Oh good, shiny things. "Definitely something of value in there. We're not just clearing out a threat for later."

She will wait and watch. If the hydra happens to roam into the visible part of the cave, she'll see it. If not, eventually Julen will return.

No hydra ever becomes visible to her.

Yanor finishes preparing his spells.

A little over thirty minutes later, Julen returns with a dead alligator lifted with both arms. It's clearly very heavy even for someone of his strength.

He sets it down and groans. "That was the only beast I could find that would interest a hydra. Heavy bastard."

"Looks like it should do. ...I will need assistance dragging it over there. You can get settled in and watching before I start the Sound. I will keep a Message connection active."

Julen will assist her in dragging it over there. It's easier with two people, although he's still doing most of the work.

She sets up the Message and waits, whispering along it to keep the connection open.

They set down the alligator carcass in front of the cave and Julen retreats back to their temporary camp. "Now."

Ghost Sound. Very quiet alligator noises for now, but escalating after the next ten seconds to an eventual (unmistakeable and very loud) death rattle.

And then she sprints in the other direction. By the time the noises should be audible to anything nearby, she's two hundred feet away, having gone a little past the telescope's position in her haste. She slows and creeps back in with the others, now doing her best to be quiet rather than fast.

A few moments later...

A huge six-headed hydra emerges from the cave and lumbers down to the alligator carcass. Three of the heads descend and begin tearing into it. The other three sweep the area near the cave.

"Six. ...We can handle six heads. Give it— half an hour to possibly drowse off? Tomas, correct me if my timing is wrong, I don't know hydras as well as you. Then we go in. We prepare with Yanor's Communal Resist Energy for fire, so the sixfold breath isn't fatal, and Invisibility  and Dazzling Blades for the two of you. I will begin with a Burst of Radiance to blind it, or one of you two can release a Blade in its eyes and I will Scream at it. Either way, we take it down fast."

And that second tap with the wand to restore Tomas's reserves. Charges are relatively cheap, and taking one additional blow from the hydra to drop is very much worth the cost.

"I don't know much about hydra sleep patterns. However, that plan sounds good to me. Thanks for the healing."

It's not long before the hydra finishes consuming the crocodile. It climbs back up into the cave and disappears.

And she waits. If it is the sort of beast that settles down after hunting — or at least eating, given the lack of a hunt — it should be out by the end of the Message's length. If it isn't, the delay won't hurt them.

In the meantime, planning. "I have five remaining second circle spells today. Two are Invisibilities for the two of you, and two are potential Bursts of Radiance to keep it blind. With the last, I can push a bit more power into a Dazzling Blade. It works best when out of the brightest light, so when we get in, I would like about thirty feet between me and the Light. I have no strong opinion on who should bear the stronger one and who the first circle version. The metamagicked version is also slightly more eye-catching, if one of you wants to distract the hydra, but I think that mostly redundant with blinding it."

"Keep your last second circle spell open. If all goes well we won't need the dazzling blades."

A reasonable point. Nod, and wait.

Eventually she feels her Message fade, and recasts it. "I suspect waiting longer will not serve us. Time for preparations. It came out promptly after the call, so I suspect we will reach it soon enough for minutes spells cast now to last?"

Yanor casts communal resist energy on the party.

Invisibility. Invisibility again. on the other person who needs to be within touching distance of a hydra. Dazzling Blade and another Dazzling Blade, and... in they go. Or as least she nodded to the invisible people and then she and Yanor started walking in as quietly as they could. She can only assume Tomas and Julen are also coming. (Lhín confirms that, indeed, they are leading the party.)

The cavern is dark and musty. It slopes up and curves to the left.

The hydra is perhaps a hundred feet deep into the cavern. It's lounging on the floor but is not asleep.

"Awake. Oh well."

Burst of Radiance. Ideally this will rather obsolete the Invisibilities, but better to have and not need than to need and not have.

The hydra roars and is up within moments. Its vision seems impaired but it is otherwise unharmed.

A minor wound opens on the hydra's side. Tomas becomes visible.

A major wound opens across the hydra's chest. Julen becomes visible.