Flounder & the Cultist Snakemen of Forgotten Rainforest

Our hero Flounder awakens to find himself chained at each wrist to the ceiling of a darkened room. The flicker of flame from a torch stationed on the wall next to a closed door reveals that he is swinging freely a few feet above the floor. His surroundings seem to be of stone made long ago. He also notices that the stone beneath him is much darker. It appears to be stained heavily with blood. Flounder knows he must escape before his blood is the next to fall in this place.

With little effort Flounder first raises his knees to his chest and then extends his lower legs upwards placing his feet squarely on the ceiling above his head. Pulling firmly at his forearms he can feel the rusted cuffs digging into his wrists. The sensation is excruciating but he endures the pain as the stone begins to give. Broken rock and dust rains down as he drops to the ground before being ripped away from his free fall in a wild swing. The numbness in his left arm tells him that only the right chain let loose from its binding. The situation worsens as Flounder soon hears the shuffle of movement from outside the door.

The aged door creaks inward to reveal the silhouette of a large hooded figure wielding an ornate sword. The figure seems to be chanting in an ancient tongue to the blade but abruptly ceases the incantation and stands silently in the open doorway. During the eerie silence Flounder notices that behind the figure trails its massive tail. This isn't your average run-of-the-mill cultist. While studying this new foe he catches a glimpse of the scaled knuckles clenched around the hilt of the sword. Without warning the creature bursts from its trance and lunges fiercely at its swaying captive with edged metal raised for the kill.

Flounder reacts even quicker than his enemy and cracks the loose chain like a whip ensnaring the figure around its throat. The cultist flails back tightening the slack of captive and chain breaking the remaining connection of stone and metal at the ceiling. Both hero and foe hit the ground at the same time with a heavy thud on the dense stone below. Luckily the hero is the first to rise, his enemy writhing and hissing beneath its cloak. Flounder places a finalizing stomp into the creature's neck ending its life. He pulls the cowl of the robes back to reveal the head of an oversized snake. Unfazed he searches the corpse to find a ring of keys and removes his forced bracers. He pulls the sword from the snakeman's stiff death grip and exits into the dark corridor beyond the only door to his cell.

After some instinctive maze traversing Flounder follows the brightening light source and finds himself at the entrance to the ancient ruins of a lost race. The sunlight is blinding as he steps into the surrounding rainforest outside the dilapidated temple. An arrow narrowly misses his back as he turns to find another cloaked snakeman, drawing an arrow across the string of his bow, atop an enormous crumbling statue of a sacred serpentine titan. Even more of the creatures can be heard coming from the corridors within the ruins. A prompt slash of his sword brings the entrance down upon the exiting enemies, burying them in dirt and rubble, while a second slash deflects an incoming arrow. Yet another snakeman attacks from the nearby fauna only to meet cold steel at his throat. Flounder then vanishes into the trees of this forgotten rainforest as a hooded figure slithers after hissing an incantation into its sacrificial dagger. The serpent god will not be denied his offering...

Enjoy!