What Kind of Quest do you do for a Water God?

[Isida Kep'Tukari]

In my campaign, there's been a recent tragedy. During a fight with a fire elemental, the party's NPC cleric of Istishia (God of Elemental Water) was grappled. In trying to kill the fire elemental, the paladin of Mystra accidentally hit the cleric, killing her stone dead. After the fire elemental had been killed, the group was very remorseful, and were willing to do anything to get her raised from the dead.

Now, the party has a cordial relationship with her temple, and they've helped Istishia's people before. In short, the clerics of Istishia were willing to raise their cleric, if the group would do a quest for Istishia. (This will also serve as the paladin's atonement.)

The question is... what kind of quest do you do for a water god? Getting revenge on the fire elemental is moot, because it's already dead. Getting revenge on who sent it is somewhat redundant, as they'll be doing that later anyway (it's part of the overarching campaign plot). I want to figure out some kind of quest that will be relevant to the temple, difficult, and definitely not what the party is already doing (unraveling a revenge scheme against a powerful noble family).

The central tenets of Istishia's faith are: Water is superior. Purification. Do not let yourself stagnate. Everything is interconnected and cyclical.

So... what kind of quest could they do?

Quick background - We're playing in Forgotten Realms (3.0/3.5 D&D) in Waterdeep. The party is six players (LG wizard, CG paladin, CG gunslinger, CN rogue, CN sorcerer, NG NPC cleric). The campaign is city-based.

If you want way too much background, Story Hour is here: Family Matters - Forgotten Realms Campaign

 

[delericho]

A drought has hit town X, in large part due to the impure lives of the people there. Go and rebuild the aquaduct, rededicating it to the service of Istishia. And while you're there, root out the corruption that has festered in the town, thus purifying it.

 

[biotech66]

Anything on a plane of fire or in a desert?

 

[Nagol]

The first couple that leap to mind are removing something that is fouling a local or sacred water source (like an evil artefact horrible creature, or a nasty ritual that is dropping gore/muck and contaminating groundwater) or changing/breaking a watershed to adjust where a specific source or water flows.

 

[Scrivener of Doom]

What is the relationship between Istishia and Umberlee in your version of the Realms?

If there is a clash between then, perhaps the followers of Umberlee beneath Waterdeep's harbour have had one or more of their tribute gatherers (demonic giant octopi) steal a sacred relic from the temple of Istishia. It might be a boring MacGuffin quest but at least it would take place underwater....

Otherwise, the water table beneath Goldenfields has been fouled (aboleth?) and the clerics of Istishia have accepted a commission from the Chaunteans to cleanse it. And now the PCs are their cleansing agents....

 

[doghead]

The first couple that leap to mind are removing something that is fouling a local or sacred water source (like an evil artefact horrible creature, or a nasty ritual that is dropping gore/muck and contaminating groundwater) or changing/breaking a watershed to adjust where a specific source or water flows.

These are pretty much the lines I was thinking along. Rediscovering/purifying a lost/corrupted oasis was my first thought. Maybe it was the desert reference below.

Is there anything in the cleric's background that could be used? Does she have relatives far away to whom the body/ashes/property needs to be returned? Or was she or her family a victim of an injustice that was never avenged?

Or perhaps they could be asked to do something of a civic nature. Convincing the Waterdeep authorities to provide a supply of fresh water to a poor area. Or providing it themselves. Or finding out who is blocking the church's own attempts to do so.

thotd

 

[Derren]

- Chop down parts of a forest near a river so that the plant don't drink up the water
- Drown a specific enemy of the church or flood a village of disbelievers
- Straighten a river and tear down damn to let the water flow freely

 

[Scrivener of Doom]

Have you checked out Faiths & Avatars yet?

Besides mentioning an intense rivalry with Kossuth - which sometimes leads to the Istishians causing problems for the Red Wizards of Thay (quest idea) - under Day-to-Day Activities it mentions, inter alia, "Keeping waterways pure and clean is one major goail of the church, and this responsible long-term goal has made the Istishians one of more esily accepted elemental "cults" to visit a town.

Perhaps the Istishians are in competition with, say, followers of Talona in a nearby settlement. The Talonites have polluted the settlement's water source(s) and the Istishians need to clean up the Talonites' mess, as it were, or lose the settlement to Talona (as the Talonites can remove the diseases caused by the pollution - possibly with a version of ritual magic [incantations?] mentioned in Unearthed Arcana so that it's not costing them spell slots).

Finally, another long-term goal is fostering better relationships between aquatic races and surface dwellers. A quest that riffs off the main points of the U-series might work really well.

 

[Mark CMG]

What Kind of Quest do you do for a Water God?

Wetwork.

 

[Razjah]

Have them travel to a place like Venice. They need to clear the stagnant water and purify the area. If they can convince enough people to enshrine the water god as the patron god of the city, the god will keep the waters from further sinking the city.

They need to clear out levees, increase water flow to clear stagnant water, purify water, convince people to make the water god their patron. How hard can that be? Especially if there is a cult of the fire god seeking to merely undermine the water god's work, with or without the fire god's consent.