Shrine of the Suffering

This simple stone shrine to Ilmater, god of martyrs and patient endurance, stands in a small, quiet square, the edges of its plaza thick with the pallets and meager belongings of the Lower City's homeless population. Here, poor Baldurians can come to receive free meals and enough coppers to pay their way through the city's gates, thanks to the ministrations of Brother Hodges, a lawful good male Strongheart Halfling priest. Supported by donations from all ranks of society and beloved by their community, the halfling cleric and his adult children Hansen and Sissa (both lawful good strongheart halfling acolytes) can inevitably be found here chatting with the city's downtrodden, offering what healing and alms they can.
Whenever discord takes over the streets, Brother Hodges does his best to help anyone in need. If circumstances in the Outer City worsen, the priest petitions the dukes, the peers, and The Flaming Fist to be merciful in their judgments and actions.
The church's only source of non-donation income is a twisting series of crypts that extends down from an entrance behind the altar, at several points piercing the city's sewers. For a small fee, anyone can have a corpse brought down into the cramped tomb, where hordes of sewer rats flood in to eat the flesh, leaving (mostly) clean bones to be interred in the attached ossuary by Ilmater's faithful. While a somewhat ignoble end, it's often the only holy-ground burial the city's poor can afford, and Brother Hodges does his best to bring quiet dignity to the practice. However, a fertile carrion crawler has recently slithered up from the sewers to feast on the corpses in the tomb, leaving a trail of squirming young wherever it passes. Brother Hodges is incensed by the desecration, but doesn't dare face the beasts himself, and the Flaming Fist has been slow to come to his aid. Though the church can't pay, he would gratefully offer free healing to anyone who dealt with the menace.

Type

Temple / Church

Parent Location

Heapside