The Old North Temple

Session 12

After booking rooms in The Unshod Mare for the members of the Party that the management did not bar from staying there, and with a slightly unpleasant taste in our mouths, we moved into the tavern side of the establishment, where all of us were welcome, and bought a round of drinks to wash the distaste away.   There we discovered a young woman of whom Erran had been told, but whom he had not yet actually met, named Hiti. Hiti is an attractive woman of dark olive skin with almond shaped eyes, both of which features mark her as a member of the race known in Empyrea as the Skeema.   The Skeema are tribespeople and hunters who live in the northern frozen lands of Empyrea. Though they are far fewer in number than their neighbors the Damarani, they occupy far more territory. If one were to ask a Damarani citizen if the frozen lands are part of Empyrea and under Damarani control, the answer would likely be “yes.” But in practice the Skeema are primarily autonomous and the reason there does not seem to be an active contest between the two peoples is that the Damarani have no desire to move into the Skeema lands and the feeling is mutual.   After discovering that Hiti is accustomed to providing more than drink service, Thrunk and Erran began actively to compete for her attention, which she was more than happy to provide to both. Thrunk, though, was the first to request her company for the night and she agreed.   After that she spent much of her time at our table and we discussed several matters, including whether or not she knew of any temples in the area that might match the description of the one we saw in our vision. She could not be certain of that one, but told us that she did know of a temple several days’ journey north into the frozen lands and she knew where to find a guide who could lead us there. She did not seem to think much of this Inuksuk.   We also spoke generally about the worship of evil deities in Damarani Pantheon. She told us that while it was possible and even easy to find temples to most gods in the pantheon in any city, or at least temples with altars to each inside; such was not true of the evil gods, or of Telchur, the god of winter.   Those gods had holy places as well, but they tended to be outside the cities, like the one she was leading us to. There Damarani citizens could go to beseech gods like Telchur not to interfere with their lives or harvests by making sacrifices. The Old North Temple, once one of the largest of this kind, was abandoned centuries ago, after the fall of Vecna, the primary deity of the last priests who maintained it.   It was at this point in the conversation that we noticed that the bard upon the stage appeared to be the same that we had encountered in Whitecrest Ridge, though it seemed to us that it was impossible that he could have arrived here ahead of us without first passing us on the road.   Thrunk theorized that the donkey outside must be his and that it must be a “magic donkey”. But, when asked, Oli of the Strings claimed, instead, to be magic himself, and, in fact, a god. We had no reason to doubt this and, in fact, a considerable amount of evidence and observation to support it, so we accepted his claim at face value that he was, in fact, Olidammara, the Damarani god of Music, Revelry and Rogues.   We asked if he could help us find the tomb we were seeking and he said he could, but made it clear that he would only help if it amused him to do so. He did tell us that there was a seer in Cockscomb named Drömmar who might be able to help us, but that he was a bit of a dick and a drunkard.   After it seemed clear to us that between Hiti and Oli the former was more likely to lead us to what we sought, we agreed to follow her to the Skeema camp where this guide was currently in residence and paid her several gold for her time. We made plans to head out the next morning and parted for the evening. That night, though, Thrunk snuck into her rooms and managed to stay at the Unshod Mare despite its proprietor’s prohibition.   We purchased cold-weather clothes for those of us who did not have them and then set out for the frozen lands. About halfway to the camp, we ran across a huge, white wolf that Wyllow recognized as an Amarok , one of the fierce magical monstrosities that populate the frozen lands known as Telchur’s Children. The Amarok attacked and though we quickly brought her down, we had the feeling that we might have been very lucky indeed that the fight went so well.   Afterward, we found that she was guarding her den, an alcove in a nearby hill, where three pups were cowering in wait for her return. We took them and some other loot from several bodies that had been dragged inside. Then we resumed our journey.   When we arrived at the camp, we were challenged upon trying to enter and while it was made clear to us that we were not particularly welcome, it also seemed that the tribespeople were at least as unhappy at Hiti’s appearance, if not more. She asked for an audience with the chief, but the request was denied. Then she asked to see Inuksuk and was told that he was away from camp, hunting.   He returned soon after sunset and we approached him about our proposition. At first he seemed loath to help us in our quest, even when we told him of its import, and did not budge until we promised to help him cleanse the stain of evil from the land around the Old North Temple. We told him we did not know if such a thing was in our power, but that we would try. Then he agreed to take us there.   After two more days’ travel we reached it. The building was rundown, with walls crumbling and parts of the roof missing or caved in from the weight of the snow and ice upon it, but it still appeared to us that the best way to enter was the front door.   Once inside, we did some looking around and found that the way into the main sanctuary was barred by a bookcase that appeared to have been placed across the hallway intentionally. Looking past it, we saw a large white bear slumbering upon the raised dais. The creature, called a Nanouik by the local natives, is the other of “Telchur’s Children”.   Deciding there was nothing to do but face the creature, we attacked it. Drew, in particular, appeared to hurt it rather badly early in the fight, but it still managed to attack Kenesh and, using its freezing breath, it turned him into a solid block of ice.   Though we quickly dispatched the horror after that, its defeat did nothing to help Kenesh, who remained frozen.