SerpentHead: The Story of SerpentHead

	Story

he saga of SerpentHead takes place in the mythical land of Xanaria, a land of swords, sorcery, and dragons. The history of Xanaria is replete with heroes and villians, feats of bravery and treachery—great victories as well as great defeats. The authors are proud to present here the complete Story of SerpentHead, a brief history of Xanaria to illuminate the games' purposes. We hope it adds depth to your adventures.

The Scepter

Long ago in the land of Xanaria, there lived a great and powerful wizard, Ophiuchus. Ophiuchus was the Royal Mage, and he was as good and pure as his White Magic. The same cannot be said, however, of his vile brother, the Dark Sorcerer Salorann.

One night, Ophiuchus had a dream in which he saw Salorann among Dragons. He saw him swear allegiance to the King of Dragons, Stolm, in order to learn the forbidden lore of Dragon Magic. He saw Salorann grow powerful, so powerful in fact that his power dwarfed that of his brother. In this same dream, he saw Salorann lead an army of Dragons to Castle SerpentHead. He saw a battle, and the face of a fallen King; he saw a strange staff, and he heard a voice saying, "Seek ye the Book of Serpents."

When Ophiuchus awoke, he knew that this was no ordinary dream. He knew that Salorann must be plotting to amass an army of Dragons to besiege the castle and overthrow the King. He also knew that his White Magic alone could not destroy him. He needed a weapon powerful enough to defeat Salorann. So he set out to create the staff he had seen in his dream.

In the dream, Ophiuchus had seen a staff which appeared to have a double-headed snake with glowing eyes coiled about it with a glowing orb on each end. He recognized the staff with the coiled snake as his own, but the orbs and the snake's eyes were unfamiliar to him. For the answers as to what these objects were, he went to Kendar the Weaponsmith, the master creator of magical weapons. As it turned out, Kendar himself had the two orbs, which he gave to Ophiuchus. After listening to Ophiuchus' description of the staff, Kendar concluded that the snake's eyes must be the twin Stones of Drakkhenar, a volcano known as the Home of Dragons.

Ophiuchus then set out to obtain the Stones. On his way to Kendar's smithy, Ophiuchus had met a man named Lorin, whose homeland had been ravaged by Stolm. Lorin himself was on his way to Kendar, in search of a weapon which could destroy Stolm. Kendar presented Lorin with the dagger "Drakkhencist" ("Dragon-Cutter"), which works as a homing missile on Dragons, searching out their weakest point. Because a great number of the Dragons normally present on Drakkhenar were busy attacking Castle SerpentHead, Ophiuchus and Lorin were successful in their quest when ordinarily they couldn't have survived. This event is known as the First Trek Up Drakkhenar.* Ophiuchus now had all three magical objects, so he combined them and called the assembled staff the SerpentScepter.

*The land's leading mystics have stated that there will be a Second Trek Up Drakkhenar, but its purpose is unclear.

The Nine Days War

As Ophiuchus was busy on Drakkhenar, Salorann and his army of Dragons launched their attack on Castle SerpentHead. For eight days, the King's Royal Guard kept them back, but by the ninth day, the Guard was so depleted that Salorann's army stormed the castle. But fortunately, Ophiuchus returned with the SerpentScepter and unleashed its power on Salorann. Salorann crumpled beneath its might, and the remaining Dragons fled when they saw their leader defeated. The Nine Days War was over.

Ophiuchus had defeated Salorann, but he couldn't bring himself to bring the full power of the Scepter to bear on his brother, for surely it would have killed him. Salorann escaped by casting the spell of Teleportation saying, "You were a fool to spare me, Ophiuchus! One day, I shall return and use that Scepter of yours to conquer all the world!" Salorann's threat made Ophiuchus realize that the SerpentScepter was much too powerful a weapon to leave assembled, so he separated it into its component parts and hid them within the ruins of the ancient and monstrous Castle IronGate. Because Ophiuchus knew that Salorann would be after these artifacts, he created special box-shaped containers and locked them with special spells that would prevent anyone with an evil heart from opening them. Ophiuchus recorded the location of the components in a book written in his own language -- a special dialect that can only be translated by Royal Mages.

Salorann's Return

Many years later, long after the death of Ophiuchus, the Royal Mage Cendric, from the line of Ophiuchus, had a dream like his ancestor's. In his dream, he saw the Dark Sorcerer (who had preserved himself using perverse necromancy and arcane spells) returning to Castle SerpentHead; he saw himself lying dead; he saw the face of a clock, and he heard a voice saying, "Seek ye the Book of Serpents."

After he awoke, he consulted Ophiuchus' book. He then went on a quest to bring back the parts of the SerpentScepter (the details of which are chronicled in Cendric'sQuest). It is up to you to see that Cendric is successful in his quest and brings the Scepter's component parts back to Castle SerpentHead to be reassembled. Download Cendric's Quest today and secure his place in history!

Fortunately, history tells us that Cendric did indeed succeed. Unfortunately, he had just finished reassembling the Scepter when Salorann appeared behind him and attacked. The Scepter flew from Cendric's hands as he fell to the floor. Salorann reached for the Scepter, but right before he took hold of it, Cendric invoked a special spell that he had prepared to hide the Scepter to keep it out of Salorann's hands. Enraged, Salorann turned on Cendric, but he had already died. Salorann then took out his anger by viciously murdering all those who were in the castle.

Because Cendric had foreseen his own death in his dream, he had told his young apprentice, Tarm, of his plans to hide the Scepter. Cendric had told Tarm that, if he died, Tarm was to go to the closest village and tell the people how to find the Scepter. Just as Tarm was fleeing from the castle, however, the Dark Sorcerer appeared before him and seared him with a magic fireball. Thinking that Tarm was dead, Salorann went back into the castle. Tarm actually was not dead, but was badly injured. He made his way to the village and told the people of the attack and of the SerpentScepter being the only weapon that could destroy Salorann. But, before he could tell them where the Scepter was hidden, he died. His final words were, "Seek ye the Book of Serpents..."

That was years ago. By the time of SerpentHead, the Dark Sorcerer has taken control of the kingdom and the villagers live in fear. Many have attempted to find the Scepter -- many have left; few have returned. Those that have come back have brought little information of value, but it has been learned that the Dark Sorcerer has cast the spell of Protection from Weapons around the castle. This spell prevents anyone from bringing weapons and shields into the castle. Therefore, anyone brave enough to enter the castle to challenge Salorann must do so armed with only with their wits. If you are up to the challenge, download SerpentHead now!

SerpentHead | Cendric's Quest | Download | Order | Hints