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Pythoness House

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tagseraedal, point-of-interest, ptolus, oldtown, haunted, chaos, crimson-coil, cult-of-the-ebon-hand

5 min read

Information
Location TierCorrupted Historic Manor & Subterranean Vault Complex
DistrictOldtown, Ptolus (Overlooking the bluffs toward the Necropolis)
ArchitectCobras Baen (The “Mad Architect” notorious for non-Euclidean angles and subterranean secret vaults)
Past OperationHigh-End Brothel & Divination Parlor (Operated 716–718 IA by Maquent Dellisaria & Radanna Scalth)
Secret Front ForThe Crimson Coil & Cult of the Ebon Hand
Notable HauntingsThe Restless Spirit of Taunell, Phantom Moans, Screaming Wall-Faces
Key RelicsThe Chaos Spirit Key (Retrieved by Calebrimbor), Maquent’s Ledger, Stolen Skull of Chaos

🏚️ Overview: The House of the Twisted Serpent

Pythoness House is a brooding, multi-story limestone manor house situated in a quiet, decaying cul-de-sac of Oldtown. Designed over a century ago by the infamous architect Cobras Baen, the manor is an architectural monstrosity of distorted perspectives, hidden false corridors, secret gravity-defying stairwells, and concealed subterranean chambers designed specifically to evade the historical Inquisitions of the Western Empire.

Beneath its decaying plaster ceilings and dust-choked silk draperies, the house harbors a sordid, bloody history. Between 716 IA and 718 IA, Pythoness House operated as an upscale brothel, opium den, and fortune-telling salon run by Maquent Dellisaria (a disgraced seer cast out of the Fate Weavers) and her lover, Radanna Scalth. Unknown to the wealthy patricians who frequented its lounges, Radanna was a fanatical devotee of chaos who transformed the lower cellars into an active ceremonial temple for the Crimson Coil and the Cult of the Ebon Hand.

The house eventually met a violent end when internal betrayal and demonic summonings resulted in a massacre, leaving the manor locked, condemned, and fiercely haunted by the tormented spirits of those murdered within its walls.

🗺️ Layout & The Haunted Stratum

                              ┌─────────────────────────────────┐
                              │     The Upper Gabled Attics     │
                              │ (Taunell's Restless Sanctuary)  │
                              └────────────────┬────────────────┘
                                               │
                              ┌────────────────▼────────────────┐
                              │     The Grand Parlor & Salons   │
                              │   (Brothel Front & Faded Opulence)
                              └────────────────┬────────────────┘
                                               │
                              ┌────────────────▼────────────────┐
                              │   The Crimson Coil Cellars      │
                              │ • Sacrificial Sump & Demon Gate │
                              │ • Maquent's Journal Safe        │
                              └────────────────┬────────────────┘
                                               │ (Concealed Shaft)
                              ┌────────────────▼────────────────┐
                              │    The Vault of the Chaosomoton │
                              │ • Guardian Construct Lair       │
                              │ • The Spirit Key Pedestal       │
                              │ • SITE OF THE WUNTAD AMBUSH     │
                              └─────────────────────────────────┘
  1. The Upper Attics & Taunell’s Haunt: The top floor is perpetually cold. It was the prison and death chamber of Taunell, a tragic servant tortured and murdered by the cultists. His restless, moaning ghost haunted the rafters, desperately seeking resolution and proper burial rites.
  2. The Faded Salons: The ground and second floors retain eerie vestiges of high luxury: rot-eaten velvet sofas, broken harpsichords, and shattered mirrors. Phantom footsteps and the faint scent of stale violet perfume drift through the drafty corridors.
  3. The Subterranean Sump: Carved directly into Oldtown’s bedrock, the cellars contain the blood-stained altars of the Crimson Coil. Here, hidden behind a loose flagstone, lay Maquent’s Journal, detailing two years of illicit transactions, noble clients, and early warnings of the coming “Night of Dissolution.”
  4. The Vault of the Chaosomoton: The deepest chamber of Pythoness House, accessible only through a hidden shaft lined with serrated stone teeth. Guarded by the Chaosomoton—a terrifying, multi-limbed clockwork and chaositech automaton powered by liquid corruption—the vault held the ancient chaotic relics assembled by the cultists.

🩸 The Climax & The Wuntad Ambush

Pythoness House was the site of the traumatic cliffhanger that closed the adventurers’ previous chapter:

  1. Defeating the Chaosomoton: Pushing their Level 5 capabilities to the absolute brink, the adventuring party fought a desperate, tactical battle in the lower vault, destroying the lethal construct and securing the room.
  2. The Ambush: Before the party could catch their breath or bind their bleeding wounds, Shigmaa Wuntad, Ibard, and Saavia ambushed them. Incapacitated by Ibard’s ringing bell and Wuntad’s overwhelming shadow-magics, the party was thoroughly defeated.
  3. The Stolen Relics: Wuntad ripped away their hard-won treasures: the Skull of Chaos, the Anarchic Longsword, and jars of alchemical chaos dust.
  4. The Heroic Sleight of Hand: In the seconds before unconsciousness took him, Calebrimbor desperately concealed the Chaos Spirit Key within his Sleeves of Holding, preserving the single most critical relic needed to unlock the Banewarrens.
  5. The Extraction: Leaving the party for dead as “marked livestock,” Wuntad’s cultists vanished. Minutes later, scouts from Castle Shard slipped through the breached front doors, carrying the broken heroes up to the Spire to be healed by Lord Zavere and Lady Rael.

🧭 Ongoing Campaign Significance

Although the manor has been cleared of immediate threats, Pythoness House remains a vital geographic and historical link:

  • The Spirit Key’s Origin: Arcane analysis reveals that the Chaos Spirit Key was never meant to remain in the vault; it was brought to Pythoness House to be handed off to a courier bound for the sewer entrance of the Banewarrens.
  • The Watch Investigation: Commissar Igor Urnst’s City Watch has officially boarded up Pythoness House following reports of arcane explosions and screams, but agents of the Cult of the Ebon Hand are already attempting to break back in to search for the missing Key.

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