“From your tone I suppose this won’t be a lively discussion of the texts.”  Salzaar lit a rushlight from the brazier and turned to light the handful of candles placed about his study.

“Much as I enjoy our discussions, and your sardonic humor” Rashaz raised an eye ridge as he said this, “you know as well as I do that we have to do something.  You were there at the ceremony to dedicate the new aspirants this morning just as I was.  Banaar has just gone from being an oddity and misfit to something else entirely.”

Rashaz stopped for a moment and turned to the window and the light of the setting sun to give him a moment to collect his thoughts and courage for he must say next. “You’ve read the same histories of the faith that I have.  Can there be any doubt that we saw the Mantle?  The same Mantle that hasn’t been seen in hundreds of years?  The sign of Bahamut’s favored ones… the heroes and the greatest of the defenders of the faith?  And let us not forget we’re talking of Banaar here… the very same aspirant that we’ve been trying to decide if he even belongs here and now this. What do we do?”

Without turning from the candle he was about to light, Salzaar quietly asked, “Does he know?”

“We are spared that at least. No, neither Banaar nor the other aspirants saw the Mantle of Bahamut as it descended upon Banaar. They were too deep in prayer as was appropriate for aspirants taking final rites.  You and I were the only ones to witness the… the event… the sign… the miracle… I don’t know what to call it.  I would pray for guidance but it appears Bahamut has already made His will clear on the subject and said all He intends to say.  I suppose you’ll be the one to tell him?”

For the first time Salzaar looked up at Rashaz. “I don’t intend to tell Banaar anything.”

The shock on Rashaz’s face was clear. “What do you mean? Surely he deserves to know!”

Salzaar continued on serenely, “I am sure that if the Platinum Lord wished Banaar to know, Banaar would know.  I believe that His message was for you and I alone.  Had He wished the presence of a Mantled One to be public knowledge, He surely could have waited until the public dedication of faith on the morrow instead of presenting the Mantle during the much more private preparation ceremony. As you said, you know the histories. How many of the Mantled Ones lived to die in their beds of old age, surrounded by friends and family?  For that matter, how many had anything you would call a ‘happy life’ at all?  No, Banaar will have enough to face in his life without being weighed down with that particular burden as well.  The Mantled Ones have always deserved every support those of the faithful can give and this may be the last kindness we may perform for young Banaar.”

Rashaz took this in for a moment before responding, “Then you have something in mind for him?”

“We had already decided that Banaar was to take on the role of an itinerant.  Nothing that happened this morning changes that in the least.  In fact, I believe it makes even more sense now.  Before our reasons were simpler… Banaar being the only child and orphan of a couple of mercenaries.  The father was a swordsman of some skill and the mother was a mage of some but certainly no great skill herself.  Neither was of any of the great houses and lacking any close relatives their deaths at the hands of…”

Salzaar paused for a moment before continuing, “Well, the less said of that beast the better.  Simply put, upon their deaths he was brought to our doorstep.  Having spent so much of his childhood amongst humans, it was something like receiving a foreigner into our house.  Try as he might, he never truly was comfortable amongst his own kind.  That alone would make him unsuitable as the spiritual leader for any of our smaller communities and he isn’t temperamentally suited as one of many brethren leading the life of a contemplative in one of our larger temples.  Being an itinerant was and now more than ever is an ideal solution.”

Rashaz interrupted “Surely you should be sending him on to the Great Temple?”

Calmly, Salzaar replied “No. For better or worse Banaar has had the Mantle laid upon him.  What use would it serve for Banaar to stay penned up in a temple, waiting for the cause of his Mantling to appear?  Better that he should go out into the world and prepare himself for whatever is coming. Besides, the less the great houses know of his identity the better. They would not be pleased to find out that the Mantled One is not one of their own.”

Before Rashaz could interrupt again Salzaar continued, “Of course I shall send word to the Great Temple and within a claw of weeks every temple and chapterhouse will know that the Platinum Lord has laid his talons upon the world and placed the Mantle upon his chosen one, Banaar.  Only the senior priests will know the identity of the Mantled One but all of our brothers and sisters will know that one of the faithful has been marked by Bahamut. They shall make ready for whatever great events are coming and prepare for whatever Banaar may need come the day he fully comes unto his Mantle.”

Seeing the questioning look upon Rashaz’s face, Salzaar held up a claw and forestalled him, “The presence of one of Bahamut’s favored ones has always foretold a great upheaval and evil coming into the world.  I doubt very much that anything changed with this morning’s… visitation.  War and death comes, Rashaz.”

“Rashaz, go now and make ready for tomorrow’s celebrations. I feel the need to storm the heavens myself and seek answers for at the moment, all that I know is that something great and terrible is coming and I pray that Banaar and the rest of us will be ready for it.”
 
Player’s Note:
Well, you said this was going to be an epic campaign… so I ran with it.  I deliberately avoided using place names or naming any individuals aside from Banaar’s instructors.  And just as deliberately, I created a number of potential interactions with NPC’s ranging from fellow priests who know that there is a Mantled One but not who, to senior priests who know what Banaar is and may react in a number of ways, to who exactly it was that killed Banaar’s parents and yes, the word “beast” is intentionally vague.

I do not have any intention of the “Mantling” to have any actual game effect other than Banaar’s progression as a cleric.  It is simply meant to serve as a story-telling device to handle his progression into the epic levels.

Please forgive my use of a scene to provide his backstory, I thought it was an interesting method to introduce the character.  If you need or want more information, I’ll be glad to provide it.

While chatting, we overhear a conversation of interest. Mostly of interest because it hints to the fact there is money involved, something I am forever fond of, as is Kargin. Being a Warlock my… powers… are cheap. At least on the pocket they are, not like my Wizard brethren and their range of materials and studying needed. It does come at a different price though, ones sanity is forever on the very edge. I however, will gladly trade a stable, and dull, mind for the vast cosmic knowledge I have witnessed. However I digress…

It would appear that a merchant has lost a large portion of his caravan to some kobolds. The poor fool thinks his guards let him down, somehow thinking an entire caravan could be protected by 3 underpaid men. His most prized possession, a pristine piece of green dragon hide, was taken along with several other items. This sounded like a golden opportunity, and we offered our assistance.

We quickly learned this man was a sneaky one, having already shafted the guards on payment, and through the assistance of the towns Burgermeister we worked up some binding contracts to ensure payment of 200g apiece to each of our group, as well as the Guard Captain and his remaining man, to retrieve said items from the Kobolds. We set off the following morning in search of the abandoned manor estate they had taken up residence in, and along the way were set upon by a band of them along the road in an attempted ambush. We made short work of them, although I must admit I had begun to have new found doubts about our Cleric, as he rushed headlong into battle, and straight into a mud pit trap.

This, children, is why you send the meat shields first, and why I, your ever wise Harbinger of Dark Energy, bring along a 7 foot tall dragonblooded Warlord to wade into the front lines of battle. Kargin and I have a most amicable working relationship, he wades into the fray and sends bodies flying, and I weaken their pitiful minds from within to make them easy prey for him.

We made short work of the ambush party, and the poor fool left still alive we questioned for info. It would appear a kobold dragon cult had taken up residence in the ruins of the manor, under the leadership of a kobold Dragon Priest, whom we gathered may very well be working under and with a White Dragon. We were not able to find out for sure if the Dragon was present or not, but we presumed he was, for our own well being.

Once to the manor things were rather quiet. Outside the ruins we found 2 of the horses still alive, and one functioning cart. The remains of the other horses were nearby, obviously having become dinner. A quick survey revealed there was a path leading under the foundation, which opened up through a chamber into old ruins of some kinda of burial chambers for an ancient temple. Working our way through the temple we dispatched any of the kobolds in our way, having a few close calls to some rather annoying, and dangerous, Drakes. Both the Guard and the Guard captain proved not worthy of the trip, and sadly did not make it though with us. However in a hidden chamber we did find and free yet another Dragonborn named Sargoth (Quite frankly I am not thrilled with this many noble minded fools traveling with me) who signed up his fighting skills to join us for some revenge. Finally we found our quarry, the Priest, and dispatched him. Sadly however what we did not find was the dragon skin, or any of the missing items actually. With a small inspection of the last chamber though we did find a secret passage leading down into a natural cave, that was cool and wet. Being ever prudent, and knowing the possibility of a Dragon was there, we decided to use a side room we found and setup a quiet camp and post watch.

Sometime during our rest a band of Kobolds stumbled across us, they had us at quite a disadvantage, but lets face it, we were better than them, plain and simple. We noticed afterwards that their armor, if you could call it that, was far different than their brethren, these bearing the symbol of the dark god Tiamat. The supposed leader of the group was bearing a scroll, written in draconic, which was apparently a letter from their master to the resident below us. It read the following.

To Szatharrax,

Sixth egg of my mother. I am pleased with your progress organizing the kobolds in your assigned territory. I will convey your success with this new chapter of the faithful to mother.

Our siblings, Kelenth and Sylyrriva have also succeeded in subverting tribes of their own. I have had no report as of yet from the others.

Progress here in the temple is proceeding apace. The ruins hid a surprisingly well-preserved complex underground which the local tribe has managed to put to use. Most of it is too cramped for me, but I have managed to break open a passage between a natural cavern and the rear chamber.

The subterranean temple previously venerated Terog, but these locals are true believers and have imbued these halls with the spirit of Our Queen. If our work and success continues we should have a sufficient army within the year and the humans will be outs for the taking.

By the claws of Our Queen and the colors of her scales…

Nevellere

This proved most interesting, there was obviously far more afoot than originally suspected. Obviously now we knew what to expect below, and headed down, as prepared as well as we could be, really.

We emerged into a cold, chilled room with two large pillars holding up the cavern, and a cold pool of water. Before we had much time to get our bearings straight, out of the darkness to our left a large, white reptilian shape began charging our way. With no time at all to think, I did the first thing that came to mind in an attempt to save our skin.

“Hail, great Szatharrax!” I yelled, much to my companions, and my own, amazement.

The creature hesitated and glared at me, and taking a moment to bow I looked back at him, with feigned reverence.

“I bring you a message from our master Nevellere” and held out the scroll, and walked towards the creature.

In my mind my plan was simple, put it off guard, buy us some time, and hope that when the time is right, and not too late, we can make short work of the fairly small, and lesser powered draconic monster. However as it took the scroll from me and asked “And I am to assume YOU are the chosen messenger?!?” and commanded me to hold fast there within range of its giant claws, and chilling breath, I realized this might not be going quite according to plan.

At the time I was quite upset by the next turn of events, but in hindsight, it was the right thing to do, our window of opportunity was as open as it was ever going to get, and was fast closing. Our new found friend, the fighter Sargoth, charged forward with a battle cry and laid a heavy blow on the creature. Soon Banaar and Kargin had joined along aside, and the 4 of us were now engaged with the creature at a range that was far too close for my liking. I finally made my way to the back, near the ranger, but at great cost to my health and well being, and with perseverance we were able to drop the beast finally. We found its cache, and recovered the missing items, and returned to town, triumphant, albeit tired.

We were in for a world of surprises when we returned, the Burgermeister is not all he seems. When we arrived in town, some children playing on the outskirts spotted us on the road, and ran ahead to tell of our arrival. By time we reached the center of town, he was waiting for us. We filled him in on our discoveries, and concluded our business with the Merchant when he arrived shortly thereafter. We then joined the Burgermeister at his house at his behest to discuss further issues with him. We learned several things. Most importantly, the location of this ruined temple described in the letter is apparently a 3 weeks travel by foot away from us. However we would not be walking there the hard way, fortunately. Bengin, as we learned his name to be, has a father who lives with him who joined us in the common room. He is an ancient man, but one of my knowledge could feel the raw power emanating from him. As he was one of the Wizard family I am unfamiliar with the nuances of his powers, but I could feel the raw energy and appreciate its depth none the less. Baelyn was his name, and before settling down in this small town, he hailed from the port city of Coragon, a half weeks travel from the temple ruins. Coragon housed a fairly sizable Mages Academy, to which he had a direct portal link, hidden in his barn. He was going to escort us to town, as the portal emptied into the academy proper, not some place for our kind to just randomly drop in unannounced.

We made our goodbyes, and traveled with Baelyn, arriving in the academy and met with the headmaster, Saren. We did not ask questions, but it appeared that Baelyn carried much respect in this place, and I feel there might be far more to this story than we know. Saren assisted us with a young boy by the name of Tick who lead us around town to the Market, where we unloaded ourselves of the hide of Szatharrax as well as some of his other loot, for a tidy sum that we in turn used for some new equipment, and a splendid set of bracers for myself that have affected my powers greatly, I might add.

We then made our way to an Inn by the docks named the Salted Fish, where we met with a woman by the name of Gwendian, whom Saren referred us to. She has been kind enough to rent us the entire third floor of the establishment, which is a full sized 4 room apartment, for 20g a month. It looks like we will be calling this place home for a while, and have established ourselves with a base of operations, so to speak. We have not discussed our next steps yet, but I for one would like to be prudent. It is clear this temple houses not just another dragon, but one who seems to be commanding the actions of the other remaining 4, possibly more. Before we go marching into his place, I feel it would be wiser to seek out the other, lesser ones, and learn what we can, as well as try to make equally short work of them as we did they younger sibling. In the meantime I plan to work on my skills at bluffing a dragon, they obviously need some work…