You conjure 3 serpent-like whips of flames that writhe around you and lash out at your enemies. For the duration your space is filled with flames and all creatures within 5 feet of you take 2d6 fire damage when they begin their turn within or enter this radius for the first time on a turn.
As a bonus action on your turn you can cause one of the whirling flames to lash out at a target within 15 feet of you. Make a ranged spell attack against the target. On a hit the target takes 3d6 fire damage and must succeed on a dexterity saving throw against your spell save DC or become grappled. On a successful save they take half as much damage and are not grappled.
A grappled target takes an additional 3d6 fire damage at the end of every turn that it remains grappled. You can have up to 3 targets grappled by this spell at once.
At higher levels. When you spend a spell slot of 5th level or higher to cast this spell, the number of serpents increases by 1 for every two levels above 3rd.
* - (A snakeskin filled with phosphorus)