47. The Church of the Elder Eye

The local church is a dilapidated wooden building that is clearly troubled by termites. One of the two front doors is splintered and broken down the center as if it had been hacked with an axe. To the right of the front doors is a disturbing, yet attractive, stained glass window. It depicts men and women picked up into a tornado, their faces forever stained in terror. To the left of the front doors is a window size opening that must have once been stained glass as well, but is now boarded over with pine wood.
Inside are enough pews to sit 30 people. The pews face a wooden platform dais that supports a black altar. The altar itself is cold and smooth and appears to be threaded with purple veins. Anyone touching the altar will become nauseous.
Hanging from the sidewalls inside the church are four black tapestries of velvet. Each has a large image stitched into the center. One is of a brown triangle. Another image is that of a silver circle. There is also a green square and an eight-pointed star of red. Behind the altar is a fifth tapestry and upon its face, sewn in mauve and heliotrope, is an inverted triangle with a Y in the center.

The Church of the Elder Eye, nestled in the heart of Nulb, stands as a beacon of enigmatic spirituality amid the town's notorious lawlessness. This church, dedicated to the Elder Elemental God, lead by Lama Yatic melds the harsh elemental forces with the chaotic energies that permeate through its followers and practices.

Exterior Description

The Church of the Elder Eye captivates with its eerie charm despite evident neglect. The wooden structure, weathered and termite-ravaged, features a split door and haunting stained-glass windows that tell tales of terror and elemental fury.

• Structure Condition: Termites damaged, wooden.
• Doors: One door visibly damaged, split by what looks like an axe.
• Windows: Right window showcases a stained-glass scene of a tornado with human figures; left window boarded up.

Interior Description

Inside, the church holds a somber atmosphere with pews for thirty souls, facing a chilling black altar. The interior is adorned with elemental tapestries, each symbolizing a core aspect of the Elder Elemental God's power.

• Seating Capacity: 30 pews.
• Altar Description: Black, veined with purple, induces nausea upon touch.
• Tapestries: Four wall tapestries depicting elemental symbols; a fifth, larger tapestry behind the altar shows an inverted triangle with a Y.

Clergy Quarters

The rear of the church contains private quarters and an office, secured with magical protections only bypassable by the initiated. These rooms house important religious artifacts and the personal effects of the clergy.

Security and Church treasures

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• Security: Glyph of Warding protected; passphrase "Praise the Elder Eye."
• Treasury: Contains church funds and valuable gems secured in an iron-bound chest.
• Church coffers: 10 pp, 780 gp, 920 sp, and 83 black gems (each worth 100 gp).

Background and Foundation

Founded by the archmage Asmoroth Eastrife, a prominent leader of the Temple of Elemental Evil, the church was initially intended as a beacon of education and indoctrination in the elemental dogmas.

• Founder: Asmoroth Eastrife.
• Original Purpose: Educational facility turned religious center.
• Transformation: Shifted from a school to a church post-Asmoroth's defeat.

“This is a truth that demands faith”, he will say, pounding his fist. “All things came from chaos,” he will say, his voice rising. “You, me, this church, and all of this world. We are the children of chaos, and we owe obedience! Know that you came from the depths of nothing, and it was the power of the unplanned, the unknowable, the Elder Elements that gave you voice to quibble with and voice to squeak with! You beings of small reason. You creatures of flesh. All things came from chaos, and know you now my humble children – all things will return to chaos!” He will repeat this in a calmer voice. “All things will return to chaos.”
Lama Yatic will wipe his forehead. “Let us now pray.”
The congregation will bow their heads, as will Yatic. Four children in multi-colored robes will move to stand by the wooden platform. They hold stringed instruments, but they are quiet. There are no words anywhere, no call for mercy or forgiveness. Just silence. And then the moment of stillness is broken by Yatic’s voice. He begins to sing. His voice is strong and smooth. This is a song about the Temple heroes who fell at Emridy. Soon the congregation will join in. The words resonate through the church, all the voices joining together as one. It’s beautiful and powerful and sad, and like a wave that refuses to crash it lingers in the heart well past the final note.
The acolytes begin to pass money boxes up and down the aisles. Folks give. Not much, for they don’t have much, but they give. Copper coins slip through the coin slots as the children in white, green, brown, and red robes softly play their instruments.

Political Relationships

The Church of the Elder Eye has a complex web of interactions within Nulb, balancing secretive alliances and open conflicts with various factions.

• Local Government: Tense relations with official authorities.
• Lady Lmag: Cooperative yet cautious dealings.
• Bandits and Pirates: Provides sanctuary, possibly in exchange for protection or services.
• Temple of Elemental Evil: Ideological allies, maintaining a strategic distance.
• Yatic and The Dirty Faces: A mentorship and indoctrination role, aiming to mold the orphans into future clerics.

Activities and Influence

Beyond regular worship, the Church of the Elder Eye engages in secretive rituals and teachings that align with their belief in elemental chaos and upheaval.

• Public Sermons: Focus on the necessity of elemental chaos and its role in the world.
• Secret Rituals: Involves sacrifices and elemental summonings conducted away from the public eye.

DM-Only Insights

Elemental Worship

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The church's true nature is far darker, involving sacrifices and elemental manipulations aimed at freeing their deity from its otherworldly prison.

• Monthly Special Service: Involves a human sacrifice and the use of a lesser tentacle rod to channel dark energies.
• Political Maneuvering: Works to subtly expand its influence within Nulb and beyond, preparing for larger, world-altering events.

Special Services

1. During the service, a slave is tied to the black altar, and
2. Instead of stringed instruments, two of the children have drums while one has a triangle, and the fourth has wind chimes. The drums will start first. Then the triangle, and finally the chimes.
3. When Yatic begins to sing, he also raises a lesser tentacle rod with three purple tentacles writhing about. He uses the rod to touch the altar. The purple veins move inside the now translucent black stone, and a fiery red-gold eye begins to take form. The temperature in the room drops. The air around the dais becomes hazy and mottled with floating dots and distorted bubbles of ochre and mauve. Tendrils snake from the altar and wrap themselves around the helpless shrieking slave before jerking the doomed body inside of the altar. In place of the slave is a single black gem.

The Church of the Elder Eye by 3orcs

Clergy and Leadership

Lama Yatic presides over the church in worship of the Elder Elemental God, supported by a small but devoted group of clerics and acolytes. They maintain the church's daily operations and spiritual activities.

Yatic mysterious presence by 3orcs

High Priest: Lama Yatic.

Clergy Members

Joral, Acolyte of the Elder Eye

• Class & Level: Cleric, Level 1
• Stats: AC 5, HP 3, Damage 1d6+1 (Mace)
• S 10 I 11 W 11 D 10 Co 10 Ch 11
• Alignment & Items: Chaotic Evil; 11 ep, 22 sp, 8 cp; holy symbol (inverted triangle with Y)
• Spells: Cure Light Wounds
• Traits: Values simplicity and comfort, avoids ambition and conflict.

Kurz, Acolyte of the Elder Eye

• Class & Level: Cleric, Level 1
• Stats: AC 5, HP 9, Damage 1d6+2 (Mace)
• S 16 I 17 W 12 D 9 Co 15 Ch 9
• Alignment & Items: Chaotic Evil; 5 ep, 18 sp, 13 cp; holy symbol (inverted triangle with Y)
• Spells: Cure Light Wounds, Cause Light Wounds, Command
• Traits: Scarred by childhood spider bite, intrigued by his own burgeoning powers, explores limits of his clerical abilities.

Service Schedule: Services held twice a week, closed to non-members.

Type

Temple / Church

Parent Location

Nulb

Owner

Yatic

Characters in Location

• Yatic

Elder Elemental symbol by 3orcs

Altar of The Church of the Elder Eye by 3orcs