#18 - Gelatinous Doors

Here the narrative is written by Xoma of the M’jai family, a drow wizard from a long line of Vulkoori chieftains in the jungles of Xen'drik.

*          *          *

I love bones. The presence of numerous bones reminds me that I am alive, and that my enemies are dead. Of course, these bones were of hapless fools who fell when attacked by an undead creature with enormous skeletal claws.

As we sat examining the bones and the chamber of the creature, Cypher set off yet another trap. This one was some sort of glyph that caused a force to exert pulling pressure on bones. Fortunately for him, due to the fact that he possesses no bones—one would have to be alive, or at least undead, to have bones—he was unaffected.

But then another trap went off, a pit in the floor. Cyzicus, Rendar, and Halbazar fell in, though I arrested the momentum of Rendar, who was holding Halbazar. For some reason, my feather fall spell seems to have diminished in power. Perhaps it is some effect of being so deep underground. Regardless, it did not help Cyzicus, who fell on some spikes and was moderately injured. I regret having to choose between companions, though I will not lose sleep about it; when two can be helped instead of one, I choose two. Split-second conflict requires split-second decisions. 

Meanwhile, Magnus, Doongul, and I fought against the pull of the bone glyph. Cypher remained unaware of what was happening. Using rope, we managed to lower ourselves down into the pit without landing on any spikes or other unfortunate protrusions. The area below the bone chamber was crusted in a strange lichen typically only found deep below the earth. I do not believe we are that  far down, but perhaps there is some sort of mystical connection between our location and Khyber.

We followed the lichen tunnels. It became clear that there was some strange mystical influence about the place. Eventually, the tunnel came to a pit. There was a small rim or ledge around the pit on either side, leading farther into the tunnels. The entire pit area and ledge around it were covered in slimy purple moss. A quick check revealed that we could not burn our way through through it without consequence. A fire spell produced nothing but choking fumes. I suspect that the fumes are a natural defense mechanism of the fungi to prevent its destruction.

We manage to eventually creep around the ledge. Doongul sopped up much of the slime in his beard and the others made a handy passage, so I just walked around. The tunnel continued for just a few yards beyond the slime area before it was blocked by two crystalline walls, enclosing a figure. Within the walls was a armor-encased hobgoblin skeleton propped up by… wire? Or string? It was hard to see.

Doongul tried to use the "emperor's key" to open the door, but that yielded nothing. He opened it manually, and that is when we discovered what had really happened. The skeleton was actually suspended within an enormous cube of slime. A Khyber cube, by the Common tongue. I had heard of such creatures, had seen one firsthand before, and had no desire to see my flesh melted off by its acidic surface, so I roared a thunder spell at the creature, slamming it back, so that we could retreat to the slime chamber.

Unfortunately, not everyone managed to elude the cube before it surged forward. It dealt grievous harm to the already-addled Halbazar. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was dead. 

We all maneuvered around the pit, trying to avoid touching the creature, while pelting it with spells and missile attacks. Eventually, the cube slid and fell into the pit. But that’s not where the confrontation ends.

There was something in the pit. It started to damage the cube from within until the creature collapsed from lack of internal stability. Then it leaped out of the pit. It was the hobgoblin skeleton suspended within the cube! This cannot be good!

We fought the skeleton, but it was nimble and quite strong. It seemed to be regenerating as we fought it, growing new flesh and shrugging off any damage we dealt it. This is not going to be an easy foe to dispatch! But perhaps it is not invulnerable. It fled before us, and though Magnus gave chase, it rounded the corner beyond the prismatic door and disappeared in the narrow cracks of a natural cave.