Connects to: 29.15.
Overview
Here, at the edge of the Keening Sea, there is a narrow inlet where the water flows between two great red spires of stone. Some travellers believe that these spires are the fangs that give the location its name - they believe so to their great peril. In fact, the name comes from the thousands of winged vipers that nest in the cliffs of the inlet. Venomous, aggressive and mobile, it is lucky that the flying vipers rarely choose to leave their forsaken abode. Only once a year do they travel, as part of their mating migration. They fly east toward the Gardens of the Sea (29.15), where they descend upon the crops of the Shuttered City. During this time, the farmers retreat behind the city walls and pray for intervention. The snakes mate in midair, whereafter the female tears off the male’s head at the moment of climax. At the same time, the air fills with ibis from the malodorous mangrove swamps. The ibis devour the snakes live if they can, and later feast on the dead males after the female snakes have flown home. Ironically, the ibis are considered the worse pest because their excrement pollutes the Gardens with acid and damages the health of the crops. Meanwhile, the viper mothers return to the Fanged Cliffs, where they give birth and die - for the viper children burrow out of the mother’s womb and eat her flesh as their first meal. Thereafter, there is a one-month period when the vipers are too young to fly and the mysteries of the inlet can be explored.
Generally speaking, the farmers pray to Alberon for deliverance during the viper storm. However, rumor has it that some farmers have begun to view the ibis flocks as their saviors, and consequently have devoted their offerings to a new, ibis-headed god (whom they call Saray, but is Asrigh).
The Last Prophet of Asrigh evangelises around The Keening Sea.
Local NPC
The Last Prophet of Asrigh: the leader of the last remnant of the cult of an imprisoned god.
Hooks
- What are the mysteries of the inlet?
- Where are the malodorous mangrove swamps and what’s in them?
- Who is the ibis-headed god?
