The Witch of Ways

In the White Mountains -and apparently also elsewhere- the Witch of Ways roams the roads. He -or she, it is not known which sex this creature has- can shape shift into a man, a woman, or sometimes, into an animal. The creature is very handsome and distracts the lonesome travellers, and takes them off-road. When a traveller is seduced, (s)he will be lost, and hardly able to remember what has happened.
The Witch of Ways can be found on the roads, often at crossroads. The shape it has shaped to, will ask you which way to take to get to (...), even if there is a sign nearby. Don’t answer, walk on, especially if the one who asks you is very beautiful - to you. It can read your mind and guess which shape you like best.

"Ildritz? That way sir!"

When you answer, you are stuck in conversation, and the Witch will ask you to follow him/her. You will follow, and you will get lost. In the worst case, you are killed by the witch, but more often, you will be robbed or raped. When you come to your senses, the witch will have disappeared and you will have lost your way, if not your sanity.

Roadpirates or highwaymen can act like a Witch of Ways, but they are never as attractive as the real thing (except for Conrath the Robber, who managed to seduce many woman-travellers in the White Mountains and Ciniz). Other bad people can imagine to be the Witch, but this never really works. They just don’t have the flow of words to make it through the conversation.
On the other hand, travellers can claim to have been seduced by the Witch of Ways, without the claim being true. It is an easy way to say one has not minded the road and has got lost on the mountain paths, or has lost the belongings in gambling games. It is also a way to say one has been seduced, without telling it is a secret lover who did so (there are some children who’s father was said to be the Witch of Ways).

The Witch of Ways first appeared on the road from Ciniz to Ildritz, near the Eastern Door in the White Mountains. Soon after some strange abductions in these surroundings, the Witch was reported in other regions of Daleth. The Witch changed in behaviour too:

In the Weslanan, the peasants claimed the Witch took the signs that showed the traveller where to go, and altered, replaced or destroyed them so nobody knew where the road led to.
In Salamandran, the Witch of Ways changes the roads themselves. When the Witch had done his/her work, the road would be in a different place, and lead to different places than before. People on the road mysteriously disappeared.
In Ildritz, a city-Witch told foreigners where to go, but always the wrong way, so they would get lost in the city.
In the moors of Gamoor, the Witch did also change the direction of roads, and would seduce the travellers to get off the road, into the moors, where they drowned.

On some markets, a protecting amulet can be bought. The merchants claim it protects you against the Witch of Ways. It does, probably, but it does not protect you against your own stupidity. So if you get lost wearing the amulet, it is your own fault.