Is Anything as It Seems?

Of course, the wall was not just a wall.
 
It was a portal. Well, more correctly, I believe the protective magic surrounding the city did not allow a mere physical breach of the city walls to be enough to gain entry, and therefore we were pulled into a pocket dimension of some kind. We stumbled first onto a platform in a gap that filtered out stupid lesser undead. (Many skeletons milled about down below.) It was now that Shaw explained crossing through the wall was different every time, so we had no specific instructions to follow. The magic presented us with a series of obstacles that seemed designed to separate good from all else, which makes sense—its purpose was to protect Teoria from the range of undead and evil that existed just outside.
 
Throughout the course of our journey through the wall, the discoveries that stick with me the most are:

• A lot more people are previously acquainted than I had thought, and this seems tied to seafaring days.


• Myri is uncannily good at lassoing Roscoe.


• Both Rue and Holly are people of action, almost to a fault.


• Duraz seemed to actually see my magic when I conjured the hiding space for the majority of us—I need to follow up on this later.


• Lovic saved Myri, but it seemed perfunctory, like she was of utility to him in the future and therefore needed to be saved now.


• Lovic also implied he could somehow see Duraz’s aura?


• The distribution of good and neutral people in this group does not align with what I would have guessed before the magical barrier tried to squish Myri, Lovic, Phillip, Seksgar, Duraz, and Blackthorne (but not Nadira).


• Shaw still steadfastly refuses to use weapons.


• Shaw also has wings.

 
The final part of our wall journey had us facing off directly with a solar. There was a key on the celestial being’s hip, but it wasn’t easy to get—that is, until Phillip stunned it. (Best Architect a Chosen could ask for, I swear.) With the solar stunned in place, we made for the door, but Nadira had to get rid of her fucking demon bird first (typical). She was reluctant, but Blackthorne convinced her, and this prompted her to switch from regarding him with casual disdain to finding him incredibly sexy, apparently. (Unfortunately, more on this later.)
 
We all piled through the door, but Shaw’s demeanor changed when he took in our surroundings, and he explained that there was an unexpected blockage here and our alternative path that was not through a mile of stone was above ground and would take nearly five hours. Five hours we didn’t have. I was vaguely listening to Duraz speak to the stone and the others brainstorm solutions, but I admit, I was distracted doing some quick math. Oghma had taught me a ritual method of pulling myself into the Ethereal Plane for longer than I normally did—well, correction, he asked me a lot of leading questions that brought me to the epiphany myself. I did not do a good job asserting confidence in this approach, and it seemed for a moment that everyone might not go for it. But I am a horizon walker and chosen. It’s about time I started doing things that reflect both.
 
I took people in groups of three, and it was a lot of running on my part. Some of them bitched about it feeling uncomfortable. Nadira and Blackthorne seemed way too into it. Phillip, Shaw, and Seksgar said they felt nothing. And at this point, Phillip pointed out a connection the three of them supposedly shared, which was another surprising revelation in the case of Shaw… I don’t actually think he believes that statement about himself.
 
We made it do the door that guards Selma’s library, I accidentally pissed it off, then Blackthorne, Duraz, and Seksgar all took turns at calming it. Thank all the gods I had attuned the mirror to Selma, because I was able to talk to her and she got her overprotective door in line. Once through, we saw the library had undergone some renovations. It was now alive with activity, and as we stepped through, it was clearly an infirmary. Looking around, many here suffered the same necrotic malady and magic didn’t seem to be helping. Unsurprisingly, Myri and Shaw immediately fell into their roles as clerics and tended to the wounded. I lost track of everyone else, because my eyes landed on Gwen.
 
She looked bad. As she called me an asshole and said she knew Shaw was wrong about me not coming back, I looked at her wounds. She said the litch kings had all five blades, which didn’t totally make sense to me, but I filed away for later. Duraz asked me if I wanted her healed, and I said something sarcastic in return. When he cast the restorative magic, the necrotic disease seemed to halt in place, surprising Gwen most of all. Gauging this reaction, I then leaned forward and cast a healing spell on her, which seemed to work. The stunned expression on her face told me that healing magic had not worked on her or the others for some time. I wish we had been here sooner.
 
My attention then was called away by a monologue from Tarsh as he loudly accepted his fate. Myri was undeterred and continued her healing work, and I finally saw that he had managed to lose an arm. When the necrotic effect also stopped spreading on him, he proudly declared he would return to the battlefield and fight valiantly, for Vedo had given him a second arm with which to fight. There’s something comforting in how little he’s changed. It also reminded me why I was so fascinated by Rue’s brand of paladinhood.
 
In short order, Merripen and I exchanged a wordless acknowledgement of one another, and Raythar showed up in a clap of thunder. I haven’t seen the man that excited in a long time, though I doubt anyone else would characterize him with any such emotion. It used to be funnier when I rarely smiled or showed any emotions myself. Duraz launched into a lecture about people touching me and then this veered into talk of my “intimate relationships.” Tarsh loudly declared me not to be a “loose woman,” which then caught the attention of both Shaw and Rue. I saw them notice each other. That knot of discomfort returned to my stomach.
 
It wasn’t long before Shaw approached and asked to catch up, now that we were in safety. I accepted the invitation, and as we walked upstairs to a separate room entirely, I tried not to focus too much on the confusing combination of emotions. He led me to a barracks room that had six beds set up and began setting up a seventh as he asked whether I was with the Protectors now or doing something else. He then asked if he was setting up one bed or two, which left me dumbfounded as I tried to figure out if he was asking if we were sharing a bed or what, which would have been very presumptuous, but then he mentioned Rue and I realized he was asking if Rue and I were both joining the Protectors’ ranks, albeit temporarily.
 
I told him it was complicated and then steered conversation to his earlier comment about my “higher mission,” which made him look immediately as uncomfortable as I felt. Shaw admitted he had had a vision that was similar to me taking people through the stone earlier. He said we “can’t defeat them here” and that he had a vision of taking them elsewhere, but in that vision it “didn’t go well for me” and so he didn’t want to recall me. It was in this moment that I spotted an orb and knew someone (likely a friend, based on my feeling) was snooping. I warned him of the same, but we continued on. In all honesty, I felt some relief knowing that I would have a corroborating witness should our absence be noticed.
 
Shaw then regarded me with an unreadable expression and said he wanted to see me and he hadn’t left the Protectors and Eolas just because he wanted to go home. He said he regretted not telling me but he didn’t know how. I was still left confused as he then asked, instead, if I knew Nydra. He remarked he was glad I was closer to the gods. If I recall correctly, I made some quip about how he had no idea.
 
It was then, in that moment, that he showed me why he had left the Protectors with very little explanation before. In the space of one breath it suddenly made so much more sense—the swiftness of his decision, his departure before a set date, the veneer of confidence in the action over internal conflict, and the complete lack of communication afterward. We spoke for a long time, and he seemed saddened when I told him quite honestly I had found happiness. I never would have expected… anyone to carry a torch for me through so many years.
 
We didn’t finish this conversation, though. First, Merripen burst in and came to the space we had retreated to, asking Shaw if he would join on the hunt that night. Shaw declined. He and I then started to talk more about what had happened in the intervening five or so years, but then Duraz warned me from downstairs that Haldir was coming up. Shaw sealed us away in the hidden alcove we were in, and just in time—Haldir, Cyrilla, Blackthorne, and Rue all appeared in the barracks room. I am also fairly certain Myri’s scrying orb was there.
 
During this strange discussion, Haldir routinely insulted Rue (and by extension, all firbolgs), gave us confirmation of some information about the incursion on Teoria, and admitted to his ulterior motives.
 
At first, Haldir boasted to Blackthorne that he was there to “save Teoria” and unblock shipping routes, but when Blackthorne expertly pressed against this front, Haldir ended up admitting he was here to get something. Some time later he identified that the something was a crystal.
 
In talking about Teoria, he emphasized the tower was not what was maintaining the barrier—Blackthorne mentioned the five litch kings, and Haldir seemed surprised, but agreed. Haldir suggested taking out all five at once in a surprise attack instead of picking them off one by one, thereby instantly disrupting the pentagram with the tower as its focal point. By my side, Shaw marked on a map the locations Haldir raised. I obviously took notes.
 
Blackthorne then shared a lot about himself with Haldir, especially about his ship. Haldir promised teleportation for Blackthorne to Sehrbaz if the captain would help Haldir get the crystal he was here for. He identified its previous owner… Cas. I did not have time to figure out how the fuck it would be here after we had left it far away and with someone else entirely. (At this point, Rue raised that the teleportation circle in Kenaserin that Haldir spoke of using was not known, which caused me concern, but Haldir focused on insulting Rue instead, which Blackthorne rolled with.) When Blackthorne pressed on the well hidden transportation circle, Haldir’s stupid wife looked uncomfortable. Blackthorne asked for proof it was real, and Haldir easily lied about transporting to the edge of the battle field. He didn’t know this had completely destroyed his credibility, as we knew that to be impossible.
 
And then everything got way, way messier, because Haldir and Blackthorne discussed the Baraba. Haldir implied he was in league with at least some of the Baraba, and Blackthorne then either smoothly lied or for the first time ever told the truth about being the son of the god and on his side. (Oghma, if you have carved a place for him in that house knowing he was truly the son of Pech…) This admission seemed to stun Haldir as much as it did me, and to my side, Shaw’s anger silently damaged the floor before us a little.