The Winter Lords (Illusionist)

Endahleon

As is known, the elves became  a scattered folk, even before the coming of Unklar. Their princes had rumor of his arrival and knew that an age of Winter would descend upon the world. Many fled to their realm of Shindolay, the Land of the Seven Rivers, which lay beyond the Void. Three houses of elves remained: the High Elves, the remnants of those who fled; the twilight elves, those who took to worshiping the Lord of Nightmares, Utumno, and their skin paled as they shunned light of even the faded sun of the Winter Dark; and the Wild Elves, called by some the Gray or Wood Elves, those who did not belong to any of the Great Lords of the Elves, but shunned them all and lived free under the open skies.

These latter spread far and wide and fought the night of Winters Dark each in their own manner.

So it was with the Dahnau, a band of elves a few hundred strong who lived for many years in the shadow of Aufstrag, along the northern fences of the Blacktooth Ridge where in later years the Umbrage Saga unfolded. There the Ineng tree grew, a sacred tree of ancient heritage, called on by many who dwelt in those parts.

The Dahnau dwelt in caves turned into wondrous houses. Shallow water flowed throughout the caverns, leading one down paths to various caverns, shaped and carved as befit each user. Gems, set in the wall, caught the light of torches, illuminating the underground. Stony caves became bed chambers, decorated with tapestries of fine cloth, with mounds of fur for carpets and beds. It was both warm and airy and satisfied all the needs of defense and hiding -- as well as comfort and joy --  that the Dahnau sought.

They owed their safety to the sorceress, Endahlean, a maid of their people. She wove a fence of sorcery upon the caves, illusions to beguile any who came upon them. The entrances wide and tall, appeared small and twisted; where a comforting darkness had appeared before, it now appeared menacing. Even those who longed for the dark and twisted undergrounds looked into the caves of the Dahnau and knew fear. So thick were the illusions, that fence was a maze of sorcery, and even those who saw the truth of it became ensnared in deeper magics. None passed them for many hundreds of years and the wild elves lived in peace.

Endahlean bore with her a wand. Deep blue and carved with runes of magic, the wand was a wonder. With it she feared no dark nor evil and knew that even if her powers waned or she failed to replenish them that the wand would serve her well.

But there a came a time when she misplaced the wand, leaving it upon the banks of a stream; and when she noticed it missing she left the caverns to fetch it. It was the practice of her people to always travel in pairs, and to depart the Dahnau caverns in secrecy. But in her haste Endahlean did not call to her comrades but set off upon her own.

By chance a goblin, hunting along the Blacktooth Ridge spied the elf come from the darkened fence of her own illusions. He tracked her, following her path for some time, until growing bored with her, he took out his bow and poisoned arrows and shot her in the back. The feathered shaft took Endahlean in the small of her back and she fell upon the path, slipping into a fevered sleep. Her magics uncoiled, unknown to all within the caves that they were left exposed.

Upon returning to his comrades, the goblin spied the caverns, and hearing the sound of water . . . as his people are always attracted to waters underground . . . he discovered the hidden way. He called to his comrades and plundered the hold; the elves rose to defend themselves but caught unawares many fell before they could take up arms and the goblins drove the rest out or either took them into service.

After many months, Endahlean rose from her fever and returned to her caves to discover them in the hands of the goblins. In her wrath she cloaked herself in shadows and stole into the cavern and their she slew the goblins one by one. She hunted them in the dark and whenever she found one alone she took his life. Soon the goblins feared even the dark caves and they named them foul, calling them the Curk-ot-Gunig, the Cave of Ghosts.

Endahlean dwelt in the caves nevermore but lived wild in the woods beyond. She called to her people but they never came; for the few who survived had fled far away; and the men who dwelt along the Blacktooth Ridge, named her the Endhalean, the Lost Voice in the Wilderness and they call upon her, even now, when the path becomes misleading or travelers become lost; and at times she comes to them and guides them home.