Combat Resolution

[Cubist, etc: Yeah, "per round" actually means for as long as the time period lasts; e.g. all of "Late Afternoon" is one "round".]

[As for the live RP, that's going to have to be delayed a little; work's rapidly leaped from "casual irritant" to "all-consuming time tyrant" recently.]

Both Kit's bolt and Sarah's missile just sink into the slime; it doesn't appear that any of the party's physical attacks harm the slime in any way. However, the magical Siphoning do cause the creature harm; it's almost as if it were a living, somewhat sentient form of magic. The combination of the two Siphons seems to utterly destroy all of the slime, though not before the tentacles reach out towards the party members, and some members of the party get slimed. This causes these party members to become wracked with pain as their transformations begin...

As Mephis writhes in agony, his body begins to prickle and itch as hairs begin to sprout out, beginning from the spot where the slime hit him and spreading outwards across the surface of his skin; down his front these slightly thick, bestial hairs are a creamy white, while the rest of him is covered in light-to-medium brown. From the rear side of his pants, he can feel a strange twitching and pressure as a small, nob-like tail sprouts out of his body; it thickens, then raises up instinctively, becoming a white beacon of warning. Two hard nubs burst out of his forehead, releasing a few drops of blood, while the horny protrusions grow and then branch out to sharp, spiky ends, their hard base being covered by a fine fuzzy layer of velvet. His face alters: his expanding jaw slowly fills with flatter, herbivorous teeth - the tearing canines and others altering to suit a plant-eater - while the skin on his nose blackens, flattening at the top and realigning so the nostrils face forward. His expanding ears begin to flicker beside his antlers, becoming more suitable for the deer-like creature the slime has caused him to become. The muscles in his legs tingle, and they seem to have a feeling of potential springiness.

[For the duration of this transformation, Mephis gains +2 to his Danger Sense - Living Skill, but will suffer a 20% penalty for combat encounters (instinctively prefering to flee rather than fight). He can use his antlers as alternate weapons (i.e. as a replacement for, rather than in addition to, his swords), but they will make travelling down some of the tighter corridors rather difficult, so any combat encounters in these areas will have an additional 20% penalty (I'll let you know when this will have an effect); however, in compensation, in larger chambers with high ceilings he will be able to leap higher than he would otherwise.]

As Sarah is comforted by Kit, her body begins to prickle with a new thick covering of fur, in patches of browns varying from almost-white to almost chocolate, with the darker areas centered about the limbs, neck, face (particularly a mask-like marking around the eyes) and hands. Soon both notice a strange, snake-like thing twisting in her pants, and a quick examination shows that there is a long, furry tail, as long as her legs; the pair quickly arrange for a small hole in her pants to allow her some comfort in wearing them. A muzzle begins to form: the lower part of the face slowly expands outwards, with long whiskers bristling out on either side of the darkening nose, which becomes less pointed and more squarish like an animal. Her teeth become sharper in general: a dozen small teeth at the front between four large canines, with a dozen premolars and six molars in total. Her ears become rounded and much larger, growing up the sides of her face just before the skull becomes more horizontal. Once these changes seem to come to a halt, it becomes somewhat simpler to identify her changed features as those of a ferret. The last thing is the small claws which form at the end of her fingers and toes, which require her to remove her shoes.

[For the duration of this transformation, Sarah will gain a fatigue penalty much sooner that the remainder of the party, (so will be Fatigued much sooner), but will gain a +1 bonus to Coordination and Nimbleness when properly rested. She will also not be allowed to wear footwear of any kind due to the claws, and will not be able to use ranged weapons, but can use her claws as weapons, and is able to perform a special "weasel war dance" maneuver, which will allow her to hop sideways a few times (increasing her Nimbleness by +1, but decreasing her Coordination by 1 at the time).]

Gauronne, meanwhile, begins to grow what look at first to be short, off-white hairs out of his skin, but as they lengthen and curl a little, and the smell of lanolin becomes more prominent, it becomes much more apparent that it is wool. The wool covers almost his entire body, apart from his face and around his ears, hands and feet, where the skin becomes whiter (apart from on the golden hand, where the underlying flesh is still the same metallic yellow color), with pink flesh poking through from inside the ears, around the eyes and on the nose. Two horns begin to spiral out from either side of his head, growing in thickness as they wend their way out of his skull. A short woollen tail begins to grow, while his face alters to gain more of an ovine shape: the ears grow large and flat, and press against the two spiralled horns; the mandible and maxilla expand outwards, teeth flattening to suit eating grass and leaves; the nose flattens into the forming snout, with widening nostrils and moist pink skin; and the forehead pushing back somewhat to give a more sheep-like appearance.

[Gauronne can use his horns as weapons, should he so desire; although for the rest of that turn he will suffer a temporary penalty of 1 point to his Arcane Attribute for each strike. Gauronne will also have a hard time swimming and will suffer a fatigue-like penalty in hotter areas, but will be spared any negative effects encountered in colder areas (unless he is shorn, in which case he gains enough wool that can be turned into one large item of clothing, but loses the advantages of having a full fleece, and will probably suffer some small amount of HP damage unless the party stumble across a competent shearer.)]

The strangest change of all seems to have been reserved for Leremy, whose body begins to sprout an array of short hairs in a variety of brownish hues; these hairs then expand, harden and grow what appear to be small hairs off the sides as his body is covered with the feathers of a sparrow. Large feathers droop down from beneath each arm, after the fingers of his hands have disappeared and reformed to support his new wings; and a tuft of big feathers begin to sprout out of his pants, pushing them down a little as they fan out. His teeth grow and merge together, then become angled to a point poking out of his receding lips; his new beak continues to grow and shape itself from his jaw as his nose and ears shrink down. More mutations to his face and head occur, until he has a bird-like expression; although he still retains his human eyes. Finally, the muscles in his legs thin out as his lower limbs begin to grow a hard covering over the skin; the toes lengthen and thin as the rest of the feet seem to retract into some mysterious internal vortex.

[Obviously, the main ability gained from this transformation is the ability to fly (under certain conditions; just attempt to fly when you like and I'll determine if it's feasible); however, Leremy can't weild any weapons or handle any items while this transformation is in effect. The other thing is clothing; due to the rather drastic transformation that has taken place, Leremy can't wear socks or shoes, and can't equip any armor. He also loses the ability to wear his earring; although he can tie it on a string and wear it as a necklace for a "half-effect" (i.e. +1 to Arcane in every other round.) However, he gains a +1 to Arcane due to the frequent use of avians as magical familiars.]

[Where it is desired, the transformation can be undone by magical means (i.e. by Gauronne and Leremy, assuming they are willing and able of course). The transformation effects are going to be randomly selected from a list I've prepared; so if you reply before your transformation has been written, to speed things along give either a list of "do not want" transformations, or a list of "want to keep" transformations. Obviously if you post after you can say whether you want to keep this transformation or not.]

[Oh, and the Siphon spells didn't do any "vampiric" damage.]

[Numbers]

Round 1

Mephis suffers 0 HP damage from Big Oozey Thing. Mephis is Slimed!
Sarah suffers 0 HP damage from Big Oozey Thing. Sarah is Slimed!
William suffers 0 HP damage from Big Oozey Thing.
Gauronne suffers 0 HP damage from Big Oozey Thing. Gauronne is Slimed!
Kit suffers 0 HP damage from Big Oozey Thing.
Leremy suffers 0 HP damage from Big Oozey Thing. Leremy is Slimed!

Big Oozey Thing suffers 0 HP damage from Mephis.
Big Oozey Thing suffers 0 HP damage from Sarah.
Big Oozey Thing suffers 0 HP damage from William.
Gauronne casts Siphon. Big Oozey Thing suffers 28 HP damage from Gauronne.
Big Oozey Thing suffers 0 HP damage from Kit.
Gauronne casts Siphon. Big Oozey Thing suffers 27 HP damage from Leremy.
Big Oozey Thing is killed by party.
100 XP earned per party member.