_{Chapter 4 – return to list}

Larsa is on top of the owe list, and she takes another particular strength:

The Heart of the Serpent. Formerly the religious leader of a slave cult worshiping it, briefly an advisor to the queen who brought it down to earth. She has the mark of the Serpent: a necklace of snake scales around her neck, ambiguously a part of her skin, shining with physical colors.

Mesmerising: With love. Far־reaching.

Snakebite: With violence. Potent.

A lightning quick blow stuns the opponent

She stands before the oppressor, a huge, evil white man. In slow motion we see her hand whip with a claw like motion, she hits a nerve center and he falls to the ground, paralyzed.

Larsa's player chooses A Nest of Vipers for an oracle, and a card from it, which joins another three we draw:

• the resident of the tower

• The leader of a party of treasure hunters:

A savant tinkerer of magic, recurring from Flight of the Crane. In as much as he was stated out, although he made no on-screen appearance, nor was mentioned or alluded to.

Strange, exotic and of uncertain race; his skin pale and ashen, his hair a mass of dreadlocks bleached by strange chemicals and adorned with metallic beads and baubles. Lanky build, pale eyes, a long face lined by laughter. He wears a shapeless smock of many pockets and odd boots.

Created Ugurnazir's earring.

Magical Surprise: For Myself/Violence/Self Protection/Action. Broad and Far-Reaching.

Wondrous gadgets and magical gizmos, like fleas on a dog.

The guards approached cautiously, though the lone intruder seemed unarmed. “Face the wall,” said the sergeant, adding “do you understand?”

The stranger grinned and nodded, then made a sudden, vigorous twist. A glittering, buzzing cloud showered from his whirling locks. As a swarm of golden insects enveloped the screaming guards, the tinkerer sniggered like a maniac and pulled a small mirror from a pocket of holding.

“Gentlemen,” he said, “if you please, I need someone to volunteer his face?”

• the fishermen bringing people to see the spectacle
• A sea god, frolicking about
• The Atlantean trailblazer who finds the tower
• The princess locked in the tower

• The kid:

A clever kid, likes to fuck with people.

Read person: Covertly. Far־reaching. Consequential for myself.

Through keen observation, figure out, use and abuse the intricate workings of another's psyche.

Waff lifted his head to glare at her. The movement sent agony through his broken arms and he groaned. Despite the pain, he studied Odrade through almost lidded eyes. Did the witches really believe that was the extent of the Tleilaxu plan? He hardly dared hope the Bene Gesserit were so misled.

“Of course that was not your basic plan,” Odrade said.

Waff's eyes snapped wide open. She was reading his mind! “I am dishonored,” he said. “When you saved my life you saved a useless thing.” He sank back.

Odrade inhaled a deep breath. Time to use the results of the Chapter House analyses. She leaned close to Waff and whispered in his ear: “The Shariat needs you yet.”

Waff gasped.

Odrade sat back. That gasp said it all. Analysis confirmed.

• Jealous brother
• Mefargen sister Demaris
• Pushy father
• Sage mentor: the guy who took Ug's ring Baryamin
• The demon taking over the sage:

A highly civilized, yet pathologically honest demon with a passion for possession. Recurring from Flight of the Crane.

Possesion: Covertly. Potent. Far reaching.

• A patron ruler
• An opponent

• The wizard:

Demaris, mistress of keys, wizard of the seven towers, ruler of the city's secrets.

A small woman in a severe black dress, a dark veil surrounding her heart-shaped face. From the silver chain belt that is her only adornment hangs a ring festooned with many ancient and ornate keys.

Kimin's older and loving sister, who dropped him into many a cauldron's when he was a baby.

Demaris is a woman of great but hidden power. Sole surviving disciple of a secret order of wizards, she commands vast covert influence in the affairs of the city. Her primary concern is the cultivation of the sacred architectures and the harvesting of the geomantic energies they generate.

It is said that she played a key role in getting the city's leaders to surrender to the Danites, because she dared not risk any damage to the city structures.

Magic of Loci and Gates: For myself. Far-Reaching, Potent.

For Demaris the city is an intricate many-dimensional puzzle, by moving along its pieces in precise ways, she can slide along the axes of time and space, and open passages to intersecting worlds, both high and low.

The Magnate looked anxiously at the small woman, flanked by a pair of fierce barbarian body guards whom had certainly not arrived from any known land to the city's shores.

“I simply must retrieve these documents,” the magnate wailed, “or it will spell ruin –”

The woman faced the wall and with an old key of brass traced the outlines of a door that had not been there before.

“Anything can be found,” Demaris said, “if one knows where to look”.

• Invader of the magical territory
• A princess, held by the wizard against her will
• Head of the magical host - the guardian

• The husband

A sage and venerated community leader, mentor of Kimin, uneasy ally of Demaris. Tall, clear-eyed, his beard neatly trimmed and dark, the short cut hair of his head still full but already showing silver. Dressed simply and cleanly, the outstanding quality of his robe the only outward indication of his wealth.

Rhetoric: Consequential (Action, Directly), Potent

Baryamin's tongue could flay an ox or sway a mermaid to abandon the sea.

“See the vanity!” the bearded man cried, reaching forth and tearing the gold earing from the ear of the startled passing nobleman, “see the sickening manner we of this city flaunt our wealth so ostentatiously, driving our families to ruin!”

The crowd gasped, and a ripple ran through it as everyone made an effort to conceal prominent jewelery.

• The serpent demoness:

Baryamin's beloved wife, corporeal incarnation of the Serpent just trying to lie low. Sometimes a malignant Jinn can get no breaks.

Nashiram was a classic beauty with full hips and high cheekbones, green eyes and ivory skin. A doting wife and mother, she had a fondness for fine fabrics and a weakness for jellied octopus.

Until the day she tried to use a key stolen from Demaris to hide from the invading Danite army and opened a door she shouldn't have, releasing three powerful Jinn, one of whom devoured her soul and made a nest for itself within her lovely flesh.

Coils of the Serpent: Broad(sp&m), Potent

The human form can be shed like a snake's skin, revealing the terrifying and powerful form of the primal predator beneath. But the physical aspect of this power pales in comparison to its spiritual manifestation.

The slave shuddered as his mistress slowly removed her robe and then her skin. Transfixed in an awful mixture of lust and horror, he gaped as something obscene slithered from her eyes into his mind.

• Suspecting servant
• The token nigger gardener
• A professional demon slayer:

As dry as an accountant, just a cog in the machine.

Into the abyss: With violence. Far reaching. Potent.

Gets rid of demons. For good.

A demon approaches, snarling. Saii takes a deep breath, reaches his hand into the demon's chest, disrupts his hold on the material plane and banishes him into the abyss.

• A Renfield to the serpent־demoness
• The ghost of her child, strangled by her own hands
• A cheerful concubine

Caspit-Timnath, A cosmopolitan city by the sea, with rich merchants and philosophers, landing site for the Danite invasion.

Notable sites:

• The Temple of Coral and Bone, dedicated to the unknown Sea God, Leviathan.
• The Temple of Iron and Stone, dedicated to the Bull of Heaven, center of the official state religion.
• The Wreath of Eels
• The Coral Maze
• The Oysters, a fine restaurant run by two brothers.
• The Gate of Tears
• The Agora
• The sunken harbour
• The new harbour
• The tower of the Sad-Faced Man.

Soon, baby!