Church of Lathander

Situated in the snowy northern mountains is the Abbey of Lathander, a humble temple placed as close to the sun as possible on the Glowing Peak.

Known to be a NG deity of righteousness and sunlight, a protector god, Lathander's chosen clerics and paladins are given assorted ranks, from fresh initiates called the Awakened (a reference to Lathander's association with the dawn, specifically), who graduate to the rank of Dawngreeter, Dawnlord, High Dawnlord, and eventually Dawnmaster. The most elite among them are called Morninglords, a title also used to refer to Lathander himself.

Followers of Lathander are always of good alignment, varying from lawful to chaotic. They are expected to do good in the world, whether as powerful missionaries who go out and find troubled, endangered souls and rescue them from peril, or as gentle spirits who remain in the Abbey and offer long-term healing and counseling to those in need. Often, but not always, these roles are split into paladins and clerics respectively. Missionaries are tasked with defending and saving the weak, directing those they cannot help back to the Abbey, and mitigating the effects of demons, evil gods, and their followers. Missionaries do not spread the word of Lathander; they spread his will for a brighter world.

## The Morninglord and The Warlock

Morninglord Bee is an aasimar missionary paladin of youthful appearance who has possessed that title for at least fifteen years. A decade and a half ago, they rescued Sam Obsidia from an asylum being run by Talonan clerics, and brought him back to the Abbey. They became attached to him, despite a direct command from Lathander:

YOU MUST STOP SAM OBSIDIA.

Bee continued to treat Sam as a friend, and spoke with his warlock patron, the demon known as Pride, for a reported 487 nights in attempt to justify the demon's desire to cross into the mortal realm. Bee believes, after much interrogation and investigation, that Pride is both inherently evil and has been emotionally abusing and manipulating Sam. Sam lived at the Abbey for three years, and although at the beginning of it he was there of his own free will as he recovered from his abuse at the hands of the Talonans, Bee began detaining him there after he expressed his intention to aid Pride in crossing over.

He asked for their help, and Bee struggled between wanting to help their friend, and being certain that Pride was a negative influence as well as said direct order from their god. They attempted to compromise by continuing to confer with Pride while holding Sam captive, but only became steadily more sure of their judgment. Sam and Bee's friendship understandably deteriorated during this time.

Eventually, Sam was able to escape from the Abbey of Lathander. Bee continued to hold out hope that they may convince him of Pride's devilish intentions, but if they are unable to win him over, they will imprison him again to keep Pride out of the mortal plane, and will put him into a magical slumber so that he can continue to be as happy as possible with Pride, in his dream realm.

## The Fall of the Morninglord

    Bee was convinced that perhaps Pride was indeed good for Sam, because Sam appeared to now have a small, close group of friends, including Irah, Mishka, and Goro. Because Bee had previously been partially convinced of Pride's abuse because of his tendency to isolate Sam, Bee had to admit that perhaps they had been wrong, and they quietly dropped their crusade against Pride. They did not report this back to the church, but Lathander revoked their paladin abilities, including the slowed aging and continued youth of high-ranking believers which they had previously enjoyed, which allowed them to look barely 20 when they were in fact about 120.

Without their paladin magic, Bee picked up bardic practices to defend themself, as well as seeking out a forge to reshape their flaming greatsword into two scimitars and reshape their heavy armor into something they could still wear with their reduced strength. They became a College of Swords bard fairly easily, managing to retain some of the spells they knew as a paladin, and picking up other magic to patch the holes. They still carry the same shield.

Bee committed themself to repairing their relationship with Sam and agreed to help him bring Pride onto the mortal plane.

Unfortunately, once this had happened, Goro and Hansel determined via Zone of Truth and Detect Magic that Pride was trying to lie and be evasive, and Bee recalled the spell Glibness, which allows creatures to lie under ZoT. Upon discovering that Pride was indeed manipulating Sam and the Runners, Bee flew into a rage, sprouting skeletal, ethereal wings and seeming to bleed gold from their eyes, and emanating an aura of fear. Once it abated, Bee was clearly troubled by this and quietly left.

Later, Mishka discovered that they had been joined by several other Lathanderites in Skyport, and seemed to be undergoing some ritual of penitence, taking repeated radiant damage from a Goliath woman Lathanderite. They are apparently determined to win back Lathander's favor and use this power to kill Pride after all, and have the support of at least a handful of their old clergy in Skyport. They also seem to be more emotionally volatile than they once were.

In confidence, Sam told Mishka that Bee did not previously have skeletal wings. When they rescued him from the Talons, they had the feathered wings of a non-fallen aasimar.