Cadderly Bonaduce

Cadderly Bonaduce was an adventurer who traveled across Faerûn in the 14 century DR, achieving the status as Chosen of his patron deity Deneir. He was the founder of the great library-cathedral of Spirit Soaring.

Description
Standing 6 feet (1.8 meters) tall at just under, Cadderly was a notably handsome man. He had a warm smile, curly brown hair, and gray eyes that cut through someone on the occasions that he got angry.

While Cadderly always looked much older than his actual age, this was especially true during his work on the Spirit Soaring temple. His extensive use of magic during that time made him appear to be at least 100 years old.

Personality
As a young man he was quite amiable and possessed a great curiosity about the world around him. Later as he took on the charge of being Deneir's chosen, he took on a more serious and austere outlook. He committed himself to that role in its entirety, placing its importance above his loved ones.

While he strove for justice, Cadderly was not overly severe but rather displayed acts of great mercy.

Abilities
Throughout his studies, Cadderly became quite knowledgeable about a variety of subjects including history, engineering, and zoological studies, specifically related to horses and squirrels.

Chosen Powers
Due to his status as the Chosen of Deneir, Cadderly was not required to pray for spells like other clerics. Rather he could study the runes within the Tome of Universal Harmony and uncover the single song that unified them all. He could draw from all the spheres of influence and could cast a high number of spells of varying power before suffering horrendous pain.

His status also bestowed upon him a number of boons, including the power to destroy undead with a mere touch of his holy symbol, a form of branding mark that would cause an evil individual to be shunned by others, immunity to energy drain, as well as the ability to transform into a white flying squirrel.

Possessions
Cadderly owned a number of unique and imaginative devices that were quite valuable for adventuring and if needed, combat.

Cadderly walked with a multipurpose silver walking stick, adorned with cap was sculpted into the shape of a ram's head. It was magically enchanted by the wizard Belisarius of Caradoon. The walking stick was hollow and its cap could be removed, effectively turning it into a working blowgun. Unfortunately it was destroyed in a fight with the vampire Kierkan Rufo.

He had invented a device called a Light Tube, a cylindrical item within which was a continual light cast by the Sunite priestess Histra. The end of the tube had an adjustable aperture, allowing Cadderly to focus or broaden the light as needed.

Cadderly wore a hollowed-out, feathered ring that contained potent drow sleeping poison. He would use cat claws dipped in the poison affixed to the ring's feather as makeshift darts, which could then be fired as projectiles using his walking-stick-blowgun.

Perhaps his most unique possessions were his spindle-disks, amusing curios based on ancient halfling weapons from the tribes of southern Luiren. While he normally used them to pass time, he found them to be a destructive weapon in a pinch. After his first one was destroyed, Ivan Bouldershoulder fashioned a new pair of spindle-disks for Cadderly out of semi-precious crystal centers with black adamantine borders. This improved weapon could break an exposed limb, or crush a man's jaw, cheekbones, and forehead and knock out every tooth he had in a single blow.

Cadderly's only "true" weapon was his unique hand crossbow. It was crafted by the dwarven brothers Ivan and Pikel Bouldershoulder, based on Cadderly's schematics which was in turn inspired by ancient drow design.

While he wore rather dull beige robes, Cadderly had a distinctive wide-rimmed blue hat ornamented with a porcelain relief of Deneir's holy symbol. Over his robes he wore his distinctive bandoleer, which held 16 crossbow bolts filled with a destructible capsule containing oil of impact.

Activities
Following the destruction he saw during his adventuring years, Cadderly's great purpose was the construction of a grandcathedral where priests of every goodly deity could congregate and worship. This cathedral was known as Spirit Soaring. He constructed the structure using only divine magic bestowed upon him by Deneir. He aged greatly while constructing Spirit Soaring, to a point where he appeared to be over a century old, and was expected to die. Cadderly accepted this fate as a sacrifice that was necessary for the completion of the monumental library. Soon after its completion, the aging process reversed and Cadderly's appearance rapidly reverted to that of a man in his late twenties. .

Relationships
He had an ally in Dorigen Kel Lamond. While they two had come to blows during Cadderly's battle against the monstrous armies of Castle Trinity, he spared Dorigen's life and helped her on her path to self-discovery.

Cadderly was acquainted with the sage Gorion and considered him to be quite the good man.

History
Cadderly was born in Carradoon on the shores of Impresk Lake, as the son of Aballister Bonaduce and a woman of unknown name. At a young age his father left him to be raised by priests at the Edificant Library in the Snowflake Mountains. He lived a joyful and somewhat sheltered life there, into his early 20s. During his time at the Edificant Library, Cadderly befriended a white squirrel, which he named Percival.

In the, Aballister came back into his son's life only to manipulate the young man for his own gain. Aballister had joined a cabal of mages at Castle Trinity, who sought to take over the Shilmista forest by means of a cursed potion that was located in the catacombs beneath Edificant Library. He charmed his son into securing the relic, which let loose the Chaos Curse upon the residents of the library. With the help of Danica, Newander, and the Bouldershoulder dwarves, Cadderly was able to defeat Barjin, the overseer of Castle Trinity, and destroy the horde of undead that was under his control.

That same year, he and his allies were called upon by the wild elves of Shilmista, and enlisted to come to their aid. The forest was threatened by ogrillion chieftain Ragnor and his goblinoid army. With the aid of ancient elven magic, Cadderly was able to turn away the rampaging army and help Elbereth assume leadership over the elves of the forest.

Horrified by the devastation he saw during the battle, Cadderly retreated to his home town of Carradoon, to study the Tome of Universal Harmony away from everyone else.

Enraged at being thwarted twice over by his son, Aballister hired a group of Night Mask killers led by Ghost to murder Cadderly. They sought to use the magical items referred to as the Ghearufu to assume Danica's body for the assassination. Danica resisted the magic, and Cadderly was able to destroy Ghost and eventually accept his destiny as the Chosen of Deneir.

Cadderly first sought to destroy the Ghearufu items, enlisting the aid of the red dragon Fyrentennimar to do so. In the, he rallied his allies to march on Castle Trinity and stop his father once and for all. Cadderly killed Aballister in a great spell-battle, leaving Castle Trinity abandoned.

When Cadderly and his allies returned to Edificant Library they discovered that Kierkan Rufo had consumed the Most Fatal Horror and transformed into a powerful vampire. The library had been utterly devastated and nearly all of its attendants and scholars had been slain. Through sheer determination and resourcefulness, Cadderly and his freinds were able to overcome the scores of undead who had been turned or raised by Kierkan Rufo, then destroy the vampire himself.

During the battle against the Crenshinibon-infused dracolich Hephaestus, the temple of Spirit Soaring took massive damage. This destruction rapidly aging Cadderly by a number of decades. After the battle, Hephaestus retreated to the Plane of Shadow to recover and heal. Cadderly chased him into that plane, taking over the mantle of Ghost King as Hephaestus retreated from Cadderly's divine light.

Walking between the Material Plane and the Shadowfell, Cadderly was considered to be of both worlds and neither. He condemned himself to walk this ward eternally to prevent Hephaestus terrorizing the Material Plane if ever the dracolich decided to return.

Appearances

 * Novels
 * Cleric Quintet (Canticle • In Sylvan Shadows • Night Masks • The Fallen Fortress • The Chaos Curse) • Legend of Drizzt (Passage to Dawn • The Ghost King) • Servant of the Shard
 * Once Around the Realms • The Silent Blade • Sea of Swords • The Thousand Orcs • The Lone Drow • The Two Swords • Gauntlgrym • Neverwinter • Night of the Hunter
 * Video Games
 * Baldur's Gate
 * Baldur's Gate