Beldrug Brightanvil

## Beldrug Brightanvil(*Deceased*)

**Beldrug Brightanvil** was a wandering knight that joined the Retinue of the Hand and stood against Kalareth.

## History

### Early Life

Beldrug was born a commoner within the Brightanvil clan home in the hills of northern Scoria.  After his infancy, Beldrug was assigned the duty of Brewer by their king.  This meant that by the time he was able to walk, Beldrug was already aware of how to identify pristine ingredients and how to combine them into the perfect mead.  Like all other Brightanvil children before him, Beldrug spent his childhood perfecting his craft rather than playing, smiling, and laughing.  By the time he reached adulthood, Beldrug was revered as one of the most gifted brewers within the clan.

It was said amongst the clan, Beldrug's hand was guided directly by Throlthk's, but none would have ever assumed him to be more than a master brewer.. until the day the Brightanvil's awoke an ancient Mind Flayer deep within one of their mines.  The Mind Flayer struck without warming and with great savagery, first slaughtering every dwarf within the mine that day.  Word was spreading fast the ancient Illithid was slowly making his way up from the depths of the mine and toward's their village and slaughtering all dwarves in it's path.  The nobles, the king, and his loyal guard fortified themselves within their keep and only allowed the best of the clan's commoner artisan's to take refuge within the fortification.  One of the king's guard was sent to bring Beldrug and a handful of other craftsmen to the safety of the keep, but Beldrug refused.  Something within Beldrug was telling him that he needed to stand and fight.  Having no previous martial training and never before encountering such a creature, he knew what the likely outcome of such an action would be, yet he was calm and brave.  Something else inside of him gave Beldrug great faith that he would be okay.

When the mind flayer finally made it to their village the next day, it was met by a small army of Brightanvil dwarves who were ready to fight to defend their homeland.  A single mind blast from the ancient creature left the entire dwarven force in ruin.  Some were paralyzed, some went mad and turned on their nearest brethren, some lost their lives instantly.  The mind flayer finished off what was left one by one before continuing towards the dwarven keep where so many were fortified inside.

Just before the Illithid could reach the keep, it was met by one lowly dwarf wielding both a crude warhammer and shield.  The dwarves within the keep looked out to see Beldrug, the brewer, standing alone against the mighty creature.  As if the dwarf was not even there, the mind flayer continued it's way towards the keep.  Beldrug gripped the warhammer tight and charged forward to engage the beast as the rest of the Brightanvil clan watched in horror.  The mindflayer raised a hand and sent a psychic blast at the dwarf as if it were batting away an insect, yet the blast did not falter the dwarf's charge.  In this moment, the Mind Flayer was slightly bewildered and this gave Beldrug the opportunity to close the gap and strike with a mighty roar.  When Beldrug struck, a thundering radiant energy erupted from the warhammer and into the Illithid, a blow so mighty it knocked the creature to the ground.  The king and the rest of the Brightanvil clan watched in awe as Beldrug struck the creature.  Inspired and faith renewed, the warriors of the Brightanvil clan charged from within the keep to come to Beldrug's aid.

In the end, the ancient creature was slain.  The king named Beldrug champion of the Brightanvil clan and he began martial and religious training with the Paladins of Beldandar.  In his very limited free time, Beldrug would still work on perfecting his mead brewing.  At the age of 30, Beldrug was asked by the king to go forth into the world and bring glory and honor to the Brightanvil clan.  He traveled the realm whoever needed help at the time. This led him to join with the Retinue of the Hand in their adventures.