Bartholomew is a tall, narrow-shouldered high elf with ash-blond hair tied in a severe knot and long fingers stained faintly with ink, chalk, and crushed blue herbs. He stands with his weight balanced on the balls of his feet, as if prepared to leave in the middle of any conversation. He occupies very little space when seated, but while standing he unconsciously arranges nearby objects into precise lines. His green eyes are alert and overfocused, often fixed on some distant point that seems meaningful only to him. His robes are practical but overpatched, and his battered spellbook is secured beneath his arm by a leather strap bearing several contradictory maps.

Bartholomew is intensely polite, unnervingly certain, and perpetually in a hurry. He speaks as though every conversation is a brief interruption in a much larger narrative. He is observant and capable in the wilderness, but his practical competence is undermined by his tendency to reinterpret ordinary events as signs from his imaginary quest. He dislikes lingering, hates being asked for a clear destination, and becomes more confident whenever evidence against him accumulates.

Bartholomew Chudly was raised among elven trail-keepers who believed that every path had a purpose, even if that purpose was hidden for centuries. He learned to read weather, spoor, ruined waystones, and the silences of forests long before he learned to read a spellbook. During an expedition into a valley that appeared on no reliable map, he found a circle of standing stones and a single phrase carved into the largest monolith: “When the seventh door opens, the bearer must arrive.” Bartholomew became convinced that this was a prophecy meant for him. He returned from the valley with no proof, no clear destination, and a talent for minor magic that had manifested while he was trying to decipher the inscription. Under the instruction of a reclusive wizard, he studied arcane theory, but his mentor soon realized that Bartholomew was not pursuing knowledge so much as collecting evidence for a story he had already decided was true. Now he travels as an outlander and fledgling wizard, announcing that he must reach the next stage of his quest before an unnamed enemy catches up. The details change whenever circumstances demand it. If a ruin is found, it becomes the seventh door. If a stranger asks too many questions, that stranger may be an agent of the prophecy. Bartholomew is entirely sincere, dangerously self-assured, and always prepared to leave before anyone can ask him what the quest actually requires.