hydra
noun, plural hy·dras, hy·drae [hahy-dree] for 1-3, genitive hy·drae [hahy-dree] for 4.
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The group of adventurers his behind a large rock, knowing it was not a viable long term solution to their problem.
“So, remind me again, whose idea was it to fight a hydra again?” Asked a man with a bow in his hands.
“Pretty sure it was Henry’s.” Answered another, this time with an ornate staff clutched in his hands.
A third, armed with a large battle axe growled. “I didn’t know it would be like this. I mean, we’ve handled plenty of strong monsters before. This should’ve been a cakewalk.”
“A cakewalk?” the archer said. “It’s a hydra. A monster famous for regrowing heads. Remind me what you favorite way to kill things is again?”
“I thought Marshall would do something about it.” Henry said.
“Me?” The mage exclaimed. “What did you expect me to do about it? Stop it from regrowing heads?”
“Uh, yes?”
“How would I do that exactly?”
“I don’t know, freeze or burn the necks or something?”
“You’re kidding, right?” The archer said. “Have you not been paying attention to how he operates?”
“Of course he hasn’t, Jack. Why would he.” Marshall said. His voice was heavy and full of barely concealed hatred for the warrior.
“I’m too busy chopping heads off to worry about what’s going on behind me.” Henry said.
The other two sighed. Of course he was not paying attention. Why would he? It was only his job to make sure neither of the other two got hurt. A job that he was currently failing spectacularly. The trio heard a massive crash from deeper inside the cave. It would not be long before it could get to them, and then it would not matter what they were hiding behind.
“Okay, since you’re too dumb to notice what your own party is capable of, let me instruct you.” Marshall said. “I am a geomancer. And, since you obviously have no idea what that means, it means I am and earth mage. I use rocks. I use dirt. I use the very ground upon which we walk. You want someone impaled on a stone spike or crushed in a stone hand, I’m your man. What I am not, is any other type of mage. I cannot burn things. I cannot freeze things. I cannot electrocute things.”
“Well why didn’t you say that before?” Henry growled.
“I did. Several times. I said it when you took the quest.”
“He told you while we were heading here.” Jack chimed in. “Several times, in fact.”
“Right. I also told you before entering the cave. And I’m telling you now.”
“Plus, all the times that you’ve seen him cast earth spells, and not any other kind.” Jack said. “Pretty sure you should’ve figured it out after all those times. Hell, it’s the only reason we were able to run away after you cut off, what, three of its heads?”
“Okay, we can all play the blame game later.” Henry sighed.
“Oh, but I want to. Look, here, let’s play now. It’s your fault. There, I win.” Marshall said. Henry muttered incoherently for a moment before he continued.
“We can do that later. For now, we need to figure out how to kill that thing.”
Jack and Marshall looked at each other before the archer spoke up.
“Henry, we don’t kill that thing. We run before it gets through all those rock walls Marshall put up. We can’t kill a hydra. We told you we can’t kill a hydra. We told you repeatedly wee can’t kill a hydra. And yet, here we are, trying to kill a hydra. Now that you’ve learned what the two of us already knew, we can run. We can report the quest a failure and let another group take care of it. A group with the means to actually take it down. We’ll take a bit of a rep hit, but let’s face it, nobody was expecting us to succeed anyway.”
“I remember some people very clearly telling us not to take this quest.” Marshall said. “I believe their exact words were ‘You shouldn’t take this quest. You’ll die if you do.’”
“We’re not running. I don’t run. Even if you two run, I’ll stay here to either kill it or die trying. But it doesn’t matter, since I know how to kill it.” The other two sighed. Another crash echoed through the cave as the monster broke another wall. “You’re an earth mage, right, Marshall?”
“Wow, it’s amazing, you’re actually capable of learning.”
“Well, we’re in a cave. Just drop it on the hydra. It’s heads regrow, but its body doesn’t, right? So crush it under the cave or something.”
Marshall was about to explain why that would not work. He was not nearly capable to dropping enough stone on the beast to kill it. Before he could though, the third crash reached them. The hydra let out a furious roar from each of its heads. Then its heavy footfalls filled the air. Before any of them could protest, Henry raised his battle axe and stepped out from behind the rock.
“We’ve got our plan! Let’s do this!”
And with that, he rushed towards the monster, ready to fight once more. The other two followed much more reluctantly. They could not just leave him. After all, a good meat shield was so hard to find.
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When doing something in a group, always listen to your teammates. Even if you aren't in a potentially life threatening situation, it's still something you really need to be doing. It's amazing how many people haven't seem to have figured this out.
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