Main Thread

*Damara cringes and looks behind her* "What... in the bloody hell is THAT noise? Homunculus, is there any way you can tell us what they're fighting against?"

"I'm afraid I don't know what lies ahead. But proceed carefully. Whatever it is, it cannot be good," says the Iron Defender.

Cautiously, the party ventures forward. As they continue, forward, the sounds of struggle only get louder. It is definitely in the direction they are heading.

Soon, the party comes to a corner. The battle is around that corner, as is the entrance to the Labyrinth. The homunculi are the first to peer around the corner.

"I don't believe I know what this is," says the Defender, "There are homunculi fighting... something in there. Some creature I've never seen or heard of before. Perhaps you'd better take a look."

One by one, the members of the party and Cherimoya peek from around the corner into the entrance chamber.

The chamber itself is quite sizable and square. And fighting in the middle of it are several homunculi and three large, disgusting masses of... mucous? Phlegm? Whatever they are, there are two smaller grey ones, and one large orange one, and they are not very pleasant creatures. These semisolid monsters don't seem to take any particular form and in fact, don't seem to have any organs or body parts that would allow them to move. They only seem to flow single-mindedly toward their prey, in this case, the homunculi. The party notices that the orange one has indeed consumed one of the Clay Scouts, which seems to be slowly and painfully dissolving within it. And one of the grey ones has within it what appears to be human bones.

"What... are those horrid creatures?" Cherimoya says, covering her mouth in disgust, "I've never seen anything like that!"

That's when the stench hits. The slimy creatures seem to be giving off an odor of corpses, long-stagnant water, and the latrine of a camp of people after drinking said water. It is everything that the party can do to keep themselves from vomiting. Luckily, no one has had anything to eat recently.

"What is it?" says Cherimoya. "I can't smell anything."

Once the party is able to compose themselves as much as possible and cover their noses, they are able to get a better look at the room. There are more dead bodies here than anywhere else thus far, but almost all of them seem to have the flesh stripped from their bones, leaving only their bleached skeletons. Those slime creatures probably devoured them, which might also explain the skeletons seen earlier.

The room is also very large, and there is another smashed door at the opposite end from the party. There are no other doors in sight. That is the only exit.

"What should we do?" asks Cherimoya. "Do you want to fight those things?"

"Ma'am, what are your orders?" the Scout asks Damara. "Should we battle our way through?"

"I just said that, you worthless clump of dirt!" exclaims Cherimoya, getting increasingly frustrated with the homunclus's inability to see her.

"We may also be able to sneak around the edge of the room," says the Defender. "There are not very many of them, and they are distracted. We can slip right by."

What will the party do?

*Badger seems not to hear any of what is being said, and walks into the room, glancing around the edges and studdying the cieling beforeleveling his gaze at the current melee.*

"Giant snot globs! Now that is most certainly something you don't see every day! How do they work?"

*He hefts a throwing dagger and launches it at the biggest one from about 15 feet away.*

(Sorry guys. Critically failed the wisdom check.)

(So he's not stopping the throw physically? Because Badger is in the process of throwing, so unless he is physically restrained, he will throw as indicated by the above post.)

*Damara groans, running at Badger, ready to jump on him and hold him down to stop him* "Tarla's Pity, I said a PLAN, not an outright attack you jackass!"

(Normally, I would be the one to decide if your character has remembered something and would indicate that to you. But in this case, it does make some sense, and will only give you a little information on the monsters rather than your past, I'll let it slide. Since it's still the beginning of the game, I'm trying to keep the memory recollection to a minimum. But when we reach a certain point, and I get full bios from everyone, then communicating them should become much easier.)

Though Evette does not quite recall from where, or the circumstances of her encounter, she does recognize the creatures as Gray Oozes and an Ochre Jelly, or at least something very closely resembling those creatures. Knowing this, she also knows that the stench is coming from the Gray Oozes, and tends to interfere with the senses of those fighting them (-2 to Attack rolls). And all of them have no weak points to exploit (immunity to critical hits).

Badger winds up to throw the dagger, but Damara seems to know what Badger is doing even before he does. The dagger flies, but Damara, with an uncanny reflex, snatches the dagger safely out of the air without even looking (natural 20). Cherimoya gasps and her eyes nearly pop out of her head.

Her surprise slowly turns to a quiet anger as she speaks. "Fagan, you will not act so rashly without cause like that again," she says, adopting the demeanor of a queen passing judgment on a criminal, "or else I will ask that Kenshin, Damara, and Evette restrain you with varalchite chains and throw you into the nearest lake. And should you endanger them needlessly again, I do not think they would object."

The party does not know what varalchite is, but they way Cherimoya says it, it cannot be pleasant.

"Now, while the monsters are still distracted, let's discuss a plan of action like civilized people."

Evette holds out a hand.

"Wait! I think I remember something. I think...I think these creatures can mess with your heads. They can...confuse you? Garble your senses."

Evette looked a bit confused herself.

"Don't ask how I know this, I honestly am not sure. But we should be cautious and take that into account."

"...also, I think they might be...blobs."