The heroes had explored the area
surrounding where the temple of had been.
When they left they were confronted with a problem, there were pilgrims
that had gathered. Most asked to
accompany them on their journey to the Temple of Sanam, the Goddess of love and
fertility. Her temple was the relatively
close compared to the rest of the holy sites, at only a month’s travel. They allowed only the able bodied to travel
with them. Alexander knew that those who
accompanied them could face danger. It
weighed heavy on him that they could be injured helping him on his quest for
knowledge. He had to find a way to
protect those under his care.
At the end of the days march
Juniper and he trained the six pilgrims in self-defense. Without proper weapons they first practiced
with stick as swords. This training was
tested when on the seventh night a group of roaming thieves attacked what they
thought would be an easy target. The
fighting was fierce, only the heroes had proper weapons. The thieves matched their nine plus two. Alexander was protecting a badly hurt pilgrim
from two thieves while Milo was fighting one to a standstill. Juniper had enchanted her sword to have the
keenest of edges allowing her to slice through their armor with ease. The image of her was terrifying as she cut
off a thieves arm and trailing blood in her blades wake. The thief fell to the ground screaming in
agony holding the stump that was his arm.
A quick jab through his heart ended his life. The cry of a pilgrim caught her
attention. She saw a thief dragging away
a female pilgrim trying to escape. His
back was to her, as he was repositioned himself to hold her more securely. She took three steps to close the distance
left a deep gash across his back. He let
go of the woman and turned to her. His
last sight was a glint of light from the fire off her blade as it separated his
head from his shoulders. The thieves
fled when their numbers were reduced by half.
Her lust for blood was not quenched and she fell another thief that
begged mercy. She had the misfortune of
falling while she fled the camp with food.
Juniper had severed and arm and leg before Alexander was able to stop
her continuing to dismember the thief.
The two heroes fought over her conduct as Milo attempted to save the
girl. Ultimately the only merciful thing
to do was to end her life. Alexander
insisted on doing this feeling that this was his fault. That death weighted on his soul as much as
the two pilgrims that perished during the night. All of the dead were giving a proper burial,
somehow when the bodies were blessed the words seemed hollow and without
meaning.
Now with the equipment from the
thieves attack, Alexander was able to properly train the four remaining
pilgrims. As heroes approached the holy
site of Sanam they noticed that morality was weakening. Brothers were operating in the open and
flaunting their talents in windows. The
disturbing part was they all adorned the symbol of Sanam. Even though Sanam represented love she was
never one for the strengthening of the emotional connection between lovers not
open debauchery. People were paying homage
to this false aspect the goddess. When
the heroes reached the temple what they found was beyond anything. There were people in varying stages of
undress and engaging in every sort of sexual act possible. Alexander was disgusted when he found the
temple high priestess tangled in a pile of bodies. The only reason he knew it was her was
because the only thing she wore was the torque of the high priestess.
“What has happened here” Alexander
asked once she was untangles from the pile.
“This is the goddess will. We are to spread the joys that come from
love.” She stepped close to Alexander
placed one arm around his waist and the other was stroking his chest.
“Open lust has never been the
goddess wishes. Why have her views
changed so?” Alexander continued.
“Lust is a part of love. When you love someone you also lust for
them. Her new message is nothing but a
reflection of that.”
She was actively trying to free
Alexander of his clothing. When he
refused her she stepped back and held her arms out wide and twirled slowly in
front of him. “Am I not desirable enough
for you? I freely give myself to you, or
do you desire something else? We can
find you someone to love be they male or female. All are welcome to experience lust here. Everyone here is safe to explore what, and
whoever they want.”
Juniper interposed herself between
the priestess, and Alexander, “What if those explorations cause problems
for people that are in love with each other”
The priestess moved to Juniper and
placed her arms around Junipers neck and leaned to her ear and whispered into
her ear. “My dear jealousy is not
permitted here. It interferes with the
free flow of passion. Please don’t make
us have to discipline you for breaking our one rule.” As she moved away from Juniper she kissed her
full on the mouth. The kiss caught her
be surprise and overwhelmed her emotionally.
Juniper was left transfixed by the freedom she felt.
Juniper snapped free from the spell
the cast on her and stepped back weakly into Alexander, nearly falling. Alexander caught her before she was in fear
of hitting the ground. The feeling of
having his arms around her caused her to swoon.
She turned to look into his eyes hoping to find the love she felt for
him returned in his eyes. Instead want
she felt was cold indifference.
“Why have you done this to me? What have we done to you and your
flock?” Juniper said through clinched
teeth.
“My child you’ve done nothing wrong
all I’ve offered is to expand your mind.
Please enjoy whoever you want. I
need to return to my flock.” She gave
each of the heroes a passionate kiss.
The heroes were left to wonder
again what is going on in the heavens when the father and the protector of the
gods is missing and the goddess of love is now the goddess of lust. They made their way out of the temple
avoiding the piles of people blocking their way.
“We need to find the holy site of
Aaryon. Maybe we can find some answers
there. Everything is getting worse, when
the gods change aspects things are in peril.
I fear for what we’ll find there.”
Alexander said once free of the temple. As they left the city Alexander
took stock in the people with them.
There were another nine pilgrims with them, one of them a halfling woman from the temple staff.
