The Church of Kelemvor RP

[Afendaria]

14 Flamerule 1362 DR

Afendaria stood high above the Chionthar on top of a cliff, leaning against a tree, her only source of shade against the sun’s harsh rays. She watched gulls hover beneath her, riding up on a cool gust of wind that had made its way up the cliff side. Closing her eyes, she breathed in deep, tasting the salt on the breeze. It was a far better scent than that of the dead gnolls, goblins, and orcs the Kelemvorites and their red tiefling ally had slain and piled within the barracks over a tenday ago.

The battle at River's End had been hard fought, but unlike the last few villages where she had gone with others to bury the dead, those who wished to pervert and twist Death's purpose had been pushed back. The villagers had been granted another chance to die when the end was proper, and not before their appointed time. There had been no creatures feasting on carrion upon arrival, no poisoned land, and no charred ashes of the dead left unceremoniously out in the open. Death had come to River's End, as it always does in war. Yet it had been held at bay, claiming instead those who sought to wield Death to spread fear and misery. Those few humans who had died in the defense of River’s End had, to Afendaria’s knowledge, been found, claimed, and delivered to those who would grant them honour and final rites. Much of the town’s infrastructure might have been greatly damaged, but homes could be repaired. Life was not as easily restored if lost prematurely.

Afendaria opened her eyes and stared back down into the Chionthar’s waters below, eyeing a large barge heading towards Baldur’s Gate. If that battle had gone differently, she might not have been where she was now, watching the ships come and go. Instead, she might have been the one lying in or on the ground, her corpse at the mercy of those that would disgrace the dead. Had she survived and River’s End still fell, she might instead have found herself once more administering final rites in another village cut down before its proper time.

But no, she and the other Kelemvorites were alive. The majority of River's End and its defenders had also survived. Cyric's minions and their plans had been thwarted, and instead of burying the town she could just stay where she was, resting for a short while beneath that tree, allowing the cool breeze to quietly wash over her before returning to serve Kelemvor, the dying, and the dead.