Servant of Malice: The Basilisk of Ophidian

Servant of Malice: The Basilisk of Ophidian is a book recovered from the library of Humbleblossom Estate.

## Description

Delving deeper into the horror unleashed by the worshippers of Ophidian, Servant of Malice: The Basilisk of Ophidian discusses the eponymous Basilisk, a creature loosed from the depths of the Elemental Plane of Water in an attempt to destroy Gawylthlan and the Duchies of Tynd.

## Research

### Completed by Hassk

The Realms have known many threats over the years, and while the gods above in their celestial citadels will invoke their divine will and might, it is instead through mortal souls that most seek to act - encouraging their faithful forwards in zealotry and purpose. The Glimmer Knight is a true and shining example of such an individual, famed for many heroic deeds, but through the cities and towns of Gawylthlan and the Duchies of Tynd it is the title of "Banisher of the Basilisk" that are formed most frequently upon the lips of the residents.

Dredged from the depths of the Elemental Plane of Water by the Toothed Patriarch Carcharodon as a gift to the eponymous Master of Malice, the Basilisk of Ophidian was an entity of gargantuan size and serpentine form. Primal in its hunger, the Basilisk was coaxed by Ophidian from its usual feasting grounds in the infinite depths of the inner plane, hunting water elementals, aboleths, merfolk and sahuagin, marids and near any other life that made the folly of diving too deep. Many have speculated on the reasoning for Ophidian's targetting of the Duchies of Tynd and Gawylthlan, but most fingers point towards a series of trade agreements and tariff adjustments warming the relations between between the usually frigid Realms through a long-lasting season of Amberlight in 696AG. Ophidian, delighting in disunion and revelling in acts that bring conflict petty and widespreading between mortal races loosed the Basilisk into the depths of the Cobalt Sea, at first bidding it to only strike at ships flying the banner of the Slate-Stone Kingdom, while leaving those of the Grand Duchy untouched. Alternating back and forth to sow dissent between the newfound trading parties, the continued damages and loss brought the Realms to blows, with the Dukes Merlor, Greenwood and Karmble marching armies through Astedia to harry the eastern border of Gawylthlan. Only when blood was spilled by mortal steel did the attacks start to strike at both in unison, countless ships dragged to the depths, coastal villages shattered into timbers by towering walls of water with a will of their own. Unlike the floods common in Kingbourne, such torrents did not bring fertile silts to bolster agriculture - but instead salted and befouled the soils, spoiling rivers and wells alike. The residents of the town of Ten Pools, located within the Duchy of Rhous have long since rued such a time - for now their settlement possesses but three pools suitable for bathing, the others irredeemably tarnished until a sufficiently powerful ritual could be created by the Guild of the Silver Lotus several years later.

With a mighty fleet at his back, constructed within the relative safety of the upshore River Lan, King Kalbos III Tawnbert sailed out to contest with the elemental monstrosity - seeking to bait it into striking at strategically-placed converted fishing skiffs decorated boldly in Gawylthlian livery. With its location revealed, Xorithrolmax would strike from above, partially freezing the entity with a fervour of chilling ice - ready to be shattered unto the decks of the vessels with hammer and pick, piece by piece, scale by scale. Such schemes did not, however, work without fault, owing to the springing of a second ambush, perpetrated by the Hadean Tide. Sahuagin and Ixitxachitl alike swarmed the waves, drawn to the battle as sharks to blood - and so further blood was spilled in greatt swathes. Fighting side-by-side alongside King Kalbos and his Azalguard against foes aquatic and elemental alike, the Glimmer Knight moved to deliver victory through devious placement of a Bag of Holding filled with Dust of Dryness into the centre of the being's form, aided in the effort by an entourage of bronze dragons. Scattered into shimmering gemstone-like shards, form and malice condensed, the essence of the Basilisk of Ophidian was collected up en-masse and hidden away. While the vast majority of the pieces were placed into the care of the Couatl Chaklinas, it is not unknown for the pale mineral shards to make an appearance from time to time, though oft it is simply quartz enchanted to ripple and warble like an ever-stretching ocean contained within. Those few fragments that are in truth as proclaimed have been quickly siezed and sequestered, and associated sects and cults dispatched, disbanded or otherwise scattered to the wind.