The undead scourge rising from the very earth beneath Khandava
increased, warrior after warrior rising to shake the dirt from their
bones as the ancient army set out to make war upon their prior
destroyers. Soon the great Redwoods were filled with the rampaging,
hideous creatures, the forest and council slowly being overrun, though
the defenders were adept at putting them back into their graves.
Unfortunately, more rose up and the situation looked dire.

Even as the situation worsened, Ysabel Kulmyrric was patrolling the
council when she came across the translucent spirit of a Lycaean.
Recognising her as Lyria, the ancient defender of the Redwoods, she
quickly alerted the rest of the Council who came in haste. As questions
were met with not the slightest whisper, though gestures where she could
do so, it was determined that for some reason, Lyria could not speak in
a manner that could be heard by the living. Asking only questions that
could have a yes or no response, the group of Cephyr, Ysabel, Borin,
Deanna, Brydian and Ysaviel managed to determine that there was an item
Lyria believed could help, hidden in the council. Upon being asked where
it was.. she gave a grin and sank down into the floor of the room.

After a few false starts, a hidden passageway was discovered, lost for
centuries and leading to a great iron gate, preserved over the
generations and engraved with images of a Redwood and a wolf, with a
Lycaean and a Sylayan either side, holding a paw and a hand up in
greeting. The intelligent group quickly determined that to open the
gate, two people of the correct race had to press the hand and paw at
the same time, and so doing, the gate opened, leading into another
hidden room.

Thus, the Tomb of Lyria was discovered, carved from ancient redwoods and
curiously preserved so that the full-body funeral-mask carving of that
noble first Lycaean upon the tomb was in perfect order. With a final
grin, Lyria's spirit receeded back inside her Tomb, returning once more
to rest as apparently she considered her part done. The tomb's paws held
a small wooden horn, yet when others tried to take it, they tightened
around the instrument until it was found that only Ysaviel, the
Prophetess of Khandava, could take it up.

Moving outside, she blew a mighty blast upon the horn, named Lyria's
Howl, and from its depths the triumpant howl of a mighty wolf echoed,
followed by one after another until the baying of an entire pack echoed
across the Redwoods. Mists began to form around the trunks of the many
trees, amber lights glowing within them quickly resolving into the eyes
of many ethereal wolves as they poured forth from the mists to do battle
with the undead menace.

The spectral pack tore into the invaders, tearing each of them into
pieces before spreading out and destroying each and every undead that
dared threaten the Provinces, routing them once more until not a single
member of the revenant army remained. Peace fell across the Redwoods,
and no more undead arose, hopefully vanquished by the call of Lyria's
Howl. The wolves bayed once more in triumph as they returned once more
to the mists, tails held proudly in the air, and slowly the forest
cleared to reveal naught but the obliterated remains of the skeletal
forces.

So ended the second invasion of Khandava, once more saved by that
remarkable Lycaean, Lyria, who's voice it would seem was contained
within her beloved horn, and had been preserved across the ages until
the ruler of the Provinces could once more take it up. The forests
returned to peace once more, secure in their victory over the ancient
menace, the knowledge that even in the afterlife that Lyria watched over
them, and the fact that the Leader of Khandava would always from that
day bear her Howl.

Penned by my hand on the 21st of Bellum, in the year 503 AD.