Page 137 - Serpent Kingdoms

in whispered rumor campaigns. Their unattended goods may
be stolen and their property vandalized. Their servants and
mounts may disappear without reason. Almost every useful
contact the characters make when buying goods or gathering
information vanishes shortly afterward. Yuan-ti “plants” (such
as fangs of Sseth in wholly human form) may replace a few
of these people, feeding the PCs false information that could
t’s certainly possible to construct and run a FORGOTTEN well lead them into traps. The majority, however, become un-
REALMS campaign in which all of the PCs are yuan-ti, fortunate victims of the yuan-ti and end their days as slaves,
Iand their foes are yuan-ti of rival tribes, Scaleless sacrifi ces, or snake food.
Ones, and every other sort of creature in Faerûn. This chapter, As their plots progress, the yuan-ti arrange local shortages
however, discusses approaches for using the yuan-ti as the main of goods and investment opportunities, foster rumors, and oth-
villains in a more typical campaign dominated by human, elf, erwise manipulate the characters. Eventually, the manipulations
dwarf, and halfl ing adventurers. become continual, and the characters live in an increasingly
Making the yuan-ti the main villains doesn’t mean that “staged” world that makes them easier and easier for the yuan-ti
bloodthirsty armies of yuan-ti must slither up to menace PCs to manage. Whenever the PCs move on from a community,
upstairs, downstairs, and everywhere else. Rather, it means that certain Yuan-ti move with them, using the characters’ presence
Yuan-ti of a particular tribe, cult, or local area can serve admi- as cover for their own dark deeds.
rably as the prime movers of evil in campaign play, even if they But the yuan-ti must do much more than react to the adven-
stay in the background much of the time. turers in their midst. As masterminds of evil, they must have
their own long-term plan—ideally one hatched by you as the DM
DMing to a Storyline before the PCs ever make contact with them. Though the char-
acters may be regular pawns in such a plot, it should not depend
The yuan-ti are combat geniuses, but they are also dedicated to entirely on them. This grand plan shouldn’t be carved in stone;
the Sacred Way of Sseth. Their approach can be summed up rather, it should continually alter as the yuan-ti take advantage
in the advice that one wise old Yuan-ti offered centuries ago of changing opportunities—just as adventurers shift their plans
to young and eager kin who were about to enter an unfamiliar to refl ect changing situations and new opportunities.
human city: “Always skulk, strike unseen, and glide softly. Let If the PCs manage to uncover some Yuan-ti activities, the in-
your targets think of others as their foes, and become their troduction of an NPC sage learned in local history could afford
unexpected doom. Manipulate before fi ghting, and ride unfold- the players a chance to discuss what they’ve learned in charac-
ing events so that your part in them can escape the notice of ter. With the help of the sage, they can speculate as to what
humans and others as much as possible. Brutes they may be, but the yuan-ti might do next, or how many more dark deeds and
to do things their way is to become as they are. We are better slithering infl uences remain as yet unrevealed in the area. The
than that, and Sseth expects us to show it.” yuan-ti may well eavesdrop on such a discussion—in fact, the
In keeping with the Sacred Way of Sseth, an organized sage himself may be a disguised Yuan-ti. In that case, he should
Yuan-ti foe continually recedes from the PCs rather than con- be careful to draw out all PC knowledge and suspicions regarding
fronting them directly. PCs menaced by yuan-ti are likely to be Yuan-ti plans so that he can judge what manner of threat they
framed for bad deeds, and their names may be subtly smeared pose. Thereafter, the sage is likely to steer the characters into

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