Arrival in Waterdown.

On the fourth day after meeting his distant relations, Beranhond stepped off the ship. His stomach wasn't doing too well, and the ship's crew had been borderline crazy. However, he had arrived safely in Waterdeep. After recovering for a moment, he went to the market and sold off his remaining healing turbans that he had made on the ship. He then took the money to the local chapter of the Vasri trading company and exchanged much of his coins for a letter of credit.

As Beranhond arrived at the temple of Torm in Waterdeep, he say a procession traveling up the steps to the temple just in front of him. The procession consisted of 4 people being carried on stretchers and 19 people carrying stretchers or protecting the group. The procession was dripping and splattered with a coating of blood and viscera, obviously coming from a battle of some sort.

Jumping to try to help, Beranhond hurried to catch up to the group, Tigrisclawu in tow. The group made it up the steps and into the large, wooden double doors of the temple before he was able to catch up with them. As he entered the doors, Beranhond saw the group being directed by a priest of Torm to a stairwell leading downward. Beranhond walked up to the priest, who noticed him entering and turned to face him, saying, "May the Justice of Torm guide your actions. Is there anything I can do for you?"

Beranhond noticed the man wore the full suit of battle armor typical of a priest of Torm, with wispy blonde hair on the sides of his head that appeared to be just beginning to lighten to white in places, giving him something of a halo. The man smiled reassuringly as Beranhond stopped in front of him. "I am a healer. Is there anything that I can do to help those people that just came in?"

The man bowed respectfully to Beranhond, acknowledging a fellow healer, as he said, "Thank you, friend, but they will be well taken care of in our infirmary. Your offer is appreciated, regardless."

Beranhond took advantage of the brief pause in the conversation to introduce himself. "My name is Beranhond. I came to your temple in search of answers." Why can't I come up with anything less cliche to say than that? I'm just opening myself up to be converted with that line! "I have several friends who are paladins of Torm, who were sent to this area from Tantras. I was in the area and thought I would check in to see if Ceilith was still here. Do you know her?"

The man put a hand on Beranhond's shoulder (likely a rather awkward touch) and said, "Yes, she like many of our priests and clerics, are fighting the beasts attacking the city. She is one of those on the outer loop, making a tour of the countryside that will take her another week to return. Do not fear, my son, the champions of Torm are valiant, and this foe won't stay them so easily."


Not to be so easily persuaded, Beranhond continued pressing for answers. "Who are they fighting? You spoke of beasts?"

"Yes," the man responded. "Those wandering outside of the city have been under increasing attacks by both undead and beasts roaming around. It was the undead that drew our attention, but both the magical and non-magical beasts of the forest, river, and plains have been extremely aggressive of late, and our attempts to contact the druids' circle near Goldenfields have not been able to even locate the druids, let alone discover why the animals have gone mad."

"I thank you for your help, priest. I must be off. Until we meet again, fare thee well." And with that, Beranhond turned and left the city, to continue his search of more answers.

Other things you pick up: 

• The undead and the beasts have been attacking for around 3 weeks, and attacks have only increased in that time, despite the rather recent addition of the paladins who were in the area for a different threat.
• Things at sea have been stormy of late as well, with seemingly random ships being attacked by large sharks and creatures of the deep that rarely interact with human vessels.
• The fighting with animals outside of Waterdeep and elsewhere is worse than the priest let on. The talk in the city is that the undead and the animals are targeting priests of Lathander. It's even rumored that the leader of the church of Lathander, Dwimble the Good, is considering declaring a holy war against the beasts that are attacking them. 
• Torm's priests see themselves as vulnerable and next in line should the creatures tire of attacking Lathander's clergy, and have joined in the fight, becoming something of a target themselves.