| Hydra Hell (Campaign 2 - Episode 110) |
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| Information | |
| Release Date: | September 2, 2024 |
| Recording Date: | August 27, 2024 |
| Episode Length: | 1:26:03 |
| Cast & Characters | |
| Michael DiMauro: | Dungeon Master |
| Tim Lanning: | T'Chuck |
| Jennifer Cheek: | Selene von Esper |
| Nika Howard: | R'Oarc |
| Mike Bachmann: | Screech Echo |
| Guide | |
| Previous Episode: | Next Episode: |
| Pappy and the Sea Monster | Hydra Haulers |
R’Ork magically showed back up but oddly that isn’t the most pressing concern right now. Honestly, we felt a little bad about ignoring her apparition but a literal murderous hydra was trying to pull our Too Big of a Boat into an underwater cave. Underwater caves are about the most dangerous place anywhere so things are not going great all and all. This town better be thankful...
Story[]
Long Story[]
Let's rewind the clock a bit. R'Oarc had, somehow, taken an object out of Lucius Vale's magical emporium, despite there being a lot of hoopla about how that was basically impossible. The object she took, is like a sausage roll warmer. It's about 14-16 inches long, 8-10 inches deep, and it keeps food warm using convection heating. It does this by way of, what she thinks is a small fire elemental that lives inside. But it's not a fire elemental, exactly. Because when R'Oarc wipes some dust off the side of it, she's suddenly sucked into the sausage roll warmer! She finds herself transported to a magical Sausage Realm, where everything is made of savory breakfast foods. And then, she hears a booming voice. R'Oarc meets... The Sausage King! He asks what she's doing here, and when she says she just wants to hang out here for a while, he agrees. But for a price... We don't hear what that price is, however.
Sometime later, R'Oarc decides she's had enough of the Sausage Realm. She exists the sausage roll warmer, and suddenly emerges back with the party. She's a bit shocked to find that they are all on a ship, Pappy's ship, which is currently speeding toward a cliff face! There's a cave in the side of the cliff, but it's too small for the boat to enter. They're going to crash! The reason the ship is speeding toward the cliff is because Screech tied a magical rope to the boat, with the other end tied to the neck of a Hydra, speeding away from them, and into the cave. Fortunately, he's able to command the rope to let go of the Hydra. Now, no longer being yanked toward the cliff, the boat slows safely to a crawl. Hurray! We're saved!
Well, the mouth of the cave is mostly under the water, with only about 5 ft clearance from the water line to the top of the cave. Not enough space for the boat to get through, but maybe one of the party members could swim into it. Screech decides that, somehow, he can stealthily dive into the water, and make his way into the cave. He does, but not before taking his shirt off, and revealing his 4-pack. This impresses R'Oarc, who grants him Bardic Inspiration to assist in his diving. It also impresses T'Chuck, who sends his Celestial Guardian (who's still here from the last episode) after Screech. He commands it to just hang back, and listen for signs of trouble. While Screech is gone, the rest of the party turn their attention to R'Oarc. When Pappy asks where she's been, she answers "Magic", and throws the ashes of Wally "Billy" Bonebraids into the air. Obviousbly, Pappy is not cool with this, as magic is illegal, so they try to play it off as a joke, which Pappy agrees with. R'Oarc also tells them all that she was in the sausage roll warmer.
Meanwhile, Screech has swam into the cave. The roof is slanted, getting closer to the water level as he goes further in. Eventually, he can go no further unless he dives under the water. Screech is only able to hold his breath for 1 minute, so he considers using the Portable Hole as, like, an oxygen helmet. There's supposed to be 10 minutes of breathable air in there. Unfortunately, that's not how the Portable Hole works. It has to be placed on a surface in order to be used. It can then be folded up, and carried around, but items can't be taken in and out while it's mobile. So that's not gonna happen. Looking under the water, he can see a glimmering light from up ahead, so he decides to just go for it. After about 50 ft, the tunnel begins opening up.
I'm a little unclear about the geography of this whole place. Screech is now above the water level, I think, inside this cave? Like there's a clearing, and one the opposite end of it, there's a ledge, which is clearly where the Hydra's nest is. Above him, a hole in the ceiling is letting light in. And deep underwater, there's what appears to be a shipwreck, with a treasure chest nearby! Looks to be full of gold pieces, too! Unable to carry it with him, and with no Hydra in sight, Screech turns around, swims back to the others, and tells them of what he saw.
Together, they come up with a plan: They will use the hole in the ceiling to drop down and fight the Hydra. To get up to it, they'll need to use the Rope of Climbing to scale this cliff face, like they did before. Pappy, and his young grandson, who's name is apparently "Little Billy", anchor the boat close to the cliff face, as the party gets to work ascending it. Also, R'Oarc somehow uses her new Rat Flute to summon a bunch of rats, some from the boat, and some from the lake itself. These rats float her up the side of the cliff. Don't ask how. Pappy warns Little Billy not to lick toads, like he did earlier this morning.
At the top of the cliff, it's like in The Princess Bride, when he fights Inigo Montoya. There's, like, half a staircase, and the partial ruins of a castle for some reason. It's cool. And, there's a hole in the floor, some kind of old cave-in. Peering down, the party can see the Hydra, missing one of its heads, and licking its wounds. There's also a ton of bones and corpses, of fishermen and other, less fortunate adventurers. Again, a plan is hatched: Selene will remain here, at the top of this hole, and will send Fireball after Fireball down into it, while the others jump in and stop the Hydra from escaping. There seems to be only one exit out of this cave, the tunnel that Screech had gone through. So, T'Chuck sends out his Spirit Guardian to block the exit, and with that, the battle begins!
Screech fires a crossbow down at the beast, destroying the second of its five heads. Only three remaining. Selene's up next, who does her Fireball thing. It's Super Effective! A third head is destroyed! R'Oarc, uses her new Necromancy powers to cast Eldritch Blast on the beast, but attempts to somehow disguise it as a non-magical ranged attack. She uses more of Bonebraids' dust to do this. Again, don't ask me how this works. Fortunately for her, T'Chuck could never believe that his little girl would ever do anything wrong, so he doesn't notice. T'Chuck then does something weird weird, where he tries to jump into the water, but fails? But he still ends up in the water? Just not where he wanted to be? I don't fully understand it, but the end result is that he's in the water with the Hydra now. He also creates a second Celestial Guardian, who begins ganging up on the Hydra, along with his first Spirit Guardian.
With the monster underwater, Selene's Fireballs wouldn't be nearly as effective. And she's unable to use Lightning Bolt, as that would hit T'Chuck. At least T'Chuck is the only one foolish enough to have jumped into the water... Oh, okay, there goes Screech. He dives down and beings stabbing the Hydra. He also uses Ensnaring Strike, one of his new Ranger spells. Finally, T'Chuck's Guardians are able to kill the Hydra, finishing the fight. Hurray!
Short[]
R'Oarc's new sausage roll warmer is actually a magic lamp, and inside is a Sausage Realm, ruled by the deep voiced Sausage King! She hangs out here for a while, before popping back up in Pappy's boat. They are able to stop themselves from crashing, and then find a way into the Hydra's cave lair through the top of the cliff. The Hydra's there, so they fight it, and kill it. Also, there's a treasure chest full of gold at the bottom of the cave.
Trivia[]
- Pappy's boat is "about the size of the third boat from Valheim." OR, it's "half of a chunky 'Going Merry'".
- R'Oarc's Sausage Realm is like the Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory, except instead of candy, everything's made of sausage rolls. There's a heavenly smell of delightful, buttery, flaky pastries wafting through the air, and the subtle sent of some delicious Italian sausages, complete with fennel and other spices. And maybe, if you smell really hard, you might get a little hint of mushroom gravy, which goes on bangers and mash.
- Screech's Charisma is 14 (MOD +2). This means that he has "at least" 4 abs.
- Apparently, illusions are a form of magic, and therefore, just as illegal.
- Sleight of Hand, however, is perfectly legal.
- Screech's CON mod is +0, so he's able to hold his breath for 1 minute.
- There's a brief discussion of what's in the Portable Hole, but no one is sure what's in it. Tim says "Swords".
In This Episode...[]
Cast and Player Characters[]
- Michael DiMauro - Dungeon Master
- Tim Lanning - T'Chuck
- Jennifer Cheek - Selene von Esper
- Nika Howard - R'Oarc
- Mike Bachmann - Screech Echo
Non-Player Characters[]
- The Sausage King
- Old Pappy
- Old Pappy's grandson, who may or may not be the same as the random fisher-kid from two characters above
Locations[]
- Drunkeros
- Brookwillow
- The Lake of Brookwillow
- Brookwillow
Inventory[]
| T'Chuck | Selene von Esper | R'Oarc | Screech Echo | General Inventory | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Quest Board[]
- [Active] - Make enough money to buy something from Lucius Vale
- [Complete] -
Slay the Lake Monster
- [Complete] -
- [On-Hold] - Save Selene's family!
- [Abandoned?] - Go to Brunnell
- [On-Hold] - Wait for Ratma Ritmo to arrive in Brookwillow
- [On-Hold] - Recruit the help of Hortentia Calamore
- [On-Hold] - Travel to Vhur'endal
- [On-Hold] - Recruit the help of House Bartell
- [On-Hold] - Travel to Anchordowns
- [Abandoned?] - Go to Brunnell
- [On-Hold] - Find a cure for Thaldin Emberbrew
- [On-Hold] - Go to the nearby Drow city, probably Vhur'endal
- [On-hold] - Investigate "Bill, the Necromancer", in the far off city by the coast
- [On-hold] - Take the disembodied lips to the oceanfront, for a burial at sea
Quotes[]
- "Guys, this is ironic, because, I think we need a smaller boat to get into that cave." ~ T'Chuck
- "Youtube doesn't exist in this world, so Screech doesn't know how dangerous caves are." ~ Mike Bachmann
- "I saw Screech's abs, and I said 'Oh my god! Go forth, young man, and prosper.' And I give him that sweet Bardic Inspiration." ~ Nika Howard
"It's a d4?" ~ Mike Bachmann
"No! Bitch! It's a d8!" ~ Nika Howard
- "I was in the sausage cooker!" ~ R'Oarc
"'Jesus Christ. Should we cut to Screech?', somehow T'Chuck says." ~ Tim Lanning
- "If you hold your breath, you're technically breathing underwater, if you don't die, right?" ~ R'Oarc
- "So, describe the rope climb-age, for fun." ~ Michael DiMauro
"No. Because it's non-euclidean. The closer we get to describing it, the more of a fraud we are." ~ Tim Lanning
- "Cut off one butt-hole, and two more shall take its place." ~ Mike Bachmann
Rolls[]
- Everyone rolls Perception while speeding toward the cliff face
- Screech - Nat 1
- Selene - 8
- T'Chuck - 13
- R'Oarc - 15
- She sees that the boat appears to be speeding toward a cave, that's about 5 ft above the water.
- Screech rolls Stealth to sneakily dive bomb into the water (with Disadvantage, and with R'Oarc's Bardic Inspiration) -
2629- Success - He dives into the water, silently.
- R'Oarc rolls Performance to pull a sausage roll out from behind Pappy's ear - 24
- Success - She does it.
- Screech rolls Perception while swimming in the cave - Nat 1
- It could be between 10 to 300 feet between him and the end of the tunnel
- Screech rolls Perception again upon reaching the end of the tunnel - 18
- There's a shipwreck at the bottom of the cave, and there's a treasure chest with lots of gold in it
- Everyone rolls Perception upon reaching the top of the cliff (with T'Chuck's Emboldening Bond)
- Selene - 22
- R'Oarc - 25
- Screech - 20
- T'Chuck - 26
- They all see a big hole in the ground that leads into the cave.
- Screech rolls Perception to see if he can see any other cave exits - 15
- He doesn't see any other exits
Combat Begins vs Hydra
Round One
- Screech
- Ranged Attack (Arrow) vs Hydra {x2} - 18, 26
- Hit - 26 damage - Destroys one of the heads
- Ranged Attack (Arrow) vs Hydra {x2} - 18, 26
- Selene
- Casts Fireball on the Hydra, requiring it to make a Dexterity Saving Throw - 9
- Fail - 31 Fire damage
- Casts Fireball on the Hydra, requiring it to make a Dexterity Saving Throw - 9
- R'Oarc
- Casts Eldritch Blast on the Hydra {x2} - 20, 18
- Hit - 10 + 9 damage
- Also rolls Deception to keep T'Chuck from knowing she used Eldritch Blast - 22
- Against T'Chuck's Perception - 25
- He chooses to fail instead
- Against T'Chuck's Perception - 25
- Casts Eldritch Blast on the Hydra {x2} - 20, 18
- Hydra
- Dives into the water, swims toward the cave entrance, where T'Chuck's Spirit Guardian is waiting
- Melee Attack vs Spirit Guardian {x3} - 15, >15, >15
- Hit, Hit, Hit - 30 Piercing damage
- T'Chuck
- Rolls Athletics to jump into the water - Nat 1
- Fail? He does jump, but it sounds like he ends up somewhere that he didn't want to be.
- Casts Guardian of Faith to create a large Spectral Guardian in front of the Hydra, requiring it to make a Dexterity Saving Throw - 20
- Success - 10 Radiant damage
- Rolls Athletics to jump into the water - Nat 1
Round Two
- Screech
- Rolls Acrobatics to jump down into the water - Nat 20
- Success - He's down there
- Casts Ensnaring Strike on the Hydra, requiring it to make a DC 13 Strength Saving Throw - 23
- Success - Not Ensnared.
- Melee Attack vs Hydra (with Hunters Mark, and Action Surge) {x3} - 25, 26,
- Hit, Hit, Hit - 24 + 8 damage
- Rolls Acrobatics to jump down into the water - Nat 20
- Selene
- Holds action
- R'Oarc
- Holds action
- Hydra
- Melee Attack (Bite) vs Screech {x2} - 13, 27
- Miss, Hit - 10 Piercing damage
- Melee Attack (Bite) vs Screech {x2} - 13, 27
- T'Chuck
- Casts Toll the Dead, requiring a Wisdom Saving Throw - 18
- Success - Nothing happens
- Celestial Boy attacks Hydra (with Advantage) - 30's
- Hit - 17 Radiant damage - Kills It
- Casts Toll the Dead, requiring a Wisdom Saving Throw - 18
Combat Ends