Jovial Jungle Jaunt (ToA)

The pureblood's orders to return to the cell catch Nenne's ears and she looks over to see the strange gnome hiding in a stone box. She stretches out her hand and a red, skeletal hand shimmers into existence beside him, slamming down toward the pureblood. (Bless 4 plus Spiritual Weapon Attack: 10 Damage: 10)

She turns her attention back to the zombie in front of her and a corona of holy fire releases at point-blank range. (Sacred Flame - Dex 14 or 13 radiant). Something moves in the corner of her eye and she blanches.

"Something huge is in the water!" she shouts. "Watch yourselves!"

Allister stabs the zombie near Nenne, and it crumbles to the ground. He yells "Go to the gnome and help him." and focuses his next attacks on the yuan-ti to his right. His first attack to the chest is deflected by its claws but opens a wide gash on the hand of his opponent, when he stabs with his cutlass at his chest it slams its arm on the blade and twists away, slashing the arm from elbow to wrist.

Nenne watches as the montrous snake beast attacking the gnome bends to sniff and touch the conjured box. The creature seems totally at a loss as to what it is actually looking at. Nenne's ghostly, skeletal hand drags lines into the yuan-ti's forearm. He yells out in pain while moving to sosge a sexond swipe from the hand.

The creature Allister dances to the side of notices the water roil and its floating companion snatched below the surface. It slides into the cave leading towards the surface, placing its back towarss Boosey. The thing seems not to have noticed the gnome and assaults Allister again. Its attacks are more sttaightforward coming from a narrow cave, making it easier for the fighter to anticipate direction. He gets nipped once (3 piercing damage), but manages ro keep its flurry of claws at bay. The creature's frustration is absolute and it hisses loudly at Allister to show it.

Boosey is startled by the Yuan-ti that is suddenly in front of him.  He takes an involuntary step back and recovers his wits enough to send a bolt into the creature which plunges deep into its body.  Having loosed the bolt, he retreats further down the passage out of sight of the Yuan-ti.

The yuan-ti takes the hit and weidly falls against the wall. The creature recovers but he has a hard time of it. The water roils violently and the yuan-ti floats back to the surface in two pieces.

Glimbul seeking revenge slashes out from the stone box cutting through both knees of the yuan-ti watching him tumble from his own weight. Delight dances across the gnome's face as he kills his captor. Leaving the stone abode he heads for the elf "Much appreciated! I had been looking for a chance for weeks now. Let us make light work of the rest of these cruel beings" Seeing the crossbow on the Elf's hip. "Would it be alright if I use that crossbow? I am a better shot with that than I am with this scimitar.I promise to return it to you."

The baneful hand of Kelemvor slams down toward the snakelike creature near it. (Bless 2 plus Attack: 17 Damage: 6)

Nenne unleashes another spurt of holy flame toward the yuan-ti Boosey shot (5 radiant on a Dex 14 fail) and tosses a look at the newcomer. "Aim true," she says, granting him permission to borrow her crossbow. She turns a worried eye toward the water.

Allister rushes past his friends, intent on finishing the last yuan-ti as quickly as possible. Feigning a thrust to the chest he stops as a claw tries to intercept the rapier. He slashes diagonally upwards and downwards too quick for the yuan-ti cutting its face with a big X. Thinking the next attack will come for its face again the yuan-ti protects its face, leaving its torso exposed. Allister takes the opportunity and stabs his cutlass into his foe‘s hip

The creature is quick to react to the last attack, having suffered great wounds this time. Allister dances away from the enemy, but not before a claw rakes across his forearm (7 slashing damage). Any other attacks from the beastly thing never even come close due to the creature's obvious pain.

The gnome moves forward back to where the bodies of the snake monsters litter the shore. Seeing the one remaining creature he takes careful aim and sends a bolt into the creature, opening another wound on its body.  

The yuan-ti coughs out a line of blood when the bard's bolt connects with its gut. The creature looks as if it is in a daze for a moment before realizing it has bigger issues to worry about.

The roiling water finally parts as the disturbance moves towards land. Deep hued purple scales are the first indicator of the dragon head that emerges. A growl escapes the thing's head as it stands tall, followed by a second, third, no fifth head. The hydra towers over the party in the damp cave and each one of its heads finds its own mark on five different opponents. The first of the heads snaps down and tears the arm from the remaining yuan-ti.

Adrenaline surges through Allister's body at the sight of the newest opponent and the fighter goes into full defensive mode. The head comes in at him snapping but he knows it's a fool's errand to try and parry the blow. He turns himself sideways to be a smaller target and hops forward just as the maw snaps shut behind him.

The third head picks a clear path to Glimbul right over Nenne, due to the creature's height advantage. The jaws snap down too short of the retreating rogue, but the creature's mass slams into the gnome (3 damage) before it retreats.

The fourth head comes in at Boosey as he still has his mouth hanging open in surprise. Nenne sees the peril he is in a shouts for him to wake up and move. Her arm arcs towards the gnome protectively and a red, shimmering barrier seems to slow the head and give Boosey enough time to react. He manages to move some, but it's not enough. The jaws clamp down on his arm (13 piercing damage) so hard that the bard is wondering if the arm is broken.

The protective effect surprises Nenne, and she whispers a thank you to Kelemvor as she raises her shield in defense against her own problem. Her muscle memory places the shield too low for such an opponent while her attention is still split between herself and Boosey. The toothy maw comes down over her shoulder, bites down, and shakers her violently before letting go. Teeth find their way through her armor and the sheer strength of the bite has surely warped her armor around her shoulder painfully (17 piercing damage).

Glimbul thankful for the crossbow takes it as well as the quiver of bolts. Having seen the extent of the Hydra's attacks heads for the far end of the cavern with the borrowed crossbow and fires in his hasty retreat fires too far left. Cursing to himself he starts to adjust himself for the next shot.

Blood pouring through the punctures in her armor, Nenne glances over at Boosey in concern. "Get back, if you can!" Gripping her shield, she retreats from the massive creature to give herself more room to attack. (Disengage action, movement to F6)

The skeletal hand claws down toward one of the hydra's necks. (Attack: 18 Damage: 9)

Allister faces so many snapping jaws that he barely finds the time to think about attacking. Still he manages to scratch two of the heads as he brings up his rapier and cutlass and crosscuts upwards to fend off a simultaneous attack.

The creature twists into the cutlass's attack. The monster seems to embrace the attack to the point that Allister feels as if it may just be trying to bury the warrior under its own head. Indeed, the fighter has to get out of the way entirely as the neck and head come crashing down, spewing gore from the decapitated wound. Another head sprouts forth from the stump and separates. A thick mass of viscous slime, strings between the separating heads. Each head snaps its jaw independently now, only adding to the creature's already deadly existence.

“Don’t attack the heads,” the gnome screams too late. “Only attack it’s body, it’ll keep growing new ones!   Only it’s body!”

Quickly he says the words for faerie fire blue light tumbling between his hands before he sends it towards the hydra hoping that the spell will aid his companions.  

“Remember, don’t attack the heads!”  He backs away into the passage risking a strike from one of the heads. 

Blue flames erupt harmlessly all about the beast, outlining it in faerie fire. The Hydra bears down on Allister with all six heads. The fighter works every muscle in his body to avoid the first three snapping attacks, but the creature is persistent and vicious. It fights with no regard for its own safety, which is an impossible thought in the fighter's mind. Jaws clamp down over Allister's knee (11 piercing), then again over his shoulder (10 piercing). The warrior is pulled off his feet briefly before the skeletal hand rakes across its body. Most of the heads release the fighter, but one more sneaks a quick strike in, wounding the warrior even further (12 piercing).

Reloading the crossbow Glimbul looks up to see the full horror of this monster. Just before aiming he hears the warning of the other gnome after the Hydra glows blue. Aiming for the now blue body, his bolt hits the monster square in the body. (23 to hit and 18 damage)

Nenne looks upon the wounded fighter with alarm. "Allister, get out of there! We came for Lemon and the cubes. We cannot afford to die here!" 

A gout of radiant flame bursts toward the hydra (13 damage, Dex 14 save) and the hand of Kelemvor strikes down again on the creature's body (Attack: 8 Damage: 7)

The hydra drops one of its heads down low to take Glimbul's bolt intentionally. The creature roars out in pain, clawing at the projectile that sank to its fletching. Nenne's attacks further enrage the beast and it thrashes about, sending a spray of water all about the shoreline. Roars from the beast echo all about the cavern.