LXXXIV. The Slime Lords

The adventurers and their new allies left the first prison area and turned left, heading back down the main corridor. After about thirty feet, they spotted an iron door to their right. 

Hamlost scurried to the door and listened, but heard nothing. "Let me check this door," said the rogue, now thankfully sober. "May be trapped." He found no traps, and reached out to turn the doorknob. "Ouch!" he gasped, shaking his hand. "You’ve been doing this how long?" jibed Adam.

Hamlost examined his sore hand, then took a sniff. "Oh no," he exclaimed. "Netharit!" He managed to shake off the initial effects of the contact poison. When the sting wore off, he managed to open the lock on the door, and the party entered. They spotted three wooden doors on either side of hallway about thirty-five feet long.

The rogue checked all three doors for traps, but again found none. "You sure?" asked Zzyggy. "Give the poor fellow a break, Zzyggy," urged Troy, sympathetically. "Remember what he’s been through." Hamlost nodded thanks to the fighter.

The first door on the right opened onto a room filled with gems, weapons and shields. "Combined treasury and armory," observed Adam. "Nice!" The others looked around, and took arms and armor as needed. In a wooden chest were stack of personal items. Garn recognized some of them. "Hey, those were Ezzard’s!" he cried. He took them from the chest. "I’ll bring these back for him," Garn offered. "If we get back," said Tovar.

Across the hallway, the first door on the left led to a storage room. Two barrels stood against the far wall of the room. One contained cheap wine, the other, smoked meat. Troy took a sack full of the meat. The second door on left opened on another storage room, again with two barrels. Garn opened the first barrel. "Stale bread," he sniffed. "Better than nothing."

"Better than anything I had here!" added Hamlost, as he took his share.

The second barrel held some kind of cured meat product. Adam grabbed a sackful. "Doesn’t look very appetizing," he said, "but there’s a lot of marsh between here and home."

Hamlost shivered as the doorknob poison’s secondary effect made itself felt. He managed to resist this effect as well. "Got to be more careful," he said to himself.

The adventurers and their allies exited the hall through the iron door. Turning right, they proceeded to a right bend in the corridor that led to a relatively straight, dimly torch-lit section about fifty feet long. The corridor ended at a large stone door. Adam halted in front of the door and listened.

From the other side of the door, he heard screaming.

"Hamlost, can you open this door?" Adam whispered to the halfling rogue. "If it’s locked, I’ll unlock it!" Hamlost replied, somewhat overconfidently. He found no traps (at which point Zzyggy suppressed the urge to ask, "Are you sure?"). A moment later, he was able to open the lock on the stone door. The door opened remarkably quietly, and the party silently entered.

They entered into a chamber of abomination.

A huge cavern, forty feet wide, sixty feet long, with a ten-foot ceiling, dimly torch-lit. Trails of slime everywhere. A ten-foot-wide pit in the middle of the room, acidic vapors fuming from the pit. Suspended over the pit, tied to a rope that ran over a pulley and was secured to a cleat on the far wall of the chamber, allowing vertical movement, an object of some kind. Zzyggy’s gnome eyes could tell that the object was . . . a naked male humanoid, severely injured. A drow!

To their right, on the other side of the acid pit at the end of the cavern, two large braziers gave off sulfurous smoke. Two figures, apparently human males, were engaged in some sort of ritual. One figure, presenting a barbaric appearance, wore studded leather armor under a cloak. He was armed with a heavy flail. He was facing the second figure, the celebrant, who wore ceremonial garb over studded leather armor and bore a heavy mace. Both of the men were marked with horrible facial scars.

Even more horrible were the other participants in the ceremony, hulking cetween the far wall and the humans: two large grey oozes, and between them, a huge black pudding!

When the party entered the chamber, the celebrant looked up and immediately screamed, "Ranulf! Kill them!!!"

Instantly recognizing a fellow prisoner of the cult, Tovar raced to the cleat to untie the rope and rescue the suspended captive. Plong the goblin rushed to help Tovar. Together, they untied the rope and swung the prisoner away from the acid pit. After he was safely lowered to the floor of the cavern, the half-elf and the goblin untied the helpless drow and dragged him away from the incipient battle.

Ignoring Tovar and Plong, Ranulf raged! The furious barbarian raced toward Adam and swung his heavy flail. The flail battered Adam, but only made his own rage even more extreme! Perhaps too extreme: his counterattack missed the cultist.

"Right behind you, Adam!" cried Troy. The fighter’s mace slammed Ranulf, who reeled back under the attack but quickly repositioned himself. Too slowly to evade the mace of Willis, who ran up to aid Adam and Troy, and to satisfy his own need for revenge against the fiends who had imprisoned him for a horrible fate.

From the end of the cavern, the celebrant raised his hands and uttered sinister syllables. Zzyggy reacted by casting mirror image on himself. Two images appeared. Garn reacted more directly. He charged the celebrant, wielding his spear, and inflicted a vicious wound.

While the melee continued, Hamlost looked around the cavern. To his left, at the back of the cavern, he spotted a secret door. He went to investigate.

Ranulf swung at Adam again, but almost fumbled his weapon. Not so Adam, who swung his mighty sword at Ranulf and slashed his left leg almost to the bone.

With a powerful leap, the celebrant jumped over the acid pit, landing behind Adam! He slanned his mace into the barbarian’s left arm. As the blow fell, Adam felt a malevolent force assail him. With a valiant effort, he resisted the assault.

In the rear of the cavern a new foe appeared: a gelatinous cube, previously summoned by the cult leader. At the same time, the two grey oozed advanced into the melee. The first grey ooze slammed Garn and burned him with its acidic touch. It attempted to grapple the man, but failed. The second grey ooze moved toward Adam and Troy. As it slithered, Willis beat it with his weapon, damaging the amorphous creature, then stepped back. Behind the oozes, the black pudding flowed toward the acid pit.

Magic missiles from Zzyggy blasted the celebrant, and he shrieked in anger. Garn, meanwhile, turned his attention to the gelatinous cube and battered the creature, damaging it slightly.

The two raging barbarians continued their battle. Ranulf swung at Adam again and critical wounded him. Then he stepped toward the cult leader as Adam swung back, causing him to miss. Troy in turn swung at Ranulf, and hit him for minor damage.

Plong had no intention of confronting something as large and dangerous as a gelatinous cube. He needed something he could throw. Looking around, he spotted a torch on the near wall. Sp the goblin grabbed the torch and threw it at the cube! The torch sizzled as it burned into the cube. Mindlessly, the cube turned away from the direction of the torch attack, and bumped into Zzyggy! The agile gnome was able to evade the cube’s slam attack, and withdrew speedily.　

As the summoned cube battled Plong and Zzyggy, the evil celebrant reached out and touched Adam. His grip on the barbarian inflicted a corrosive, burning wound! "Strength of the shapeless is mine!!!" the cult leader shrieked.

The black pudding flowed around the acid pit and slammed at Adam. The dauntless barbarian danced out of its reach. The two grey oozes mindlessly pursued Garn, and also Ranulf, their supposed friend, but each missed its target.

Zzyggy saw an oppportunity, and tumbled between the pudding and the cube, lining up a shot with his scorching ray. "Rats!" exclaimed the gnome, as his ray went wide.

While the others battled the cultists and their amorphous allies, Hamlost tried to pick the lock on the secret door. Success! The lock opened, and he looked into a hidden room. It appeared to be private quarters of some kind. "Must be the big shot’s room," he whispered to Tovar. The half-elf nodded, then dragged the inert form of the drow into the quarters. Then he came back out and took up a defensive stance.

Hamlost also stood defensively, but before doing so, he pocketed a few juicy items from the cult leader’s quarters (including a coin pouch, and another of the strange tentacle-symbols).

Back in the melee, Willis turned to attack the second ooze, splattering slime all about. Then he stepped back. Garn moved around the gelatinous cube and toward the stone doorway to the entrance corridor. "Let us leave this hellish place!" he cried. Tovar had a similar idea. He ran to the stone door in the entrance, and pushed it all the way back, creating a gap between the wall and the cube. "Come on!" he called to his battling companions.

Still raging, Ranulf swung at Adam again. Blood spurted from another deep wound. The cult initiate then stepped toward Zzyggy. He felt the approaching ooze.

Adam knew it was time to clear out! He fled melee, passing by the first grey ooze. The amorphous creature slammed the fleeing barbarian, and burned the man with its acid. Adam was barely alive as he approached the cavern’s entrance.

Troy ran the gauntlet and fled out the doorway. Plong fled also.

The cult leader swung his heavy mace at the Zzyggys. Thud! The weapon struck the real Zzyggy! The gnome’s right hand was broken by the blow. Even worse, he suffered a malicious magical assault from the weapon. Zzyggy could feel it draining his fighting skill, as well as his ability to resist further magical attacks.

Fortunately, the gnome avoided further attacks from the gelatinous cube and the grey oozes.

But now the black pudding slammed at Willis. The huge ooze devastated the unlucky gambler. The man fell screaming under the monster’s acid attack, and the creature rolled over him and dissolved him into bloody goo!

Hamlost witnessed the horrible sight. Quickly, he recovered, and dragged the wounded drow around the cube (quite a feat for a halfling!) and toward the door. Garn followed.

Tovar and Plong continued fleeing, followed by Adam. Ranulf rushed at Zzyggy and hit one of his mirror images. "I have him!" cried Troy, who stood his ground to protect Zzyggy’s withdrawal. "Follow the others!"

The evil celebrant pointed a finger at Troy. Melf’s acid arrow struck the brave fighter as he protected his fleeing companions. Meanwhile, the gelatinous cube disappeared into a crack in the wall of the cavern. One of the grey oozes vanished into another crack. The other grey ooze slammed at Troy, but missed.

As Troy guarded the door of the cavern, he watched in horror as the black pudding kept on consuming the remains of Willis.

Zzyggy kept fleeing. As he reached the doorway, he turned back and fired magic missiles at Ranulf. The evil barbarian staggered, but remained on his feet.

Hamlost and Garn made their escape, dragging the drow with them. Finally, Troy fell back through the doorway. He slammed the stone door shut. As he secured the party’s escape, from the cavern the cult leader screamed, "The shapeless will consume you!!!"

The fleeing adventurers and the surviving freed captives made it out of the complex without further attack. On the surface, the rest of the party, with the other wounded survivors, the horses and the cart were waiting to flee.