Serpent Cult

Serpent Cult is Book 2 of Heroes of Ravenford, by F. P. Spirit (2nd Revised Edition, 2018; about 103,000 words in 34 chapters). It picks up straight after Ruins on Stone Hill and ends by pointing readers to Book 3, Dark Monolith. Read Ruins on Stone Hill first.

The companions ride back into Ravenford as heroes, with a stone golem at their heels, a prisoner to hand over to the baron, and a dying mage’s unfinished warning still in their ears. Victory has not brought peace. Ships are disappearing from Merchant’s Bay, Ravenford’s merchants want answers, and the trail leads up the coast to Cape Marlin, where a deserted lighthouse and a reef of sunken wrecks wait. So do three sisters who are plainly not telling the whole truth.

Back home, Ravenford is getting ready for Lady Andrella’s coming-of-age birthday gala. Performers camp on the hillside, nobles ride in from Dunwynn with opinions about the town and its heroes, and Elladan finds an old friend among the entertainers. The companions are asked to help keep the celebration safe, which is harder than it sounds when the enemy refuses to show itself.

The chapter titles trace the arc without giving away its turns: from ‘Knights and Dreams’ and ‘Séance’ through ‘Cape Marlin’, ‘The Three Sisters’, ‘The Deserted Lighthouse’, and ‘A Copper Dragon’, to ‘Birthday Gala’, ‘Party Crashers’, and ‘Mage Fall’.

For what happens, open the After Book 1 sections on the character, place, and faction pages. For the cult itself, see the Serpent Cult faction page.