8. BAAA-STARD
The lamb-aggoth’s new form flowed out of the fallen corpse of its former self, dwarfing the mortal container that had held it. The barn shook, dust falling from the roof. Nanoc’s friends dragged him back from their enemy until they reached the far wall and could go no further. The lamb-aggoth chuckled, a creepy huff-huff-huff sound that echoed through the barn so that it sounded like it came from everywhere at once. Once again, Nanoc’s identify enemy skill came in handy.
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Lamb-aggoth’s final form
Level: Higher than a giant on a mountain... you're doomed!
The dreadful beast has shed its outer skin! None may look upon the final form without losing first their minds and then their lives!
Defeat this beast to complete your quest or DIE TRYING!
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“It looks like this form might be a lot tougher than the one we beat,” Nanoc conceded. “It sure has a lot of tentacles and… whatever those things with mouths are. Yuck. Dren, any ideas?”
“Um… don’t be here?”
“I will… CONSUME YOU!” the lamb-aggoth roared. “I will… EAT YOUR SOULS!”
“Not helpful, Dren,” Nanoc said. “Rotcel ‘Loc?”
“Run away and live to loot another day?” the lizardling suggested.
“No.”
“I… will… KILL YOU!” the lamb-aggoth roared, clearly insulted by Nanoc’s lack of fear.
Rotcel ‘Loc desperately searched the wall for any secret panels or ways out. Dren joined Rotcel ‘Loc in her search, but Horror’s champion had them trapped, and their slow deaths seemed inevitable. For a moment Nanoc’s mind turned to his previous life as clerk when the only danger he faced was papercuts. The gnome shuddered.
“Death is still better than paperwork,” he said,
“Hey, is that… the lamb?” Rotcel ‘Loc asked, pointing at the small body protruding from the top of the lamb-aggoth’s form.
The woolly body of Mary’s former pet sat on top of the lamb-aggoth’s amoebic form, the lamb’s body merging into the monster. The purple crown was on its head. The lamb looked quite peaceful, almost as if it were sleeping.
Then its eyes snapped open.
“Fear me… FEAR ME!” the lamb-aggoth roared, the beast’s many mouths all shouting together.
“DIE!”
The beast lashed out with a dozen long tentacles, and the trio spit up, diving and rolling out of danger. Nanoc stabbed his fiery pitchfork into a bale of hay, and his fire elemental set it in flames.
“Not… this….TIME!” the lamb-aggoth roared, spitting out a stream of putrid goo that covered Nanoc from head to foot and extinguished both the hay and the elemental with a sizzle. “Ha… Ha…HA!”
“What’s your next plan, Nanoc?” Dren called out from the other side of the barn.
“I… wait, why am I the one who has to make a plan?” Nanoc protested. “I’m more a gnome of action—”
The lamb-aggoth surged at Nanoc with a speed that defied its great bulk. The gnome tried to run past it, but a tentacle caught his ankle and he fell face down on the ground. Within seconds a dozen more tentacles had wrapped around him, squeezing him until he couldn’t move, until he couldn’t even breathe.
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“Let me show you… the true meaning… of… HORROR!” the lamb-aggoth roared, ichor dripping from its face and the whole barn shaking. The effect was somewhat spoiled when it added, “I’m so much worse than… PAPERWORK!”
Nanoc tried to struggle, but the beast was far too strong for him. He bit down on a tentacle, but the skin was thick and rubbery. The lamb-aggoth swung him to one side as if he were a rag doll as it charged down Dren. The elf kept the beast away with a shield of bright white light for a few moments, but once the light failed the lamb-aggoth’s tentacles caught the scholar around the waist and dragged him off his feet. But where was the lizardling? Nanoc had seen her a moment before, but where had she gone?
There! Rotcel ‘Loc was clinging to the barn’s roof right above the lamb-aggoth’s head. She dropped down into it, both hands grabbing for the crown of wire around the lamb’s head as she strained to pull it free. The lamb-aggoth tried to shake her off, slapping at her with its tentacles, but there was nothing that could get between a Treasure Hunter and her treasure. Rotcel ‘Loc turned bright red from the strain and the crown popped right off the lamb’s head. She held it in the air triumphantly, but a vindictive tentacle sent her flying across the room. She hit the wall with a slap and the crown dropped out her hand and rolled into the shadows.
“No!” she shouted.
“Yes!” Dren said.
The lamb-aggoth shuddered and screamed in pain as if struck through the heart, releasing Nanoc and Dren. It shrunk, losing tentacles and chunks of jelly until it was only half the size it had been before.
“Good work, Rotcel ‘Loc!” Dren said excitedly. “That crown is some kind of magical artifact that grants great power to the beast! By removing it, you have given us a chance to win!”
“Did it? I mean… right, that’s why I took it,” Rotcel ‘Loc said, looking around for the crown. “Can you and Nanoc deal with the beast now?”
The lamb-aggoth was hurt, but not beaten. It grew a dozen new tentacles, all far smaller than what it had lost, and new eyes opened in its skin. It stared at the trio of heroes with considerably more respect than before.
“Lets… call this… A DRAW!” the lamb-aggoth suggested. “You are… nearly DEAD! I will allow… YOUR ESCAPE!”
It was a good deal. They could live to fight another day. The beast was so much more powerful than them that it was a miracle they were still standing. Victory was too much to ask for.
“Nanoc, help me find the crown and then let’s go,” Rotcel ‘loc said, pulling at the gnome's arm. “We don’t need to keep fighting!”
“We’re not done here,” Nanoc said, facing the beast of Horror.
Rotcel ‘Loc groaned and even Dren seemed surprised. As far as a jelly-bodied manifestation of Horror could be said to have facial expressions, the lamb-aggoth look worried.
Nanoc grinned.
The beast was right: he was so close to death that a single blow would end him, but that didn’t matter. He was tired, too, and the only abilities he had left were a single use of berserk and his banana-based trip hazard ability, which was too weak to use on such a beast.
That didn’t matter, either.
He knew what he had to do: he needed to make the most of his berserk ability to release the strength of his inner barbarian, to harness the kind of wrath that overrode any pain or physical weakness, the kind of anger that directly channeled his soul. There was only one thing in the universe that would make him angry enough.
“What… what about bananas?” Nanoc asked Dren.
“Oh, they’re definitely berries,” Dren shouted back.
Nanoc let out a roar of pure, unadulterated fury. He rushed a the lamb-aggoth. The beast tried to retreat, but the gnome was far too determined. He leaped onto its body, climbing quickly until he reached its head. He punched the beast of Horror in its many eyes, each hit causing great damage to the diminished monster. It flailed at Nanoc, but the gnome was too fast to be caught.
“Bananas are not berries!” he shouted. “They’re not!”
But they were, and some part of the gnome knew it. The lamb-aggoth waved its tentacles around, trying to catch the gnome, but Nanoc was too fast, too agile. The gnome was everywhere and nowhere, stabbing and cursing, kicking and biting, more feral and terrifying than the beast he was trying to kill.
His friends stood far back from the fight, so that they didn’t get in his way.
“I’ll make you explode like a rotten tomato!” Nanoc shouted, pummeling the lamb-aggoth.
“Did you know, tomatoes are also a berry,” Dren shouted helpfully. “And they are equally tasty when eaten raw or roasted.”
“Stop… saying… THINGS!” the lamb-aggoth begged.
It was too late; Nanoc had become an unstoppable tornado of kicks, punches, and pitch-fork blades.
“Ahhhhh!” shouted Nanoc, and he slammed his elbow down on the lamb-aggoth with such force that the creature’s skin cracked open, spilling its innards outwards.
The possessed sheep blinked a few times in shock, then fell over backward and exploded into a deluge of purple ectoplasm that carried Nanoc and his friends back out through the maze and out the mouth of the barn. The body of Mary’s lamb washed up next to Dren. There was no sign of any damage or corruption to its body; it was once again a sheep, innocent and pure.
“Hey,” Nanoc said brightly. “That’s dinner sorted!”