>>5730693“Twenty years ago, another operative of ours was able to gain control of the Archmage, Henzler,” Albacete explains. “It is just a hunch, but… During that time, a process was devised, to transform a human or similar creature into a sort of ‘pseudo-Degenerate’—a chimeric, artificial hybrid.”
You blink, confused. Does she mean... Your mother?
“You mean those things will turn humans into… REPTILIAN HYBRIDS?” Halle asks, with obvious distaste for the idea.
“Why would the Serpent Priests want to transform humans that way?” you ask.
“The people of Hawksong are paranoid of Reptilian shapeshifters in their midst,” the Elder One points out. “If some among them were to develop scales, tils, and sharp teeth… They would be imprisoned, slain, or outcast. And then… There is the other aspect of the transformation.”
“Other aspect?” you and Halle ask as one.
Albacete nods, and continues: “It was unstable, the transformation. Most False Degenerates suffered hormonal imbalances, digestive issues, heart problems, seizures. The longer they lived, the more pronounced the problems. They began to reject the tissues, if not attended to be skilled Fleshweavers. Reproductive function was limited. Stillbirths were common in affected mammals.”
You nod, slowly. So the ‘poison’ being released into Hawksong’s wells is an organism which, by reproducing and persisting in the depths of their reservoirs, will mutate the people into monstrous and mistrusted hybrids who will be held responsible for their own condition, even as the plague spreads further, weakening and killing the citizens of the shining city?
“We have to stop this,” you say.
“It is too late.”
You and Albacete both stare at Halle.
“We have been placing these mutagenic chimeras in the reservoirs for days,” she points out. “There are already a half-dozen of them swimming around the underground rivers.”
You consider your options. To ones such as Albacete and Halle, they must seem limited, but you know better. However, none of them are without… Complications.
What will you do?
>Proposition the Archmage Henzler for aid—you lack the leverage you once had, but surely she wishes to save her race and her city?>Appeal to the Mother of Dragons to work her magic here, as she did among the Drow, and to give some of the people her blessing>Alert the Paladins, who have demonstrated healing magic in excess of anything available to your people—maybe they can <Cure Disease>, with enough information and forewarning?>Demand that Halle take you to Roth, that you might persuade him to stop this madness and provide you his remaining live specimens, that your Serpent Queen wife might reverse engineer this plague and produce a countermeasure>Let it happen—in the end, this doesn’t ACTUALLY sound so bad, for your plans…>Write-in 