…you know what is concerning. Where the hell did the tower get the statues……are those the previous victims? Is the Tower some kind of sick perversion of the Dungeon master, playing make believe adventures with its victims until it can devour their weakened soul and collect their body as jaunts another piece for the next game?
I was thinking the statues are the husks of the previous victims, kinda like the Druun from Raya and the Last Dragon, combined with the Stone Cursed from Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes.
It makes sense why the tower consumes the souls of the citizens. While the false hydra feasts on flesh and is biological itself, the tower seems magical in being and feeds on the souls of the living
Wow, I came up with something similar awhile back. I called it the False Hydrangea and it was a plant monster with mind altering spores. It could create these shapeshifting planetoid minions and these spores would alter people’s memories into believing these disguised shapeshifters were people they knew they entire life. These minions would sneak the town’s supplies to the False Hydrangea and once it grew big enough, it would start feasting on the town’s people. Whenever it devoured one of the citizens, the spores would add a new memory to the townsfolk that explained the person’s disappearance. Was it a young man, well everyone remembers that he went off to college or war. Was it an old lady, well everyone remembers her dying peacefully in her sleep. Was it a child, well they were playing in the streets and a traffic accident killed him. For the combat side of the False Hydrangea, it got pretty meta. The fight wouldn’t be tough, but the mind altering spores would impact the player’s memories. If the party took a short rest right before the encounter, upon entering the boss room, they would realize that none of their resources from that short rest were actually replenished. That short rest was actually a fake memory from the spores to make the players think they were well rested for the fight. It’s Legendary Resistances were reflavored to be false memories of the players succeeding in their spells to demoralize to players and to cause them to waste a turn or two thinking a spell was effective or still active. Also if a player is planning on leaving or wants to change characters, you can have their character revealed to be a shapeshifter and the party’s entire adventure had been tainted by the spores. It was just the right amount of meta and canonical retcons to make the fight fun without it being annoying.
Hydrangeas, in Japanese culture, generally symbolize sincere remorse and apology, while in Victorian England they symbolize arrogance and vanity, as well as being an omen of being unable to find a spouse. A false Hydrangea would therefore symbolize... insincere remorse. False vanity. Deceptive arrogance. Artificial isolation. The Hydrangea is named so because it is a vessel for water, the lifeblood of the world. But The False Hydrangea is vessel to naught but a mirage.
So basically, the DM just says, "No, you didn't cause spores." "Why am I missing Warlock Spell slots? We short rested" Oh well, you THOUGHT you short rested but didn't. No spells for you "Our Wizard used Cloud of Daggers on the creature. Why is it not taking damage?" Oh, well you THOUGHT you cast it on the creature, but it was a bush. Not only were you not doing damage for 2 turns you also wasted a strong spell slot for it. "Why cant we long rest? We bought supplies for the Long Rest" Oh, you THOUGHT you bought supplies, but really just a bunch of useless Baubles from a Plantoid you thought was Mead and Meat. No long rest. Id honestly leave the table if my Rolls, RP, and actions can be summed up as "Nuh Uh, you only THOUGHT you could do stuff because homebrew monster."
I actually used a reverse false hydra as a player. I played with a dm who loved homebrew and at one point I encountered a spirit that could become a "mirrored" version of whatever it fought. It decided to tag along with my character due to their earlier actions in that area. Later, we encountered a false hydra so I beseeched the spirit to turn into a reverse false hydra to counteract the song!
Kinda only hit me towards the end, this is in PF2e and not D&D, yeah? The fortatude save tipped me off that it wasn't 5e, and the tengu thing should've been a neon sign all things considered, but my brain kept auto-correcting it to Kenku, since the video is titled with D&D, and I forgot that Tengu look like birds when undisguised. Didn't realize tieflings could go invisible though, I'll have to have a look at that. I haven’t really played any of the varient heritages!
This is great! I love the pixel art; they give the video a unique feel :) This reminds me of an adventure I ran. It's like a mix between a so-called reverse False Hydra adventure and Against The Cult of the Reptile God. To try to summarize, players arrive at a village, but I'm very vague about their history of the party or any worldbuilding details, saying "You're sure you've gone on many adventures before, but you can't quite remember them." They were tired and slightly beat up after a long journey they can't remember details about. My party laughed it off, thinking it was a typical DM excuse for laziness and lack of creativity. They get wrapped up in a typical village quest with a bad evil guy and friendly, welcoming villagers. One of the important NPCs in the village can't remember much of their past, being very vague about it. Any attempts to leave the village are met by what seem like DM excuses to lock them in a not-so-open world -- a big monster attacks and chases them back to the village, a storm comes and chases them back to the village, they get lost and wind up back in the village! Their hopes rise and fall several times during the quest, eventually defeating the bad evil guy. Every time their hopes are crushed, they are asked to mysteriously roll a Wisdom saving throw. They all succeeded each time. When they finally defeated BEG, BEG asks "Are you real?" and, finally, gave them each magical tokens, which BEG said would help them "remember." They returned back to the village, finding themselves entering from the same road they entered the village from at the start. Except one of the party members -- one who didn't hold one of the tokens -- did not remember ever visiting this village. They didn't remember their quest to defeat BEG. They barely remembered anything, in fact, besides that they were an adventurer. Their memories were being erased, the tokens protecting them. They entered the village, and the entire village was just as it was when they first arrived. The same adventure played out -- zombies attacking the village, etc. etc. They were in a loop, their memories were being tampered with, and any attempt to escape led to them returning to the village. Some of the NPCs seemed a bit *too* eager to dissuade the party of their suspicions. Except one of the villagers -- one of the three who died in the previous loop -- was missing. It was as if the one villager never existed, yet two villagers who died before *were* there. Through their investigations -- and through detect thoughts -- they learned some of the NPCs in the village are *actors*, trying to keep up the facade. The other half, though, were innocent. After finding and torturing some of these actors for information, they learn that the village is an illusion, that demons took over the world years ago and now trap their human livestock in illusions to feed off of an eternal cycle of hope and despair. They learn that the macguffin of the irrelevant village quest, a tiara, is the source of the illusion, and, if broken, will destroy it. They roll a mysterious Wisdom saving throw, all but one succeeding. I sent the one player who failed a document in private which explains that they lost their soul and are now an actor, whose goal is to deceive the party and trap them in this cycle of hope and despair. They destroyed the tiara, the illusion crumbled, and they find a portal in the village well. They jumped in, finding themselves in a temple full of demons, a revolving cube in the center of the room in which the illusion was placed. They slaughtered the demons, discovering some more lore about the demon-infested world, and then find an exit to the surface. Ahead is a road. They can't remember much of their previous adventure. All they know is that they're beat up and tired... and there's a village ahead, something vaguely familiar about it.
@@DeathnoteBB exactly, which is why it isn't a "true hydra." A true hydra is... just a hydra. Plus, this doesn't really have any hydra elements, other than being the opposite of a false hydra, which was only named a false hydra because of its multiple heads.
with these spooks and your impeccable art stye you hit right into memories of staying up way to late playing games like don't escape and the last door. thank you
Just going to note btw: This is listed as a D&D story, which is technically untrue, this is a PF2E story, or a TTRPG story if you want to be more broad. There's a couple of clues about what TTRPG is being used in this story, notably that the crow-like bird player race is referred to as a Tengu instead of a Kenku. When they are rolling to determine inebriation it's a Fortitude save instead of a Constitution save, and finally, the Tengu also having half-tiefling heritage is an actual mechanical thing in PF2E, whereas in DnD5e you would have to homebrew something with your GM for that.
First time viewing your content. Intriguing idea! I did wonder if it was going to play to the idea that the creature was actually benevolent in its own way and was trying to give him a world where he had friends again to live in and enjoy, only to eventually realize that it was hurting him in its own way. Still, interesting way of reversing the usual false hydra scenario. I also wondered partway through if the reveal was going to be that 'none of this is real' as in, the character would become aware that it was a mere flight of fancy, of imagination in a game, and that the statues were a meta-commentary on this (as in, they're npc's, they have little to no life outside of player interaction, statues, as it were).
That idea would be pretty cool, fits into the reverse thing well. (as in, they're npc's, they have little to no life outside of player interaction, statues, as it were) I would not say that, there would be times where a good DM, if involving a reoccurring character, would have events happening off screen, so to speak.
This is the first time I've ever seen this channel, but the things that stood out the most, on the end credits, was a reference to HERMITCRAFT SEASON 9...... of all things, but i understood that reference
This is such a cool idea for an adventure/quest, amazing writing and storytelling! :3 Also, as someone living with fairly vivid hallucinations and delusions, this is exactly how I experience the world a lot of the time.
oh hey, memetics! also, the thing wouldn't be affecting his *memory*, as then he wouldn't remember the existence of the clock tower afterward. Instead, it would be either be modifying how his perceptual processing worked. If it was erasing ideas from memory, he'd be severely unprepared. One needs either an eideitic memory, a lotta mnestics, or a lotta amnestics and a box free of the entity's influence.
Nothing about this suggests "reverse false-hydra." Like what a real "reverse false-hydra" would do is create "fake" NPC that goes missing ao that the players go looking for him. To make it work you'd basically have to introduce a NPC very early on but make sure it never actually interacts with any NPCs, only ever the players. That way, when the players ask about him to other NPCs, they'll act like he doesn't exist, because he actually doesn't.
Or, and stick with me here, a fake town, full of fake NPCs, to lure the party to them... maybe one that doesn't appear on any maps until the creature gets its mental hooks into the party.
This is an amazing story. I love it. Can I ask for the stat block you used for the Reverse False Hydra? I'd like to use it against my players in the future.
I think the one thing I would have done. I assume the other player characters were in on the what was going on, I would have made a deal with the other players to retcon there deaths in if they played along with this. what ever was in the clock tower managing to trick the one player who went off on there own while the rest of the players escaped or were captured. That is just me and how I would have done it, but I do find the idea a lot cooler then the normal false hydra.
Oh I think that could have been fun. Retconing the deaths to be part of the infection, have some/all of the dead players 'reroll' characters to play from the town and bring them in on the plan, maybe while throwing together a small side-adventure to get them to reunite. Some tables thrive off of the serious stakes perma death, but it really depends on what the vibe is and the story you're trying to tell.
Thought Contagion isn't a hint, it's giving the game away. So was having it revealed via the statues so quickly. A town springing out of nowhere is interesting. A town springing out of nowhere and slowly, visibly, growing every time the adventuring party returns to it with their loot might even seem natural. But having it become exponential might be terrifying, particularly if you mix in plenty of real people caught in the same giant illusion.
It really isn't. I watched the whole video and I still don't know what thought contagion means. Remember just because something seems simple and easy for you doesn't mean it is for everyone else and that is super common at the D&D table. Assume your teammates are brain dead idiots and be nice
@@aSipOfHemlocktea The... meaning of the words themselves? Thought. Contagion. It spells it out. It's not 'easy', it's 'I know what both words mean individually because I speak, read and write English, thus, through the power of deduction, I can add 1 and 1 and get 2.'
@@ArilliusDM it's kinda like the riddle "what does y-e-s spell?" To which most people reply "yes" then you follow that up with "what does e-y-e-s spell?" To which most people struggle to figure out what "E Yes" is. Obviously the answer is eyes, but a little misdirection goes a long way. Reading comprehension doesn't do anything for you if you don't have context. Which you do, obviously.
@@Drcappuchino No, the words themselves are enough. Thought - Thinking, the images or words in your brain Contagion - Disease that spreads An image or word in your brain that is like a disease that spreads. That's it. No context needed. Game given.
So uh.. small complaint, I think I'm complaining about the title or episode format. I have actually played in a false hydra setting before, which was awesome, and was hoping to see where the concept of the "inverse false hydra" fell thinking maybe it goes beyond 1 scene? It was what made me discover this channel, but I've been watching a whole bunch of these serials, wondering if I'll find out if it's actually a creature because what comes next is totally unclear (also hard to tell which video order). I'm starting to think it doesn't exist & that I've wasted all my time before I go to work :( I realize this is a very nuanced circumstance, but I felt drawn here because I have experienced the False Hydra.
It was a solo session with just Jay's player. Though I think if I were to go back and do it again then it would be super fun to have the other players run the Fake PCs or something like that!
What might he have found if he had tried casting detect thoughts on someone? or alternatively, what was the true nature of the cult? was the cult just another fabrication? what could he have found out about them?
The best part is how classic DnD 5e tropes still penetrate the story - the protagonost is a weird race/class combo with generic English name, there is a fight that is completely irrelevant to the bigger plot, the protag did dumb suicidal s*it in a heated situation.
Second time watching this video, and i'm still not sure which (if any) of these are player characters. Did Jay ever actually meet anyone in town and were the other party members just playing along the whole time? I've watched the whole playlist and I still don't understand what a "reverse" false hydra is or what it does. Is this entire plot thread some kind of meta gaslighting, the real thought contagion was the friends we made along the way?
What is this creature/entity actually called, though? "Reverse false hydra" just sounds so weird. Also, we never seem to find out what the tower thing actually was; was it housing the eyeball, or was it part of the creature to which the eyeball belonged? What exactly was the method by which it influenced the minds of its victim? It wasn't via song like a false hydra operates...
yeah, this doesn't make sense. was the rest of the party in on it? i would be so annoyed if my character was killed and i made a fun replacement only for it to get turned into something for another player
I don't really see how this is in any way like or opposite to the reverse hydra. I also am having some difficulty believing this was an actual D&D session. What, did all the rest of the players sit around doing nothing for a whole evening? Cool creepy story but not really a D&D thing at all.
Wow, I came up with something similar awhile back. I called it the False Hydrangea and it was a plant monster with mind altering spores. It could create these shapeshifting planetoid minions and these spores would alter people’s memories into believing these disguised shapeshifters were people they knew they entire life. These minions would sneak the town’s supplies to the False Hydrangea and once it grew big enough, it would start feasting on the town’s people. Whenever it devoured one of the citizens, the spores would add a new memory to the townsfolk that explained the person’s disappearance. Was it a young man, well everyone remembers that he went off to college or war. Was it an old lady, well everyone remembers her dying peacefully in her sleep. Was it a child, well they were playing in the streets and a traffic accident killed him. For the combat side of the False Hydrangea, it got pretty meta. The fight wouldn’t be tough, but the mind altering spores would impact the player’s memories. If the party took a short rest right before the encounter, upon entering the boss room, they would realize that none of their resources from that short rest were actually replenished. That short rest was actually a fake memory from the spores to make the players think they were well rested for the fight. It’s Legendary Resistances were reflavored to be false memories of the players succeeding in their spells to demoralize to players and to cause them to waste a turn or two thinking a spell was effective or still active. It was just the right amount of meta and canonical retcons to make the fight fun without it being annoying.
Hydrangeas, in Japanese culture, generally symbolize sincere remorse and apology, while in Victorian England they symbolize arrogance and vanity, as well as being an omen of being unable to find a spouse. A false Hydrangea would therefore symbolize... insincere remorse. False vanity. Deceptive arrogance. Artificial isolation. The Hydrangea is named so because it is a vessel for water, the lifeblood of the world. But The False Hydrangea is vessel to naught but a mirage.
