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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 9804979" data-attributes="member: 143">Thanks GuyBoy. It's been fun to write.* * *Chapter 25As was so often the case, the situation went from tense to utter chaos in a heartbeat.As Ravani shouted his warning, the hobgoblin sentry reached for a signal horn hanging at her side. But before she could blow an alert, three of Folgar’s magic missiles darted through the barricade and struck her on the hip, chest, and shoulder. The hobgoblin fell back, badly hurt, but she got her shield up in time to absorb the arrow that Ravani sent at her. She staggered back into the passage behind the barricade, and a moment later they could all hear the deep tone of the horn being blown.“If there really are thirty of them…” Folgar warned, but Leana said, “I know! I know!” as she turned to face the more immediate threat.The warrior was already halfway toward the cube, which only seemed to grow as it came around the bend in the passage. Fortunately, it was slow; he reached it before it could fully navigate the corner. He’d never seen anything like it before. The thing was just an amorphous ooze, lacking bones—other than those of its victims—musculature, or any other internal structure that would suggest weaknesses. Lacking any other target, he slashed his sword across its body. The blade cut through its substance, causing it to jiggle wildly.“Careful, Greghan!” Leana warned. “Don’t let it touch you!” She lifted her sigil and summoned a flash of divine energy that seared the cube, but the mark left by the sacred flame seemed tiny against the sheer mass of the thing.The cube suddenly lurched forward, almost catching Greghan up in its unexpected advance. He reflexively got an arm up to forestall it, and as it the limb sank into the cube’s substance he felt an intense, sizzling pain that shot through him into his body. With a cry of pain he yanked himself free, staggering back before the cube could finish engulfing him.“Stay back!” he warned his companions.Folgar fired a ray of frost that lanced past him and into the cube. Ice crystals formed on its surface, penetrating a few inches into its interior. The entire thing pulsed, but again the damage seemed trivial compared to its size. Greghan held his ground, slashing at it with his sword. At least it was almost impossible for him to miss. His first swing opened another deep gash in its substance, but the second carved almost through it, the full length of the long blade nearly ripping it in two. The cube convulsed and almost toppled forward onto him. But he’d been expected that, and he darted clear before it could collapse, taking just a few spatters of sizzling acidic substance on his neck and cheek.As he spun back, giving ground against the thing’s advance, his allies continued to blast it. Leana hit it again with her divine magic, while Ravani shot it with his bow. The arrow penetrated a few feet into its mass before it slowed to a stop; Greghan could see it hovering there, the feathers already starting to dissolve.“We might want to think about getting out of here!” Ravani yelled.“It’s almost lost integrity!” Folgar said, as he hit it again with another ray of frost. The cold blasts weren’t doing much damage, but were slowing it to a crawl. The entire upper half of its form was flopping wildly back and forth as it moved, and pieces of it were sloughing off as it continued to try to reach Greghan.The warrior waited for it to approach. He tightened his grip on his sword, and as it began to lean forward for yet another attempt to engulf him he swept up with the blade, cleaving through the core of the thing. It collapsed in on itself, and after a final, brief struggle to hold itself together, it came apart in a mess of limp, lifeless ooze.“Are you okay?” Ravani asked, as Greghan stumbled back to rejoin them.“Yeah,” the warrior said. But as he looked up and saw past the elf, his eyes widened in alarm. “Look out!”They turned to see several ranks of hobgoblin warriors had advanced to the barricade during the distraction of the fight. The ones in the front had their shields up, providing cover to the ones behind who had their bows raised and ready to fire. They launched their missiles even as Greghan shouted his warning.Game Notes:Greghan rolled well in this fight; he made both of his saves against the cube’s Engulf ability, taking 7 damage on the first attempt and only 3 on the second. He also inflicted more than half of the total damage done to the cube, including a crit that came after his Action Surge.I don’t really understand the cube’s stat block… why would it ever use the pseudopod attack, when the engulf is so much better even against a single target, and does damage even if the target saves? The original 5e cube didn’t do half damage on a failed save, so at least there was some potential advantage to using the pseudopod attack against a poorly-armored foe in that version.I’m a little sad that the Starter Set version of the cube left out the creature’s stealth capability; that makes it a particularly scary threat for careless dungeon explorers. The 2024 version halved the damage it does to engulfed creatures and significantly reduced its hit points, which is sort of opposite to the usual trend for 5e.2024. I’m sure the Heroes didn’t mind the changes.</blockquote>

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