[MW Batch X-2] Splatacabra - CR 9 Large Ooze

"- What do you get when you cross a gelatinous cube, a few dragon bones, and half the dungeon!?

- I told you—now’s not the time for jokes. Save them for when we’re out of here.” 

- … It wasn’t a joke. Please turn around before we all die.” 

— Gregoire “Chemburn,” Psionic Xenobiologist

Of the thousands of mighty adventurers who blaze trails through lich-infested catacombs or gold-rich dragon lairs, a few dozen at most have met a splatacabra. These uncanny amalgams only appear in the unsettling quiet that follows the passage of victorious heroes, and so they are instead the bane of spelunkers and scavengers. After the adventurers’ footprints fade in the dust and the monsters’ blood dries, surviving gelatinous cubes sweep the dungeon clean and absorb the remains… and if the defeated monsters were formidable enough, the ooze begins to evolve. 

Neural Potpourri. The undissolvable bones of dragons, giants, and other titans create a rudimentary limb structure and the beginnings of a consciousness within the cube. Clashing with the echoes of those unconquerable wills are the multitude of dissolved brains from cowardly vermin that died in the crossfire—bats, rats, imps, and goblins. Fearful instincts and mighty strength swirl within the splatacabra, creating a chaotic consciousness too scattered for mental assaults and telepathy to work (much to Chemburn the Xenobiologist’s disappointment, for it stymied his favourite methods of research). The many minds’ conflicting instincts cause the splatacabra to shift rapidly between fighting and fleeing, but its body always passively defends itself. 

Gooey Glue. Low-level scavengers are all too happy to stay far away from a fleeing splatacabra, which happens to be the best way to avoid perishing at its hands. Engaging with the rubble-armoured beast at close range is a fool’s errand—attackers find their swords ripped from their hands and their fists glued to the raging monster. Fortunately, precise attacks rip rubble and lost weapons from its translucent limbs, encouraging the wounded and vulnerable splatacabra to flee, interestingly enough, toward the surface of the dungeon, rather than its depths. 

Semiconscious Wanderlust. With few remaining prospects within its shattered home, most splatacabras leave a few weeks after their creation. They amble around half-remembered traps and manoeuvre through subconsciously recalled passages, moving ever closer to the surface. Gregoire Chemburn and his party exploited this behaviour when lost in a destroyed dungeon by corralling a gelatinous cube into dragon bones and following the resulting splatacabra to the surface. The plan almost worked without a hitch—sticking a little too close to the creature when its mood became spontaneously and terrifyingly violent resulted in a vicious battle that gave the jocular xenobiologist his unfortunate moniker. 

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• Get the stats for this fearsome foe in the ATTACHED FILES!

• Enjoy the gorgeous rendered art for it HERE;

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