Behind the Barrier (Date 1/12/26)

A dragon! Cavalier boast and mighty assertions faded as the reality of the task began to sink in. The Prince of Malwan could not risk his life so foolishly. Strom himself had told Marty not to go, which was good enough for the young priest. “The barriers will destroy you,” Strom had said. That mean there were barriers, it was that simple. After much debate, it was decided that Ilyana and Hedge would go, given their unique natures and/or relative expendability.

All was going well, they had bypassed the dragon without incident and the ground had turned craggy. The great ocean was coming into view, but Hedge had been having issues. Things felt ephemeral. Sounds muted, sights foggy, even Ilyana seemed to fade periodically. All at once, as the coastline broke and turned to the northwest, a great cliff dropping down to the ocean, Hedge felt himself all alone in a silent universe. He looked behind him, Ilyana was gone, all was gray. He looked back, but the ocean had been replaced by the Black Lake. He was in Malwan, just a short walk from where the busy docks bustled with the day’s catch. He quickly tracked down Shelby and the two of them hurried to reconnect with the now unprotected Prince!

For Ilyana, things went slightly differently. One minute Hedge was there, the next he was gone! Sure, he had been talking strangely the last few days. Her disappearing, his hand passing through rocks and what-not, but when wasn’t Hedge talking strangely? She hadn’t expected him to up and vanish. She setup camp and waited for him to return. It was a long wait. To stave off bored distraction to which the girl was prone, communication was established with Marty and the pair were able to discern several facts. There was a barrier. It was invisible, but it marked a dimensional ward, each side its own separate reality. The fisherman on the ocean spoke of Malwan as a tiny, isolated city somewhere up in the mountains, and attempts to scry and send across the barrier failed outright. After a few days, Ilyana returned just in time to link up with the Hedge coming the other way.

The party brought Shelby up to speed and dissuaded her from attacking the dragon. Instead they journeyed home, took care of affairs of state and put together an expedition through the farmlands to the southwest determined to try the barriers there.

At the frontier fort, they acquired the services of Winter as their guide.