World Serpent Inn
A planar pathway to literally anywhere
A famous tavern apparently from a Prime world called Toril, the World Serpent Inn is a curious planar pathway indeed. It shifts location from Prime to Outer Planes, and even Inner Planes seemingly at will. Reputed never to remain in the same place for more than one day at a time, it can also be a hard place to find! Canny planewalkers (mainly those with Guvner friends who seem fascinated by cataloguing the almost unfathomable meanderings of the tavern through the planes) learn to predict the World Serpent’s path, entering the place when it appears, and remaining inside for exactly the right amount of time (once inside, one hour is equal to one day outside, so in one apparent day of travelling the Inn actually visits twenty four different locations). Whether the Inn actually moves between planes, or just its front door, hasn’t yet been fully resolved by the graybeards. It seems likely the place is its own pocket dimension.
Nobody knows who built the place, nor why it seems unfettered by the rules of normal time and space, but shift it does, and many travellers are thankful for that. One of the bar staff is the distinctly bizarre Zhora (prime adult mercury dragon [she/her] / Cipher / LN), a good-natured and affable, if secretive, creature who spends all of her time in one humanoid form or other – usually that of a comely tiefling. A travelling companion (if you will) of hers is the fallen aasimon Altrico (planar movanic deva [he/him] / Fated / N), a cynical but otherwise likeable celestial prone to fits of maudlin and self-indulgent poetry concerning his fall from grace. Altrico deals with the financial side of the business, fortunately for Zhora, who overly generous with her treasure horde in the aasimon’s opinion. The barkeep is a large, bearded human called Mitchifer (human [he/him] / class and alignment unknown), who seems to possess more mysterious powers than any mortal should. The chant (out of his earshot) claims that he is on the run from one of the powers, or perhaps even a deity or former deity. He’s also been reported to have died more than once, but always returns.
Canonical Sources:
- Dragon Magazine #351 [3e] p20-27 (full article on the World Serpent)
- Free web supplement on the World Serpent released by WotC: http://www.tsrarchive.com/3e/World_Serpent.pdf
- In The Cage [2e] p57 (brief mention suggesting the Serpent appears in Sigil from time to time)
Source: Jon Winter-Holt
See also this Third-Party Publication:
https://www.dmsguild.com/product/338293/Infinite-Doors-of-the-World-Serpent
