Mirror, Mirror

Beranhond, Aelysin, and Zalkar traveled on down the path away from the dead creature. After several hours they found a slightly wide spot in the path and decided to camp for the night.

In the morning they continued on their journey. After what seemed another few hours they saw a portal in the distance. Tigrisclawu warned them of an odd mist near the portal.

The portal stuck out above the mist, but all the area below it was obscured and hidden. On edge they continued to make their way to the portal. After a few more minutes of travel they were only thirty or forty feet away from the portal the mist start to clear away. They started to make out the shape of two people. There was silence for a moment as they drew their weapons before Tigrisclawu spoke up.
"You know, that one smells a lot like you Beranhond." Tigrisclawu said sniffing. "And the woman smells like Aelysin. What is going on?"
"I think we have run into your mirror duplicates." Zalkar said quietly. "We... borrowed sections of the mirror realm to cut through the astral sea. Doing so allowed us to maintain normal gravity and time and such. It also means that mirror duplicates were a possibility. However, we hadn't ever actually ran into them."
"Mirror duplicates?"
"Yes, they should be exactly like you... but evil."
Beranhond grimmaced. "Great. What would they want with us?"
"Oh, if they kill you they can take your place in the real world."
"Wonderful." Aelysin said from the other side.
The mist started to clear more and they could make out faces. The taller shape, aside from some scars and a rather hateful expression, looked exactly like Beranhond.
"Zalkar, is that you?" The other Beranhond asked in a calculating voice.
Zalkar looked surprised. "Must be an evil Zalkar running around somewhere too." He whispered aking a step back.
"Keep an eye out, we don't want him to sneak up on us." Beranhond whispered back.

The mirror Beranhond caught a look at Beranhond and smiled.
"Ah, this must be the nice version of me. Are you going to try to chat and convince me, or are you more honest about what an evil version of yourself would do?" He waves his hands and the mists cleared. His costume was very similar to Beranhond's albeit it was either painted, or stained, in a variety of different blood hues.
"Oh, he will probably still try to talk to us dear." Aelysin said laughing malevolently while drawing her bow. "These good types usually try to think of a way out of a decent fight." The mirror Aelysin had the same brown hair and blue eyes, but they showed none of the teasing mirth that Aelysin did.
Beranhond nodded. "So, are we going to talk for a bit, or are we going to fight?"

Wandering in an Astral Sea

As soon as the creature had been felled he turned toward Zalkar.
"Shutup."
"But, I didn..."
"You are talking, shutup!" He said forcefully.
"We will talk later oh powerful Wizard of Thay." He said as turned away from the Wizard. I probably shouldn't take my anger out on him. Beranhond thought. Though, he did lead us into the Astral Sea without any kind of plan...
As he stalked away from the wizard Beranhond saw that Tigrisclawu had found a nice bit of dead animal flesh to play with and seemed content. Weird cat... He thought shaking his head. Over to his left, Aelysin had knelty before the corpse of the creature and was trying to remove her arrows. She was having a bit of problem as the arrows seemed locked within the carcass.
"So, Aelysin..." he said approaching her.
"Yes, Eth?" She said, still prying on the arrow.
"You are very good with that bow. I think most of the injuries were caused by you."
"Well, thank you." She said smiling at him, before turning back to the corpose ."I just do what I can."
"So, did you learn those techniques from hunting?"
She didn't look at him. "In a way."
"Oh?" He said looking at her closely.

Sense motive:
Roll(1d20)+11:
13,+11
Total:24

"Hunting... while working with the trading guilds?"
"I guess you could say that." She stood up looked over at Zalkar and then stepped closer into him. Then, to his surprise, she put her arms around his neck and pulled him to close
"Oh Eth, you aren't the only one with an interesting past. Let's just say that parts of my past have been more interesting than simply working for a trading guild." Before he could respond she pulled his face down and kissed him.
"In either case, I will tell you more later when there are less prying eyes. Let's just get out of this mess."

Beranhond's Path

Beranhond felt a little queasy and felt ready to vomit. The path felt as if it had shifted drastically - it felt much like the Lady Narath at sea. He kept his head down to calm his stomach and hoped that the beast wasn't about to crush him.
"Eth... look up."
Beranhond finally raised his head and was shocked to see that they were sitting on a much narrower path. Tigrisclawu was cleaning himself and didn't seem to care. However, Aelysin was looking down in awe.
"I can't see any sign of the beast or the crossroads." She said to him as his stomach started to settle. Beranhond sat up more firmly and was even more surprised to see that their traveling group had been further reduced.
"Where are they?" he asked nervously.
"I think they are on the other half of the path." Zalkar responded as he shook dirt of his robes. "I hope they are OK."

A Brave New World

Beranhond, Talathel, Lailsan, and Aelysin all felt something smack them in the face. Tigrisclawu, in the way of cats, managed to land on his feet. When they opened their eyes they then realized that it would have been better to say that their face smacked the ground.
"Welcome to the Astral plane... or at least a very small controlled portion of it that the Wizards of Thay use to move around. We have a bit of a walk before our exit." Zalkar said in an awfully cheerful voice.

The morning after...

When the morning came, Nym found herself in a corner of the camp feeling stretched and sore. Pipper lay next to her crying.

Darvin, found himself underneath the large orcish woman. He struggled out and saw that the arena was a smoldering ruin. Beside him Khursid started to move, much of her body was covered in deep burns and scars, but after a moment she was able to stand and look out on the wreckage.
"I am impressed... whoever did this has a lot of power." She said to Darvin, or perhaps to no one in particular.

Talathel, Aelysin, Tigrisclawu, Beranhond and Lailsan are asleep on the edge of the camp. Beranhond acquired some scrapes and bruises, but the rest of them appeared none the worst for wear. As they looked out on the camp they saw that most of the camp is in ruins, tents fallen, and dead bodies laying on top of the wreckage. The stench of death is strong and several orcs are moving around collecting bodies and taking them to a large pyre.

"Narath have mercy..." Beranhond said quietly looking out at the carnage.

Amo, Amavi, Amabo Semper! (part 1)

Beranhond let Paz lead them to their tent. Their passage caused many a snigger when they saw Beranhond stand a head taller than an orc. Naturally, most of the jokes were more on Beranhond than Paz.
"You must be from the Tantras region Beranhond."
"Impressive, how can you tell?"
"Ah, because when you should be using a bilabial plosives you instead use a labio-dental fricative. At least, when it arises in the initial syllable. I believe the only region where this is common is Tantras."
Beranhond was quite taken aback and reevaluated the orc.
"I see someone has taken steps to educate you in linguistics! Very impressive." Beranhond said restraining the urge to slap him on the back in camaraderie. "I was born and raised in the region and eventually spent much of my youth training with the paladins of Torm."
"Ah, a noble venture indeed. We are certainly lucky to have such well traveled visitors amongst us this eve."
They continued to talk and found that their companions had also found their way to the tent and had made themselves at home.
"I must bid you adieu for now, prepare as you are able and Beranhond do find me later as there is much I have to say that might interest you."
. When Paz left Beranhond noticed that Darvin looked ready to make his way over and give him a piece of his mind. Beranhond realized that the conversation with Paz had been interesting enough to distract him from the glares that Darvin had been sending his way and that he might have to make some ammends later. However, before Darvin could corner him Aelysin stepped out of the tent and put a hand on his shoulder.
"Beranhond, could I talk with you for a moment."
Absentmindedly Beranhond nodded glad of the distraction. She led him into the tent where he noticed that she had set up his sleeping roll for him.
"You didn't have to do that."
"It is my pleasure. Please sit." She said directing him towards his pallet. After setting his sword to the side his at on down.
"That wasn't really fair to Darvin." She said sitting cross legged on another pallet.
If Beranhond were more observant he would have noticed that she had very carefully set her own sleeping arrangements near his. In fact, if he had been more observant in the evening he would have noticed that she had been doing this for several weeks.
"No, but I knew he could handle it - he is quite scrappy. Besides, I knew these orcs would respond to direct action rather than subetly." He leaned back onto his elbows and looked at her. She had taken a corner of her red hair into her mouth and was absent mindedly chewing on the end.
"Yes, but at least you could have warned him."
"True. I will make up for it latter and I will assist him how I can during the fight. Besides, it will be a great opportunity for him to show off for Nym and it isn't as if he minds doing that."
"No, people can do funny things for people those they care for."
"Yes." Beranhond said unable to resist thinking back to the field where he and Ceilith had lunch such long ages ago. It was such an idylic moment in his life, but at the same time it was an action that ran completely counter to the very vows they had taken as initiaties.
"Feelings are such an odd thing. Did I ever tell you about Ceilith?"
Her eyes narrowed slightly. "I think you mentioned her once or twice."
"She and I ignored our training and our vows for one another. Of course, it didn't work out because we had different feelings about Torm. The last time I saw her there was nothing there other than an old friendship... yet what could have been."
"What would you have wanted with her?"
"I used to imagine us just living."
"Living? That is what you do naturally!"
"No, I mean, being able to enjoy the true simplicity of life rather than being caught up in the world wind of conflict, of the duties demanded by Gods and Kings. To enjoy the pleasure of just being."
"You wouldn't be content with that Eth..." She said trailing off. "You have too much of a hero in you."
"Perhaps, and clearly that never would have worked with Ceilith either."
"Don't forget that you are still living - even when you are galavanting off across the world seeking aid to destroy a dark God. Don't forget that you can enjoy these moments and that there are those who would share it with you."
Beranhond looked up at this and saw the nervousness in her eyes. He bit his lip as he finally caught on to what she had been hinting at for weeks.
"Aelysin... I think..." He started to say.

Just some filler

Beranhond didn't feel comfortable down in Shaar, nor was he completely comfortable wandering around the grasslands. Fortunately Thjodolf seemed fairly content and comfortable with the situation.
One evening, while resting after a long day of travel, Beranhond saw that Darvin was sitting on a mound of dirt overlooking the fields. Wandering on over Beranhond grabbed a seat. They didn't say anything, but looked at the stars for a while.
"Majestic things aren't they?" Beranhond asked. Darvin simply nodded. "I wonder what is out there - I know a lot about the different planes, about the realms of the Gods, but I never really thought much about what is out there in the stars."
After a little while longer Beranhond made his way back into camp and took a seat near the fire.
I wonder where Narath is tonight. He thought as he gazed into the flames. Before he could think any more on the subject Aelysin came on over and sat down next to him.
"Well, my life has certainly gotten more interesting as of late."
"That happens around us - I hope you aren't regretting staying on the ship after Baldur's Gate."
"Not at all... I enjoy the company." She said, her eyes boring at him.
"It is a good set of people here."
They continued to chat into the evening before he excused himself and made his way toward his bedroll.

My Soul to Take/Keep

As the shield shattered, there was a sudden silence, as everyone watched stood petrified, hoping that the horrific things they were envisioning were about to happen to the clerics left in the city would not come to pass. The moment seemed to stretch on, until onlookers almost began to question whether the druids were about to murder the clerics within.

Just as these questions began to force their way to the surface, a wail began to rise. However, the wail did not come from the remains of Waterdeep. It came from the forest to the south, as a great dark cloud rose up from the hills to the hills to the northwest of Ardeep forest and engulfed it in shadow and dark shapes swarmed over the hillside to converge on the forest. The wail became discernible as a cacaphony of shrieks of pain and anguish, and flashes of light and darkness showed that powerful magic was being thrown back and forth from the forces within the forest and the forces coming at it.

As the battle of Ardeep got under way, the cloud grew, and a great pillar of flame flew at the city, targeting the temple that had so recently had a brief respite. The fireball hurtling toward the city was slashed asunder by invisible forces before it reached the temple, but it was only 100 feet away from the structure before it splashed into the water, sending up gouts of steam. Either the priests were still alive, or someone was protecting them.

Very little could be seen of the battle of Ardeep Forest from either the Lady Narath or Beranhond's perspective, though it seemed that very few of the dark shapes entering the forest were stopped and the darkness was not receding. Several minutes passed, and soon the flashes of light ceased altogether, leaving only the darkness and the dark shapes that had converged on the forest.

I Pray the Lord (or Lady, as the case may be...)

Beranhond left Waterdeep early in the morning on the same day that Nym, Darvin, and Talathel awoke. He traveled up the road to the northeast, toward Red Larch, for several miles until he judged himself to be safe from the devastation that was about to be wrought on the city. He arrived at a suitable place in the early afternoon, just as the sky to the west began its ominous darkening and clouds began savagely throwing themselves around the city.