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<blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 7550742" data-attributes="member: 508"><p><strong>ADVENTURE 35: SUPPLY RUN</strong></p><p></p><p>PC Roster: <p style="margin-left: 20px">Daleth Stormsea, elf wizard 10</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Galen Thorne, human paladin 11</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Kaspar Hardstrike, elf monk 11</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Orion Nightsky, halfling rogue 11</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Syngaard, human fighter 11</p><p></p><p>Game Session Date: 16 January 2019</p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p>"You?" demanded Syngaard as he burst into the <em>Enchanted Flagon</em>. The other conscripts were already at their seats around the table, and Dow - in the astral golem Skevros had built for her so she could more easily interact with those of human size - stood at the place along the table where the king's adviser usually stood when explaining the next assignment. "Skevros was the one who summoned us here. Why do we gotta take our orders from you?" In his irritation at having to deal with Skevros's homunculus, the bald fighter failed to even notice the pair of emeralds sitting on the table at his place, apparently prepayment for the job at hand.</p><p></p><p>"Daddy's aiding in the defense of the kingdom's borders against the invading Ossirnans," Dow explained. She had recalibrated her speech patterns for adult speech, which was a blessing; when they had first encountered her, she was still talking like a little kid, as she had been built to be a friend and companion for Skevros's young daughter. She still had the irritating habit of referring to Skevros, her master, as "Daddy" - but that was a habit she wasn't likely to break any time soon.</p><p></p><p>"Are we to aid him?" asked Orion.</p><p></p><p>"No, he doesn't need any help on that front," Dow explained. That was very likely, too; the conscripts had recently seen him wipe out over a dozen evil wizards with a single <em>meteor swarm</em> spell. When it came to raw power, none of the conscripts could match their leader. Rather, it was the fact that he was magically forced to remain within the borders of the kingdom of Durnhill and his manor house in the Azure Glade that had caused him to reach out to form a band of conscripts who could perform missions outside of those confines.</p><p></p><p>"A lumber shipment is late," Dow added. "The wood is needed to build fortifications along the border. King Leornic is having you sent to investigate what happened."</p><p></p><p>"And where are we to go to investigate this missing shipment?" inquired Kaspar.</p><p></p><p>"The lumber mill is about 30 minutes away on foot to the northwest," Dow replied.</p><p></p><p>"On foot?" complained Syngaard, who had finally noticed the emeralds before him and was busy pocketing them away in his coin purse. "You mean we gotta trudge all the way there? We ain't gettin' teleported, like normal?"</p><p></p><p>"As I said, Daddy's away on a mission of his own."</p><p></p><p>"You won't need to do any trudging," Orion reminded the scarred fighter. "You can ride there on your Dick - assuming it isn't still too tired to do anything."</p><p></p><p>"Oh yeah!" said Syngaard. "Old Dick's ready for more action!" Once activated, Syngaard knew the <em>bronze griffon</em> he had named "Dick" would remain alive and alert for a full six hours unless he was slain in the meantime, in which case he'd simply revert back to statuette form. Even with a half-hour trudge to go find this lumber mill - Syngaard wasn't quite ready for long-distance travel by air just yet - that left a good five hours of combat readiness to still have time for the half-hour trudge back.</p><p></p><p>Galen mentally called out across the planes to his bonded mount and Burt manifested in the corner of the tavern. The paladin was pleased to see his dire lion had suffered no permanent effects from having had his outer layer transformed into mithral; apparently Galen releasing him back to the Beastlands when he did had done the trick and saved the dire lion from being slain. Burt was back to his normal form, all fur and mane and fangs and bony extrusions, with not a glint of mithral to be seen. Galen led him out of the <em>Enchanted Flagon</em> and climbed up onto his back. "I'm glad to see you're all right, buddy!" he said.</p><p></p><p>Orion followed the paladin outside and whistled for her own mount. Immediately, Carl manifested from thin air, the ghost dog having simply stepped through the boundary between the Ethereal Plane and the Material Plane. The halfling jumped up onto the <em>ghost touch saddle</em> that allowed her to ride a dog that had no true material form.</p><p></p><p>Syngaard pulled out his <em>bronze griffon</em> statuette and started rubbing it, causing it to vanish; in its place stood Dick. Syngaard leapt up onto the griffon's broad back, settling himself just in front of the creature's wings. He turned and looked down at the two elves, neither of whom had a riding mount of their own. "Either of you want a ride on my Dick?" he asked them.</p><p></p><p>"I think I would rather ride upon Burt, if you don't mind," sniffed Daleth. "There is more room."</p><p></p><p>"Come aboard," Galen smiled, putting out a hand to help pull the elven wizard up behind him onto Burt's back.</p><p></p><p>"Kaspar?" Syngaard offered.</p><p></p><p>"Thank you - I will walk," the monk simply replied. That decided, the party headed out to the forest at the northwest corner of the kingdom of Durnhill.</p><p></p><p>The lumber mill wasn't difficult to find; Dow had told the conscripts which road to take and it led them straight to it. The mill consisted of two wooden buildings set in the middle of a clearing in the forest, the mill proper - identified by the large, metal, circular saw mounted underneath an overhang of the two-story building, powered by magic no doubt - and another longer building, apparently a bunkhouse or such. But the buildings were of lesser interest than the apparent signs of a struggle, with discarded axes lying upon the ground and bloodstains scattered along the dirt. A large drag mark led off deeper into the woods.</p><p></p><p>"What's this?" asked Orion, examining the drag mark. "A giant snake?"</p><p></p><p>"It is possible," Kaspar admitted, giving the marks a thorough look-over. Galen rode Burt into the clearing, casting a <em>protection from evil</em> spell upon himself and his mount as they moved forward. Whether it had been a giant snake or something else, it seemed likely that combat might occur at any time and he wanted to be ready. Daleth followed suit, casting a <em>magic circle against evil</em> spell on himself and his pseudodragon familiar Todd as he slipped off of the dire lion's back and headed over to the long building. The wizard peeked through a window and saw a dining area, with a discarded meal still on the table; judging from the knocked-over glasses, the diners had apparently left in a hurry. Daleth surmised no combat had actually occurred in the room, merely that the occupants had been eating whenever the snake-monster had appeared. Assuming these had been lumberjacks, it would be their axes left abandoned on the ground outside after they had been slain by the giant snake. Daleth stepped into the building and went quickly down its length, discovering empty bunkrooms that could house eight lumberjacks. None were present.</p><p></p><p>Syngaard urged Dick forward, the griffon flapping his wings and taking them airborne to fly over the paladin's head and over to the mill itself. From his vantage point, Syngaard could see there was a window on the second level above the circular saw, but the glare from the sun prevented him from seeing inside. Regardless, there were no signs of anyone still alive in the place.</p><p></p><p>"Let's go," Galen said, drawing his <em>sword of Zehkar</em> and urging Burt forward to follow the drag marks in the dirt. He heard hissing ahead, seemingly coming from the branches above. Looking up into the trees for snakes as they rounded a bend in the clearing, Galen and Burt found a full dozen of them...all attached to a single, thick, serpentine body with scales of a brownish-red. The hydra surged forward, six of its head snapping in turn at the paladin and the other six going for the dire lion he rode. Galen managed to block the bites of several of the heads with his shield and his mithral armor prevented some of them from doing him much damage, but Burt was not so shielded and he roared in pain as serpentine fangs bit into his flesh all over. Ducking under the snapping jaws, Galen thrust the <em>sword of Zehkar</em> into the base of the hydra's body, causing all of its heads to hiss in pain in unison.</p><p></p><p>Hearing the sounds of combat, Kaspar ran forward at his full speed, activating his <em>amber amulet of vermin</em> as he did so. John appeared directly beside the hydra and snapped at the multiheaded beast with his powerful mandibles, but they failed to get a hold on the hydra's serpentine body. Kaspar, however, was bitten by a lightning-quick strike from one of the hydra's heads, which moved with the speed of a striking cobra. Kaspar walled off the pain for now, part of him - the part not dealing with a life-or-death fight with a twelve-headed hydra - noticing the creature's bite didn't seem to have any venom. That was fortunate!</p><p></p><p>Orion sent Carl through the trees to approach the hydra from the back, away from the focus of its dozen heads and directly across the beast from Galen and Burt. The hydra surprised her by noticing their approach; instantly, two of the dozen necks whipped around in their direction and the heads at the ends of those necks snapped their jaws at her and Carl, one passing through Carl's incorporeal body but the other catching the halfling on the shoulder. However, it got the worst of that exchange, for Orion had her <em>flaming short sword</em> in hand and with one deft move she cut entirely through the creature's neck, causing the head to drop to the forest floor. The flames from her weapon cauterized the wound on the stump of the neck, which writhed around ineffectually after its head had been severed.</p><p></p><p>Syngaard heard the sound of battle going on around the bend and sent his Dick flying high above the mill to swoop over and dive toward the twelve-headed snake fighting his fellow conscripts. As Dick dove down into a direct dive at the hydra, Syngaard stood crouched upon the griffon's neck; as griffon impacted serpentine necks and heads in an exchange of snapping jaws and beaks and raking talons, Syngaard leaped off his griffon mount and went crashing into a clump of the hydra's heads. He had his <em>flaming brilliant energy morningstar</em> in hand and the weapon collided into the side of one of the hydra's heads, smashing it instantly to pulp; surprisingly, the head almost instantly seemed to separate from its neck, sliding off to the side and being discarded on the ground. Syngaard's morningstar had singed the neck stump somewhat but not to the extent that Orion's short sword had done, and the now-headless neck started growing in a Y-shape, as two sections of neck, each with its own head, grew from the severed stump. "--the Hell?" sputtered Syngaard, surprised beyond belief at this sudden manifestation.</p><p></p><p>Daleth ran out of the bunkhouse and saw the battle ahead. Pulling out his <em>metamagic rod</em>, he channeled a <em>scorching ray</em> spell through it, targeting two separate heads on the multiheaded foe. Each of the twin rays struck true, burning the heads in question and cauterizing the stumps; no heads would ever grow back from those two particular necks. That brought the number of active heads down to ten, for while Orion had severed one of the original twelve, Syngaard's actions had caused an extra head to grow back. Todd, on the wizard's shoulder, hissed in anger at the hydra but Daleth wisely kept his pseudodragon familiar back from combat.</p><p></p><p>Galen healed himself while dropping from his dire lion's back. Through the empathic link they shared, the paladin knew Burt had been badly injured by the hydra's initial assault. "Back, Burt, to safety!" he commanded, and the dire lion gave a snort of disgust but followed his master's commands, scooting backwards out of range of the striking heads.</p><p></p><p>The hydra's heads whipped out again at the creature's various foes. Most struck true, although two of the heads were obviously surprised and confused when their jaws passed right through that tasty-looking dog. Dick was nearly overcome by the attacks, blood flowing freely from numerous bite marks along the griffon's flanks, staining both feathers and fur. It was all Dick could do to stay aloft, attacking the hydra's heads from above.</p><p></p><p>At ground level, Kaspar sent a flurry of blows against the hydra, concentrating the power of his strikes against the hydra's lower body rather than fighting the heads. At his side, John continued trying to chew through the hydra, but the giant stag beetle's mandibles only opened so wide and the diameter of the hydra's serpentine body was too large for the beetle to grasp as it would a smaller foe.</p><p></p><p>Orion lopped off another head with her <em>flaming short sword</em> but this time her weapon's flames didn't fully prevent the severed neck from regenerating two more heads. It must have dealt enough damage to slow the process, however, for rather than the abrupt dual-replacement as from Syngaard's earlier strike, these two heads and necks were taking their time to regrow.</p><p></p><p>"Try to take out the body, not the heads!" called Galen from below. Syngaard, standing in a mass of writhing necks, slammed his morningstar down hard onto the creature's back, but then the severed neck-stump whose head Orion had just cut off wandered within the fighter's reach and rather than swinging at it, Syngaard opted to just push his flaming weapon into the stump. There was a sizzling hiss as part of the stump was seared, but again it hadn't been fully prevented from springing forth any new heads. The creature was down to nine heads at this point, but there was a chance it would get back up to ten soon enough.</p><p></p><p>But then Daleth slew another two heads in a repeat of his earlier strategy: a <em>scorching ray</em> spell channeled through his <em>metamagic rod</em> that <em>empowered</em> any spell cast through it. Each ray burned off a head and sealed up the stump of a neck, leaving the hydra with only seven heads - just over half of its original number.</p><p></p><p>Orion had been bitten several times by this point and was starting to feel light-headed. Seeing this, Galen broke off battle with the hydra and saw to the health of his teammate. Channeling a burst of positive energy through his <em>illimium scabbard</em>, he shot a ray of healing energy that cascaded over the halfling's body, healing up the worst of her wounds. "Thanks, Galen!" she called to the paladin, then renewed her efforts against their joint foe,</p><p></p><p>The seven hydra heads snapped out, each striking a different foe (and the one trying to bite the incorporeal Carl hissing in growing frustration). One head caught Dick's throat in its powerful jaws and ripped it out, causing the griffon to topple lifelessly at the hydra's side and then seemingly disappear - although the hydra could be forgiven, in the heat of battle, to miss the sound of a small figurine dropping to the forest floor.</p><p></p><p>At its base, Kaspar and John retaliated, the beetle finally getting a grip on the hydra's thick body and crushing its mandibles between the beast's thick scales. Despite the success she'd had in severing heads, Orion took Galen's advice and stabbed her <em>flaming short sword</em> deep into the hydra's side, dealing it a significant amount of damage if the fact that all seven heads shot upwards in pain was any indication. It looked to the halfling like the serious wound she had inflicted was starting to heal up on its own, though - the hydra apparently had a very fast metabolism when it came to healing wounds, or perhaps the same power that allowed it to regenerate severed heads did likewise to its body. In either case, they needed to bring the creature down, quickly, while it was close to death and before it healed back up to full strength.</p><p></p><p>Syngaard's glowing morningstar crashed down onto the beast's spine again, the fighter cursing at the (admittedly temporary) death of his beloved Dick. The hydra staggered, its heads swaying back and forth as the serpentine creature tried to remain conscious. Daleth finished off the beast with a simple <em>magic missile</em> spell, channeled through the last daily use of his <em>metamagic rod</em> just to be sure. The darts of energy streaked across the clearing from the wizard to the hydra, slaying the creature immediately. (Syngaard had to leap to safety from the beast's back as it flopped over on its side, nearly being slammed by a lifeless head as he hit the ground, rolling.</p><p></p><p>Galen returned immediately to Burt's side and healed up the worst of the dire lion's wounds. Burt's leonine face looked shamed, but the paladin assured him his efforts had not been in vain, for by taking so many of the hydra's initial attacks himself the lion had prevented the hydra from attacking others.</p><p></p><p>With combat over, the conscripts checked out the rest of the area. There was a wagon behind the bunkhouse loaded with cut planks; it wasn't a full shipment but it would have to do for now. There were no signs of any horses in the area; either they had run off or become hydra snacks along with the lumberjacks who had worked here.</p><p></p><p>However, Syngaard did find one survivor, huddling in an upstairs bedroom in the main building: the proprietor of the lumber mill, a gnome by the name of <strong>Quincy Tinkertuft</strong>. "Figures," sneered Syngaard. "All the working stiffs are dead, but the leadership's all safe and cozy! Typical."</p><p></p><p>"I didn't dare leave with that beast around outside!" Quincy argued. "He's had me trapped in here for days!"</p><p></p><p>"The King needs your lumber shipment," Galen informed the gnome. "We'll take what you have for now, but you'll need to keep the mill running. You'd best come with us back to the city, to see about hiring some replacement lumbermen."</p><p></p><p>"But how will we pull the wagon?" asked Quincy. "The horses were both eaten. Are you going to hitch up that big lion?" Burt growled in anger at the suggestion that a paladin's dire lion bonded mount would be used as a beast of burden. Quincy whimpered in fear and hid behind Galen.</p><p></p><p>"I believe we will find an alternative solution," suggested Kaspar, pulling planks from the wagon and dropping them carefully into his <em>bag of holding</em>. The others followed suit - all but Syngaard, who took the time to root around the body of the slain hydra until he found his <em>figurine of wondrous power</em>. Dropping the statuette into his pocket, he announced to the group, "I found my Dick!"</p><p></p><p>"Good job," muttered Orion to herself. "Now let's see if you can find your own ass with two hands."</p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p>This was a refreshing change of pace: for once, we were just fighting a big monster instead of a bunch of Seekers of Eternity. Logan even commented that this was one of the few (if not the only) adventures he's written for this campaign that didn't really advance the overarching plot any, but none of us players minded - sometimes it's fun to just go on a mindless killing spree.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Richards, post: 7550742, member: 508"] [b]ADVENTURE 35: SUPPLY RUN[/b] PC Roster: [INDENT]Daleth Stormsea, elf wizard 10 Galen Thorne, human paladin 11 Kaspar Hardstrike, elf monk 11 Orion Nightsky, halfling rogue 11 Syngaard, human fighter 11[/INDENT] Game Session Date: 16 January 2019 - - - "You?" demanded Syngaard as he burst into the [i]Enchanted Flagon[/i]. The other conscripts were already at their seats around the table, and Dow - in the astral golem Skevros had built for her so she could more easily interact with those of human size - stood at the place along the table where the king's adviser usually stood when explaining the next assignment. "Skevros was the one who summoned us here. Why do we gotta take our orders from you?" In his irritation at having to deal with Skevros's homunculus, the bald fighter failed to even notice the pair of emeralds sitting on the table at his place, apparently prepayment for the job at hand. "Daddy's aiding in the defense of the kingdom's borders against the invading Ossirnans," Dow explained. She had recalibrated her speech patterns for adult speech, which was a blessing; when they had first encountered her, she was still talking like a little kid, as she had been built to be a friend and companion for Skevros's young daughter. She still had the irritating habit of referring to Skevros, her master, as "Daddy" - but that was a habit she wasn't likely to break any time soon. "Are we to aid him?" asked Orion. "No, he doesn't need any help on that front," Dow explained. That was very likely, too; the conscripts had recently seen him wipe out over a dozen evil wizards with a single [i]meteor swarm[/i] spell. When it came to raw power, none of the conscripts could match their leader. Rather, it was the fact that he was magically forced to remain within the borders of the kingdom of Durnhill and his manor house in the Azure Glade that had caused him to reach out to form a band of conscripts who could perform missions outside of those confines. "A lumber shipment is late," Dow added. "The wood is needed to build fortifications along the border. King Leornic is having you sent to investigate what happened." "And where are we to go to investigate this missing shipment?" inquired Kaspar. "The lumber mill is about 30 minutes away on foot to the northwest," Dow replied. "On foot?" complained Syngaard, who had finally noticed the emeralds before him and was busy pocketing them away in his coin purse. "You mean we gotta trudge all the way there? We ain't gettin' teleported, like normal?" "As I said, Daddy's away on a mission of his own." "You won't need to do any trudging," Orion reminded the scarred fighter. "You can ride there on your Dick - assuming it isn't still too tired to do anything." "Oh yeah!" said Syngaard. "Old Dick's ready for more action!" Once activated, Syngaard knew the [i]bronze griffon[/i] he had named "Dick" would remain alive and alert for a full six hours unless he was slain in the meantime, in which case he'd simply revert back to statuette form. Even with a half-hour trudge to go find this lumber mill - Syngaard wasn't quite ready for long-distance travel by air just yet - that left a good five hours of combat readiness to still have time for the half-hour trudge back. Galen mentally called out across the planes to his bonded mount and Burt manifested in the corner of the tavern. The paladin was pleased to see his dire lion had suffered no permanent effects from having had his outer layer transformed into mithral; apparently Galen releasing him back to the Beastlands when he did had done the trick and saved the dire lion from being slain. Burt was back to his normal form, all fur and mane and fangs and bony extrusions, with not a glint of mithral to be seen. Galen led him out of the [i]Enchanted Flagon[/i] and climbed up onto his back. "I'm glad to see you're all right, buddy!" he said. Orion followed the paladin outside and whistled for her own mount. Immediately, Carl manifested from thin air, the ghost dog having simply stepped through the boundary between the Ethereal Plane and the Material Plane. The halfling jumped up onto the [i]ghost touch saddle[/i] that allowed her to ride a dog that had no true material form. Syngaard pulled out his [i]bronze griffon[/i] statuette and started rubbing it, causing it to vanish; in its place stood Dick. Syngaard leapt up onto the griffon's broad back, settling himself just in front of the creature's wings. He turned and looked down at the two elves, neither of whom had a riding mount of their own. "Either of you want a ride on my Dick?" he asked them. "I think I would rather ride upon Burt, if you don't mind," sniffed Daleth. "There is more room." "Come aboard," Galen smiled, putting out a hand to help pull the elven wizard up behind him onto Burt's back. "Kaspar?" Syngaard offered. "Thank you - I will walk," the monk simply replied. That decided, the party headed out to the forest at the northwest corner of the kingdom of Durnhill. The lumber mill wasn't difficult to find; Dow had told the conscripts which road to take and it led them straight to it. The mill consisted of two wooden buildings set in the middle of a clearing in the forest, the mill proper - identified by the large, metal, circular saw mounted underneath an overhang of the two-story building, powered by magic no doubt - and another longer building, apparently a bunkhouse or such. But the buildings were of lesser interest than the apparent signs of a struggle, with discarded axes lying upon the ground and bloodstains scattered along the dirt. A large drag mark led off deeper into the woods. "What's this?" asked Orion, examining the drag mark. "A giant snake?" "It is possible," Kaspar admitted, giving the marks a thorough look-over. Galen rode Burt into the clearing, casting a [i]protection from evil[/i] spell upon himself and his mount as they moved forward. Whether it had been a giant snake or something else, it seemed likely that combat might occur at any time and he wanted to be ready. Daleth followed suit, casting a [i]magic circle against evil[/i] spell on himself and his pseudodragon familiar Todd as he slipped off of the dire lion's back and headed over to the long building. The wizard peeked through a window and saw a dining area, with a discarded meal still on the table; judging from the knocked-over glasses, the diners had apparently left in a hurry. Daleth surmised no combat had actually occurred in the room, merely that the occupants had been eating whenever the snake-monster had appeared. Assuming these had been lumberjacks, it would be their axes left abandoned on the ground outside after they had been slain by the giant snake. Daleth stepped into the building and went quickly down its length, discovering empty bunkrooms that could house eight lumberjacks. None were present. Syngaard urged Dick forward, the griffon flapping his wings and taking them airborne to fly over the paladin's head and over to the mill itself. From his vantage point, Syngaard could see there was a window on the second level above the circular saw, but the glare from the sun prevented him from seeing inside. Regardless, there were no signs of anyone still alive in the place. "Let's go," Galen said, drawing his [i]sword of Zehkar[/i] and urging Burt forward to follow the drag marks in the dirt. He heard hissing ahead, seemingly coming from the branches above. Looking up into the trees for snakes as they rounded a bend in the clearing, Galen and Burt found a full dozen of them...all attached to a single, thick, serpentine body with scales of a brownish-red. The hydra surged forward, six of its head snapping in turn at the paladin and the other six going for the dire lion he rode. Galen managed to block the bites of several of the heads with his shield and his mithral armor prevented some of them from doing him much damage, but Burt was not so shielded and he roared in pain as serpentine fangs bit into his flesh all over. Ducking under the snapping jaws, Galen thrust the [i]sword of Zehkar[/i] into the base of the hydra's body, causing all of its heads to hiss in pain in unison. Hearing the sounds of combat, Kaspar ran forward at his full speed, activating his [i]amber amulet of vermin[/i] as he did so. John appeared directly beside the hydra and snapped at the multiheaded beast with his powerful mandibles, but they failed to get a hold on the hydra's serpentine body. Kaspar, however, was bitten by a lightning-quick strike from one of the hydra's heads, which moved with the speed of a striking cobra. Kaspar walled off the pain for now, part of him - the part not dealing with a life-or-death fight with a twelve-headed hydra - noticing the creature's bite didn't seem to have any venom. That was fortunate! Orion sent Carl through the trees to approach the hydra from the back, away from the focus of its dozen heads and directly across the beast from Galen and Burt. The hydra surprised her by noticing their approach; instantly, two of the dozen necks whipped around in their direction and the heads at the ends of those necks snapped their jaws at her and Carl, one passing through Carl's incorporeal body but the other catching the halfling on the shoulder. However, it got the worst of that exchange, for Orion had her [i]flaming short sword[/i] in hand and with one deft move she cut entirely through the creature's neck, causing the head to drop to the forest floor. The flames from her weapon cauterized the wound on the stump of the neck, which writhed around ineffectually after its head had been severed. Syngaard heard the sound of battle going on around the bend and sent his Dick flying high above the mill to swoop over and dive toward the twelve-headed snake fighting his fellow conscripts. As Dick dove down into a direct dive at the hydra, Syngaard stood crouched upon the griffon's neck; as griffon impacted serpentine necks and heads in an exchange of snapping jaws and beaks and raking talons, Syngaard leaped off his griffon mount and went crashing into a clump of the hydra's heads. He had his [i]flaming brilliant energy morningstar[/i] in hand and the weapon collided into the side of one of the hydra's heads, smashing it instantly to pulp; surprisingly, the head almost instantly seemed to separate from its neck, sliding off to the side and being discarded on the ground. Syngaard's morningstar had singed the neck stump somewhat but not to the extent that Orion's short sword had done, and the now-headless neck started growing in a Y-shape, as two sections of neck, each with its own head, grew from the severed stump. "--the Hell?" sputtered Syngaard, surprised beyond belief at this sudden manifestation. Daleth ran out of the bunkhouse and saw the battle ahead. Pulling out his [i]metamagic rod[/i], he channeled a [i]scorching ray[/i] spell through it, targeting two separate heads on the multiheaded foe. Each of the twin rays struck true, burning the heads in question and cauterizing the stumps; no heads would ever grow back from those two particular necks. That brought the number of active heads down to ten, for while Orion had severed one of the original twelve, Syngaard's actions had caused an extra head to grow back. Todd, on the wizard's shoulder, hissed in anger at the hydra but Daleth wisely kept his pseudodragon familiar back from combat. Galen healed himself while dropping from his dire lion's back. Through the empathic link they shared, the paladin knew Burt had been badly injured by the hydra's initial assault. "Back, Burt, to safety!" he commanded, and the dire lion gave a snort of disgust but followed his master's commands, scooting backwards out of range of the striking heads. The hydra's heads whipped out again at the creature's various foes. Most struck true, although two of the heads were obviously surprised and confused when their jaws passed right through that tasty-looking dog. Dick was nearly overcome by the attacks, blood flowing freely from numerous bite marks along the griffon's flanks, staining both feathers and fur. It was all Dick could do to stay aloft, attacking the hydra's heads from above. At ground level, Kaspar sent a flurry of blows against the hydra, concentrating the power of his strikes against the hydra's lower body rather than fighting the heads. At his side, John continued trying to chew through the hydra, but the giant stag beetle's mandibles only opened so wide and the diameter of the hydra's serpentine body was too large for the beetle to grasp as it would a smaller foe. Orion lopped off another head with her [i]flaming short sword[/i] but this time her weapon's flames didn't fully prevent the severed neck from regenerating two more heads. It must have dealt enough damage to slow the process, however, for rather than the abrupt dual-replacement as from Syngaard's earlier strike, these two heads and necks were taking their time to regrow. "Try to take out the body, not the heads!" called Galen from below. Syngaard, standing in a mass of writhing necks, slammed his morningstar down hard onto the creature's back, but then the severed neck-stump whose head Orion had just cut off wandered within the fighter's reach and rather than swinging at it, Syngaard opted to just push his flaming weapon into the stump. There was a sizzling hiss as part of the stump was seared, but again it hadn't been fully prevented from springing forth any new heads. The creature was down to nine heads at this point, but there was a chance it would get back up to ten soon enough. But then Daleth slew another two heads in a repeat of his earlier strategy: a [i]scorching ray[/i] spell channeled through his [i]metamagic rod[/i] that [i]empowered[/i] any spell cast through it. Each ray burned off a head and sealed up the stump of a neck, leaving the hydra with only seven heads - just over half of its original number. Orion had been bitten several times by this point and was starting to feel light-headed. Seeing this, Galen broke off battle with the hydra and saw to the health of his teammate. Channeling a burst of positive energy through his [i]illimium scabbard[/i], he shot a ray of healing energy that cascaded over the halfling's body, healing up the worst of her wounds. "Thanks, Galen!" she called to the paladin, then renewed her efforts against their joint foe, The seven hydra heads snapped out, each striking a different foe (and the one trying to bite the incorporeal Carl hissing in growing frustration). One head caught Dick's throat in its powerful jaws and ripped it out, causing the griffon to topple lifelessly at the hydra's side and then seemingly disappear - although the hydra could be forgiven, in the heat of battle, to miss the sound of a small figurine dropping to the forest floor. At its base, Kaspar and John retaliated, the beetle finally getting a grip on the hydra's thick body and crushing its mandibles between the beast's thick scales. Despite the success she'd had in severing heads, Orion took Galen's advice and stabbed her [i]flaming short sword[/i] deep into the hydra's side, dealing it a significant amount of damage if the fact that all seven heads shot upwards in pain was any indication. It looked to the halfling like the serious wound she had inflicted was starting to heal up on its own, though - the hydra apparently had a very fast metabolism when it came to healing wounds, or perhaps the same power that allowed it to regenerate severed heads did likewise to its body. In either case, they needed to bring the creature down, quickly, while it was close to death and before it healed back up to full strength. Syngaard's glowing morningstar crashed down onto the beast's spine again, the fighter cursing at the (admittedly temporary) death of his beloved Dick. The hydra staggered, its heads swaying back and forth as the serpentine creature tried to remain conscious. Daleth finished off the beast with a simple [i]magic missile[/i] spell, channeled through the last daily use of his [i]metamagic rod[/i] just to be sure. The darts of energy streaked across the clearing from the wizard to the hydra, slaying the creature immediately. (Syngaard had to leap to safety from the beast's back as it flopped over on its side, nearly being slammed by a lifeless head as he hit the ground, rolling. Galen returned immediately to Burt's side and healed up the worst of the dire lion's wounds. Burt's leonine face looked shamed, but the paladin assured him his efforts had not been in vain, for by taking so many of the hydra's initial attacks himself the lion had prevented the hydra from attacking others. With combat over, the conscripts checked out the rest of the area. There was a wagon behind the bunkhouse loaded with cut planks; it wasn't a full shipment but it would have to do for now. There were no signs of any horses in the area; either they had run off or become hydra snacks along with the lumberjacks who had worked here. However, Syngaard did find one survivor, huddling in an upstairs bedroom in the main building: the proprietor of the lumber mill, a gnome by the name of [b]Quincy Tinkertuft[/b]. "Figures," sneered Syngaard. "All the working stiffs are dead, but the leadership's all safe and cozy! Typical." "I didn't dare leave with that beast around outside!" Quincy argued. "He's had me trapped in here for days!" "The King needs your lumber shipment," Galen informed the gnome. "We'll take what you have for now, but you'll need to keep the mill running. You'd best come with us back to the city, to see about hiring some replacement lumbermen." "But how will we pull the wagon?" asked Quincy. "The horses were both eaten. Are you going to hitch up that big lion?" Burt growled in anger at the suggestion that a paladin's dire lion bonded mount would be used as a beast of burden. Quincy whimpered in fear and hid behind Galen. "I believe we will find an alternative solution," suggested Kaspar, pulling planks from the wagon and dropping them carefully into his [i]bag of holding[/i]. The others followed suit - all but Syngaard, who took the time to root around the body of the slain hydra until he found his [i]figurine of wondrous power[/i]. Dropping the statuette into his pocket, he announced to the group, "I found my Dick!" "Good job," muttered Orion to herself. "Now let's see if you can find your own ass with two hands." - - - This was a refreshing change of pace: for once, we were just fighting a big monster instead of a bunch of Seekers of Eternity. Logan even commented that this was one of the few (if not the only) adventures he's written for this campaign that didn't really advance the overarching plot any, but none of us players minded - sometimes it's fun to just go on a mindless killing spree. [/QUOTE]
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