Heads of Lerna

Based on some brainstorming for a cult dedicated to the Lernaean Hydra.

Awakened Hydra by Artur Treffner

The Heads of Lerna are cultists that treat the hydra as their totem and idol. They provide her with protection (from her perspective, they provide a distraction for those wanting to disturb her slumber), food, and treasure, and in return the hydra provides the tools for the cult's machinations: her poison.

The toxins of the hydra emanate from everything: blood, tears, saliva, breath, shit. All of it is toxic, most of it is lethal. The cultists have gained resistance over time to the noxious fumes she produces, but her blood is still dangerous. Most of the toxins they take from her come through saliva and waste products, or collecting the water that she wallows in.