Oblex and Oozes
For an eternal moment, Aleina felt as if she were unraveling. She barely remembered who she was or what was happening. Then the force tearing her memories from the depths of her mind relented, and a semblance of coherence returned.
"Why didn't you dodge?" A voice asked.
Despite the familiarity, the aasimar couldn't quite place the voice. She retched, hands on her knees, and spat, trying to rid her mouth of the sulfurous taste. Nearby, someone else did the same.
Something caught her eye—her moonstone orb. What was it doing on the cavern floor beside her feet? She knelt and picked it up.
"I can understand Jhelnae getting caught by that attack," the voice continued. "But you too?"
The aasimar glanced up from retrieving her orb to the speaker. A pair of golden eyes from a feline face regarded her, head tilted quizzically. The rest of the catlike humanoid was tall, thin, and lithe of frame with spotted fur. She held a pair of daggers — the blades of both coated in slime.
"Whoever you are," another voice growled. "Sky! Quit implying that I am clumsy!"
That was right — the catlike humanoid was Sky, and the dark-haired, green-eyed dark-elf glaring at her was Jhelnae. They were her friends. Memories rushed back into her head, and Aleina felt a bit less disoriented.
Then a cloaked and hooded figure let out a thunderous scream that made the aasimar clap her hands to her ears. The sound seemed to penetrate past muffling palms to reverberate into her skull, but it also cut through the remaining haze in the aasimar's mind — and apparently through flesh. Hands still over ears she watched the cloaked woman's scream shred through the top half of a red-haired elf and leave behind an amorphous, writhing mass on two legs.
Rhianne — the cloaked figure with the screaming attack was Rhianne.
Aleina's nose crinkled as a rising, wafting stench reached her. It was the same sulfuric taste she'd tried to spit from her mouth earlier. A hint of the scent had lingered before, but now it was pervasive. Revulsion twisted within her as she realized the oozing remains of the red-haired elf were reforming.
"Hey!" a steel-helmed, copper-skinned dwarf shouted, her bright blue eyes blazing as she stared hungrily at Aleina. "I only got—"
Her tirade was cut short as a masked man in black leathers — Iandro — blinked into existence behind her and plunged a pair of daggers into her neck, just above the armored shoulders.
His eyes widened under the mask when the dwarf did not fall and the wounds didn't bleed as he pulled free his blades. She merely looked annoyed as she spun on him.
"What in the...?"
Iandro vanished again before either his exclamation finished or her counterstrike landed.
"A taste!" an armored half-orc said, picking up the dwarf's unfinished thought, his scarred gaze locking onto Aleina and Jhelnae while his companion continued spinning, searching for her attacker.
But it was the reforming elf who lifted his arms. Slimy tendrils lashed out — one whipping toward the aasimar. Her eyes widened in horror, but her body refused to move.
"Will you two not dodge?!" Sky yelled.
The tabaxi blurred into motion, her knives slashing. Two swift cuts severed the questing tendrils, which fell to the cavern floor with wet plops in front of Aleina and Jhelnae.
"Well, it can try dodging this!" the half-drow said, lifting a hand.
She sent a crackling burst of eldritch energy into the now-reformed elf. He stumbled back, head split in two, but did not fall. Instead both halves of his mouth twisted into a grotesque smile. A smile made more nightmarish as it spread onto the faces of all those standing against them: a chestnut haired, staff wielding wood-elf; the steel helmed dwarf; a dour faced duergar; the armored half-orc; a flaxen haired gnome in a bright robe shimmering with the fiery hues of red, orange, and gold; and a lean faced young woman in a hunter's green cloak.
"That hurt," they growled in unison as the red-haired elf's face melted back together. "But your memories will be mine."
"By all that dances!" Jhelnae cursed.
She stretched out her other hand, a gesture to summon her abyssal sword. It misted into her grip.
"Fire!" Rhianne ordered. "Use fire, Aleina! And the rest of you, wake up!"
Her final words pulsed with power, reverberating through the cavern. Their seated companions — Eldeth, Saliyra, Gorath, Kelvane, and Sophiya — stirred from their unnatural stillness.
At the mention of fire, enemy gazes snapped to Rhianne, their movements eerily synchronized — like puppets jerked by the same unseen strings. For some reason, the darkling bard stiffened beneath the weight of their collective stares, standing rigid and unmoving. The aasimar couldn't see her face within the depths of her cowl, but she imagined it was utterly blank.
At the edge of her vision, Aleina saw Saliyra fully shake off her stupor and shoulder her crossbow. She loosed while still seated, the snap of the bow arms nearly unbalancing her. The bolt hissed through the air and squelched into the oncoming black pudding amid advancing gray oozes.
"Get up!" she yelled at the others, scrambling to her knees. "Get up!"
She jabbed her elbows into Kelvane and Gorath on either side of her, then frantically reloaded.
Eldeth, red braids swinging, surged to her feet just in time to raise her shield and block a flowing pseudopod from the pudding. The shield's already battered, dented surface bubbled and smoked beneath the acidic strike.
The dwarf's shielding bought precious moments. Grim-faced, Gorath rose, hefting his glaive with deadly promise. Kelvane and Sophiya drew steel as they stood — the latter's cold iron greatsword coming alive with crackling dark lightning. And Iandro chose that moment to blink back into existence, slipping in beside his Zhentarim companions.
"Aleina! Behind you!" Sky yelled.
In one fluid motion, the tabaxi flung a dagger past the aasimar's right shoulder. Aleina turned, her gaze following its whirring path — her brow furrowed in confusion at what she saw.
The dagger had stopped mid-flight, hanging motionless in the air. When she noticed the air itself seeming to quiver around it, she understood. The blade was embedded in a translucent, viscous wall — one that shivered as it slithered forward along with surrounding gray oozes.
A gelatinous cube.
They were being ambushed from all sides.
Rhianne had commanded her to use fire. Aleina remembered she knew fire spells — one of them particularly destructive.
She shifted her moonstone orb into her left hand and focused. Magic surged, gathering in the cupped palm of her right, forming a single flickering spark. The ember flared, swelling into a blazing sphere of fire.
She uncurled her fingers and pointed.
Power drained from Aleina as the little ball of concentrated flame streaked forward — straight into the space between the advancing cube and a mass of gray oozes. A fiery explosion thundered through the cavern, the sound echoing off the walls and ceiling. The gelatinous mass quivered and shook but held together, roughly maintaining its shape. The oozes did not fare as well — a trio of them burst apart in the blast.
The aasimar lifted her arms to shield herself from the resulting acidic spray of slime, crying out when some of the spatter found bare skin. Then turned her yell of pain into a war cry as she sent a volley of bright, searing, rays sizzling into the cube.
"You want fire?" Jhelnae muttered behind her. "I'll give you fire!"
Aleina turned in time to see the half-drow activate her ring of Shooting Stars. A shower of incendiary sparks rained out from it, engulfing the red-haired elf, the helmed dwarf, and the armored half-orc. All of them shrieked and writhed in scorching agony. Even those who did not burn — the duergar, the gnome, the chestnut-haired female elf, and the lean faced woman in the hunter's cloak — screamed and twisted in pain. The victims of the half-drow's attack collapsed as charred husks.
"Stop!" the lean-faced woman in the hunter's green cloak begged with a raised hand. "I did not know you possessed such powerful magic."
So complete was her mimicry she paused for a few ragged breaths even though Aleina was sure the creature controlling her didn't need to breathe.
"I've ordered the oozes back and released your friend," the false woman continued. "Let us go our separate ways."
A quick glance around told the aasimar what was said was true. The pair of gelatinous cubes, the gray oozes, and the black pudding slithered back a few feet. Rhianne shook her cowled head, as if clearing it.
"Why should we let you go?" Jhelnae asked, voice cold. "The way I see it, we're winning."
"The outcome is uncertain," the woman countered. "Also, I share your memories. Could you even bring yourself to harm someone who looks like your friend?"
As she spoke, her form rippled and shifted — and the others — the duergar, the gnome, the chestnut-haired elf — did the same. A few stomach-turning moments later, they had all morphed into four identical copies of Aleina, each wearing the same knowing smile.
The half-drow's emerald eyes narrowed.
"You know," she said. "I find I can."
To prove her point, she aimed and activated her ring again. Sparks flew, and three Aleina mimics screamed and burned.
"Jhelnae!" Aleina exclaimed, throwing up her free hand. "Nine Hells!"
"What?" the half-drow asked.
"You just killed me!" the aasimar complained. "Three times over."
She held up three fingers to emphasize the point.
"By all that dances," Jhelnae muttered with an exasperated huff, "I obviously didn't — since you're still here, whining about it."
"I took both of your memories at once," the remaining false Aleina wheezed. "I got confused. Maybe it's you who wouldn't be able to bear hurting someone wearing your friend's form."
She pointed at the aasimar, then her form rippled — shifting — until she took on the likeness of Jhelnae instead.
"Not whining," Aleina mumbled under her breath. "And I might not have such a hard time hurting someone wearing her form at the moment — it would only be fair."
Jhelnae responded with an exaggerated eye roll, but kept her focus on her sudden double.
"Stealing my shape," she said. "You're really trying my patience."
She raised the Ring of Shooting Stars threateningly — though it was likely drained of charges.
"And you're really trying mine," the false Jhelnae countered.
She raised a hand of her own and Aleina saw in her periphery oozes and cubes slither forward around a foot before stopping again. Seeing the two mirrored images glaring at each other reminded the aasimar of the doppelgänger they faced in the Jade Dancer back in Waterdeep. That creature had also taken Jhelnae's form, though this time even the clothing was mimicked. Had Aleina suddenly come across the pair, she'd have been hard pressed to tell who was who.
"Let the oozes come," Sophiya growled.
Dark lightning coursed along the cold iron blade of the weapon in her grip in seeming agreement.
"Rather they didn't," Kelvane muttered, eyeing the surrounding oozes and cubes warily.
"Don't let it cast its mind magic on us again," Saliyra warned, crossbow raised and trained on the black pudding — which already bristled with several of her bolts.
Eldeth, Gorath, and Iandro stood in a defensive line with the others. Muscles taut, silver hammer, glaive, and sword at the ready, they watched the surrounding oozes in silence. Even the zoo menagerie near the tents — the pale giant cricket, the small winged, featherless monstrosity, and the rat — stood unnervingly still in their wooden cages, as if they too waited to see whether the truce would hold.
"You can take Jhelnae and Aleina's shapes?" Sky asked. "Could you take mine, too?"
Her tone was casual, but her hand, pointing the drawn crossbow at the shape-shifting creature's head, didn't waver.
"I can only take someone's shape after I've drunk their memories," the false Jhelnae replied, shaking her head as though surprised by the question.
"Before we even consider going our separate ways," Aleina said. "You will give those memories back."
The creature seemed to fear fire. The aasimar cupped her hand, summoning a flickering spark that began to grow into a fireball.
"And lose the ability to take our shapes," Jhelnae growled.
"Done," the creature said, its gaze flicking nervously to the hovering flame in Aleina's palm. "Examine your memories. You will find them intact."
Its form flowed once more, and they faced the bronze-skinned elf with long red hair wearing an emerald green coat.
"It only copies memories," Rhianne said, her voice muffled from the depths of her cowl. "And it cannot forget them, nor lose the ability to take your forms. Tales tell of the mind flayers creating oblexes to be spies and infiltrators. They transmit whatever they learned to their colony's elder brain."
"We now know what hides beneath that cloak," the oblex said through its elven guise. "What secrets would we learn from drinking your memories, darkling? What stories?"
"To learn those from a bard," Rhianne said coolly, "you need only listen. With some patience."
"I understand insatiable curiosity," Sky said, tail lashing.
"That's an understatement," Jhelnae breathed with a mirthless huff.
"But copying someone's memories and feeding them to your oozes," the tabaxi continued, as if the half-drow hadn't spoken, "even though you got what you wanted and didn't need to kill them? That's just rude."
"I'd call it a little more than rude," Sophiya called, her gaze never leaving the oozes encircling them.
"Definitely more than rude," Eldeth muttered in agreement.
"Then using those stolen memories as disguises to lure your next victims?" Sky added, still ignoring the interruptions. "That's insult on top of injury."
"As her drow friend says," Gorath rumbled, "the catgirl has a gift for understatement."
"Tabaxi!" Sky hissed, apparently unable to let that interruption pass. "Not catgirl."
"It also implied it was an agent of Juiblex," Aleina said quietly. "Like the Pudding King."
She'd been examining her memories, as the creature suggested. They were intact — and now, she recalled that.
"They're right," Jhelnae said. "We can't let you go — not if you'll just use our forms to lure in your next victims. Burn it, Aleina!"
"I thought you might feel that way," said the red-haired elf.
A violet oval of radiant light suddenly blossomed into existence on the cavern floor beneath the tents. The ground seemed to vanish, and one by one, the tents collapsed into the glowing void — swallowed whole.
"What in the…" Aleina began, eyebrows climbing in confusion.
The cages fell next, dragged down by slick, nearly invisible tendrils that snapped into sight as they went taut. Then the red-haired elf was yanked down as well, his own previously hidden tethers adding their pull to his backward leap. He vanished with a triumphant smile fixed on his face.
"…Nine Hells," the aasimar finished, as the portal winked out, leaving nothing behind but bare stone.
"By all that dances," Jhelnae muttered. "What just happened?"
"Oblexes are rare," Rhianne said. "Valuable to their mind flayer masters. When they created them, they gave them a means of escape. I think those tents hid its greater bulk and we interacted with tethered protrusions."
"The oozes!" Saliyra yelled.
The sharp thrum and hiss of a crossbow bolt being loosed told the rest of the story — the truce was over.
Aleina raised her hand cupping flame and pointed. Magic drained out of her as the fireball streaked across the cavern. She targeted the gelatinous cube she'd scorched before, and this time, already weakened, it burst apart when the fiery blast detonated. Slimy, burning fragments rained down on the oozes surrounding it — some of which fared no better in the explosion.
Rhianne screamed, her concussive cry erupting beside the other gelatinous cube. It wobbled and jiggled, fluid beginning to seep through its membrane. Still, it slithered forward — until a bolt from Sky's hand crossbow squelched into its side, turning the leak into a rivulet which grew in volume with each passing moment.
Jhelnae leveled her abyssal blade, and the blast of eldritch energy that followed tore the hole gaping and gushing. With a wet collapse, the cube folded in on itself.
"That's for your friend trying to digest me in the Trader's Grotto," Sky said with a dismissive wave.
Sophiya brought her greatsword down in a cleaving arc, dark lightning crackling along the cold iron blade as it split the black pudding in two. She yelped as both halves shuddered, sprouted pseudopods, and swung at her.
"Ah… I think I might've made things worse," she said, dancing back.
"Might have?" Saliyra shouted, loosing a bolt into the nearest half. "Now there are two of them!"
"Definitely made it worse," Eldeth growled, stepping in with her shield raised.
She batted a pseudopod aside with a swing of her hammer, connecting with a wet squelch and a spray of acidic slime.
"Sorry," Sophiya breathed. "It worked with the others."
"Pudding," Gorath grunted, stabbing down at one of the now smaller black puddings with his glaive. "Not ooze."
Aleina set one black pudding ablaze with rays of scorching light. In moments, it was nothing more than a smoldering, unmoving pool of black slime. The other, battered by a relentless assault, collapsed into dying sludge.
Silence settled over the cavern.
"I think that was the last of them," Kelvane said, standing beside Iandro over the remains of a dead gray ooze.
"I think so," Rhianne agreed. "Without the oblex's mind magic, this was a slaughter."
"Where did that thing go?" Jhelnae cried. "It can still take our shapes."
"And it has our memories," Aleina added.
"Not far," Iandro said. "The faerzress. It can't travel far using magic."
That was true. But Rhianne stole whatever hope remained of catching and destroying it.
"It didn't need to go far," the darkling bard said. "It's an ooze. It can hide in a fissure less than an inch wide. We'll never find it."
That brought a chilling thought.
"What's to keep it from finding us?" Aleina asked. "It could wait until we rest. Come back for revenge."
"They're not fast creatures," Rhianne said. "We can outdistance it."
Uneasy glances were exchanged. No one liked the answer — but no one had a better one.
"Fine," Jhelnae said, then raised her voice to carry. "But I hope it does come looking for revenge. Because it will burn."
She brandished her Ring of Shooting Stars to underscore the promise.
"Don't trust anything that looks like Jhelnae or me," Aleina warned. "Especially if we're acting off when coming from outside the camp."
Saliyra gave a dry chuckle.
"You want me to put a bolt in noble-daughter's head if she's acting suspicious?" she said with a wry smile. "I can definitely do that."
"I'm sure you can," the aasimar said with an answering smile.
But her smile quickly faded. A prickling unease crawled up the back of her neck. She turned, glancing over her shoulder — but saw only decaying pools of oozes and an otherwise empty cavern.
"Can we go?" she asked quietly.
Wordless nods followed. Those who needed to cleaned slime from their weapons in preparation for travel.
"Let's go," Kelvane finally said, sheathing his sword. "The sooner we reach Blingdenstone, the sooner a caravan to the surface."
That is the future for only some of us, the aasimar thought with a silent sigh.
Okay, hopefully this works. This is basically a random encounter. An oblex is quite an interesting monster and I first started thinking up this whole scenario where it had taken over one of the mines around Blingdenstone. But then I was like, "What are you doing? This should not be a seven chapter side quest where the party has to unravel a mystery..." I read the entry of the oblex under the "Monsters know what they are doing..." website. The author made the good point that the damn thing has an intelligence of 22! Which means it is smarter than every member of the party. And it has the spell dimension door which it can innately cast three times per day. How the heck does it not escape? So no, I don't have any future plans for it. I just couldn't imagine a way it didn't use its contingency.