the guardian spirit of a sacred river, polluted along with its charge by the meddling of mankind.
2
a dinosaur that wanted to survive the extinction of the rest of its kind so badly it became the ultimate survivor.
3
a wizard’s failed attempt to create a plant-animal hybrid as the perfect crop/livestock.
4
a god that went feral after the extermination of its cult, losing its true immortality and most of its wisdom.
5
an incarnation of death’s inevitability that crawled up from the underworld.
6
a sophistic demon bound to the earth by some mortal clans’ blood feud. So long as the hatred flows through the generations the hydra will return.
D6
This hydra has
1
bones that snap and protrude under its own weight with every step, only to mend moments later.
2
tumours and throbbing scars dappling it from old, mis-healed wounds.
3
colourful frills around its necks.
4
a carpet of ticks covering its hide.
5
translucent flesh. Veins and organs can be seen shifting beneath, devouring each other in a visceral ouroboros.
6
vestigial eyes and limbs dotting its body.
D6
This hydra’s regeneration
1
causes it to bud off swarms of mini-hydras when it’s wounded.
2
can be inverted if it’s exposed to a drug which only the moon-folk know how to produce.
3
can be inhibited by music, which enrages it.
4
will continue even after it’s killed, bringing it back to life unless it’s burned or dissolved.
5
accelerates for 1d6 rounds after it’s eaten about at least a person-sized portion of meat.
6
produces an excess of blood when it’s wounded, turning the battlefield into a slippery mess.
D6
This hydra’s lair
1
is a burrow that opens to the bed of an algae-caked kettle in the midst of a peatland.
2
is a fissure where the mouth of a spring flows.
3
is a ruined palace halfway sunk in a flooded delta, surrounded by the waterlogged remnants of a dead civilization.
4
is a dank ponor where deafening rapids spill.
5
has a mouth curtained by a waterfall.
6
lies on an isle in the middle of an estuary.
D6
Near this hydra’s lair
1
is a young warrior groomed into believing that they’re a demigod and their sycophants-cum-political handlers, hyping themselves up to slay the monster and prove their prowess.
2
a peasant family are dragging a recalcitrant ox to sacrifice to it.
3
is the cabin of a royal gamekeeper tasked with keeping an eye on the hydra and making sure nobody provokes it.
4
is a tricksy talking vulture that eats the hydra’s leftovers.
5
is an old hunter collapsed in the mud, dying from injuries inflicted by the hydra.
6
is a clutch of crab-men who fear and worship it.
D6
Something that can be harvested from this hydra is its
1
scales, which could be made into superlative armour by a master craftsman.
2
sinews, which could be used to make magic rope or bowstrings.
3
liver, which could be used to filter poisons into beneficial elixirs.
4
bones, which could be carved into barbed weapons that grow into the wounds they wreak.
5
feces, which are an unmatched fertilizer.
6
blood, which could be refined into a healing potion.
Very nice! I'm itching to run a fantasy hex crawl - this is perfect for hexes near water. Also, hydras are weird.
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