Introduction

If you want to move on ahead to the reason you came here, the Dawnslinger character option is on page 9, and [the Prologue sample is on page 16] (#p16)

What is added to this document is the official introduction to a story I felt needed to be written. It's been three decades since a very bad time in Dungeons & Dragons history, and I'm sure that I'm not the only one who wants to see some healing for this very old wound.

It's the main reason why I'm writing Ashes of the Dawn. I don't know if it's the first intentional Faith-Based Dungeons & Dragons fiction novel, I know that there has been Christian Themes in D&D before, but I felt that I had to write it in a way that contributes to bridging this gap, which will have to be addressed sooner or later now that D&D is so much into the forefront.

This so-beloved game has grown a lot since the 1980s, and has garned a lot more appeal than most people would've expected even earlier in the decade. I do not want to have this progress get ripped from everyone because someone wish to revive that moral crisis.

That is the reason behind not just the novel, but also behind some of the ideas and suggestions in this document, which can be used to create a D&D campaign setting with the Judeo-Christian God in it.

I do not wish to use this material to preach the Gospel myself. I'm woefully unqualified to so do. I don't even call myself a Christian anymore. But I believe that there is someone out there who would want to create a ministry with Role Playing Games. If that person is out there, I would be glad to hear that this document is of some help in achieving their goal.

Thank you for not removing this document from anywhere I put it and banning me from even playing D&D casually right off the bat. I've seen other people be unpersoned for less.

Table of Contents

Credits

Document written by David Foxfire using GM Binder

Including artwork created by David Foxfire

Character Option: Otherworldly Patron: Lathander:
Created for Fifth Edition Dungeons & Dragons
Licensed under the Open Game License 1.0, listed at the end of this document.

Ashes of the Dawn-based Material
Created under the Fan Content Policy from Wizards of the Coast.
The novel will be made available free for all D&D players and creators, and it is considered unofficial material neither endorsed or supported by Wizards of the Coast.
Wizards of the Coast is encouraged to make Ashes of the Dawn official content, and they are encouraged to contact me to discuss how to do this.

Those who wish to support me with other projects, such as my homebrew campaign setting, Æthercoil, can visit my web site, where several venues to do so is provided. Web, E-Mail, and Social Media addresses are provided below.

Introduction to “Ashes of the Dawn,”
A faith-based D&D story.

Why I’m writing this

This document originally started as an article part of me wanted to write three decades ago, for my returning Aethercoil Magazine. However, as I continued to develop the book said article was describing, I felt that I had to move it here, with a bit more detail and the character option I designed just for the book, it had to be put here. While I didn’t want to devote too much into the Forgotten Realms into the story at first, as the story progressed, the Forgotten Realms became an integral factor in the backstory of this novel.

Therefore, my policy of putting things that focus in D&D Intellectual Property be taken from my more setting-agnostic Æthercoil magazine, and it became its own document here in the DM’s Guild.

“Ashes of the Dawn” is a story I had to write ever since Fifth Edition came around, and to be honest, it was a story that I felt had to be written way back in the 1980s, during the infamous Satanic Panic. It resurged in my head in the current year as I was devoting most of my time in my own setting of Aethercoil, and it flat out refused to let my brain go. I simply must write this book, so it can let me the Hell be. (Would it be safe to say that God is prompting me to write Ashes of the Dawn? Perhaps, perhaps. It wouldn’t be the first time that happened to anybody.)

This document introduces the concept of this book, and shows the player character option inspired by this book. I also have some suggestions on how someone who is a Christian can play this game using their deity as inspiration for their characters, as well as some illustrations, bits of lore, an extra character option, and any other loose thoughts in my head.

It is not my intention to proselytize with this. While I still believe that Jesus Christ saved me from my sins and everything, I cannot with a clear conscious call myself a Christian. The Church has burned me throughout the decades starting with the Satanic Panic. However, if there is someone who wanted to create a ministry with Role Playing Games, I’d like to at least have that person consider this document and everything in it. That is part of the story in Ashes of the Dawn, and ultimately, it’s why I’m putting the book out in the first place.

Not every Christian would be interested in this, in fact, it’s safe to assume that there are some people who still have the 80s mindset. But if I can get one person to bridge D&D and Christianity together, no matter what eternity I’ll face, I’ll face it happy.

Two caveats

There are two things that you need to know before you go on. First off, none of this will ever be Adventurer’s League legal ever!! All of this is strictly casual and homebrew game only!!

And two, you’re going to see some cussing in this document. This isn’t because of me not being religious or of a lack of vocabulary, it’s because I’m autistic. And if you know anyone who’s on the Autism Spectrum, you know how difficult it is for an autistic to communicate effectively to a neurotypical person. At times the autistic needs to knock down a brick wall between himself and the rest of the world. To me, ‘Fuck’ makes a great wrecking ball.

How the book came to be.

I’ll spare you the details on what the Satanic Panic was. All I’ll say about it is this. If God ever accepts me into heaven, a feat that will utterly shock parts of me, and I see J. T. Chick up there, I will kick him in the nuts to hard that they will fly out of his mouth.

Google the man and find out why.

Be assured that I’m not the only one who thinks this way.

With the resurgence of D&D in these recent years, I feel that the time has come for this thirty-year-plus black mark in Christian (and D&D) history to be addressed, and to build a bridge between Christianity and Role-Playing Games. I’d like to see a D&D ministry and maybe even a Christian-themed D&D campaign. I won’t be the one doing it--I do not consider myself a Christian. Too ashamed of the Church--but I can inspire someone else. That’s the reason why I want to write a book, a Faith-Based story on Dungeons & Dragons.

Even today I can still feel this long time wound still festering today while I was sharing this idea on Reddit. Almost everyone was telling me that “Well, I think that’s a good idea and I don’t want to discourage you from writing it…BUT…” Not the most encouraging thing in the world. I wonder if Wizards of the Coast would think the same thing. I even prayed a lot about it to God and even He understood why they’d think this way.

But in the end, There was no choice on the matter.

Blame Evelyn Avalona Helvig Marthain

At first, I wanted this story to be setting agnostic for obvious reasons. I didn’t want to run afoul of Wizards and their protecting of their Intellectual property. However, after multiple episodes of Dice Camera Action, something came up which was just too good for me not to use, and with the Fan Content Policy permitting non-commercial use of some of their IPs (You mean I have to make my own Ampersand?! At least using the Cason D font to make the Original D&D logo is kosher!) and let’s be honest, I’m going to gift this book to Wizards of the Coast, the D&D Community, any Christians that won’t reject me outright anyway.

The Angel in Ashes of the Dawn, in the book’s current form, is Lathander the Morninglord.

Thank you, Anna Prosser Robinson, for the inspiration.

Being that Evelyn’s First Love is usually associated with the Sun, it’s only natural that Latahnder’s origin will have him be an Angel of Light. In fact, in-story, Lathander was once Amanatour, 2nd Rank Angel of Light. Second only to Lucifer. Amanatour was one open rebellion away from being the Highest Angel before God, and as you know, that open rebellion happened. The reason behind Lucifer’s Fall is speculative in more official discussions but in the book, Lucifer rebelled because God created humans with the capacity of going good to the point of going above the Angels, and the capacity of doing evil to the point of destroying creation and themselves, with the Free Will to choose between the two. In Lucifer’s eyes, God became Doctor Victor Frankenstein, with us humans as the Frankenstein Creature. Straight out of Mary Shelley’s book. In fact, the last words Lucifer said when he was cast out of heaven was “God, You created a monster, and before I am done, I will make you admit it.”

After the rebellion, Amanatour was about to inherent Lucifer’s vacated the position and was honored to do so, but he had one question to ask Him: “Why?” He didn’t want to rebel against God, but he didn’t understand why God created humans the way they are, and the world the way it is. He went up to God personally asking that he get, at least an understanding to this, if not a clear answer, as his one condition for him becoming the new Top Angel.

Just like what it was with Job, who asked pretty much the same thing, God couldn’t provide an acceptable answer. Or at least an answer he can give in under five paragraphs. He wasn’t offended by Amanatour’s question at all, in fact he commended the angel for doing to civilly. However, His creation is so detailed, intricate, and complicated that He couldn’t provide a simple answer. So, he had to go for a standard rule in writing and show rather than tell, just like what he did with Job. However, an angel has a lot more capabilities than a human that, at the time, was broke, homeless, alone, harangued by his time’s version of 4chan, and showing the absolute worst case of acne on record. With Amanatour, God saw some promise that he might, with enough time and experience, get the reason why. So, He decided to let Amanatour learn the “Why” by letting him learn the “How” of creation. God gave Amanatour all the notes and in-depth instructions He made in creating the heavens and the earth, provided an alternate dimension where everything is set in a pre-Big Bang setting, and told him to gather all the other angels who had this very same question and create their own world. God knows that these angels will be forever changed by their creation, but it’s the only way that they’ll understand the reasons. And in the end, He hopes that these Angels will provide the short explanation He himself can’t seem to find.

As they began constructing The Realms, they drew in other angels into their fold. Some of them didn’t want to go into the creative process, but instead wanted to use The Realms to experiment on something that will eventually end up in Earth. Some of those who joined in came from a very unusual source: the other side. I have it so that some fallen angels discover how much of a raw deal they got in joining Lucifer’s rebellion that they, in turn, turned on the Devil. Thrown out of both Heaven and Hell, they decided that being adrift betwixt and between neither knowing nor caring what would happen to them suits them just fine. Some of them would even tried take on a road of redemption back to God’s good graces, with varying success. A few of them however, joined the Angels building the realms. The majority of them became Evil-aligned deities, but they held vital roles in the multiverse. Eventually, a concept known as “The Balance,” of Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes fame, grew to the fore, as everyone tried to swerve the people in the realms away from the many pitfalls God’s people fell in on Earth.

In short, the Balance states that Good and Evil, and Law and Chaos, must be kept at a state of equilibrium. No single being, race, group, kingdom, or even deity should grow too powerful and become tyrannical. Even those with the Good alignment, especially Lawful Good, are in danger of this. And it is the lack of this equilibrium that caused most of the vicious cycles that plagued Earth’s humanity all throughout any recorded history. (And let’s be honest, how many ‘Naturals’ would consider Jesus and His chosen ‘Glorified’ people tyrannical during Kingdom Come? More than one, if I guess right.)

How the book will be published

Being that Ashes of the Dawn uses Forgotten Realms material, I doubt it will ever be put into any official publishing company, unless of course Wizards wants to use it or allows someone to publish it for a ministry. If the DM’s Guild had a fiction section, it would be perfect there. Barring that, I’ll be putting it on my own web site (https://foxfirestudios.net) where it’ll be available for all.

It will come into two versions, a Red Edition which is written for a general audience, and a Black Edition, which is the unrated version. In short, get the Black Edition and hide it from your Mother.

Both versions will be free, although I’ll encourage readers to support my for other projects such as Æthercoil. At the very least, a cup of coffee form ko.fi would be sufficient, and I doubt Wizards would mind me getting some joe for my work. (A link to support sites are in the web site.)

Promoting the book will be simple enough. I just have to expand on Matthew’s life in the Realms. Starting with the Waterdeep season and moving on from there. I won’t take him through Dragon Heist, but he will mingle with other characters in the city and even get into some groups. He will be crashing the other parties in various Twitch Streams. I’ll probably make it a serialized short story series published on reddit.

Warlock Otherworldly Patron: Lathander, the Morninglord

And now we get to the main reason why you downloaded this document. This is the class option that is part of Ashes of the Dawn. This is the pact Yeshu creates between Lathander and Matthew in an object lesson on thinking outside of the box.

The idea Yeshu gave Lathander is to go from a Divine source to an Arcane source, through the only real way he can do so, with a Warlock Pact. Of course, this was the first time Lathander had a Patron-Warlock relationship, and so he used this opportunity to build his pact parameters on scratch.

What follows is an emulation of that pact for public consumption. I used The Celestial otherworldly patron from Xanathar’s Gude to Everything and worked from there, customizing options that fit the Morninglord. This includes options with the Cleric’s Light domain, which is familiar territory as well as some pages form the Paladin class. There are also some Eldritch Invocations designed on top of the archetype, created as Lathander further develops the pact’s details.

Note: I refer to an Ability score by its full name, and the Ability modifier by its abbreviation.

Overhauled Spell List

When Lathander looked at the spells usually cased by warlocks, he thought that most of the spells don't suit his taste. They neither didn't fit with his divine nature, or they weren't capable of being reshaped into the style he was shooting for; that of a Warlock of Lathander being a representative of his Shadow.

Because of this, he did more than just add spells to the Warlock Spell list. He completely overhauled it, removing some spells that fall more into Fiend and Old One patrons and replacing them with Cleric or Paladin spells. Some of them have slight alterations, while others are so altered that a new spell description is required.

What is listed later in the document is the result of his work, performed in the course of an half hour in a time-frozen demiplane where he trained his first Warlock, Matthew Christopher, in channeling his power.

Bonus Cantrips

At 1st Level, the warlock leans the Light and the Thaumaturgy cantrips. These count as warlock cantrips, using CHA for the ability, and they do not count against the known number of cantrips. If the character already knows these cantrips, he can select another from either the Warlock or Cleric spell list.

Spellcasting Rod

Lathander has discovered, with his first Dawnslinger, that is can be dangerous for his warlocks to channel his light directly through their bare hands. In fact, every attack spell of any kind from the warlock without any spellcasting implement requires a CON save against the character’s spell save DC. On a fail, he takes 1d6 radiant damage. They are channeling the sun after all. Spells that produce areas of effects or require the target to make a saving throw do not trigger this effect.

Because of this, all Dawnslingers are given a means to create or procure a rod spellcasting implement. Any mundane weapon the character is proficient in will also qualify for this. Whatever the item is, an hour-long ritual is performed to attune the item for its purpose. A warlock can only have one such device so attuned at one time. If lost or stolen, a new one can be made, upon which the previous one loses all properties and becomes a mundane item again.

This implement can also become the warlock’s pact weapon under Pact of the Blade, if the warlock so chooses.

In some areas where Dawnslingers are commonplace, a temple to Lathander might have +0 Rods of the Pactkeeper available (no bonuses to attack or DC, but one can regain a spell slot from it,) especially made for this new group of Awakened.

And of course, as inspired by Lathander’s first warlock, if handguns are available in the campaign world, they become popular spellcasting implements. Only the weapon itself is required, although they can still use gunpowder and bullets. However, once the gun is used to fire rounds, it must be cleaned (a 10-minute ritual) in order to be used as a spellcaster, until that happens, using the gun as an implement will incur the CON save against 1d6 Radiant damage. Because of this, some Dawnslingers use two guns, one for spells and another for bullets.

Warding Light

Also, at 1st Level, the warlock can interpose sunlight between someone and an attacking enemy like the Cleric’s Warding Flare, which is a familiar feature Lathander gives his clerics. As a Reaction, if you or someone you see within 30 feet are attacked by a creature within vision and at any distance, you can cause a flare to appear in front of the attacker before it hits or misses. If the attack is by a spell attack or weapon attack, the attack imposes Disadvantages. If the attack is a Save-based spell, the person being attack gains advantage on said save.

The warlock can use this feature a number of times equal to his CHA (minimum of once.) He regains 1 use with every short rest and all uses with every long rest.

Healing Light

Starting at 6th Level, Lathander grants a healing capability similar to the Paladin’s Lay on Hands, feature. The warlock has a pool of d6s the number of his present number of Current Hit Dice every dawn. As a Standard Action, he can use any number of these d6s to heal any one individual within 30 feet. If the heal is done at touch range, the d6 is rolled with Advantage. He regains half of any spent dice of his pool, rounded up, with every short rest.

Also, he can use one of these d6s to instead cure the target of one disease or neutralize one poison affecting said target. Multiple diseases and/or poisons can be dealt with as long as separate dice in this pool is available.

Resilient Light

At 10th Level, channeling Lathander’s light becomes second nature to the Warlock. He grains resistance to radiant damage. All spells that deal radiant damage adds the warlock’s CHA to the damage roll. Also, any weapons he wields, including magical weapons, deal radiant damage as well as the standard type of damage for the weapon. If the weapon is mundane, it is considered magical in regards to any resistances or immunities.

Angel of the Eclipse

At 14th Level, the warlock is finally molded into Lathander’s image of an angel of shadow. With a standard action, the warlock’s physical appearance turns to graytones as if he is being viewed through Darkvision, only with a bright corona outlining his person. Black feathery wings appear behind his back, and his eye color turns black with a inside cornea. With the wings, he can fly up to his normal speed. This effect lasts for 1 minute or until the warlock dismisses it as a bonus action. If the effect is dismissed while still in the air, the warlock floats down without taking falling damage. The warlock regains this ability with each short rest.

You emit an aura in a 60-foot radius, within that aura, all light is extinguished, and all darkness dispelled, be it natural or magical. All non-evil characters within this area can see clearly within this aura without the need for any light, as if by Darkvision. Also, any residual magical energies, secret doors, and traps are revealed by a faint glow. All Good-aligned characters and all followers of Lathander have Truevision within this aura and are under the effect of the Bless spell for the duration. All Evil-aligned characters—including allies—are blinded, deafened, and silenced while in the aura.

Eldritch Invocations

Note: Divine patrons include Lathander, as well as any future otherworldly patron who is a deity in any way.

Book of Divine Secrets

Prerequisite: 3rd Level, Pact of the Tome feature, Celestial or Divine patron.

The warlocks’ Book of Shadows includes a section where all of his learned spells are inscribed. He also can inscribe additional spells equal to his CHA+1 from his Warlock spell list up to 5th Level spells. He can add an additional spell into this section with each Ability Score Improvement in the Warlock progression table (as seen on page 106 in the Player’s Handbook) Please note that these extra spells need not be chosen right away; choices can be kept for later, when additional Spell Levels come available.

Once per day, during a long rest, the warlock can study his Book of Shadows for 1 hour and replace one of his prepared spells with another in this book. The change remains permanent (as if he swapped a spell during a level-up) until the new spell is replaced with another.

Ravenwings

Prerequisite: Celestial or Divine patron. Any means to acquire flight, including Angel of the Dawn feature.

The warlock can use whatever he can use to fly to link it with his pact. The means of this flight, including magic item or spell, vanishes without recovery (If it was a spell, the warlock can select a new spell).

As an Action, the warlock can produce black feathery wings on his back, granting him a flying speed of 60 feet. The effect lasts for a total of 20 minutes plus his Construction score. He can divide this time into shorter flights if need be. He regains all his flying time with a short rest.

Hammer of Dawn

Prerequisite: 5th Level, Celestial of Divine patron, Pact of the Blade feature or Rod of the Pactkeeper.

The warlock targets one creature or object at a distance between 45 feet and either 75 feet or the range of the weapon. The warlock makes a contested Spell Attack roll against the target’s CON save. If the warlock succeeds, a radiant-damage version of a fireball is cast at the level of the warlock’s slot level centered on the target area. With the exception of the damage being radiant, all other effects are the same. The fireball can also be cast using a Mystic Arcanum feature, although it takes the use of that level the warlock has for the day.

Solar Smite

Prerequisite: Angel of the Eclipse feature.

Once per day, The warlock attacks any Evil-aligned being within his aura. It is a crit and delivers double the maximum possible damage. If this damage takes the target to zero hit points, it is considered a coup-de-grace and the target is killed outright.

Overhauled Spell List

More often than now, only the damage type is changed. In that case, the damage type is shown in the list.

Acronyms are as follows: No abbreviation means that the spell is from the Player's Handbook. (SCAG) means that it's from the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide. (XGE) means that it's from Xanathar’s Guide to Everything.

If a spell has (NEW) by it, the spell block will appear below.

If a spell has (*) by it, it is visually altered, which will be listed below as well. An alternate name may also be given.

Also to be spoken is the possibility that, in some campaigns Power Word spells are banned for Player Character Choices. This is the case in my home rules.

And finally, remember that, when the Abbreviation is used for an ability, especially when it's written as 'make a CON save,' the Modifier is suggested.

New and Altered Spells

Ray of Enfeeblement

Instead of a Black beam of enervating energy, the beam is of intense heat and humidity, as the target experiences an environment if an oppressive heat wave. The spell is otherwise unchanged.

Shadow of Mail

The flames wreathe your body is made of corona and white flames. The damage type involved is Radiant but otherwise the spell is unchanged.

Sickening Radiance

The light involved is that of a bright noon-day sun in a cloudless sky and the heat is accompanied by high humidity, as if by an oppressive heat wave. The spell is otherwise unchanged. Some people call this revised spell 'Oppressive Radiance'

Summon Greater Celestial

4th-level conjuration

• Casting Time: 1 Standard Action
• Range: 60 Feet
• Components: V, S, M (a piece of Chalk blessed by a priest in the past 24 hours.)
• Duration: Concentration, up to 1 hour.

As part of casting the spell, you form a circle on the ground using the chalk. The chalk is consumed in the process.

After which, you utter words of supplication and prayer, summoning a celestial from the plane of Elysium. The type of celestial depending on the spell slot level used, referring to the below table. It will appear within the circle. It cannot leave the circle until the caster invites the Celestial to leave the circle.

Roll initiative for this Celestial, and it will have its own turns. It will have its own actions, and unless ordered to do otherwise, it will assist the caster and his allies whatever it feels necessary: The Celestial will attack all aggressors, defend less sturdy members and will heal if necessary. The Celestial remains an ally as long as the party or the caster does not deal any harm to the celestial. If this event happens, the celestial disappears and the caster cannot cast this spell for another 2d6 days. (During this probationary period, casting this spell will have no results, regardless of spell level used.)

On the caster's turn, with a Bonus Action, the caster can issue a command to the celestial. The caster must make a Persuasion (CHA) check against his own Spell Save DC. On a Success, the celestial will follow the given instructions before any other options.

If the concentration of the spell is stopped and the Celestial still has Hit Points, it remains present for another 1d12 rounds until it returns to Elysium, and nobody can issue any commands to it.

If the creature of NPC mentioned is not a Celestial, the block is modified with the following:

• The type of the creature includes Celestial, and the Alignment is Neutral Good
• A pair of wings is on the character's back, granting him a flying speed of 40 feet.
• Hit Points is the maximum result of the included Hit Dice.
• The Following Spells can replace some of the normally prepared spells:
  • Cantrip: Spare the Dying,
  • 1st Level: Cure Wounds, Healing Word
  • 2nd Level: Gentle Repose, Lesser Restoration, Prayer of Healing
  • 3rd Level: Mass Healing Word, Revivify
  • 4th Level: Death Ward
  • 5th Level: Mass Cure Wounds, Raise Dead

Summon Lesser Celestial

3rd-level Conjuration

• Casting Time: 1 Standard Action
• Range: 60 Feet
• Components: V, S, M (a piece of Chalk blessed by a priest in the past 24 hours.)
• Duration: Concentration, up to 1 hour.

As part of casting the spell, you form a circle on the ground using the chalk. The chalk is consumed in the process.

While standing in the circle, you utter words of supplication and prayer, summoning a celestial from the plane of Elysium. Roll on the following table to determine what appears

Toll the Dawn

Evocation Cantrip

• Casting Time: 1 Standard Action
• Range: 60 Feet
• Components: V, S, M (a Bell)
• Duration: Instantaneous

You ruing the bell at one creature you cna see within range, and the sound of being inside a large bell just as it is being struck assaults the target's ears. The target must WIS save or take 1d8 Radiant damage. If the target is at full hit points, it instead takes 1d12 Radiant damage.

The Spell's damage increases by one die when you reach 5th level (2d8 or 2d12), 11th level (3d8 or 3d12), and 17th level (4d8 or 4d12)

Ashes of the Dawn Prologue

In the beginning there was darkness. No, not because reality was formless and empty.

It was because Matthew was unconscious.

Last thing he remembered was crashing through some city by the sea. Whatever that sea was. There wasn’t much to see due everything rushing up to smack into them. He remembered falling off something, landing on a cabbage cart, rolling for about fifty feet, and stopping against a wall.

It took him a while for him to hear anything above the roar of the blood through his ears. At least he can tell that he survived. Whatever he would say “Parise God,” or “Holy Shit,” is up in the air.

His head was too rattled by the landing to put two thoughts together yet, but it managed to pick up voices.

“By the Morninglord! Someone just dropped from that…thing!”

“Hold that thing back while I get to him, Evelyn!”

“Evelyn he’s already in the Deadbook! He crashed into that building and landed hard!””

“My-my-my…My Cabbages!!”

“We don’t know if he’s dead yet, Strix!”

“How do we know if he’s a ‘he,’ Omin?”

“We save him first, Strix, then we find out what gender he is!”

“We got it at bay, someone send a healer!”

“WHY?! Why is it always my cabbages?!”

“Ah got him!”

Evelyn Martain, paladin of Lathander, knew something like this would happen. These things always happen during a total eclipse. Of course, any follower of the Morninglord knows what an eclipse is: The Moon orbiting the world passes under the Sun producing a temporary shadow underneath. In some total eclipse it even dampens Lathander’s connection to his people. That shouldn’t cause too much of a problem—eclipses are temporary, after all—if it weren’t for bad things happening in the duration. Eclipses weaken the borders between realms, and eventually it’s weakened enough for something to fall through. Normally it comes in the form of some cosmic horror that those who follow the light need to defeat.

What she didn’t expect whatever that…thing…was to spit out someone. At first, he looked like a young teenaged boy. At that point, motherly instinct kicked in and she rushed to help him.

The sight of him made her pause for a mere heartbeat. A slender young man in his middle teens, brown hair with spikes, he is dressed in all black with golden floral trim, with boots with some strange spurs on the heel, leather gloves, a shiny black vest, and a belt with a large rectangular device of some kind strapped to his right hip. A book hung in a leather pouch on the left. A shiny silver star is pinned on his vest.

Not someone she’d recognize. But he’s down and out cold. So she knelt down to lay her healing hands on this young man, she found something on him she did recognize: In the center of that star is the symbol of a winding road leading to a sunrise. The holy symbol of her beloved Lathander.

“Sweet Morninglord in all your glory,” Evelyn half-gasped, half-prayed, “You brought this child to me?” That made her hug him even more and letting the light Lathander gave her flow into him.

He heard someone walk up to him, embrace him with a full-on hug, and felt what could possibly be the nicest warmth he ever felt. It filled his whole body, stitching scratches, soothing pains, and filling life into his limbs. He could swear that he was floating. It didn’t bother him though, by now he knows Lathander’s healing light when he feels it. Thank God.

His head felt like it was in a haze that has just now been lifted. Most of the memories of the past couple hours or so, in real time, were fuzzy. He remembered an eclipse happening, followed by something that came out of Lovecraft’s wet dreams, and then something within him just supernovaed. What happened next…maybe something jostled the brain cells out of alignment and he’ll remember when they return to place. It always happens like that.

He opened his eyes and saw the blue eyes of what he thought the cutest angel he ever saw. A cherubic face smiled at him with curly golden blonde hair. She wore white with gold trim, a golden armor chest plate with a sun motif, and sported a double-sided axe with a familiar sun symbol.

“Oh, praise Lathander you’re all right,” the blonde cherub said, “Good thang ya got him watching over ya!” She looked like she glowed in the noon-day sun.

“Wubbie wubbie blue eyes wubbie wubbie whole world,” was all he could mutter.

That made her laugh. It matched her angelic appearance. He felt his head clear a bit and he shook his vision back into focus. He found himself in the arms of what looked like a paladin, shorter then he is, but much more powerful, in strength and in spirit.

“For a moment, I thought you were an Angel, ma’am,” the young man’s voice returned, with a distinctive draw.

The paladin’s voice matched his own. “Ah get that every now and then, sunshine. My name’s Evelyn Martain, what’s yours?”

“Matt,” he said showing quite a bit of recognition. “Matt Christopher. Nice to meet…Incoming!”

OPEN GAME LICENSE Version 1.0a