Honestly, that sounds like a cool idea for a movie that advertises itself as a fantasy adventure, but then pulls the rug out from under the audience and reveals, "Surprise! You just bought tickets to a Horror movie!"
…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
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!
@@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.
This incidentally gave me an idea for a campaign. Groundhog Day. Every time your party takes a long rest, hopefully in a specific Inn. They’d have to figure out what’s happening on that day and stop a device or cult from restarting the day or something like that.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
I had almost this exact idea literally two days ago, which is when I first heard of a false hydra, should've expected someone came up with it already lol
Thats too much oil definitely against the rules i was concerned that maybe this was the thought contagion how truly despicable but thankfully it was a lovecraftien horror was worried for a second there
The thing about the clock tower being the root of evil rminds me a lot on a arc from the manga "The wrong way of using Healing magic". It isn't an amazing manga, but the arc in question im talking about deals with a misterious curse that afflicts the royal family, and "later" on the story its tevevaled that the catalyst of that curse was the clock tower of the city that the people in the city pray everyday, believing it is a Holy object
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
buh i was tryna search up this video and then proceeded to search up "anti reverse manticore" what does that mean also you can actually see the creature in the backround in that LIES LIES LIES map dream thingy!!!
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.
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...
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!
being the sole survivor of a near tpk and getting rewarded by becoming the protagonist of a survival horror game is kind of amazing
Honestly, that sounds like a cool idea for a movie that advertises itself as a fantasy adventure, but then pulls the rug out from under the audience and reveals, "Surprise! You just bought tickets to a Horror movie!"
The real horror of this was that we never knew if the town bowling team was cheating or not.
dunno man they, new ashton really needs to check that oil ratio
...and remember: there is no antimemetics division
Nice reference :3
Wouldn't the antimemetics division be a false hydra? Stealing and changing memories and all.
@@desinteresado125 i think its both
@desinteresado125 the division is tasked with handling antimemetic hazards that steals or remove memories
@@desinteresado125no they'd be the one who's trying to catch and contain the False Hydra.
…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'd guess its probably just the dm's stand in
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.
The tower petrifies its victims once their soul is at its weakest, their soul serving as everburning fuel for its vitality.
@@snoozymac2377 it did sound like it was also actually a city before... whatever happened
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
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!
Nice!
So then, what do we call this reverse False Hydra? The Liar's Tower?
I think that's perfect.
New concept? True Hydra, it sings its song and then you remember it
@@DripGokualt It desperately wants to be remembered, but when its song stops, for even a moment, everyone forgets it.
@@DripGokualtTruth Basilisk maybe?
Inverse Hydra could be cool?
Ceaseless Watcher, turn your gaze upon this wretched creature!
I'm sorry !
MAGNUS ARCHIVES MENTIONED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Magnus archives reference
Hello Jon, apologies for the deception
Honestly I think the party being down to one person perfectly worked out here, and made it much eerier than it would have been with more
“The True Hydra”
Nah cause that’s just a hydra
@@spectralstrikerA hydra doesn’t make an entire city appear
@@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.
A false-positive hydra
@@remnock XD
This gives me chills. Very deep chills. Nicely done. And incredibely well built up
This incidentally gave me an idea for a campaign. Groundhog Day. Every time your party takes a long rest, hopefully in a specific Inn. They’d have to figure out what’s happening on that day and stop a device or cult from restarting the day or something like that.
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!
Until the end I thought it was an earlier D&D edition. I didn't even realize it was a tengu and not a kenku either lol
@@strionic770 You know 3e had Tengu too right?
@@AztecCroc Did it? Didn't know that
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.
That is a really good campaign!
Was there an option to beat the cycle or is it full Hellraiser Inferno no escape?
I want the True Ending. Let me grant Salvation by Exterminatus.
Woah
, this is really cool
Okay but I need to run something like this. This is terrifying.
“Hurry home, babe; new Beholderkin just dropped”
This is the first time a D&D recap has given me actual chills.
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
HELLO? HELLO?
@@MANAGER_ESQUIRE I lOvE yOu
1:05 not beating the "very dangerous" allegations
some lovecraftian stuff right there
At least the False Hydra kind of looks like a Hydra but this is a tower with an eyeball on it. Just give it a different name like a False Witness.
According to a poll the creator put out its called the liar’s tower/thought contagion.
Just started binging all of your videos and actually caught up on the island playlist a few days ago! Happy to see it continuing!
9:45 lol was not expecting a Hermitcraft reference.
frrr omg also the game theory reference
DMs OTW to write literal masterpieces for 1-4 people to see.
Rewatched this to make this potentially in a campaign
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.
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.
"Thought Contagion" is a great Muse song. It inspired me to make a 9th level spell (in D&D 5e) of the same name.
I have heard nothing more painfully “we’ve played too much dnd, I’m out of character ideas” than tiefling/kenku hybrid😂
It’s a pathfinder 2e thing, pathfinder 2e allows anyone to be a Tiefling
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.
Also, soft confirmation, Swashbuckler is a class in PF2e, and while it's a subclass in DnD, a lot of recaps would have just said Rogue.
unless it's 3e
Pathfinder, to be clear.
@@JamCliche swashbuckler was a class in 3.x
Yay! The campaign continues!
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.
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
I _knew_ it was a Hermitcraft reference!
One brilliant story after another. Thank you, your videos are truly a piece of art!
Hippity hoppity
This idea is now my property
lmfaooo
This feels like playing an 8-bit horror game and I love it.
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.
This is my new favorite encounter
False False Hydra?!
D&D dungeon masters could create really successful novels...
This would make a terrifying horror game dude
Damn these monsters...
I cast- *O R B I T A L S T R I K E*
well now i'm curious what would happen if this and an actual false hydra formed in the same town at the same time.
I have a evil idea put this thing and the false Hydra in the same town
I appreciate the use of pixel art in this as well as the story, it's sick as fuck.
jay coulda just taken the fun way and gotten blackout drunk, unfortunately for him though, he is not a bard
i just got here, and thing banger is apparently an episodic thing ? heck yeah i'm going to bing watch it all
Damn, the true hydra!
8:30 It was at this moment I knew Jay was gonna autodefenestrate.
Finally a true hydra
I had almost this exact idea literally two days ago, which is when I first heard of a false hydra, should've expected someone came up with it already lol
This is interesting using conditions that middle ones perceptions as a way to detect the beast
I'm watching this on my midnight walk
true hydra
was not expecting a hermitcraft refrence in a dnd video
jay scarfeathers out there fighting for his life
this sounds cool af. gonna watch from ep 1
ater the clock tower i would say after the dm finish describing "nope I'm getting the fuck out of there"
Missed opportinuty for a rooftop pursuit
Feels like a waste of a very powerful mind blank scroll if he could have just gotten drunk instead.
Thats too much oil definitely against the rules i was concerned that maybe this was the thought contagion how truly despicable but thankfully it was a lovecraftien horror was worried for a second there
I love this I'm stealing it thank you.
imagine if the character was a drunken bard 😂😂 cheat code
The “True or False Hydra” if you will
Schizophrenia VS dementia.
Kenku/Tiefling mix sounds like a balance nightmare ngl
When you said they all died, I expected them to have been collectively replaced but the RFH.
9:00 You can destroy it.
9:59 Is that bg a hermitcraft reference or am I losing my mind
WHEN WILL THIS BE RELEVANT TO SLIPGATE!!!
The thing about the clock tower being the root of evil rminds me a lot on a arc from the manga "The wrong way of using Healing magic".
It isn't an amazing manga, but the arc in question im talking about deals with a misterious curse that afflicts the royal family, and "later" on the story its tevevaled that the catalyst of that curse was the clock tower of the city that the people in the city pray everyday, believing it is a Holy object
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.
This is DAMN creepy
i had an idea like that while ago. called it the true hydra.
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.
@@Heroshand yeah, its just how I would have done it, not a knock against the GM or there players.
did the party ever find out what exactly this creature was and what its goals were?
Exactly what I was wondering. If it’s killing people then why didn’t it kill the PC on the first night/day?
What if Junji Ito ran a D&D game?
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.
I think what they meant is that instead of forgetting things that happened, its power is based on making you remember things that didnt happen
dnd sounds so interesting but i cant imagine myself actually playing it
Why not?
@Panha-fh3zt it's just not something i would want to spend time doing, idk
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.
i feel bad for the lone player but at least they became the protagonist
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.
5:04 bruh 😂😂😂😂
Dooblydo confinced me to subscribe ;)
For a moment I thought you said KenGoo and I was thinking “wait wait wait! Is that a goose variation of a kenku?!” 😅
And my immediate thought was of the role play of a character who can’t talk, or even imitate others speaking. They just honk and hiss at everyone 😂
5:22 Dude, spoilers. What was the imaginary cult like? What did they respond with when asked about their motivations and goals?
Oh shit here we go again lol
This is a pathfinder 2e story.... isnt it? Anyway this was sooo cool, good work, good dming.
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?
buh i was tryna search up this video and then proceeded to search up "anti reverse manticore" what does that mean
also you can actually see the creature in the backround in that LIES LIES LIES map dream thingy!!!
sounds so interesting :o
Amazing, I did something like this w weeping angels
WHAT?!! what do you mean it has to wait for the next episode?!
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 feel like I don’t scare easily but this was really freaking creepy.
Hermit craft ref :00
So... a True Hydra
What were your other players doing?
pretty sneaky sis
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...
Push the dam algorithm
Were the other party members also players?
How did they handle being kind of side-characters for this leg of the adventure?
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!
@@TheToastThief ah understood! Thanks!