Good evening Scribes! We have another spooky One-Shot/Sidequest right in time for Halloween! This request was given to us by Justin Singleton who wanted a story where there is a monster under a city who has been devouring them for years. When it sings a haunting song, all memories of the person it just ate get erased. Here is what we came up with.
The Story
The party is traveling in the woods, just exploring and searching for adventure. They notice a missing person poster. There's a 1000 gold reward! Wow! So obviously, they might wanna check it out. It's a very basic poster. It's a man who seems to be in his 40s who is named Victor Blackwatch. It says that he is the beloved sheriff of the town north of their location (can be a town in the world or a made-up one, DM decides). If the party decides to follow it, then go with it. But if they don't, have them find another, and another, and another until they decide to go there.
Once there, the air feels… off. There's something wrong but no one knows exactly what it is. There are people hustling and bustling about, a lively feeling in the air making it weird that they have these missing person flyers (if they have more than one, even with the one it's odd). Lead them to either a shop or inn, preferably the inn.
The inn is a very typical inn, people lounging around, resting and relaxing. There's also a small bar area that serves food. If they don't approach the innkeeper at the bar, have the innkeeper come to them to ask if they'd like to order food. The innkeeper is a very friendly and warm half-orc named Roland. Says he's been working here for 25 years and has never seen them before in the town. If the players don't ask about the sheriff, has Roland notice it.
Roland seems confused by the missing persons poster. It is definitely his town but he has never seen this person before in his life. The town's sheriff is a woman named Gracie Holland. He doesn't know a Victor Blackwell and never has. If the party decides to investigate more during the day, no one has ever seen this Victor before. Have them stay at the end of the day at the inn.
Nothing in the night seems out of place or weird. In the morning, there's a completely different innkeeper. Now there's a small dwarf woman named Hazel. If they don't approach her, have her to do the same as before. She says she's been working at this inn since she was old enough to work and took over when her dad got sick. She's never heard of a Roland before and there never has been a Roland who worked there.
Have this cycle repeat again the next day. But this time, it's a party member that you as the DM were going to play. Don't mention this party member at all, just have them find an extra bedroll in their possession or a mug with a name on it. They have no memory of who this belongs to or why they have it. They're just confused. The third night, they hear a strange and haunting song. The longer they spend here, the longer they lose their grip on reality. They don't know how long they've been there or who is even in charge of the inn any more or what. Eventually, they run into a small and old elvish lady. She instantly seems to know who the party is but is deaf and mute. She keeps trying to pull towards what seems to be her house. Have them eventually get there.
In the house, she leads them to a room. Once inside, the entire room is plastered with missing person posters. Some old and some new. Floor to ceiling with them. There's dozen of books scattered around. She hands them a paper to introduce herself. She wrote that her name is Amber and she's lived in this town for 300 years. Over the last 150 years, people have started disappearing but no one ever remembers them the next day. Her entire family has disappeared as well as dozens of others. She looks sadly at the posters with tears in her eyes. She looks back at the party and writes another note. "This isn't your first time being here. You're missing one of your own."
She hands them a book and flips to a page explaining what is going on. There's a monster that lives in an abandoned mine shaft called The False Hydra. For the last 150 years, it's lived under the town without anyone knowing that it's there. Its sweet melody reaches someone in their dreams at night and makes them sleepwalk to the monster. There, it devours the person. It then sings a different haunting song that completely wipes the memory of the person it just ate from every mind. Thus, it can feed in peace and has been feeding off the people of the town for years and years. Luckily, Amber can't hear the song so she remembers.
She flips to another page that has written about the party. It says on the page that there was another party member with them, the same person as the name on the mug (you as the DM decide who it is). She says she convinced the party to slay the beast but the person missing refused and told them that they should leave. Just on the outskirts of town, they rested for the night, saying they will leave in the morning. But the person on the mug disappeared that night and was wiped from the party's memory. This happened two weeks ago. This is their second time being in the town but they have no memory of it. She writes a new note and begs them to slay the monster for the sake of the town and their missing party member.
If they agree, you as the DM decides the reward. Since The False Hydra has been around for a while, it's collection of items and money has grown over time. The way the encounter happens is going to be up to the party. Leave it up to them to decide what happens and how they want to do it. When they fight it, use the stat block below for The False Hydra. Use your imagination when it comes to the layout of the mine shaft itself, rooms, or if you want any other smaller monsters in there.
After it is gone and defeated, Amber is waiting for them at the mouth of the shaft. She is in tears, mouthing 'thank you' over and over again. She writes that she plans to start telling people the story The False Hydra and their dead loved ones. She shows them a completed manuscript of the story. She thanks them again and walks away. Thus, the story of The False Hydra is put to rest… for now.
The False Hydra
The False Hydra started as one small head, but as it continued to devour humans it grew into a massive creature. It feeds at night, then sings it's sinister song making all memories of the victims disappear.
HP:170-180
AC: 14-15
Speed: 30 ft. Walking, 15-30 ft. Burrow
Stats:
STR: 21 (+5)
DEX: 12 (+1)
CON: 19 (+4)
INT: 16 (+3)
WIS: 23 (+6)
CHA: 16 (+3)
Saving Throws:
Str: +10
Con: +9
Int: +8
Wis: +11
Skills:
Insight: +11
Perception: +11
Stealth: +6
Senses:
Dark Vision: 60 ft.
Passive Perception: 22
Languages:
Cannot speak, however it does understand all languages. Telepathy: 5 miles.
Abilities:
Ambusher
In the first round of combat, the false hydra has an advantage on attack rolls against any creature it has surprised.
Surprise Attack
If the false hydra surprises a creature and hits it with an attack during the first round of combat, the target takes an extra 11 (2d10) damage from the attack.
Multiple Heads
The false hydra has 7 heads. While it has more than one head, the false hydra has an advantage on saving throws against being blinded, charmed, deafened, frightened, stunned, and knocked unconscious. Whenever the false hydra takes 30 or more damage in a single turn, one of its heads dies. If all its heads die, the false hydra dies. At the end of its turn, it grows a head for each of its heads that died since its last turn, unless it has regrown 14 heads. The false hydra regains 10 hit points for each head regrown in this way.
Reactive Heads
For each head the false hydra has beyond one, it gets an extra reaction that can be used only for opportunity attacks.
Legendary Resistance (3/day)
If the false hydra fails a saving throw, it can choose to succeed on it instead.
Actions:
Bite
Melee Weapon Attack: +10 to hit, reach 20 ft., one target. Hit 10 (1d10+5) piercing damage. If the target is a creature, it is grappled (escape DC 19) and the head that made the attack can't bite another target.
Swallow
The false hydra makes one bite attack against a Medium or smaller creature it is grappling. If the attack hits, that creature takes the bite's damage and is swallowed, and the grapple ends. While swallowed, the creature is blinded and restrained, it has total cover against attacks and other effects outside the false hydra, and it takes 7 (2d6) acid damage at the start of each of the false hydra's turns. If the false hydra takes 30 damage or more on a single turn from a creature inside it, the false hydra must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw at the end of that turn or regurgitate all swallowed creatures, which fall prone in a space within 10 feet of the false hydra. If the false hydra dies, a swallowed creature is no longer restrained by it and can escape from the corpse using 15 feet of movement, exiting prone. The false hydra can have a maximum of 2 medium, 4 small, or 16 tiny creatures swallowed at any given time.
Sightless Song
The false hydra emits a horrible, nightmarish howl to all creatures within 5 miles. All players within range make a Con13 saving throw on a fail: Humanoid that can hear this song is incapable of noticing the false hydra while it hears it. Humanoids under the effect of the song do not realize they can hear the song, The false hydra can continue to sing the song for as long as it wants, but must stop singing if it makes a Bite attack.
Legendary Actions:
The false hydra can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action option can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature’s turn. The false hydra regains spent legendary actions at the start of its turn.
Advance
The false hydra moves up to 30 feet towards a hostile creature.
Detect
The false hydra makes a Wisdom (Perception) check.
Swallow (Costs 2 Actions)
The false hydra makes a swallow attack against a creature it has grappled.
--Scale this monster to your party--
The original idea gives to us by Justin Singleton. Reference for The False Hydra can be found here. This was written, revised, and edited by us, Bards of Lore. We take no credit for the actual creation of this monster!
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