Eye of the Serpent God

A once grand hall, the walls and floor are covered in mosaic detailing divine hosts driving away hordes of serpents. Time has dusted over and chipped the tiles, leaving heaps of detritus. Thirteen dead sarpathi lie entwined with rubble – there is no sign of what killed them. Flanking the smashed-down doors leading into the complex are defaced statues of (now headless) figures wearing armor of many small plates.

Statues of welkins crowd this small chamber, their feathered limbs all outstretched and filling the air. One of the statues, on the southern wall, is winking. Shaking its hand causes the statue to sink into the ground, revealing a secret passage to Room 14.

Grease fills this chamber. Getting traction is nearly impossible, and anyone runs the risk of falling. Several floor-to-ceiling poles promise support, but are just as greasy as the walls and floor. The grease is extremely flammable.

Five welkin defend this room, dedicated WARRIORS to stopping intruders—any without a key phrase are instructed to leave or face their cold steel. Each carries a magnetized shield. On a Complete Miss against them, metal weapons are stuck to the shield.

An unwalled pit, 30' in diameter, fills the center of this huge circular chamber. The pit is 500' deep, littered with dead. Strewn around the room are sarpathi corpses, bloody feathers and broken swords. On the walls are rich tapestries created in a scratchy, line-work heavy style. They depict a burning sun-bird tearing out an eye from a huge lunar serpent, and then hiding the eye within a nest in the mountains. The doors out from this room are made of heavy, thick wood, reinforced with metal bands. They have obviously been maintained.

This triangular chamber is low-ceilinged, the floor tilted towards the north at 20°. The ceiling is painted with bitumen – close examination reveals shards of bone and teeth trapped within the black sticky substance. The floor is made of many smaller bricks, filled with holes. Climbing using the holes is easy, but activates a trap – the ceiling snaps down, inflicting 2d12 Dread (Nimbleness Check to suffer half). Climbing without the holes takes ten minutes, but is safe.

Rubble fills the room, tangled with ruined shovels, picks and mattocks. Quick movement is likely to cause a cavein, blocking the way back out to the Disposal Pit.

Fallen sarpathi co-mingle with dead welkins donned in their armor of linked squares. Against a wall leans Abundanitus, a welkin. He holds a grievous WARRIOR injury closed. Seeing more invaders, he tries to stand but stumbles. If he can be convinced that the PCs are here to stop the sarpathi, he teaches them the phrase letting the other welkin know they are friends: “The long leg protects the body.”

Small chamber filled with just-shorn ewes and de-horned. They look sheepish and lost. RAMGORES

Thick globs of highly sticky glue ooze from the walls, between the stone bricks. Anyone passing through risks becoming. The glue gathers most around the ENTANGLED southern door. It isn't flammable, but freezes easily.

Every surface is coated in tendrils of frost, save a large pale-blue crystal within a brass cage, suspended from the ceiling. It draws all heat towards it, leaving this circular chamber subject to a killing cold – all passing through without significant cold-protection suffer 2d6 Dread. Water freezes instantly, forming fantastic icesculptures which then fall to the ground and shatter, lost in an instant. Removed from the cage, the crystal becomes inert. To the south, the sound of fighting.

Fifteen (L5-G) with red fezzes SARPATHI REAVERS and heavy crossbows fortify this chamber whilst Anamash builds a magical engine to spy upon the other lieutenants. If not attacked, she offers Magic spears for those who can interfere in the plans of Ssoom and Nalabash. Venomgrip Spear: Grants +1 Attack and +2 Dread. Once every combat, on a Critical Hit, the target is Poisoned. However, these weapons also have tiny springloaded needles in the hilts, dosed with paralytic poison. On the command word “Rapscallions!”, the needles jut out to Poison and Paralyze the wielder (Vitality to resist).

The southern wall of this otherwise barren chamber is dominated by a door of gold, engraved with a complex set of statues and four levers at its base. At the center of the door is a golden egg, and above that there is a large nest containing four, each marked SPARROW-SPRITES with a number 1 through 4. Above the nest are four tableaus depicting the following scenes:

1. A fledgling spreading its wings.
2. A nest full of eggs.
3. A bird building a nest.
4. A bird feeding hatchlings. Four levers control the numbered on SPARROW-SPRITES the door, moving them to their corresponding tableaus. The levers must be pulled in the correct order to open the door. The tableaus are a riddle depicting the life of a bird. Beginning with the golden egg, and the four birds leaving the large nest, the correct order is as follows: 3, 2, 4, 1. If an incorrect lever is pulled, all the birds move back in place with a shrieking noise – roll for encounters.

Nalabash and thirteen of his strongest SARPATHI (L8-G) pace about, the once fine statuary REAVERS now just rubble around them. Occasionally, one of the sarpathi throws some remaining rubble against a wall in frustration – they cannot work out a route past Room 19. Any aiding them would be thanked, nothing more. The sound of fighting emerges from the eastern walls with no clear source.

Four welkin (L5-G) battle eight WARRIORS SARPATHI (L6-G), wearing wrapped black clothing and REAVERS wielding dual swords. Two dead welkins lie upon the floor. If helped, the welkins accompany the PCs in repulsing the invaders – but refuse to lead them deeper into the complex. They are certain the Eye should remain here. A statue of a bird, with one of its legs raised and toes spread, is in the south-western corner of the room. “High-fiving” the statue causes it to slide backwards, revealing a secret passage to Room 14. This passage can only be opened from this side.

Ssoom and fifteen of his black-clad SARPATHI REAVERS (L6-G) try to construct a map of the Stone Socket, using the reports from his patrols and secrets gleaned from the other lieutenants. Ssoom offers any visitors wealth and power for aid in reaching the Eye. Any foolish enough to accept are killed once the Eye is safe. A pile of discarded ewe and coats are in the RAMGORE corner. The sarpathi used them to pass through Room 8 but are uncomfortable talking about it. Behind the paper map set on the southern wall, a loose brick controls a secret door which, if pressed, gives access to Room 17.

An Old Hoard (+2) lies here. In addition, two empty suits of heavy welkin knight armor rest here, untouched and coated in dust. Between them, a huge curved sword of bronze polished to a mirror finish. The Magic sword grants +1 Attack. Trickery Check: Once every session, in the presence of a light source, the wielder may attempt to Blind a target:

• 1–2: A random ally is Blinded for 1d6 rounds instead.
• 3–5: No effect.
• 6–8: The target is Blinded for a round.
• 9–11: The target is Blinded for 1d6 rounds.
• 12+: The target is Blinded for 1d6 rounds and accidentally attacks their nearest ally. The southern passage terminates in a lever that controls a hidden door to Room 26. This door automatically closes after five minutes, and cannot be opened from Room 26.

Eight welkin (7xL5-G, 1xL5-B) defend the WARRIORS eastern door. One wields a huge thorned pike, designed to hook on to scales and thick fur. Without a password (see Room 5), they attempt to repulse all invaders – the stakes are too high for risks.

The ceiling of this chamber is made up of twelve narrow slabs that fall to the ground in succession while another rises up, creating a ripple of crushing stone. A failed Movement Check inflicts 1d10 Dread. Each block falls every eight seconds, remaining on the floor for ten. The doors in either wall have large mechanical latches which must be cranked to open the door from the inside.

Every surface is coated in 5” metal spikes, points gleaming and recently sharpened (1d8 Dread).

This circular chamber holds a 15' tall creature MUTANT (L5-C), three heavy gold keys dangling from its neck. It is something like a long-legged bird, its compact body bedecked with tentacles. A small head boasts an exposed brain-like structure and a spear-like beak. It thirsts for blood, attempting to pin prospective meals beneath taloned feet before piercing them with the beak. Made of gold and patterned like feathers, the northeastern, south-eastern and southern doors require the keys around the beasts neck to be opened, although any key can open any of the doors. Water drips from the ceiling, pooling in fetid puddles.

The walls are entirely covered in pairs of sarpathi fangs, each minutely inscribed with the name of the unwilling donor. They are easily removed, only a brittle glue holds them in place.

A heavy door of stone is flanked by a pair of statues. Each is a depiction of a welkin warrior-monk, wearing bracers of bronze and necklaces of snake fangs. If one bearing sarpathi teeth approaches, the statues animate and open the door. It is otherwise un-openable without explosives.

The walls of the passages leading to this chamber are marked in chalk, reading “Out of Order, Please Find Alternate Route.” From the ceiling spills a group of loathsome MUNG (L3-B), having forced apart the stonework and pooling on the floor.

Large, crescent-shaped blades, patterned with flame designs, swing back and forth across the room (1d10 Dread). They are suspended by metal threads woven into thick ropes, a mechanism jutting from the ceiling clicks with each pass.

Three SARGOGS (L6-B) wearing riveted plate armor dwell in this chamber. As an insult, they have been trained to attack sarpathi on sight – other intruders are eaten because the snakes are hungry. A hidden door in the southern wall is made up of unmortared bricks—a hard blow against the wall would dislodge or collapse the section of false wall.

A gigantic set of stone double doors, carved with sinister spikes and whorls, is defended by a makeshift barricade of dry wooden furniture manned by eighteen welkin WARRIORS. Without a password (see Room 5), or proof that all the sarpathi have been driven away, they lay down their lives to stop the Eye of Ehk being stolen. These final defenders are led by Damianus (L7-C), a living hero to the order. Above this scene hangs an elaborate oil-fed chandelier, seventy-eight tiny flames sprouting from complex brass tubing. The chandelier is suspended on a chain blackened with smoke—beneath the grime, it is corroded and weak.

Within a black iron cauldron roils the still-living eye of a god. The size of a watermelon, raw and bloody, the slit-pupil wildly dilates and contracts, unable to focus on anything. It is suspended in acid which eats away at flesh – the divine nature of the eye protecting it from such trivialities. Close examination of the cauldron reveals it is balanced perfectly – any slight movement causes it to fall, spraying the acid everywhere. The walls are sculpted in threatening forms – abstract spikes, serpentine wrinkles and web-like structures.

A collection of forty monastic cells, where the welkin WARRIORS sleep and contemplate their duty. All are absent, presently defending the complex.

A collection of twenty monastic cells, where the senior welkin WARRIORS contemplate their duty and sometimes sleep. All are leading their fellows in defending the complex.

A cold, unlit forge fills the room, surrounded by broken weapons and armor, each made for a specific wielder, bearing their name in the scratchy alphabet of the welkin.