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.

And If I Should Die Before I Wake

As Darvin commands the ship farther out to sea and Beranhond rescues the woman from the halflings, an enormous thundering crack is heard clearly by everyone within several miles. All attention isdrawn to Waterdeep, which began to pitch and roll. Soon, the city walls begin to sink, consumed by the earth where they had stood. The air is filled with grinding, clashing metal and stone, as well as the protest of wood cracking, though there were few inhabitants remaining in the city, and so there are no screams as of yet. The city is consumed by the gaping maw underneath it in short order, becoming a giant sinkhole, except for the Temple of Lathander, which stands alone in the devastation, a single safe haven in the storm that rages on around it. As the buildings of the city sink, dustclouds rise up, and bestial shapes can be seen rising up from under the city, rushing out of the destruction to the surrounding countryside and trying to find cover. As the dust begins to settle, water begins to rush through cracks in the earth toward the newly created depression, sucking water from the river and the ocean, as well. The temple still stands, but lightning continues to crackle all around it, crashing against an invisible bubble surrounding the structure that begins to glow as it is struck by the bolts. The bolts increase in intensity, causing cracks to form in the now shimmering shield around the temple, until it abruptly shatters, leaving the temple exposed.