An Encounter on the Road to Blingdenstone...
Jhelnae crouched at the tunnel's mouth alongside her companions, staring into the cavern beyond. It was just as their scouts, Sky and Saliyra, had described — a vast chamber where patches of bioluminescent fungi clung to the walls and ceiling, casting a spectral glow in shades of blue, green, and violet. Their light fell in rippling patterns across the rough, stone-strewn floor, illuminating an unsettling scene.
A small campsite lay at the cavern's heart, three tents pitched in a rough semicircle. Surrounding it, nearly motionless, were oozes — a pair of gelatinous cubes, their translucent forms barely perceptible save for the partly digested bones and bits of metal floating within; several gray oozes, almost indistinguishable from slick puddles among the fallen rubble; and a black pudding, it's dark amorphous mass absorbing the faint light.
Despite the present danger, the camp's occupants — a pair of elves, a pair of dwarves, one a duergar, a human, a half-orc, and a gnome. — sat cross-legged in quiet conversation, seemingly oblivious to the creeping threat.
"What do you think?" Aleina whispered.
"What do we think?" Eldeth murmured before the half-drow could answer. "We think this is damned peculiar."
Jhelnae nodded. The dwarf had summarized her thoughts precisely.
"There's a hint of sulfur in the air," Rhianne said quietly from within the depths of her cowl. "Strange. I see no venting fissures, and there's no corresponding warmth."
"Couldn't it just be the oozes?" Sophiya asked.
"Perhaps," the darkling bard admitted, though her tone remained doubtful. "But I don't recall a similar smell when we fought the Pudding King's army."
"If we want to go to Blingdenstone," Kelvane whispered. "We have to cross this cavern. Or we backtrack and find another way."
"And do those people need our help?" Aleina mused quietly.
"I couldn't care less if they do," Saliyra breathed, dark eyes hard. "But I don't want to backtrack."
"Nor do I," Gorath said in a whispered rumble. "I'll kill every ooze in that cavern first."
"I'd help with that," Iandro muttered.
A murmur of further agreement rippled through the group. Since leaving Vizeran's tower they'd encountered everything between rampaging giant fire beetles to ambushing dark mantles. None of them wanted to extend their journey by backtracking.
"The oozes aren't moving toward their campsite." Sky observed, her tail twitching as she peered with her golden gaze. "They aren't moving much at all. They seem unnaturally still."
To Jhelnae, the whole cavern seemed unnaturally still. Even those in the camp, talking amongst themselves, appeared trapped in an eerie tableau rather than truly present in reality. Why weren't they reacting to the oozes? Either the people in that camp were fools — or they knew something her group didn't.
The long-haired, red-haired elf in an emerald green forest coat suddenly looked up and spoke.
"You there," he called out in Surface Common. "In the tunnel. Won't you enter? There is room in our camp for more."
He patted the stony floor next to him in invitation as Jhelnae and her companions stiffened in surprise. They had believed themselves hidden as they crouched low and whispered.
"We might," Aleina called back after a brief hesitation. "But you have… friends barring our way."
"Them?" The elf said, tone mild. "They won't trouble you."
A gelatinous cube and a pair of gray oozes began to shift, deliberately parting to create a path to the campsite.
"Are they your pets?" the aasimar asked.
"By all that dances," Jhelnae said with an exasperated huff before she could stop herself. "Are they their pets?"
Aleina winced and gave an apologetic shrug.
"Pets?" The elf said as if trying out the word. "In a manner of speaking, yes. Oozes are scavengers and carrion feeders, which even on the surface have a sinister reputation. But we of the Emerald Enclave recognize the necessary role of such creatures in nature's cycle."
The aasimar and half-drow exchanged a look. Rhianne voiced their shared thoughts.
"Your friends were looking for survivors from an earlier Emerald Enclave expedition, were they not?" the darkling bard whispered.
"You are members of the Emerald Enclave?" Aleina called out. "Do you know Mialee? Aravae?"
The group in the campsite conferred before answering.
"We have memory of them," the elf said. "I am Sladis Vadir, and I was the druid mentor to Mialee. And Aravae is her bladesinger and spellarcher companion. Are they with you?"
Despite the odd phrasing of the reply, Jhelnae felt tension ease out of her. She released her grip on her abyssal sword, and it misted out of existence.
"They are not among us," Aleina answered. "But they are friends of ours."
She stepped forward, slipping her moonstone orb back into her belt pouch.
"We're going to join these strangers in their camp?" Saliyra hissed. "And let ourselves be surrounded by oozes?"
"These are friends of friends," Jhelnae explained. "And they seem to have them under control. Maybe some kind of druidic magic…"
She was about to ask the elf how they managed it when, at the edge of her vision, something slithering between the oozes caught her eye. But when she turned to look, there was nothing — just stony ground.
"The sulfur smell might be coming from them," Rhianne said as they maneuvered past the oozes. "It's getting stronger."
Jhelnae attributed the fleeting movement to shifting shadows in the cavern's fungal light and tested the air with a few deeper sniffs. She found the sulfuric scent had grown stronger — but it remained faint, lingering rather than overwhelming.
"Don't climb into those things," Sky said, pointing a clawed finger at the nearest gelatinous cube. "Like Kuhl and I did. They burn your flesh and their residue takes forever to get out of your fur."
"The floating bones didn't warn you of the danger of going into one?" Kelvane asked dryly.
The tabaxi flicked her tail and sniffed.
"I was saving a deep gnome," she said.
"If Kuhl went in one of those," Gorath observed. "He went in after you."
"How'd you know?" Sky asked.
The big man shrugged.
"Just a hunch," he said.
"From my short time traveling with Kuhl," Sophiya said. "That sounds very much like him."
The exchange brought a slight smile to Jhelnae's lips, but as she passed the closest gelatinous cube, she eyed it warily. The Emerald Enclave expedition seemed to have gained some control over the oozes, but they were still too close for comfort.
"Mialee and Aravae's report on the undead army from the Underdark," the red-haired elf stood as they neared, as did his companions. "Mentioned an aasimar and a cat girl."
He cocked his head, glancing at Aleina and Sky in question.
"Tabaxi," Sky sighed. "Not cat girl."
"That would be us," the aasimar said with a nod. "I'm Aleina, and this is Sky."
"Red Sky in the Morning," the tabaxi corrected, with a swish of her tail. "Only my friends call me Sky."
Aleina continued as if Sky hadn't spoken.
"Jhelnae also fought the undead army outside of Uluvin alongside Mialee and Aravae. This is Eldeth, Rhianne, Sophiya, Saliyra, Gorath, Kelvane, and Iandro."
Each member of their group nodded as they were introduced.
"Sladis Vadir," the red-haired elf said, repeating his name and gesturing to himself. Though his bronze toned skin was smooth, the sharp angles of his face hinted at a long life shaped by hardship. "And this is my apprentice, Aelira Leafgrace."
The chestnut-haired, hazel-eyed wood-elf at his side appeared younger than Sladis — though Jhelnae knew with elves like herself, it was hard to tell. Aelira regarded the companions with a neutral expression, her grip steady on a twisted oaken staff.
"The dwarf is Amarith Coppervein," Sladis said.
"Amarith. Zookeeper," the dwarf in the dented breastplate introduced cheerily. Her skin tone, along with the braids dangling beneath her steel cap, matched her name. Striking blue eyes — just a little crazed — gleamed as she continued. "My traveling menagerie includes a giant cave cricket, a cranium rat, and an abyssal chicken — which you can see for a fee."
Near the tents, plainly visible for no fee, sat wooden cages containing a large, pale cricket, a fairly ordinary-looking rat, and a small, winged, featherless monstrosity. The last vaguely resembled a plucked chicken — if you overlooked the lack of eyes, the long, fleshy beak lined with razor-sharp teeth, and the snakelike tongue that slithered from its mouth.
"And the other dwarf is Shull Gloomroot," the red-haired elf continued.
"Underdark ranger and monster stalker," Amarith added helpfully.
Shull's dour expression matched his duergar heritage — dull gray skin, a stark white beard, and the typical baldness of his kind. Dark leathers clad his stout frame rather than the black iron of the forges and smelters of Gracklstugh the gray dwarves typically favored.
"And this is Brog Moonfire," Sladis said, introducing his armored companion wearing a midnight-colored, tattered cloak and a blue-crested helmet.
The bowing man's gray-green skin and tusked jawline left no doubt of his orcish ancestry, and the vertical scar that had nearly claimed his left eye only added to his fierce visage.
"You're a Moon Knight," Aleina said in wonder, gesturing at his silver-and-white armor.
His dented and scratched splint mail bore the scarred emblem of a pair of feminine eyes across his chest, and the pale opalescent moonstone pendant around his neck gleamed in the cavern's fungal light.
"I have that honor," the half-orc said, a smile softening the hard edges of his features. "You are a fellow Selunite?"
"I am," the aasimar replied, smiling back.
"I should have guessed," Brog said. "The Moon Maiden's own light graces you."
The blush that colored Aleina's pale cheeks brought a faint smile to Jhelnae's lips. They might be in the Underdark, surrounded by oozes and on a hopeless mission to rid the place of a demonic plague, but seeing her friend's happy fluster from a compliment was at least a small pleasure. Sladis gestured to a small, childlike figure.
"This is Braeder Beren," the red-haired elf said.
The lilt and cadence of Sladis's tone, Jhelnae realized, was soothing. A sense of relaxation had settled over her just from him introducing his group.
"Braeder Beren Brightcloak," the brown-skinned, flaxen-haired gnome corrected.
His brilliant blue eyes gleamed with merriment, and his robe shimmered with fiery hues of red, orange, and gold.
"Why not Brightrobe?" Sky asked, cocking her head inquisitively.
"Brightcloak is more fun to say," the gnome answered with a shrug of small shoulders.
"But you're wearing a robe," the tabaxi objected."
"And finally we have Rystris Zav," Sladis said, gesturing towards the final member of his party. "Not part of the original Enclave expedition, but one we found wandering the Underdark."
A lean young human woman nodded from the depths of the hood of her hunter green cloak.
"Well, then," the red-haired elf said. "Shall we sit?"
At his suggestion, Eldeth, Sophiya, Saliyra, Gorath, and Kelvane wordlessly lowered themselves to the ground. Jhelnae was halfway down herself when Iandro's voice stopped her.
"No cookfire in your camp?" he asked, gray eyes scanning the area in front of the tents.
That was strange. While Underdark travelers often avoided drawing attention, some form of cookfire was a basic comfort. Whether fueled by zurkhwood, torch stalks, oil, fire lichen in alchemical stoves, or even magic, campsites usually had some means of heating food, with precautions to keep the flames hidden.
"No fire," Sladis said sharply.
Jhelnae's stomach knotted. The words hadn't come from just him — they had been spoken as a chorus by each member of his party. The half-drow exchanged alarmed glances with the still-standing members of her group — Aleina, Sky, Rhianne, and Iandro.
More unsettling still, their seated companions showed no reaction at all.
"No fire," the red-haired elf repeated, this time alone. The rest of his group only nodded in eerie unison. "Fire is too visible in the Underdark. It draws unwanted attention."
His soothing cadence was back, and Jhelnae found herself wanting to believe him. But something was strange here. Strange and very wrong. An uncomfortable silence stretched as the two groups warily studied each other.
"I just remembered something," Rhianne said, shifting her stance to one of readiness. "Something I should have recalled earlier."
Jhelnae, Aleina, Sky, and Iandro mirrored her movements.
"Tales tell of a creature called an oblex," the darkling bard said. "Created by the mind flayers. It smells of sulfur, mimics the shape of others, charms its prey into trusting it — and fears fire."
Sladis and his companions stilled. Their expressions went utterly blank. Then, as one, they all turned their gazes to Rhianne.
"She knows us," the red-haired elf said, once again adopting the personality of Sladis Vadir.
"Which is impressive," the wood-elf said, expression taking on the guise of Aelira Leafgrace. "Our kind is rare."
"It makes one wonder," the dwarf mused, becoming Amarith Coppervein as she spoke. "What manner of creature hides under that cloak?"
"Some kind of elf?" the duergar, Shull Gloomroot, guessed with a dour frown. "They are hard to charm. But not impossible. We did it with you, Sladis, remember?"
"One of his last memories," the red-haired elf agreed.
His emphasis on last sent a shiver through Jhelnae.
"I resisted," Aelira said.
"But you became one with us in the end," Rystris murmured, her hunter's green cloak shifting as she crouched, readying herself.
"So I did," Aelira said, shrugging. "Just as these will."
"Why do you speak through all of them?" Rhianne asked, her voice from the depths of her cowl surprisingly steady. "Now that we know the truth, why keep acting? Just choose one to speak for you."
The red-haired elf gave an unsettling smile.
"Each of them is part of me," he said. "And it's fun to play-act. Take comfort in that. When I have your memories and wear your forms, some part of you will live on."
"They are all the same creature!" Sky said, golden eyes bright as her tail lashed in excitement. "See the little trails of slime linking them?"
Jhelnae followed the tabaxi's pointing finger and now saw them - slender, glistening tethers, stretching from the tents to Sladis Vadir's boots and to each of his companions. Almost transparent, they were only visible when the fungal light hit them just right.
Sick horror coiled in the half-drow's stomach.
"Wait," Aleina said, pale blue eyes narrowing. "If you're wearing the forms of the Emerald Enclave expedition sent to the Underdark… what happened to them?"
The red-haired elf gave a mirthless chuckle.
"As I told you, their memories are here." He tapped his own chest.
Around him, the others mimicked him in unnatural unison. Then he pointed outward - toward the gelatinous cubes, where half-dissolved bones floated within their translucent depths.
"But their digesting remnants are there," Sladis said.
Jhelnae's breath caught. The oozes had shifted as they spoke, slithering into position to cut off any path of escape.
"You do not understand," Rhianne said. "We seek to rid the Underdark of the demonic plague. Which even threatens all denizens of the Underdark — even mind flayers."
"You're wasting your breath," Iandro growled, fingering a strip of black silk that seemed to swallow the cavern's dim light. "It's stalling so its pet oozes can close in on us."
From the way he eyed the tunnel leading toward Blingdenstone, Jhelnae had the distinct impression he was considering abandoning them. A glance around confirmed what he said. The oozes now pressed forward on all sides.
Aleina drew out her moonstone orb and raised it threateningly.
"Have them back off," she warned. "Or burn."
Flame bloomed within her orb.
Each of the oblex's puppets took a step back, their mimicry so precise their eyes even widened with fear. The oozes, however, did not retreat, but did stop advancing.
Jhelnae stretched out her hand to summon her abyssal blade then changed her mind. If it came to a fight, she'd first attack with her Ring of Shooting Stars.
"Now release our friends from your enchantment," the aasimar commanded. "And let us pass through the cavern unhindered."
"Rid the Underdark of the demonic plague," the false gnome piped in his high-pitched voice. "Why would I desire that?"
"When it was the coming of the demons which gave me freedom from my illithids masters?" Brog Moonfire's form said in his deeper voice. "Orcus came to the colony and converted its elder brain to undeath. Which freed me."
"Then dreams from the Oozing Hunger led me towards Blingedenstone," the duergar personae, Shull continued "But not soon enough to join the Pudding King's army."
"So you escaped the illithids," Sky said, leveling her hand crossbow at the forehead of the nearest target — the green-cloaked woman, the false Rystris Zav. "Only to become a slave of a demon lord. So, perhaps not so free after all."
All the oblex's stolen faces hardened.
"Now I have a chance for revenge on those who killed the Faceless Lord's champion," Rystris said.
"You might want revenge," Aleina said, the fire in her orb flaring brighter. "But if you try for it, you'll only suffer the Pudding King's fate. Now, do as I ask — release them!"
From the corner of her eye, Jhelnae saw one of the gray oozes quiver.
Aleina gasped, pain flashing across her face.
"Aleina!" Jhelnae cried.
She raised her hand, ready to unleash the magic of one of the rings Laeral gifted her — then flinched as another of the gray oozes quivered.
Pain exploded in her skull.
It was so intense she thought her head might split. She recovered just in time to see a slimy tendril lash up from the stony ground — straight into Aleina's face.
"Alei—"
That was all Jhelnae managed before a second tendril struck, smothering her mid-cry in clinging, viscous slime. The faint sulfuric smell became suffocatingly overpowering as she clawed at the appendage, struggling to free herself.
Then she stilled, mind reeling.
A flood of memories surged out of her — strings of images tearing free, ripped from her thoughts and pouring into the creature invading her mind.
As always, this is a bit rough. I'm actually on vacation and tapping away on my phone. When I encountered the creature known as the oblex in Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes I wondered why it one had not been included in the Out of the Abyss adventure. The answer is quite simple... the module predates the creation of the creature. That should have been obvious right away... ;) This was delayed a bit by my irl friend, PiffleG, introducing me to a show called Slow Horses. I'm binging it and totally recommend it! In fact, now that I'm done with the chapter and the author's note I know exactly what I'm going to do... :)