As Alisa walked down the street, she became gradually aware that the vestments she'd donned after her bath were not the same as those she'd entered the town wearing. Similar certainly, enough so that she hadn't paid it much mind, but not the same.
The bodice she now wore was dark green as before, but it had a thick grey fur lining which poked out above her breasts and down the middle where it laced. She couldn't identify what animal it might have come from, but she had her suspicions. While the difference was curious, it was not uncomfortable, as the soft fur caressed her chest as she walked. The cloth of the bodice had altered as well, from simple wool to a fancier brocade, entwined with shapes and symbols that reminded her of the tub she had just bathed in. The skirts of her robes were similarly changed, layers of rich green brocade trimmed in grey fur brushing against her scandalously unshaven legs as they moved beneath.
She was conflicted on this latest discovery, but could not deny the simple, almost sinful comfort of it as she walked. Stirring herself from her reverie, she marshalled her resolve as she came to the gates of the Temple of Artemis.
Alisa realized as she looked at the gates that there was a recurring theme here. Ivory and bronze and silver. The cult of the Huntress certainly had an eye for aesthetics.
Cautiously, she made her way into the temple. It was dimly lit by braziers at the edges, and the wayward cleric noted that whatever burned in them strangely burned white against all logic. It cast the inlays on the marble floors in flickering silver shadows. Alisa's nostrils flared, and she identified what was in the braziers as incense, the same blend of herbs as had been in the bath, and in the food the gypsies had given them.
A woman came down from a spiral staircase and into the chamber Alisa stood in. She didn't see at first, but the sound of footsteps alerted her, and she spun around to face the woman. The cleric stared in some alarm, as she saw the woman revealed slowly during her descent into the room.
The woman's vestments were much like her own, and the similarities caused Alisa's apprehension to grow. Thick white brocade, wound with maddening shapes, trimmed in stark white fur. White fur that matched the woman's cascading unruly mane, which almost seemed to glow in the silver light of the braziers. Her features were angular, her cheekbones prominent beneath lividly pale blue eyes. A widow's peak jutted down her forehead.
"Greetings, Sister. Ilynda told me you might come."
"She did, did she? I think one of yours has stolen something from me."
"I think you are wrong. The Daughters of Artemis do not steal. What was taken from you?"
"I'm missing a..." Alisa frowned as she trailed off. She was drawing a blank all of a sudden, and could not remember her Pelor medallion. Was it the incense? It seemed hard to think...
"You are not missing anything important, and you have been given gifts beyond anything you might have lost..."
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The visit with the gypsies had not gone quite how Renee expected. She tried to trace the logic that had brought her to this point, but try as she might she could not make sense of it.
Nonetheless, here she was with a bow in her hand, her ornate sword slung along her back as she drew back the spring and sighted a doe through the trees.
Ilynda was there too, also armed with a bow. They had been stalking the doe for what seemed like hours, but she couldn't be sure how much time had passed. Her focus was on the hunt, and as she let go of the string and saw the arrow strike home, there was an odd twinge of satisfaction she felt.
Ilynda seemed to feel it too, letting out an exultant, almost animalistic cry as she saw the doe fall. Excitedly, they both dashed up to it.
The gypsy woman drew a knife from her belt, and knelt down beside her kill. Eagerly she slit its throat, and dabbed her fingers in the blood that flowed. Standing, she turned to Renee and daubed the blood in a pattern on the paladin's face.
"Now aren't you glad I took you out here?"
"Yes..."