A series of split second decisions.

[GorogIrongut]

So up until recently I've been dm'ing a series of encounters that had my players (not the characters but the actual players), wetting themselves. It was crazy hard and actually a bit mentally fatiguing for them.

They got out wounded and just completely drained, not having overcome insuperable odds... but at the very least survived the insuperable odds even if somewhat 'changed' by the encounter.

Now, figuring they needed a break. If everything is bleak and dark, then there's no change. You have to have moments of joy and light to contrast with the moments of despair for them to really mean anything to your players...

So I decided to run a funny, low key encounter involving a Rodentian Necromancer, splicing various monster dna to improve his 'pets'. They had a blast in the inn. They had blast with the rats... They tried to befriend them not realizing they were completely under the control of the Necromancer.
Things got a bit bleak when the face hugging rats showed up. They realized that even the funny encounters were still going to be dangerous. They managed to prevail though and found the store room. And were currently not under threat of face hugging doom.
Their investigations led them to find a hidden room filled with loot and a statue to some lost cult.

Now here's where I need your help.

The statue is a freaky looking, bulbous-eyed humanoid that weeps black sludge.

-I decide on a whim that it's made of gold. (I wanted to see if they were going to fill their bag of holding... which the druid has been stuffing people into recently before changing into something capable of escaping a threat and then letting them out when things are safe.)

-They double check it's made of gold by tapping on it. On a whim, they hear a ring... but a hollowish ring. Yup, that's a golden statue but it's probably not solid gold.

-They take the bait... and want to just drape the bag of holding over it from the top and take it all... I told them they need to do a quick assessment of what they've already got in there and work out how much they can actually take. Realizing how heavy gold is... they opt to take a pick axe to the head so they can take it as their prize.

-They decide to look inside the hollow statue, which isn't something I'd planned for. Originally the statue wasn't hollow. It also wasn't made of gold. I do a couple quick yes/no rolls.
Yes the statue has something inside it.
No it isn't evil... it is infact something quite beneficial.

At this point I've deviated far enough from the story and want to have a chance to think through what exactly is inside the statue. So I tell them that the statue is filled with a liquid metal, much like mercury... except it appears to be made of gold, liquid gold.

Arcana and all other kind of checks bunk out. They decide they want to take some empty healing potion containers and fill it up with this mysterious substance. They use the pickaxe to poke a hole lower down and drain out the liquid gold.

Now, they know that the creepy statue was filled with this liquid gold. They surmised that something about the statue is what turned the liquid gold into the black goop that was emanating from the surface of the statue. They're quite worried it's toxic (I haven't told them what's in there is somehow beneficial). They gave everything a good wipedown and ended up leaving half of the coins on the floor that they couldn't clean properly in the timescale they had.


Now, they currently have no clue that I didn't purposely fill the statue. They fully believe that I'm doing this all on purpose. I would prefer to not disabuse them of this opinion, because I make 50% of my DM'ing decisions on the spot and just happen to be good at weaving them together into a coherent, sensible and compelling storyline.

The more they think this is just some plot within a plot within a detail within a figment of my brobdingnagian preparations... the less they'll second guess future decisions I make as to what they encounter.

Considering that right now one of the party isn't with everyone else, because he is in earnest prayer and fasting to come to grips with what happened during the last 3 or 4 sessions. Because I like to push my players to their limits... I would really prefer they not think I do things on a whim. Cause right now they think I've arranged a vast spiderweb of story lines and data points and that they're all slowly leading them to gossamer led madness.



So fellow DM's. What is this liquid? Is there something already existing within the body of Dnd lore that can explain this, or am I going to have to invent something of my own? If the latter, what would you make it?

It needs to be beneficial in some way. It needs to be obscure. It needs to have the ability to be corrupted (i.e. the statue). It should be more impactful, more intriguing that a simple +1 magic item.

The last thing I want is for this to be forgettable.

Thanks for your advice in advance.

[MrStabby]

Living gold.

It has personality and from time to time will change its shape and form living, but golden creatures.

Personality and property of the creatures depend on how it is treated and the degree of corruption.

[Cespenar]

Is it Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk, Eberron, or a homebrew setting?

It can be an artifact of the Deity of Luck/Trade/Commerce/What-have-you. It's normal form is (a number of) blessed doubloons which were the very first pieces of physical currency ever created. If this lore is revealed and the liquid gold is cast into the proper molds with the proper rituals, it solidifies and becomes Coins of [Deity Name] which are said to bestow good fortune on each dealing where you spend one of them: Anything bought with them becomes "Lucky", which lets you reroll natural 1s involving any checks made with those items.

Fearing the increased trade and bounty these would bring the lands, the priests of the Deity of Misfortune/Tyranny/What-have-you have secretly gathered/bought/stole these out of the people's hands, melt them and caged them in a cursed statue (of their Deity's form, if possible).

If such deities don't already exist in your setting, an easy solution is to make them lost, banished deities.

[RipTide]

Honestly the first thing i thought when you said liquid gold was felix felicis from harry potter, basicly a magic potion (that looks like molten gold) that gives the person who drinks it incredibly good luck. Translating to D&D 5e that would be something like advantage on all rolls, or maybe just skill checks, for however long you think is fair. the corrupted version would likely be the opposite effect, disadvantage on all rolls.

Other than that some interesting ideas could be

The gold is sentient and willing to help the party, the more they throw out at a time the stronger it is (so like 1 potion bottle is a cr1 creature, 2 bottles is cr2 and so on). You could also make it so it cant be destroyed only dispersed (so basically indestructible), and each bottles worth needs to rest between uses.

It could be used to coat a weapon to give it additional properties (like additional damage) but it can be removed and applied to a different weapon at will.

If you want to keep the whole mad interconnection thing going it could just be a particularly rare ingredient of something else even stronger and cooler, and you could sprinkle other pieces of whatever your end goal is throughout your adventures.

[Decstarr]

First thing that came to my mind is Odo from DS9. Make it a species of changelings which in their natural state look like liquid gold (or black ooze, depending on their emotional status). This race is probably ancient and long extinct, but maybe somehow your players can figure out that the one they found in the statue is still a baby/child and as of yet, unaware that it can actually shapeshift. Would be a good way to introduce a "permanent" NPC companion that doesn't need too much taking care of but could at one point involve into a powerful ally. You could wave the story of this species' extinction into your own storyline. I'd let the players fry for quite a long time and give them small hints until they figure out its an intelligent being. Then again a while till they realize "****, last of its kind" and then have them find ways to communicate with the "thing". This is shamlessly stolen from Odo's storyline in DS9, but hey, that's what DMs do, innit?

[ruy343]

Well, since you were wanting this stuff to be beneficial, with no hidden downsides or anything (which I support), I suggest that the liquid can be used to create any object that's allowed under the Wizard (Conjurer)'s level 2 Minor Conjuration feature (they can have serious fun with this) - hence the sludge. Depending on the party level, you might relax the restrictions on the ability a bit, but I'd keep the "When it takes damage, it's gone" thing (It would be cool to see a golden shield shatter, then turn to liquid mid-shatter). Perhaps alter the size limitations for the objects that they can to create.

Alternately, the substance could be used to coat one of their weapons, which gains a magical benefit, such as granting the lucky feat or making the weapon completely indestructible (like the improves sword in Majora's Mask which is made with gold dust), and the weapon is very distinguishable from then on (and maybe others wish to steal it).

[Flashy]

Maybe work backwards? Why was this liquid gold inside a statue weeping black bile in a cultist treasure room?

Do you like the idea that the statue was intended to contain it? Then the liquid gold is a shapechanger or an axiomatically good aligned sentient ooze.

Do you like the idea that the statue was intended to convert it to the black bile? Then the liquid gold is either some kind of power source or is in some way anethema to the cultists.

Do you like the idea that it's just super valuable and the statue was intended to hide it? Then the liquid gold is some sort of potion or other powerful magic material. Maybe it's just SUPER expensive. If it doesn't ping as magical then maybe it can be painted on objects to grant them the magic resistance feature until the gold rubs off.

[CantigThimble]

Liquid Immovable Rod

By shaping the substance using magic (it can be moved and shaped using prestidigitation and minor illusion) they cause it to freeze in place. Once it's shaped in that way it holds its shape and is very strong, but melts away into the black substance, which is harmless but messy, over the course of a few days. It can't be used directly on unwilling creatures, so no making airtight seals over nose and mouth, but can be used to make objects that will hang in the air like an immovable rod. As an example, they could pour it over a chasm into a golden bridge that would hang in the air, or over a doorknob to prevent the door from opening.

[CaptainSarathai]

So, creepy statue weeping black slime, and on the inside is a substance of tasty golden goodness?

I'd say that it was a statue somehow corrupted by the cultists, to transfer whatever the golden tasty is, into black nasty stuff.

Why?
The black nasty stuff is obviously used in their splicing work. Maybe it allows for the fusion and revivication of dead tissue, like a necrotic "healing" potion.

The gold stuff is the opposite. It is like a radiant healing potion. Treat the vials as Healer Kits that can not only stabilize, but also restore 1 hit die plus the user's Wis modifier. So a Fighter (1d10 Hd) being healed by a Cleric with Wis18, would recover 1d10+4 HP.
As a bonus, the stuff is basically liquid radiant damage. So a vial can be used just like a poison (splashed on a target, applied to a weapon, slipped into a drink) and it will deal (whatever you want) radiant damage if the target is vulnerable to radiant.

Alternately, since they have the head, they can pour it into the head, where it will run out of the eyes and create the black sludge.
Same thing: "heals" necrotic stuff, but can also be used to reattach limbs, and can be used as a necrotic-based poison.

[Breaklance]

Id call it "Liquid Potential"

Liquid potential is a potion that temporarily unlocks all if the hidden potential of a person. For each member of your party pick(you as DM pick not the players) a high level ability of your players class or specialization and let them have it briefly.

For example a paladin who drinks it would be granted a one time use of their avatar ability. Or for an assassin rogue he has the Death strike ability for an hour.

The statue was corrupting the potential. Instead of giving a glimpse of what you could achieve in life the black ooze takes away all of your potential exchanging it for extended life. In the case of those created monstrosities your necromancer was making it helped the monsters live longer than they should of

[GorogIrongut]

Thanks guys. There's lots of good ideas bouncing around. I find the idea for Liquid Potential to be... unexpected. Odo and the shapechanging thing was more expected but still good. Bonus points for molding it into a solid item that shatters and then reforms into a liquid. After reading that, I was of the opinion that using lightning (electricity) would solidify the liquid gold in whatever shape it was in when electrified.

I'm still pondering so if anyone else has ideas out there, speak up. This unexpected happenstance could end up being quite fortuitous.


The only thing it can't do, is be a sentient inanimate object. One of my characters is a tiefling paladin carrying a handkerchief possessed by the soul of his mother. While an evil being, she's still very vocal and oddly motherly with him.

They've also just found a demonically possessed Satchel of Resurrection. What they don't know yet is that it's definitely sentient and NOT bringing them back to life for their own benefit.

That's two external voices I have to keep track of. I don't want to have to keep track of yet another voice.

[JackPhoenix]

My first thought upon reading the description was "Philosopher's Stone (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/artifacts.htm#philosophersStone)". After checking the DMG, I noticed it actually isn't in 5e, however, considering the 3.5e description, it really fits: gold, magical liquid inside, beneficial... Perhaps, as CaptainSarathai noted, the cultists used the incredible alchemical power of the Philosopher's Stone to create their mutants, though they had to turn it into the black sludge first through some ritual...

It offers some possibilities: source of wealth if identified and used quick enough (where do you get 1000 lb of lead on a short notice? Sounds like interesting challenge! To make it worth it, though, you would have to find a way do de-value the statue, though, otherwise they already have plenty of gold... perhaps without the golden liquid inside, the black liquid will cause it to corrode or something, despite the fact the gold doesn't do that?), one get out of jail (or rather grave) card if used to create the potion of resurrection (perhaps also as quest item?), some people will be interested in it on its own (alchemists who wants to make their own version, people who understand economy who wants that stuff destroyed), perhaps even a "cure" for the mutants or, with the cultist's research notes, a way to create their own monster(s)?