The Serpentmen's Sacrament - Session 5

Heiwae Mann kicked his feet from the edge of a large bathtub, his legs too short to touch the ground. A half-naked bathhouse worker stared at him incredulously as he told her to put her clothes back on. The thief wasn't here for sex - he wanted information.

Softwaters Bathhouse was a staple of Fallowfields, purveying the world's oldest profession under the guise of public sanitation. It had previously been on the colony's eastern side, but the brothel's pimp, Gangolf, had transplanted it to the (once polluted) northern river. 

It was a savvy business move - he fungal blight had dropped property prices and the newly blessed river did wonders for the "constitution" of his customers. 

Roman de Mélusine

But rumour had it that Gangolf had gone missing. Along with one of his regular customers, two of the doxies and a small fortune in unpaid wages. 

The bathmaid nervously explained her suspicions that the "blessed" waters did something to the mind and body after prolonged exposure, as the pimp and some of her coworkers had been acting strangely since they'd shifted locations. Gangolf had spent long periods plotting over river maps and searching for rumours about the adventurers' forays into the ancient temple.

She also mentioned a pregnant colleague who'd travelled to give birth at the Church of Fat Sun, but hadn't returned. It wasn't likely she'd died - the greedy clerics would've come knocking for funeral money. Something else must've transpired.

Gavel was still recovering from the plague in the church, so Heiwae linked up with him and accosted the nearest monk about the pregnancy. Eager for someone to fork over the cost for clerical healing, he showed the mercenaries to the woman's chambers. Inside the bathmaid sheepishly nursed her newborn, who appeared perfectly healthy.

Ignoring the slit pupils, forked tongue and scales.

Delta Green: The Labyrinth

The poor mother was soon surrounded by the entire adventuring party, who nervously inspected the snake-baby and discussed whether this was their fault for opening the ophidian font. 

Eventually they decided that yes, it almost certainly was. Heiwae Mann paid the exorbitant cost for a Remove Curse on the child, in exchange for the mother keeping her mouth shut.

The consequences of their actions momentarily delayed, the adventurers saddled their horses and rode back to the temple of Yig. There were signs of recent activity in the area - trees had been felled and dragged into the cave, from which the smell of something burning emerged.

The exterior of the temple was now lit by a pair of charcoal braziers, spluttering away and illuminating a crude wooden sign that read "ENTER THE FAITFHFUL". Testing the doors, they were obviously barred from within. The river rapids were also fortified - a row of wooden stakes and razor wire blocking the entrance.

Spooked by the dungeon now being properly occupied, the party slipped into the sally port they'd discovered on their last delve. Crawling through the dark, they circumnavigated the fortifications and arrived at the side entrance to the pilgrim waiting room. It was the centre of activity for the dungeon's new residents - bright light shone beneath the door and the sounds and smells of someone operating forge filled the air.

Thinking of nothing better to do, the adventurers politely knocked. Gangolf, dressed in a coat of maille and clutching a sword, opened the door. He warily asked if the party was here to join his growing flock. Peeking inside they saw the missing prostitutes, along with one of the bathhouse johns, sweating away at the forge. All four of them sported forked tongues, yellow pupils and flasks of the golden ambrosia that they took regular swigs from.

It was obvious the cultists were refurbishing the old temple. The smith was melting down their stolen coins and jewellery into gold leaf, to be plastered over the destroyed mosaics, whilst the bathmaids swept the floor clean of debris. 

The party couldn't help but notice the signs of Dwarven craftsmanship around the room - the razor-wire outside, the forge using alchemical fuel pellets, and the cultists all carried freshly-forged bronze daggers. Gangolf dodged the question, and asked again if they were here to prostrate themselves before Yig, God of the Two Burning Fangs that Pierce the Sky.

The adventurers asked for a few moments to consider it. After some brief discussion in another room, they landed on a foolproof solution. Violence.

The door exploded open with a Knock spell, and Burning Leaves followed it up with a casting of Sleep. Though some serpentman skeletons rushed in to protect their new converts, the resulting battle was over almost immediately. The skeletons were stomped into bonemeal, two cultists laid dead, and the survivors (including Gangolf) were taken prisoner.

With the opposition dealt with, Hasaim used his magic staff to seal the ophidian font shut. Hopefully they'd acted fast enough to stop anyone else falling victim to the mind-control. After a few more minutes spent scraping gold leaf from the walls, the party frogmarched their captives out of the temple before reinforcements arrived.

Back in Fallowfields, they returned the stolen wages to the Softwater Bathhouse, keeping the remainder for themselves. Eager for information on the state of the dungeon, they tried to counteract the ambrosia's influence on Gangolf by repeatedly casting Charm Person on him.

Old School Essentials

Brain pickled in enchantment magic, the pimp eventually blurted out some useful intelligence:

• The dungeon's skeletal garrison was led by a Necrophidius, who had directed the cultists to repair the temple for a grand reopening.

• The Deadlifters, disgraced by the defilement of their mother's corpse, had entered self-exile and sworn themselves to the worship of Yig. Blinded by their quest for vengeance against the party, they were lobbying the snakes to mobilise against Fallowfields.

• Deeper within the dungeon was a stash of stasis eggs. These biological Soul Jars had cloned the most important snakes when they'd died centuries ago. If a sufficient number of cultists were recruited, a ritual could be performed to awaken the dozen-odd 6HD Serpentmen hibernating inside them.

Once they'd handed Gangolf to the authorities on trumped-up charges of banditry, the party began drafting a plan of attack. Those alchemical eggs would be worth a fortune if recovered intact, and they still needed to settle their score with the Deadlifters. Stopping the resurgence of the serpentman empire was an added bonus.

First, they contracted the services of a riverboat. Its lizardman captain, Steps-On-Sandy-Shores, was the right reptile for the job given his people's proficiency in stealing eggs. While "Sandy" briefed his crew and filled the cargo hold with straw-lined barrels, the party stocked up on holy water and recruited a drunken halfling retainer, Ditch-Twitch, for some extra muscle.