G26 - To Flood a Snake

Date: Reaping (7), Earthday, 6th, 760

In the cultist temple under Jowkuhtar, the cave felt cold and wet. In front of them, multiple bodies of cultists laid still. There were two unexplored areas left. The small altar they found the cultists hiding and the one path to the left. Otis and Nethtari looked through the altar. A snake god figurine was the centerpiece,Zahir the Snake God, about 12 inches (ca. 30 cm) long, made out of marble. A cup filled with incense and a ritual dagger, with a pommel representing a coiling snake. A pile of coins with an old looking stamp, that formed an "O" were in the cup. Otis recognized the stamp as Olman Empire.

Doubling back to the central area, they looked at the little underground lake and realized it was an actual spring, a bit off-center from the well up above, as Posco discovered with his superior darkvision.

They followed the last unexplored path, going down the twisting tunnel they went to a bigger cavern, a giant snake head entrance, with a pyramid building behind it. The pyramid was of Olman Empire design. It reminded them of the island they visited, Drake Isle. The snake's mouth was similar to the skull mouth entrance with the Lizardfolk, where they killed the Lizard God.

To enter the pyramid, they had to go inside the snake's mouth. After four steps, they were in the inside of the pyramid. Depictions of a many headed snake devouring the world, and a great flood adorned the walls.

The floor sloped downwards, with a large hole going even deeper into the earth. They followed the tunnel, while traveling after a bit they got the feeling that it was slowly becoming tighter, Ren was the first to notice. As the walls started to get oppressively tight, with Ren crawling, a rattle was heard.

After much debate, Posco decided to go alone. Drawing a pentagram to be able to teleport, he went forward alone. After a few minutes, he saw the end of the tunnel and teleported back. The party made more plans. Based on the rattle, they expected a snake, and they considered this a warning. Thinking about the nature of snakes, they thought about flying or invisibility, or using the ring of anti-gravity.

Posco went back with a summoned deer, with a fresh pentagram drawn. He walked, then flew to the entrance. At the cusp of the big cavern, he pushed the deer in. He saw a giant snake's body coiling around the deer. The snake spoke and said "please stay", Posco immediately teleported back.

Even more discussion took place with the party. Ren debated if Zahir was the first god locked instead of the last. A lot of plans were discussed on how to prevent others from getting down here. Ultimately, they blocked the snake with dirt using stoneshape and went back to the underground spring. They decided to use the spring by opening it up for the water to slowly flood everything.

As they were getting to leave, they noticed that there was one track unaccounted for. They set up a trap, at the bottom of the ladder. The cultists that came down the steps later got taken down quickly. With all the cultists dealt with and the spring slowly flooding the passage below, they went upstairs. Otis wanted to burn the mansion, so Ren and Neth helped.

With the mansion on fire, they left Jowkuhtar burning. They travelled for four hours back to their boat. An old fisherman and two fishing boats had docked right next to them. He was expecting to see Sea Elves, the party showed off their tattoos and explained why they had the boat.

After talking about the weather, that it's much colder than usual for Reaping (July) they left the port. Their new destination is Ikoshi - The Domed City, a trip that would take 3-5 weeks.

About a week in, Posco and Leah were stolen, a week after that they came back with memories of being stolen (G25 - 2 Dreamers and 3 Gnomes) and the sky had a rip in it, a black sky peaking through the rip. With that darkness leaking through, they sailed forward to Ikoshi, Neth's home.