"The day of the booming sound caused by the Arcanum spell backfiring, I was just outside Azmarin, and on my way to the port to begin a journey home to Aldlight. The moment it happened, I knew it was a massive amount of untamed void lyss- I could feel it hanging in the air. Before I could head back to Azmarin, I noticed a group of suspicious Woolyne hurriedly making their way to the port to catch the ferry to Seawynne. I could feel the void lyss seeping off of them, the same energy that was still lingering around us. I immediately knew they were tied to the incident, and I followed them in haste onto the ferry with little thought…”
The tides gently rocked the ferry as it glided toward Seawynne, on course to arrive in just over a day. The three suspicious Woolyne- whom were dubbed 'Tooth, Tail, and Nail' by Lorelei, secretly- were huddled together in a half-circle, whispering among themselves continuously since they boarded. Lorelei kept a watchful eye on them from a forgiving distance. She sat beside a handful of other passengers, all of whom were chatting and enjoying the starry night around her. Lorelei stared at the three, whose cloaks all bore the same unusual broach at the front with a symbol she could not recognize. She squinted in thought, searching the back of her mind for any memory of such a symbol. Nothing came to her.
"We're taking her to see my cousin just outside of Seawynne," a passenger next to Lorelei said to another, in reference to the young Woolyne who was asleep in their lap. "She just suddenly didn't remember us, her parents. I don't understand what's wrong, but it happened soon after that great booming sound we heard. We were planning to visit anyway, but my cousin is a seasoned doctor, so I'm hoping she can help."
"Could no one in Azmarin help? No one at the university?" The other Woolyne in conversation said.
"Are you kidding? The university shut itself down in chaos today. Anyone who could possibly help was being flooded with pleas for assistance or explanation. I don't think anyone really knows what's going on. My cousin should be able to see us though, and I hope maybe she can help..."
Lorelei glanced at the tiny Woolyne in their lap, who was snoozing rather peacefully despite their hectic situation. Her whiskers twitched in frustration, knowing fully well a doctor wouldn't help. She had caught wind of the sudden memory loss problem just as she made her way through the port earlier to the ferry. This was the work of time-altering lyss, no doubt, and Tooth, Tail and Nail in the corner of the ship over there had something to do with it. She gripped the bench she sat on with her claws, glaring at them. There was a reason void lyss such as this was forbidden, and she had been learning all about it since she began her focus on void lyss study at Azmarin. To put it shortly, it was far too powerful and tumultuous to trust any Woolyne with. Any Woolyne caught tampering with time-altering void lyss was sure to face punishment in either the Mazri or Amiyn courts, or even both.
It seemed fairly clear to Lorelei that those behind this spell were experimenting in something sinister if there was such an effect on so many Woolyne.
Tooth, the biggest of the suspicious three, glanced over their shoulder, momentarily making eye contact with Lorelei. Startled out of thought, Lorelei immediately looked away. Tooth grunted and slowly turned back to the others, and the three continued muttering to each other. Lorelei cautiously set her eyes on them again, hoping they hadn't found her odd. She was still attempting to concoct a plan on what to do about them. There was little she could do except accuse them of association at this point, and all based on her strong sense of void lyss. Perhaps, if she kept following them, they would eventually lead her to some hard evidence.
For the rest of the journey, Lorelei didn't sleep much, and neither did Tooth, Tail, and Nail. The three were consistently busy whispering to each other, and Lorelei busy watching and occasionally straining to listen, only breaking her line of sight to them to go and check on her Nikyak below deck. All four seemed surprised when the captain announced that the ferry would be docking soon, just as the sun breached on the horizon. The hours had passed swiftly.
When the ferry docked at the port, the sun had brought the full, blue-skied morning to the city of Seawynne. There was a hustle and bustle of fishermen, merchants, and pickpockets alike already as the ferry passengers stepped down the bridge to the stone street. Tooth, Tail, and Nail, as if attached at the hips, walked off the ferry with their hoods up and strode into the busy marketplace without looking back. Lorelei crept after them, tugging her Nikyak, Raj, along carefully, and keeping as much distance as she could without falling behind. The three moved fast. As she followed, it struck her that they may be going farther than Seawynne. Much farther. She was going to have to diverge from her trip to Aldlight.
Shortly, Lorelei followed Tooth, Tail, and Nail into a large square, where a town crier was shouting something at a crowd from atop a wooden pedestal. The three suspicious Woolyne paused momentarily to listen, as did Lorelei.
"-a Sol lyss spell backfire! The Arcanum has taken responsibility for the mysterious booming sound! Those who have suffered memory loss are experiencing a symptom of their spell misuse! I repeat, those suffering memory loss are experiencing a symptom of the Arcanum's Sol lyss spell backfire! Memories should return to normal soon! The Arcanum has issued a formal apology for-"
Lorelei did a double take, and barely caught sight of Tooth, Tail, and Nail hurrying out of the square without listening to more. Gritting her teeth, she followed suit, despite wanting to stay and listen further. The Arcanum had taken responsibility, but had declared the spell as being Sol lyss, not forbidden void lyss. They were covering up something. There had to be others like her who could put two and two together, however, especially back at Azmarin. Perhaps she should have stayed there. These three she was following, however, definitely had something to do with all of this, Arcanum or not. She couldn't let them get away now.
Her racing thoughts faded quickly when she lost sight of the suspicious three in the growing crowd around the town crier. Lorelei, being on the short side, tried standing as tall as she could to see over some heads. Realizing her better option, she quickly climbed atop Raj for a higher view. It was no use, though. Tooth, Tail, and Nail had managed to vanish down a street corner. Cursing under her breath, Lorelei stepped back down from Raj and pushed her way through the crowd as fast as she could manage, Raj grunting in frustration behind her, and headed in the direction she last saw them.
She rounded a corner, finally. There was no sign of them. Clenching her fists, she raced to the next street over. Again, nothing. Then the next one over, there was no sign of them again. Lorelei cursed loudly this time, gaining the displeased look of a few passerbys around her.
The three had managed to vanish from the square so quickly- had it been some sort of lyss? Huffing in frustration and exhaustion, she leaned back against the wall of a building, shaded from the sun under an awning, and pressed her paws over her face. Raj sniffed her shoulder and grunted, either comforting her or looking for a snack.
"Lose something, Duchess?" A voice said next to her.
Lorelei twitched, lowering her paws to inspect the Woolyne who had spoken like they knew her. She raised an eyebrow at the sight of him.
Silver, the infamous Thieves Guild leader, was leaning against the same wall next to her, as if he had been there before her. Decked in black, as per usual, his mask was lowered for conversation. He raised an eyebrow back at her, grinning.
"Oh," Lorelei replied plainly, looking disappointed. "Silver, aren't you?"
"We've met before, Duchess," Silver said. His whiskers twitched slightly in annoyance.
"Right, right," Lorelei waved away any more formalities with her paw. "Well, I'm looking for a couple of Woolyne who headed this way. They were wearing matching cloaks with a broach on the front of them. Did you happen to see where they went?"
Silver moved from the wall, tapping his chin thoughtfully. He began to pace around her.
"Maybe I did, maybe I didn't," he said, then paused mid step to face her with another charming grin. "I might need something to jog my memory."
Lorelei rolled her eyes and groaned, but stuck a paw into the purse at her side to find some spare shards.
"Is this really necessary?" she said.
"You're a Duchess, you can spare the change," Silver said, extending his paw out toward her.
Lorelei placed a few shards into his hand begrudgingly, not holding back on her glare. Silver snatched them away with impressive speed and tucked them into a coin purse at his side by his sword.
"Now, what did you see?" she pressed.
"They went that-a-way, Duchess," he said, pointing down the opposite street behind them. "I wouldn't get your hopes up about following those Arcanum types, though. They slip away quick."
"Arcanum? So they ARE Arcanum followers?" Lorelei said, turning heel mid sentence to follow where he had pointed. "I knew it. I need to keep following them, they might lead to evidence of the forbidden lyss they used-"
"Woah, woah," Silver nimbly moved to block her way. "Take it from me, chasing after Arcanum followers isn't a good idea. They don't mess around. If you can ever catch them, that is. They're likely long gone by n-"
Lorelei shoved him out of the way before he could finish, stomping forward again with greater annoyance in her eyes. She muttered something under her breath. She was not one to accept being underestimated.
Silver recovered quick and fell in step with her instead of attempting to block her again.
"All I was gonna say is, Duchess, is that I have a pretty good idea of where they're going, if you want the assistance of the Thieves Guild to show you the way," he said, anticipating the pause Lorelei made and adding on, "For a small price, that is."
Lorelei grunted, but didn't stop her hurried walk. "You're not the best Woolyne to trust, Silver."
"I'm sure you can acknowledge that I'm one of the few Woolyne who would have valuable information on this subject, though," Silver countered.
Lorelei narrowed her eyes, but said nothing as she ruminated on the comment. Then, making another impulse decision, she stopped walking. Silver stopped as well.
"Fine. Tell me what you know," she said.
"Payment first," Silver said, extending a paw again.
Lorelei made a growling sound and shoved her bag back into her purse, nearly throwing a handful of shards at him. Silver happily placed the additional shards into his coin purse, then folded his arms and brought back that schmoozer grin of his.
“What are you getting out of this, anyway? Besides shards?” Lorelei said.
“I take special interest in Royal Types putting their nose in things they shouldn’t,” Silver said, wagging a finger at her. “I always get some sort of valuable information from it.”
“I could care less about what you do with the news of me chasing after Arcanum followers,” Lorelei replied, throwing her arms out in a exasperated type of shrug. “It won’t matter anyway, after I bring them to justice for their void lyss spell backfiring.”
“Void lyss? I thought I heard that it was sol lyss.”
“It was void lyss. Forbidden void lyss. And those three I’m following have something to do with it. That’s why I’m following them, to get evidence of their crime.”
Lorelei looked down the street where they had supposedly vanished, realizing time was being wasted.
“Alright, alright,” Silver said, noticing her impatience. “Don’t worry, with my help, you can probably follow them all the way to one of their little hideouts. Follow me.”
“...Silver led me through a few streets until showing me to a basement level below an herbalist’s shop. He told me to leave Raj behind, but I insisted on taking him- I could never just leave him somewhere. Silver seemed annoyed but eventually obliged. The basement room we entered was a storage room of sorts, with an oddity of things laying around. Through a door in that room, we entered into a tunneling system that seemed to run all throughout Seawynne. It was dark and stuffy, with only the occasional torch on the wall for guiding light. Had Raj been even a tiny bit bigger, he wouldn’t have even fit in the there.
As we went, Silver explained that the Arcanum followers were likely taking a roundabout route to one of their hideouts. There were plenty of hideouts that the Thieves Guild were aware of, but no members had ever been able to pin down precise locations, only guesses in certain areas. He listed off a few areas, ending on one that he claimed he had gotten word of Arcanum followers being spotted traveling toward yesterday. It was on the mainland, northwest of Ur-Bahn, and to the south of Myrkka.
It was well-accepted knowledge that Arcanum followers also resided somewhere in the mountains to the north of Azmarin, where the booming sound seemed to come from, but there was no doubt they had hideouts across the land that were less obvious and less steeped in public rumour.
Silver asserted that, being the sneaky type himself, he knew it was a smart practice to weave an odd path to your hidden destination on the off-chance someone was following you. From Azmarin to Seawynne by ferry, then likely Seawynne to Aldlight by foot or Nikyak- not entering the city of Aldlight, mind you, but weaving around it. Then, across the isthmus toward the mountains. How did he know this? Another of his interests, he said. Following suspicious Woolyne to suspicious locations. The path was bound to come in handy, as it did now.
Eventually, we came up from the tunnels and into another basement, this time below what appeared to be someone’s house. We came out the back steps from the basement, Raj barely squeezing through the doors, and in a moment of fate, immediately caught sight of Tooth, Tail, and Nail not too far away. We were on the edge of town now. The Arcanum followers had already made their arrangements and were climbing on to two different Nikyaks from a taxi service, only waiting to finish sharing a few more words with the Woolyne setting them up. Nail and Tail shared one Nikyak, and Tooth had their own. Nail glanced over and saw Silver and I, holding eye contact for an oddly long moment before turning to whisper something to Tail. Silver turned to stand in front of me, his back to the others, and muttered to me that I would have to wait and put some distance between us before I took off after them again.
Anxiously, I did wait. I stood with Silver at the edge of town and watched the three of them start heading down a road leading northwest, eventually to Aldlight. I took the time to feed and water Raj in preparation for the journey. I felt far too impatient, though, so I soon hopped onto Raj again and told Silver I was off. Silver walked with me for a few moments, told me I ‘had some guts’ and wished me good luck. I did thank him, even though he had gotten several shards out of me for this.
I was off then, following the fading wafts of void lyss that I could still sense from Tooth, Tail, and Nail, into woodland…”
Night fell over Andras, and Lorelei yawned loudly as if in response to the coming late hours. She had barely slept in two days now, and was going on three with this nightfall. She swayed somewhat atop Raj in drowsiness. The two of them had been traveling for several hours, and had not come across Tooth, Tail, and Nail yet, but Lorelei was attempting to stay awake enough in search of signs of them making camp.
Raj came to an abrupt stop on the road, causing Lorelei to jolt out of her half-awake stupor and back to an upright position. She leaned and patted Raj on the cheek, who was making some sniffing and huffing sounds and flicking his ears.
“I know you’re tired, boy, but let’s keep going a bit further,” Lorelei cooed. “I just want to see a sign of a fire, or some sort of camp… anything… I can still sense their void lyss… we’re not far behind them.”
Just as she began to wonder if they planned to travel all night long, the sound of a twig snapping underfoot came from the darkness of the trees on the right side of the road. Both Lorelei and Raj twitched their ears to attention at the sound, turning to look in the direction it came from. Raj patted his feet around anxiously, though stayed in place.
“It’s probably just a-” Lorelei began.
Lighting up the forest around them, a blinding bundle of fire lyss scorched toward the two of them from the darkness, interrupting Lorelei. Raj reared back to his hind legs, and Lorelei fell off of his backside. As she fell, she barely missed the ball of fire that was aimed at her. Recoiling from the fall, she rolled up as fast as she could, just missing another ball of fire that struck the ground by her hooves. Raj bellowed in distress. Lorelei moved in front of him, arms up in defense.
“Who’s there?!” she shouted at the trees.
A tense moment passed before three Woolyne slowly oozed from the darkness, their cloaks blending in with the night exceedingly well. They stepped out from the trees to stand on the road in front of her.
It was none other than Tooth, Tail, and Nail.
“You’ve been following us.” Tail said, the fire lyss still glowing in the palm of one of their hands.
“For what reason?” Nail asked.
“And who are you?” Tooth added.
Lorelei eyed the three of them in surprise, having been fully unprepared for this encounter. After a few seconds of calculation, she straightened and put her fists at her sides, trying to look as fierce as her small, pretty frame could manage.
“You’re Arcanum followers, aren’t you?” she began, looking each of them up and down individually. “I want to know just what you think you were doing with such a massive amount of time-altering void lyss.”
The three exchanged glances with each other.
“If you mean the spell backfire the Arcanum took responsibility for, you’re mistaken. It was an experiment with sol lyss gone wrong,” Tail answered.
“I can’t believe that’s how you’re trying to pass this off,” Lorelei said, anger flaring in her words. “Myself and any other Woolyne who has studied enough lyss can tell it was void lyss that caused everyone’s memory loss. What was the Arcanum planning to do with time-altering lyss that affected such a massive amount of Woolyne? Trying to turn back time, or something like that? You should all know fully well that that kind of lyss is forbidden!”
The three other Woolyne exchanged glances a second time, this time with varying expressions, though altogether did not seem too bothered by her.
“You seem to have a good sense of void lyss,” Nail said.
“And a talent for butting in to business that isn’t yours,” Tooth growled.
Tooth’s stance changed slightly, as if he was preparing to go on the offensive. Lorelei caught sight of the shifting stone dangling around his neck beneath his cloak. She adjusted her stance somewhat as well.
“What the Arcanum practices is not of your concern- or the concern of anyone else outside our organization,” Tail said.
“Well it sure is our concern now,” Lorelei shouted. “Whatever you were trying to do affected what sounds like all of Andras! You committed a crime. You and all the other followers should face both Queen Pandora and Queen Asajj themselves and admit you used forbidden lyss!”
“We’ve committed no crimes! You’re doing nothing but creating a conspiracy theory,” Nail hissed, also moving to a battle stance now.
“You have no proof,” Tail added in calmer tone.
“And you have no proof to say it wasn’t forbidden lyss,” Lorelei countered. “I demand answers from you for the sake of the rest of Andras! You’re out of line drawing innocent Woolyne into your lyss experiments. I won’t allow you to get away without admitting that you were planning to alter time!”
“That’s it,” Tooth growled, gripping his shifting stone.
He shifted, growing into a bigger, bulkier form. His massive teeth were bared as he let out a threatening growl and took a step toward Lorelei. Raj took steps backward with Lorelei, grunting and huffing again in fear.
“The Arcanum can’t allow you to spread this kind of rumor against us,” Tail said. Fire lyss brewed in their palms again.
Lorelei knew what was about to happen. Her eyes flicked between them for only a moment longer before she turned and literally leapt onto Raj, who then immediately broke into a run without prompt. Within the same several seconds, Tooth launched himself toward them, Tail held up the fire lyss, and Nail drew a pair of swords.
Fire immediately scorched past Lorelei as Raj sprinted down the road. She turned, and saw that close on their tail was the shifter, Tooth, approaching fast. She hit the reigns. Raj grunted and attempted to go faster. Nikyaks weren’t known for their speed.
Tooth came up on them fast. His massive form covered ground much faster than one would think. Lorelei could hear his panting breath right behind her as he sprinted. She drew a small, empty vial from her bag and spun around to face him again. Muttering under her breath, she threw it at him. Confusion flashed in Tooth’s eyes right before the vial grew five times its size mid air and struck him square in the face, shattering into pieces. He crashed to the ground from the hit.
Raj didn’t stop his sprint. Lorelei made a satisfied gesture at her successful attack, but her celebration ended quickly when she noticed the large gust of cutting wind hurtling toward them. With little time to act, she turned to attempt to pull Raj away from the wind’s path, but was far too slow. The wind sliced over them, toppling Raj forward over himself, and flinging Lorelei to the ground with him.
Lorelei wearily attempted to rise, feeling bruised from the fall, and stinging all over from the harsh wind. Raj groaned as he got back to his feet and hurried to Lorelei’s side. She grabbed his fur and used him to pull herself back up.
Tooth was hurtling toward them again, having shaken off the blow to the head. Not too far behind him were Tail and Nail. Nail held up his swords, which had streams of air circling around them.
“I have to-” Lorelei started, looking anxiously at Raj.
She had to teleport away. She was too drowsy to fight them off well enough now, and far too unprepared. It was clear that they were far stronger than she expected.
However, teleporting a Nikyak along with her was something she needed far more training on. She was not ready to experiment and hope for the best with Raj. Alone, she would be fine.
“I’m sorry, Raj, I’ll come back to find you,” she said.
She gave him a quick embrace around his muzzle before dashing to smack his behind with her claws. Raj bellowed and hurtled forward again down the road, this time without her. Lorelei turned to face the encroaching three, whipping her hands out at her sides. Purple motes of lyss glistened around her, much brighter than usual. Right as Tooth was about to ram into her, she vanished into thin air.
“...I teleported as far away as I could, and ended up near the edge of the woods, just to the north of the town of Fenmoore. Weary from the events that had taken place, I made my way to town as fast as I could to seek shelter. I arrived just as dawn was breaking, and managed to find an inn and book a room. I slept for the rest of the day.
Once I had recovered sleep, I could barely rest again. Despite not getting any solid evidence from the encounter with the Arcanum followers, I at least had the fact that they had attacked me out of sheer defensiveness. Very, very suspicious defensiveness.
I left Fenmoore at daybreak following my day of rest, and set out toward Aldlight. I rented a Nikyak taxi instead of using teleportation spells, since I was intent on picking up the trail of Tooth, Tail, and Nail again. I could only count on Silver’s guess that they were headed around Aldlight and up into the mountains just past the isthmus.
I did miss Raj, though. I felt awful about leaving him in the wilderness alone. He was a smart Nikyak, however, and I never had to direct him to Aldlight myself anymore. I was certain he would show up there on his own eventually, or else I would search for him myself. Even though I kept reassuring myself with this, it was still hard to not feel terribly anxious about him.
The Arcanum followers proved hard to track down again, since I had completely lost the trace of void lyss that I had been using to follow them. Every time I ran into another traveler on the road, I asked if they had seen them- three Woolyne traveling together, all wearing matching cloaks and broaches. A few times, I was delighted to receive a ‘Yes’. The fellow travelers pointed toward Aldlight, assuring that they had seen the Woolyne I spoke of, and that they were moving fast toward the Amiyn capital.
I pressed forward, searching for further traces of them, until they ended up finding me.
It was night again, and I had sat down with a fire to rest with my Nikyak. We were just outside of a small town to the southwest of Aldlight. They appeared out of nowhere for a second time. Tooth, Tail, and Nail repeated their grievances with me before launching another attack. It seemed that they had been searching for me, too.
I hustled into town on my Nikyak instead of firing back, hoping to draw attention to the three of them so I had eye-witness accounts of their aggressiveness toward a stranger. As I rushed in, however, I realized that they had not followed me, and had stayed back in the woods. They knew what I was doing, and were going to keep to the shadows like they were apparently used to.
I dropped my Nikyak off at a stable and spent the night in the town, knowing now that they were intent on drawing as little attention to themselves as possible, and that I would sleep well in a crowded inn.
The next day, I left my Nikyak in town and decided to continue on foot. I first wandered the woods around town, wondering if the three were just waiting for me to come back. There was no sign of them. I headed in the direction of Aldlight.
There was no point in stopping home. Now that I knew that Tooth, Tail, and Nail were after me, I didn’t want to lead them to my home outside of Azmarin, or point them to anyone I associated with. I had a feeling that they wouldn’t just let any of that information go. The Arcanum followers were clearly intent on covering up what they were doing at any cost.
As I was headed east, toward the shores outside of Aldlight, I ended up running into the three of them again, but this time it was me who snuck up on them. I caught sight of them moving through the last line of trees just before the start of the shoreline as I was standing atop a small cliff to catch a surveying view. I ducked immediately, hoping not to be spotted. Luckily I wasn’t.
I managed to track Tooth, Tail, and Nail all the way up into the isthmus without being noticed. It was a tiring journey, as the three of them barely took rests or breaks- I started to wonder how they were even faring this well on such a long journey.
Due to lack of sleep and thus poor judgement on my part, I ended up being spotted by them again just as we reached the end of the isthmus. This time, however, they ran. They ran from me. Even though I had been brewing some intimidating looking void lyss around me once I was spotted, I was still surprised about their apparent attitude change. I hurtled after them, our chase not ceasing until we reached the mountains, where I soon realized that they were leading me to their hideout. Leading me to a place where they had advantage, and perhaps hidden lyss, weapons, and other followers to help them. I followed them still, knowing the danger.
And that’s where you came in…”