Day of arrival, 29 of Ches, 1349 DR
As the group of elves quietly entered Ardeep Forest, the sun elven priestess could not help but gaze in marvel at the sight of such an ancient place, as old as the Misty Forest itself. Most importantly, she could not help but feel sad for the fate that had befallen that place. Once safe haven for every member of the Tel'Quessir, now abandoned and left to the ravages of time. The Retreat was at its apex after all, and too many elves had left their ancestral glades for the safety of the Green Island.
Luthien's attention shifted to the elves at her side, descendants of those brave souls that withstood the corruption of the Vyshaanti empire and decided to stay on the continent rather than turning their backs to the world.
Feralyn's motioning in front of him interrupted her musings, while the group encountered a freshly built palisade along the road, just a few yards away from the glade that was supposed to house an ancient temple of the Coronal.
Rather than launching a direct attack with no provocation, the group opted for sending Luthien and the moon elven bardess Iliana ahead, as ambassadors. Parlaying with the humans guarding the outpost had been strangely easy and smooth. Perhaps too easy in Luthien's mind.
Apparently the humans were archeologists belonging to a minor foundation of Waterdeep. They just wanted to gain access to the temple hoping to collect as much tidbits of elven lore as possible. "For a prosperous future in which humans and elves would live side by side in harmony", to put it in their leader's word.
Luthien shuddered at the thought. She has always believed that uniformity only bred complacency and unresponsiveness, and she couldn't help but think that the human's goal was nothing short of foolish. Perhaps, once his back would have bended under the weight of years, he could have glimpsed the wisdom in her point of view. Or that at least was her belief.
The temple of Corellon was tainted with the foul presence of undeath, and the expedition was unable to enter due to the ferocity of the fiends inhabiting it. While the thought of undeath inhabiting the temple of the Coronal would have caused other, less far seeing elves, to rush immediately into action, the priestess and the bardess used this obstacle to their advantage, obtaining access to the ruins without any interference from the humans.
Their motivations were far from clear, and Laisren could sense that they were up to something...but the main objective was very close, and the group had already devised a contingency plan should the humans turn against them.
Once inside the temple, the situation looked far more critical than it originally seemed. Not only was the place infested with mindless skeletons and plague zombies; even more powerful undeads like death knights were waiting for them at the entrance.
The group fought as best as it could, with Jhaeros, Mendel and Laisren holding the line while the other archers kept peppering the shambling husks with enchanted arrows. Luthien, on the other hand, put away her weapons and shield, grasping her symbol of Corellon and directing it towards the hordes of ravenous undeads. Soon after, she channelled her faith through her symbol...
"Bear witness to His power, fiends!"
As the priestess uttered those words, her symbol of Corellon began to shine with a strong, warm yellow light, while a mighty wave of holy energy bursted forth and engulfed the abominations assaulting her friends.
Some petty skeletons and zombies instantly dropped to the ground, this time truly dead, before disintegrating, while most of the more powerful death knights and plague zombies twitched in agony and stopped moving, paralyzed by such holy energy disrupting the bonds preserving their unlife.
Those very few that remained unscathed by Luthien's holy assault were easy prey for the weapons of their companions. Everyone of them struck true and swiftly, taking down the undeads with precise, merciless efficiency.
Looking around after the skirmish, Luthien set her emerald eyes upon the delicate, beautiful architecture of the temple she and her friends were hoping to cleanse. It was old, very likely older than herself and all her friends put together, and...ruined. Sadly, the retreat had taken its toll on the temple as well, its once hallowed halls were now in ruin, the holy ground of that center of worship now soiled and tainted by an abomination so dire, that Luthien's mind descended into a fit of rage.
Soon after, another door opened, leading to the temple's main hall...and to throngs of undeads. Luthien could clearly see banshees, elven ghosts of ancient arcanists, and a true abomination: an ancient lich, its sullen and empty eyes shining with a malevolent, eerie red light.
More plague zombies reanimated from the ground, and the group quickly found itself surrounded. Wave after wave, the zombies were being cut down to pieces, only for the lich and his minions to raise more. In the meantime, the elven ghosts were bombarding the group with flames and chains of lightning. Saline, Anicell and Jhaeros were quickly overwhelmed by such a display of power, and they fell to the ground, lifeless.
The rage inside her increasing only further, Luthien aimed her holy symbol against the lich, channelling as much faith as possible in an attempt to rebuke the abomination. For a brief but intense moment, the two beings clashed, not phisically, but mentally. The malevolence, hatred and willpower of the lich was pitted against the faith and purity of intent of the elven priestess.
The symbol of Corellon began to glow further and further to the point of blazing, becoming hot and searing the flesh of the elven woman grasping it. Instead of dropping it, though, Luthien grasped the symbol with renewed strength while at the same time ignoring the pain. Not even a creature as ancient and powerful as a lich could withstand such a prolonged exposure to true faith, and in the end, it overwhelmed the creature, leaving it powerless and immobile, rebuked by the faith of what, in its lifeless eyes, was only a lowly mortal.
With the lich out of the equation, the elves got the upper hand. One by one, slowly and at the cost of great energies, the ghosts were destroyed. As the putrid stench of undeath left the temple, notifying the group that no undeads were still tarnishing those hallowed halls, a badly wounded Luthien rushed to the bodies of her comrades and quickly brought them back to life.
"No children of the Seldarine shall leave for Arvanaith today, if I can help it!"
As the fallen ones returned to life, Feralyn rushed towards Luthien and healed her wounds as best as his remarkable healing skills could.
"Take it easy Luthien, you have been so focused on healing us, that you forgot to heal yourself. You're bleeding."
"I will nap once our task has been finished, Feralyn. Not before. But I thank you for your concern."
Quickly, the veteran group of battle-hardened elves inspected the temple, grabbing as many books, parchments and most importantly weapons, available. Most of the weapons stored inside the racks were irredeemably rusty and unusable, but some of them - a spear, a bow, a sword, a dagger and two quiver of arrows - seemed still intact, in pristine condition and, more importantly, very deadly.
While the group collected as many items as possible, Luthien gazed upon the main room of the temple, now decrepit and soiled like all the other rooms. Yet, there was still hope. The temple still echoed with Corellon's power, and the structural damage wasn't irreparable. Taking a vial of elven holy water, Luthien sprinkled the whole room and cast a blessing.
Immediately after, a palpable feeling of holiness and peace permeated the temple, while the remains of the undeads lying on the ground quickly evaporated in a cacophony of hisses, their last, pointless act of defiance before utter annihilation.
"This temple is hallowed again now. No more shall the vile spawns of the negative energy plane soil its sacred halls. Let us go now."
The group left the temple, making sure not to leave any useful bits of knowledge behind, while a marveled archeological team looked upon them bewildered. The elves took their leave, but not before leaving behind them a now hallowed temple of Corellon, purified from taint and unholyness: a silent, permanent reminder of the fact that their race was far from doomed...
Back into the Misty Forest, 31 of Ches, 1349 DR
The returning elves were greeted with a hero's welcome. Everyone in the village was rejoicing for the safe return of their kinsmen, as well for the mission's success: not only did they suffer no casualties; they even managed to retrieve ancient elven relics and cleanse a temple of the Coronal at the same time. As everyone was congratulating the group, Luthien took a small step forward, beaming with pride for being able to count upon such valiant kinsmen.
"Does anyone know why have we won, brothers and sisters?"
Feralyn stepped forward as well, respectfully bowing to her before answering.
"Because we had you at our side?"
"No, Feralyn - Luthien shook her head once - "We have won because we fought as brothers and sisters, covering each other's back, and staying true to each other. This is what the Coronal expects from His children. And that is why, as long as His covenant shall be respected, His watchful gaze will protect and strengthen us. Always keep this in mind, my kin."
As the others remained silent for a brief moment, perhaps meditating upon her words, Luthien secluded herself into the village's temple. There was very little time for celebrations, at least for her: the relics had to be blessed and sanctified again, after all. And Luthien had lost the habit of dilly-dallying a long time ago.
