From Hogwarts to Strixhaven.

Chapter 447 Halsin's Plea for Help
Since she began studying magic, Ivy has noticed that time always seems to fly by without her realizing it.

Having worked with the Iron Hand Dwarves to complete the second version of the Adamantine Golem design, and having encountered various ancient and dangerous necromancy spells in the Necronomicon of Sel, Ivy suddenly felt that her stomach was empty.

He carefully put away the necromancy book with a human skin cover and a skull lock, then went outside through the dungeon passage, intending to go into the kitchen to find something to eat.

Ivy's laboratory was extended from the cave behind the basement of the End of Light Inn. Although it occupied a huge area, it did not interfere with the inn's surface structure.

This laboratory has two exits: one is the original passageway located in the dungeon, and the other is a vertical passageway created by the twisted plants that have broken through the ground, covering Reisven. Ivy made some simple modifications to this entrance, leading to the original owner's lounge where Shadowheart used to rest. However, the exit of this vertical passageway is outside the Moon Shield, and using it requires enduring the Shadow Curse for a period of time.

Ivy was just going to have a meal; there was no need for her to receive any affection from Shar.

However, when he led the Ironhanded Dwarfs, who were still engaged in heated discussions, through the dungeon to the hidden dock below the inn, he saw a group of unusual visitors emerge from the darkness in a wooden boat.

A lantern emitting a hazy white light was also standing at the bow of the ship. That should be the magical item created by the necromancer Balthazar to deal with the Shadow Curse—the Moon Lantern.

“It’s great to see a friendly face! Ivy! You didn’t wait for us here on purpose, did you?” The man standing at the bow holding a lantern was the Archdruid Halsin. Besides him, there were several Ironhanded Dwarves on board.

As for the other adventurers, Ivy didn't see any of them.

"Ulbrun!" Bacchus, following behind Ivy, exclaimed with delight, "Thank God, I've finally seen you!"

"Bacchus!" The Iron-Handed Dwarf named Urbren looked like he had suffered a lot. His face, which was already as black as the bottom of a pot, was covered with dust and blood, making his already gloomy appearance even more cold.

As soon as the wooden boat came to rest on the dock, several harpists responsible for guarding the waterway came to greet it.

"Hehehe! You can't just dock like this—there are procedures to follow!" The harpist carrying a bow struggled to stop the two groups of Iron Hand Dwarfs from embracing. "Damn it! Especially since they're all strangers! Now! Line up!"

"Is this Jashira's order?" Ivy asked casually.

“That’s right, Lord Doom.” Following behind the human harpist was a dwarf. Although he looked about the same age as a human in his thirties or forties, he had been serving the harpist for a long time and was no longer just a passionate young man.

"The order is: no one is allowed to go in before the test—except for the adventurers around Doom." The dwarf crossed his arms and shrugged. "They don't look like adventurers, more like prisoners, that is, True Souls awaiting conversion."

"Will the Supreme God transform us into True Souls without us even realizing it?" Urbrun, who was not cooperating at all, showed an expression that was a mixture of anger and worry.

“You can rest assured about that.” Archdruid Halsin was the last to jump ashore. His weight served as ballast for the small boat, ensuring it wouldn’t sway from side to side due to the sudden loss of the dwarf’s weight. “We already tested that at the Tower of the Moonrise.”

“That’s right, these friends are just craftsmen and commoners, and they are also our allies in the fight against the Supreme God.” Ivy continued, “It’s dinnertime now, let’s go to the fire pit in the inn to warm up, and have some roast meat and beer.”

“But…but…” The naive harpist had witnessed Ivy’s magical performance against the flying terror demon yesterday, so he was hesitant to confront him directly. However, he didn’t want to disobey the orders of the high-ranking harpist, and for a moment he stood there awkwardly.

“If you’re still worried, you can take the test on the way. Halsin and I are both people who haven’t been parasitized by the Mind Flayer Tadpoles.” Ivy knew that young, impulsive people like him were most prone to acting rashly, so she calmly offered him a way out.

“It’s not that I don’t trust you, Lord Doom… but an order is an order…” the hothead muttered under his breath, following behind the group heading towards the restaurant, and began conducting the Mind Flayer Tadpole Resonance Test on the three newly joined Ironhand Dwarfs.

"So, Evil Thoughts and the others have a new plan?" Ivy turned to Halsin and asked, "Having the Archdruid with the Moon Lantern lead the prisoners back to the End of Light Inn by boat was indeed a risky decision, but thankfully you did it."

“This was my special request, Ivy. The wooden boat couldn't hold that many people, so Evil Thoughts and the others went into Reisven City. As for the Moon Lantern… Gale found a mark connected to the Shadow Demon Network in the necromancer's chamber. He used that to create a lantern that emits shadows, which can also protect them from the Shadow Curse. However, that lantern makes me feel uneasy…” Halsin nodded in acknowledgment. “I need your help. On the way to the Tower of the Moonrise, we met a little boy who can freely manipulate monsters born from the shadows. Most importantly, he has the exact same face as a nature spirit I know.”

The Shadow Web, a magical network created by Shar using her shadow powers, was an attempt made after witnessing the birth of the Goddess of Magic. Given that Shar and Mystra are mortal enemies, Gale's actions can be said to once again confirm the stereotype that "mages love to court death."

“The nature spirit I know is called Senir. Do you remember the Flame Fist soldier from a hundred years ago that Advisor Floric found in the Curse of Shadows? The name he was muttering was Senir.”

"Do you think this Senir has some connection to Oliver, whom you encountered on your way to the Tower of the Moon?" Ivy already had a general idea of ​​Halsin's target.

The so-called spirit of nature can be simply understood as the wild embodiment of a certain region. This embodiment can, to a certain extent, refer to nature itself and is an assistant that druids often summon.

If a druid becomes a revered archdruid, he must have interacted with the spirits of nature in many regions.

Halsin's goal is to free Rasven from Shar's Shadow Curse, but saving a single nature spirit is clearly not enough to liberate the entire land.

Although the little boy named Senil or Oliver reflects the natural power of the land of Resven, Shar is a great being who created the earth god Sentia together with Serene. How could a grandson possibly defeat his grandmother?

“You are indeed a master of magic, Ivy. That’s what I was going to say…” Halsin pushed open the inn’s door and sat down with Ivy at a table against the wall. “No need for flattery, Halsin. You should tell me what kind of help you need.” Ivy beckoned to the woman working at the bar, Tifflin Camilla, who was Alabel’s mother. Alabel was the Tifflin child who stole the Sylvanas statue from the Greenwood and was then threatened with a venomous snake by Kahar.

Ever since Arabel heard that Ivy could speak Parseltongue, she's been constantly pestering him, hoping to learn a phrase or two. However, her parents are very sensible people; they usually appear promptly, pinch their child's pointed ear, apologize to Ivy, and then leave.

“I believe Senir was split in two. The part that remained in Resven possessed greater power, but it also suffered from the corruption of the Shadow Curse for a hundred years. The power of the shadow has long been deeply rooted within him… Uh, thank you.” Halsin looked at the wine glass in front of him and thanked Camilla.

“Don’t be so polite, Archdruid. If it weren’t for you and Lord Doom, we refugees would have been devoured by the Shadow Curse long ago.” Camilla smiled and pulled a menu from her apron, placing it in front of the two of them. “Take a look at the menu, what would you like to order?”

Halsin glanced at the handwritten menu in front of him, a puzzled look on his face: "Uh... whatever... we were eating communal meals here yesterday, how come there's a menu today?"

“It’s all thanks to you and Lord Doom,” Camilla said with her usual smiling expression. “Thanks to your magic, our supplies are more plentiful than ever before. Harpist Commander Jahira believes that while communal cooking is good for unity, ordering food can also effectively boost morale, not to mention the inn has a lot of fine wine hidden away. Fortunately, we refugees have enough manpower, so after discussing it with Sefro and Jahira, we reused the bar and kitchen.”

“It really feels like real life,” Halsin exclaimed. “I still remember how you looked when you first arrived in the woods, exhausted and thirsty, having just lost your homes… It’s like you’re completely different now, with light in your eyes and energy in your bodies. You’ve been transformed!”

“That’s because we believe a better life is just around the corner.” Camilla tapped the menu again. “Is there anything you’d like to see? Or would you like me to recommend something?”

“Anything you’re good at will.” Ivy tried not to compare the menu of Tifflin with her own Poppy. “And two more glasses of red wine, how about Stag Spirit Wine? I remember seeing on the label: guaranteed to keep you up until the next morning.”

“Ah, I’ve heard of that too.” Halsin nodded. “It’s specially made by the Losanda Monastery, usually produced and sold within the monastery itself, but some also enters the market.”

"My specialty, how about the Spicy Abyss Chicken Skewers? Pair them with some bread and cheese, and two glasses of Stag Spirit Wine." Camilla gave the menu one last check, then happily wagged her tail and left.

"Let's get back to our topic, Ivy." Halsin quickly returned to the main point, "As the natural spirits of Resborne, Senil and Oliver's home should be the Fairy Wilderness, where they should roam freely, not wandering in the Fallen Underworld! I want to bring Senil back and find Oliver again!"

"You want to unite them into one to save this land?" Ivy had more or less understood what Halsin meant.

The Fairy Wilderness and the Fallen Shadow Realm are both outer planes that coexist with the Prime Material Plane. One is almost a continuation of the shadows, while the other is an extension of the spiritual realm. The location of these two planes reflects the form of the Prime Material Plane, making those familiar with the land beneath their feet feel as if they are similar yet different.

Ivy learned about these outer planes after becoming a [Dimension Explorer]. After all, the material world and the inner and outer planes are separated by some kind of boundary, so it's a relevant skill.

“Or… at least let them get along?” Halsin knew he had to do something to change Senir and Oliver’s situation, but he wasn’t sure if his idea was right.

"And the prerequisite for all of this is that Senier and Oliver are in the same phase at the same time," Ivy concluded.

“Absolutely right.” Halsin nodded. “I plan to pray to the Father of the Oak in exchange for the power to open a portal to the Fallen Realm. I will infiltrate and bring Senir back, and I will likely need your help then. You are a mage from another world and have a lot of experience traveling between different planes.”

“You know what, Halsin?” Ivy held up a finger, “I’ve suddenly had a new idea about the Shadow Curse—how do you think all of this happened?”

"Uh... Shadow Curse? Katheric prayed to Shar for divine power?" Halsin replied, somewhat confused.

“I mean, how exactly did Shar do it—to let the Shadow Curse penetrate deep into the entirety of Resven?” Ivy rephrased her question. “Based on your description of Senir and Oliver’s encounter, I believe the Shadow Curse throughout Resven is a vast, manifested area.”

“A region of manifest power?” Halsin, a native druid of Faerûn, was clearly unfamiliar with this concept.

“You can think of it simply as the prime material plane overlapping with other outer planes, causing the power of the outer planes to seep into the prime material plane,” Ivy explained. “Even under natural conditions without human intervention, there is a certain probability that a region of manifest energy will appear, but such regions are usually very small, like a portal or a mushroom circle.”

"You mean the fairy passage is some kind of manifested energy area?" Halsin found a similar case in his knowledge base.

The so-called Fairy Passage is the place where the Fairy Wilderness and the Prime Material Plane overlap. People can enter the Fairy Wilderness in their physical bodies through this passage, see all sorts of strange and wonderful things and bizarre scenes, and then return to the Prime Material Plane they are familiar with, only to find that too much time has passed, so much so that all the familiar people have grown old or died.

"More or less." Ivy nodded. "I know that some mages who are skilled in this can actively summon specific energy fields, but even under natural conditions, energy fields won't last long, let alone a whole hundred years."

“But Rasven is very much like the manifested area of ​​the Shadow Realm, with its eerie and twisted plants that can turn into the shadows of monsters and corpses that can stand up again.” Ivy continued to explain her speculation. “Although it is impossible for mortals to do that, Shar is the deity who controls the Shadow Realm. Perhaps it was she herself who took action and firmly nailed the Shadow Realm to this land with something like a wedge.”

“Although it’s incredible, it makes logical sense…” Halsin’s eyes grew brighter and brighter. He had never felt so close to the answer. “What should I do?”

“The method remains the same, but the portal must be directed towards Senir himself, not the Shadow Realm.” Ivy glanced at the deep red grilled chicken skewers on the table, pursed his lips somewhat fearfully (he couldn’t handle spicy food very well). “I suspect that Senir’s true nature isn’t in the Shadow Realm. Otherwise, why would you deliberately turn him into two separate individuals? Wouldn’t it be better to bind him directly to the Shadow Realm to complete the corruption?”

(End of this chapter)