(Naturally, my players STAY THE HELL OUT)
Vecna bled. No one is sure when it happened, if it was when he was still mortal, before he was a god, or maybe there was some of the crimson stuff still in him him when he lost his hand and eye.
Regardless, the God of Secrets bled. And where the droplets fell, it stirred the earth, and became life. Each droplet birthed a beast of secrets.
The dwarves call them Sulvriksus - Truth Coiled in Lies. A Sulvriksus is a great serpent with many heads. Its likeness to a hydra is curious, but the entities hold no origins to the the hydra, nor in mannerism; they are intelligent, yet do not hunt or hunger. They merely slumber.
Yet those who are desperate for answers seek out the Sulvriksus. Each head speaks in a tongue no sane man can understand, each telling lies - except for one of the heads, that speaks truth without clever omission. The only way to get the beast to answer a question proposed, however, is to slay it, take the truth-baring head, and soak it in the heart of a pure spring. Then the head will answer one question to the utmost.
Using the Sulviksus
Hydra stats are appropriate. Perhaps fiddling with them to make it more powerful, or with strange abilities.
How the PCs discern which head is not the lieing head is up to the DM, or up to the clever group. (Or suggestions from posters).
The important thing about the beast is that the question asked can't be a 'gotcha', twisted like a Wish. If the PCs ask "Where can I find the Sword of Drathnan?", the serpent will not answer "In its sheath", but a fully informative answer like "At the bottom of The Majuro Sea, in the lair of the Prince of Sharks, Sixty Miles from the Shore of Steel."
Thought
Would it be better if this thing was a beast birthed by Zehir, nto Vecna? Zehir is the god of lies - would it be easier to imagine it work as so? Since it's also serpent themed.
Vecna bled. No one is sure when it happened, if it was when he was still mortal, before he was a god, or maybe there was some of the crimson stuff still in him him when he lost his hand and eye.
Regardless, the God of Secrets bled. And where the droplets fell, it stirred the earth, and became life. Each droplet birthed a beast of secrets.
The dwarves call them Sulvriksus - Truth Coiled in Lies. A Sulvriksus is a great serpent with many heads. Its likeness to a hydra is curious, but the entities hold no origins to the the hydra, nor in mannerism; they are intelligent, yet do not hunt or hunger. They merely slumber.
Yet those who are desperate for answers seek out the Sulvriksus. Each head speaks in a tongue no sane man can understand, each telling lies - except for one of the heads, that speaks truth without clever omission. The only way to get the beast to answer a question proposed, however, is to slay it, take the truth-baring head, and soak it in the heart of a pure spring. Then the head will answer one question to the utmost.
Using the Sulviksus
Hydra stats are appropriate. Perhaps fiddling with them to make it more powerful, or with strange abilities.
How the PCs discern which head is not the lieing head is up to the DM, or up to the clever group. (Or suggestions from posters).
The important thing about the beast is that the question asked can't be a 'gotcha', twisted like a Wish. If the PCs ask "Where can I find the Sword of Drathnan?", the serpent will not answer "In its sheath", but a fully informative answer like "At the bottom of The Majuro Sea, in the lair of the Prince of Sharks, Sixty Miles from the Shore of Steel."
Thought
Would it be better if this thing was a beast birthed by Zehir, nto Vecna? Zehir is the god of lies - would it be easier to imagine it work as so? Since it's also serpent themed.
