Entry 3 - The Serpent's Coils

In which the strange serpentfolk known as Friend becomes a valuable ally in exploring an ancient temple and the crew of the Starchaser unwittingly disturbs the restless dead.
 
The serpentfolk we pulled from the rubble was understandably wary: she had no reason for trust and we had no common language between us. Through the Supernal language I was able to convey basic concepts to her - that we did not want to hurt her and wished to communicate. This reassured her enough that Pandy could cast a ritual to give us a common understanding of one another. She had no name and had never met anyone of her own species, only lizardfolk, but agreed that we could call her Friend.
 
Friend explained that she had been exploring these ruins because they used to belong to her people. We had seen images of serpentfolk with some kind of beams coming from their eyes, set above the others. Perhaps her kind were venerated by the other inhabitants of these structures. Friend had heard slithering in the roof as she explored but encountered a door she was unable to open, despite her knowledge of alchemical substances.
 
The gilded door was quite a sight: made of a more substantial metal beneath the surface, it fitted so closely to the doorway that there was no gap to gain purchase. A seven-pointed star carved into the floor in front of the door had suspicious brownish red stains along its channels, and Friend confirmed that she believed it to be unlocked with blood, though she had shed her own with no result. Teleos filled the channels with his blood, at no small cost to his fortitude, and the walls surged with magic.
 
The doors slammed open to reveal a darkened corridor. At first all seemed quiet, and then the subtle sound of rattling bones heralded the attack of a swarm of skeletal snakes. They slithered towads us from every direction, dropping from the ceiling and emerging from holes in the walls. The close quarters and tight angles of the corridor made it difficult to fight in more than single file, but these restrictions did not concern the undead snakes or the skeletal ghost of a Medusa that attacked our isolated allies through the walls. Teleos and I were forced to retreat as Pandy and Korrall sent whirling elemental blasts down the corridor. Soon the air was filled with freezing winds and firestorms. The skeletal snakes were dashed to pieces by this onslaught, but the phantom vanished through the wall, only to reappear behind Teleos. I compelled it closer through the intervention of Valeria so Telos and I could surround it. Then, yellow eyes glowing with a baleful light appeared in its sunken sockets. It turned its gaze on Perdun, Korrall and Teleos, but they shrugged off its effects. An unwise move on the part of the ghost, for its defiance of my challenge brought divine wrath, further augmented by Teleos' glowing red runes, and my sword left nothing but drifting dust where it had once stood.
 
The structure fell silent, the dead sleeping peacefully - for now. We explored the building cautiously, aware that it had remained undisturbed for many years. What little was left in the rooms indicated that many had been living spaces: books reduced to slurry, the rags of old bedding. The room that had contained the ghost was more homely, an enchanted fire still burning in the hearth from hot stones covered with strange glyphs.
 
Squeaking and scuffling issued from another room that smelled of rotten grain. We decided to leave it undisturbed, as we did not care to dwell on what kinds of rats might remain in a temple of undead snakes. Another room had sealed barrels of preserved meat that seemed to still be edible, which Korrall took great interest in.
 
It was strange traversing a place at once homely and long dead. Apart from the unfamiliar architecture and the presence of undeath, it could have been the cells of the monastery I grew up in. We even found a reading nook with books that were still intact, though neither Friend nor we could read the language within. More jarring was the nest - a room with bedding that had clearly been dragged in within the last month. Nestled into it was a large egg. Disturbed earth in the corner indicated that something had burrowed in and out. Some areas of the complex were inaccessible due to structural damage, but we also found a smithy with bottles labelled in strange script - alchemical potions of some kind. Nearby, the skeletal remains of a lizard person were chained to a wall. Reading nooks and cosy hearths notwithstanding, violence had been done here.
 
A greater reminder of this was the symbol on the ground outside a great door. As with the other, it needed blood to open, but in greater quantities. Lethal quantities. The fact that it would not open to serpentfolk blood but only to that of their enemies told us a great deal. Pandy had the idea to dilute the blood with water to produce the same volume of liquid but take less from us. It is perhaps merely a curious fact, but the blood of those present seemed to have greater or lesser effect dependent on species: merfolk blood proved less potent, while tiefling and aasimar blood was more so.
 
Beyond the door lay an impressive temple space with bright gilded decorations that had stood the test of time, an altar and ranks of pews. Only a few moments after our entrance, we heard the sounds of that large, slithering thing in the roof that Friend had described. A huge skeletal snake emerged from the ceiling and dragged me inside its ribcage. Despite the pain, I did notice that my blood ran unnaturally upwards along the snake's bones and began to form a hood around its head. Before my fellows had a chance to react, the undead temple guardian let out a hiss and the piles of bones littered around the room shuddered to their feet.
 
Perdun blinded the skeletons, shattering one into dust as I managed to pull back the snake's ribs and burst free from its grasp, raking it with Valeria's power. Teleos held his own against the snake and a skeleton, beset on all sides, while Korrall in her primal form held up the chained lizard person skeleton that limped to join the fray. I must note before I continue with my narrative that during these dangerous events, Friend, Meena and Ilmi fought bravely alongside us at great risk to themselves, and Friend’s actions are probably one of the reasons I live to fight another day.
 
Perdun leapt onto the snake's head and rode it to the ground, smashing its head through a pew. Finally given the space to gain momentum, I smashed into it as a beacon of Valeria's light and strength. It reeled back from the radiance and Pandy took best advantage of the chance, throwing a chromatic ball of energy that ate into its bones. In retaliation, the snake threw Perdun from his perch on its head and then grabbed him, drawing him into its ribcage and sapping his blood. Now the blood it had stolen, mine and Perdun's, flowed down across its bare bones and gave it a semblance of flesh that seemed more resilient to the bright light that had hurt it so much earlier. Perdun teleported from its grasp and shot it with a bow, but I was too slow to avoid its strike. It dragged me into its coils, no matter how hard I fought, and I blacked out. The next thing I knew, my friends were dragging me clear of the snake's shattered bones. Apparently the radiance surrounding me had continued despite my unconsciousness, which is some comfort, but I would undoubtedly have died in the snake’s coils if my friends had not been there to save me.
 
Commendations from the Admiralty: 2