Playthings of Mad Gods

The Hissing Island

made for Archipelago

Introduction and the feel of the area

The Hissing Island is said to be made on the bones of an ancient giant serpent, which has fallen to the sea. Regardless if it is true, no one can question the presence of snakes on the island. The local Snake-people cultivate the local jungle into a feeding ground for the snakes, by breeding and releasing their prey animals. The jungles are full of traps laid for any intruders who would like to hurt their sacred forests, however. (The following section assumes that you check for encounters every hex, rolling a d6 with an encounter on 1 and an omen on 2, fix it as needed). On a 6 on an encounter check, a random member of the party falls into a trap laid by the snake-people, unless you move 2 times slower than usual in order to check for traps, or have a local guide. The traps are (roll d6):

  1. Hidden pit with spikes inside (save or take 2d6 damage, +d6 when removed unless a physician spends d4 hours removing it)
  2. Wooden spike released by a tied up young tree (take d6 damage + save against wound infection, as the spike is covered in dead meat and feces)
  3. Noisemaker (immediately roll twice for an encounter, ignoring the results that come up as traps)
  4. Snare (you are immediately pulled up to 5 m above ground by your ankle, your head dangling down. Save or dislocate your hip.)
  5. Snakepit (a pit, where venomous snakes are encouraged to nest. There are currently 3d4-3 small venomous snakes inside.)
  6. Roll twice and combine the results!

Random Encounters (1d6):

  1. 2d6 Snakepeople Warriors (2 HD, AC as Leather, poisoned bows and poisoned spears) - suspicious of strangers, will try usually to chase them away without killing them, unless they feel threathened in which case they will go for the kill. Their bite is a major snakebite, they also spit onto their weapons before using them.
  2. d6 Snakepeople Gatherers (1 HD, AC as Unarmored, bone knifes) - suspicious of strangers, will flee when confronted. Their bite is a major snakebite, they also spit onto their weapons before using them.
  3. d6 Snakepeople Hunters (1 HD, AC as Leather, bows and spears) - suspicious of strangers, will usually avoid them and report that to their tribes. If cornered, they will try to escape onto the trees. Their bite is a major snakebite, they also spit onto their weapons before using them.
  4. A venomous snake under your shoe. Save or be bitten - good shoes give advantage on the save. If bitten, treat it as a (roll d4): 1-3 Minor Snakebite, 4 Major Snakebite
  5. 3d4 small prey animals (1 ration each, they are suprisingly docile, as they were actually raised up by the snakepeople from the Well-fed village).
  6. Bird of prey (1 HD, AC as chain (while flying, unarmored otherwise), goes for the throat and eyes) - usually hunts the snakes, may be tamed to gain a creature resistant to venom.

Hexes themselves

038.010 Tall Village

This Snakepeople village is built hidden in the canopies of the local jungle. They rarely touch the ground, using a set of ropes, planks and stakes to climb the trees. They have no leaders, but they have a priestess. Baba Vailea (1 HD, unarmored and unarmed, knows the secrets of curing illnesses with venoms of various snakes and insects and may create an illusion of herself at will) - an old albino snakewoman, who spends most of her time covered completely with mud, to protect herself from the sun. She wants to avoid the priests of 043.010, who want to recruit her.
The Village has 87 snakepeople, including 23 warriors.

041.010 Colorful Village

This Snakepeople village is covered in vines that have all colours of the rainbow. The local people gather them (in addition to getting food) and make pigments out of them, which the Snakepeople of the whole island use to colour their clothing and homes. Their elders elect a chieftan every year - for the past 10 years Lauaki (2 HD, Leather Armour, wields Fang - an enchanted bone dagger that excretes a fast acting neurotoxin, skilled in hiding) has always been elected, but some of the people are tired of his rakish demeanor.
The Village has 42 snakepeople, including 11 warriors.

042.009 Well-fed Village

The largest of Snakepeople villages, this is the place where representatives of each village and temple gather, to discuss the future of their island. This is also the place where the largest farms of the Snakepeople are built, the animals kept docile by waters from a local spring (some Snakepeople also like to drink them as part of rituals and to have fun - the effects are similiar to alcohol, but it doesn't cause a hangover). It is ruled by the Sari clan, who are characterized by a black mark of a pair of fangs on their foreheads. They claim descent from the snake who made up the island. Their current head is Ananati The Fat One (5 HD, AC as Leather, armed with a slingshot made out of snakeskin and a curved sword out of a green metal, which can cut through metal and flesh like it is butter, but may not pierce woven cloth) - a fat and lazy, but intelligent and charismatic warrior. He respects the other tribes, and wants not to exploit them - he sees himself and his clan as their defender. His daughter Kala (2 HD, AC as Leather, armed with a longbow) sees them as weak, and wants to reorganize the tribes into a unified kingdom. She plans on making a (preferrably bloodless) coup.
The Village has 345 snakepeople, including 87 warriors.

043.010 Weaver's Temple

A small stone temple, containing 7 Snake Priests who tend to it. They are led by the Archpriest Salis (3 HD, AC as Chain(magical woven clothing), armed with a bone spear and a bow). While their face is the most unthreathening face a snake may have, they know the secrets of Fate-Weaving and are not afraid to use them on anyone whom they see as a threat. Their tapestries made out of the vines from 041.010 allow the priests to influence and see anything that happens on the island. With a day of work(together with three helpers), and the access to a tapestry out of the vines a trained priest can:

With a week of work (and 3 helpers) a priest can:

Training someone to use these powers takes 2d4 months, and the priests will only give them to those whom they trust.
In the treasury of the priests, one may find:

045.012 Singing Hermit

A snakeman by the name of Atori (2 HD, unarmored, armed with a bow, his songs may control non-sentient serpents) lives in a small hut here, singing his strange songs to no one in particular. He will gladly exchange songs that secure one from snakes, in return for songs from other places in the world. He will teach his other songs to those who will secure his return into the Old Temple.

045.010 New-Old Village

Once, the people of this village built great homes of stone, then abandoned them together with the temple nearby. 3 years ago, a group of people from the Well-Fed Village has entered and recolonized it, restarting the cult in the Old Temple. They find various strange items in the old overgrown ruins, which they also use as their houses. They have no leaders. The Village has 47 snakepeople, including 10 warriors.

046.010 Old Temple

The temple is gargantuan, with its underground floors still unexplored. The upper floors are colonized by 5 New-Priests (a cult of the snake who has created the island, and who is depicted in the temple), and while the days of splendour are gone for this temple, its priests are trying to find a way to regain the power they see as their right. They broke off from the other tribes 5 years ago, and have orchestrated the creation of the 045.010 village. They will gladly take any magic items and knowledge they can find, and they believe that there are great magics hiding in the lower floors (but they won't explore them, because one of them who went there and returned fell ill and died insane soon after). Because of that, they will gladly pay adventurers with gold and items out of a strange green metal that they have found hidden behind a nearby waterfall. They don't know it, but the actual source of their strange dreams is the Slithering Scourge, a demon hiding in the tunnels. It will be further described in the next post that contains the dungeon, the link to which I will put in here once it is done.

#Archipelago