Recounting Beranhond's Adventure Less Briefly

Here follows the full tale of what happened while Kilink was in the dream plane.


The Lady Narath headed back to Waterdeep. When the ship arrives back to Waterdeep, there is a lot of chaos as people are running everywhere, packing up their things. The ships in port are filling with passengers, and the roads are filled with people leaving the city.
"Any idea what is going on Beranhond?"
"None whatsoever; however, lets anchor here and try to see what is going on." The Lady Narath dropped anchor and the crew attempted to contact the other ships for information about what happened.

People on ships nearby are amazed you are pulling into port and tell you that you should get out while you can, because the druids of Istishia have given a warning that they are going to create a disaster like they did at Baldur's Gate in response to threats given by the holy order of Lathander. Beranhond tells the crew that Istishia is a goddess of water.

Beranhond and Kailina take a rowboat into the port. Once there they head on to the temple district to question the priests of Lathander.
There are people swarming the docks, and Beranhond fears that if he leaves the rowboat unattended it will not be there when he returns, so Kailina takes the boat back to the ship after dropping off Beranhond. His size and sword are enough to scare off all but the most foolish and he was polite enough to simply knock them out.

Once Beranhond gets to the temple, he finds priests in a state of disarray. Half of the temple seems to be packing up and trying to get out, another group (about 1/4 of them) are trying to convince them to stay, and the last group, he finds out, are meeting to try to determine what should be done. Beranhond's gardener friend is in the second group.

Beranhond asks the gardener friend what is going on, why he wants them to stay, and why the Druids have decided they would target lathander.

The gardener explains they received a very very threatening and confusing letter saying that they druids had received their emissary, Ishmael, and that they had no intention of standing by while Lathander desecrated their holy sites. They were no longer willing to stand by and watch things happen, were going to make sure Lathander's vile threats were not able to be carried out.

The gardener tells Beranhond that nobody has any idea who this Ishmael was, but he certainly wasn't an emissary from Lathander, and that there is a large group of priests who are thinking of attacking the druids before they can carry out their threat. It's getting very dicey, and is likely to turn into a full-on war very shortly.

Beranhond quickly recounts what he learned from the druids. "I suspect there is a third party that is inciting this conflict. There usually is."

The gardener tells the cleric that he suspects that as well, but it has gotten past the point of it mattering whether there is a third party involved or not. Whoever Ishmael is, he convinced the druids that he came from Lathander, and now this magical arms race is getting out of hand. It will be very difficult to get the priests to listen to reason. He suggests Beranhond and his friends get out while they still can.

Beranhond asks who else has been in the region, any possible groups that could be behind them. It might be possible to confront them and alleviate the situation before it has gone too far. Druids might be haughty, obnoxious, and overtly suspicious, but they are not unreasonable. 

The gardener tells Beranhond of several poorly handled incidents since they'd received the letter from the druids. First, the emissary who delivered the letter, a pelican, had been shot down by an arrow as it went to leave the city. It had been particularly well-loved by its owner, who came  asking for it a day afterward, but when he arrived at the city, he was laughed at and offered roast pelican meat as a mocking apology. He stood up quickly, enraged, and a scuffle ensued, in which both he, a low level druid, and a low level priest were killed, along with 3 commoners. Both sides took those losses very personally. Also, it was discovered that Ishmael had somehow managed to seriously injure the wife of one of the more powerful druids, as well as branding another druid with the mark of Lathander as if they were cattle. Several other events had happened as well, none of it good.

So, any idea who this Ishmael is with, any way to find him? And any idea who shot the bird and who served up the dish? The Lathander order doesn't make this poor of choices. What about Torm? Any idea what they are up to? I haven't seen many of them around. Could they be behind this? 

The Order of Lathander may not make decisions this poorly, but individuals within the Order who are either misguided or distraught may. The person responsible for shooting the bird was a young priest who believed that threats should be dealt with in kind and saw killing the bird as a response message that Lathander's priests don't take threats lying down. The person serving up the dish was a more senior official who had close personal ties to many of the priests killed in Baldur's gate. He wanted revenge, and thought that in this small way, he could have it. The lower level priest was punished, but there was still a lot of debate going on about how to deal with him, and many people sided with him in his actions. All that the gardener knows about Ishmael is that none of the priests knows who he could be. They were unable to get more than a very brief description of the man which was extremely unhelpful. As for how to find him, the druids said he headed back towards Waterdeep, and when it arrived, nobody matching his description was on board. The ship had met with another ship while at sea, and the crew did not remember anything that happened since the encounter with the other ship. As for the priests of Torm, the gardener is disgusted with their attitude. As the conflict has escalated, they have withdrawn their support, and are now basically bystanders, not taking either side, and trying to stay out of battles. The main force is gathering outside of Waterdeep if you want to find out what they are up to. The Order of Lathander is fed up with them and their lack of support. They have taken the stance that if they can't stand with them now, they are not truly the allies Lathander believed they were. It's doubtful that Torm is behind all of this, but their inactivity is not helping any, either, in the gardener's view.
Beranhond thanks him, tells him that he will probably be back, before heading out to talk with the Tormites.
"Really, talking to Torm again?" Tigrisclawu said laughing at him.
"I know, I know... they are obnoxious but we have to see what is going on in their minds."
"Sureeee... you are just trying to find with Ceilith."
"Shut it ratcatcher!"

This time, Ceilith is there. Surprisingly, she is the one in charge of the group, and greets Beranhond happily. She is more distant than he expected, keeping the tall man at arm's length and behaving as if he is nothing more than a friend or acquaintance. 

"What upcoming attack? The Lathanderian Priests seem to think that you weren't interested in an assault. What do you know about Ishmael? What about the druids?" Questions pour out of Beranhond one after another in the course of their conversation.

She tells Beranhond that they have good reason to suspect that there is at least one more party involved. They believe this 4th group has somehow infiltrated the priests of Lathander, and their agents have been masquerading as Lathanderian priests for some time now. They believe Ishmael was one of this group. They also think that they have found where the group is based, but they won't tell Beranhond where that is, because they know he is a friend of the priests of Lathander, and they don't want their plans to get out. They don't know much about the druids other than that they are good at defending themselves. The many battles they've fought have earned them a grudging respect. They aren't very concerned with the druids right now, though. They want to try to expose and do as much damage to this 4th group as they can before they the group catches wind of them.
Well, Beranhond will certainly join them for the attack (while remaining guarded and such). 

She tells him that the trip will take 5 days to reach where they are going. 

As Beranhond is meeting her, it is the evening of the day the Lady Narath returned to Waterdeep. They are leaving midday the next day for their battle, and so he has that time to prepare or grab anyone from the ship he wants to bring along.

Beranhond returns to the vessel, and grabs his gear. No one felt comfortable volunteering, so he will be traveling alone. He gives orders for the ship to get a safe distance away from Waterdeep in case anything happens. He then returns to the shore and spends the days in the room provided by the gardener friend until leaving with the Tormish Paladins.

The Tormish paladins march to Daggerford, camping in the Ardeep Forest the first night, and there they tell Beranhond of their plans at war council. The Lathander training grounds are located in Daggerford, and they believe at least one of the instructors is the one responsible for this infiltration of the Lathanderian forces, so they are going to try to attack and capture him, in an attempt to find out more about his side. The Tormish paladins outnumber the camp by about 300 to 200, but the camp has more priests, and with this unknown evil corrupting part of the camp, they are expecting heavy casualties. They are preparing for the attack by dressing as paladins of Lathander, and the night in Ardeep Forest is out of the way enough for them to put on their disguises.

"Why don't you just have someone sneak inside and abduct him? Wouldn't that save time, lives, and possibly help keep troop strength up in case of the need for a larger battle?" Beranhond asks. "Naturally, I do not know if anyone is up to that, but perhaps it could work."

They tell him that without bloodshed is the aim, but they do not know how successful they will be. Their cover is pretty thin, that they are here to inspect the grounds and bring the next group of recruits up to Waterdeep with them. If possible, they will grab the man, named Methasse, and be out of the camp before any resistance can be mounted, but if he has any cronies or supporters in the camp, there's a good chance of bloodshed, and they are going in prepared for that.

C'est la vie. Beranhond has a few conversations with Narath about how he can't trust anyone. 

The next morning, the group rides down to the camp and journeys in to the camp. When they arrive, they tell everyone their cover and begin making the rounds "inspecting" the camp. Ceilith personally goes to apprehend Methasse with 5 others. 

As the group arrives at Methasse's tent, things seem to be going well. Nobody has shown any suspicion, and they are able to get in without any trouble. Unfortunately Methasse isn't alone. He is lecturing 6 students as the group come in. 

Ceilith tells him she can just wait for him to get done with the training, but Methasse insists, and his students patiently wait for Ceilith to talk to Methasse. She begins asking him probing questions about how many new followers of Lathander have been coming, how their training is progressing, etc. and eventually asks him what he knows about the messenger to the druids. He answers that he heard about it, but that matters of diplomacy were never his specialty. At this point, Ceilith began hinting that all was not well within the Lathandarian priests and her theories about a corrupting influence in the ranks of the clergy. Methasse's responses became more and more guarded, until she asked him if he knew a man named, "Ishmael."

His response was, "I am called Ishmael." and in the shocked silence that followed, Ceilith, Beranhond, and the other 4 paladins heard a chorus from the six students behind them. "I am called Ishmael." "I am called Ishmael." "I am called Ishmael." 

Realizing that something was very wrong here, Ceilith shouted, "Get out!" and dove to tackle Methasse.

Beranhond pulls his cloak of silencing on and starts to back out of the room with the other paladins. 

Two of the 6 students begin drawing swords. 

As Ceilith flies through the air, Methasse reaches out to touch her, and a shadow seems to pass over her skin, leaving her pale and green-tinged. She is able to tackle him, as one of the 4 students without swords turns toward her and a sinister wave of air leaves his hands, hitting both Methasse and Ceilith. One of the Tormish paladins grabs Beranhond and pushes him toward the door, fearing for his life and trying to get the cleric to hurry. Two more of them draw their swords and take positions to cover the retreat of Beranhond and the other Tormish crusader. The final Tormish crusader gives a silent roar, draws his sword, and charges towards the two Ishmael's with swords. The two Ishmael's with swords meet his charge and the begin a 2 against 1 fight, while two of the final two Ishmael's try to communicate, finding themselves with silent voices. A silent argument breaks out between them, and the final Ishmael follows the lead of the one attacking Ceilith, and flings evil energy toward Beranhond and the 3 paladins with him. 

Beranhond, while jumping back drew his bow bow and attacks.

The battle continues. The two enemies with swords (Paladin1 and Paladin2) attack the Tormish paladin (ally) running at them. The first swipes at him with a longsword, drawing some blood. The second reaches in while he is distracted, and again a shadow seems to pass from his hand over the paladin's body, leaving him looking pale and greenish-colored. He also seems to be physically moved by the impact of the shadow, unlike Ceilith, when she was touched by Methasse.

Methasse (enemy) is able to wriggle free of Ceilith's (ally) grasp, and they both rise to their feet. She draws her rapier, and he tries to punch her but misses. She swings at him with her rapier and misses.

The (enemy) cleric who channeled at Ceilith and Methasse takes advantage of the gap between the two, channeling at only Ceilith, who seems only slightly hurt by the blast. The (enemy) cleric who channeled at the Paladins preparing to leave the room attempts it again, hurting them all a bit, but not doing too much damage.

Beranhond drew his bow and aimed for the center of the forehead. He let it fly and sent the arrow straight through. The man fell over dead.

Seeing their companion die at the hands of the enemy in their midst, the two Lathanderian paladins struck at the swordsmen they were fighting, one dealing him a serious blow to the shoulder and the other ran him through the kidney, ending his brief battle with them.  

One of the two Lathanderian Clerics (Cleric 2) who had been having a silent argument realized that not being able to hear each other was creating quite a problem, and quickly walked over to the lantern sitting against the wall and touched two of the symbols on its top. Immediately, a red glow began emanating from the lantern, getting brighter and brighter and seeming to make everything not in the glow of the red light seem somehow dim. The cleric began walking towards Ceilith, picking his way behind Cleric 1 and coming up behind Ceilith. Focused on Methasse, and without the benefit of sound to give him away, she didn't notice the man walking up behind her.

The man he had been arguing with watched the first man light the lantern, and walked to behind the two paladins, obviously intending to use them as shields and cause damage from behind them.

The paladin to the left of Beranhond (ally) sees the cleric (enemy) rushing over towards Ceilith and moves to block him, quickly swiping the man with his sword. The cleric doesn't see the paladin in time and tries to use an arm to block the blow, receiving a very deep cut in his left arm. 

The paladin two in front of Beranhond (ally) gestures wildly for Ceilith to leave while she still can, but without sound, he is stuck with throwing a small rock in her general direction, aiming for Methasse. He misses badly, but the rock does get Ceilith's attention, and she nods that she understood what he was doing.

The paladin directly in front of Beranhond looks over Beranhond's shoulder as he tries to make sure the way is clear, and his eyes go wide. Looking over his shoulder, Beranhond sees at least 4 other red glows emanating through the top of the buildings in the surrounding area, looking very similar to the eerie glow coming from the lantern.

Methasse makes some gestures, and the shadows seem to leave the corners of the room, swirling around him and obscuring his features, so that the light from the day streaming through the door and window seem to pass him by. 

Ceilith takes the opportunity of him being distracted as he casts  to slip around behind the paladin guarding the way for her, and over to just in front of Beranhond. As she passes the paladin, she taps him on the shoulder and gestures for him to follow.

The cleric who had been channeling at Ceilith follows her movement, taking a step forward and continuing his channeling, this time at the entire group near the door. Dark energies wash over them, making them feel weak. 

Beranhond is going to follow Ceilith, but first he channels energy and excludes Cleric 2 and Paladin 1. The light burst from around him and heals his party as they flee.

The enemy paladin on the left sees the Tormish paladin and rushes over to stop his escape, attacking him with his longsword. In a shower of sparks, the paladin of Torm deflects the blow, and is unhurt. The other paladin runs up to attack the first of the paladins guarding the escape. He is able to get past the man's sword, only to be blocked by a shield. 

The cleric who had been trying to cut off Ceilith, on finding himself face to face with a paladin, decides to try some direct contact, and touches the paladin, causing a dark shadow to pass over his hands into the paladin.

The enemy cleric who had been standing behind the paladins, using them as a shield, finds they have dispersed and walks to a spot next to the action on the left hand side of the room, attacking the Tormish group in the doorway with a blast from his hands.

The Tormish Paladin being surrounded attempts to back away from his attackers and make his way to the door. As he does so, the enemy Paladin swipes at him, but he avoids the swipe, and makes it back to the group, waiting for them to get through the door before he follows them through. The two paladins to Beranhond's right duck through the door, taking up positions outside to protect from anyone who might try to ambush them outside. 

Beranhond sees Methasse conjuring some foul magic, and watches as the two dead men in the room rise, and begin plodding toward the group in the doorway. Both zombies slammed into the Paladin that was the farthest into the room, the first coming at him with fists and the other with his sword. The fists seemed to hurt the man, but seeing his fallen comrade attack him with his sword seems to make the man wilt, and he is bloodied before he can do anything about it.

Ceilith takes this as a good indication that it is time to go, and pushes Beranhond toward the door.

Beranhond channels energy as he flees towards the door and excludes Cleric 2 and Paladin 1.

Ceilith and the last paladin stumble out the door behind you. The cleric who had been waiting for your move appears in the doorway long enough to channel more darkness your way before ducking back.

As the group leaves, Beranhond casts obscuring mist and they run back to the rest of the Tormish Paladins, having been mostly healed. The camp around them begins buzzing like a kicked anthill, with young paladins streaming out of buildings everywhere. By being discreet, the Tormish paladins are able to make it out of the camp, but as soon as Beranhond and the contingent reach their own camp, Ceilith calls a council and tells them they need to leave immediately, before they are attacked by the mob that will be following soon. The mob does not know the expedition are followers of Torm, but the mob will be after them soon regardless. Scouts report that the entire Lathanderian training camp is breaking down and preparing to move. It will be ready in less than an hour. Ceilith gives the order to move before then, and the march begins.

Several times, the Tormish group is accosted by undead on their way north, but they are easily able to dispatch the attackers, finally reaching the gates of Waterdeep, which are closed on their arrival.

They ride with a quick steady pace and Beranhond spends a fair amount of time calming the fears of the expedition. As he rides past the burning corpses of zombies he hopes that the rest of Kilink and the Lady Narath are safe from harm.

Naturally enough, are there people on the walls and near the gates? Does anyone approach?

The walls are deserted. There is a small side gate next to the main gate that usually has a guard posted at it, but it is currently closed. 

Beranhond walks forward and knocks on the side door.

A frazzled guard opens the small porthole in the door and asks why they have come to the city in its last hours. He looks very emotionally strained (and no check is needed to determine that).
Beranhond quickly explains the situation, the coming Lathanderian camp, and their need to warn the city as much as possible. 

The guard lets you in, not really understanding why you want to enter a doomed and dying city. He tells you that you should probably leave by the next day's sundown, as that is when the druids said they would destroy the city.

When you ask her why she returned, she tells you it was a safe harbor from the renegade Lathanderian priests, and she was intending to show the Tormish paladins here the corruption in their midst, so they could see that it was fully trained priests of Lathander who had caused all of this chaos and disruption. She hopes to convince the priests here that they have a problem within their own midst as well as those external problems they are already trying to confront.

Well, lets search out BH's friend and see what he can do to help as well.

He is one of 20 priests who have decided to stay and see if they can counter the druid's magic at all from within the city. You see a great many of them packing things and moving them to the docks and the roads out of the city, so that the holy relics and such of the city are preserved. The gardener friend of yours is rather busy making preparations and preparing a room for the 20 of them who will be trying to counter the spells tossed at the city.

Well, BH will quickly let him know what happened. He would also try to find a way to send a message to the single-minded Druids to let them know that attacking Waterdeep is missing the real enemy.

What do you propose to send a message? The clerics aren't really sure where they are, except that they are somewhere out to sea.

Oh, are these a different group of druids?

These druids are known to be worshipers of Istishia, the water lord. These druids count in their dominion all things that travel on or in the seas. The druids on the land have their own misgivings, but they are not connected to the group that is threatening. The Istishian druids are much more powerful and numerous. The druids you saw at Goldenfields are a rather small group, and not known for either political or magical might.

Beranhond will be:

Checking in with Ceilith and making sure she is doing alright and maybe reminiscence a bit. Beranhond has been traveling alone for a while so certainly is glad to see someone he knows.

Asking down at the docks in case any of the remaining sailors/fishers know any contacts that might lead to Istishian druids.

Check in with the gardener to see if there is any help he can provide.

Sit around a bit to see if he can figure out how to get back to the Lady Narath.

Probably talk a bit with Narath about how none of this is what he planned on.

Okay. That all takes you until the next morning. Here's what you find out:

• Ceilith is all right. It appears you lost them somewhere in your retreat.
• The gardener welcomes your help, and has you place down some mats on the floor and some chairs in a circle, then sends you on your way.
• The sailors tell you that they aren't willing to go there, but they know that there is a coral reef around Ruathym that supposedly has monstrous sea beasts that are sacred to the Istishian druids. You might find some of the druids there, tending them.
• The Lady Narath set sail only the day before, you find out, and according to people on the docks they were heading back to Baldur's Gate. You should be able to catch up with them in relatively short order if you sail after them.

What is Ceilith's plan and the Tormish paladins? BH would have asked her about that. 

Ceilith and the Tormish paladins plan to regroup near Loudwater and try to get reinforcements. There are not many Tormish paladins in the area at the moment, and she fears that the corruption is deeper than she feared. She's very leery of the Lathanderian priests here, as well, and is keeping her group very separate until they march away early in the morning.

When did they say they were going to attack the city?

If "They" is the Lathanderian trainees that attacked you, they never said they were going to. If "They" is the druids who threatened to destroy the city, the answer is the day after you returned to Waterdeep, and asking all of your questions brought you to that morning.

Yes, I was referring to the Druids when I said "they." BH is going to leave the city and find a safe position to watch so that he can return after the carnage and assist as possible with healing (much like he did for Balder's Gate).