Ivy’s Subtle Victory – a Father Dagon Mother Hydra Play Through

This is a quick playthrough of my newest game, Father Dagon Mother Hydra, I did in one afternoon. The point I wanted to test was if someone could win FDMH without adding any Strength stat points to their initial character sheet. This was important to me because the Strength stat is what is used when fighting cultists and when destroying the idols, the main focus of the game.

Ivy St. Clair [she/her] is a Miskatonic University student. She is petite, very shy, and her style has been kindly called frumpy. She is comfortable with books and often tucks herself away in corners to read and avoid social interaction.
Her 6 stat points went: 2 Knowledge, 2 Stealth, 1 Intuition, and 1 Dexterity. 0 points in Strength and Charisma.
(Photo by Til Jentzsch)

Ivy woke from her nightmare at the Arkham Drive In Theater. She had no idea how she got there as the drive-in was on the other side of town from where she’d been walking from the Historical Society to her dorm at the University.
On the screen, Night of the Living Dead is playing. The infamous moment where Karen loses her humanity and feasts on the flesh of her murdered mother is playing on a loop, over and over and over.

There in the drive-in, among a handful of scattered vehicles in various states of destruction was an idol, one Ivy saw in her nightmares. One of six horrific figures taller than a man. One of six that she knew, in her guts and in her bones, must be destroyed before something terrible and unspeakable happened.
Stealthily, Ivy approached the idol. She tore her eyes from the strange hieroglyphs. The color in the moonlight was like white marble but when Ivy put her hands on it, it felt porous like deep sea coral. Something turned in her stomach and she feared…knew…that whatever this material was, it was more alive than rock. It was bone or coral or shell and it was terrible.
Finding purchase on a nearby car, she leveraged herself against the top of the idol and shoved.
The idol toppled over and, with a loud crash against the adjacent car, broke apart. The strange glow died away. The looping image on the screen stopped. All went dark.
That was when Ivy heard the approaching creature.
The Deep One with its strange, oceanic-humanoid form cost Ivy one point of sanity. She knew better than to fight it so her only choice was to run and evade. It grabbed her once, costing her 2 points of Fatigue but the second attempt, she got away by sliding under a truck and making a run for the perimeter of the drive-in.

Just outside the chain link fence and low weedy hedge around the drive-in, Ivy found the Library.
Confused because she knows for a fact that the library is not next to the drive-in but miles away, closer to the University, she keeps moving. Within is quiet and cool. Slipping into one of the side study rooms, Ivy wonders if it is safe to rest here for a bit (regaining her strength if not her little bit of lost sanity). Just as she believes that it is indeed safe, she hears a voice outside her study room door.
“Yes, darling. I know. I know.”
Looking out the door, Ivy spots a man carrying a large canvas painting. He doesn’t seem to notice her, so she shuts the study room door, locks it, and barricades it with the study room desk. That done, she curls up in a corner and finds a moment to rest.
Reinvigorated, Ivy knows it’s been hours but its still dark when she looks out the window. The moon is still high in the sky, the only light within Arkham despite knowing that the street lights and various lights from the campus should be visible from here. An eerie glow like a fluorescent fog lingers on the horizon.

(photo by Henry Be)

Knowing she can’t stay here forever, Ivy slips out of the room and first considers the side door from which she came in. A peek outside, she spots a creature similar to the one she encountered at the drive-in if not the same creature she evaded. Worried, she searched for something that could be used as a weapon to protect herself. While not finding a weapon, she did run into the man with the canvas in the main hall.
He was tall, gaunt, with paint splattering his hands and what might have once been a nice suit. Despite seeing Ivy, he didn’t seem to really notice her but was transfixed by the painting. Above him, from a rafter that holds up the lofted second floor, was a length of rope ending in a noose. The man is standing under it but doesn’t seem to care much about it.
The man mutters about mutation. Ivy asks if he means the creature outside but he shakes his head and points to the painting. “I tried to fix her, to paint her back but…it keeps changing.”
“Ivy glances at the portrait and loses a point of sanity as the painting of what was once a beautiful woman moves to look at her and mutates a little more into a blend of human and those strange creatures she encountered before.
She looks away and needing something to calm her, she unties and pulls down the rope, wrapping it around her waist to carry with her…just in case. “We need to get out of here, if we can get past that thing outside.”
The artist refuses to leave but tells her that the north exit is the best chance. Before she leaves, he gives her a necklace. On a silver chain hangs a pendant the side of her thumbnail and on it is carved a strange sigil like the hieroglyphs. She is hesitant to take it but he seems a little frantic so she relents and puts it on. (The rope gives her +1 dexterity and the necklace +1 intuition.)

Ivy stealths out of the library, through an overgrown garden, and past the gate to where there should be a road and to the north east the University. She hopes to reach it, campus security, perhaps the safety and comfort of her dorm. Instead, Ivy finds herself in a dead forest, surrounded by eerie, dead trees that scratch at the night sky like dead fingers.

(photo by Jamie Hagen)

Trying to adjust to the idea that the world that she knows has become jumbled like a jigsaw puzzle dumped in a box, she sees an uncomfortably familiar glow. Through the trees she spots another of those horrible idols.
Looking for more of those creatures, Ivy stealths to it and wonders if, since her strength is minimal, could she somehow tie her rope around the idol and use it to help her pull it down. The answer is yes, but…there’s a complication. It won’t be a full success, likely taking longer and causing more of a chance of her to be noticed. Hoping she will have the same luck as before, she goes for it, successfully pulling down the hideous idol.
This draws the attention of a Deep One but she is able to flee back through the forest and to the shelter of the library without harm.

Taking a moment to rest, listening to the artist weeping and pleading with his painting in the next room, Ivy considers her next move. Checking another exit, she sees none of the creatures and takes the risk, hoping that this way won’t lead her to one of those idols again without help.

She finds herself in an unknown cemetery. The gravestones are old, some simple and others ornate statues. Thankfully they give her spots to hide when she hears shuffling.

(photo by Scott Rodgerson)

Slipping behind an ancient looking, partially broken headstone, she presses her hands on the ground. At first she thinks she touches tree roots or stones. Looking down, she sees bones in the dirt and there, on one of the loose bones, is an old ring. Picking it up to look at it, she sees there’s a stone – an old engagement ring. Before she can think about whether to keep it or bury it, she hears shuffling again and keeps moving. A few rows later, she realizes the ring is still in her hand and pockets it, resolving to take it back later when it’s safer.
Reaching the mausoleum, she slips inside. In the front is a small prayer alcove where she finds a small box of (5) matches but no candle to light.
“Who is there?”
Turning, Ivy is startled to run into Ash [they/them]. While the last person Ivy would want to run into on a regular day since meeting them freshmen year and forming an unwanted crush, Ivy is too scared to begrudge company, even company that makes her uncomfortably flushed and unable to think clearly on a normal occasion.

(Photo by JuanMa Velasquez.)

They share stories and Ash admits to having the same dreams and seeing one of the idols but unable to do anything with it because of the creatures around it. Ivy asks if Ash would come with her and the answer is yes, but…Ash is injured, revealing a bunch of cuts and gashes from an encounter with a human-looking cultist with a knife.
Unwilling to leave Ash behind, Ivy brings them along as they slowly make their way through the cemetery.

Just past the cypress trees, the two find the abandoned medical clinic.

(Photo by Erik Mclean)

Ivy wonders if she can find something to help patch Ash up. Yes, full success as they slip into one of the rooms and pilfer some gauze, antiseptic ointment, steri-strips, etc. Its not the nicest looking wrap up and Ash still hurts like hell since they couldn’t find any pain meds, but Ash can now move. While looking for first aid items, Ivy finds a gold locket. Inside is a portrait of a couple. As she looks at it, they begin to morph from human to something horrifying. Shutting it, Ivy worries about her sanity but keeps her fears to herself, not wanting Ash to think less of her.
The two move further into the clinic, hoping to find help, but instead discover another idol on the clinic lawn.
Ivy asks if Ash is able to help her destroy the idol and with a yes, adds 1 strength point to her check.
Together, they are able to knock the idol over and, grabbing a nearby bird bath, crush the top part of it into a few pieces. Then they flee, hearing creatures moving within the clinic, heading their way.

The next location, the two find themselves at the Municipal Waste Treatment Facility. Ash comments that they were a little confused before but now know for a fact that this was not next to the clinic before. Ivy says that she noticed the landscape strangeness before but figured that was the least of their worries for now.

(Photo by Francesco Ungaro)

Near one of the archways that lead into the sewers, Ash and Ivy find a small pile of items. Among them is a purse full of hygiene products and a deck of tarot cards. Ivy flips through the cards thoughtlessly. A couple fall out but these are not cards she knows of. Instead of the usual royalty and archetypes, these are strange creatures unlike anything she has ever seen before…except for among the strange markings on the idols. Before she can decipher them, they hear a horrible shriek.
An old beggar woman attacks them. Ash fends them off, knocking the old woman down in an attack then the two run, fearing the noise will draw the attention of the cult.
(hygiene products add +1 Charisma and tarot deck adds +1 Intuition)

On the south side of the facility, they find the Arkham News Office where Ash works part time. No one is there but they crowbar near a broken window. Someone must have been here before but left. Ivy looks for anything else that could help them and discovered on the editor’s desk an envelope containing an old diary that is partially destroyed and has at some point seen water damage. Reading it, despite Ash urging her to join them in leaving, Ivy gains a clue as to what these idols and creatures might be. She loses another point of sanity as the words of Charles Angell repeat over and over in her head – Ia ia…Dagon…Hydra…blessed children of the deep…
(+1 knowledge). These creatures are the Deep Ones and the idols are for their gods, Father Dagon and Mother Hydra, their kingdom come, their will be done on earth as it is beneath us.

Ash leads a now somewhat out of it Ivy, out of the office and onwards. They find the Family Drug store.

(Photo by Dima Mukhin)

Part of it is burned and destroyed but another part of it is untouched and there, in the former parking lot, is another idol. The few cultists seem busy with moving bodies among the destruction. Ash and Ivy move stealthily and find, in the rubble they step through, a baseball bat. Using this and the crow bar, the two decide to go reckless and take down the idol.
They smash the thing until it falls over and then run. A Deep One makes a swipe at Ivy but after a few moves, despite a couple of hits, Ivy escapes into Ash’s arms and they evade into the darkness, the Deep One’s screams in their ears.

Unfortunately, there is no time to rest. Out of the frying pan and into the fire.
Ash and Ivy find themselves in a strange temple they both are quite certain is no where on an Arkham map.
Ivy recognizes a few symbols from Angell’s journal and believes that this is a Temple for Father Dagon.
Moving along the columns, past altars that are dark and wet, the two hide from shuffling figures in dark robes.
Seeing the sacrificed bodies, the statues, the altars, and the figures, both Ivy and Ash lose a point of sanity. Ivy is not doing well and has to be guided by Ash and reminded to be quiet as she mutters about Angell’s diary and the prayers to Dagon.
There, in the center of the temple is the sixth idol.
Ash pulls Ivy close, kisses her to shake her out of her mental fugue. “Let’s end this.”
Knowing that if they break this idol, it will bring the whole temple full of cultists down on them, the two, in their madness, decide to risk it all.
A success as they smash the idol with their tools, hands, blood and tears.
The grasp on our world is broken…for now.
Ash holds onto Ivy as the children of Dagon come for them.

To answer the question, yes. With a little luck, you can win without a character that has any Strength points at the beginning. 

You can get Father Dagon Mother Hydra on Itch.io along with my other solo horror ttrpgs. Thank you for reading.