Baern

Baern was a mountain dwarf trader who served as an escort to the Ring of Erathis. He brought Hindsight together initially as escorts to his caravan.

Appearance
Baern stood at 4’7’’ and had short, trimmed red hair on top of his head. In contrast to this, his beard was long, hanging below his belt, he often tied it into a long, neat braid. He wore classic travel garb, a blue jacket and had armoured and padded sections to his outfit to protect him on the road.

Personality
Baern was secretive and often straight down to business. He was fiercely protective of the Ring of Erathis and his mission, even refusing to tell Kulos anything while being brutally tortured by him.

Pre-Campaign
Baern along with Rilien, Morxes and several others served as one of the people working to uncover the Council of Echoes and their mission. He was a worshipper of Erathis and as such, volunteered to escort the Ring of Erathis on its journey to Westruun from Emon. Soon after leaving Kymal, his caravan was ambushed by the Ravagers, leaving only Baern, an elf archer called Kaille and a half-elf sorcerer named Argos alive at which point the group decided to seek out new escorts.

Meeting Hindsight
At a roadhouse on the road, Baern and Kaille began recruiting new escorts to join them and found five new volunteers. A fire genasi rogue named Ember, a human cleric named Williner Farnell, a human barbarian/bard named Harvan Dain, a high elf mystic named Pseuda and a human-seeming gunslinger named Bishop. Through his connection with Erathis, Baern detected a piece of the diety's influence in Bishop though he decided not to act on it until he knew the Ring was safe in Westruun.

That night on the road, the party were ambushed by a force of Ravagers but the new escorts easily dispatched the threat. During the attack, Baern protected the package containing the Ring above all else, a fact noted but not commented on by Ember and Bishop. Once in the city he thanked the group and left them with the small package, he was followed by Ember and Bishop who saw him enter the temple of Erathis in the city’s temple district.

Death
On the evening of Civilization's Dawn, the temple of Erathis was attacked by a band of terrorists under the leadership of a member of the Council of Echoes called the Reaper. The Reaper then approached Baern and began to torture him, demanding the Ring. Eventually the Reaper discovered that Baern was secretly wearing the Ring and severed the finger. However, before the Reaper could finish Baern, he was interrupted by Argos, Bishop and Ember. This frustrated the Reaper and so he slit Baern's throat. As the dwarf began to bleed out, Bishop began to use his healing abilities to attempt to save him, revealing that the man possessed aasimaar heritage. However, Bishop's efforts were in vain as an explosive that the Reaper had hidden detonated and killed Baern.

Hindsight
Baern's mission was the reason that Hindsight were brought together, first as an escort to his mission with the Ring of Erathis and then briefly in a mission to avenge his death.

Equipment
Baern had no specific pieces of equipment that he owned. However, he was a wearer of the Ring of Erathis for a time before his death.