The Preaching Paladin

[Boo]

Entry 1: Its been several days that my brothers of the Order of the Aster and I have been making our way to Baldurs Gate. We had been sent by the Order to help with relief efforts post siege. On our way we met a caravan of merchants and with a few brief exchanges of good will one of them, who heard our destination said, "can anything good come out of Baldur's Gate". I found the comment very odd but did not give it much thought.

Entry 2: It has been a sad day. I arrived at Baldur's Gate with only a fraction of my life. My brothers and I were over run by a well organized group of bandits.I alone am left and my captain is no longer here to instruct me. As of such I would hate to return back to Waterdeep without at least making some effort to carry out
the mission we were tasked with.

Entry 3: My arrival in Baldur's Gate was late but I was met by a rather admirable person of hospitality who invtited me to dine at her residence. After the meal I went to retire at the Elfsong Tavern but not with first hearing rumors of sedition, cival war, and some apperent corruption of the Dukes.

Entry 4: Rising early the next day I greated the lord and begin a campaign of inspiring preaching in the city. Unfortunately, I was often met with mockery and found the light of the morning lord lacking in the city. In fact, there was a certain group of family members known as the Darius who insulted me greatly, almost to the point where I felt like drawing my blade.

Entry 5: I eventually made my way to Beregost where I sought instruction in aiding the area. I exchanged brief correspondence with the retired Knight Commander and one of the Dawnbringers. While in Beregost I was able to meet some of the local residence. In paticular, one named Terri and the other who was called Vendor. They were soon to wed and shared some injustices that have been going on in the region.

Entry 6: as I continued my campaign of preaching in the area I continued to hear from the common people how they feel unsafe. As I heard these thing I felt a righteous indignation and began to denounce the Dukes and other evil groups in the land, such as the Zhents and the vile Thayans.

Entry 7: I was fortunate today to find an old friend of mine a ranger named Roywyn. She being ignorant of the going ons soon discovered the evils of the area as we were assaulted by a Thayan in the wilderness. He demanded that I retract my words against his people and I could not. He defeated me in combat and seemed very honorable as I gave up the field to him.

Entry 8: as I continued my preaching I was met by a wise man who was a humble miner. His name was Justin and it seemed that he was full of the morning lords wisdom. He told me that it might be wise to work against the evil outside of vocal opposition. He admired my zeal and he said that my death would soon come if I did my stop my protest and encouraged me to stay alive.
He said people needed my zeal but that I need to use such zeal in a wise way. It must have been fate for soon after the Dreadlord of Darkhold challenged my preaching by a flurry of insults. I humbly minded Justin words but I did give the Dreadlord a chance to repent and to accept Lathander as his lord and savior.

Entry 9: I was able to meet a new convert. a rather odd
Gnome female named Hazel. It seems she accepted the morning lord with all of her heart. She even rivals me in her zeal and has become a great preacher.

Entry 10: I thought it would be wise to affiliate myself with one of noted guilds of the region until I reciece word from the temple authority of Beregost. They call themselves the Phoniex company and they seem to have righteous intentions.The administrator is also very alluring and adorned with the aroma of goddess. She is a great distraction indeed but I will not wavior in my marriage to the Chrurch and will keep my convictions.

Entry 11. My companions and I hosted a pilgrimage from Beregost to Baldur's Gate. We were joined by a wonderful person named Eva and a man who was blind. It was an inspirational journey up until the gate guards feared the blind mans stick and threw him into jail. Thankfully he was able to clear things up and joined us for the morning rituals.

Entry 12: I received word from Waterdeep that church authorities requests my presence. I bought a passage by ship that would leave the following day. My companions and I decided to spend some time at local taverns. After much festivities my convert and friend spent the evening right outside the Eastgate preaching the good word of Lathander calling the city to renewal and to the light. The next day I departed to Waterdeep and hope to return back to the Baldur's Gate the following tenday or so.

[Boo]

Entry 13: My journey by ship to Waterdeep was a sift one. There seemed to be some type of enchantment on the ship that cut the time in half. On the ship I meet a group of peculiar mercenaries. None seemed sociable but their captain in a drunken stupor shared many things with me. He told me that he wanted to get his men far away from Baldur’s Gate. He began to tell me tales of troubles with in the city. When I asked him if he meant the Thayans or the Banites he said they were nothing. He began to share with me about some powerful creature who seems to be causing division in the city amongst its factions and how he intends on there being a civil war. I prayed for insight into what he was saying and my senses revealed to me that he was telling the truth. However, he fell asleep from to much drink. When I went to speak with him several hours later, hoping that he would be sober he turned out to be dead. His men blamed the alcohol and threw his body into the deep.

Entry 14: at Waterdeep I met with the High Radiance in whom with I shared every detail of my experience. My superior then commissioned me to form an Inquisition to deal with the matters around Baldur’s Gate. The Inquisition would seek to find the source of the evil that seems to be the cause of the troubles around Baldurs Gate. It would be sponsored by the church but would be open to all who wished to aid in its cause. In addition, it would seek to heal the rifts that among the factions uniting them under one banner with one cause.

Entry 15: after many days I found my way back to Baldurs Gate. I was able to make a few recruits for the Inquisition. After that I took the convert, ranger friend, a one of our new recruits to follow up on a rumor of missing miners in cloak wood. We ended up finding them all dead and didn’t find any leads into the evil that we are seeking.

[Boo]

Entry 16: i came across a rather peculiar person today. They claimed to be a Seer. What was interesting was that he was rather relived to see that he was not alone in what he has been seeing. For some time he shared that he has been warning others about the same being that the Inquisition seeks out. He called the being the Puppet Master do to the fact of how it plays the factions against each other. The name seemed to stick and many of the Inquisitors have been calling it the Master.

Entry 17: one of the Inquitors told me about a fire that was in one of the taverns in Baldur's Gate. He told me about a rather shady crowd that was involved but didn't leave many clues to follow. In addition, strangely later in the night many fires broke out around Cloakwood. I suspect t the master will try to use these fires to create more divisions among the factions.

Entry 18: The Inquisition seems to continue to grow. As has been predicted the Master seems to have taken notice. We had a few run ins with some beings cloaked in dArkness. They mocked us and told us we would fail. At one point Lathanders light exposed one these beings. It was a devil of some kind but it fell swiftly before the power of the lord.

Entry 19: when speaking with some new recruits I was approached by a strange sounding woman wrapped in robes that concealed her body. She told me she knew some information about where the Master has been operating. We traveled with her at least a day's journey deep into the Heartlands. She brought us to a ruin inhabited by brigands and orcs and told us a portal to another realm has been opened deep below this place. Soon I hope to return to this place with the full force of the Inquisition.

Entry 20: there was a rather odd woman standing outside the friendly Arm. She looked trouble and seemed to want t speak with me. I approached her and seemed fearful. I tried to speak with her but she wanted to walk away. She suddley vanished before my sight.

Entry 21: A met with a local Gnome Scholar named JR Waterly who asked the Inquisitors to recover a lost artifact for him. We thought it would be good to aid him in order to possibly find a friend that could help in our work. We followed the guide he gave us up far into the hills near the Cloud Peaks. We discovered that a great battle had taken place according to one local witness between a group of necromancers and some other type of dark clothed mages. A dragon showed up in the midst of the battle and killed many of them before falling itself. I suspect this is the Masters doing since the item we were to recover seems to be evil.

[Boo]

Entry 22: The Inquisition was asked to help find a lost Jewel for one the nobles of Baldur's Gate. The representative for this noble was a man named Mr. Bernard Shaw. We discovered that this jewel had gone missing me months back in a well though out heist. We suspect the company involved hired brigands to steal back there own jewel that they were involved in cutting. Things seem to go wrong for them after this, almost as if the jewel was cursed. We found a well warded box in one their old establishments. We await the work of a local mage to open it.

Entry 23: There was a strange druid that we came across in Baldur's Gate. He was some type of guardian of nature and had visions of a great evil that he shared with us. The visions brought him much fear and he told of us a great evil that was far into Cloakwood. Thinking this might Be the Masters work we went deep into the woods but found nothing but a den of vampires.

Entry 24: Today I had a meeting a Dawnbringer Saul in Beregost. I showed him my official papers from the High Radiance and he gave us his blessing. We are also delighted to hear that he was soon to be wed as he announced this to us all and his beloved in the temple. Lathander be praised!

Entry 25: I gathered all my men and a few of our friends and headed to the place where strange woman had told me the Master was at work. It was in fact Dragonspear Castle. A den of stinkin evil. We fought deep into the castle but were foiled by many of the puzzles it had. We ended up returning back to Beregost after spending a day in the place with no success. We hope to return back one day with a guide who knows of these things.

[Boo]

Entry 26: I came across a scholar of Candle Keep who shared with me some details of recent attack. They said that many people present at this attack had lost their memory. They also spoke of tome of great power that was accessed. The tome seemed to be connected to many planes of existence. There was a witness to the person using the tome who gave the description of an elderly human male. I have a great suspicion that this is the Master. I sent one of our mages Inquisitor Tyrial to look further into these things.

Entry 27: As is my duty I spent a good night preaching outside the Friendly Arm in with sister Hazel. Just before the Dawn rituals a Dawnbringer, "so-called" approached us. However, he turned out to be a heretic and spoke of strange docntines about or Lord. Later on, I brought this to the attention of the local Dawnbringer Saul.

Entry 28: Brother Tyrial met up with me and gave me some progress on events. However, when he began to speak it was incoherent. I thought he was drunk but he seemed to be under some enchantment. I told him to get some rest and he continued to babel on about remembering nothing.

Entry 29: The Great Druid Gaven sent word to me by raven that he had information about the Master. We met up with him but his spell to find the Master needed a unique component, a horn of a great minotaur. We followed the indications he gave us to find this beast. It was in an unground complex, a labyrinth. We got lost for about a tenday but we eventually found the beast and took our prize.

Entry 30: Today has not been a good. A local caravan was raided and the Inquisitors were blamed. It seems the Master is yet another step ahead of us. We went to the sight of this incident only to find inquisitor banners all over the scene. After a quick ritual for the dead we sought out the lone witness of these events. However, they were not to be found. I don't think the Inquisition is safe in the territories under the control of Dukes. the Master has corrupted our good name there and do not doubt that the Flaming Fist will be after us.