An Evil Lady & A Skull Ooze
Merry Christmas!
First up, as promises a few days ago, there’s trouble in Schuhdorf! An evil noble lady with magic powers has polymorphed Schuhdorf’s leaders into goats and stolen them before flying off in her giant shoe. Later that night, eerie singing from the woods lured away several of the village’s children. Can the heroes track the children and rescue them? The Lady in the Shoe is a 5E D&D adventure for five 2nd-level characters includes details about how to scale the dangers for weaker or stronger parties. It’s pay-what-you-want with a recommended price of $1.
In other news, I purchased a virtual treasure chest of stock art from Aegis Studios, one of which is Jack Badashski’s burbling Skull Ooze, which appears below as a new monster.
Nota Bene: That last link is an affiliate link.
Ooze, Skull
The skull ooze is one of the more insidious fragments of Juiblex that has squirmed its away from the Abyss to the Material Plane. This blob of inky viscosity hides within a skull, waiting for something living to stray too close. Don’t let the skull ooze’s tiny size fool you into thinking it’s a small threat.
Tiny ooze, unaligned
Armor Class 13
Hit Points 7 (2d4+2)
Speed 20 ft., climb 20 ft.
STR 5 (-3), DEX 16 (+3), CON 12 (+1), 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 1/4 (50 XP)
Amorphous. The skull ooze can move through a space as narrow as 1 inch without squeezing, although it has to leave its skull behind.
Corrosive Form. A creature that touches the skull ooze or hits it with a melee attack while within 5 feet of it takes 2 (1d4) acid damage. Any nonmagical weapon made of metal or wood that hits the skull ooze corrodes. After dealing damage, the weapon takes a permanent and cumulative -1 penalty to damage rolls. If its penalty drops to -5, the weapon is destroyed. Nonmagical ammunition made of metal or wood that hits the skull ooze is destroyed after dealing damage.
The skull ooze can eat through 2-inch-thick, nonmagical wood or metal in 1 round.
Spider Climb. The skull ooze can climb difficult surfaces, including upside down on ceilings, without needing to make an ability check.
Actions
Pseudopod. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 2 (1d4) acid damage, and the skull ooze attaches to the target. While attached, the skull ooze doesn’t attack. Instead, at the start of each of the skull ooze’s turns, the target takes 2 (1d4) acid damage. In addition, nonmagical armor worn by the target is partly dissolved and takes a permanent and cumulative -1 penalty to the AC it offers. The armor is destroyed if the penalty reduces its AC to 10.
The skull ooze can detach itself by spending 5 feet of its movement. A creature, including the target, can use its action to detach the skull ooze, but this subjects the target to the skull ooze’s corrosive form.
