Shadowheart wasn’t sure where they’d ended up, other than that it certainly wasn’t the Astral Plane. The world here looked closer to where some of their travels had led them - a small, green clearing surrounded by a dark woods. Not as dark as the Shadowlands, of course, but if they’d been able to traverse that with only their will and a pilfered moon lantern, then they could surely make their way out of here. If only they had a way of knowing what the way out was.
Not that that mattered much, as the beautiful woman wearing Lae’zel’s clothes screamed, alerting any potential monsters to their location. Although if the other woman was actually Karlach, then maybe this woman actually was Lae’zel. At least Karlach shared a passing resemblance to herself - sure, she was no longer red with a tail and horns, but her general face remained the same shape. Lae’zel may have looked similar if Shadowheart squinted and tried to imagine her green, but otherwise, she wouldn’t have been able to pick her out of a crowd.
“Stop screaming, or you’ll alert every creature in this forest,” Wyll said, steadying his hand on his rapier. At least most of them had been armed when they came through the portal, Shadowheart thought. She didn’t relish the thought of having to fight their way out of a mob of creatures in a foreign world, but at least they might have a chance.
Lae’zel, to her credit, stopped screaming, but she continued to look at her hands in shock, her mouth agape. Although she couldn’t blame her - if Shadowheart had come to a different world and suddenly turned into a githyanki, she most likely would have had the same crisis. But instead, it looked like Lae’zel had been turned human. Shadowheart’s eyes passed over the others - Gale had remained the same, of course, considering he’d been human from the start, but the others had all had small changes to indicate that they had changed their race. Even Astarion, hidden under the shade of a nearby tree, seemed to be less nimble than he generally was, and his ears were notably round.
Karlach, or the human version of her at least, shook her head, as though trying to get used to not having the weight from her one good horn. “I suppose I look just as different as you do, don’t I?” She swished around as though trying to inspect her tail, only to find it absent. “Awe, man, I’m going to have to get all used to fighting again! The counterbalance is going to be off.”
“Then let’s hope we don’t have to fight,” Shadowheart said. While everything of hers that she could see remained visibly unchanged, there was part of her that did feel different - almost like there was a hollowness inside her. “Gale, is your magic still intact?”
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“My instincts are telling me there’s a disturbance in the weave,” he said, immediately moving his arms in front of him. Nothing happened.
“So you’re telling me that we’re stuck here for now, with no one who is able to properly wield a weapon and no magic abilities, but I still have to hide from the sun?” complained Astarion. Well, at least his superb hearing didn’t see to be affected, Shadowheart thought.
“It would appear that way,” said Gale, trying to summon an ounce of magic again. “It’s curious that the rest of us would change, but you would retain your…condition.”
“Curious,” Wyll started, “or it’s a trap. It can’t just be fate that all of our advantageous traits seem to have disappeared, and one of our top fighters is restrained by the light.”
“And moreover, we all appear to be human,” Shadowheart said, letting her hand flit over the top of her ear. Where she expected to feel a slight point, she just felt the curve of the flesh. It was as to be expected, since everyone else had changed, she thought, but still disappointing. At least the change had left a vast majority of her features intact. From the light strand of her bangs that she could see, it seemed to have even reverted her hair to its natural color, just when she’d made the final decision to rid herself of Lady Shar. Maybe her rebuke was what was causing this, she thought in passing, but that couldn’t be. Shar would be more than happy to cause this torment to her, but her friends would have been considered as lowly as a speck of dust in her eyes. No need to torment them too, and in worse ways in some cases.
Lae’zel, with her face still a sickly white instead of the tan that she supposed it now should be, opened her mouth to speak, or at least hopefully not speak again, but she was interrupted by the sound of hoofbeats fast approaching. Shadowheart looked around, but she was unable to see anything through the woods. Perhaps that would buy them some time as well - if they couldn’t see anyone coming, ideally those people wouldn’t see them yet. She locked eyes with Lae’zel and Karlach, and the three women immediately drew their weapons. Wyll drew his rapier quickly after, turning to face the oncoming sound. Gale eyed the trees wearily for a moment before joining Astarion under the shade of the tree. Astarion at least had a weapon, so maybe between the two of them, they’d be able to defeat a creature that attacked them, but the odds were slim.
Shawdowheart’s eyes were drawn quickly away from the two at the first hint of movement visible between the trees. She tensed, then lowered her weapon as one man on horseback strode into the light at last. Karlach did the same, throwing her war hammer into the sling on her back, but Lae’zel kept her longsword aloft. Shadowheart could hardly blame her - after the illusions of the day, who was to say that this wasn’t just another? But the man was dressed in the finest clothing she’d seen outside of the formal gowns Viconia DeVir had worn on occasion inside of the House of Grief. Shadowheart blinked for a moment as she realized that she suddenly didn’t have the block on her memory that she once had - most likely the same thing that caused the lack of magic - but she would have to unpack that at a different time.
The man rode directly up to them, turning his horse so he could jump down toward them. Lae’zel gripped her weapon tighter, her fingers turning pale on the pommel, but the man didn’t even look in her direction. Instead, his eyes focused solely on Shadowheart, and he swept into a low bow, still breathing deeply from the exertion of his ride.
“Your Highness,” he gasped. “What, pray tell, are you doing this far into the woods, and without your ladies in waiting?”