Hello, Everyone!
Welcome to another D&D combat encounter :) After Mary and her companions left the goblin village, they went on their way towards Gracklstugh. They tried to have a short rest in a small cavern but were interrupted by the arrival of three duergar who had two of the dwarf loggers in chains and were leading them somewhere. Our party attacked them but seconds after the fight began, one of the nearby stalagmites woke up and turned out to be a bloodthirsty monster. Mary managed to escape its tentacles but some of her companions didn’t have that luck.
Content warning: The text below contains descriptions that might be upsetting to some readers (blood, gore, death). Proceed at your own caution.
Mary’s heart was racing. She was standing on the ledge high above a fight, just having escaped from the grasp of the horrible creature, and was trying to make sense of the chaos beneath her. Only a moment ago, her party was ready to free a couple of dwarf prisoners and now everything had gone horribly wrong.
Four of the creature’s tentacles were currently wrapped around someone – Paulina, two of the duergar and one of the chained-up loggers. The other two were flailing around, looking for their next victims. Bruno and Aurum were still free, and so were the other logger and the third duergar.
The creature was called a Roper. She remembered reading the name next to an illustration very similar to what she was seeing right now. Those monsters were completely undetectable while sleeping and very dangerous when awake.
The bear-Paulina was still in the Roper’s mouth when Bruno attacked it with his spectral and real hammers consequently. It let go of her and she was able to heal herself; then she attacked it in turn with both her teeth and claws. It screeched and looked around with its one eye.
The duergar in its tentacles, despite their bad position, weren't trying to escape as hard. Instead, they kept on fighting Mary's companions. She had to use her next Eldritch Blasts on them instead of the Roper.
Did they know something her party didn't?
After a few collective attacks, one of the duergar finally fell. The Roper’s eye immediately set on him. It left the other creatures in its tentacles alone and pulled the dead body towards its mouth. Mary turned away when it started eating but she could still hear the crunching and slurping sounds it made while devouring the dark dwarf.
When it was done, the creature raised its eye again. The two free tentacles flew out and caught Aurum and Bruno. The bard tried to cut the thing off with his sword but got only half way before it started pulling him towards its mouth.
Mary screamed, imagining him in the Roper’s mouth, and sent out an Eldritch Blast in that direction. It seemed to do the trick, completing the cut the bard had innitiated. Aurum was free. He returned the favour by sending her a few magical words of inspiration.
Still looking at the fight below, Mary noticed something weird in the Roper's behaviour. After Paulina had damaged it with her attacks, it had stopped trying to pull her in its mouth. Also, it had immobilized Bruno by wrapping its tentacle around his armour but, although he was much closer than the others, it wasn't pulling him either. The only ones that it was still interested in were the dead and defenceless duergar and the squishy-looking bard.
"I think it's hungry!" she yelled from the ledge to her companions. "It's concentrating only on the easier prey and leaving the rest of you alone."
"Then let's give it more things to chew on!" one of the chained-up loggers said.
The two looked at each other with resolve, their eyes filled with hatred towards the duergar who’d captured and abused them. The one that was free from the Roper’s grip jumped up, flipped through the air and ended up on the other side of the duergar that was immobilized by the creature's tentacle. The logger wrapped the chain around his neck and both him and his friend pulled in different directions until their captor's neck snapped. His limp body fell on the ground and the Roper pulled it in its mouth.
The third duergar looked at them with fear in his eyes. He was now alone against the six of them and the Roper. He turned around and ran towards the cavern exit where their goats were standing meekly, waiting for someone to give them food or ride them.
The duergar mounted Messy and kicked him hard. The goat galloped towards the exit.
"Damn it!" Aurum shouted and cast a Thunderwave at him.
The ground moved under the goats feet and it stumbled down, sending the duergar flying. The Roper's tentacles caught him and it started pulling him closer while he fought for his life.
Mary's brain was ringing. The duergar was going to be eaten alive! That was the most horrible fate she could imagine and she wouldn't wish that upon anyone! If she could just...
She rose her hand to send out an Eldritch Blast, setting the duergar free, but Bruno was faster. He brought his hammer down on the squirming dark dwarf and finished him off before he got to the Roper's mouth.
Then there was crunching and slurping, and, finally, silence. The Roper had satiated its hunger. It looked around at the rest of the people around it, pulled its tentacles back and closed its eye.
It was, once again, indiscernible from the other stalagmites in the cavern.
Well, wasn't that an awful, awful thing? Mary didn't like it, not one bit. I, however, feel like I did well with the writing part.
Do you think I did?
I hope you take care of yourselves!
See you next time, when we go back to--relative--safety and have some in-party arguing about where to go next.
See you then!
(Also, here's a link to the chapter guide. You're welcome!)