PAXLAIR - June 27, 1999 - Winfield, Mayor of PaxLair

PAXLAIR AND WESTERN OCEAN, Sunday, June 20th

It was a bright but cool Sunday afternoon when an old man named Sshanshos came into PaxLair saying the phrase "May the Great Serpents watch over you!" Little did the people of PaxLair know that that single phrase would lead them on a most intriguing and thoughtful quest ranked among the best in PaxLair's history.

The old man Sshanshos was one of the last followers of the Great Earth Serpent from the War of Imbalance. He told his tale in the Ladies of the Lair Tavern and a party of 12 people journeyed far on the western ocean seeking Sshanshos' lost Holy Books of the Ophidians. The journey took the party to the Serpent Pillar west of Jhelom and then farther to a buried treasure in the sea. The books were found inside an old and ornate sea chest where Sshanshos' boat had sunk.

After recovering the books, the party returned to the Serpent Pillar out of respect for the old man--to give him one last look at a Pillar that could not return him home, but symbolized his home like nothing else. There, he told the rest of his tale.

The party then returned to PaxLair where Sshanshos appeared to find peace in the center of PaxLair. He saw strange things in his mind, called out to the Great Earth Serpent one last time, and then died while the party and others looked on helplessly.