(082) The Darkness Below

[waysoftheearth]

The Herald charges right into the monstrous serpent-thing, while Leudigar skirts the left wall--drawing his bow--and Zem breaks right. Zax makes a running throw after The Herald, and with a mighty hoick! flings his ax hag-ward as she brings her mallet down.

Alas, his missile deflects harmlessly off the flank of a serpent neck. The hag's mallet connects, and knocks free an iron peg that held a mighty chain fast, and it immediately runs free as one of the hydra necks pulls it to. The rest of the party move into the archway and the room, reaching for their missiles, as The Herald's charge toward the hag is ended prematurely when the hydra attacks him! Two great serpent maws snap at him, the second one devouring his shield in lieu of his person!

By now Leudigar has readied his bow, and Akbar his crossbow; Zem has reached the opposite wall. Alas, the hydra's chain is unpinned at one end and running madly through the steel rings that anchored the beast to the four columns!

"A haaa!"crows the hag triumphantly!

Back in the archway, Wetzel judges the narrow passage would be a bit of a squeeze for the hydra...

Missile Segment
Zax 1d20+1=8, miss.

Melee Segment
The Herald used less than half a move to contact hydra, so there will be two rounds of melee.

Round One
The Herald doesn't believe in the hydra, so is "virtually surprised" when it attacks him.
How many Hydra-heads can reach to attack him? 1d3=2.
2d20=5,16, versus AC3 is exactly one hit. 1d6=5.
According to sully's sig, the Herald has 3 hp, so he would be slain. Instead he loses his shield; his AC is reduced from 3/5 to 5/5.

Round Two

How many Hydra-heads will attack him? 1d3=2.
2d20=5,12, versus AC5 is interesting. In normal combat a 12 misses, in fantastic combat a 12 would hit. The Herald is normal, so technically it's normal combat and no hit, so The Herald lives.

[ehiker133]

Leudigar quickly decides to make sure the hag can cause no more trouble and fires an arrow at her.

Or maybe he still doesn't believe in the hydra...

[sully]

The Herald continues to actively disbelieve in the existence of the hydra and the sudden disappearance of his shield and continues his pursuit of the hag.

[The Red Baron]

If Dopey has not yet entered the room he will throw a missile at the hydra.

If he has entered the room, he will continue circling the periphery towards the hag, keeping low to the ground

[Eris]

As written previously, Freid follows Dopey around the periphery of the room. He's going for the Hag, but wants to keep space between himself and the monster as long as he can.

[Tonneau]

Zax scowls at The Herald; this man is constantly getting in his way. First to deal with the wee beastie though...

He sends his second ax spinning at the multi-headed foe before charging in with his pick.

[flightcommander]

Akbar shoots the Hag as soon as possible, if he is able to do so safely.

[coffee]

As soon as Karl is able to get into the room, he'll either hand off or drop his torch and get out his sword or bow, whichever seems more prudent at the time.

[mgtremaine]

Zem will try to rush upon the hag from her flank.

[waysoftheearth]

Scarcely a moment after the hag has unchained the hydra, missiles loosed by Leudigar and Akbar pierce her. "Ehgugh," she manages to gurgle bloodily with wicked darts protruding from her chest ... she half-turns to flee, even as the ferocious hydra twists itself awkwardly loose from its confinement somehow, amazingly, not knocking The Herald down with its thrashing as he strides, untouched, by it.

Wetzel puts two arrows into it from near the arch way, and Zax hurls another ax that splits one of its five skulls, spilling a gout of its black blood, as Zem rushes the Hag and delivers to her the killing blow. Her withered body is immediately flung aside as the enraged reptile smashes Zem a blow with one head, while two other heads now grab The Herald and toss him up, then catching him by either end to crunch his mailed body horribly between the reptile maws, finally tearing him asunder to gobble down half his spilled gizzards. The Herald is no more!

Turn Two

Movement Segment
Zem rushes the hag from her left flank; Fried and Dopey follow his path around the perimeter to their right...
The Herald attempts to stride thru the hydra; but cannot infiltrate 2" either side of the monster.
Karl enters the room.

Missile Segment
Leudigar (bow) and Akbar (arbelast) want to fire at the hag.
(Strictly by the Chainmail rules, Zem would move into melee contact first and prevent missile fire; the Hinterlands house rule sequence allows stationary missile-men to fire first...)
2d20+1=20,14, so two hits. 2d6=4. Hmm, the referee throws 1+1 HD for the hag: 1d6=4, so 5 hp, she lives.

Zax throw a hand-ax at the hydra (due to its size the ref allows Zax to target the "upper" portions of it with risk of hitting The Herald): 1d20+1=20. That hits; 1d6=6! It's a head hit. Strike one head off; four remain.

Wetzel fires his bow (two shots while stationary) at the Hydra: 2d20+1=17, 15 two hits; 2d6=5, 2 = 7 hp. No head hit, so 7 points scored against the whole monster.

Melee Segment
First Round
Zem is moving into contact.
Hydra four heads attack The Herald (AC 5); 4d20=1, 8, 6, 9. What tha?

Second Round
Zem vs the Hag: 1d20+1=17, that hits. 1d6=4, she dies.

The Hydra is now has two targets; who will the four remaining heads attack? 1-3 Zem, 4-6 Herald. 4d6=6,2,6,1. So two heads each.
2d20 vs The Herald (AC5) =13, 13. Two misses by 1 pip. The Gods protect him!
2d20 vs Zem=1, 20. One hit. 1d6=3. Zem takes 3 hp.

Third Round
Who will the four hydra heads attack? 1-3 Zem, 4-6 Herald. 4d6=6,5,4,6. So it's all The Herald.
4d20 vs The Herald = 16,5,17,7, so two hits at last. 2d6=5. The Herald goes from 3 to -2 hp so is slain.

Zem presumable attacks the Hydra: 1d20+1=3, so misses.