Aaron Lyonaler - The Anointing

[sweetlikesplenda]

Sunlight reflected off the highly polished stone and marble of the temple into mirrors, spewing light all around the sacred room. Aaron Lyonaler, favored of Red Knight knelt before the alter in honor of Red Knight within the temple of Tempus, in contemplation. It had been several hours that the knight had sat deep in prayer. Several of the temple acolytes had, from time to time been concerned for the Knight and offered services to him, only to be gently denied. The sun was reaching its height in the noon sky when Aaron’s head began to sag, a heaviness taking him. With a loud clang all in the temple turned to see the body of the Knight was slumped over in front of the alter he had been praying in front of, alive but not responsive. Servants were called and Aaron was removed from his armor and laid in a bed. No method the acolytes used were able to wake the Knight.

Colors swam around his vision that no amount of blinking would remove. As his vision cleared, Aaron realized he was no longer in the Temple, but rather in a brightly lit glade, the center of which contained a marble table. Slowly rising to his feet, Aaron examined his surroundings. All seemed quiet and serine; the only sounds were the songs of birds in the trees surrounding the glade. Moving forward towards the table, the Knight noted two chalices filled almost to the brim, beside each a tome laid. The first tome was titled “Holy Sight”, the second “Celestial Strategy”. Aaron flipped the pages of each book, and while he knew the words written in each tome were meant as instructions for creating the liquid in each chalice, he was unable to understand the words. Suddenly the tomes slammed shut and Aaron felt his body becoming too heavy even to stand. Colors once again dominated his vision and he felt himself slowly leaving the glade.

Shooting up into a seated position, covered in sweat, Aaron noticed the temple acolytes standing over him with looks of concern on their faces. “How long have I been out?” he asked. “Nearly seven hours now. It is nearly sun set” replied the head acolyte. Nodding his head and thanking the temple servants for the return of his armor, Aaron readied himself and made his way towards the doors to leave. As he neared the door, a boy ran up to stop him. “Uhm Sir? I was instructed to give this to you” the boy stated as he held out a book for the Knight. “It is a copy of The Wondrous Potions of the Brothers of Ilmater, the church has several and I was told to give this to you. You had whispered it while you were unconscious.” Thanking the boy and offering a smile Aaron accepted the book and made his way out of the temple and into the cool of the streets of Baldur’s Gate. Looking at the book in his hands the Knight realized he had some studying ahead of him.

[sweetlikesplenda]

Several weeks had passed since the vision of the chalices in the temple. Aaron spent much of that time in search of books that might cast some light on what the liquid inside the chalices were made of. The knight had collected several books, some obtained through delving into dungeons, while others were obtained from the library within the Order of the Silver Rose keep and Candlekeep on loan. Aaron was confident that he could find some helpful information within the tomes he had located. His collection thus far included, On the Refinement of the Alchemist's Craft, The Lore of the Master Alchemist, The Tome of Alchemy, Formulae of the Learned Scholars of Halruaa, The Wondrous Potions of the Brothers of Ilmater. After searching the books, Aaron would seek out those with greater skill in alchemy then he, in an attempt to unlock the mysteries of what he had been shown.