DavesGaming

We headed out to find the old temple Jaheira told us about. It was underground through a cave on a hilltop, so finding it took a while. We battled Hill Giants, wolves and Wyverns. A fair amount of excitement just getting there!

We found a trail up a hillside that was infested with giant spiders. Spiders! I was thinking I’d rather face a dragon. So guess what was in the cave? This was the first adult dragon we’d fought. Fortunately we heard it before we saw and were able to prepare and deploy well. The fight wasn’t hard, except my husband and his melee team may disagree! All of them were brushed back across the cave at one time or another! But apart from being knocked around some we came through with minor scrapes and bruises.

We then fought through a series of caves inhabited by Bugbears before finally getting to the ruined Temple of Bhaal. It has apparently been taken over by followers of the mad god Cyric. First thing was a row of cages, with three prisoners locked up. Crusaders. This was a pretty heinous incarceration, we quickly released them and gave them water. Made me chuckle a little, I know our old friend Branwen would have been horrified by our actions. But I’ll face these guys in battle if it comes to it, but I’ll not take advantage of this naked evil.
There was however another prisoner that was problematic, an old, blinded priestess of Bhaal was here. We gathered from her raving that she’d been tortured by the new owners for over a decade. Some of what she spouted could have been my own backstory, I wonder if this was where Gorion found me 20 years ago? Seeing where we are, I feel so deeply thankful for the good man who rescued me, raised me, and gave his life for me. There was no good solution for this mad-woman. We let her be, knowing any action we chose would be wrong in some sense of the word.
We battled a number of Cyric Cultists, both priests and warriors. The only real challenge was a dragon-born warrior named Ziatar who seemed to be in charge of this part of the temple.

From here things got a little trickier. We entered the more unholy part of the temple, which had a bit of a battle going on already. We defeated a high priestess and what seemed to an attempted illithid takeover. Then happily, escaped back to some fresh air!

Then it was time to get to Boereskyr Bridge itself. The wardstone that let us teleport into the Bridgefort was among our treasures from the temple. The fort was indeed under siege at this time, and being on our army’s approach side we would need to break the siege to get across. It was great to see Khalid here too! After helping calm some of the internal drama at the fort, we coordinated a break out for when we returned with the army.

Which we did. This may have been the largest general combat any of us had seen so far, and the Crusaders were under the command of wily old veteran known as Barghest. He had a few mages and clerics in addition to a number of troops. We lost some of our own, but succeeded in owning the day. It was our pleasure to reunite Khalid and Jaheira.

Crossing the Bridge may have been important to me. I’m not clear on what happened. It is the location where Bhaal was murdered by Cyric. My team was leading the army, fortunately by a little ways. Towards the far side I felt a force descend on me, scorching heat and bitter cold at the same time that threatened to spill out from me and engulf the area. I held it all in for what seemed an eternity, and then it stopped. My friends were all rushing to my side, my husband was already there holding me. It had obviously not actually taken long. It was apparently some sort of echo of what happened here? I felt somehow reordered? Thankfully I still felt like I was all me. I knew I loved my husband, my friends were all dear to me, and I would defeat this evil whatever it was.

From there we marched out for the encampment at Dragonspear Castle. This took several days. Jaheira and Khalid are not *officially* a part of my team, but they camped with us along the way. I have never enjoyed the company of friends and loved ones so much. It was a huge relief to know all was well with them. Corwin seems a little more aloof, and the rest of the soldiers give me sideways looks. But my loved ones remain true.