Snakes Tongues

A Yuan-Ti clutch dedicated to Father Claw, the Serpentine Lord and god of death has dubbed itself the Deep Vipers. They are secreted in the City of Ptolus and Down Shadow plotted to infiltrate the Commissars men and Commissar himself.

The Plan

They sought to gain advantage by placing a variety of Yuan-Ti Purebloods in key locations, like brothels, guards, courier, assistants and even servants. The first phase was gaining information during pillow-talk or overhearing important discussions. The clutch was successful for a while. The next phase was to influence decisions, especially placing their own members or loyalist in key positions to allow them more approvals and access.

Subtle Moves

The agents and spy's of the Deep Vipers began gathered tasty bits of sensitive information, damning information, blackmail events and secrets others would rather keep quiet. Piece by piece and person by person they built an arsenal of control, carefully keeping these pawns and pieces separated an unaware of each other.

Positioning

This allowed them to literally or figurately open doors, gain access, request even more sensitive information, including guard patrols, specialty forces and much more. They used their new influence to get city guards hired and in place loyal to the cult. The has set their aims on infiltrating the inner circle close to the Commissar and were well on their way to success.

---

Unlikely Allies

The irony is that it was members of the Rau Noble Family that realized what was happening and strategically leaked information to the Commissar. Rumor speaks to the Opal Sisters being behind breaking open the plots by the Deep Vipers. One of tells of from the Deep Vipers and their agents were a lack of emotion and the feeling of superiority over the other races would be their undoing. This traits lurks just under the surface and they have learned to mask this, until you know what you are looking for. So in an odd turn of events a family based in crime and shady dealing sided with the forces of law to avert the plans of the Deep Vipers.

---

The Purge

The Commissar enacted a city wide purge calling on the city watch, the griffon knights, the Lion Guard and several other specialty units to ferret out the Deep Vipers Yuan-Ti cult and eradicate them. Any suspected connection were to the Yuan-Ti were rounded up and detained for questioning using arcane divination and divine blessing of Lothian and they many churches based in the city.
Any Yuan-ti caught were executed by the next sun-rise, with most of them on the run. Their contacts now afraid to render aid for fear of swift and extreme reprisal by the Commissar. Known criminal contacts were offered a chance to step forward in return for them being let off the hook, all they had to do was point the watch toward the Yuan-Ti. The few remaining Yuan-ti fled to the The Maze and Down Shadow abandoning their plan while only hoping to stay alive at this point.
Most agree that the Commissars domestic reprisal against the Yuan-ti was as strong on any response since the Gnoll Wars, including arcane and divine might brought to bare.

This for me was the 31st Summer Camp 2021 Article which I was excited to actually reach. The downside is I was falling asleep while typing and with 3 hours to sleep before work, so this was of very weak quality and content. So I am excited to revisit this. It still needs to be fleshed out and polished but this will make a great plot hook for a party in Ptolus. Prizes are not a concern, as I write for the players, the world, to improve and for the World Anvil Badges.

Yuan-Ti Fang-Blade MtG Art from Adventures in the Forgotten Realms by Simon Dominic

^{See WOTC Fan Policy Below Regarding Art}

Contents

Battlefield Type

Urban

Location

Ptolus City

Belligerents

Deep Vipers Yuan-Ti Cult

• Deep Vipers

Led by

• Olas Ashuta

Commissar & Ptolus

• City Watch - Organization

Led by

• Igor Urnst

Strength

Casualties

Objectives