Ss'Alish

"The ophidian was still sleeping. Recently, tremors destroyed the wall that condemned the access to his crypt — and even worse, the ophidian has awakened."
— The Marine Ruins

A degenerated ophidian lich sleeping — until recently — beneath Buoyancy Bay. One of the Serpent people who stayed behind when the rest of his kind followed Vortiris into the Labyrinth in 255. He planned to outlast the curse of Time by becoming undead. The plan half-worked. What woke up is not what lay down.

History

When the Ophidians abandoned Aarklash to answer Vortiris's call, some remained to perpetuate the Serpent civilization. Ss'Alish was among them — a powerful magician who lived, surrounded by apprentices, in the ancient city that once stood where Cadwallon stands now.

He understood quickly that his brethren's departure left the remaining community fatally exposed. The enemies of the Serpent would hear of their weakening; Time would do the rest. So he studied dark lore to outlast the curse of Time, and found a way to become undead.

When he died a few years later, he was buried by a special ritual designed to transform him, slowly, into a lich. As he had foreseen, the ophidian community vanished. In his coffin, the magician waited.

The Long Sleep

• Centuries later, the Cynwäll built their Cadwallon above; his crypt ended up below ground level.
• The arrival of the Cynwäll, then the Dogs of War, partially flooded his crypt.
• When the sewers were built, the water receded and workers discovered the crypt. Cautious, they simply bricked up the entrance. He kept sleeping.
• Recently, the alchemist Methanol caused a naphtha-machine explosion above the Marine Ruins. The tremors shattered the sealing wall — and woke him.

What He Has Become

The half-working ritual

Ss'Alish's technique was far less reliable than the methods perfected by the Obscures of Acheron. He is now living-dead — but his mind was altered by Darkness and he has regressed to the state of a wild animal. The careful, calculating magician who planned across centuries is gone. What remains is a territorial predator.

He now roves the Marine Ruins, which he considers his territory. He rarely ventures beyond the ancient tunnels around his lair — the new Cadwallon disturbs him — but he makes excursions to prey on careless wanderers. The Sewer Workers' "strange silhouettes" that started the rumors are partly the smugglers who meet there, and partly him.

What He Looks Like

A Large-size undead ophidian: humanoid torso, serpentine lower body, the build now decayed and predatory. Fights with two enormous tulwars and his own fangs (Toxic). Fast, ambidextrous, and deadly in sequence — a Potential 6 creature that a starting league should fear.

His Tomb & Treasure

The sarcophagus in his crypt (Marine Ruins, area 5) held three items wrapped in rotting cloth:

• The Dark Catalyst — an oil lamp shaped like a half-man, half-snake figure praying. Grants a bonus die to Incantate (Darkness) and Darkness-related Feel tests. Powered by a single gem of Darkness locked in place by minute claws. (When the local Tension reaches its peak, the Catalyst "goes crazy" and forces a FEAR check on everyone present.)
• Two Tulwars of superior quality — enormous two-handed scimitars that escaped the wear of time. Ss'Alish carries these.

Relations

• The Ophidians — his ancient people; he is a relic of the ones who stayed
• S'ylice — the living ophidian emissary in the Walled Library's coiling depths; no known contact, but both are surviving Serpent holdouts. A meeting between them would be significant.
• Smugglers — share his territory unknowingly; meet in the sewers nearby to trade contraband
• Guild of Sewer Workers — spotted the silhouettes, fled before discovering the ruins
• Methanol — the alchemist whose naphtha explosion woke him; does not know what he did

The thing in the ruins

Sewer Workers won't go back to the flooded section beneath Buoyancy Bay. The militia won't pay for an escort. But a scholar of the Circle of Explorers will pay handsomely for confirmation of what kind of construction the ruins represent — and the smugglers using the site as a meet want the "creature" problem solved before it draws the militia.

The mind beneath the beast

Ss'Alish has regressed to an animal — but a lich's intellect may not be gone, only buried. A magician who could restore his mind would have access to a first-hand witness of pre-Cadwallon ophidian Cadwallon — and to the cosmology of Desire, Vortiris, and the temple the Serpents built. Restoring him would also unleash a fully-intelligent ophidian lich. The trade is exactly as dangerous as it sounds.

Source

Ss'Alish is the antagonist of the Marine Ruins introductory scenario. The full encounter, stat block, tile layout, and treasure annex are in Rulebooks/MarineRuins.txt. See also Marine Ruins in the Underground section.