Adventure 0 - Hydra Attack!

I started a D&D game. We were all a bit unsure of what we were doing, and this adventure was a good way to get us all into the system.

Adventure 0: Ship to South Porton

The scene is set twenty minutes from South Porton’s dock district. The voyage has been a week long and cramped, with each passenger staking out a portion of the below-decks area. Living has been close and the passengers have mostly gotten to know each other, at least as far as names. One of the passengers, a human male in his 50s, has been mostly silent to the point of rudeness, preferring instead to make adjustments and repairs to his armour, kit and sword.

The boat itself is not huge and has a crew complement of just five. The captain is a jolly fellow and obviously quite at home on the open water.

It is morning and spirits are riding higher thanks to the news that land has been sighted.

Suddenly, the entire ship tilts alarmingly sideways. Loose items begin to slide around on the floor. An ear-splitting bellow sounds from on deck, immediately followed by the screams of the men up there.

The man grunts. “Can’t a man get any rest?” he says, then walks out on deck with his sword in hand.

Up on deck the scene is carnage. An enormous creature has hold of the ship, four heads twining and bending, snapping and roaring; it is a hydra! Two of the crew members are torn almost literally to shreds, limbs thrown all over; the deck is slick with blood. Another one is trying to stab at the hydra with a spear but, even as you watch, one of the heads grabs the spear’s shaft, flicks it away and, quick as a flash, bites his head off. His scream cuts off sickeningly halfway through.

The man wades in with his sword. Immediately the three heads nearest turn and begin to attack but, with a practiced skill born of years of battle, he deftly parries every blow and even gets a few of his own in.

One of the heads is battering at the door to the steering cabin where, presumably, the captain is trapped.

If the adventurers try to help Victor:

The man spares you the briefest look before turning to parry yet another snapping head. “If you want to help,” he growls, “get the one that’s trying to eat the captain. I’m fine down here.”

If they run up to the captain’s cabin: The hydra head stops its frenzied attack on the captain’s cabin and turns to face you.

Roll for initiative.

On successfully beating the head:

The head slumps to the ground. From down on deck you hear a cacophony of howls that are sharply cut off. With one sweeping cut the man slices through all three necks, and with a slither the entire assembly falls into the sea. The man kicks the three heads off the deck and into the sea, then sheathes his sword.

If asked: “When you killed that one, these three were stunned. I could have done it without you, but well done.” He won’t say any more.

The captain thanks you, says that he no longer wants payment for this voyage from you and tells you that he’ll talk more once the ship has docked.

On docking, the man gets off and is quickly lost in the crowd before anyone can talk to him.

The captain is more forthcoming. “That man? He was Victor Junn. You heard of him before? A great hero, one of Ehrian’s finest. We’re damned lucky he was on board, that could have been dangerous.”

The captain will tell them about South Porton.