The Serpent Scepter

The source and ultimate treasure of the Deep Ones is the Serpent Scepter, an ancient Lemurian artifact of the Serpent People. It is a rod of greenish stone, similar to jade, except infinitely harder, about two feet long and carved in the shape of a writhing serpent.
The scepter is infused with preternatural power. Among other things, the Serpent Scepter is indestructible to any known force. Over the millennia, guardians aware of the Scepter’s power have tried to place it out of the reach of would-be wielders: at the bottom of the sea, in ancient vaults, and even in dimensions beyond this one. Always the Scepter seems to find its way back into the hands of those it can corrupt with its power.
The Serpent Scepter’s powers involve the ability to control minds and transform creatures into reptiles. The Scepter’s power can turn creatures into different sorts of reptiles or restore creatures it has transformed to their normal forms. The Serpent Scepter’s power is comparatively limited when dealing with surface world creatures.
Anyone who wields the Scepter’s power must resist being corrupted by it. The wielder becomes increasingly possessive of the Scepter and willing to use its power. The character becomes paranoid that others want to steal the Scepter away and will do anything to avoid being separated from it. The wielder of the Serpent Scepter is slowly transformed by its power into a Deep One or a Serpent Person.
Various Atlantean warlords and cult leaders have believed they could wield the Serpent Scepter without falling under its spell, but they have all proven tragically mistaken. The Scepter ultimately serves only its own ends and the cause of the Nameless One and its cult.

Item type

Magical