6th of Kythorn:
They said Yes!
This afternoon I sent a letter to Elanor informing her of my doings and asking her to send a mortarch to Red Larch to help at the church.
Z
8th of Kythorn:
These last three days have been a blur of activity. To start with Truman, the head of the church's board of directors, asked that I lead a dedication ceremony for the entire congregation and anyone else in town who wants to attend.
Of course, I said 'Yes.' That night I skipped dinner and stayed up way too late working on what I wanted to say.
On the evening of the ceremony, the entire congregation and more than half the town were there, including my friends. I noticed Swift standing with a red-headed woman. Needless to say, the temple was too small for such a gathering, so we held the dedication ceremony outside.
By now everyone in town knew about the secret necromancer cult. And about our roles in ridding the place of the necromancers and the evil they left behind. What most people didn't know was what was going to happen with the church now. Which I'm sure is why so many people came.
Truman stood up in front of the gathered crowd and spoke first, "Thank you all for coming to the dedication ceremony of our temple. By now you all know the unfortunate circumstances requiring us to rename our church. However, whatever evil may have taken place here, we've also done an abundance of good."
There were a few murmurs among the crowd, but they settled down and let Truman continue speaking, "The entire congregation came together to discuss how we plan to move forward. We wish to continue offering free and donation-based care for the less fortunate in town. And we accepted Zira Townsend's offer to dedicate our temple to her god, Kelemvor."
The crowd began clapping. And there were even some cheers!
Truman gestured to me. I stood up before them all and said, "Thank you, Truman."
He sat back down and I continued, "Kelemvor is the god of death and the dead. He teaches us that death should not be feared because it is a natural part of life. Death is a beginning rather than an end and a necessity rather than a punishment. When I saw how the people of this church cared for the dead, I knew that they understood Kelemvor's beliefs and that is why I asked if they would dedicate their temple to Kelemvor. If they were Kelemvorites I would call them mortarches; clerics and priests who specialize in the arts of funerals. Who's main duties are to consecrate graves, maintain and pass on knowledge regarding burial customs, and provide comfort to the grieving family members of the deceased."
I saw people smiling and continued speaking, "However, since they're not I think they should be called the death clergy; those who tend to the last wishes of the dying and provide burial services to those who died alone. They also care for the sick, healing them of diseases so that folk don't die before their time."
Several people cheered and I waited for them to quiet before I finished my speech.
"I hope that this temple dedicated to Kelemvor will be a place where mortarchs and death clergy work together healing the living and helping people meet their deaths at the proper time with dignity. I present to you the first temple dedicated to Kelemvor!" I turned and gestured to the temple behind me.
Everyone applauded.
I had the biggest grin on my face. I did it! I removed Velsharoon from the Town of Red Larch. And I created the first temple dedicated to Kelemvor. I know we will continue eradicating Velsharoon and turning his temples into ones dedicated to Kelemvor.
We have also been working with the congregation of the new temple dedicated to Kelemvor to clean out and repurpose the secret experiment rooms. And it hasn't been an easy task.
Stepping into the first workroom was like stepping into a nightmare. Capped beakers and jars of various sizes filled the shelves along one wall. Yellowed eyes floated in some sort of liquid in jars on a table and watched us as we moved about the room. On one side of the room, bodies in different states of decomposition are strapped to a series of tables. On closer inspection, we found that each body had a small paper tag on its left big toe denoting the date of death.
At the back of the room was another locked door, easily opened by Elisha. Inside this room was equally disturbing. Most of this storage room was packed with crates and barrels, and tiny skeletal mice scurried away into the shadows. Later when we opened several of the crates, we found they contained fresh corpses, packed in salt.
In the corner was a bookshelf filled with skulls, each with a number engraved on its forehead. When I picked one up, the skull animated and said crankily, "What do you want?" Surprised, I dropped the skull and it shattered when it hit the floor. I found that when picked up, each skull animated and none of them were very friendly.
Needless to say, many in the congregation that had originally offered to assist us were so disturbed by the scene in the two rooms that they backed out of helping. In the end, my companions and I were joined by Easton and Ellie who I had worked with the day before.
Easton and Ellie worked tirelessly to bring the bodies we could to the morgue to be prepared for burial and helped me cremate the ones we couldn't and all the body parts. I am comfortable with death, but this was something else. Something evil.
I shudder thinking about it.
Tonight is our last night in Red Larch. Tomorrow we head out again toward Westbridge. We have made many new friends while working with the congregation. So tonight turned into an impromptu going away party for us at the tavern.
In fact, Swift has been very preoccupied with a pretty red-head named Ellie. He's spent every spare minute with her. Tonight they spent the entire evening talking and dancing together. I missed his company, but seeing his joy made me feel so happy.
The rest of us were joined at our table by Elishas's new friends and Easton, who I've become very close with. It's been nice talking with him, and he's helped me feel at home at the church.
Adrala and Israel sat with us for a while. And they dance a few times together before quietly slipping off to their room for the night. The two of them are still in what Adrala calls their 'honeymoon phase'.
Kate favored us with several performances throughout the night in between the band's music sets. She is an incredible performer. She brings her stories to life with a little help from some minor illusions. I feel very lucky to have met and gotten to know her. (She is surprisingly completely different from Wilovar)
Elisha and I had the time of our lives drinking and chatting with all his new friends. He even danced a few dances. One of those dances was because of a bet he lost.
Swift came by and asked if I'd mind him staying the night with Ellie. I told him to have a good time with his new friend. I'll miss his company, but since it's our last night I wouldn't dream of keeping them apart. Plus I know how quickly he can reach me if there's trouble.
I don't think we'll need much of an excuse to return to Red Larch.
Z
