The Nevernever as a break-in tool

[Mr. Death]

Unless you're reasserting your previous position that entering from the nevernever itself is a way of bypassing a threshold, I see no other way to interpret those events.

What I mean is, Harry only refers to the "standing invitation" thing in context to him following the Shades, and says that it was there the previous time, but isn't there when he goes back with Murphy and company as the reason he can't get back in through the normal door.

[Tedronai]

Which is why he uses the static open portal from the nevernever, which serves the same purpose (but requires him to go through the nevernever-side defenses first)

[Narrativium]

Well, after that session, I sincerely hope that my players don't figure out where I got the ideas for the hindrances that I threw in their way, thanks all.  (I don't want them coming here for ideas on getting around the things I put in their way!)

Stymied them badly by leaving the Way into the home unguarded-- then laying about three dozen slapstick-comedy physical traps between the easily-opened way into the home's dining room and the upstairs bedroom where the targets actually slept.

(To give you an idea of what I mean by "slapstick comedy" traps:  There were marbles.  Invisible marbles on a hardwood floor.  LOTS of them!  Would that I owned a digital camera, just for the looks on their faces when they realized this!)

Thanks again, all!

[Haru]

(To give you an idea of what I mean by "slapstick comedy" traps:  There were marbles.  Invisible marbles on a hardwood floor.  LOTS of them!  Would that I owned a digital camera, just for the looks on their faces when they realized this!)

Holy crap, that's genius! *evil grin*

[Arcane]

A little late but another defensive precaution against people or thing coming in through the Nevernever would be to have land-mine spells in places people are likely to emerge that are set to go off when touched by ectoplasm.  As noted in Summer Knight someone coming through a portal can end up bringing a little dust or other matter from the Nevernever with them inadvertently, which of course turns to ectoplasm on the other side.

[Richard_Chilton]

Thresholds don't protect dreams.  That's straight out of AAAA Wizardry (and one of the novels, but I thought I'd cite the mention in Our World).

Thresholds don't stop things from using mirrors to enter a place.

In Changes, we learn Lea moved her garden to the Nevernever on the other side of Harry's apartment to protect him from enemies who tried to attack from the Nevernever.  She mentioned that lots of enemies had tried - and I think there was the bones to prove it.

Spoiler for Ghost Story:

(click to show/hide)

In Ghost Story, ghostly Harry couldn't enter the hideout uninvited.  Not even after the ward was down.  The fact that there was an open door in the mortal world meant nothing to him.

He could, however, enter through a gateway to the Nevernever.

Based on that, I'd have to say that Thresholds don't stop something entering your place from the Nevernever - but that wards probably would.  Or at least slow it down (i.e. effect it as normal).

Richard

[Tedronai]

Harry used an OPEN gateway from the Nevernever.  He didn't open one himself, which, I feel, is a very big difference.
The fact that numerous enemies attempted to attack Harry from the Nevernever isn't particularly meaningful in terms of this question.  Pleny tried to attack him from the mortal world as well.
Thresholds don't protect some dreams, because some dreams result in the dreamer unwittingly projecting themselves to and creating a demesne in the Nevernever, where they have no threshold.

The mirrors bit, I'm less sure of.  I don't recall the specifics of that one, only that there are some things that can use them as gateways.

[Richard_Chilton]

Harry used an OPEN gateway from the Nevernever.  He didn't open one himself, which, I feel, is a very big difference.

Harry used an OPEN gateway in the Nevernever, but in the real world he stood in front of an OPEN door and asked if someone could invite him in.  Murphy walked in, grabbed a survivor, and got him to invite Harry in before Harry could enter.

There are several spots where Harry talks about mirrors.

In AAAA Wizardry, Harry notices a hole in the threshold in the closet where the fetch had entered repeatably.  To quote:

Within the defensive wall of the threshold, other energy pulsed and moved—emotions from the house’s inhabitants, random energies sifting in from outdoors, the usual.

But not in the closet. There wasn’t anything at all in that closet.

and he mentions mirrors a page later:

“The threshold,” Meg said. “It should keep such things out.”
“Sometimes they ride in with someone in the family.  Sometimes if a child has a vivid enough dream, it can open up a window in the Nevernever that the boggart uses to skip in. They can use mirrors, sometimes, too.

Richard