The Lighted Path

There are many ways that the creatures of Faerie can mislead the traveler; most are glamourous illusions or personal temptations that bewilder or disorient the hapless intruder. Some of the more powerful and mischievous Fae can even mislead someone in their own house. The Path is not like that.

There are beings in the depths of Elfheim who shape the land for their own purposes. Some seek to keep intruders out, or to capture victims, or to have their own private paths through the twilight. They shape mazes, traps, and private highways; often their purpose has nothing to do with the unwary mortal who might be caught up in it. In fact, many of these Shapings? are designed with other Fae in mind. The Lighted Path is not like these.

The Lighted Path is a Shaping of The Long Lady?. When the Lady walks through the woods with her hair unbraided, it trails behind her like a train, and the Lighted Path is created in her wake.

The path has the appearance of a simple beaten trail, unremarkable and apparently deserted and natural, except for the blackened bronze lanterns that line its sides at regular intervals. Though the path may curve and wind through the worlds, from the perspective of someone standing on the path it appears perfectly straight.

The path is often discontinuous and curved in the world but always linear in itself, this often makes it the shortest route. The scenery outside the path can change quite abruptly, but as long as the travelers stay on the path, outside threats cannot harm them unless they themselves enter the path. Casual travelers who go a short distance on the path can leave it without difficulty, but the longer a traveler stays on the path, the more they will feel like they need to see what is just a little ways further.

Those who sleep near the path have dreams of the sounds of many walking feet, eternally progressing down the path.