Temple of the Goddess

The Temple of the Goddess was a ruined temple, dedicated to an indeterminate goddess, on the Island of Viledel in the Korinn Archipelago.

Location
Situated on the far slope of a large hill, overlooking the Sea King's manor.

Structure
This temple stood two stories tall and was made with expensive planks of dark hardwood imported from the Faerûnian mainland. It sported spacious windows with brightly-painted and cheerful shutters.

Against the right half of the temple's front face leaned a trellis for ivy that was well tended. And before the large entrance of the temple, oaken double doors, was a well-crafted wrought iron gate. The back of the temple had an enclosed garden that was nicely kept and well planted. It had a stone pathway leading to a small well, a door inside of the temple, and further north down to the Sea King's manor.

By the, most of the temple's wood had become cracked, decayed, and pitted. Most of its shutters were gone, while the few that remained either hung crookedly from a single hinge or banged open-and-close with the wind. The iron gate had rusted over, clear through in some areas. The temple's trellis had gone away, with its ivy left to cover the entire right side of the temple, holding close any shutter it grew over. And the flowering plants of the rear garden overgrew, covering over and breaking the stone pathway.

Interior

 * Antechamber: a small entry room with plastered walls, painted with frescoes of its goddess, her symbols, and her deeds. As the temple was left abandoned, the paint and plaster flaked over the years. It was entered through the entrance and lead through a set of double doors into the temple's main hall.


 * Main Hall: a room that was two stories in height, lacked windows, and had a tiled floor. Scattered around it were wooden chairs, tables, and low couches. Much like the antechamber, it was plastered smooth and painted with frescoes of the goddess in all her aspects. In the middle of its eastern wall was a double set of doors, while the eastern corner of its northern wall had a very small and inconspicuous door. Both of these lead into main corridors. The western part of the main hall was taken up by a flight of three shallow steps, leading up into an altar chamber, with a line of pillars at the top of the stairs. Between these pillars hung curtains of fine velvet, purple in coloration and embroidered upon in gold. Though as the temple fell to ruin over the years, these curtains aged into a brown hue.


 * Altar Chamber: a part of the main hall that was raised a into the air. Its walls were white and unadorned. Within it stood a marble statue of the goddess with a thoughtful expression, sitting upon a throne and looking down upon the main hall, with a marble altar set before it for offerings. The statue was posed in a natural manner, with a slighty bowed head, left hand extended out in a gesture of blessing, and the right hand gripping the throne's arm.


 * Corridors: Beyond the main hall were two types of corridors, main and servants', which were equally wide. The main corridors had nicely finished doors, plastered walls, and tiled floors. The servants' corridors had crudely planked walls and floors, with less refined doors hung on leather hinges. As decades of ruin passed, both corridors became covered in a thin layer of leaves and refuse, but the doors of the servants' corridor had mostly fallen off.


 * Main Corridor 1: The doors on the main hall's eastern wall led into a main corridor with three other doors and a flight of stairs leading up to the second floor. One of these doors led into another main corridor, which the main hall's northern door also led into. The two doors on its eastern side led into the temple's offices and a kitchen. And the door at its northern end led into a servants' corridor, which opened into two storage rooms.


 * Kitchen: a large room with a big, recessed fireplace on its eastern wall and heavy wooden tables around the others. Its walls had windows to the outside, but in later decades they were held shut by the ivy.


 * Storage Rooms: These two rooms were large, windowless, and had a locking mechanism on their doors. One of the rooms held casks of ale and wine, as well as sacks of grain. The other room had a double layer of plastered over bricks for its walls, making it seem smaller, which was used to store meat upon large hooks that hung from the ceiling.


 * Temple Offices: were simple with paneled walls, tiled floors, and wooden chairs and tables. Its walls had windows to the outside, but in later decades these were held shut by the ivy outside and for some of them the ivy had forced its way through.


 * Main Corridor 2: a hallway with four doors. The two at its eastern end led into the main hall and other corridor. Another was located one in the center of its northern wall, which led outside to the garden, and one at its western end opened into a servants' corridor.


 * Servants' Corridor 2: This corridor had another four doors and a flight of stairs at its southern end that led upstairs. The northern-most door of the servants' corridor opened into a storage room for textile supplies. The other doors opened into the dormitories for female servants and male servants, as well as small bedroom chambers for servants who were either of higher importance or couples.


 * Second Floor: This area of the temple was taken up by lavish bedchambers and sitting chambers, for use by the priests and priestesses. As decades of ruin passed their floors became coated in mulch and rat dung.

History
In the, a kingdom of pirates launched an attack upon the Island of Viledel. They quickly overran it and rampaged throughout, destroying nearly the whole population. However, the pirates showed respect to the goddess and left her temple untouched. Since this incident the temple was left abandoned and became occupied by rats. The sole survivor of the pirate attack, a boy named Keestake, would frequently visit the temple over the years. Using it for shelter as well as subsisting off of its rats and well water.

Circa 1328 DR, a merchant ship ran aground of the Island of Viledel's northern shore after its crew was preyed upon by a ghoul that had once been a thief in life. The creature made its way into the temple and created a nest, surviving by feasting upon the building's rats. Keestake encountered this ghoul on a number of occasions, but always managed to outrun it.

A few months later, a group of archipelago inhabitants that included Melisana of Ventris were captured by slavers and sent sailing on a gallery towards the pirate stronghold of Westhaven. Around this same time, members of the orc tribe Hak-kubra sacked the temple in search of treasure.

Enraged when they could find no gold, the orcs began breaking furniture and clubbing walls in the temple's main hall. Creating deep gouges and tears in the plaster of its walls, as well as smearing filth on them. The orcs then tore apart the walls of the temple's offices in search of secret passages or panels. They swung their axes at the kitchen walls, but left its tables unharmed. They wrecked the living quarters on the second floor, carving up walls and tearing out paneling. And finally, they went up to the altar chamber to desecrate the goddess's statue. They broke off its nose and left hand, then created a crack across its torso and smearing it with filth. This desecration brought about a terrible storm that raged around the island. The orcs abandoned the temple, deathly afraid of ever returning to it.

Three days after the temple sacking, the violent storm sent most of the galley's crew overboard and it crashed upon the shores of Viledel Isle. The group of enslaved people then managed to escape their jailor, a drunken half-orc named Hafkris. Making their way over some low hills on the western side of the cove they had crashed in, the group soon came upon the now elderly Keestake. He informed them of his backstory and the Hak-kubra tribe's sacking of the temple, which he learned during his time as a captive of them, then offered to lead them to the Temple of the Goddess. As Keestake made his way through the temple he made a fire out of the broken furniture of the main hall and pointed out the vandalization of the orcs.

When the group entered the kitchen they were overheard by the ghoul, huddled silently above them, but it only attacked them if it was spotted. After exploring much of the temple and learning information from Keestake, night fell upon the temple and most or all of the exhausted group went to sleep in the main hall. That night the goddess appeared before the individual she favored the most by inhabiting the marble statue of the altar chamber with her essence. As she inhabited it the statue had a subdued glow around it, its damaged parts became repaired, and the filth covering it disappeared.

After asking the mortal why their group had come to her temple, the goddess informed them that she had chosen to destroy Viledel Isle in retaliation for the debasement wrought by the Hak-kubra tribe. But seeing no reason to have innocents destroyed, she's chosen to delay her destruction until the following night, hopeful that it would give them enough time to escape the island. Any attempt to disuade her from destroying the island was unheeded. She also informed them that there were magical items on the island which could aid them in their endeavors.

When the goddess departed from the statue, it returned to its perch on the throne and remained undamaged. Hours later, the ghoul hiding in the temple launched an attack upon the group.

Appearances

 * Adventures
 * Treasure Hunt