Mr. Hydration is an elderly goliath and skilled ranger accompanied by his winged drake companion, Drip. While he is not the brightest bulb on the tree and makes somewhat questionable judgment calls, nothing ill can be said about his skill in combat as he rides Drip into one battle after the next.
Mr. Hydration was one of several adventurers who answered a summons from
Lady Kemlar, who promised each of them information they'd been seeking and a large sum of gold if they could defeat one of
Tiamat's generals,
Arkhan the Cruel, on behalf of her acquaintance
Marshall and bring him back (dead or alive) intact for interrogation.
Table of Contents
Trip to the Tower
The group was transported to the
Nine Hells by
Lady Kemlar's magic before she parted ways with them to attend her own business. They made their way across the hellish wastes to
General Marshall's war camp. The group (sans
Genevieve) spoke with the general as he explained his forces would cause a distraction in the west so they could approach
Arkhan's Tower from the east. He had already arranged a boat to take them across
River Styx and gave them a sending stone so that he could notify them when his attack began.
Arriving at the
Styx, they met the mercenary
Kishin who
Marshall had hired to get them across the waters. Tired of the exhausting effects
Avernus was having on him, Mr. Hydration asked
Kishin if there was any way to prevent this condition.
Kishin informed him that it had no such effect on evil souls, but that Mr. Hydration would have to do something unspeakably evil like destroying a soul to corrupt his own soul so thoroughly in such a short time. This sounded like an excellent idea to Mr. Hydration, who used a net to fish a soul from the
Styx and bear hug it until it was completely destroyed, despite
Ibrahim and
Genevieve's protests.
Arriving on the opposite side of the river, the group was spotted by a scouting part of black dragons. As the only one who spoke
draconic, Mr. Hydration lead the negotiations by claiming they had come to offer their services to
Tiamat. He gave the money he'd received from
Lady Kemlar to them as tribute, which one dragon flew off with, but the scout leader attacked when Mr. Hydration proved unable to correctly recite a prayer to
the Dragon Queen. The group made short work of them before heading to
Arkhan's Tower in the distance. The tower lay in the middle of a flatland with no cover around it, which proved somewhat problematic when the white dragon perched atop it spotted the group and let out a roar of warning. They rushed into the tower before the dragon could charge them, only for the formerly unlocked doors to slam shut behind them as the tower's obsidian walls extended to block the doors entirely.
The Lower Floors: Battling the Undead
The tower's 1st floor was guarded by hordes of
zombies. Though they were of little threat despite their numbers, each horde that fell fused together and reformed itself into a zombie clot that proved much more formidable. Riding atop Drip, Mr. Hydration flew above the undead and blasted them with draconic lightning before a zombie clot cocooned Drip in undead flesh. While Mr. Hydration freed his companion, the undead surged towards them and the pair spent the remainder of the battle on the ground alongside
Genevieve. Now free of hostiles, they examined the area with Mr. Hydration discovering an empty tomb with
Marshall's name engraved on it and marked "for future use". He had Drip smash it to pebbles before heading up the stairs.
The 2nd floor was some manner of processing chamber designed to drain blood from humanoids using a large, complicated machine. This device was powered by a chained and muzzled
nightmare beast and guarded by hordes of
skeletons. As the skeletons noticed the adventurers and began firing arrows at them,
Genevieve used her magic to free the nightmare beast. The very free and very angry beast turned the anger from its imprisonment on the skeletons, disintegrating them with its magic and smashing them with its great hands. Mr. Hydration rode Drip straight into the legions of undead, blasting them with dragonsbreath and smashing them to bone splinters with his mighty halberd.
When the fallen skeleton hordes reformed into a
dragonbone golem and giant skeleton, Mr. Hydration assisted in bringing down the golem first while
Genevieve kept the giant skeleton busy. Though they defeated the dragonbone golem, they were sadly unable to do so before the petrifying effects of its breath weapon turned their nightmare beast ally to stone. The room now clear of hostiles, they examined the machinery and Mr. Hydration read a note written in draconic that indicated it was draining to blood of Good-aligned humanoids and mixing them with powdered unicorn horn for some unknown reason. After the group took a brief rest to tend to their wounds,
Tim pulled a lever and activated a teleportation circle the group then jumped through.
The 3rd floor featured a round chamber that lead off into several other rooms. The group split up to explore with Mr. Hydration first locating a room used for humanoid experimentation, which he mistook for a sex dungeon. He then broke down a door into an alchemical lab before failing to break down the reinforced door to
Krull's study, which was lockpicked by
Genevieve instead. Inside, Mr. Hydration discovered a hidden message behind the books on a bookshelf and left his companions to solve the riddle while he continued to explore. Wandering into a golem lab, he threw several javelins at a machine spewing electricity and slammed the door shut, yelling for help when he broke it and released a pair of
living lightning bolts. With assistance from
Ibrahim and
Tim, he and Drip were able to destroy the hostile living spells. Not long after,
Genevieve and
Tim managed to activate the floor's teleportation circle, allowing the group to advance to the next floor.
The Middle Floors: Dragons & Golems
The 4th floor had a soft and marshy ground, like a swamp, evidentially created through the magic of its inhabitant, Slarkas the adult
black dragon. Though Mr. Hydration attempted to simply speak with Slarkas, the negotiations failed rather quickly when the dragon smelled the blood of its brood, the dragon scouts the party had killed earlier, upon them. This room, unlike the previous floors, had several holes in the walls that allowed
Tim to push Slarkas'
clay golem to its doom. These openings also turned out to be a hinderance as the adult
white dragon Obatala came through one and unleashed its breath weapon before retreating as the group battled Slarkas. Mr. Hydration charged Slarkas directly atop Drip, keeping the dragon's focus until it noticed how much
Ibrahim's magic was aiding the party and turning its attention on the cleric. Despite this, the adventurers were able to put the black dragon down with relatively minor injuries. Slarkas' death seemed to activate the teleporter to the next floor, allowing the group to move on.
They entered the 5th floor and were immediately greeted by Vistalancer, the adult
blue dragon. His magic had turned the ground to sand, interrupted only by his glass nest and rocky pillars and outcroppings scattered throughout. Mr. Hydration once again charged his draconic opponent while
Tim provided cover fire. Meanwhile,
Ibrahim and
Genevieve focused on the dragon's servant, a
fiendish flesh golem. Obatala returned during this battle, hitting both
Ibrahim and
Genevieve with its cold breath before once again retreating. Mr. Hydration pursued Vistalancer as he left his nest to put rocky outcroppings between himself and
Tim, though the warlock was quickly able to reposition and put down Vistalancer. The dragon dead, the pair joined their companions and put an end to his golem as well. As before, the dragon's death activated the floor's teleporter and the group moved on.
The 6th floor appeared to be an incubation chamber, containing several glass apparatuses warm to the touch with dragon eggs inside (as well as one cold to the touch, containing a white dragon egg). The floor itself was also warm and contained several vents that blew hot air into the room. Fiddling with the incubation controls, Mr. Hydration and
Tim were incapacitated by some sort of magic when they touched a certain set of them.
Ibrahim tried, unsuccessfully, to cure their ailments while
Genevieve determined the controls were covered by an illusion which also hid writing on the wall.
Ibrahim dispelled the magic hiding the draconic writing; fortunately, the magic afflicting their companions was short-lived and the recovered Mr. Hydration was able to translate. It appeared to be some sort of riddle indicating which levers needed to be pulled to activate this floor's teleporter. After
Genevieve and
Tim managed to deduce which levers to pull, the group moved onto the next floor.
The Upper Floors: More Dragons & Living Spells
The 7th floor's ground resembled a forest after rainfall, pocketed by pools of liquid poison and jutting green crystals. On the far side, the
green dragon Virmilius sat in a nest of filth and attacked without attempting any conversation. It was soon apparent that the dragon was not alone as a pair of
living cloudkill spells crept out of the poison pools and used their magic to cover the majority of the room in toxic gas. At the same time, Obatala returned once again and before spraying the group with cold breath during his favored hit & run tactics. Mr. Hydration charged this dragon atop Drip as he had the previous ones, but was surprised when the dragon pulled back into a cloud of toxic gas rather than fight directly. He spent the remainder of the battle lobbing javelins into the thick green mist to varying degrees of success. But despite Virmilius' tricky tactics and dirty fighting, the group emerged victorious when
Genevieve's rocket-powered fist shattered the dragon's skull. After the adventurers finished off the last living spell, the toxic cloud cleared to revealed an activated teleporter (presumably activated upon Virmilius' death).
Ready for battle, the group emerged onto the 8th floor standing on hardened lava with more magma (both solid and liquid) surrounding them and balls of fire floating in the air. These fireballs turned out to be
living fireball spells that began to attack the group just as the Flash, the
red dragon, emerged from the lava and used his breath weapon before hiding back beneath it. The adventurers were repeatedly assailed by Flash's magic, shooting lava up from beneath them and superheating the air around them. While the rest of the group made preparations against Flash, Mr. Hydration focused on the living fireballs to keep them from attacking his companions. When Flash fully emerged to attack Mr. Hydration for having the audacity to ride a dragon,
Tim took the opportunity to polymorph himself into a huge giant crab and grapple him above the lava where he could be attacked. Despite Flash's best efforts, he could not break free from
Tim's claws and met his end from a blast of
Ibrahim's divine magic, his death activating yet another teleporter.
The 9th floor was thankfully free of dragons, housing on the apartment of
Arkhan the Cruel. The adventurers quickly found a teleportation circle (like the one from the 6th floor) on the northern side of the luxurious apartment.
Tim attempted to activate this teleporter the same as the last to no effect, prompting the group to search the room for clues. Mr. Hydration fruitlessly searched a bookcase, hoping to find a clue there like he had on the 6th floor, before being distracted by a comfortable hot tub. After finding various clues around the room (several of which proved to be red herrings), the group pushed the panel's buttons in the correct order and activated the teleporter to the roof.
The Rooftop: Battling Arkhan the Cruel
The adventurers arrived on the roof to find
Arkhan the Cruel surrounded by his inner circle (
Krull,
Torogar Steelfist, and Obatala) on a stone dais. A lit brazier sat in its center, casting forth a multicolored flame in the shape of the
Dragon Queen. Transparent chains surrounded the shape, one around each neck. Two of these chains were already broken as
Arkhan shattered a third, stating he would finish the ritual to free
Tiamat from her confinement after dealing with the adventurers.
It turned out he meant "deal" in a more literal sense than they anticipated, offering them 3x whatever payment
Marshall had given them to walk away. Mr. Hydration was uninterested in money but offered to walk away if he could take Obatala with him. It mattered little as
Arkhan quickly retracted the offer when Mr. Hydration mentioned it was
Lady Kemlar, not
Marshall, who had hired them. Composed before this point,
Arkhan appeared taken off-guard and frightened by the mention of
Lady Kemlar's name, declaring he would make no deal with anyone working for The Whispered One either directly or indirectly before ordering his followers to attack.
Tim was the first to strike as the battle broke out, causing
Arkhan to order his subordinates to focus their efforts on the warlock who'd presented himself as a clear threat. Though Mr. Hydration initially focused on the white dragon Obatala, the rest of their opponents proved to be greater threats. Mr. Hydration steered Drip towards
Krull to help finish him off after seeing the tortle survive a would-be fatal hit. After that, Mr. Hydration focused his efforts on
Arkhan and managed to strike a mortal blow, impaling the dragonborn with his glaive just before Vecna could possess
Arkhan.
Epilogue: Mr. Hydration Finds His Own Reward
During the battle, the group had deduced that that
Arkhan's gnarled left hand was in fact the
Hand of Vecna, and that obtaining this artifact was likely
Lady Kemlar's true goal. Caring little for this,
Mr. Hydration left the others to collect dragon eggs on a lower floor of the tower. With the tower's many guardians dead, he was able to do this unimpeded and fly away before the tower was destroyed by
Lady Kemlar. He and Drip flew around for a short time before they ran back into
Kishin, who arranged to give Mr. Hydration a ride home in exchange for a future, undisclosed favor.
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