Glom pushed himself up from the brackish water, struggling to find balance as the foul stuff sluiced off of him. "Nasty thing! Nasty thing!" the goblin muttered. He coughed a mass of gunk from his mouth that seemed to skitter off the debris upon which it landed and dive into the dark water. With a shudder, Glom turned his attention to the thing drawing near the end of the northern passageway. He awoke his mental powers to sent an arc of blue electric energy at the semi-reptilian, semi-arachnid thing.
Unable to dodge with its huge bulk still tightly wedged in the passage, the creature took the full force of the blast (9 hp damage), its weird internal organs illuminated by azure light. It hissed in the direction of the goblin. Its thoughts -- which had taunted the party before -- leaked unbidden from its mind. Freedom. After being buried in this place for centuries, it would be free.
Its tongue shot out toward the lurking goblin, causing no damage but adhering to his flesh. Kregor took advantage of the creature's shift in focus, and swung his bastard sword (AoO, 29 total to hit, 11 points of damage). The sword drew smoking grey ichor from the thing's flesh, but the wound was not deep. The rubbery flesh seemed to resist the blade.
His mind numb with fear, Horsom couldn't even sputter out an apology to Selanil as he rose from the noxious morass. Horsom reached quickly, albeit shakily, for his bow and quiver and let fly with two arrows at the hideous nightmare. One of the arrows struck a knobby conglomeration of scales, and veered into the stone wall. The other sank into the transluscent flesh, where it remained visible, about half of the shaft sticking out. It had not gone anywhere near the pulsating organs, but the wood itself turned black and began to smoke. (15 & 21 to hit, the second arrow causing 7 hp damage.)
Cursing quietly at the errant throw of the spear, Selanil calmly pulled his bow from his back, nocked an arrow, and fired. (Selanil is within 30 feet, but got only a 19 to hit -- close, but not close enough.) The arrow glanced off the creature.
Kregor studied his foe. With the help of Gragnor, he was able to shrug off whatever evil eminated from this beast, and with luck he had already gotten a blow in. Selanil's arrow may not have bit, but it distracted the creature again, as did Glom's struggles to pull free from its greasy-looking violet tongue. The half-orc bared his jagged teeth and swung his bastard sword with all his might. (23 to hit, 14 damage.) Again, Kregor was blessed with a good stroke, and again his blade bit into the alien flesh of the thing they faced. Grey ichor spurted and smoked in the dark, noisome air.
Still, they could see the thing's vitals through its muscle and skin, and knew that they had done little to halt it yet.
Dain came up from the reeking water. Tor-Angol was still gripped in his hand, but that hand quavered from the dread radiating out of the unnatural beast. It was impossible to charge in the barrow, with hidden chunks of rock and bone ready to trip the unwary. Yet Dain could not attack until he had closed the distance. Cursing the abomination, the dwarf picked up his courage and prepared to move in and strike.
