Astraden moves forward and grabs Spiny, helping the struggling beast to pull away.
The mimic facing Spiny pulls away, giving a loud pop as it detaches from Spiny and flees.
The crate gripping Farrukh continues trying to constrict him, but Farrukh's guarded posture keeps him protected.
The other small mimic skitters around on eight legs to block the path, but the movement seems to have tired it out and it's not able to launch any attacks on Spiny.
The big barrel, on the other hand, takes another swing at Cuetzpalli. Once again, though, the Olman is too quick.
Spiny and Cuetzpalli attack the giant barrel in front of them.
Surprised by the mimics' tenacity, Carina yanks another bomb from her belt and throws it!
Come on--why won't you DIE?!
Cuetzpalli hacks into the creature, badly injuring it, but finds his greataxe stuck as a consequence.
Spiny, meanwhile, does not have luck on his side and gets completely stuck.
Carina's bomb badly burns the already badly burnt barrel but only lightly cooks the crate south of it. The barrel looks close to tipping, but remains upright.
Eben takes a step to get the wobbling barrel firmly in his sight and then launches another pair of arrows at it.
Eben's first arrow sails straight into the mimic's gaping maw, sticking out the other side. The creature gives an inhuman gurgle as it melts into an enormous puddle of what looks like mud.
Tanith takes another mighty swing over Cuetzpalli's shoulder.
Tanith's swing is very mighty, but not too precisely-aimed, and it goes wide.
Astraden takes no action.
The mimic constricting Farrukh continues its efforts, to no avail.
The injured box continues plodding away as the other attacks Cuetzpalli. The Olman's armor continues to protect him.
"Astraden, if I become visible, you think you can heal me up really quick?"
"If I can reach you."
Cuetzpalli and Spiny shift around the smaller crate-mimic and continue to attack it. "Argh, so much glueeeee," Cuetz wails.
Cuetzpalli's axe gets stuck the second time after hacking two brutal blows into the false-wood.
Spiny gets completely stuck, but with his last slash, the mimic melts into another muddy puddle—freeing himself and his master.
Carina moves into the room, spying the heavily-injured mimic. She levels her crossbow at it and fires...
Carina's bolt rips brutally through the fleeing box, causing it, too, to dissolve.
Farrukh, finding himself no longer surrounded, gambles on striking the mimic adhered to him.
He swings once.
Twice.
Three times with his scimitar.
His sword gets stuck on the last strike, but he makes his blows count.
"I'm never trusting a box again."
Eben barrels through his clustered friends to get a good shot at Farrukh's nemesis.
Even though he's not entirely certain what he's seeing, Tanith shouts encouragement at Farrukh while he wrestles with the storage container.
"You've got him right where you want him!"
Farrukh brutally hacks into the beast, cutting away tendrils and pseudopods with vicious efficiency, but it somehow remains alive.
Eben's arrow catches it right where its head seems to be, piercing deep. The huge mimic gives a shudder and, after a pause, melts away. Farrukh is left free, albeit covered in brown, sticky goo that used to be a sentient creature.
"..."
This may be the first time Carina has ever fought furniture.
"...okay, what the hell was all THAT about?" She asks, clearly bewildered.
"Clearly shapeshifters are taking over the city," Cuetzpalli says. He looks around at all nearby large objects with suspicion. "Even our undergarments could be shapeshifted monsters. Better start going commando..."
Astraden picks up her dagger, sheathes it, and beckons to Cuetzpalli, Carina, and Farrukh. "Come on out away from those things and I'll heal you and Spiny," she says, placing a hand on her mask.
"Heheh, I hope not. Farrukh, is there any way to detect those things?" she asks, prodding the slayer with the healing wand.
A mimic can assume the general shape of any Medium object, such as a massive chest, a stout bed, or a door. The creature cannot substantially alter its size, though. A mimic's body is hard and has a rough texture, no matter what appearance it might present.
Carina opts not to dignify Cuetzpalli's... crazy idea of undergarment mimics with a response.
"Thanks Astraden." She nods at the priestess as she feels her acid burn heal completely. Not even a scar remains of it.
"Well, mimics can turn into just about anything human sized, maybe a bit bigger." Farrukh replies as Astraden pokes and prods him with her wand. "Doors, chests, whatever. All fair game. They're rough and sticky no matter what."
"And we should all remember that, because I really don't feel like getting into another boxing match."
"Eh? Eh?"
Eben just looks at Farrukh with a blank expression. He slowly blinks one or two times. Then: "Yeah... Don't do that."
"Oh come on. I thought that joke was CRATE."
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"Try and contain yourself, man."
"Yes, let's store this conversation for another time. Farrukh, can you check the next room?"
"It's just not very funny when you do it, Eben. I'm not sure you have any sense of comedic timing."
Farrukh is about to open the door when he notices something: This door is the only one not locked.
Put on-guard, he looks closer and determines the doorknob contains a few gears it shouldn't. He realizes that the entire floor here is rigged to collapse when the door is opened.
"Well. That would be unfortunate." Farrukh mutters to himself.
"Nobody touch this door. Unless you guys feel like tumbling an unknown depth and having rocks fall on your head."
Farrukh moves gingerly away from said door, and goes to check out another. This time taking no chances, he examines it to the best of his ability.
Farrukh slips on his other glasses and goes to work on the first lock.
After weathering the storm of box-related puns, Carina briefly contemplates the benefits of staying dead.
And just as quickly pushes them away to focus on the job at hand.
Astraden quickly backs away from the door. "Is there any way to disable that?" she asks as Farrukh checks the others.