Haunted: Past and Present

Begin writing your story here...The single entry looks as if it were written in several sittings.
 
We are at the Harpers’ safe house right now. I heard Holly and Rue having a fight in hushed tones earlier—they were having quite a disagreement about who would stay behind in Derinvan and who would come to Teoria. Holly made good points about being the Champion of Lurra, I’ll admit. Force Grey vs. Harpers dynamics aside, Rue’s cryptic mention of his “higher purpose” won, or it would have if he could have told her in that moment that he is what he is. Or will be. I’m not sure whether it is truly done yet, or whether he knows. Regardless, the pair bickered in low voices for a while, each trying to undercut the other’s argument and demand they be the one to stay behind, to protect the temple, to find Rose. The dispute didn’t get settled here, and they both stormed out.
 
It took approximately three minutes for Rose’s name to surface enough times to piss Duraz off, and he also left in a huff. Knowing that we are as persecuted as we are, we should all be better about telling people where we’re off to and saying proper goodbyes.
 
The Blackthorne problem is increasingly worrying, despite how little attention everyone else pays it. His face is more regularly looking… that way, like the deity whose influence has settled on him is taking hold? It makes me wonder about his true nature. Myri tried to divinely cast some kind of restoration, but it seemingly did nothing. She decided to go back to the temple to gather some books and other belongings, as well as ask Force Grey to check on Duraz. Seriously, though, we need to do a better job not splintering like this.
 
Roscoe thankfully had an epiphany about being more secretive about his divine relation, for which I am grateful.
 
We then had a too-long bickering session about what to do next. I told them without any reservation that I was going to Teoria. Not only did we have allies there, but the tattoos on my arms honor bound me to return. I may have left, but I hadn’t—and could never—stopped being a Protector.
 
I informed everyone I wished to go to the Temple of Knowledge and asked them to come, if they wished. This was followed shortly after by a stern lecture about comportment, but as we are about to go, I do not have particular hope that this will go smoothly. I know this party.
 
 
Returning to the Temple of Knowledge this time was… fun. Normally it feels in an odd way like coming home, but this time it was like showing off a beloved old haunt to friends. I know they were skeptical at first, but I also enjoyed watching the vastness and diversity of opportunities in the Temple win them over. I tried not to show it, but I was secretly delighted by the ridiculousness of Seksgar and Roscoe in tweed. I am not sure they know what libraries are really like.
 
The Averred treated me with their usual quotidian deference in motion, but seeing the subtle reactions of the party reframed it for me. I had nearly let myself get used to being treated as someone of import, and that was weird. Growth, I suppose, but still weird. Phillip somehow knew the moment to appear, chastising me for not warning him of our arrival but falling easily into his role as Assistant. (Even now, he hates this title. I’ll have to find something else.) He handed me a bunch of mail and a box—the mail was a combination of rewarding and heart wrenching, and the box contained a protective scarab, a gift from the Temple. We then proceeded to the chapel, where Oghma’s office would be on Veldorn, and spoke with two of the Loremasters.
 
They told us Teoria was the epicenter of undead activity in Xotera right now and posited that something was drawing the undead to Teoria. Their continued presence also hinted at a high likelihood that something was keeping the undead there. The Loremasters suspected this was more than a simple necromancer. The power was both too strong and enduring to be something lowly.
 
I don’t know that anyone else was paying much attention when Loremaster Erikson added that he believed they had an idea about the location of Starinya’s demiplane. He also told me Rue had been coming to the Temple regularly, researching Starinya. I won’t lie in my own journal and say that this didn’t cause my heart to leap. As I wrap up this entry and my work as Chosen, there’s a lot to consider.
 
 
We gathered some supplies and returned to the safe house. Upon our return, Krey warned us of someone “sneaky” inside. The cloaked figure that caused some alarm has thus far remained mysterious, but no one I would expect to be concerned is, so for now, I’ve put my confusion on the back burner.
 
Rue returned with food and news that Raven and Saxon had been fighting about which half of Force Grey would come. The group then discussed plans and decided to leave the safe house and go to Blackstaff Tower. I then somehow took the massive group to my home on Veldorn. There was an additional room for someone, but it wasn’t obvious to me who. I was honestly soon distracted by Roscoe and Krey being stuck in their rooms, for starters, and by Phillip being able to manipulate the reality of the home. As he left to go “meet his father” and Oghma said I had to “warn a god first,” it struck me how literally the lineage was. Phillip is… well, that’s a topic to unpack another day. I do think we settled on his title becoming Architect instead of Assistant, though. The hooded stranger also seemed to disappear, but Rue told me not to worry about it.
 
Rue raised again whether we were worried about Blackthorne, and it seemed that only Myri and I were. Myri and Burke looked him over (including his teeth) and determined he was physically okay, though we all knew something was changing. And now everyone is preparing to rest, as we sorely need, so this will be it for now.
 
 
I hadn’t realized just how much I missed Rue until I didn’t have to miss him anymore. Telling him I love him while also being able to hold him was different in the best of every way. I wanted to ask many things of him—like permission to hold everyone hostage here a few more Veldorn days so I could stay up there with him or to tell me unequivocally that there was still a meaningful difference between Rue picking Zinzyra rather than fate, titles, and duty pushing him to stay with me or pursue his destiny. But I knew the answer to the former would be an amused no, and the latter was harder to predict but didn’t need to be voiced. Rue picked Zinzyra, and then destiny picked them both. Maybe that’s why I picked the moment I did to give him ONE GOLD PIECE. To ground us both, even if just for a second, in a simple memory of a time we were just two people, on a date, falling in love.
 
Eventually the domestic morning had to end. We all assembled in a large group, and I felt the solemnity of our task settle on me. Perhaps more so than anyone else in that room. Had any of them faced undead like this? Did they understand death was not, in fact, the worst that could happen? I heard words tumble from my mouth and could almost hear the echoes of speeches Vicol had given me and other Protectors years before. Warnings of protecting one another’s souls above all else. Of the tenuous, precious gift both life and the afterlife were.
 
And then when it seemed they didn’t quite get it, something in me finally broke, and I spoke to them all for the first time about Vicol’s death, the necromancer, and the part of my life I had been trying so hard to run away from. I’ve never seen this bunch of assholes pay better attention to anything I’ve said. Zelene and I had a moment of understanding as she told us she was from Teoria, and then the group, strangely motivated, set about preparing. Soon after, we left my home and returned to Blackstaff Tower.
 
Ash, Lily, and Onryn arrived shortly after we did. I was only a little surprised Onryn had returned to mortal life, and I ignored the part of me that still questioned Fern’s convictions in her faith if she had chosen to stay dead. Maybe that judgment wasn’t fair of me, but had I not stood in Oghma’s office, in his embrace, being given the same choice and telling him I wasn’t finished yet? The three members of Rue’s family said they would restore the Temple of Lurra, protect it, and search for Rose and Duraz. In a surprising turn of events, Seksgar and Holly opted to leave Kumrag with Ash and Lily, and it turns out Ash is the biggest softie in the world for small children. I briefly remembered the glimpses I had seen of this in Oghma’s reflecting pool when he shared some of Rue’s childhood with me. It made sense.
 
Vajra then gave us a boon—holy power imbued in our weapons—and we went like a troupe of idiots en masse through the transportation circle. Our arrival was probably one of the worst parts of Ignacius’ day. We wrecked his entire home, started an alarm of some kind, and took way too long to sort ourselves out. Once many of the extra bodies had exited the too-small space and we had observed the security animals that seemed marred by necromancy, we began speaking to Ignacius. He looked frazzled and weary—and not just because of our arrival. He told us mostly Protectors had been arriving via the circle, and so far no one had departed the same way.