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Cucathne

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Cucathne of Whispered Temptation was a powerful marilith in the 14th century DR.[1]

Description[]

Cucathne had a typical marilith body, that being a serpentine lower-half and a feminine humanoid upper-half with six arms. She also had sharp, ragged teeth.[1]

Possessions[]

She wore a brassy crown, enlayed at its center with a black gemstone.[1]

Relationships[]

Cucathne commanded a number of highly intelligent, giant poisonous snakes. She kept around her lair in a shrunken state, ready to assume their proper size at any time through a contingency spell.[1]

History[]

Sometime in the late 14th century DR, a group of adventurers from Ravens Bluff traveled to Viper Forest in the Abyss. There they encountered Cucathne, having made her lair within the wreckage of the spelljammer Tarsus. With the adventurers wishing to use the spelljammer to return to the Prime Material, Cucathne made an exchange with them, offering them her lair if they would agree to take a mysterious blue gemstone and place it as an offering within one of the poor boxes of Ravens Bluff's temples. This gemstone was magical in nature, but its exact effect was difficult to discern, and it was worth roughly 50,000 gold pieces. However, she warned the adventurers that if they failed to do as she asked they would suffer a terrible curse.[1] This curse would double any harm the adventurers experienced in their lives and deprive them of all sensations, save for that of pain.[2]


At some point, Cucathne had obtained a copy of some kind of Cosmic Game, along with expert knowledge on how to play it, from a rogue baatezu known as Asphometh.[3]

Later, in the month of Hammer, in the Year of Rogue Dragons, 1373 DR,[4][note 1] Cucathne traveled with a retinue of hundreds of tanar'ri troops to Carceri,[5] one of the prime staging areas and battlefield of the eternal Blood War. Like many high ranking tanar'ri before her,[6] she traveled to Mount Othrys, the home of the imprisoned Greater Titans,[6][5] though in her case she was doing so as part of a bargain with Asphometh, hoping to entertain Cronus with her Cosmic Game and through it win through wager his allowance for the tanar'ri to use Mount Othrys as a staging ground against Tah'Darr,[5] a githzerai fortress in the Astral Plane that acted as a direct access to the Prime Material.[7] Cronus, who himself was unfamiliar with this Cosmic Game up until that point, was equally intrigued by her by her grand entertainment as he was the knowledge she was wagering and agreed to her bet.[3]

However, another group of Ravenian adventurers arrived to Mount Othrys that day[5] after having fended off one of Cucathne's attempted tanar'ri incursions.[7] When they arrived, Cronus was deep in the midst of a fifth round of this Cosmic Game.[5] He was unwilling to answer any questions that the mortals posed, but offered to gate them home if they would fight as part of his forces in the game.[8] To the adventurers' perspective, the two were playing on a large board, with a large mound of mud in the center, and several large figurines.[9] Cucathne's choice of combatants with creatures from Cronus's own realm, a choice that unintentionally slighted the Greater Titan[5] and one that he hoped he repay with the sudden arrival of the adventurers.[3]

Cronus then selected rules set 172, variant H, for the game. Cucathne raised issue with his choice of ruleset, complaining that it had not been in common use for over a millennia. After arguing over this for some time, an agreement was reached, though Cucathne slithered off and coiled her tail around a pillar in the throne room out of anger. Cronus then proceeded to raise the bargain by offering Cucathne a holy sword that had been taken from a captive paladin named Uri.[9]

Cronus explained to the adventurers that they would each be controlling one of the figures on this board.[9] In actuality, this "game of the gods" had the bodies and minds of the adventurers temporarily merged with a powerful fiend somewhere in the multiverse. The adventurers were then placed in a combat arena.[3] "Ravens Bluff plot ST1", as selected by Cucathne.[9] There they did battle with bronze golems and a weak child of the hecatoncheires.[9] Some of the adventurers might have attempted to ask questions of Cronus during the game, but he rebuffed them with a terse response that they better not fail, as he was quite invested in winning.[9]

The adventurers somehow managed to win the game on Cronus's behalf, causing him to dismiss the marilith from his presence. She disappeared, then with one mighty wave of his hand Cronus vaporized her hundreds of tanar'ri troops, leaving behind only a hazy mist where they once stood.[9] When the adventurers finally earned their trip home, they discovered that "Ravens Bluff plot ST1" was in actuality the real Ravens Bluff, as they found the Ministry of Art to be in ruins and talk of a titanic battle having occurred there.[10]

Appendix[]

Notes[]

  1. ↑ The events of the Living City Ravens Bluff campaign took place on a timeline that advanced together with the real world's time. Even though all Living City adventures and issues of Ravens Bluff Trumpeter were dated with real-world dates, there were events that received a DR year. The Living City timeline can be derived from Myrkyssa Jelan's historic events of the late 14th century DR. Myrkyssa Jelan attacked Ravens Bluff in 1370 DR, according to The City of Ravens Bluff and Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting 3rd edition; these events are chronicled in an in-and-out of universe issues of Ravens Bluff Trumpeter. This places the real world year 1997 as 1370 DR, and in 1998 (1371 DR), Myrkyssa was at last arrested and tried and said to have been executed, only to reappear in 1372 DR in The City of Ravens novel. As the real world's months and the Calendar of Harptos are virtually identical, we can also date all events of the Living City Ravens Bluff as close as an in-universe month.

Appearances[]

Organized Play & Licensed Adventures

The Guns of Azzagrat: "The Quarry of Ebulon" • No Time to Lose

References[]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Erik Mona (April 1999). The Guns of Azzagrat: The Quarry of Ebulon. Living City (RPGA), p. 15.
  2. ↑ Erik Mona (April 1999). The Guns of Azzagrat: The Quarry of Ebulon. Living City (RPGA), p. 19.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Paul Pederson (January 2000). No Time to Lose. Living City (RPGA), p. 32.
  4. ↑ Paul Pederson (January 2000). No Time to Lose. Living City (RPGA), p. 9.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 Paul Pederson (January 2000). No Time to Lose. Living City (RPGA), pp. 17, 32.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Paul Pederson (January 2000). No Time to Lose. Living City (RPGA), p. 26.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Paul Pederson (January 2000). No Time to Lose. Living City (RPGA), pp. 9–10.
  8. ↑ Paul Pederson (January 2000). No Time to Lose. Living City (RPGA), p. 16.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 9.6 Paul Pederson (January 2000). No Time to Lose. Living City (RPGA), pp. 17–18.
  10. ↑ Paul Pederson (January 2000). No Time to Lose. Living City (RPGA), p. 19.
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