EoD 014: The Lurking Gelatinous Horror

After a good night’s rest, interrupted only by the howling of wolves from the keep's ruined courtyard, the heroes laid their plans. It was quickly decided that the goblins needed to be dealt with, and the best way forward was a frontal assault. There was no time to waste.

Making final preparations, the party cautiously descended the stairs into the ruined keep’s goblin-infested cellar. Sadly, the heroes' descent was not silent—several of the heroes wore metal armour that made moving quietly difficult—and the goblins had strewn a great mass of broken pottery across the lower steps.

After a slow approach, the group safely made it to the guardroom at the bottom of the stairs. Quickly checking that nothing dangerous lurked in the well room or the attendant chamber, they pushed deeper into the cellar.

It was not long before they found goblins—lots of goblins. A large chamber lay at the end of a long corridor. Goblin archers and warriors lurked therein, and a large hole pierced the floor—30 feet below the hole intersected with a natural cavern.

Elmo heroically charged forward and was quickly almost overwhelmed by the goblins who sought to surround and cut him down. Polumya was quick to the rescue with a blast of divine power, which slew almost half the goblins—incinerating them in holy fire. As Polumya and Elmo battled the goblins, Elmo, Helmia and Theoden burst through another door leading into the room. Elmo vaulted over Helmia—who was in giant spider form—and the battle was joined.

In but a minute or so, the goblins were dead or fleeing. Elmo and Dimble charged to the south while Helmia and Lion pursued a lone goblin fleeing to the east. Their pursuit was brought up short by the appearance of two savage orc warriors! Luckily, Theoden was on hand to cloak the savage warriors in magical slumber. They would play no more meaningful part in the battle. Elmo decapitated one and kicked the still-snarling head into the hole, piercing the floor.

Meanwhile, the goblins to the south were dead or fleeing for their lives.

The party took the time to regroup. The lone orc survivor was dragged into the main chamber, where Lion observed a strange thing. In the pit, the severed orc head was suspended seemingly in mid-air and was quickly decomposing away to nothing.

This strange phenomenon was quickly identified by Dimble as a gelatinous cube. The thing seemed to be trapped in the cave—but two ways out were visible, and both were high up on the cavern’s walls. The cube’s presence gave the party an idea. Lion threatened to cast the captured orc into the cave if it did not tell them what lurked deeper in the cellars. The orc—foul-mouthed and angry demanded to be let up to fight Lion in single combat but eventually told of the goblins’ chief—an immense Abyss-tainted ogre. When the orc had given up all the information it had, Lion hurled him into the pit and onto the lurking gelatinous cube. Fascinated, the party watched the orc’s horrible, slow demise and then plotted their next move.

Advancing east, they quickly found the orcs’ chamber and liberated a small sack of coins from a chest filled with rancid clothes. Beyond, the corridor led south and widened out. Several doors stood to the east, and Lion—listening at the door—heard the sound of blades chopping into flesh and moans and muffled screams. Being told of what was happening beyond the door, Polumya used his divine power to smash the portal open…

This post is a session summary from my weekly 5e D&D Edgelands of Darkness campaign set in the Duchy of Ashlar.

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