This is a stop in my Waterdeep pub crawl campaign “The Olympiad.” This encounter is a classic monster fight featuring a custom-designed ooze.
You can also read this encounter in my portfolio PDF.
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Stop Number: 10
Pub Name: The Silver Sylph
Proprietor: Valenna Liastradel, halfling bard 1
Signature Beer: Extra crisp lager. A light, effervescent beer with a clean aftertaste. Very refreshing. Intoxication save: DC 10.
It’s a bad sign when you approach the Silver Sylph and run into a group of fleeing patrons. One of them throws away his Olympiad map, shouting, “It’s not worth it!”
You burst into the pub to find an enormous jelly mold thrown off to one side. In the middle of the floor, pulsing with unholy life, is the largest strawberry blancmange you have ever seen. In its wobbly grip is Valenna Liastradel, experiencing her most unjust desserts.
Malignant Blancmange
Large ooze, unaligned
Armor Class 8, Hit Points 142 (15d10 + 60), Speed 20 ft.
STR 16 (+3), DEX 7 (-2), CON 18 (+4), INT 1 (-5), WIS 6 (-2), CHA 1 (-5)
Damage Immunities: Acid, Cold, Lightning, Slashing
Condition Immunities: Blinded, Charmed, Deafened, Exhaustion, Frightened, Prone
Senses: Blindsight 60 ft. (blind beyond this radius), Passive Perception 8
Languages —
Challenge 8 (3,900 XP)
Amorphous. The blancmange can move through a space as narrow as 1 inch wide without squeezing.
Corrosive Adhesive. A creature that touches the blancmange or hits it with a melee attack while within 5 feet of it takes 7 (2d6) acid damage and must make a DC 14 Dexterity saving throw. On failure, the creature is engulfed by the blancmange. If the creature hit the blancmange with a melee weapon, they can choose to drop the weapon and allow it to be engulfed instead.
The blancmange can eat through 2-inch-thick, nonmagical wood or metal in 1 round.
Edible. Bite attacks have Advantage against the blancmange and are immune to the Corrosive Adhesive effect.
Actions
Pseudopod. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 10 (2d6 + 3) bludgeoning damage plus 8 (2d6) acid damage.
Spread. While the blancmange normally occupies a 10-foot square, it can use a move action to flatten itself out and spread into one adjacent square, to a maximum area of 9 5-foot squares (unless it has been Split).
Engulf. When the blancmange enters the space of a Large or smaller creature, or if a Large or smaller creature is in the blancmange’s space at the beginning of its turn, the creature must make a DC 14 Dexterity saving throw.
On a failed save, the creature takes 18 (4d6) acid damage and is engulfed. The engulfed creature is restrained and takes 21 (6d6) acid damage at the start of each of the blancmange’s turns. If the blancmange moves out of that square, the creature is released.
An engulfed creature can try to escape by taking an action to make a DC 14 Strength check. On a success, the creature is no longer engulfed and may move normally.
Reactions
Split. When a blancmange with at least 40 hit points is subjected to lightning or slashing damage, a smaller blancmange splits off. This blancmange is Medium sized, has 20 hit points, and cannot Engulf, Split, or Spread. The original blancmange loses 20 hit points and can spread to 1 fewer squares maximum.
When the blancmange has been subdued, you finally have a chance to take in your surroundings. The Silver Sylph is decorated in delicate pastels, with lace curtains and rose-patterned wallpaper. Shelves of ceramic figurines line the walls, although a few of them have been smashed in the melee.
Valenna sits down and wipes a bit of jelly off her apron, understandably shaken.
“I was trying to create the world’s biggest blancmange,” she explains. “It was going to be my crowning achievement. But it kept collapsing. So I bought a scroll of Animate Objects from the discount scroll emporium, just to hold it up…I guess I should have bought it from a more reputable wizard…”
Valenna pours you your extra crisp lagers. “Would you like any dessert to go with that? I’ve got a nice lemon jelly in the icebox…”