In any other city, a temple dedicated to Loviatar, the Maiden of Pain, would be as visible as a whip mark on the white skin of a quivering, chained elven captive, but here in Saerloon all building are tall and dark, made from the same grey stone, decorated with arches and leering gargoyle with gaping fanged maws to channel water down to the street during the wet spring and autumn. It is still not hard to locate the temple; the holy symbol of the Willing Whip stands above the door for all to see, for all to be reminded of her presence in every creatures who feels pain, and from the roof fall enormous length of leather, skilfully woven into whips 30ft long that crack against the wall when the wind blows. In any other city it would be impossible to walk past such a building without being drawn to it, one’s eyes turning to marvel at it with a mixture of dread and awe, but this is Saerloon, a city of sevens thieves’ guilds, and once you have passed ten tall, grey buildings it is easy for the architecture to fall into backgrounds of your mind, regardless of what unique trait it may have or whom it may honour. Priestess Reeva suggested that the flogged and beaten bodies be displaced along the perimeter, nude with their backs for the passersby to see. Then no one would walk by the temple without realising its significance.<br/>Inside the building you walk along a deserted corridor, the walls decorated with a variety of torture implements, most of which are dusty with disuse, but some bear the marks of recently dried blood as some priestesses feel it is important to ensure that the tools of the temple do not go to waste. As you walk towards the sand pits you yourself ponder the meaning of the temple’s exterior. Some say that the huge whips symbolize Loviatar’s hair, but others say that in fact it is the remnants of a long abandoned plan. Originally, according to the story, the temple was suppose to expand, only to curve back into itself as to resemble an exotic flower you hear tales about from the Shinning South. It was judged however to not be relevant to the portfolio of the Maiden of Pain and the idea was abandoned, but that one aspect remained. You are not sure which is true.<br/>Your destination is a large circular room without any windows. The walls here are bare, save for amass of torches gripped by iron and in the centre of the room is a circular pit, 20ft deep. The bottom is covered with sand and the walls have been left rough, and thus the edges of this second circle are uneven. The light of the torches does not quite reach down there, and so onlookers will typically take one of their own, but the area is still left shrouded in shadow. Apart from the lack of lighting, the area resembles a gladiator’s pit, but with one more key difference: in a gladiator’s pit, men have a chance of winning.<br/>Standing at the edge of the pit is Devira, the Pain of the Temple of Loviatar, staring down at the sand below. There is no railing and half an inch of her boot reaches over into thin air, but she has no fear of heights, or a great many other things, and thus is in no danger of falling. In her hand she carries a torch and she is dressed in leather armour, a whip and holy symbol clearly visible on the left side of her thick, hide belt. She is not one of Loviatar’s Maidens like yourself, but she has served the Goddess well. When you approach you can see that any blood on the sand is at least a day old, so Devira must be wearing the armour of her faith out of habit.<strong>“Alison, thank you for coming so swiftly,”</strong>if there was one weakness the other priestesses spoke of about her, it was the false pleasantries she had picked up from having to deal with outsider so much, or rather her inability to drop them when talking to another of her faith.<strong>“I heard you are about to take a novice and wondering the land, I am so glad, we cannot let what has happened in the past hold us back from truly serving our mistress. Have you decided who it will be yet? I have taken the liberty of making a sample travel plan for the two of you. You would head west to Cormyr, then south west to Amn and further down to Tethyr, where the temple has a quest for you,”</strong>the Pain of the Temple of Loviatar pauses at this point to allow you to speak before going into the details.