the sham of continuing the
alchemist's business and set off into the woods, hoping to find a balance
between the man he had been and the animal he had become.