The temple of Umberlee was in the south districts, same district as the docks, as one might expect since sailors frequent the temple to appease Umberlee.
Tenya was genuinely surprised to see us again. "Well, I should say the mother and I expected to see you again at some point, though it was certainly not to be so soon. I suppose it's to collect some sort of payment for your actions outside of Baldur's Gate, hmmm?"
Khalid was doing the talking, and I had coached him earlier, "Do not beg for mercy, for they have none. In spite of their claims to the contrary, these priests are transactional by nature. Trade favor for favor."
Khalid didn't kneel down to Tenya's level this time, but he did bow in proper reverence a visitor should have for a woman of the cloth. "Wise priestess of Umberlee. In return for retrieving the Bowl of Water Elemental Control, I ask for the body of the fool that tried to break into your hallowed halls. The corpse of this infidel shall taint the temple of Umberlee no longer."
Tenya considered for a moment, no doubt weighing the sacred Bowl of Water Elemental Control against a useless, stinking corpse left on the temple's premises. "You do not ask for much, do you? Very well, take the child and go. I warrant you will no doubt resurrect him, but the lesson is learned. Death changes one, especially one so young. I know of this like no other. GO! And never darken these halls again… unless summoned!"
Tenya left with a huff, putting on an air of self-importance and authority. She had not noticed she had donated a pair of bracers (ac7) to us just before.
If I hadn't taken the trouble to do Tenya's quests earlier with the fishermen, the only way we could get back Casson's body was through Jalantha for a hefty price of 2k gold. Or we could pickpocket Jalantha or just kill Jalantha, I suppose.
Next, we asked for Jalantha Mistmyr. Jalantha would only come forward if I made a donation of 50 gold to the temple first.
We told Jalantha Mistmyr of our request for removal of a geas from our companion. "We will pay any price," Jaheira said.
Jalantha laughed. "My goddess cannot be bought with gold. If you wish to see your friend healed, you will first have to do a favor for Umberlee."
Cannot be bought with gold? Umberlee is running a protection racket for sailors in exchange for gold all the time. I just had to buy the privilege to see you with gold as well. But I kept those thoughts to myself.
"The favor I ask of you is a simple one," Jalantah continued. "The holy day Storm Call approaches. It will be the first time I have overseen this ceremony. To ensure that my first ceremony is flawless, I need an item of power. It is called the Book of Wisdom, and it is possessed by the clergy of Tymora, in the Temple of Tymora, called the Lady's Hall by those who venerate the frivolous goddess. If you can get this book for me, I will do what you ask."
"It looks as if we have no other choice, we're in."
Funnily enough, we already had an appointment with a priest of Tymora.
---
First, we returned to Tremain the body of his son.
"By all the gods, the Lady Who Smiles must be positively beaming this day! Quickly, get the body inside where I prithee Tymora will grant it life anew. I'll not waste another moment until my son's soul is on solid ground once more."
Lord Priest Tremain performed a lengthy incantation and cast the divine spell, Raise Dead.
Casson woke up suddenly, coughing and hacking.
Tremain was heaving, his eyes pale with fatigue. But in spite of his condition, his eyes were alive with joy. "Blessed be Our Smiling Lady! He lives!"
Tremain rushed forward and gave his son a big hug.
"Father, I… what's going on?" Casson asked, confused.
He ought to be. He wasn't witness to the ritual his father had just conducted to bring him back to life.
"Oh my dear, dear boy," Tremain said lovingly while stroking his son's face. Then with the same hand, he twisted his son's ear. "You are IN SUCH TROUBLE! What in all the places were you thinking, child?! Gallivanting through an Umberlee temple like that?! So help me, if turning you over my knee wouldn't kill you outright, you'd jump black to go right to blue!"
"Yeeeek!" Casson cried out squirming in pain. "What… But-but it wasn't my faul-"
"No excuses! Not after you got yourself killed! Do you have any idea what this spell takes out of a person?!" Tremain berated his son.
Realization and horror dawned on Casson's face. "I was dead. You raised me from the dead."
"That's right! If you want to play the odds, you had best be sure you take responsibility for yourself! The goddess of luck and adventure does not endorse DUMB luck or foolish risks! I swear, if your mother were alive to hear about this she'd drop dead where she stood, and THEN I'd have to raise her TOO!"
Tremain marched his son upstairs, which was followed by the sounds of buttocks being smacked and yowling from above.
Meanwhile, Varci had a reward for us, the great Large Shield +1 (+4 vs missiles). "Tsk, it will be some time before Casson and I get a night out again. It is good to have him back among the living, though I take some small pleasure in the trouble he's in for what we did. You'll notice I've not sat down since we've met. Sometimes 'Our Lady Who Smiles' downright laughs out loud. Look to us if you need aid in the future. Many a Tymoran will look favorably on you now."
"Could we request for another reward instead? We are in dire need for the Book of Wisdom held by the clergy of Tymora. Please ask Lord Priest Tremain to come and discuss this with us," I asked him.
Could give Casson a break from punishment too. Not that he didn't deserve it, but I took pity on the kid because I remember being quite the rascal when I was younger too. I as in Sonny. Gorion certainly had his hands full with me when I was young, heh.
Lord Priest Tremain came down and we explained our predicament. He apologized profusely. The Book of Wisdom was the personal property of Chanthalas Ulbright, one of the priests of Tymora. If the book belonged to the whole temple of Tymora, Lord Tremain could have commissioned for the Book of Wisdom to be given to us but he could not do that since it belonged to Chanthalas personally. What Tremain could do was to accompany us to the temple to help us explain our predicament and beg Chanthalas for the Book of Wisdom on our behalf.
After hearing our story and our plea for help, with Tremain backing us up, Chanthalas amazingly agreed to give up the book for free! Guess being a goodie goodie does pay sometimes, huh? That and a high Charisma score.
Whether or not Chanthalas believes our plea is genuine or not is actually a reaction check, one of the few places in the game where Charisma and reputation actually matters. Me making sad puppy eyes at Chanthalas had a purpose in this case.
On another note, I only now realised that Chanthalas also provides regular temple services, such as sale of some items like more Stone to Flesh scrolls. Oh well, too late now!
Since the book didn't come form him, Tremain insisted we keep the Large Shield +1/+4 vs missiles. I certainly didn't need much convincing. We also talked to Tremain about Petrine, the girl who had run away from her uncle's house. Tremain promised to take over the task of finding her a good foster home that was also partial to cats. That really took a load from our shoulders!
---
I was pretty thankful Tremain helped us make our plea to Chanthalas. After all, my plea wasn't actually genuine.
"Why are we going straight to the Blade and Stars to meet Lothander?" Jaheira asked while we walked.
"Because we already have the Geas Removal Scroll," I replied.
Jaheira's jaw practically hit the floor. "How… When-"
"When we first met Jalantha. She had kindly donated it to us. Not knowingly, though," I said with a sly grin. "This way we get to keep the Book of Wisdom as well."
Jaheira nodded, looked to the rest, and then she, Imoen, Neera and Branwen all smacked me in the back of the head.
Khalid just sighed.
Knowing that we might attempt to pickpocket Jalantha for the Geas Removal Scroll, the developers purposely gave Jalantha levels in thief to make it much harder to pick her pockets. She has effectively 90 points in the pickpocket skill. With the Potion of Power, Potion of Master Thievery and Potion of Perception, and Neera's Luck spell, my total Pickpocket skill was 145. My chance of success was only 145-90= 55%. Still, I figured it was worth a try. I was willing to kill Jalantha for the Geas Removal Scroll, if it came down to it.