This is a gelatinous cube. It is an ooze, so it has ooze traits (below), and it is also immune to electrical attacks. It can change shape to move through a door. It does not dissolve metal or stone, but pretty much everything else. It can also engulf victims and it can paralyze victims.
Ooze traits:
An ooze is an amorphous or mutable creature, usually mindless. An ooze has the following features.
d8 Hit Die.
Base attack bonus equal to 3/4 total Hit Dice (medium progression).
No good saving throws.
Skill points equal to 2 + Int modifier (minimum 1) per Hit Die. However, most oozes are mindless and gain no skill points or feats. Oozes do not have any class skills.
Traits: An ooze possesses the following traits (unless otherwise noted in a creature's entry).
Mindless: No Intelligence score, and immunity to all mind-affecting effects (charms, compulsions, phantasms, patterns, and morale effects). An ooze with an Intelligence score loses this trait.
Blind (but have the blindsight special quality), with immunity to gaze attacks, visual effects, illusions, and other attack forms that rely on sight.
Immunity to poison, sleep effects, paralysis, polymorph, and stunning.
Some oozes have the ability to deal acid damage to objects.
Not subject to critical hits or flanking. Does not take additional damage from precision-based attacks, such as sneak attack.
Proficient with its natural weapons only.
Proficient with no armor.
Oozes eat and breathe, but do not sleep.
Both attacks hit, and seem to do some damage. It jiggles in anger.
Thuradin steps from around the corner to confront the beast. Drawing his axe he attacks.
Kragmyr wracked his brain, trying to figure out what the creature was and what weaknesses it might have. As he did so, he moved up to attack, figuring that at the very least, he had to support his kinsman's charge.
Thozar sends a blast of acid towards the jelly cube. "Can the thing leave this room? We may be able take advantage of its size in this confined space!"
Do not know! Ulark yells back (or forwards) to Thozar Seeing Thuradin move right up to the blob, he steps in and strikes at it from around the corner. Be a good tactic to try in a moment at least.
for
All of the attacks hit, so it seems this creature is easy to beat on. Unfortunately, in the enclosed space, the true danger of this creature is apparent as it oozes right over you!
"Taste my hammer!"
Refusing to abandon his friends to the aberration Thuradin continues to hack at the creature with his axe.
Gundar backs up quickly as the jiggling creature moves ponderously forward, trying to avoid contact with it.
As the blob of presumptuous jello tries to roll over his companion, Ulark takes the opportunity to strike at it once again with his longaxe.
Oh no you don't, you jiggling square!
for
Then, boxed in, the warrior drops his longaxe down as he draws his warhammer, striking at the now adjacent cube with his hammer as he tries to dislodge those dwarves within.
for
As the gelatin rolls in, the dwarven brigade stands their ground and destroys the creature before is can digest them.
The cube pops and liquid splashes everywhere.
Thuradin lifts his feet as the creature quickly dissolves "Ugh, And these were brand new boots, too."
"Better ye boots than yer beard. Let's keep movin.'"
"Aye, there's slime in there as well." he shoots back "Going to take forever to clean it out."
Kragmyr casts prestigitation on Thuradin's beard and boots. "Now then, lets get goin."
Thuradin runs his fingers through his now luxurious beard as he sighs "Ahh, much better." Now, all kidding aside he kneels down to examine whatever remains of the creature "What in all the
Hells was that thing?"
With a sigh, Thuradin relents and allows Thuradin to examine the creature. He uses the time to clean the party with prestigitation of any and all ooze left on them from the encounter. By the time he is done, the brigade of dwarfs is completely spotless.
"Thank you Kragmyr, your service is much appreciated," Thozar says as he feels his freshly cleaned clothes and beard. It has been quite some time since I've been this clean... My word...
Thozar takes the opportunity to search the room for anything of note.
Ulark picks up his axe and moves around carefully...occasionally poking the air with his extended axe as he circles the room.
How did the slime even get in here? he mutters. Floors are filthy enough but no sludge the type this would make.
"The further we got he wore this place seems to get. A little maintenance would surely go a long way here!"
Torith takes time to check the area where the slime came from while taking care to avoid getting more slime on his boots than absolutely necessary.
Thuradin finds a number of items that had been floating around within the cube's mass.
steel scroll case with a scroll
masterwork chain shirt
falchion
star rose quartz amulet
coins totaling 20 gp, 95 sp, and 144 cp
Between Thozar and Ulark's combined efforts, they discover a secret door behind the statue.
"Bless me beard, well done lads. An' I'll be sure to nay rush Thuradin 'ere either. Let's advance! See what else these ruins have to throw at us."
Glad that his fellows had destroyed the strange gelatinous mass before it could devour him, Gundar tromps through the slime without qualm. He gives a low whistle as the equipment and jewelry hit the floor.
"That's a pretty looking necklace there. Anydwarf have an idea what that'll go for?"
Thuradin examines the necklace, turning it over and over in his hands before frowning "No idea." he finally admitted.
"Nay idea, lad. But we'll have plenty o' time to sell the loot after we get done what we need to here."
Thozar casts Detect Magic upon the items. You never know when something is even more useful than you thought...
If needed...
Once the items are collected and identified, he takes up his position in the rear, ready to breach the secret door before them. "Let's get a move on, the faster we clear this place out, the faster we can get to the bottom of this mess!"
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"Takes more than an oversized gelatin to bring down a dwarf!"
While the others look over the gear Belir puts his shoulder against the statue blocking the secret door and gives it a good push.
At first he strains and slips on the gelatin covering the floor.
With the statue out of the way Belir opens the door.
"Buncha bugs and a blob of goo. We're still mighty thin on clues," Gundar grumbles as he joins Belir in inspecting and attempting to open the secret door.
You open the door, and there is a passageway that ends in another secret door (obvious from this side, however).
There were some items in the cabinet before as well that I think were not yet identified, so I assume you are examining all.
From the cube, the scroll is Hold Portal. Nothing else is magical.
From the cabinet, you have an oil of magic weapon, a potion of shield of faith, a scroll of knock and a scroll of summon swarm.
Party treasure list is updated.
Opening the door (after normal checks), you find that an old cast-iron furnace and a pile of coal occupy the corners of this cramped chamber. Ash and fallen rubble clutter the area around the furnace where the chimney above has collapsed. Curled up in the corner is a human boy.
"Who is there?"
Gundar's eyes go wide to find a human child in this monster-infested ruin. He looks back at the rest of the dwarves and motions for them to halt, rather than tromp in and spook the boy.
He speaks to the boy in the common tongue. "Lad? My name is Gundar, from Trunau. Where are you from? Why are you here?"
He keeps his voice calm and even, trying to make sure the boy knew he had nothing to fear.
"I have some items we might find useful. There are three scrolls, Hold Portal, Knock, and Summon Swarm. I can use the swarm one, but the others are not part of the magic available to me. There is also an oil of Magic Weapon and a potion of Shield of Faith." Thozar holds the items out expectantly. "Any takers?"
He tucks the scroll of summon swarm away. Hopefully we won't need such ghastly magic.
I'll leave the talking to those better suited for it. In the mean time... Thozar takes a look around the room while his brothers converse with the random child. This is a horrid place to leave a child... I smell a trap.
"My brothers, take care. This place is clearly unsafe, do not let a human child be the reason for your undoing," he whispers to the party in Dwarven.
__________
The child looks fairly healthy, maybe a little malnourished. "Um, yah. I'm Othdan. Will you take me home? I live here in Trunau, too. I just wanna go home."
Clearly, he can't see any of you, as you can tell by the way he keeps moving his head as if to look for who he is talking to.
'course lad, 'course. But how'd ye come to be here? All kinds o' nasty beasties tried to eat us on the way 'ere. Don't see how ye could have jus' wandered in."
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Aye, and where's your home? Ulark says, as he looks around to see if there are any more children not in a state good enough to talk. Who is your kin? And how long have you been away from them?
Torith keeps quiet and stays still while the sociable Dwarves talk to the young boy.
How long has he been down here for? Strange to get lost in the dark without good old Dwarven eyesight.
Othdan starts blubbering his story, and it is a little hard to sort it out because he is clearly terrified talking in the dark.
The gist of the story, though, is that his family has been in Trunau fro generations, and a friend of his dared him to come inside the plague house and bring back some sort of proof that he did. Unfortunately, the boy came across a half-orc that grabbed him, questioned him, and then locked him in this room.
He can't give much of a description, but "I'd know him if I seen him again!"
You believe he is telling you the truth, and there is nothing more.
"Don't fret now, I'm going to take your hand and get you out of here. How long 'ave you been down here?"
Gundar moves forward to take the boy's hand even as he speaks to the other dwarves in their own tongue. "Enough faffing about in this ruin for one day - we need to get him back to town."
Gundar was also thinking through the situation as best he could. This lad can identify one of the villains. Should we sneak him into town? Need to let his parents know he's all right, for certain. Then what? Line up every half-orc in town and have the boy point one out? That doesn't sit well...
Startled to hear a voice coming from the darkness Thuradin reaches down and picks up a piece of coal and cups it in his hands. After whispering a prayer to Torag into his hands the chunk of coal begins to glow. He takes the glowing rock and holds it up so the young boy can see. "Quiet now. The kidnapper may still be around." he says in a low voice "Relax Othdan, you're safe now. he hands the rock to Othdan "There, that's better."
Turning to address the other in Dwarven "Gundar's right, we need to get this boy out of here and back to his parents, but I'm afraid this half orc bastard might give us the slip in the meantime. Perhaps he would be safe in the secret passageway until we've dealt with him."
Thozar squints at the sudden light in the otherwise dark chamber. "Our resources are still strong, let us press forward as far as we can before turning around. Leaving now will likely get the boy safe to his family, but we may unintentionally give whoever else is in here the opportunity to escape." Half orcs stealing children, suppose it is true that some aspects of orcish heritage are simply in their blood. What a shame.
"Child, does this half orc visit you? Where does he come from, if he does? Tell us all that you can about this beast. Any allies?"
After what the child's been through you'd have him stay a minute longer in the dark? Trunau's scant minutes away, the child's been waiting for rescue long enough!
I'll stand vigil until you return, barricade the stairwell as well. If the toother's here and wanted to run he may have done so already.
"I would rather have him stay another minute and ensure that this never happens again than spare him from the last minute of sitting in the dark and risk others experiencing the horrors he has. I would normally be very willing to leave some here to guard the entrance while the rest escort the boy back, but we do not know what we are dealing with."
Thozar shifts uncomfortably before continuing. "The earth here is... wrong. There should be a warmth to it, a sense of cleanliness. The kind of earth that develops in places of holy worship, as the statues have shown us this place once was. I know not what has been happening here, but I fear it has taken a much darker turn. We must excise these tumors and the land may yet live."
He sighs before continuing, suddenly hit with a sense of fatigue. "There is word of Flood Trolls in these halls. I do not think it wise to split us up, even for a scared boy. If we cleanse this place, no one will have anything to fear anymore. If we don't, then at least the boy has a few minutes of light where he can take his fate into his own hands before he is plunged back into darkness."
"I will act in accordance of the group's decision. I have said my piece." He bows his head solemnly and awaits the words of his brothers.
"You're right about the earth here Thozar, and becasue of that it don't feel right to leave the lad alone. Someone needs to guard him, and i volunteer to keep him safe." says Torith with determination in his voice.
"Don't worry, lad. You'll get back home safe and sound and the ones who did this will never do this ever again!"
"The light spell will last for 10 minutes, which should be plenty of time for us to finish exploring and find whoever took the boy. Since this passageways entrances are hidden from both ends I feel that Othdan should be safe while we search. If we're not done within, say 8 minutes or so, we can come back here and take him home."
The boy watches, and while he clearly doesn't speak Dwarven, he answers as questions are directed to him. You were not aware of a missing boy.
"I think he grabbed me cause he found me pokin' about in here."
"Nah, he ain't been back to visit or nuthin'. I could hear him talking some language I don't know, but that seems like a long time ago."
The dye is cast. Let us discover what other beasts lurk within these treacherous halls.
Thozar takes up his position in the rear. As the others pass, he whispers caution to his fellow disciple of the Earth. "Torith, trust in the earth. Call out if you need something. Be wary. I have heard nothing of a missing boy. I don't doubt his story, but omitting the truth is not beyond the realm of possibility. Keep space between you and him."
And do the same. If you spot anything, even regular rat, give a shout.
Ulark turns to the boy and speaks in Common You have a hopeknife yet? If so, remember: even when the light looks dim, the end can stick the other ones first before neede. But if you want something more... the warrior fishes out his warhammer and offers it to the boy.
Looking at Torith, he says Angradd smiles on you. If need be, get the boy out. He's the one here who didn't ask to be down below.