The Ssssserpent

The Ssssserpent is an Event found exclusively in Act 1. You come across a grinning serpent that tempts you to give in to your greed.

Options[]

^{Numbers in parentheses are for Ascension 15 or higher.}

Encounter
You walk into a room to find a large hole in the ground. As you approach the hole, an enormous serpent creature appears from within.
Serpent: "Ho hooo! Hello hello! what have we got here? Hello adventurer, I ask a simple question."
Serpent: "The most fulfilling of lives is that in which you can buy anything!"
Serpent: "Do you agree?"
Agree
Serpent: "Yeeeeeeessssssssssessss"
Serpent: "Thisss will all be worthhh it."
Serpent: "..ssSSs..... ss... sssss....!"
The serpent rears its head and blasts a stream of gold upwards!
It is amazing and terrifying simultaneously.
You gather all the gold, thank the snake, and get going.
Disagree
The serpent stares at you with a look of extreme disappointment.

While the question of whether the increase in card removal cost is worth it cannot be answered simply, it is generally not a good choice to take the Curse unless you have some form of ensured card removal in the near future ( Peace Pipe, shop) or a relic which negates or lessens the impact ( Ginger, Blue Candle, Omamori, Du-Vu Doll, Darkstone Periapt). This is especially true in Ascension 15+, where less gold is granted and the cost of removing a card via some events increases.
This event can occur very early in the game, meaning with a small deck, you'll end up weakened every 2-3 turns. Since overcoming the Act 1 elites tends to mean defeating them quickly before their buffs or negative effects overwhelm you, if you are unable to remove or negate the card before the next Elite or Boss, it is wise to avoid it.

The Ssserpent Head, obtained from Face Trader event, is a reference to him.
This event's internal name is "Liars Game", possibly why the Curse obtained from this event is Doubt.
- The event name is a reference to the manga Liar Game.^[1]