Carnelian

Carnelian Silversmith is a cleric from the town of Silversmith, a dwarven town that splintered off from the abandoned Casper Stronghold. He is a cleric of the Life domain and follower of the forgotten dwarven god of Light, Baldr.

Carnelian is simpleminded but loyal to his teammates and determined to prove the strength of his god.

Early Life
Carnelian was raised in the Silversmith by his uncle, Father Silversmith, the town's high priest, and his half-sister Agate. The town of Silversmith worshipped the deity Berronar Truesilver and mined the region near the Casper Dwarfhold for precious gems. However, over the past decade the last remaining mines surrounding the Dwarfhold had entirely dried up, leaving the town to fall into poverty. Growing up, Carnelian showed a natural talent for healing, but was a poor student with little aptitude. He took interest in the god Baldr from an obscure reference found in one of his uncle's tomes, and stories from a passing traveler.

As the town's resources were continually depleted, Carnelian publicly pressed Father Silversmith to evacuate the town, but his uncle refused to travel from their homeland, claiming that Berronar Truesilver would grant them prosperity for showing loyalty to their homeland. Carnelian publicly denounced the goddess for abandoning them, and was subsequently informally excommunicated.

Adventures in the Casper Region
Following his excommunication, Carnelian wandered the Casper region looking for information about Baldr. He offered his services as a healer to guide traveling adventurers. One such traveler was the enchantment wizard Mercer. Carnelian began a brief romantic relationship with Mercer during their travels. Mercer's party was searching for a magical relic in the mountains known as the Scepter of Ungart. Upon finding the scepter, Mercer's party turned on him to get the relic themselves. Carnelian was hesitant to fight them, but Mercer charmed him into killing them while their backs were turned. Betrayed, Carnelian left Mercer and wandered to Hiberna.

The New Party
In Hiberna, Carnelian met fellow travelers Castelis, Gurney, Helike, Lenny, Scourpax, and Tolko. While in Hiberna, they discovered that traveling caravans were being intercepted by goblins, led by a mysterious figure named Buggo. Much of the caravans were intercepted from the elven city of Chezalia. The party interrogated a goblin and learned that the goblins were recruited from Hollow Deck, a western goblin town with failing crops.

The party traveled to Hiberna, and discovered that no caravans had reached the town that day. They met with two survivors of other raids, and found that they had been wiped out by a goblin army. The party traveled to the Sovagxe woods to the goblin army and killed most of the encampment. They interrogated the surviving goblins and learned that Buggo was supposedly undead, and was leading "the southern campaign." The generals had never seen Buggo, and communicated to him through amulets by saying his name while wearing them.

In hopes of finding powerful objects to defeat Buggo, the party traveled to a cavern that was rumored to contain valuable magical items. Inside the cavern, they accidentally activated a magical teleportation spell and traveled somewhere in the Abyss. While in the Abyss, Carnelian's powers as a cleric of Baldr strengthened, and he cast Turn Undead for the first time. He also met another Cleric of Baldr named Duluth inside the dimension, who had long ago been trapped inside and was slowly losing his mind. Duluth informed Carnelian that he was sent from the kingdom of Nebrask to defeat the eclipse goddess Ylil, who was the antithesis of Baldr and would call forth the apocalypse during the next solar eclipse. Carnelian also received an ancient relic of Baldr, the golden horn, which had the power to call forth allies twice per year. Carnelian used the horn to summon Castelis, and the party escaped from the Abyss to the elemental plane of water (with a stop over somewhere in the Nine Hells), eventually finding their way back to Chezalia.

Having been unable to find more weapons to defeat Buggo, the party traveled to an abandoned dwarven stronghold in hopes of finding more powerful weapons. The "abandoned" stronghold was in fact the home for kobolds, who had been continuously fighting the spirits of dwarven warriors that had been called forth to defend the stronghold. Unwilling to kill the kobolds on behalf of the spirits, the party found the locked treasure chamber, which contained the crystal that allowed the dwarves to stay on the material plane. The party battled the spirits and Helike took the crystal. Helike refused to give Carnelian the crystal despite his insistence, and instead handed it over to the spirit Agate (named after the same great warrior as Carnelian's sister). Agate swallowed the crystal and left the stronghold, dooming the other spirits to follow her and allowing the kobolds to live in the stronghold freely. Carnelian refused to take any items from the stronghold out of guilt, but was given a large shoulder guard with the power to block ghostly powers as a gift from the kobolds.

The War Against Buggo
After briefly returning the Chezalia, the party volunteered to join a group of soldiers traveling south to fight Buggo. They reached an unnamed keep, and delivered information on the war against Buggo to Lt. Melanie Ryan. However, they discovered that Lt. Ryan was a spy who was secretly delivering information to Buggo. Once discovered, she summoned "The Protectors," seven elven ghosts that attacked the people of the keep in darkness. The adventurers fought off the ghosts, and discovered portals that brought the ghosts to this realm. Helike jumped through one such portal and discovered a young wizard named Edgelord, who was sending ghosts from a pocket dimension. They captured Edgelord, who taught them magic to enter "The Winter Stronghold," a base of operations for Buggo's troops, after which he managed to escape. They also learned that there is one other such wizard named Polonius fighting on behalf of Buggo from another pocket dimension, and that he had a mentor named Jalomon.

The party traveled from the military town (which Carnelian dubbed "Baldr's Gates" and created a sign for it with Castelis) to the town of Rico, making a brief detour in the Fey Wild. From Rico, they traveled to the front lines, where General Veamika gave them an assignment to sneak past enemy lines and attack Buggo directly as the main army launched a major offense in one week's time. The party snuck past enemy lines, where they were briefly caught by fairies and put in an enchanted sleep. While they were trapped in an enchanted sleep, Carnelian, charmed into believing that Gurney, Lenny, and Tolko were enemies, cast "Hold Person" on Gurney and attacked him and Tolko. When the enchantment was lifted, Carnelian was distraught that he had been tricked into hurting his friends.

Appearance
Carnelian is 4'4" (slightly on the shorter side for a dwarf) and weighs 145 lbs. He has long, strawberry-blond hair that is often braided and wears full-plate armor along with the remains of a white cloak and loincloth that have been ripped to shreds from years of travel. He bears a sun insignia representing Baldr on his belt and shield.

Magic Weapons and Items of Power

 * The Golden Fife, discovered in the Nine Hells. Grants worshippers of Baldr the power to call allies to the user's location twice per year (used once)
 * A blessed warhammer, found in the Nine Hells.
 * A large warding medallion that grants advantage against ghostly attacks. Currently worn as a shoulder guard.
 * The Staff of Ungart, a staff of legendary power which is useless without the bloodline of clan Ungart. This can possibly be circumvented by making a pact with the demon of Clan Ungart, Nyplos. The staff's true power is currently unkown.