Scourge of fangs

A scourge of fangs, also known as a whip of fangs,  was a snake-headed whip that was only usable by evil clerics.

Description
Two versions existed, the scourge of fangs was a scourge with five construct snakes, while the whip of fangs was a whip with two to five living snakes. These snakes were called "whip vipers". The snake heads of both versions writhed and hissed in response to the bearer's emotions. The scourge version had an adamantine, the whip version an adamantite handle.

The number of snake heads on the scourge indicated the level of power of the priestess. If a snake head was destroyed, it would fall off the whip. The rest of the heads continued to function normally.

Powers
"Vierna's own snake-headed whip turned on her then, its fangs slicing across her delicate face. Vierna understood at once that House Do'Urden's downfall had been decreed by Lloth herself."

The whip of fangs was usable only by evil clerics and even among them only if they were attuned to it, which made the permission from Lolth necessary. It was believed that doing something against the Spider Queen's will&mdash;like attacking a matron with it&mdash;made the snakes inert or in the worst case attack the user. Losing Lolth's favour or betraying her faith would also turn the whip aggressive.

The scourge-version could only be used by individuals of a non-good alignment. If a good-aligned individual ever tried to use it, the scourge's snake-constructs would attack them.

Attacks made with the whip or scourge were actually done by the snakes. Therefore, even incompetent priestesses could hit their target with it as long as the snakes could. The difference between the two versions lay in what happened when they hit. The whip-version had living snakes that bit the target and pumped magical energy instead of poison into the victim, which caused their muscles to tense and numb, causing staggering pain. The scourge had snake-constructs and that caused severe pain on hitting their victims.

When a snake got injured by something, it healed over time except when the injury was lethal. When the snake-construct got destroyed, they automatically fell from the scourge. Naturally, they could be repaired.

Creation
A whip of fangs's construction required living snakes. The creation of a scourge of fangs required the creator to cast animate objects and bestow curse.

Notable Owners
High priestesses of Lolth used the whip version. They were kept at the belt and were used to violently vent their frustration on everyone unfortunate enough to be around them. The scourge version was also used by priestesses of Lolth and the yuan-ti.

Scourge of Quenthel

 * Quenthel Baenre bore the Scourge of Quenthel, a five-headed whip with five-foot-long black-and-red-banded vipers. She underwent a special procedure to bind an imp into each whip viper, giving them personalities and intelligence. She named each snake head: Hsiv, Yngoth, K'Sothra, Zinda, and Qorra. She would often have conversations with the heads on the whip.

Whip of Fangs of Shakti Hunzrin
"The mind shields of Vhaeraun were clearly more powerful than any that Shakti knew, for the snake heads, which would have turned at once upon a faithless priestess, continued to writhe companionably at her side."


 * Shakti Hunzrin was originally bestowed a regular whip of fangs with five heads. When she attacked Liriel, who had become a Zedrinset, all the heads fell dead instantly. Shakti was then cast into the Abyss, where the whip's vipers turned to rot and became only bones. By the grace of Lolth, they were later brought back as undead vipers, capable of hunting on their own and retaining the same deadliness of their previous, living iteration.

Appearances

 * Novels
 * Daughter of the Drow
 * Comics
 * The Legend of Drizzt: Exile 3