'No, it isn't,' she answered. Fannah ducked as a large basket of fruit passed rather quickly by her head. 'On occasion, you might find some of his proselytes out in the wards, but there is no proper temple anywhere above in Calimport for the Lurker in Darkness.'
She reached out and plucked several pieces of fruit for Tazi, Steorf, and herself from that same basket and flipped a coin in the direction of the farmer. Tazi was impressed.
'I could hear the basket whistling through the air,' Fannah explained when her companions remained silent, 'and I could smell the fruit within it.'
'But how did you know where the merchant was?' Steorf demanded.
'Lucky guess,' Fannah laughed. 'I knew that someone within the bazaar would grab the tossed coin and if it wasn't the correct merchant, the rightful one would wrestle it back for himself.'
Tazi laughed at her friend's clever solution.
Continuing out of the bazaar, the threesome passed through an archway into a most decadent area: the south end of Erare Sabban. On their left was an obvious festhall with a stone facade, a little rundown but still opulent. What made the roomy building stand out were the seven pillars in front of the structure. Each carved column depicted a woman in various stages of undress. Tazi watched as Steorf became uncomfortable and turned away only to be equally embarrassed by what was to his right. Even Tazi had to blush at that.
'The building to your left is the Seven Dancing Jhasinas,' Fannah explained. 'The name obviously came from the carvings in front of the building. The structure on this side is the Festhall of Eternal Delight.'
'And the guests are obviously delighted to be there,' Tazi managed to say.
Steorf was speechless, and Fannah hurried the two past the sybaritic scene literally spilling out of the doorways in front of them. The patrons, much like the Seven Jhasinas, were nearly nude. Fannah stopped them once they were a few buildings distant.
'That was rather a sight,' Tazi exclaimed. 'But you didn't have to run past so fast. I'm not that inexperienced.'
'That was the temple to Sharess,' Fannah explained.
'That was a temple, too?' Steorf blustered.
'It is the greatest one to my goddess. I was afraid someone might recognize me if we lingered too long.'
'So that is the goddess you and your mother served,' Tazi clarified.
'Yes, it is. I'm sure you were shocked by what you both saw, even briefly. The most pious there are the staff, and they are all dedicated to hedonism in the name of Sharess. Even the jhasinas who modeled for the pillars became priestesses of Sharess after she came to them.'
'But it seemed so… disorganized,' Steorf interrupted, trying hard to be diplomatic.
'Unfortunately, many visitors to the temple do have less than holy thoughts when they arrive. They take our doctrine and use it as an excuse for all types of behavior.'
'We saw some of that,' Tazi exclaimed.
'What they don't understand, or choose not to,' Fannah continued, 'is that to worship Sharess is to explore and indulge in one's senses.'
Tazi saw that Fannah was becoming more animated than she had ever seen the blind woman before.
'To serve Sharess is to recognize the beauty in the world. To be fully alive and immersed in who you are through sight, smell, and taste. It was here,' she continued, 'that I was taught how to use my other senses to compensate for my lack of sight.'
'Your mother was a priestess in this temple,' Tazi remembered.
'Yes,' Fannah answered, 'but that was when Sharess was still under the influence of Shar. After the Time of Troubles, Sharess regained herself and became the bright goddess once more. This building was erected to celebrate her.'
Tazi could see that Fannah was troubled by thoughts of her mother. She remembered Fannah telling her once that the only reason her mother didn't kill her at birth was because her religion forbade it. Fannah had survived her childhood simply because of her mother's religious fervor, not because of her love. Tazi changed the subject, troubled by her friend's distress.
'You mentioned a little while ago that there was no temple to the Skulking God,' she asked. 'How do we find him-or those who follow him?'
Fannah perked up at the question. 'I said he had no temples above in Calimport. We will have to travel to Calimport Muzad, below the city surface, to find an obscure sect of humans I know of who still worship him.'
'There aren't many followers left?' Steorf questioned. 'I suppose that would explain why I knew nothing of him.'
'No, that's not entirely true,' Fannah replied. 'Ibrandul has many followers both here and in Waterdeep. In Calimport Below, most of his followers are skulks, but I have dealt with his human Children before. I believe they will help us.'
'Why are they below?' Tazi asked.
'The Lord of the Dry Depths is an old god,' Fannah made clear, using one of the many titles of Ibrandul. 'His worship extend back to the prehistory of Calimshan, dating before the founding of the Shoon Empire.'
'And he's always been below the city?' Tazi inquired.
'At one time,' Fannah replied, 'a tribe of humans was stolen from the Calim Desert by drow and forced to serve them for centuries. Finally, a monstrous lizard came to free them. Some of the humans stayed below in the Underdark, while others returned to the surface to spread the word of the Lurker in Darkness.'
'So Ibrandul protects those trapped below,' Steorf deduced.
'As far as I know, he does. He is supposed to keep safe any human who must travel through the dark regions, as well as keep safe and guide those who worship him. To some he appears as a red lizard, and to others he is seen as a chisel featured, bare-chested man with glowing eyes. And sometimes he is simply a wind in the tunnels below.'
'And that's all?' Tazi interrupted.
'That is all I know,' Fannah answered.
Tazi clucked her tongue and frowned.
'What is it?' Steorf asked her.
'I just don't understand what Ciredor would have to do with Ibrandul. It doesn't make much sense,' she responded.
'Perhaps the followers of Ibrandul will be able to answer that,' Steorf offered.
'I hope so,' Tazi agreed earnestly. 'I certainly hope so. How much farther?' she asked Fannah.
'We only need to pass through one more ward before we reach Crypt Ward. There, in the Forgotten Sabban, there is a passageway that will take us to the Muzhajaarnadah,' Fannah told them.
'And the darkness below,' Tazi added quietly.
'Which way?' Tazi asked Fannah.
'Toward the east,' Fannah replied.
The three picked their way through Crypt Ward, carefully following Fannah's lead. Tazi had never seen such a large cemetery before, and some of the mausoleums were elegant in their ostentation. Scanning the ward, she was momentarily thoughtful.
'What is it?' Steorf asked her quietly.
'Look at that field to the east,' she pointed.
Steorf followed her gaze out past the mausoleums to an area that was walled off only by metal spear fences. There were no buildings within the area, a sharp contrast with the other sections of Calimport that Tazi and her companions had passed through. Within the sabban, there were only a few obelisks and fountains visible and the occasional plinths to mar the view. After the hustle and crowds of the other wards, it was a peaceful change.
'What are you two looking at?' Fannah asked.
'I was just showing Steorf that park nearby,' Tazi explained.
'That is the Forgotten Sabban,' Fannah informed them. 'While it has always been used as one of the most
