Harg will step to the side 5 feet, seeing the fluid fill the ground. Putting as much room between it and him as he can in such a quick time.
Kell will attempt to break free...
but his small frame and nice shoes are stuck quite well.
"When did I let myself fall behind so far?...", Basil ponders when she realizes she is no longer behind Keldor.
It meant, of course, that not only were multiple others in the shredding area of her guns firing arc, it also made closing the distance to the creature more difficult.
And I didn't load a cartridge, it's powder and pellets...
Pondering her options, Basil steps to the side to let Dhib pass if she wants.
Order: Tathaniise, Basil, Harg, Gauntlet, Dirissa, Aberration, Kell
At the end of the round, Everyone currently caught in the sticky fluid feels themselves being pulled closer to the Aberration.
Looking at this large beast in front of me. Slashing down with his enhanced sword.
"AAArrg"
Having already closed the distance, Keldor raises a mighty fist and slams downward on whatever it is...
...and misses as he stumbles on a stalagmite!
Dirissa grabs Kell's arm and grimaces as she tries to yank him free of the goo.
She literally roars as she pulls the halfling out.
Harg is able to bring his sword down through some of the many flailing tentacles the aberration waves through the air, trying to ensnare more of its prey. Tathaniise waits for her moment, before stepping forward and stabbing it, her blade leaving its mark. Keldor tries his best to support, but the sudden appearance and its large size overwhelm him and he can't bring enough momentum to deal any damage. Dirissa lunges forward, her small hands wrapping around Kell's arm. There's a painful pulling sensation where Kell thinks for a moment that he's about to lose an arm, but he can feel the goo snapping off his feet as his body is yanked out of the goo and onto a dry area.
However, to get close enough Dirissa had to step in the goo itself, and now she can feel it solidifying around her feet.
The Aberration spews more goop, further entrapping those in caught in the area, thoroughly slopping them from head to toe.
The Aberration lashes out at opponents at range.
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Then, each character next to the Aberration can feel as bunches of small writhing tentacles, thin , sharp and invasive, try and burrow into your bodies
Small writing tenticles stabbing at my body, orc blood seeping out.
"Arg! That does not feel good"
Sliding his sword into his right hand. Strange words being uttered under his breath, Harg's left hand, starting to spark. Keeping an eye on this creature, to keep it from destroying his concentration.
Successfully filling his hand with electricity. A big grin appearing on Harg's face. "Take this!"
Slamming a fist full of electricity into the creature's writhing body.
With a quick slice of his sword in his other hand.
Not liking the sensation of Gauntlet being 'burrowed' into, Keldor turns to gain better leverage and strikes at the thing again!
"Blast you, whatever you are! Go back to whatever Hell spawned you!"
Anger, pain, and frustration flash across her face as she slashes at the goo with her dagger.
"These conditions are rather undesirable. I would prefer if we opt for territory better suited to our strenghts next time.", Basil states as she accelerates and jumps towards the abomination...once in range, pulling the trigger on her weapon sending metallic pellets at the creature.
The necessity to avoid hitting her allies forces her to aim quite far from center-of-mass on the vertical axis, reducing much potential force of her attack.
With a roar of pain, The Aberration seems to have taken heavy damage, but as it feeds off more of your group's vitality, iet seems hungrier and hungier It launches its attacks.
And then it sucks everyone closer who isn't adjacent.
And finally, it tries to feed once more.
Any that are hit by the touch attack are ensnared and take 1 point of bleed damage.
Players up!
Anger continues to wash over Dirissa's face as she thrashes about in the goo, but she doesn't seem to make any headway.
"Not a fan of my blood being on the outside"
Wrapping one fist in another, Keldor tries another slam!
As she saved him to her own peril, Kell will create a platform for Dirissa first. "Climb up on it if you can."
Dirissa tries her best to escape the clutches of the viscous fluid, but to no progression.Tathaniise attempts to assail the aberration, but her attack does not gain enough momentum to wound it. Harg has better luck, damaging it twice, one for each blow. Everyone trapped by its fluid can feel it shudder in pain. Keldor tries for a slam attack given his close proximity, but also can't build enough momentum.
Still, with blow after panicked blow, the aberration finally falls limp, its tentacles invading the bodies of those next to it fall limp, but are still attached.
The fluid that the creature had been using to draw all of you towards it is now much less viscous and easier to move in (no STR check needed to move through). On closer inspection (and because I told you) it seems to have somewhat medicinal properties to prevent bleeding effects.
Keldor hooks a metal thumb over his shoulder.
"Fascinating! This must be the creature that created those desiccated corpses that attacked us inthe previous cave! It must drain fluids to survive. I wonder..."
At this point Keldor starts mumbling, guesstimating mostly to himself what certain body parts of the creature must be for and other icky things that most normal people have no interest in with such creatures.
"Maybe, though those skeletons seems really old. These things seem horrible" Looking down at the tendrils entering his flesh.
Harg pulls his sword out and tries to very carefully cut himself free. And deal with anything impacted in him later.
Depending on how successful he is it would place some of the fluid on the cuts afterwards.
Dirissa scoots out of the goo and kicks the remains of the creature. "Gods above! That was disgusting. What kind of creature..."
Suddenly very weary, she sits down to regain her breath. "We need to get some alchemist's fire. I want one on hand in case there there are any more of these." She doesn't KNOW that it would help, but burning them seems like a good solution.
Basil, who had managed to avoid both the Goo and the tentacles, carefully steps away from the slimy remains:"Now that the majority of you is no longer distracted by being assailed by a foe, I would like to reiterate my concerns: These conditions were rather undesirable. I would prefer if we opt for territory better suited to our strenghts next time. More specifically, we have effective ranged weaponry and an advantage in numbers. We should attempt to lure foes into overlapping fields of fire, then surround them as they come close."
Looking around at others still stuck in the Goo, she adds:"Does anybody require assistance of a sort I can provide?"
At Basil's offer of help, Dirissa looks down at her bloody, torn clothing, still dripping with bits of goo. "Any good at healing? Or sewing?"
"I can offer healing if needed."
Looking at the group, he starts by healing Dirissa.
"I have skills with basic first aid, but it would seem that request is taken care of. If you undress and hand me your clothing, I will try and mend it by sewing...albeit, if nobody can provide proper tools, I may need to aquire them in town first. I believe Master Drovan's workshop had such among the other equipment for gear maintainance so I wouldn't be gone long.", Basil explains as she kneels next to Dirissa to check the tears and holes in the clothing from close-up.
"I am a bit injured, but I think we should keep going. Lets check out the rest of this cave, at least."
Keldor waves off any offer of help for now.
"Gauntlet took the brunt of the damage, so I'm fine...and I can heal him later if I need to do so."
Dirissa thanks Kell and smiles at Basil. "You may need to take me to dinner first before I take my clothes off. I'll be fine for now. I do like your suggestions about the cross-fire though."
She stands up and shoulders her hammer. "After you, Keldor."
Amid the scattered remains on which the ancient ghelarn slumbers are fragments of some of the chieftain’s treasures—objects he never saw the need to return for. Most of these are broken pieces of tribal artwork and jewelry, but one necklace made of amber-trapped insects of no recognizable species seems to be in surprisingly good shape.
Keldor throws a Detect Magic at the necklace.
Looking at the necklace with Keldor.
Detect magic as well.
"This is interesting.. What types of creatures are these? How long have they been here?"
"Not rightly sure without breaking the necklace to find out."
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Basil nods when she stops inspecting Dirissa, then stands up:"I shall provide one of my rations then, when it is time for dinner. I don't really need much food."
She then takes note of the others all inspecting some kind of necklace and focuses her attention on their surroundings again, ever watchful.
Between detecting magic and arcana identification, you all agree that this is a swarmbane clasp.
An ancient fossilized insect lies trapped within this ornate amber clasp, impaled by the long golden pin that fastens the wearer’s cloak. The wearer’s weapons, unarmed attacks, and natural attacks deal full damage to swarms, regardless of the swarm’s immunity to weapon damage (if any, although damage reduction applies as normal). If the wearer is damaged by a swarm, she automatically succeeds on her saving throw against the swarm’s distraction ability.
The party seems to break for a short rest, now that the danger has passed.
Leading the others back to the main cave after finding the dead-end behind the odd creature, Keldor leads the way East towards the larger tunnel.
"Unless anybody wants to stop, I suggest we continue. Any objections?"
"Yes, let us continue. This old cave, while interesting, has nothing to do with the torch. We should continue on.