Taking a few of Farad's ashes, she scatters them on the altar.
"Farad, hear me. Do you want to be restored to life? And if so, then how?"
Farad responds, how he doesn't know. "Yes, I would like to be restored, but only a wish has that power, or perhaps a rod of resurrection or some similar magics."
"I can resurrect you, if you want to risk it. Otherwise, we can seek out a wish for you."
"No, I do not want to be brought back as a raccoon or other animal and lose what skills I possessed. If you cannot return me to my own body then I shall endeavor to find my own way back."
"I'm talking resurrection, not reincarnation, Farad. This is Laurie contacting you."
Farad responds. "If you wish to attempt it, do so. No gods have called me home and I move like a wraith about the land..."
"So much for his gods," the high priestess comments, after concluding the spell.
She then takes the remains of Jon, and repeats the process.
"Jon, this is Laurie. Your companions are with me. They want to bring you back to life. Is this what you want? And if it is, how? I can resurrect you, but that can be risky. A wish is safer, but arch-mages do not come cheap..."
"Resurrect please..I have some drow to kill," says a ghostly voice.
"Very well, then," Laurie says, taking up a rod. She touches Farad's ashes with the tip of it, while murmuring strange words.
The ashes seem to swirl and grow...then gradually expand and take on the form of Farad, smug smile and all. The body shivers and quakes, then settles down to a regular breathing pattern.
"We almost lost him," observes Laurie.
She turns to Jon's remains, and touches them with the rod, while muttering prayers to Tyr. The remains grow and turn a healthy pink, and Jon lives again as well.
Standing over them is the high priestess Laurie, clutching a rod of ivory.
Encircling the altar they see their companions, as well as Leslie the ranger, Tabrina, and a number of people whom they do not recognise.
"Welcome back, Farad and Jon!" exclaims Leslie.
Britan looks at Farad and Jon and says, "Welcome back from the other side, you two, I for one am glad to have you back with us to finish taking out those dark elves."
Humphrey feels almost brand new.
"Well, I feel much better. Although I am still not sure what happened," he says, and looks over to Farad and Jon. "Evidently, I almost joined you. Well I guess this was a learning experience."
Jon says, "Thank you, Leslie...I will repay your God and temple in any way I can...you must tell me more of your faith and it's history. I have recently been studying so hard that perhaps I have forgotten my spiritual needs."
"I think you mean Laurie," Leslie the ranger says, with a nod to Laurie the high priestess.
"Repayment is not necessary," says Laurie. "But I will be glad to talk to you about Tyr at some point."
Sharone puts two bundles beside the newly returned warriors. "These belong to you."
She returns all their bits and pieces that she picked up in the drow hall.
"I need a few days before we go back to the drow halls, to prepare continual light bullets and some holy water. Is that okay by everybody?"
She looks around the group for confirmation.
Farad gives his thanks to Laurie. "I shall endeavor to repay you as best I can."
Aldarin says, "There is no need for that my friend. We all strive to do the best we can for the whole of the group."
Bowing to the cleric he turns toward the rest of the party. "So what happened after I fell?"
Ayazin says, "We held our own. We managed to slay all the drow and their allies, except for the two leaders, who got away. Jon got caught alone by a fire giant, and your body got hit by a fireball. Humphrey fell, Kelar was put to sleep by a drow dart, and the rest of us were somewhat hurt, so we decided to retreat rather than pursue the drow leaders. Leslie met with us back at Kelar's tent, and transported us here."
Farad looks around.
"How long ago was this?"
Jon says, "That sounds about right. The last thing I remember was trying to sneak past a fire giant to see what the two leader drow was doing when he clobbered me. One thing about the battle before I died confused me. Why didn't we use our magic against the giants rather than the fighters and melee the drow? It would seem to be the best strategy moving forward. Is there any reason now while as we recover that we can't clairaudience or clairvoyance their temple to see whats going on and what surprises they will have for us next."
"Poor planning," Beth says. "We did try to use our magic against the giant, but we had Aldarin up there fighting the giants with an anti-magic enchantment on him... so all the magic we threw at the giants fell flat."
"Well..." Beth adds after a pause. "That was some of it. Then I missed with my wand." Beth shrugs. "I was spectacularly ineffectual in that combat, I must admit."
Aldarin adds, "I made the decision to use my scroll so that we were not all wasted by the drow's magic and to penetrate the barrier of blades that barred our passage. I attemted to engage the drow so as to illiminate their magical abilities but was blocked by the giants. Not to mention I did use my spells to disable some of the giants. Even the best laid plans do not always come to fruition."
"Oh, nothing wrong with what you did," Beth said. "It was us idiots in back who forgot that you had that going and kept throwing magic near you who futzed up. Our plans certainly didn't come to fruition... the best laid plans sometimes don't, and neither did ours."
"Just a thought, but could we teleport directly into their temple next time?"
"I don't think anyone in your party can cast teleport, Jon," says Tabrina. "I will come with you the next time you go in, though, but I have never been to the temple, and I get nervous about teleporting into places I've never been before."
"Was the temple destroyed?"
No, it was not, you are told.