Three Orcs and a Jelly

While browsing through my Monster Manual, as I am inclined to do, I ran across this encounter on page 202:

Level 3 Encounter (XP 750)
* 1 ochre jelly (level 3 elite brute)
* 3 orc raiders (level 3 skirmisher)
At first blush, this looks like your average D&D encounter. But the more I thought about it, the more intriguing it became.

Why are three orcs hanging out with an ochre jelly? Why did they take it raiding with them? Did they lovingly raise it by hand from the time it was no bigger than a slime mold?
Perhaps it ate their friend and they’re hoping someday he’ll get better. Maybe they think their friend turned into the ochre jelly, and they stick with him out of a sense of loyalty. Or maybe they now worship it as their new god.
Have they given it a name? How many words are there in Orcish for ‘gelatinous’? Does it covet their pie?
If orcs are running around with oozes, it only makes sense that some orcs have the job of tending to their amorphous needs. With that in mind, I present the Orc Oozekeeper:
Click to Enlarge

(For more orcish goodness, Dungeon #157’s Siege of Bordrin’s Watch has orcs galore.)

Tags: monster manual, ochre jelly, oozekeeper, oozes, orcs