(OOC: Since no one has spoken up, I'm assuming that Reverie has pushed the party towards the temple of Eldath.)

Saying farewell to the dwarf weapon smith, your party backtracks to the intersection near your inn, and takes the road north. The establishments and houses get fancier the further you travel. Groves and parks become more numerous. The town guards are also dressed in finer clothing, with their weapons becoming less conspicuous (sheathed swords under capes, rather than spears). Your group of hardened warriors gets more attention from the gentry on the streets (but not enough for action to be taken).

The temple is more impressive than even the largest mansions of the neighborhood. It is that curious elvish blend of trees, hand construction, bubbly brooks & fountains, and manicured ivy. The trees are in bloom, despite the approach of winter. As your group walks the steps towards nearest doors, a pair of guards bars your path. They bow slightly to Reverie, and speak to her. "Greetings, lady. This is the holy place of the Peace Goddess. You, your honor guard (indicating Jack, with his immaculate breastplate armor), and your servants (gesturing towards Theren, Froskan, and Trim) will place your weapons into these boxes. No instruments of violence are allowed inside these doors."

“No problem.” Jack slides his boomerang into the box, but sneakily puts his sword in his bag of holding.

Sleight of hand:12

Trimyrai: (to the guards) "I am not a servant, but i will comply with your rules."

Trimyrai puts his two longbows and light crossbow into the box as instructed.

The guards seem a bit surprised that a tiefling who doesn't have even have clothes, common would not be a servant of a noblewoman like Reverie, but let him pass after his bows are in the box.

A guard holds up a hand to stop Jack. "The Goddess wants peace for all. Do not profane this temple with your weapon." He then points at the dagger on Jack's hip.

“Fine, fine. Here.”

Reverie bows slightly back to the guards with a small smile before it change into an awkward smile when they assume her friends as her servants or a guard. As she put her weapons down into the boxes, she looks back at the guards and says quietly, ”They are my companions, good freidns of mine. Not the servants or guards of mine, but thank you for letting us in.” Then, she looks back at her friends in apologetic way. “I am so sorry.”

Trimyrai: (to Reverie) "Nothing to apologize for, you didn't say what they said."

Froskan shrugs and puts his daggers and staff into the box as well. He doesn’t need the physical weapons anyway to be dangerous if it comes to a fight. “I’d like to point out that I’m also no servant,” he piped up, although reverie just said as much. 

”Thank you. I don’t like being mistaken for a guard.”

Jack fiddles with something in his pocket as memories flash in his eyes.

”reverie, why don’t these people allow weapons?”

(With slight reluctance, Theren also hands in his weapons.)

As your group steps in, you can see that the mix of nature and designed architecture continues inside. It is serene inside. White or green cloaked figures sitting in alcoves, meditating or reading books or listening to songbirds.

A blue and green cloaked figure steps up to Jack. Her apparel is a mix of druid and cleric styles. Inside the hood, you can see half-orc features with deep sword scars on her cheeks and forehead. The building is quiet enough that she responds to Jack's question, which he whispered to Reverie.

"The Mother Guardian of Groves is a pacifist. We, her followers, only fight back when necessary, but she teaches us that we should anticipate ways to avoid conflict, to make fighting unnecessary... She is also a healer. Many of the visitors to this building had extreme violence in their past. This needs to be a safe place for them to recover... Bringing weapons into this temple is antithetical to our mission here."

“Yes, and I get that, but in all honesty, not everyone believes so. What happens when people who challenge your faith attack? For example, people who follow....... I don’t know. Bane? That one who resembles murder? What happens when people start thinking, ‘hey, those people who resemble peace? Let’s murder them. That’ll help who we believe in.’ What do ye do then? All your weapons are in a single box.”

Jack looks honestly confused by their logic.

(edit! Save!)

(where’s theren?)

Before Reverie could reply back at Jack’s whispering, she startles and sees the cloaked figure. After a moment, she bows slightly towards the cloaked figure and then nods at her answer for Jack as an agreement. But then, Jack’s question makes her a bit confused. Yet, Reverie put her hand on his shoulder gently. ”Let us respect their rule, Jack. We can talk about this later. Meanwhile, we are here if we could get some healing potions from here or any advice.”

“ Just doesn’t make any sense. But alright. Fine.”

Trimyrai: (to Jack[in a whisper]) "Is this your first time in a temple?"

”They must have some protections. We can see they have guards around here and probably some clerics those who can fight and heal.”

(OOC: Nemes1s was last online 2 days ago. He has been logging in, so I haven't panicked yet. Since 4 out of the 5 of you are planning on entering the temple, I figured Theren would also.)

"The teachings of Eldath are sometimes hard to understand. You are welcome to rest here and study the scriptures, if you desire... I will answer you briefly, but understand that these are the simple answers, not the complete ones.

"No one attacks this temple. That has never been done, and it is unlikely to ever happen. All of the gods, and their followers, respect what Eldath stands for, even if they do not agree with Her... As an example, are you familiar with Tempus, one of the gods of war? His teachings and Eldath's are in opposition. Yet, Tempus forbids his followers from harming Her faithful, upon pain of punishment in the afterlife in his divine realm. The punishments of Tempus involves stripping the guilty party of the immortality normally granted to his petitioners, before turning the soul loose upon the eternal battlefield of his plane, to be killed by his fellows... His commandment is strictly adhered to.

"You still look confused. That is probably due to your mistake. As visitors, all of your weapons are outside in a box. Rest assured, this temple is well defended by the faithful. As long as you do not bring violence with you, you are entirely safe during your time here."

(OOC: When Elliethedream asked for a temple to Eldath, I had no idea who this deity was. This is turning out to be some interesting material to play with. https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Eldath )

“First time? Yes. Never been to one before.” (if you can look in description or something, his religion is blank. He doesn’t really like deities.)

”Thank you, ma’am. That does clear things up.”

Quote from Elliethedream >>

”Meanwhile, we are here if we could get some healing potions from here or any advice.”

 "What sort of advice or information were you seeking? Were you planning on aiding our efforts, or making donations to help the suffering?"

Trimyrai: (to the half-orc woman) "What do the donations go towards? feeding the hungry or something equally charitable?"

Quote from BoboBoombang >>

“First time? Yes. Never been to one before.”

 "Ah, then you are blessed, indeed. There are other chapels in this town, but their main churches are in Nunkreet. This is Eldath's church, the only faith where the chapel in Nunkreet is our satellite, and not the other way around.

"This church is the heart of this town, and the seed from which it sprouted. Are you aware that one of the titles of Eldath is the Green Goddess? Most people fail to realize the significance of the mighty river nearby being called Evergreen, or they assume that this town must have been founded by a family named Greene."

(Growing up in the old, powerful nations of the East, Reverie would have heard of a holy shrine to Eldath located in the western frontier, but no one explained its location or importance.)