Dead Gelatinous Cubes

[Quasqueton]

What does a gelatinous cube "do" when it is killed? Burst? Collapse? Evaporate? Run like water?

Believe it or not, this is not a joke question.

Quasqueton

 

[Xath]

I thought they kind of melted, or lost their cubish form.

 

[DungeonmasterCal]

Just guessing, I'd say the outer membrane ossifies then decays, allowing the fluid interior to leak away. Does the old Dragon article "Ecology of the Gelatinous Cube" (#124, I think) say what happens?

 

[Kelleris]

I've always pictured them as losing their ability to hold themselves together, and then turning into a large blob of something with the consistency of cottage cheese or thereabouts.

 

[gizmo33]

I'd have it make gasping noises, jiggle/slosh from side to side in the passageway, then spin around on one of it's corners and fall into a pancake shaped blob on the floor. Try to reform itself back into a cube, fail, and then collapse back into the pancake shape with all it's gaudy baubles inside.

 

[the Jester]

Eventually they will rot into a cottage-cheese consistency gelatin, but at least for a couple of days the dead cube will more-or less maintain its shape (though gradually deforming into a lump). At least, that's how I see it.

 

[Kelleris]

Eventually they will rot into a cottage-cheese consistency gelatin, but at least for a couple of days the dead cube will more-or less maintain its shape (though gradually deforming into a lump). At least, that's how I see it.

In that case, is their poison/acid still effective? That would certainly make removing them from your way after you kill them a more tricky proposition that with most monsters.

 

[Sejs]

I figure they lose their ability to hold their cube form and sort of collapse into a big heap of thick, transparent sludge that has a harsh numbing effect when it comes into contact with bare skin.

 

[The_Gneech]

I always had 'em dissolve into a mass of disgusting sticky goo.

-TG

 

[dungeon blaster]

So it's like jellied botox? Sweet.

I imagine it having a consistency like really thick jello, not as a fluid with an outer membrane. Of course, I can't really reason how stabbing it with a spear would actually hurt it.