2025 Aug 30: Nekerat of the Wandering Sand

 Out of the many monsters that crawled up from the Underworld to take Enki, most were slain, and the survivors scattered across the face of the world. One of them, the great black serpent Nekerat, fled all the way to the deserts of the Reptilians, where she found her new home. While she mostly spends her time sleeping under the sand, she is sometimes unearthed by the winds, which wakes her and sends her on a hunt through the sands and oases. Her maw is great enough to swallow a cart whole, and she often devours entire caravans when she feels like it.

 Whenever she feels truly hungry, she lunges after Hath-Ur herself, and sometimes even catches her. However the violent flames of Hath-Ur burn her mouth fiercely, and she always ends up spitting her back out. This is the reason for some solar eclipses.

When not sleeping, and after she has fed, she is, according to the priests of the desert tribes, quite reasonable, and willing to bargain. She is delighted by music, especially that of flutes, and will gladly vomit out a small treasure trove made from the undigestable cargo of caravans she has devoured if someone sings or plays a song well enough to impress her. She is also fond of stories, especially those of faraway places. She still has friends in the Underworld, so if someone can share the latest gossip about cthonic deities, or Underworld monsters, she will be delighted. 

If she is truly impressed by someone, she may gift them a vial of her venom, which rapidly ages anything it touches, turning people into mummies or skeletons in mere seconds. Naturally it is advised to keep the venom in a container made of glass, crystal, or ceramic, as waterskins become dust, and most metals rust away just by touching it.