The Lone Monk of Phandalin This had been a long time coming, ever since those beasts had defiled his god's shrine. Jian Bing the monk sat in his room in Phandalin's Stonehill Inn. Meditating, he began preparing himself for what was to be the battle that would determine the fate of the country town. A Troubling Man Glassstaff, an evil mage and leader of the Redbrand gang of thugs, had been captured by Jian and his companions: A dwarf named Halfor, whose axe and righteous fury could split the thickest of hides; An aristocrat that would soon be known throughout the whole of the Sword Coast, Count Jazad Magmathane; A huntress whose arrows and swords were sharper than her bird's talons, but not as sharp as her tongue, Natali. The four had come back from finally ridding the surrounding landscape of it's goblin problem and taking the goblin king, Groll the bugbear, prisoner to identify Glassstaff. Sildar, one of their employers, would not prosecute Glassstaff for his crimes without evidence he could refute, even after witnessing an escape attempt. For apparently, Glassstaff bore a striking resemblance to Sildar's close and personal friend Iarno. He wanted someone who could identify Glassstaff's appearance. Seeking Witnesses It turned out that Glassstaff was working for someone, a drow elf that went by the alias "The Black Spider". With enough investigating and rooting around, the group found that the mage had close workings under The Black Spider with the tribe of goblins that were raiding the countryside, the Cragmaws. When searching the forest for their primary location of operations, they were ambushed by a group of twenty-five goblins. While fighting valiantly, the goblins were not equipped to handle such adept fighters. All save one were killed without hesitation, while the remaining one was used to lead Jian and his companions to the hideout. Upon reaching the hideout, the party decided they wanted to approach this intelligently. They lit a fire just out of view of the treeline so that the smoke could be seen from the base. Two goblins approached the area and were very quickly captured. In the subsequent interrogation, it turned out these specific goblins knew of an alternate entrance into the the hideout from the rear. The group left the three goblins they had in captivity in the forest tied up to fend for themselves. Old Ties They approached the hideout from the secret entrance, then found and captured the bugbear Groll while also saving one of their other employers, Gundren, from his brutal captivity. It proved relatively simple, with Groll only attended by his pets at the time. At this point, the party thought they ought to retreat, as they had what they came for. Jian, however, remembering a vision sent to him by his god almost a fortnight ago, said there was one last thing he had to do in this..."Cragmaw Castle". The party reluctantly agreed to follow through with it. He interrogated Groll for the location of a shrine in the hideout. After a beating and a half later, the bugbear told him exactly the route he needed to take to get there without facing too much opposition. Entering the room holding the shrine, it was revealed that five more goblins were lying in wait and praying to their god, a foul being by the name of Maglubiyet. Natali's owl, Strix, simply swooped in from an opening in the tower above and raked its claws across the faces of them all, leaving their god one last sacrifice on the shrine. Jian, kicking aside the bodies, stood above the shrine and looked down on it in disgust. In a single fluid motion, he swung his arm upwards and closed it into a fist, channeling the power of his god to destroy the now abomination-of-a-shrine. The noise created by the goblins' bloodcurdling screams and the tremors created by Jian caused more goblins across the whole castle to come running. The party engaged in a great battle and were victorious in the end, though suffering a great deal of damage themselves in the process. After cleaning the castle of its riches, the group went back to town with Groll in tow. The Duel Glassstaff, upon seeing the party approach the Phandalin Townmaster's Hall, smiled looking at the bugbear through the barred window. When they entered, Glassstaff called out to them and Sildar from his cell, saying that he would submit to all of the charges against him through trial by combat. He would have the bugbear be his champion. Jian volunteered to be the champion of the people, much to the dismay and worry of his companions. They tried to talk him down from it and even volunteered themselves in his place, but he reminded them that it was he who held off Groll on his own while they fought his pets. Reluctantly, they agreed. Gifts of Others Sitting there in his room, Jian mediated in silence while maintaining the constant stream of sparks pelting him from above. Fire was his one connection to his god, and this little bit was enough. Reflecting on Jian's work the day before in destroying the shrine to the god of goblins, Sirrion expressed his gratitude in cleansing his now defiled shrine. To aid him in the ensuing fight, Sirrion granted Jian a temporary gift: The speed of a raging inferno. He had never felt this fast before; time seemed to slow down around him slightly. He thanked his god for this great boon and promised he wouldn't waste it. This was not the end of the blessings that Jian received prior to his fight, though. His companion Halfor approached him and accompanied him on his was to the town square, where the match was to take place. As they reached the edge of the circle, the dwarf put a hand on Jian's shoulder and offered him his as well as his god's blessing. "When the outcome is uncertain, i'll need all of the help i can get." Holding out a hand, Halfor shook Jian's. In that moment, there was a charge that ran through the monk, an energy he couldn't even begin to describe. When it passed, he felt as though a great weight had lifted from his shoulders and there was a platinum ring on his finger to match the one that Halfor now wore. They locked eyes for one last minute in a moment 1

of acknowledgement, Jazad still preaching of the spectacle to come before the crowd. He beckoned them closer for it wasn't a fight any would want to miss. As they moved in, Jian and Halfor broke their grips and Jian strode toward the clearing in the center of the crowd. Fight for the Ages On the other side, as he approached, he could see Sildar holding Glassstaff's shoulder, whose arms were still tied to prevent him from using magic. In front of them, Groll was still bound in chains that someone was only just starting to unlock. After they were unlocked, the warden threw a huge morningstar at the ground in front of Groll. At the sound of a loud "hoot", Jian looked up to see Strix circling overhead clutching a staff unlike that which he had seen before. He dropped it and it landed straight up in the ground next to Jian. It was ornately carved with patterns of feathers and vines. Grasping it in one hand, Jian took on a calm, but collected, battle-ready stance as he pulled it from its place in the ground. Groll was just finishing his approach as Jian assumed his stance. He stood there, his eyes staring down menacingly at Jian. "I'm going to enjoy this." Without another word exchanged, the bugbear assumed his stance and the two began to circle each other. They held this standoff for a full minute, until the bugbear revealed what had been hidden in his 'empty' hand. Dust flew at Jian's face. While he swatted it away before it hit him in the eyes, it was quickly followed by a heavy downward-blow directed at the left side of his torso. This brought him to his knees as he felt it connect, trying to hold up against the massive pressure. With great effort, he rolled to the side to get away from it, still on his knees looking up at Groll. He attempted to leap up and smack the bugbear across the face with his staff, followed by a spin-kick, but he stumbled and fell to the ground. The bugbear, pointing his morningstar at him on the ground, laughed. Jian felt his vision go dark for a moment, until he heard a voice in his mind, Don't give up, lad. We fight together. It was Halfor. In that split second, Jian felt the weight on his weakened form lessen greatly. It was enough so that he could start pushing himself up. His blood was everywhere. In that moment, Jian felt it. Here, he, the servant of Sirrion, God of Fire, struggling on the steps of the shrine of Tymora, the Goddess of Luck, blessed by his most trusted comrade, would not die. "You...You can do it Jian! I believe in you!" A cry came from the crowd. While his vision was still hazy and unfocused, he recognized it as the little girl he and his companions had rescued from Glassstaff's compound. He pushed himself farther up, grabbing his staff from the ground nearby to use as support. More cries rose up in a mocking of the girl's. Boiling Point As Groll took note of this and began to bring down his morningstar once more, Jian felt a surge just before it connected. "Why don't you stay dead like a good puny human!" As he was about to take the blow, Jian suddenly felt himself leap to the right. He managed to flip into a standing position before landing. He had stopped bleeding. Groll, turning to face him, face now contorted in rage, swung upwards at Jian, bringing it in a deadly arc. Jian dodged back a step and then hooked his staff around the head of the morningstar. As the swing reach its apex, he unhooked himself and kicked the bugbear in the face. Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough. His master's words rang in his mind. Groll put a hand to his face and turned around to face Jian where he now landed. Jian saw his hand on his staff had a very slight red shimmer to it. Not good enough. Jian stuck the staff in the ground and spun around it, this time kicking Groll in the chest to knock him back. Groll was becoming increasingly infuriated with him, and struck out in as fast of a frenzy as he could manage. Blow after blow, Jian seemed to dodge them all in fine, fluid motions while turning most of them back on him. Jian felt a heat in his blood. He thought he had felt it before, when being spoken to by his god, but this felt more physical, like actual heat rather than pressure. The bugbear began to get angrier and angrier, trying to strike harder and faster with each swing. At one point, in what seemed to be the climax of the battle, he grazed the side of Jian that he had hit before at the beginning. Jian jumped backwards as far as he could in one leap. "What's the matter? Afraid to get burned?" Groll laughed his sinister cackling laugh again. Burned, he says? I can do much worse than that to you. All of a sudden, the glow that was enveloping Jian became red hot, and his blood felt as though it were actually boiling. With a silent prayer to his god, he swung his staff onto his back and lashed out, seeking to release that heat. Tendrils of fire extended from numerous parts of his body; His wounds, his hands and feet, all were spouting gouts of fire that seemed to bend and burn. The ground immediately underneath his feet turned to glass as he stepped. He began to charge Groll, swinging about this newfound energy, and without even trying to none of the spectators were harmed or even came close to touching any of the tendrils. He was still a decent distance away, but Jian brought his hands together and downwards centered on Groll. The tendrils responded in kind, whipping around and then falling upon the bugbear. He hefted his morningstar as he saw it coming, trying to brace against the attack, but the flames curled around it and burned his fur while pushing him back. The tendrils themselves faded shortly after, but the power was still there. Jian rushed to close the gap between him and Groll with an unnatural speed. As Jian was about to bore down on him, Groll shouted "WHAT?!" before Jian slid along the ground between his legs and tripped him. As he began to fall, Jian lept from sliding to delivering an uppercut directly in the center of the bugbear's chest. This sent them into the air several meters before they both came down, Jian now on top of Groll giving a few final swift punches to the face. Standing up once again and hefting the staff from his back, he held it above his head. Listening to the cheers of the crowd saying "Finish him!" Jian began to began to bring it down. 2