JaredC80SF has posted a complete spoiler for the serpent temple. Search for it. It helped me a LOT.

Stuck in the temple... I have all the statuettes except one of the serpent ones. What do I do with the stuff the golden serpent despenses? Where is that freakin "monkey with object?" Are you supposed to do something with the death wheel? And how do you open that skull lock in the next room with the rack?

Ok, so I suck, but I've wandered around that stupid temple long enough. I went towards the ruins of shurgeon castle for a change of pace, but those plants kicked the crap out of me, so now I'm stuck. Any help is greatly appreciated.

The spoiler mentioned is a great one and really helped me get through the temple -- it can be a very frustrating quest to complete, and requires a LOT of patience.

The "Stuff" you refer to is the incense cones? You only need one. Save your coins for other areas -- this place is like an arcade. The good news is that all the priests drop a coin so there's more if you run out.

By the time you are done with the temple you will eventually need 3 keys. A skull key, a monkey key and a serpent key (in roughly that order). All are dropped by the top or named priests. And all are required for the various Skull Locks you find.

The "Monkey with Object" spawns in one of the snake idol rooms. There's a skull lever on the wall -- pull the lever and monkeys fall from the ceiling, including the one you're after. Have big burn spells ready to kill him early before he runs.

If you don't have the serpent idol yet, you need to backtrack. It's in an underwater cave near the back entrance to the temple. You have to get into one room, flip a lever which opens another room which has a grate in the floor. Jump through the grate and swim, fight a Filthy Ooze and claim your prize.

Pain