Exclusive Nyx PoV - huh, it's been a while since I've done one of those...

The tomb door shut with a muffled, yet heavy thud. Nyx turned to the darkness and clicked her tongue, Fucking Raphael. She had half the mind of ramming a hot poker into his eye too. But, considering he's a devil he might even enjoy it.

Her eyes adjusted and she could pick out the thin silhouette of a filigree gate in front of them. Describing the Thorm Mausoleum as grand, was an understatement. The previous governor of Reithwin town clearly did not spare any expense in its construction. Similarly to the other buildings in town, the ceilings gaped upwards. A multitude of alcoves were recessed into the entry hall, each containing a candle.

Gale made another swooping motion of this hands, and the candles flickered to life. Gold gleamed from accents all around for a moment. The Shadows did not appreciate being disturbed within their own house and the candles dimed until brief tiny plumes emanated from the snuffed embers.

Gale sighed, "Worth a try," and proceeded to call upon magic lights instead. Tav and Shadowheart did the same.

A feint grunt left Nyx's throat, and she held up a shielding hand to the myriad of floating lights while she adjusted to the illumination. She received a quizzical eyebrow from Wyll.

Nyx provided, "A little sensitive due to," she gestured to her cursed blemish.

His eyebrows flashed, sympathy cross his features, and he nodded sagely.

I'm also planning on staying far away from Lathander's mace too. Nyx glanced at Astarion, realizing that this was a mere taste of what he would have experienced before the tadpole.

The lights played off the shadows of two statues flanking either side of the gate to the main chamber. Statues to the Moonmaiden. In contrast to the ones at Moonhaven, the details on these statues were well preserved and the masonry work exquisite. However, the other statues within the main chamber had been robbed of their former beauty; broken or fallen and left to be consumed by neglect.

Past the gates, a huge central stone sarcophagus greeted them surrounded by columns with the Moonmaiden's effigy. The stone lid was discarded to the side, split diagonally across the carved statue on top; reminiscent of the person who was once laid to rest inside. The curse notably clung to this inner sanctum, possessively.

Ketheric’s.

Nyx stifled a shudder. Shadowheart's noise of disapproval drew her attention to one of the smaller adjacent chambers.

Shadowheart sneered, "Ketheric Thorm is a habitual traitorous turncoat. He discarded Lady Shar for," and she chewed the word, "Myrkul." She stood in front of an altar of bones.

A homage to Myrkul, his triangular symbol painted in blood on the floor below. The larger alcoves that recessed into the chamber walls contained smaller undecorated stone sarcophagi, all of them opened.

Tav cautiously peered into one, "They're empty," she whipped her head around to the bone construct and said in wide-eyed astonishment, "He used his own ancestors?"

The upright altar attested to that and more. Its base was created from staking dozens of skulls on top of one another. A crown of circularly arranged bones sprouted from the mound and a huge triangular structure rested on top. Frames of sharp tusk or canine-like bones created triangles within triangles. In the middle of the triangles was a strange, yet familiar crocodilian skull.

Like the skeleton from the Necromancer's lair at Moonhaven, but this one is vastly smaller. A juvenile perhaps?

Gale furrowed his brows, "Despicable. Desecration is not only disrespectful, but disturbing the remains of the dead tends to have dire consequences."

Astarion quipped with a lazy hand to his chest,  "Necromancy is too cheap for me too, my dear wizard."

Gale chuckled dryly and gestured with a pointed finger, "That we can agree on, my stabbing-happy companion."

"Ah, it warms my heart to hear."

Nyx and the others snickered.

Wyll mused, "Well, several things do make a lot of sense now."

Lae'zel prompted inspecting the design of the altar with morbid fascination poking at the skulls, "In what way?"

He continued, "Perhaps this is the source of his invulnerability? A blessing from the Lord of Death himself?"

Tav gasped from behind and exclaimed disbelievingly, "Isobel!?"

Nyx frowned, The Selunite cleric? Is she the one working with Ketheric? By the Abyss!

Their attention turned to Tav collectively. She was hunched over, kneeled at Ketheric's tomb, her finger in the pages of a book. She sneezed then read the passage for the expectant audience, "'Selune has abandoned me, and Shar cannot give what I seek.

Balthazar's words have never felt more promising.

Melodia would understand, if she knew my aim.

She too, I believe, would have turned to Myrkul under such conditions as these.

Our darling, Isobel, will live again.

What kind of man would I be if I didn't raze the world entire for her sake?'"

They shared gaping wide-eyed looks with each other.

Karlach broke the silence, rubbing her good horn, "The one from Last Light Inn? That Isobel?... His, daughter? Fuck, he did all this, for her?"

Shadowheart scowled at Myrkul's altar once more and stated, "He did it to resurrect her," then she too gasped and hurried over to one of the undecorated stone coffins. Her brow furrowed and she extended her magic to it.

Nyx felt the Shadowweave reply.

They waited with bated breath.

"The other Thorms," Shadowheart finally spoke softly as the Shadowweave receded. She turned and continued, making eye contact with each of them in turn while she elaborated on her findings, "He resurrected his ancestors using the Shadowweave." She gestured, anger in her voice, "That's why they were twisted monsters. My Lady Shar's gifts were first defiled and then discarded!" She gazed around the chamber and sneered definitively, "Like this place. Sacrilege! Shar would see him punished for his transgressions."

They all whispered the revelation at the same time, "The curse."

"By the Abyss! Mallus Thorm's experiments on the dead! And himself... all at Ketheric's behest."

Horror touched settled on their expressions.

Tav stated ominously after some time, "Quite so." She rose to her feet, diary in hand and mused, "But now the question remains: What did Myrkul require in return?"

Another disconcerting silence settled between the group.

---

They continued onward to the back of the main chamber, another altar stood before a stone door. Before they could determine a way to open the door, a voice suddenly rang out from the totem and startled them.

A distorted accent emanated from the crocodilian skull, and it demanded, "Halt, interlopers! You tread upon sacred ground, claimed by shadow and sanctified by senescence. You have no purpose here. Begone!"

They blinked at the skull, green mist wafting from its eyes and mouth.

Tav crossed her arms and regarded the skull, "Who am I speaking to?"

"The Herald of Balthazar. Nere, Z'rell, Minthara - whoever you are, it does not matter. Leave! Balthazar shall carry out General Thorm's will alone."

Tav smirked, "I have been sent by Ketheric Thorm himself. My purpose is to claim the Nightsong in Balthazar's stead."

"Hah! What foolish notions. Do not meddle with his affairs, for they are above your comprehension."

Tav's grin grew, "Do enlighten me then."

It scoffed, "The General’s work transcends death itself. To know it is to tempt insubordination; to disrupt it is to ensure your doom. The Absolute's design, the Myrkulite vision—they are interwoven here. Your presence can only bring ruin."

Tav was cut off from asking her next question when the herald stated, "I do not repeat myself lightly, and I tire of your prattling. Away with you!", and with that the glow was pulled back into the skull and it fell silent once more.

Tav chuckled and tuned to Gale amused, "Do you know what it is?"

Gale stroked his beard, "A summoned and bound spirit. Although, this one seems to be working with Balthazar, willingly."

"Any way to negotiate with it?"

Lae'zel scoffed, "Destroy the thing and be done with it.", moving to draw her sword.

Gale shook his head furiously and Shadowheart answered in his stead, "We'll break the bindings holding the shadows back."

The others looked around warily then Wyll offered, "A bargain perhaps?"

Tav considered that for a moment and plainly asked the Herald, "Good sir. Is there nothing you dearly want that we may provide for passage?"

A glow flickered into one of the eye sockets, giving the impression that the skull was peering at her with one eye.

"There may be something," it mused softly.

Tav inclined her head, and it said, "Beauty."

----

Astarion scoffed at the other's confused faces and declared, "Well, look no further", gesturing to himself. Chuckles, snorts and eye rolls was his reward.

The Herald ignored Astarion and elaborated both its eyes ablaze with determination, "Mortals both create and capture beauty. Its fleeting nature preserved in memory. I want to remember. All I have come to know is death and loss. Show me the beauty that each of you carry and I shall permit your passage."

Tav gave a flourished bow and said, "Master Herald, I would remind you of the beauty created from music. Hear this lament, a tune for the lost as we stand among them. Beauty lives in the echoes of lives once cherished and the joy they experienced."

She collected her lyre, although she did not sing to the melody she strummed, its haunting story was depicted in her notes. The magic of the tomb responded, swaying slightly and the air felt less cold.

The Herald sighed, "Your voice stirs shadows of what was. For a moment, I felt warmth. Do not stop... play on."

Tav inclined her head and continued to play softly while Gale cleared his throat.

An unfamiliar incantation poured from his lips and dazzling lines streaked in the air above. One-by-one lines connected to one another creating geometric shapes then dots appeared along the lines. A visual symphony was created, it swirled above them and Gale provided, "Behold, the stars of the night sky and their movements across the dome of Toril. Each holding the potential for a myriad of other worlds and all the knowledge that they bring."

The Herald's mused in awe, "A tapestry of light and reason, shaped by mortal hands. It is wondrous, yet distant." The dots of light slowly cascaded from the ceiling, like a wafting curtain of magic.

Shadowheart stepped forward, something in hand. She held it up for the Herald to see, his glow brightening to illuminate the object. She twirled the flower in her hand, "A night orchid, a child of darkness like me able to thrive in this cursed land."

A soft, but sad smile touched Tav's features briefly, and the Herald remarked, "Living beauty, fragile yet defiant. Strange, how such small things endure where even gods falter."

Lae'zel's blade swooshed through the air, cleaving a drifting magic raindrop in half and its light winked out. Lae'zel illustrated a series of training manoeuvres, using the falling sparks as target practice. She finished the display with a single word, "Competence", giving a final curt nod before stowing her weapon.

The Herald observed, "The symmetry of the blade, the fluidly in its function. You find beauty even in war. Mortal ingenuity is strange indeed."

Wyll spoke, his voice coloured with pride, "We have faced many a bleak situation and impossible odds," he gestured to everyone around him, "Yet, here we stand ready to put right what had been made wrong so many centuries ago." Before the Herald could make his remark, Karlach threw her fist in the air, "Yeah! And we'll do it by sticking together, soldiers to the end."

It almost drew a chuckle from the Herald, "You step forward, unshaken by the shadow of death? Bold. I see it now: courage; the heart of the fleeting. Yet in your unity, there is something enduring, unyielding. Comradery; a deeper bond and stronger than death." Karlach shot it her signature shit-eating grin.

Nyx approached the Herald, one of her nature study books in hand. She held it out to the Herald and his glow wrapped around it. His eyes burned brighter while a glowing wisp of light turned the pages rapidly. She provided smiling, "The wonders of the world. There for those who are willing to find them."

"To seek what is hidden, to unravel the veils of the universe... Yes, there is beauty in the mortal thirst for discovery. A beauty I shall never know."

Lastly, Astarion made a performance of with sleight of hand using gold coins and his daggers. The movements captivating his audience. He grinned and stated, "Elegance is beauty perfected. It is not merely appearance, but the art of making the complex seem simple, while hiding the true intent beneath."

"Flawless precision, a beauty that does not wither, so long as it moves. How rare it must be, to find such grace among mortals."

The Herald turned to Tav, listening to her play for a while longer. He finally spoke, sadness marring his voice, "You have given me much to cherish once again - beauty born of fleeting lives, yet eternal in memory. Pass, mortals, and carry on your beauty with you. It does not belong in here."

He retreated into his skull a final time and the stone door slid open behind. They continued into the murky depths of the Thorm catacombs.

---

The catacomb passages were narrow and cramped, forcing them to walk in a single line behind one another. Nyx took the rear, not only because of her night vision, but she could sense the movements in the Shadowweave more acutely than Shadowheart, who instead was keeping close watch right behind Tav. Tav's insistence on striking a diplomatic deal with the Herald was fortuitous indeed. Nyx would not have wanted to battle Shadows here.

Their party had been navigating the winding tunnels under Tav's expert navigation for quite some time. The Shadows clung as closely as they dared without risking the light, rendering the immediate area around them in an unnaturally deep darkness. Another bone crunching noise from Karlach made several of the others startle once again and the sound of weapons being drawn echoed briefly.

Astarion groused, "Watch where you're going! Lae'zel almost split me open that time."

Karlach stressed, "I would if I could see my feet properly. It’s a long way down from up here."

Nyx chuckled while Gale sent one of his magic lights to Karlach, "Thanks soldier!"

The claustrophobic corridors gave way to a larger room. They sighed in relief. Tav continued toward an unassuming door. She scrunched her nose at it and called Shadowheart over, "From my reports, this should lead to a temple."

Shadowheart studied the door, gasped and pointed to something out of view, "This is Shar's holy symbol… But we don't use this one anymore."

Tav queried, "What do you mean?"

"It's old, from the time of the Netheril empire."

Tav's eyebrows reached her hairline, and she ventured, "An ancient Sharran temple then? How many secrets does this once tiny sleepy village have?"

The others chuckled. Shadowheart placed her hand within the symbol and quipped, "Why don't we find out?"

A soft violet light emanated from a circle around Shadowheart's hand. Mechanisms turned and clacked in the walls and the door inched open with a puff of air. The fresh breeze dispelled the musty tomb's scent.

Shadowheart seemed mightily pleased that the door recognized her, and a voice whispered from its symbol, "Welcome. Embrace the Nightsinger and Shar's will be done."

Karlach shivered visibly, "Creepy."

Nyx snickered behind her hand after Shadowheart levelled a glare at Karlach.

Gale mused as well, "I have to concur, the weave is becoming rather thin here."

Shadowheart rolled her eyes, pushed the door open and proceeded into the violet lit room beyond. The rest of them followed suit.

---

Nyx gasped staring at the scene before her and said, "This is not what I expected at all."

The others were gaping in amazement as well. Once again, the grandeur of Sharran architecture was on full display, surpassing that of Grymforge - not in stature but in mystique.

The walls and ceiling were constructed out of black stones, the patterns of their masonry emphasized with white grouting. The floors sported a rough grey slate, inlaid with gilded lines of gold flanking the round symbols of Shar in their centres.

Unlike the catacombs and even the town above, the halls were lavishly lit. Flames in hues of purple cast their eerie cold light from several different sources; giant bronze braziers on the floor, sconces on the walls and simple chandeliers from above. Pillars were cladded with gleaming amethyst and Shar's effigies stood silent within. None of it elaborate in design, but rather beautiful in an understated way.

Wyll inspected one of grand urns, three times his height, stacked against the walls and quipped, "The Lady of Loss has remarkably good taste."

Astarion lilted, "It's almost homey."

Shadowheart scoffed, "'Homey' is not the word I would use."

Nyx had to agree with Astarion, there was a certain welcoming atmosphere to it - a baffling one at that.

They pressed on, ushered into the temple's depths by a huge flat elevator in the shape of Shar's symbolic disk.

Stepping from the elevator, a wide hallway greeted them. Although time and neglect had toppled some of the statues and dripping water echoed in the distance, it did not tarnish the splendour of the magnificent temple.

Nyx made a small noise when she nearly walked into Shadowheart. Nyx used her momentum to sidestep her instead and turned to face her. Shadowheart was gazing off to somewhere unseen. Nyx asked concerned, "Shadowheart, are you -", her words caught in her throat as a suffocating presence wrapped itself around Shadowheart.

Nyx was instantaneously brought to her knees, clutching at her chest, straining for breath under the weight of its power. Shadowheart remained standing, her lips moving as though she were speaking to someone.

Heat wrapped around Nyx's waist and Karlach's strong arms dragged her away. Karlach frantically called to the others to assist. Several queries were being directed at Nyx and Shadowheart between the confusion.

Nyx managed a single croaking reply, "Shar... She, she's here."

Nyx had lost track of time and the events that transpired after. Warding off the emptiness brought by Shar's presence took all her strength. When she came to, the others explained that Shar had reached out to Shadowheart and spoke to her personally.

Nyx blinked the blurry world back into view and met Shadowheart's eyes; she was tending to Nyx while she lay on the floor. The hovering silhouettes of the others a stone's throw away.

Shadowheart's features relaxed and she announced, "You'll be fine. I must say I'm impressed at your fortitude. I take it that your stubbornness is to thank for that?"

"Heh, not the first god-sent trying to get me down.", Nyx bit her tongue, Shit.

Shadowheart's eyebrows bobbed, shortly followed by the narrowing of her eyes, "Hmm, care to elaborate?"

Nyx groaned running a hand over her face, "Not really."

Tav tried her luck, "Related to the 'war going on in your head'?"

Nyx sat up with a sigh and stated evenly, "In a manner of speaking. Let's just say that the Shadowcurse is a rude and hostile guest, who brings along plenty of uninvited 'friends'. And they're not interested in pleasantries over tea."

Tav pressed her lips together and shared concerned glances with the others.

Nyx got to her feet and declared, "For now, the uninvited guests have been forcefully evicted from the house, and I'll let you know should that change."

Tav frowned and stated gently, "That is not what I meant."

Nyx inclined her head in acknowledgement and reassured them again, "I'll let you know if I need help, too. Trust that all is under control for the time being."

Tav's frown didn't relent, but she gave a small nod, nonetheless.

Shadowheart guided them down the hallways and through several chambers, explaining along the way that Shar had made her an offer. One in which she would not only become a Dark Justiciar, something which Shadowheart already coveted, but also be granted a chance to become her Chosen. Tav stopped short when Shadowheart rounded on her.

Shadowheart declared both her willingness and determination to fulfil her goddesses wishes. She marched forward, stepping into a vast open space where an impossibly large statue of Shar dominated the viewpoint and announced, "We stand in the Gauntlet of Shar. I will be tested by divine trail and My Lady Loss will lead me to victory. I shall become the darkness she requires."

All things being equal, I think I'm more concerned for Shadowheart right now than I am 'the war in my head'.

A cautionary glance suggested similar sentiments from the others. Karlach, Wyll and Gale held a sadness within their expression, Astarion was frowning and even Lae'zel seemed puzzled.

Tav queried in a small voice, fidgeting with her braid, "You sure? Was one non-sensical war in Shar's name not enough?"

Ouch.

Shadowheart's ponytail swayed, and she countered snidely, "Yes. It's called faith. Duty. It doesn't have to add up for me, so long as I serve. I'm part of a bigger plan – one that will be revealed in time."

Nyx harrumphed mentally, If you say so.

Tav chewed her lip, fisted her hands and spoke definitively, "I will help you with your endeavour to become a Dark Justiciar, but I cannot endorse or follow should you choose the same path as Ketheric."

Nyx nodded, Good, I won't partake in any of that either. Nyx's wasn't the only one in clear agreement with Tav.

A flash of surprise graced Shadowheart's features, but she looked away before replying, "The tadpole would need to be dealt with first." She didn't look back at them and silently led them to the trials she would need to face.

To become Chosen of the gods? Not for me.

The true reason for the existence of Shar's curse remains a mystery lore-wise in BG3. However, after doing a metric ton of research into the lore of the curse, Ketheric Thorm, Shar, the Shadowweave, Myrkul and Balthazar - I decided to give it a definitive reason for existing.

Another puzzle-based challenge for this chapter with the Herald... The Shadow battles are boring me ;P

Geography FYI: Toril is BG3's version of planet Earth, with Faerûn being one of the main continents. Baldur's Gate is a prominent city along the Sword Coast region within Faerûn.

Published: 28 Feb 2025