Long ago, the Mirror Wraith came to us as an emissary of the Mistress of Ruby and Onyx, bearing a prophecy of that which has now begun. The Mirror Wraith Prophecy is a vast ocean. I leave the interpretation to you. Like the ebb and flow of the tides, the answers are likened to many truths as they are engraved upon Taisgath's shifting translucent obelisk.

We gazed up at the heavens when the shards fell from comet Zelkaes shortly following the return of the Mirror Wraith, who wandered the provinces reciting pieces of the Mirror Wraith Prophecy. The Mirror Wraith often seemed sickly, coughing and wheezing in between each phrase of the prophecy. With more frequent visits of the Moon Mage Council, villains of old began to reappear:

Andraethu, brother of Demosel, was forced to train magic day and night as a child, sitting alone in a room until he had finished the tasks issued by a father who was cold to his son, yet warm to his daughter. At the time of his death, he spoke with a child's innocent curiousity, attracted by the young as if searching for companions, but overwhelmed by his own gruesome nature in the end. He discovered the location of a magical device that drained souls from children, a rusty trapezoid statuette with razor-edged prongs. This device is very similar to the music box that once belonged to Penelope, a lich who brought us knowledge of the bloodworm comet and its meaning when it enters the Mongoose constellation.

Andraethu found a tomb containing a statue near Langenfirth. He used the trapezoid as a key in the base of the statue and discovered a ridged brass semisphere locked inside. He claimed that the trapezoid broke when it was used with the statue, but even without the artisan Mortreyu to repair it, to this day it drains the body of spirit, often causing madness. The semisphere allowed Andraethu to see the future and turned his eyes platinum when invoked. It is now in the hands of Moon Mage Council Members Zeltir and Elvaka, used in their respective research projects.

Andraethu is dead now, killed by Grell, a roguish mercenary formerly employed by the Dragon Priests and once a friend of Andraethu. Grell had been "visiting" the obelisk, drawn to it in some way, and his mind clouded with psychic assaults that we think originated from the Moon Mage Council. Grell took the semisphere, and after claiming he would not give it to the council, he turned it over to them. The trapezoid remains hidden away from the Council.

The Mirror Wraith continued along its journey, following Lasarhhtha, a S'kra Mur born to a family of bards who later joined the Dragon Priests he served. Lasarhhtha seemingly betrayed the Dragon Priests, traveling to the Zoluren Moon Mage guild. His visits became more frequent, warning of danger, warning of Council secrets, and charging us to discover them. Old? Yes. Eccentric? Very much so. Possibly even driven by insanity. Not all is as it appears, and despite the turning seasons, the archaic Lasarhhtha's mind is as sharp as ever and focused on the tasks of unearthing his ancestors. He has defended us during three attacks by germish'din, death spirits and tortured souls, but these could very well be the creatures he's used his silvery webs to weave. He now searches for the corpse of Lady Penelope (Lady "P" to many), claiming that she has stolen the music from the music box, the singsong of dead children which draws souls to it.

Andraethu attempted to change fate itself, and when Lasarhhtha was saving us from the germish'din, I hoped for the chance to do the same. I set out to aid our possible ally. First was the blow laid to Lasarhhtha during the Taisgath invasion, and we banded together to form a healing party for him. During his recovery, the council wished him to appear before a tribunal, led by Lady Erzebet of the Progeny of Tezirah and Grand Master Taramaine, sending out the Inquisitor Y'shai for him. I asked the council to allow us to escort him if he were taken, and we were told we would be searched. Lasarhhtha was never captured by them, the crafty old coot.

During one discussion of Lasarhhtha's safety, I asked if we could change the outcome of the prophecy using group prediction. This raised many eyebrows, to say the least, because group prediction has been tried before without much success (to the best of our knowledge). It is rumored a creature was released from that earlier effort, a Shadowmaster that poses great danger and that even the Y'shai cannot kill.

For the knowledge of the Webs of Fate that traverse the past and the future, we were willing to take the risks. Much to our surprise, we received support from Council Members Taramaine and Erzebet, the Lady of the Y'shai, the shadows, and the seeker of Tezirah's minions. Many of the Celestial Compact maintained firm opposition to the research. There seemed to be a schism within our very own council! During the study, Council Member Thorrick was attacked, and the Moon Mage Council voted that the creature, disguised as Inquisitor Y'shai Stavro, was released from our group predictions.

From the risks we took, we have learned that the Shadowmasters are not myth but very real creatures from the Plane of Probability, released from a rift created by ancient lore. The rift was created after the appearance of the creature we summoned and released many creatures that infiltrated the void. Y'shai Stavro is Lady Erzebet's Y'shai Guardian, and the creature chose to mask itself with Stavro's appearance when attacking Thorrick. Either Lady Erzebet is being framed, or someone wants us to believe Erzebet is being framed.

We watched as the walls began to dampen and the room grew cold. A dense cry echoed throughout the hall, and a robed figure with glowing eyes emerged from the mist. We do not know what his name is, who he follows, or who will follow him, but we gained a vision of a lone guardian fighting against an ancient evil, prone and bleeding. With one dying gasp, the guardian expired. The Y'shai appeared in the Crossing Observatory shortly after our first group prediction. Lady Erzebet knew that the robed figure would come. Our research has gained us a method of gazing into the past and the future, and possibly changing it for good, but at what cost? Years of knowledge, some entirely purged from the guilds, cost the lives of many. We were hasty in our zeal to regain that knowledge...