Baldur's Gate : The Sword Coast Chronicles : NWN2 Persistent World

The forest was silent and devoid of sentient life, save for the two lithe, cowled figures that slowly approached an ancient elven ruin, what looked like to be a temple to Corellon Larethian himself, in the building's days of glory. So much had been abandoned by the People, during the Retreat, that the two figures - one female and a male - bowed their heads and stood silent for many minutes.

Finally, the female took a few steps onwards, giving a long and attentive look to the whole temple, as if to appraise his overall structural integrity.

"It looks like we will have lots of work to do, Jaufre"

The elf, silent as a panther, approached the woman from behind, a small smile forming on his lips before answering.

"We both knew what were we getting ourselves into, Lady Luthien. Did we not?"

The female elf stiffled a chuckle, the features of her face lightening up considerably after her friend's reply.

"Yes, you are right, old friend. But I am afraid that the work is too overwhelming for the two of us alone. I suppose you do not have a magic wand of "repair ruined temple" with you at the moment, do you not?"

"I am afraid not, m'lady. Even if my stock of wands is nothing short of limitless, I doubt such a wand even exists."

The two looked at each other for a moment, before starting to laugh heartily.

"Well - the woman retorted, her long nailed right index gently scratching her chin - Let us see what do we have on the list of works to do....remove all of the deceased undeads littering the Temple's interior, repair the inner walls, then cast all the required blessings, then repair the Temple's outer walls....this should not be harder than fighting a being akin to a demigod in terms of power, I guess..."

Jaufre glanced upon the ruined Temple, in the same moment wherein a lump of loose stones fell from the Temple's right wall, shattering as soon as they hit the ground.

"Daunting to say the least, but I guess it is part of your newfound position, m'lady. May I ask how do you intend to restore the Temple of the Sun to its ancient glory? I doubt a magic wand will suffice."

Luthien gave Jaufre a cocky smile, one that her closest acquaintances knew all too well as a sign of her having formulated one of her failproof plans.

"With copious amounts of Elbow grease, my dear Jaufre. And the Seldarine's help."

Luthien gave Jaufre a wink, then established a tent with a makeshift table inside, before placing many blueprints and documents on its wooden surface. The work had just begun.

Luthien receives a Sending from Hoihe:

"I'm going to send a series of Sendings, please listen to them. An abundance of elven relics are being uncovered from the..."


"Depths of Sharpteeth, and recently a shield was found by my friend Geoff. We agreed that once he finishes studying it, he'll give it to me."

"I shall let Laitae study it then, and after she is done I will wish to deliver it to neutral ground, neither En Dharasha..."

" or Doron Amar. And the temple in Ardeep sprang to my mind. It seems to be from before the Crown Wars, and crafted in praise of Askavar."

"I wish to bring it to the temple, and donate it to its splendour. Would such be alright with you, Luthien?"

The sun elven woman slightly tilted her head to the right while receiving the sending, the deep pitched thud emitted by a bag full of now completely decaying plague zombie chunks hitting the ground outside the temple quickly bringing her back to reality.

"Yes, of course Hoihe. Every donation would be welcomed indeed!"

The lithe moon elven archer looked at his priestess with a quizzed look on his face, albeit a good part of it was covered by a thick scarf, very likely in a (futile) attempt to avoid sensing the horrible stench. Luthien quickly dismissed the look with a wave of her filth-covered right hand.

"T'was Hoihe. He just told me that he would like to donate a relic of our past to the temple."

Jaufre nodded once, wiping some grime away from his simple, yet elegant, archer outfit.

"A noble intent. I am sure it will be safe here. Once we will have finished, that is."

"It will take some time for that, I fear. But still, between your shooting capabilities and my magic, it should be more than safe, at least for the time being. Add a shield to the list of relics we have collected as soon as you can, please."

Jaufre glanced at his hands, completely encrusted with grime, decayed tissue, and surrounded by swarms of flies.

"Ergo, as soon as we have finished lugging this filth away from the Temple and I have bathed in a river."

The elf's ironic answer had been uttered with such a serious and flat tone, Luthien could not help but laugh.

"My, Jaufre, this task would be much flatter and daunting without your snide remarks to keep me merry. Even cleaning the mess inside the temple is almost enjoyable, now."

"I am sure you will soon change your mind, M'lady. We still have to take care of those two plague zombies Mendel gutted with his blades. Not to mention the one shot to pieces by Saline's volleys. I think most of his brain is still covering the temple's ceiling."

The elven woman's belly emitted a very faint grumble, before she gagged a bit.

"Wonderful....with hindsight, I should have imagined that I would have ended up cleaning their own mess after the encounter. Again!"

"I suppose there is worse, m'lady. Like finding the necessary materials and getting them here, and also finding laborers with the required skills."

"Do you not worry about that, Jaufre. I got that aspect covered. More or less."

As she answered to Jaufre, Luthien's emerald eyes gazed upon the bag full of bits and gibs of plague zombies on the ground. At first glance, the bag looked like as if emitting black smoke, but in reality, there were hundreds, if not thousands, of flies gathered above it.

With a shudder and a roll of her eyes, Luthien entered the temple again, ready to continue the cleansing. Or rather, cleaning. Jaufre quickly followed.

"May I know how, m'lady?"

"By poking the elves of Waterdeep, I guess. They should be happy to know that their beloved, millennia old temple is going to be restored very soon. Also, I could pay a visit to our kinsmen in the south for a...little donation. Believe it or not, rebuilding an elven temple is expensive, and I can not really say I am getting paid. Oh wait, over there, another one! Looks like Mendel aimed most of his blows at its belly, the only thing holding it together in one piece is the still attached spine. Ugh!"

Jaufre looked upon the rotting plague zombie, nodding in agreement.

"I grab it by the feet, while you grab it by the arms, m'lady?"

"Judging from the advanced state of decay, its arms will most likely fall off, and then we would need a mop and lots of water to clean up the spill. I am afraid I will have to grab it by the torso...oh well, nothing that a bath will not fix...I hope."

"Well then, m'lady, luckily for us there is a river not too far away from here."

"And luckily for me, my sense of smell has been overpowered by the stench hours ago, which means that I do not even notice how much this stuff smells."

"You can not is more like it, m'lady."

Luthien laughed again, the first laughter to have echoed in the walls of the Temple of the Sun after a very long time of sorrow and despair.

Three elven figures appear in the shadows a little distance away from the old temple. Two of them are hooded, one of which is a muscular, yet seemingly agile male carrying a hand-and-half sword on his back. The other hooded, is a woman, carrying a violin and a longbow on her back, as well as a fine elven longsword on her belt. Both the hooded elves seem very short for elves.

The last elf, who is not hooded, has two short swords on her left hip. Her yellow eyes shines in the light of the almost full moon, and a bright smile forms on her lips as she sees Luthien and Jaufre in the process of cleaning up the old temple.

The three shadowdancers stand there for a while, admiring the temple.

"Are you sure about this, Phaedraee...?" the hooded bardess inquires while somewhat nervously eyeing the two elves cleaning up. "They'll likely just think we're here to raid the old temple..."

"Don't worry, Qil! The priestess is Nëa's friend!" the male says, grinning at the bardess. Then looks at Nëa, his grin still very much present "Right? Who's the other guy, though?"

"Right!" Nëa replies with a wide grin then squints towards the male elf helping Luthien. "He's a friend of Laisren, I think. Anyway, I'll just go over and say that we offer to help! And if Luthien doesn't think that's a good idea, we'll just head go back home. Besides, for all we know, father is probably lurking about making sure we're not getting into any trouble."

"Yeah. Shouldn't have told him, Qil. Now mother will be worried till we get back." the male shadowdancer looks towards the bardess, still grinning rather widely.

"Well, one of us has to be the responsible one, Allaul." Qilqosee replies flatly to the male, then breaks into a smile and a soft chuckle herself. She tuns to Nëa and motions her towards the other elves. "Go then, sister..."

"Righty! Also, they only know me as Nëa, and I want to keep it that way for now..." Nëa says, then dances along towards Luthien and Jaufre.

A few meters away, she calls out and waves. "Luthieeeeeeeen! Hi! My brother and sister and I decided we wanted to help out, if you need it. And if... well... you think it's alright?" Nëa says and glances briefly to Jaufre, before returning her gaze to Luthien with a bright, but somewhat nervous smile.

Luthien was too busy jotting down a lot of notes inside her makeshift tent, to really notice the three newcomer's approach. As soon as she heard Nea's voice, though, she snapped out of her concentration and got out of her tent. The archer Jaufre was lying just outside, his face fixed in a blank, relaxed expression that betrayed no emotion whatsoever. He approached Luthien and whispered to her...

"I am familiar with the moon elven maiden, m'lady. But I can't really say that I know the other two elves behind her. Also worthy of mention, I think there is someone else watching over us from the shadows, way behind the trio."

Luthien just nodded at Jaufre once, immediately whispering back.

"Nëa and her family. Do not worry old friend, they are...alright."

Jaufre noticed some hesitation in Luthien's answer, so he inquired a bit more as Nëa approached.

"Are you certain, m'lady? Also, they both are noticeably shorter for an average elf. And why are they covering their faces?"

Luthien wrinkled her lips just a bit, before answering.

"My good friend, there is only one rule to follow when dealing with Nëa's relatives, and that is: "don't ask, don't tell". Suffice to say, they are trustworthy. And to my chagrin, definitely more worthy of trust that SOME elves in the south."

Jaufre nodded just once, his face becoming more relaxed, while Luthien approached Nëa and gave her an affectionate hug.

"I can not say that I did not miss you, knucklehead. And at the same time, I can not say that I was expecting your people's help. But every offer of help is appreciated."

Luthien's emerald eyes then drifted towards the two distant figures, their features covered from head to toe.

"I thank you for the help you are freely offering, not just to me, but to Him and to His children. Only thing I ask you, is to keep your features hidden. Many of my kind would react violently upon your sight, as I know far too well."

As she finished speaking, Luthien emitted a soft chuckle.

"The most needed help comes from the most unexpected of Your children, while some of them in the south are just too busy to really care about my work. Thank you, Corellon, for this lesson.

Well, Nëa, you and your friends are welcome. Even the one keeping an eye on you, hidden somewhere in the bushes behind you. And now grab a shovel and be ready to get dirty, there is a lot of work to be done.

And allow me to give you a friendly warning: don't breath with the nose."

Luthien turned towards Jaufre and gave him a warm smile. Perhaps - she thought - the Gods had finally wanted to help, even if through the weirdest of means.

The two shadowdancers in the distance draw up their face coverings as they are addressed, and cautiously approach.

"The Coronal of Arvandor means a lot to us as well." Qilqosee replies in a friendly tone to Luthien, and adds quietly, smiling behind her mask: "Our Lady is Corellon's daughter, so that means we are his children in one way or another as well, yes?"

"Mhm! Anyways, this is Qil and Al, my brother and sister!" Nëa smiles widely and motions for her adopted siblings. She then glances into the forest from where they came and blinks. "I can't see or hear anyone...? Jaufre said someone was following? Can't be father, then... No one ever notices him... Al, would you go check?" Nëa says while narrowing her eyes to the forest.

The male shadowdancer grunts as he throws zombie parts in a pile. "Probably just your boyfriend, Nëa," Allaul smirks towards Nëa, then blinks and throws his hands up she gives him a glare. "Fine! I'll go check!"

Meanwhile Qil and Nëa starts helping Luthien and Jaufre wherever it is needed.

The sun was just rising as Luthien, Nëa and her siblings were lugging the last of the undead corpses out of the temple. Nëa sighed in relief and wiped her hands clean.

"FINALLY! - she yelled - Those....things smell worse than a dwarf's butt!"

"I think they would be evenly matched, Nëa. I spent one whole week with a dwarf during the Black Orc War and trust me, it was almost worse than this"

"I believe you!"

"So you and your friends alone killed all these corpses by yourself, priestess? Impressive!"

"It was a bloody and harsh battle, Qil. We barely made it out alive. But yes, we cleared the temple all by ourselves."

Nëa's sibling nodded, clearly impressed by the feat.

"Corellon must have been with you all that day, priestess."

Luthien just nodded, while taking a sip of water from her waterskin.

"He was undoubtedly with us and at the center of our prayers, yes. But if we won, it was also because we added lots of steel to those prayers. Here is an important lesson: the Gods help those that help themselves first."

While saying those words to Quil, the archer Jaufre had finally returned to the camp, the corpse of a man clad in leather and with his throat torn open by a bite resting on his shoulders.

Qil gave a perplexed look to the human corpse. It was terribly, terribly out of place, she thought.

"Who is he? Or rather, was?"

Luthien saluted the body, before answering to the question.

"A Human who lost his life while showing us the way for the keep of the usurper. It would be very ungrateful for us to not give him a proper burial and full honors. Kindness must be repaid with kindness, selflessness with gratitude. He will be laid to rest here, as a final way to say "Thank you". I only wish there were more like him amongst his kind."

Luthien gave the corpse one last look before retreating to her tent. The price of victory was often paid in blood, true, but that was the first human she ever met that died to help her people. She would have never forgotten his sacrifice.

After the expedition to Sharpteeth, Luthien finally returned to her temple in Ardeep forest. She found solace in the fact that her friends, Jaufre and Nea and her relatives, had continued working while she had been away. Jaufre bowed to her as soon as she arrived.

"Greetings M'lady. I trust your expedition to the South went well, yes?"

Luthien gave him a bemused look before answering.

"Not really, no. It was rather excruciating. And it looks like that I will have to travel again to the South, soon. So much for my plans concerning this House of the Coronal."

"But what about the coronation, m'lady? Does this mean that you have changed your mind?"

Luthien shook her head just once.

"No, I have not. But there is need for me in the South. We will all have to delay the ceremony, it seems. You know me, I hate leaving things unfinished."

Jaufre simply nodded in approval.

"Such conduct is worthy of the highest elven traditions, m'lday. Me and our recently found....errr...."kin" will continue the restauration process while you are away. Speaking of which, we have finally cleared the way to the Vault. I thought that you might have wanted to check that."

At that, Luthien's face relaxed a bit.

"The temple's safest room...yes, I will have a look at it, thank you Jaufre. You and the others can resume your work."

Silently, the priestess removed her cloak and armor, stored them on a stand, and entered the Temple of the Sun in Ardeep, one of the most ancient and still standing (albeit barely) temples of Corellon in existence. Only four Great Temples dedicated to the Coronal were left in Faerun. One was in Evermeet, the land of her birth. The second was in Everlund, once an elven city, now mostly humans, as it often happens. The last two were in Evereska and in Suldanessallar, respectively. But very soon, the Temple of the Sun would have returned to its ancient glory, adding a fifth Great Temple to Faerun.

As she walked across the hallowed halls of the Temple, Luthien felt the same lingering sense of greatness that she felt the first time she entered the Temple, even if back then it was infested with the wretched spawn of the negative energy plane. That temple, once a beacon of hope and stability in a sea of turmoil and strife, during the ancient Crown Wars, when brother fought brother.

But before that, there were the Old Ways, the same Old Ways that Luthien had cherished so much. The ones that had kept her people united and strong for thousands of years. The whole Temple - and perhaps Luthien herself - was basically an anachronism, a monument to the Old Ways and to the Old World.

But of course, elves were living in the New World now. A life blind to the old glories as well as the old mistakes, mere shadow of its former greatness, devoid of symbols and ideals. A hopeless life.

As she entered the Vault, Luthien's eyes were set on the many relics held inside: ancient tomes, weapons and armors of ancient and superb craft, holy text books, now mostly forgotten, a statue of the Coronal still pristine, a marvelous tapestry depicting the history of the elves, starting from Corellon's epic fight against the one eyed, and finishing with the fall of Myth Drannor.

And yet, there was something else inside that Vault, something that many people, even elves, would have deemed inconsequential.

An ancient flag, tattered and dirty, emblazoning the Coat of Arms of the ancient Aelinthaldaar kingdom - the same kingdom that had built the Temple she would have soon been entrusted with. The same Temple that was also the last surviving testament of that Kingdom. A kingdom of sun elves, moon elves, wild elves, and the dark elves of old, living together in harmony and peace. Before the Fall.

Luthien remained silent, while she tore the ancient Aelithaldaaran flag from the wall, and fashioned it into a cloak. A symbol of the Old World, of the Old Ways, that she would have carried with her to the end of her life.

Whether she had done so out of respect for her Temple's past, or to forever carry with her a reminder of what elves once were, or to give a new message - as well as a new symbol - to her own people, even if the symbol itself was old, will be unknown to everyone, and will very likely remain so forever. Interpretation is best left to history, and only Luthien would ever know for certain.