Page 111 - Serpent Kingdoms

REALMS

the rest of the inhabitants live within the twisting tunnels and although it was one of the lesser realms of that age. Built as a
chambers that honeycomb the hill. temple-city by the cult of Ssharstrune, it was abandoned after
Since Ss’essethen’aa is the nexus of the Serpent Tunnels, a the death of the god and left for eons to the guardianship of the
great deal of traffi c passes beneath its terraced slopes. At the bone ha-naga Terpenzi. Thousands of years later, Ss’thar’tiss’ssun
heart of the city lies a two-way portal to the Elemental Plane was rebuilt by ophidian followers of Terpenzi as the capitol of
of Earth. Ophidian miners pass through it each day, mining Najara, then transformed once again by the yuan-ti they had
the rich vein of gems adjacent to its terminus and fending off magically summoned. In the Year of Moor Birds (90 DR),
elemental predators. Netherese wizards in the employ of the Shadowking destroyed
Ss’khanaja (Small City, 5,278): Located in the western the city for a second time, and its serpentine inhabitants fl ed
Serpent Hills near the border with the High Moor, the city of north into the Serpent Hills.
Ss’khanaja (also known as the Snake Pit) is the modern capitol Today, the ruins of Ss’thar’tiss’ssun lie at the western edge
of Najara. Beneath a small valley surrounded by hills, the city of the Forest of Wyrms, beneath and around the village of
encircles a narrow shaft that descends deep into the Underdark. Serpent’s Cowl. Flickering Netherese spell barriers that were
A spiraling ramp coiling down the walls offers access to side erected by agents of the Shadowking to expel the serpentfolk
chambers every quarter revolution. The shaft is warded with still deter most would-be explorers. The Coiled Cabal, however,
a permanent levitate spell that allows the city’s inhabitants to fi nally penetrated the magical wards in the Year of the Serpent
navigate its many levels with ease. At the bottom of the shaft (1359 DR).
(more than a mile beneath the surface), water that drips down At the heart of Ss’thar’tiss’ssun lies the Shrine of Cowled
from above passes through a one-way portal to the Elemental Serpents, a temple of Ssharstrune that was rededicated to Sseth
Plane of Water. after the arrival of the yuan-ti. This buried shrine contains the
Ss’khanaja is a restricted city, inhabited only by Najara’s legendary Naja Fountain, which served as the lair of the bone
ruling dark nagas, their attendants, and their guards. Small ha-naga Terpenzi while it guarded the legacy of the sarrukh
family groups of yuan-ti and individual dark nagas live in sub- before the arrival of the ophidians.
terranean chambers that line the central shaft, each attended by The ruins of Ss’thar’tiss’ssun are home to all manner of
a host of ophidian servants. The primary palace of Ebarnaje lies monsters, many of which were summoned as guardians from the
about thirty revolutions below the surface, surrounded by the southern jungles by the arcane spellcasters of the Coiled Cabal.
palatial abodes of the highest-ranking nagara. Six spirit nagas Ti-khana dinosaurs, bone dark nagas, and sword spiders guard
and Terpenzi (see page 31), the bone ha-naga who was Najara’s treasures dating back to the sarrukh and the fi rst Kingdom of
fi rst king, constantly attend Ebarnaje. Snakes, as well as Netherese artifacts plundered from Orogoth
Slaves garrisoned elsewhere in the Serpent Hills regard the and other ruins throughout the Serpent Hills.
Snake Pit with well-deserved horror. The decadent serpentfolk Ss’zuraass’nee (Large City, 17,998): The City of Abomi-
who dwell therein are well known for the gruesome experiments nations lies in the depths of the northern Serpent Hills,
they perform in their ongoing attempts to recreate the ancient about one-half mile below the lizardfolk kingdom of Kalran.
practices of the sarrukh. Ss’zuraass’nee is situated along a dry subterranean riverbed that
Ss’kowlyn’raa (Small Town, 1,573): The City of Spellskins once drained runoff from the southern Greypeaks into the
dates back to the reign of Terpenzi, when Ss’thar’tiss’ssun was depths. The serpentfolk have carved the city’s walls to resemble
the capitol of Najara. Long the preserve of serpentfolk wizards the digestive tract of a massive snake. This disturbing image
interested in rediscovering and advancing the ancient magics is reinforced by the faint acidic tang that clings to the air,
of the sarrukh, Ss’kowlyn’raa was abandoned in the Year of making breathing uncomfortable for creatures unused to this
the Vanished Tattoo (92 DR), following Najara’s defeat by the environment.
Shadowking’s forces two years before. In the Year of the Gri- Ss’zuraass’nee serves as the serpentfolk’s primary trading
moire (1354 DR), yuan-ti wizards of the Coiled Cabal reoccupied link with the Underdark. The yuan-ti who rule this place still
the City of Spellskins, making it a base for their explorations of honor a centuries-old alliance with the illithids of Llacerellyn,
neighboring Ss’thar’tiss’ssun. which lies in the Middle Underdark north of the Serpent Hills.
Ss’kowlyn’raa lies within the southern reaches of the Forest As a result of the good relations between these races, numer-
of Wyrms, in the depths of an overgrown ravine lined with ous yuan-tillithids (half-illithid/half-yuan-ti), with their
cavemouths. Each cluster of caverns is now home to a different distinctive, viper-headed, scaly tentacles, roam the City of
school of magical inquiry, and magic-hewn tunnels link them all Abominations. Drow merchants from Eryndlyn (beneath the
together. The subterranean reaches of Ss’kowlyn’raa are linked northern High Moor) and Sshamath (beneath the Far Hills)
via the Serpent Tunnels to the depths of Ss’thar’tiss’ssun and the are frequent visitors to Ss’zuraass’nee, as are derro traders
Serpent Hills to the north. Ophidian-driven caravans of pack from Tsenviilyq, which lies in the lower Underdark beneath
lizards regularly bring fresh supplies to the City of Spellskins the border between the High Moor and the Serpent Hills.
and pick up recovered relics for transport elsewhere. Grimlocks from the Underdark settlement of Reeshov also
Ss’thar’tiss’ssun: The ruined City of Fountains dates back frequent the City of Abominations.
more than thirty millennia to the era of the sarrukh empires,

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