"Mildly." Jack replies. "My sense of smell isn't very good though, an accident in medical school, so it isn't too unpleasant thankfully."
Once he's shifted around to get the armor sitting comfortably he withdraws his sword cane once more and considers the remaining exit. "We should move on rather than back-tracking."
"Onward," Devon agrees. "The sooner we are done with this foul place, the better."
Through the next slime door is a room featuring twenty steel drums filled with slime. Each drum is stamped with a fanged skull symbol (Mother Venom’s mark). Once you clear your names, you can turn these over to the Starwatch as evidence for a bounty of 2,500 gp.
There are multiple exits from this room.
"That way will take us back towards where we began." The Doctor says, gesturing to the entrance opposite the one they used. "We should go this way." He suits actions to words, leading the path across the walkway and turning left in the center of the room.
A heady and stinging aroma of powerful chemicals fills this long hall. Orange, blue, and green lambent light softly illuminates the area, emanating from three huge vats of bubbling slime. Each vat stands over six feet tall and appears as large as a public bath. A wooden staircase leads up to a steel catwalk which hangs from the ceiling and traverses over the slime vats.
A trio of strange creatures tend to the slime vats. They appear to be malformed humanoids with loathsome slime appendages! When they notice you, the slime goons begin to slither towards you, tentacles flailing!
Dora studies the slimes for a second before zapping two of them with her arc whilst trying to decide how to deal with these things more effectively.
Though Dora has never seen these particular creatures before, she recognizes some of the properties of the oozes they've apparently been fused with. The creatures are immune to acid, critical hits, and precision damage. They have no particular weaknesses, and their attacks are highly acidic!
Devon grits his teeth as he moves in, raising his shield and striking at the lead slime goon!
Or not!
Jack darts in to strike and then retreats slightly so that Devon and his shield are in the lead!
Dora yells out what she learns about the creatures whilst planning her next move.
Dani begins her song of attack and defense. Dora zaps two of the ooze-men with lightning, then Jack stabs a slime goon and falls back, leaving Devon to fend off their attacks! The wounded one stabs with its sword while the other two move to flank the champion.
Dora builds up static to send an even larger jolt to the foes.
Chain lightning - all of them if possible.
Devon keeps his shield up and strikes back twice!
Jack takes advantage of the openings Devon provides to lash out repeatedly!
Dora’s lightning proves devastating, tearing through all of the slime goons! Jack and Devon team up to finish their main target off. The other two stab at Devon, but he fends off all of their strikes!
Devon lands one hit this time.
Jack sticks with his partner - it's how they work best.
Dora fires a freezing bolt towards the remaining foe.
You combination of attacks takes down the second slime goon. The final one manages one lucky hit on Devon, but between his shield and magical defenses, the weapon barely scratches. After a few more seconds, you finish off the final foe!
Dora, wiping her brow, lets out a heavy sigh and walks over to the Champion, placing her hand softly on his arm.
"This is just incessant isn't it? Are we all up for continuing?" Her forehead wrinkling with concern.
Devon places his hand on Dora’s. ”Thanks. I’m fine to press on. There can’t be much more ahead of us, Cayden willing. Let’s finish our task here!”
Dora feels reassured somewhat by Devon and hesitates for a second before pulling him in for a tight embrace and taking a deep breath to steady herself.
She lets go after a short moment before looking a little blushed and checking herself. "Dani, Jack, neither of you were hurt were you?"
Jack pointedly ignores the by-play and presses on to investigate the next room.
A single table stands in the middle of this room. Sixteen eight-foot-tall “pods” of gelatinous slime are stuck to chamber’s the walls and ceiling. The pods sport thick membranes similar to those of the slime doors found in the dungeon’s other areas. Metal footlockers, leather sacks, and other personal effects float inside each pod.
Scattered throughout the 16 pods are 1,876 gp, 4,320 sp, six small emeralds worth 300 gp each, and a greater sea touch elixir.
You navigate through a few more caverns, fighting off another group of slime goons, before you reach the end of the tunnels. Hundreds of thick roots hang from the ceiling of this massive cavern. In the center of the area, a large root, easily ten feet in diameter, extends from the ceiling to the floor.
Mother Venom lies at the center of this room, her fangs lodged into the large root of the Her face resembles an elder human’s, but it rests atop a serpentine body with red and black stripes. She detaches from the root and sneers at you. ”I know who you are. You’re working for Miogimo, aren’t you? You are fools to trust him and his grand delusions. And soon, you will be dead fools!”
Devon quickly rushes the naga, slicing at her!
She dodges back, though, and utters a power word—kill! Devon falls to the floor, dying! Mother Venom cackles and quickly casts another spell, trying to crush Dora to death!
Jack says something utterly unrepeatable and hurries forwards to distract the naga while Dani sees to the wounded.
Dora gasps for air as the magic constricts the life from her, but manages to withstand the force as she staggers upright.
She reaches for her own magical might, drawing in all the power she can find and unleashing an icy-blue ray of snow and sleet at the thing.
Dani begins to sing a song of defense as she heals Devon!
The paladin lays hands on himself as he gets back to his feet.
Jack moves in to attack, delivering a critical strike to Mother Venom! Dora blasts the naga with a polar ray, wounding and draining her!
Mother Venom hisses as she sustains her implosion spell, shifting her focus to Jack. She follows up with a power word stun to keep Devon temporarily occupied and a shield spell to protect herself!
The dhampir fights off the worst of the magic and continues stabbing at the naga with as much speed and force as he can muster.
"We need some time to think..." Dora says as she casts a new spell.
As the naga disappears into the maze, Dani casts haste on Devon to prepare for is return. For the time being, though, it appears to be lost...
Dora follows suit and casts haste on Jack.
"I thought we all needed a moment. This naga caused some serious damage. She'll be back soon, so be ready."
With a moment to catch their breath, Dani lays her hands on Devon's shoulder, chest and then face to look him over. "Are you okay? You were standing and then the next minute you were down. That was scary!"
Devon nods solemnly. ”By Cayden’s grace, I live, and I will not let that monster take me down again. In Cayden’s name, we will prevail!” The champion invokes his deity’s protection as he waits for the naga to return.
Mother Venom still remains trapped in the maze...
Jack hurries over and applies his healing non-magic to Devon at high speed.
In anticipation of Mother Venom exiting the maze, Dani strikes up a harmonized tune of courage and defense.
Devon makes ready to strike and Dora (presumably) readies a spell. Mother Venom reappears with a hiss!
Dora uses the time before Mother Venom returns to cast invisibility on herself and protect herself from being targeted. Devon swings at the naga as she reappears, but misses! The naga casts a spell--
--and while Devon slices her this time, it's not enough to disrupt her concentration. Her spell finishes, the magic trying to suck the moisture from your bodies!
Jack rather enjoys the experience as the naga's magic closes his wounds for him!
Feeling much better he joins Devon in the prosaic business of slaughtering the creature!
Dani doesn't heal from the damage like Jack, but she manages to demonstrate her fantastic fortitude for all to see!
She continues to inspire courage and defense for her allies.
Dora reels under the impact of the spell and counter-attacks with her own powerful magic.
Devon grimaces as the magic sucks the moisture from his body, but he still has enough presence of mind to protect Dora.
Mother Venom takes the hits, and while she is hurting badly, she still remains in the fight. She dodges an opportunistic attack from Devon as she casts a spell, attempting to petrify Dora! She then lunges at Devon, sinking her fangs into him. The champion resists her venom.
Dani continues with her harmonized song of courage and defense, hoping to help end the fight and help Dora with her spell defense.
Devon opens up a number of weaknesses for Jack to exploit!
Then he keeps going, intent on ending the naga before she can cast again!
As Jack repeatedly stabs the naga, Devon finally is able to strike her down with a solid stab of his holy blade!
Most of the root-filled nooks in this room hold nothing but cracked bones, but a thorough search uncovers Mother Venom’s hidden treasure cache, which includes a greater corrosive rune, a major antidote, and a major antiplague.
Dani blows out a sigh of relief after finally taking down Mother Venom. "That was rough!"
She helps treat Devon's wounds and then sees to Dora .
"Right." Jack says once he has completed the unpleasant task of searching the naga's lair. "So we report in that Venom is dead and then what? We've been dealing with so many low-lifes I'm losing track of who wants what favor for whom. Devon you might find this useful." He adds, offering the corrosive rune.
"Back to Miogimo for our next task," Devon says distastefully. "With luck, we'll be almost done playing his game, and then we can finally learn how to rescue Primarch Starborn from the Black Whale prison."
Feeling the naga's spell shutting down her body Dora has just enough time to shoot a pleading look at Devon before she freezes entirely.
Devon turns in time to see Dora completely transform into a statue! "DORA!" he shouts, rushing to her side, but there's nothing he can do. He carefully reaches out to touch her marble face, tears beginning to well in his eyes.
"What do we do? We have to be able to change her back somehow! Right?"