Face-to-six-faces With a Gelatinous Cube
Getting in to the orc fortress in the canyon, thanks to finding a hidden lever that opens a door in the rock face, only leads to more problems. To get to the door we had to pass arrow slits where orcs waited to fire opportunistically at us. Even orcs aren't so stupid for us to be out-of-sight, out-of-mind, and we have to accept that they not only know that we're inside, but also just inside their entrance.
Sure enough, right around the corner from the entrance is a small barricade, with a couple of orcs behind it with bows. Rather than exchange shots with opponents who are behind cover, we decide that closing the distance as quickly as possible is the best idea. That is until, a few steps in, Nerrick falls down a covered pit, and comes face-to-six faces with a gelatinous cube.
As we weather arrows from the laughing orcs, we try to help Nerrick escape the clutches of the gelatinous cube before it engulfs him. I lower down a rope to help Nerrick climb back up, but the cube tries to swallow him and Nerrick has to dodge deeper in to the oubliette.
Despite our best efforts, with Nerrick stabbing the cube and Pasha's flaming sphere burning in to its top, the gelatinous cube swallows Nerrick. We have to get him out of there! 'I'm going down in to the pit.'
'Are you going down on the rope?'
'The one I'm holding? No, that doesn't sound right.' Instead, I jump down, pull out my weapon, and, with Pasha's assistance from the outside and Nerrick's from the inside, we all deal enough final damage to the cube for it to dissolve and free our colleague. Now we just need to get out of the pit and deal with the orcs. If only we had a positive strength modifier between us to help climb that rope.