Church of Ilmater RP

[Ashenie]

As the moon rises red, whispers of the threat of the Beast Lord spread and reach the Sanctuary. Sister Ashenie is seen heading towards the Orphanage for a part of the night, until other endeavors keep her away. She spends time among the young who cannot sleep, scared by the strange color of the sky and moon. Especially as newborn children can be sensitive to changes, the Sister cares to spend much time reassuring them with lullabies, tales, and other soft manifestations of tender care.

In the morning, Teris Ynarno and Sister Ashenie are seen distributing pear pies to the children in the Orphanage, and leaving some for the street children do they say.

[Zeikari]

A new patient was brought by sundown of 24 Tarsakh 1360 to the Shrine of Ilmater. The young woman, arrived covered in moldy, tattered, soaked rags, her body a collection of cuts and bruises.
According to rumors, she was found floating by the dock and fished out by some passer-byes. Despite her state of unconsciousness and severe injuries, the woman was still alive and breathing when she was recovered.



After being treated by Sister Ashenie, the woman briefly regained consciousness, speaking in a jumbled, incomprehensible tongue. About the time this happened, a pair of visitors arrived at the shrine to restock on healing remedies: Rrawtzu Yi Tiao Long and Lunaethar Silverbloom. The latter, a knight of Selune, was able to use her magic to comprehend the survivor's tongue, yet, due to the woman's state of shock, Lunaethar was incapable of having a proper conversation before the patient drifted back into sleep.



Judging by the splinters scattered in her rags, the type of injuries, and her general state, it would appear as if the woman is the survivor of a shipwreck caused by the incessant storms that have been recently plaguing the Coast. Yet, at least for this moment, no other survivor was found, and no news of any missing inbound ship has reached Baldur's Gate either.

OOC: Recovery might take a while, feel free to visit anyone!

[Zeikari]

After a few days spent in restless slumber, the strange survivor in the care of Sister Ashenie awoke again. Seemingly no longer overwhelmed by shock, she was able to exchange a few words with the priestess of Ilmater after Ashenie used her own magic to understand her native tongue.
Though attempts were made to try and learn how she ended up floating at the docks, the woman was still far too weak, confused, and hungry to deliver any meaningful answers. Around the same time that the woman awoke, another visitor, the knight of the Triad Arthos Ravenmoor, also happened to pass by to discuss some other subject with Ashenie, and took the opportunity to ask a few questions to the patient as well.



While eating through several helpings of chicken soup kindly provided by the Ilmateri, the woman mentioned 'Cimbar', tentatively presented herself as 'Lyka', and even managed to put together a couple of words in Common when prompted, showing a surprisingly more cheerful demeanor than she did on the day of her arrival. Still in recovery from her injuries, the woman became tired shortly afterwards, drifting once again into sleep.

Despite her physical recovery, the following night, the woman was heard screaming in her sleep.


OOC: Always LFRP from any passerby (with an IC reason to be passing by the Shrine of Ilmater, obviously), no need to be shy if you see me online!

[DM Ink]

A Familiar Arrival

In the late afternoon, the temple of Ilmater is greeted by a man clad in dark steel armor. The metalwork is bent around his pauldrons and his almost "Fish like" helmet. It becomes abundantly clear the extent of his injuries as he is escorted through by a half elven woman. There is panic in her eyes, as the injured knight takes a step through the door and immediately collapses under his own weight. His injuries appear severe, bleeding from most between most of the platework in his armor. Lodged between his armor are long wooden splintered spikes. The Shrine of Suffering has a newly occupied bed, as the knight's wounds do not respond to the healing magic of Ilmater.

[Ashenie]

In the peaceful embrace of the incenses in the Ossuary of the Shrine of Suffering, it is said that a man was brought. Badly burnt, the corpse was still warm and smoke filled the air. A flower bed around it, surrounded by the beams reflected in diamonds, the dead was soothed in holy light. It is said that the blessing could not bring him back, for a violent purple flame devoured it, even upon the sanctuary of the Shrine.

Sister Ashenie is said to have spend a long time in reclusion and prayer. With her head covered, her hands are marked with a myriad of ashen symbols, esotheric in nature. With each day that passes, she is seen spending one hour in reclusion, prayig for the dead, the suffering, and for the lost village. Her Suffering taken, the penance is not commented by the Sister herself. It seems that she is allowed less sleeping and eating, her devotion taking precedence.

[Ashenie]

In the past few days, caravans of House Darius brought bodies to the Shrine of the Suffering. Tended and cared for, it seems they were offered proper burial within the shrine. The rumor says a large resurrection ritual took place, but only one person out of nearly fourty came back to the living.

The dedication of the Ilmatari continue. It is said that Sister Ashenie spent a whole night embalming bodies and tending to them. In quiet reclusion, it is said that the penance undertaken some time ago only continues.

[Ashenie]

In the calm of the Ilmatari chapel, Sister Ashenie is said to have held rituals of communion and prayers of peace for troubled time. While the Shrine of the Suffering does not see any shortage of wounded and tasks to help all who hurt, the contemplation at night seems to hold delicate whispers of hope and harmony, of care and compassion and of resolute determination to seek the path forwards in the light.

It is said that her renewed care for children led her to approach the street children to guide them away from the sealed sewers. In these troubled times, it does not seem that the Ilmatari wish to let anyone hurt, no matter who they are.

[Ashenie]

It is said that Sister Ashenie spent moments in the chapel to contemplate the agitation of the city and its growing unrest. To those who came alarmed by rumors, it is said that she takes time to reassure and explain that wrong information have been causing baseless reactions. The lingering threat of the Abyss spreading dissension does not seem to alter her hopes.

Quiet in her endeavors, it is said that much of her time has been devoted to prepare healing supplies and caring for the population.

[Ashenie]

Quiet endeavors are taken to reach the most vulnerable population from the Shrine. It is say that the Ilmatari, and others, attempt to help those refuged in the sewers to reach shelters and safety.

They are said to provide reassurance, care, guidance and healing.

[Winterborne]

Months of work in adding beds, shelter, and supplies in the Ilmatari temple have seemingly completed as carts and laborers from House Darius bring building materials, food, and other supplies. Spearheaded by the Sanctuary Guardian, the effort looks to have made the Sanctuary into a significant, albeit temporary, expanded shelter for the needy who might need somewhere secure to bunker down in the event of a catastrophe. While the Sanctuary is not a fortress, it does have secure entrances, extra cots and bedrolls, food, supplies, and medical care and could likely sustain people for an extended period, if necessary.

Rumor has it additional measures were taken in the temple Ossuary as well to ensure the dead are not disturbed by the presence of any seeking shelter.

[Saenei]

* Laei would start to assist the Temple. Randomly, one to three days of the week. Arriving between 9:30 and noon, seeking to stay at the temple until an hour prior to sundown or feeling out of place.

Laei would leverage the prestidigitation cantrip as much as possible. Continuously using it, doing various effects to a 1 foot cubed area. Initially delightfully excited, this would wear quickly to resignation.

Laei would attempt to assist Sister Karin frequently. Air conditioning the area, removing unpleasant smells. Assisting Sister Karin with filling bowls of soup by hand, politely smiling to the guests. Laei would offer to clean some beneficiaries. If they agree, pausing her side of the line while passing the prestidigitation cleaning cube over them.

Laei’s disinterest in the disadvantaged would become apparent in her lack of interest in remembering them over time, although she would usually be polite and smile positively to them. If patients were confined to bed, she would clean them along with the bed when passing prestidigitation through it. If beneficiaries annoyed her and followed her, after warning Laei would make their nose hair smell of skunk regardless of age.

For rooms Laei would remove sources of unpleasant odors at a distance. Using the smell of sun dried fresh cut golden hay to replace smells. Then clean a spot for herself to sit. She would start at the ceiling, 10 square feet or so minute, letting her mind wander every few minutes. With prestidigitation being a cube, it would clean two or three walls along the corners. The beds Laei would make the best she can, after using prestidigitation’s 3d nature to clean the interior of the mattress, mattress, bed pad, sheets, blankets and so on in one pass.

For laundry Laei would try to fold it into compact piles. Using her cantrip first cleaning, then rinse, warm, iron, dry, and lastly a gentle scent of lavender. Taking about a minute per pile. The lavender scent would wear off in an hour, making it a vanity that only Laei was ever likely to smell. *

[Saenei]

* When Sister Ashenie mentions tending the chapels small garden and hanging plants, Laei would admit to relative ignorance. Laei then inquired about having a friend assist her, to which Sister Ashenie indicated they would all tend the chapel's garden together.

Laei then would look to her friend Rivka and Sister Ashenie for guidance on what Laei should do to assist them in tending the garden. *



* Slow motions and tender gestures guide the approach of the chapel’s garden. Sister Ashenie’s dedication seems focused around the well being of plants, their nurturing, and the planting of new seeds. For each leaf gathered, a new seed returned to the earth, so the cycle is renewed.

She explains with a quiet voice the needs of each plant, and their companions. Indeed, the disposition of the garden is not hazardous. Plants are protected from insects, and help each other grow, with a consideration that Ilmatari seem to vow to every life. The inspection also comprises an examination to ensure that no blight, no suffering and no harm is currently rotting the plants.

In each endeavor, Sister Ashenie cares to explain the medical use of each of those plants. Creating small nests in the garden, ensuring the ground remains moist, using the cooked water of Sister Karin sometimes, each gesture seems carefully measured. Each gesture seems to indicate a renewed care from the Sister, as if she was caring for children. *



* Rivka arrives from Greenest soon after Laei sends word, her smile warm and bringing a bounty of things; fresh water, packets of seeds, fertilizer, tools. Like any Chauntean, she comes ready for plenty of work, and seems just as ready to lend her expertise, though she very obviously defers to Sister Ashenie to lead the lesson. Her common Ashenie would note, is rough and accented but she seems knowledgeable, and also brings along a unique talent for speaking to the plants themselves. When she instructs, it is very direct, practical - but her hands are as gentle as Ashenie’s when dealing with the plants themselves, humming soft tunes as she goes.

As Ashenie would speak on the plants, Rivka would follow in wake - explaining what things she was doing to assist, to Laei in brief, low tones, the entire act for her seeming to be very meditative. She also seems to have no qualms passing things to Laei and instructing Laei to follow along, hands into the dirt and all, coaching her along the way as they follow Ashenie through the garden work like ducklings. She even questions Ashenie on some of the plants more native specifically to the Sword Coast, eager to expand her repertoire. She also emphatically praises the Sister’s work, seeming to pass along the feeling of caring the plants reflect back to their tender. *

[Ashenie]

Everlasting Stigmata

---

The madness of recent times has left abandoned children bleeding and suffering, their lives ravaged by unspeakable perils and grave pains. The Crimson Spice and Golden Augury have been anchored to child trafficking, with dark rumors of half-celestial children’s blood being harvested to create their potent drugs. For some of the jaded nobility, devouring the daydreams of captives became a renewed thrill said the rumor : a twisted illusion of paradise, born from the blood of Celestia.

Beneath the city, in the shadowed maze of the sewers, more children suffered : drugged, sold, and abused in ways that defy decency and dignity. Here, horror was not conjured by the direct hands of fiends or cults, but by parents and relatives—broken souls who traded their children to feed the insatiable hunger of addiction. Some children were sold before birth, others were the unintended husks of unions formed out of desperate need to afford the costly spice. These children, it is said, bear stigmata—a mark of suffering, etched into their very souls.

In the Orphanage and the Shrine of Suffering, the Ilmatari are resolute to heal both body and mind, working tirelessly to lessen the weight of the stigmata these children carry. With unwavering dedication, the Ilmatari try to offer fragments of solace and care that no interest would come to betray as a promise of everlasting support that nothing can tame or alter. They approach trauma with tenderness, using simple games to help children express their pain and transform their anguish into strength. To stop the cycle of addiction, the Ilmatari are said extend their efforts to parents and those still enslaved by the spice and other drugs, leaving no one to walk the path of suffering alone.

Even the Abyss, with its dark and creeping tendrils, has claimed children, twisting their fears into tantalizing visions of guilt and horror. But the Ilmatari are said to be resolute, determined to shield these innocent from the Abyss's unblinking eye. Blessings, prayers, and stories of knights battling the darkness color the path of awakening for these children. In their attempted care, Ilmatari endeavor so that guilt is soothed, fears are banished, and nightmares are unraveled.

Rumor has it that the Sisters seek aid from the Radiant Heart, the Flaming Fist, and the City Watch, even as the slow disdain of politics would prioritize the city’s wealth and struggles of power over its children safety. Yet, the Ilmatari remain steadfast, undistracted by such speculation, continuing their tireless mission to heal all children touched by suffering and stigmata. For, even if no one else cared, Ilmatari would, without flinching, attempt to heal this long lasting agony.

It is said that more people have helped, and that children and street children found alone, lost, or in pain, are often brought back to the Orphanage, and nott permitted to face the sewers and its perils anymore.

For no child should suffer alone or cry out in the dark. Ilmater, it is said, holds a deep, unyielding care for the young, and sees any harm done to them as a grievous offense. To honor His purpose, Ilmatari help, however they can.

[ShadowFox13]

The young witch of Rashemen, Rivka, arrives back at the Temple, after a long evening of tending to the dead, bearing a crate of healing supplies - medicines, fresh bandages, ointments, teas... a wealth and bounty from the earth - but the witch's bearing is weary, subdued and distracted. She does not stay long to exchange pleasantries, or even to take a bite of food - quite unlike the usual, as such is a important part of hospitality in her home country.

[DaloLorn]

Shortly after the terrorists were captured, Laei would have been seen escorting the Militia girl Virin into the Shrine of Suffering. Having reportedly taken a crossbow bolt to the chest during the skirmish with the terrorists, the young redhead would complain of lingering chest pains and shortness of breath, retiring to the infirmary to recover.

One might easily infer that while she must have received some kind of magical healing already (else she should not have been able to reach the temple on her own two feet) it wasn't quite enough to restore her to full health after her mortal wound.