Bineera Ethar

"This day has been long ordained. Who are you to set yourselves against the might of the Black Sun?"

- Skull Servant Ethar

Skull Servant Bineera Ethar was a female human cleric of Cyric. She led the Cyricists's activities at the Black Rift on the Plane of Shadow in 1374 DR.

History
Skull Servant Ethar served Blackwill Haarken Akhmelere, the Watchful Skull of the Twin Towers of the Eclipse in Amn.

Ethar became the leader of a contingent of the church of Cyric allied with the black dragon Despayr and Esvele Graycastle in their plot to tear apart the Weave in the Year of Lightning Storms, 1374 DR. She, her assistant Zetharmas, and several guards of the Ebon Spur traveled to the Plane of Shadow to consult for the Shar-worshipers in the ritual performed in the Black Rift. They were accompanied by the banelar Isti-Zar, who supported the Shadowscale tribe of shadowslain lizardfolk, a gloom golem for their own defense, and a blood golem as a gift to the Sharrans. However, the Sharrans did not trust the Cyricists, and did not allow them into the Rift without escort. Thus, Ethar, Zetharmas, and her men, together with the gloom golem, resided for the duration of the plot in the Monastery of Ebon Dome, a ruined monastery once dedicated to Shar.

At the Monastery, Skull Servant Ethar rededicated the abandoned shrine, known as the Black Chapel, to Cyric, the Black Sun. She ordered the gloom golem to guard it—conveniently, this also kept the maddening howl of the construct out of earshot. In the burned-out library, she discovered a scrap of parchment written by a mad Sharran monk listing the Black Chronology, the secret Sharran Roll of Years, and hinting at prophecies in the Book of the Black. She made discreet inquiries with Despayr and the Sharrans, but they remained close-lipped.

She began writing to Akhmelere about it in Eleint of 1374 DR. However, she was interrupted when a party of adventurers invaded the Monastery and defeated the Cyricists, killing her.

Relationships
Ethar commanded a contingent of Ebon Spur guards, a warrior order devoted to Cyric; the gloom golem that accompanied them to the Plane of Shadow; and the tiefling warlock Zetharmas, though he was contemptuous of her.

Description
Bineera Ethar had a stocky build with broad shoulders. She kept her black hair cropped short, and her face was pale and usually sneering. She wore black armor emblazoned with the skull-and-sunburst of Cyric.

Personality
Always in control, she had a cool and calculating air.

However, she enjoyed her comforts, claiming the best, most-intact room in the Monastery as her own, and furnishing it luxuriously.

Abilities
As a cleric, Ethar was a potent conjurer and summoner, favoring hell hounds.

Possessions
In battle, Ethar wielded a masterwork heavy mace and light crossbow, wore +1 full plate armor, and carried a +1 heavy steel shield. She also possessed a potion of cure moderate wounds, a wand of cure light wounds, a scroll of divine power, and a scroll of greater magic weapon.

She transported with her to her room in the Monastery a handsome rug, a big four-poster bed, and several armoires and trunks, and even finished the stone walls in gleaming dark paneling. She also hung a purple banner bearing the skull-and-sunburst of Cyric on the wall.

She kept her personal wealth and the Cyricists' pay (which she viewed as much the same thing—that is, all hers) in the same iron coffer warded with a glyph of warding that delivered a searing acidic blast. The password, however, was simply her own first name. This treasure included a silver-inlaid weirwood harp and a scroll of raise dead for emergencies.