Recruitment in Solar City
Political Climate
Solar City contains the largest number of temples for a single in all of Gholark. This makes it an ideal location for large-scale plans and attacks. The various factions from the Calling of Strife used this to their advantage. However, there was a risk that the Calling of Strife had not accounted for. The variety of other temples in the city allowed for an unpredicted counter-attack to be possible. The only question was if the other Callings felt equipped enough to strick in full force, or if they would send unknown bands to do the dirty work
Temple of Tyr
Bree, Ryoshi, and Day delivered their message from Bithril to the Temple of Tyr, gaining connections within the temple because of their service. The party had arrived to the Temple of Malar and the High Priest took them aside into a private and warded room. Secrecy was necessary, as the High Priest was part of a movement to form a coalition against the Calling of Strife factions. She had work that attacks were immenant on the Temple of Tyr and Temple of Shar, though from which factions, they were uncertain. As part of their ascension, the High Priest tasked them to lend as much assistance to the temples as possible, with the condition that they could not reveal the existance of a coalition.
The party spent the first day sitting in or outside the Temple of Tyr and scouting for anyone who was a Calling of Strife priest. Each member had some familiarity with the different temples within the Calling, but Bree was the one to spot a priestess of Talona speaking with a priest of Tyr in private. When the priestess left, she and Day tried to follow her, but she disappeared into the Ward of Nobles. They backtracked and met up with Ryoshi to explain their discovery before heading back to the Temple of Malar.
The next day, before heading to the Temple of Tyr to inquire about the meeting with the priestess of Talona, Ryoshi finds Norkan in the back of their wagon! After a brief stand-off, Norkan is recognized by the priests of Malar and officially appended to their party. He tries to assist the party in investigating the priests of Talona, but ends up sitting outisde the Temple of Talona talking to tomato plants and rats, without much progress. Meanwhile, the others manage to speak with Brother Patrick, their liason with the Temple of Tyr, and eventually the High Priest. The priestess of Talona had been making threats to force Tyr to join with Kelemvor's faction, stating the god has remained indifferent long enough. The High Priest reveals that some of his priests have been taken hostage, but they are unsure of where. He had been given explicit instructions from the Temple of Talona to announce the joining of Tyr and Kelemvor on the next day after a signal has been given. He is unaware of what the signal is, just what he must do after noticing it. After a discussion with the party, they come to an agreement that if the party can remove the priests of Talona, and save the hostages, the High Priest of Tyr will not give in to the pressure from Kelemvor.
Through Bree's connections in the Ward of Nobles, the party does some reconnaissance. They find out from Bree's family connections that the nobles of Talona have been hosting parties lately that are more exclusive than usual, offering insult to some of the higher nobles from other Callings. A party will be happening that night, and Bree manages to give invites for everyone in her group from her Tiefling friend, Praestmort. They infilitrate the party and isolate the priestess of Talona that Bree had seen inside the Temple of Tyr. She does not reveal much, but after a thorough discussion and kdinappng anothe priest of Talona, the adventurers discover that the High Priest of Tyr's life is at stake this night. They rush over to the temple to commense their rescue plan.
Fitting for the Goddess of Poison, her followers gassed the entire temple. The poison had a high chance of knocking someone unconscious for long stretches of time, or until someone used force to awaken them. 20 assassins swempt through the temple, searching for the High Priest. Right as one assassin was preparing to slaughter the man with a poisoned sword, Ryoshi dropped through the window of the High Priest's room. He, Norkan, and Bree fought off the assassin while Seya handled acolytes on the floor below, unbeknownst to the party. With great difficulty, the slayed the assassin and rescued the unconscious High Priest. There wasn't a feasible way to take him out through the window, so they provided an escort from the third floor to the bottom, killing all acolytes and cultists in their path. They eventually found Seya, and after a tense moment, she joined the party. Later that week, the Temple of Malar and other temples within the Calling of Entropy made a decree stating their abhorration of the Calling of Strife's handling of this succession. They will provide sanctuary to any priests from the Calling of Strife that seek asylum.
Temple of Shar (AKA the Sharnanigans)
Shortly after, the party investigated the Temple of Shar. Outwardly, it did not look like the priests were being affected, and they saw no priests from Strife coming and going like they had at the Temple of Tyr. The team did not have an inside connection, either, like they had with Brother Patrick of Tyr. Instead, they had to resort to other measures.
The group split into two teams: Ryoshi and Norkan would stay outside and watch the streets while Bree, Day, and Seya would go inside and try to speak with the priests discretely. While Ryoshi stayed with the priests of Shar that guarded the entrance, Norkan went to speak with the rats in a nearby alley. This time, they gave useful information, if cryptic due to the intelligence of the rats. They spoke of a meat-giver in the basement of the temple, one who provided lots of human flesh. It took a while, but Norkan was able to convince Ryoshi that he was not crazy and could speak with the rats. They decided this was important enough to tell the others, and headed inside, only to be intercepted by Bree, Day, and Seya quickly leaving.
Inside, the three had first assumed the guise of people coming for guidance. Seya tried to claim that she had found her crocodile and was searching for its owner, but the priests of Shar were insistent in that they did not deal with lost possessions, but more so the loss of will or life. Day then spoke up about how they were really there because she feels disconnected from her Calling due to the tasks she was given. They manage to get the priest into a warded circle where they could speak without intruders hearing. After a long conversation about Day's mental state, the trio moved onto the real reason they were there. They proferred a letter of good intention from the High Priest of Malar, which convinced the priest of Shar to reveal some crucial details.
The High Priest of Shar had disappeared recently, much to the horror of Brother Sean (who the party was currently speaking with). He and a four other ranking priests had formed a circle of truth together to confirm none were traitors to Shar. Since then, they had been keeping an eye on the temple adn searching the city for their High Priest, without many leads. Brother Sean was concerned that an attack was imminent, and believed that priests of Loviatar had managed to infilitrate the temple as new acolytes to Shar in recent months. A representative had come four months prior with an offer of truce, but had not succeeded in convincing Shar to join the cause of Kelemvor, even after torturing some of the younger acolytes of Shar. He starts to panic as he sees the guards from outside coming in - he believed they were followers of Loviatar. Unbeknownst to them, they had overheard the revelation Norkan had made from the rats.
With a promise to meet the party at sundown inside the temple, Brother Sean ushered them out while Day profusely thanked him for the guidance about what to do. While they waited for sundown, another priest of Shar hunted out the party and swore them to a circle of truth to ensure they were not planning on harming anyone affiliated with Shar. After confirming they were not, he gave them additional information on the rendezvous that evening, and left them shortly before the sun started to set.
A suspicious group of street performers delayed the party's progression to the Temple of Shar, and thus they were late. The temple stood barren inside, and the iron gates that separated the hall of worship and Shar's Shrine were broken. A smear of blood lead from the hall of worship to behind the shrine before disappearing, giving hint to a hidden staircase. With some difficulty, the party solved the puzzle to open the trick door and descended into the basement of Shar. They found many traps laid by either the followers of Shar or Loviatar - there was no way to be certain - along with fourteen followers of Loviatar throughout the basement. They killed all with some difficulty, but none in the party died.
In the far room of the basement, they discovered the High Priest of Shar shackled to the wall with Brother Sean and other priests of Shar. They had been set up in what appeared to be a newly formed torture room, the presumed place the rats were finding human meat to eat. Before the party could rescue the priests, one of the Berserkers slashed open the High Priests stomach, hoping to let him die a slow, painful death. The party finished off the priests of Loviatar and Bree casted Spare the Dying on the High Priest before healing him, the other priests, and the most harmed members of her party. The High Priest of Shar swore his allegiance to the coalition that the Temple of Malar was forming as a sign of appreciation to the rescue. Additionally, he followed the party back to the Temple of Malar for safety.
