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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(contact)" data-source="post: 1154" data-attributes="member: 41">32--The Risen GoddessThe brothers are led by their bandit guide through a narrow shaft topped by a secret trap-door.  The secret door opens into the Waterdhavian sewers, which in turn lead out into a narrow cobble-stone street.  The fresh air, even diluted as it is by the presence of so many nearby people, is a welcome relief for Taran and Thelbar.The bandit offers to show the brothers "a good time" for a fee.  When questioned, he clarifies that he literally meant, "show them where to find a good time", to Thelbar's relief.  The gap toothed, filthy bandit isn't Thelbar's idea of a stimulating companion, after all.  The wretch gives them a brief rundown of the city, and tells them that the place where they want to be is an inn called The House of the Delver, which specializes in catering to the needs of adventurers.When Taran and Thelbar arrive at Chez Delver, they are greeted by an efficient and bustling concierge, who arranges for their treasure to be stored, their rooms to be prepared, and their clothes to be burned.  A tailor, a bath-boy and an armor-smith are summoned, along with a money-changer who appraises their treasure items, and exchanges them for coins, or other more portable forms of currency."Chez Delver really knows how to treat a guy," Taran says.  "We should start one of these in Mistledale."The dining room is a queer mix of wealthy opulence and hard-bitten posturing.  Most of the adventurers seated around the linen-draped tables do not know their salad-fork from their brandy snifter, but they certainly have the gold in their pockets to pay for anything they might wish, and the staff at Chez Delver is remarkably thick-skinned and accommodating. A few tables over, an argument about the best way to fight a roper degenerates into a scuffle, then a fistfight.  Rays of paralyzation beam into the brawl from the fingertips of several wizardly bouncers.  A handful of massive half-orc tough-guys dressed in fashionable suits wade into the melee and hustle the offending guests through a servant's door and into the unseen halls of the place.After dinner, and more than a few drinks, Taran and Thelbar retire to their rooms for the evening.  They introduce themselves to the door-guards they have hired for the night.  The guards give their names as Juron and Glim, and tell a story of hard luck.  Undermountain was not kind to them.  They went in, and only made it out weeks later by the skin of their teeth, having lost all of their weapons and armor.  They are now working for Chez Delver, hoping to save enough money to re-equip themselves for further adventuring.Thelbar ponders for a minute, and asks the two if they would like to come into his service.  He tells them briefly about the goddess Ishlok, her new name here as Palatin Eremath, and the struggle of Mistledale against the drow.  He promises to equip the two suitably, with magic weapons pulled from the dragon's hoard, and give them a full share of any treasure found to split between them.Neither Juron nor Glim needs to think too hard about the offer.  The gift of magic weaponry as a signing bonus is almost too good to be true, and they agree that in the morning, they will tell their boss that they are leaving his service and teleport to Mistledale with Taran and Thelbar.That settled, Juron and Glim stand their post, while Taran and Thelbar get some much-needed sleep.  During the night, both brothers have the same dream-- a sending from Ishlok the Preserver and Protector, goddess of their faith.In the dream, Ishlok confirms that she is in fact Palatin Eremath, the lost goddess of the elven pantheon.  In ages past, Palatin Eremath was the consort and war-champion to Corellon Larethian, and the co-creator of the elven race.  The goddess Lolth (known then as Arunshee) was her sister, and when the schism between Arunshee's night-elves and Corellon Larethian's day-elves broke out, Palatin Eremath was forced to honor her vows, and take her consort's side.  Palatin Eremath was the greatest warrior amongst the elven deities, and she defeated her sister in combat, taking not only Aurunshee's honor, but scarring her sister and taking her Goodness from her, earning Arunshee's eternal enmity. After the battle, Palatin Eremath lay wounded and dying.  She turned on Corellon Larethian and accused him of instigating the conflict.  She blamed his stubborn self-righteousness for driving a wedge between the elven family, and spoke out against his rule.  This was unacceptable to the father-god of the elves, and he ordered her name struck from elven history, her stars struck from the night sky and her identity destroyed, even as she went beyond the great veil, and into the land of the deific dead.But death was only a temporary condition for the mother-goddess of the elves.  She crossed the great veil a second time, returning to the land of the living with knowledge and power beyond even the reckoning of the gods.  She adopted a new identity as Ishlok, and went into solitude with a world of her own creation, the world of Isk.  She established the pasoun, as an analogy to her own transformation, but also as a new paradigm for the distribution of mortal souls.  Gone was the mortal's dependence on patron powers to protect their afterlife from the ravishes of wickedness or deprivation.  The pasoun educated and enlightened them until they too could pass beyond the great veil, taking their place at the sides of the gods, not subservient to them.Taran and Thelbar are souls of the pasoun, children of Ishlok, and they have been chosen as her worldly champions, to pave the way for the return of Palatin Eremath into the hearts of her children, and set her name above all as a goddess for all beings.The goddess instructs the duo to travel to the Star Mountains in the High Forest, a primeval wood in the north of Faerun.  They are to explore the remnants of the Irilun Empire, and to seek the assistance of a high priest to the elven god Labels Unearth. Apparently, in this new world, accomplishing the will of the Goddess is a family affair.</blockquote>

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