Temple of the False Serpent


 * For the episode, see Temple of the False Serpent.

Inside the small snake village on the island of Urukaxl is the Temple of the False Serpent. It was built in honor of Uk'otoa and later taken over by yuan-ti who rededicated it to The Cloaked Serpent.

Description
The temple is a five-sided pyramid with three different levels. The top layer is in the form of a pentagram with a fountain, the second holds a small orchard, and in the last lives the warden.

Exterior
The temple is a five-sided pyramid that levels at the top. On each side is a stairway to the top, and there is a massive stone structure at the base. The stonework and the construct of this entire temple is very old and very simple. At the top of the temple is a worship terrace with statues, a tablet, a table, and a trap door. The torch-bearing statues of snakes are near the corners. On top of the statues is a golden idol with a carved divot on the inside where a torch burns and where ceremonial sacrifices take place. The heavy stone tablet is about 12-foot by six-foot and rests directly in the center. There are metal rings bolted with metal rivets to the sides. The stone itself appears to be stained with a variety of various shades of stain. The trap door has a handle and a latch that locks behind itself. It leads to the inside the temple into a pentagram chamber.

Pentagram Chamber
This chamber is partway down from the surface. It is built in a diamond shape with green growth in the corners. There are six-inch holes in each corner in the walls that lead to tunnels that slowly descend downward. Inside the chamber is a staircase, a fountain, and two load-bearing pillars. The walls are decorated with intricate carvings and additional stone to represent snake creatures and a great snake god. The iconography in this chamber is based on Zehir, the Cloaked Serpent, and the imbuing of its power into its followers creating mutations. The images show people in the midst of this metamorphosis and transforming into larger snakes. Underneath the carvings, older carved temple stone is visible.

One of the steps is trapped, and turns the stairs into a 45-degree angle slide, which after a few minutes reverts to its initial state. In the center is a raised platform with a two-tiered fountain with brackish green water trickling off the sides through four small grooves into holes through the floor. The fountain basin has two reliefs of coiled snakes underneath the water. One has empty eyes; the other has an empty eye socket and a dull gray eye that remains. When the eye sockets are filled with rubies, the fountain shifts and reveals a staircase that slowly spirals down and gives way to two feet of smooth pillar, and a thin stair that continue to spiral down to the chamber below.

Small Orchard
The orchard is a four-sided chamber that is 70 by 50 by 40 feet tall with no access to sunlight, but it has a bright orange-yellow color. The smell is of fresh earth and vegetation, with fermentation and rot. The small orchard consists of a singular type of tree that is repeatedly planted throughout the area. The trees bear green-yellow colored fruits of which a lot have dropped to the ground and are beginning to ferment and rot. It has a thick mass of jungle vines, roots, and damp earth. The fruit tastes good but with an iron aftertaste and it has a hallucinogenic effect.

On the south, west, and north walls are large eight-feet wide, ten-feet tall stone tablets affixed to the wall. On the tablets are inscriptions that mirror the same vision of Zehir as in the pentagram chamber. At the base of each of these tablets is a hole about 12 inches wide and five inches tall that leads to other chambers.

The party discovered that when under the influence of the hallucinogenic fruit, beautiful extremely bright glowing symbols could be seen.
 * Eastern wall, “The sacrifice feeds the fountain”.
 * Southern tablet, “The fountain feeds the garden”.
 * Western tablet, “The garden feeds the warden”.
 * Northern tablet, “The warden guards the false serpent”.

Southern and Northern Rooms
These rooms are used as hatcheries, with a strong smell of fermentation. Along the ground are clusters of one-foot tall reptilian eggs placed along the various edges, nestled in soft dirt and molding fruit. There is a decomposed broken humanoid corpse in the southern room.

Western Room
It is a relatively simple 15 by ten feet chamber. There are elements of stonework with carvings along the walls, a lever, and stairs. The carvings depict the temple and the city that surrounds it. The lever opens all the tree rooms and moves the fountain back up. The ten-foot wide set of stairs slowly spiral downward for 60 feet into the next chamber.

Warden's Chamber
The chamber is 60-feet high and filled with two inches of water. It has three large intricately carved load-bearing pillars, a small well, and a couple of raised platforms. The walls are made of eldest stone. There are three 15-feet tall and 20 wide carved murals on the walls, carved by the Ki'Nau. This chamber is a lair for the guardian of the temple. It has runes that start on the ceiling, continue down the walls, onto the floor, and meet at the well.

Pillars
The pillars have a powerful, deep magical aura to them. They have faint early Draconic runes, carved designs and shapes, swirling serpentine circles and curves that chain into each other and swirl off. The patterns are erratic in places and don't seem to follow.

The Well
The well is 70-feet deep as it opens to a giant spherical chamber. The well is filled with cold and salt water. The basin below has walls full of algae and grime-like plant matter that has slowly congealed to cover the walls.

The Murals
The murals depict giant faintly detailed and gently colored scenes, though the coloration has faded with dust and time. The stone has been stained or painted to show some variation in color. All three murals have crowds of people clustered around the base. Above them, there are three larger humanoid figures that are haloed by a light that elevates them beyond the crowd. Over the top of the crowd is either a huge bird, a giant coiled serpent or a curling thick worm.

The Bird The huge bird is of dark purple flame wreathing the sky above. Its wings curve upward and bend down, and where the wings end, fire curls and burns and the feathers on the edges of the wings come up into a purple and dark gray flame with bits and specks of deep red. At the top where its head looks down, the beak long and pointed, there are three eyes across its face, and in each of these eyes is a set of large onyx stones.

The Serpent The giant coiled serpent is made of scale and fin, with eyes made of amber. Each of these eyes is a separate amber piece about the size of a large gold piece, all along the coil of its body. At the very top, where it's rearing up, a very long, thin, pointed, almost lizard-like maw opens, and behind it, a giant tidal wave is curling and frozen in place, looking like it's about to bear down on and either destroy or sweep away the crowd below it. The head has three eyes and eyes evenly spaced around the entire length of its coiled body all made of pieces of amber.

The Worm The curling thick worm has folded skin and tooth-like scales burrowing up to produce mountains over the crowd, cliff faces made of stone and rock breaking and about to plummet into the crowd below. Its form is bulbous with strange protrusions, spine-like scales that pull it through the broken earth. It has a ring of teeth that accentuate where its mouth is, and on the inside, where a tongue would be, there are three eyes across the inside of its mouth. These are made of white polished ivory.

The Mighty Nein, Avantika, and Jamedi enter the temple in their search for the next stage to release the seals of Uk'otoa. Upon entering Nott triggers the trap on the staircase and they all start sliding down. When they land they are immediately noticed by four snakelike creatures.

After the Mighty Nein, Avantika, and Jamedi dealt with the four snake people they try to find their way further down in to the temple. Nott decides to put the rubies they found into the eye sockets of the depicted snakes in the fountain using Mage hand. The fountain shifts and reveals stairs that spiral down below to the lightless internal orchard.

They find the decomposing fruit and Nott decides to eat it and soon after she is tripping balls because of it. Based on the shape of the temple they saw, they conclude that there should be more space on the sides and the front the orchard and it looks to be a central chamber of this floor. Tripping balls Nott is able to see the symbols on the tablets and sketch them, so everybody can see it. Trying to understand the symbols better Caleb eats the fruit and decipher the symbols Nott gets entangled by the vines and eventually knocked out. They managed to dispatch the attacking vines and go back to investigating the stone tablets. Looking into the rooms Nott decides to crawl into the Western chamber. Looking at the cravings along the wall Nott grabs the lever that opens all tree rooms and moves the fountain back up. When the party joins Nott, Beau leads the party down into the next chamber.

In the subterranean warden's chamber, they found a yuan-ti abomination that was laying guard to the true guardian: a large hydra. The hydra had turned around and laid waste to the party, but they managed to cleave all the heads from its body and kill it just in time.

The Mighty Nein and Avantika took a moment to breath following the defeat of the Hydra. Fjord and Avantika examined murals on the walls and Caduceus notes that the pillars have a magical aura to them. Fjord tried again to ask Avantika about the third "chosen" she had previously mentioned. She dodged the question, instead inviting him to discuss it over a glass of wine after they are successful. Caleb and Nott, still under the influence of the unknown fruit from the underground orchard, can see the glowing runes that start in the ceiling and meet at the well where the Hydra rose from. Caleb determined the runes are some kind of abjuration magic, although he cannot read them.

Discussing how to best approach exploring the well, Avantika jumped in unexpectedly. As Fjord is made to follow her. Fjord anxiously jumped and managed to catch up to reach the end of the tunnel at the same time and begin to scrape grime off the floor. Fjord found a spherical stone relief about the size of a fist. Avantika rushed towards the relief, pulled her glove off her right hand, and was faster than Fjord. As her palm with the eye in it touched the relief, her body seized up with a yellow glowing light. When she pulled her hand back, blood was pouring out from a large open wound. A cloven crystal was resting in the stone relief on the floor.

Previously runes began to glow, reaching out in three lines from the relief up the sides of the well. A loud crack resonated throughout the whole temple, creating cracks in the walls. Avantika began to swim towards the surface; Fjord reached up and tried to grab her. She slipped out of his grasp. Fjord played it off like an accident. The well in the hydra chamber began overflowing the temple rapidly. Caduceus, Caleb, Jamedi, and Nott ran towards the stairs to the outside. Beau and Jester waited by the well for Fjord. As the water reaches high enough, they can no longer stand, Avantika and Fjord made it back into the hydra chamber.

Once the whole party was in the top floor, three yuan-ti entered the chamber from another door. The rising water filled the entire chamber. Caduceus cast Spirit Guardians and rushed at the yuan-ti before they could retaliate. An underwater battle ensued. Avantika, Caduceus, Fjord, Jester, Nott, and Yasha were able to defeat the three yuan-ti them. As they all prepared to flee, both Jester and Caduceus ran out of air and began to drown.

Fjord grabbed Jester, kissed her, and gave her his own air supply, putting himself in danger of drowning to save her. Jamedi and Avantika grabbed Caduceus and pulled his unconscious body towards the exit. Beau, Caleb, and Nott teamed up to help Jester get to the trapdoor and unlock it. As soon as the door was unlocked, a geyser of water pushes everyone 20 feet straight up into the air out the top of the temple. Nott and Caleb both cast Feather Fall. Between the two of them, they were able to target everyone. Nott used a shield she had taken off a yuan-ti as a "sled" for a still unsconscious Caduceus. Now outside, the party could see more and more water spilling out of the temple and flooding the entire city. Gently falling into the rushing water, Jester was able to reach Caduceus and cast Cure Wounds.