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From: aaron@amisk.cs.ualberta.ca (Aaron V. Humphrey)
Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn
Subject: [Faith] Let Me Into Your Temple
Date: 17 Mar 1994 00:17:35 GMT
Organization: The Anna Amabiaca Fan Club
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ADMIN: This is the first post of a new thread, called [Faith] because we
couldn't come up with anything better.  So far it involves myself and my
cast of thousands(currently limited to Delmara and eventually Alfvaen),
and Ceredwyn 'Devious' Bensley, writer of Devious Silverblu the paladin.
Email me if if you're interested in joining, and we'll see if we can fit
you in.  (Previous Ravenloft experience an asset...:-)


"You call that pain?...
 You call that darkness?...
 Well, it's not...

 Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on,
 Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on,
 Let me into your temple..."
      --Jane Siberry, "Temple"


Delmara had spent the night in the Inn in the bed of some adventurer whose
name she'd already forgotten.  He had been gone when she awakened, which
she didn't find surprising anymore.  The only thing she had found
surprising had been how much she'd thought of Radan at the time.

She was still thinking about him after she dressed and descended to the
common room to get some breakfast.  Rowan nodded as she caught his eye and
soon Mary came out with her usual breakfast.

She sat at a small table near the window.  The morning light was dimmed by
fog.  A bit stronger than usual this morning, perhaps, but not especially
so.

When the woman came in, Delmara watched her distractedly.  Not many came
in in the morning; travellers and regulars alike were more common in the
evening.  But adventurers kept odd hours...and with the armour this was
certainly an adventurer.  And the nervous reaction to the slightest noise, 
betrayed a greater than usual unease.

Delmara watched her as she got up and went to the bar, and she caught the
word "Ravenloft".  She hadn't heard much of that realm, but what she had,
hadn't been good.

Then there was a lull in the conversation in the Inn--already subdued, with
the early hour and the fog--one of those things that happens once in a
while even in the most crowded of places.  And Delmara heard the woman's
voice saying a name she recognized.  "Alfvaen?"  She looked up and their
eyes met for moment--but the woman in armour didn't seem to register it.
Her eyes seemed strangely unfocused, from sheer fatigue, if nothing else.
Then she made her way back to her table as the conversations in the room
resumed.

Delmara wondered for a moment whether she'd heard correctly.  The word had
been spoken softly, almost across the room.  And what were the odds,
anyway, that a woman coming into the Inn, who seemed to be a new arrival in
town, knew Alfvaen?  Then she recalled him talking about the god Azpiazu.
"With Azpiazu," he had said, "nothing is truly a coincidence.  He set things
up, weaving threads, to bring things together in intricate patterns.
Sometimes his only desire is to create the most complicated pattern he
can."  And, after all, Alfvaen did come from another world, and almost
certainly knew others from that time.  Even if she hadn't seen him in
months...

Her decision made, she stood up and made her way over to where the woman
sat.  "Pardon me," she said, "I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but did you
mention the name 'Alfvaen'?"

Devious looked up, and blinked a couple of times to clear her bleary eyes.
The woman who had spoken to her was tall, dark-haired, and dressed in a
simple robe of creamy white, bound with a silken belt.  She blinked again.
For a moment there, the belt-clip had looked like a whip-handle...

The paladin motioned towards the empty chair next to her "Please sit down,
milady.  I did indeed mention the name Alfvaen.  Wouldst thou know the half-
elf?  I...I had some trouble recently."

The armour creaked slightly as the diminutive warrior shifted, binding her
cloak closer about her form.  Delmara caught a glimpse of brown stains on the
sliver of silver armour that showed through the black tabard before the
paladin shivered back into her velvet cloak.

"I have only recently been able to c-come here," she stammered, swallowing as
though remembering something best forgotten, "and I need to know where Alfvaen
is.  Can thou help me in this regard?"

Delmara shook her head. "I haven't seen him in months.  Can I help you?  You
seem worried or tense..."

The knight shook her head. "I am recovering from a rather painful blow.  Thou
must understand, this is urgent!  I may have made a terrible mistake."
She pressed a gauntleted hand to her side and winced. "If thou would speak
with me further about the subject, I need to find a more secure place."
As she looked up, Delmara felt a soundless explosion hit her at the back of
her head, a spread of silver and wine fire that sank into her skull.  No, not
that, the warmth sought her *soul*.

The paladin's strained voice relaxed. "I am sorry.  It was necessary to
determine thy Path of Life."  Her free hand made a curious gesture. "It is
rare that I am able to detect such a thing successfully where I hail from."

Delmara felt almost angry at the invasion of her privacy, but something about
the unfocused, strange eyes of the Paladin seemed to indicate that she had
given up most social graces many years ago.  She no longer cared.
"Well," the cleric said, a little coldly "I am Delmara, priestess of
Aditi."

"I am the Devious Paladin," said the other with a mirthless smile. "My family
and kin are the clan Silverblu.  I would give thee my true name--if I knew
it.  I needed Alfvaen here as a friend and companion, someone who would know
the area and understand what would be needed to combat...not yet.  Is there a
place we may retire to?"

Delmara thought for a moment.  "Come to my temple," she said.  "It's a bit
of a walk, but I know of noplace more secure.  As long as your deity is not
warring with mine, that is..."

"I had hoped for someplace closer, but...so be it."  Devious stood up,
leaning heavily on the table.  Her every action, as she walked to the door,
was performed with a bitter slowness.

"Wait," Delmara said, her earlier anger forgotten.  "I can summon a
rickshaw to take us there--you don't look like you should walk far."

Devious nodded and sat down again, heavily.  "Perhaps that would be best."

Delmara went outside.  The fog was starting to burn away somewhat--she
could see across the Plaza now.  After a few moments, she saw and hailed
a rickshaw passing on Dragon's Lane.  The ugly, brutish creature pulling
it turned and lumbered her way.  "Wait here, I have another passenger
inside."  She handed it a silver piece and went back inside.

Devious stood again and, refusing Delmara's offer of support, made her own
unsteady way to the door.  When she saw the creature pulling the rickshaw,
she drew in a breath and instinctively reached for her sword.  "An ogre?"
she whispered.

"No, no," Delmara said, sensing the problem.  "He's fine.  They pull the
rickshaws because they're the strongest.  I've never heard of one hurting
anybody."

Devious raised an eyebrow in disbelief, then sighed.  She had to trust
Delmara.  With some effort, she pulled herself up into the rickshaw's
seats.  Delmara followed her up with slightly more agility, then said to
the ogre, "Temple of Aditi."  When it paused and looked blankly at her, she
said, "On the Arcade of Unforgotten Heroes.  I'll tell you when."  It
nodded and set off at a lumbering pace.

The rickshaw was not the smoothest of rides, and Devious winced several
times when it hit a particularly large bump.  "It's really not that far,"
Delmara reassured her.  Sure enough, in only a few minutes Delmara said,
"Here we are."  The ogre stopped and the two disembarked, Devious again
refusing Delmara's offer of assistance.

The Temple of Aditi was a modest structure, especially compared to some of
the new housing that had been put in on the nearby edge of Low City.  It
didn't look like what Devious thought of as a temple at all.  Delmara went
to the front door and unlocked it.  It opened with a creak, revealing a
small church with an altar.  Above the altar hung a large silken whip.
Devious, remembering Delmara's earlier comment, steeled herself for
rejection as they entered, but felt nothing out of the ordinary.

A young girl was sweeping up the floor.  She looked up as they entered.
"Hi, 'Mara," she said quietly.  "Jad's still asleep."

"Hi, Aitreni," Delmara said.  "Aitreni, this is Devious Silverblu.  This is
my acolyte, Aitreni."  Devious nodded a curt greeting.  "Come with me, we
can talk in my office."

Once inside, Devious sat heavily down on the couch without asking, then shook
her head "Again I am sorry.  I forget these social subtleties so quickly.  I--
what?"

Delmara had leaned forward and was looking at where the Paladin's cloak had
fallen back, revealing blood weeping up through the armour's scales.  The
cleric shook her head grimly.

"It will not heal," Devious said, shrugging.  "When a paladin's warhorse dies,
part of the knight dies too.  It is that death which brings me here.  And the
one who follows me has wanted to escape his domain for a long, long time."

She flexed her fingers and looked up, her gaze suddenly showing her true age:
little past nineteen, perhaps twenty although that was a stretch.  She seemed
abruptly young and angry and pained, her blue eyes those of a young child
who understands nothing of what has been forced upon her by the world.
"The Lord of Light answers me with prayer-spells but admonishes me with their
selection!  I do not receive Sun's Glow, but Night's Wrap.  It has been thus
since my Illithien was slain.  I was the Unicorn Paladin, accompanied by a
steed who understood all my heart."

She turned her head away and struggled to regain the mask she dropped so
embarrassingly quickly.  The fight was quick, soon over.  Devious shook her
head and the look of the child she never had time to be vanished.

"I am sorry," she said, "but...Delmara, cleric, you understand the Bond between
warhorse and paladin.  It is like that, I think, between mage and familiar.  I
am lost without it.  It is a bitter cup."

The bleeding seemed to have slowed as the paladin spoke in frustration, and the
cleric realised that in some way the paladin was punishing herself for failure.
But before she could speak, she noticed that the paladin was looking around
curiously at the temple insides, taking in the symbols with a practiced eye.
"I think the Lord of Light is not so different from your Lady," she murmured,
"although perhaps His faith is less physically taxing.  No matter, I feel
reassured here...it is good to be in a temple again.  At least," she amended
with a thoughtful look, "one I did not feel compelled to tear down with my
bare hands."

She then blinked.  "But what you will most want to know is the nature of the
beast that has followed me."  She closed her eyes and her words were sharp
and harsh.

"Its name, Delmara cleric, is The One Who Reflects.  Its form is that
of your own deepest fear and hatred.  Any vice you have, or any tendency
towards the dark, it becomes."

She paused to let the word sink in for the cleric.  Delmara's eyes were
thoughtful, and worried.  She knew the extent of the damage that might be
committed by such a creature, a mirror of every being's own deepest
follies.  She shuddered at the thought of what _she_ might be shown...
"But surely such a creature would have difficulty with you, a paladin..."
Delmara's words trailed off, as she realised that she had made a mistake.

Devious Silverblu turned her head away, her breathing that of one upset.
"It reflects me most cruelly, Delmara.  For when I look at it, I see myself, a
cold and dead version.  A paladin without a true name.  A paladin called
Devious instead, not for a compliment but to mock.  I see what I have
created.  Illithien fell before it, for he saw something which I have no
words for.  I give you due warning, cleric.  This creature is loose in your
lands, and it is fell."

Delmara looked at the fighter and said, "Alfvaen would help.  And I know where
we might pick up his trail."

Devious said, "He might be in danger.  This thing appears to like both those of
faith and those who have had contact with the Dark Demi-Plane the most.  He
met me, and to some he'll wear the scent of the place.  As now will you, I am
sorry."

The cleric smiled "My Goddess might have something to say about that.  My
faith is strong, though I sense that yours is weaker because of your trials.
Rest here, perhaps meditate a while.

"And then we go to Moriarty Investigations to try and find Alfvaen."


-- 
--Alfvaen(Editor of Communique)
Current Album--Christopher Ward:Time Stands Still
Current Read--Charles de Lint:Spiritwalk
"curious george swung down the gorge/the ants took him apart"  --billbill