Zera’cry, Dustspire Dreadnaught

Adversary overview

A five headed hydra, a fell beast from the ancient world.

Zera’cry is a Lacunaar, a type of intelligent but not sentient creature created by the gods or demigods for a specific purpose. In different settings they may be called titans, eikons, summons, colossi, etc.

Zera’cry is a massive five-headed serpent that lives in a lake of liquid poison at the bottom of Dustpire Delve. Charged by a deity to protect an ancient artifact, Zera’cry is hostile to all intruders no matter what their alignment and will fight all to the death to protect his charge.

Zera’cry is my first attempt at creating a true boss encounter for Daggerheart. I leaned heavily on MMORPG mechanics when designing the boss features and specifically wanted to avoid adding in minions, hence the attempt at using Stress as an initial “shield” bar for Zera’cry. Over the coming months as I run the monster, stats and damage will likely be adjusted. The final ability, Rage of the Lacunaar, is akin to a high stress “DPS check” in that setting and may need to be conveyed as such once it has triggered once.

When using Zera’cry in your setting, consider what item they are protecting and why they were placed there to protect it. Consider having Zera’cry move around the arena, submerging underneath the lake of venom, poison, ice, fire, shadow, or whatever element you choose to theme Zera’cry with to hide from the PCs and surprise them. Use the tail to hit PCs who stand too far away and to show off the sheer magnitude of the monster they are fighting. If you wanted, you could even give the Tail it’s own statblock like a Colossus, although I chose not to do that here in order to keep mental load down for a solo boss.

Describe that he is an intelligent predator, but an animal nonetheless like the Learnean Hydra or the Kraken. It is driven by its purpose, and defending its territory, and that is the full extent of its sentience.

Stat block

Tier

3

Type

Solo

Difficulty

16

HP

10

Stress

10

Attack mod

+7

Damage thresholds

Minor

Mark 1 HP

22

Major

Mark 2 HP

40

Severe

Mark 3 HP

Standard attack

Bite

Range: Close

Damage: 3d10+1

Attack Mod: +7

Damage Type: Physical

Features

Passives

Relentless (2)

This adversary can be spotlighted up to 2 times per GM turn. Spend Fear as usual to spotlight them.
The Tail of Zera'cry

When Zera'cry is spotlighted for the first time, the Tail of Zera'cry is added to the scene and may be immediately spotlighted. The Tail of Zera'cry shares Zera'cry's HP, Stress, Difficulty, ATK bonus, and range and may be spotlighted instead of Zera'cry any time Zera'cry takes the spotlight. It's attack is a slam instead of a bite. The Tail of Zera'cry is removed from the scene when Zera'cry Evolves.
The Heart of Zera'cry

Zera'cry's carapace is too tough for any mortal blade or spell to puncture. Until this adversary evolves, any HP it would mark is marked as Stress instead. When Zera'cry marks its last Stress, evolve this adversary.

Actions

Waves of Dread
fear 3

Spend three Fear to force all targets within far range to make an Agility Reaction Roll (14). PCs that fail take 2d20 magic damage. PCs that succeed take no damage and mark one Stress.

Reactions

Momentum

When this adversary makes a successful attack against a PC, you gain a Fear.

Evolutions

Zera'cry's Bleeding Heart

When Zera'cry marks his last Stress, clear half of its Stress and remove the Tail of Zera'cry from the scene. Zera'cry's Heart is now exposed and he marks HP as normal for the rest of the scene. Zera'cry lets out a wailing roar from all five of his heads. Zera'cry immediately starts the countdown of the Rage of the Lacunaar feature.
Rage of the Lacunaar

Countdown (Loop 4). When Zera'cry evolves, activate the countdown. It ticks down any time an Action Roll is made during a PC Spotlight. When it triggers, Zera'cry lashes out with all five heads in a vicious display of desperation. One PC must either take Severe Damage, or all PCs must take Minor Damage. Armor may be spent as normal to reduce HP loss.