Small barrel mimic

Small barrel mimic
Monster ID	287
Locations	The Barrel full of Barrels
Hit Points	25
Attack	15
Defense	13
No-Hit	25
Initiative	90
Meat	None
Phylum	weird
Elements	None
Resistance	None
Monster Parts	barrel
Drops	Random Barrel full of Barrels item
Manuel Entry
refreshedit data

 You're fighting a small barrel mimic

You attempt to smash the barrel, but what you thought was a barrel turns out to actually be a mimic mimicing a barrel! You're confused -- you thought these things could only mimic chests!

Hit Message(s):

It does a pretty decent impression of a monster kicking the stuffing out of you. Ouch! Oof!

It does a good impression of a monster laying the smack down. Ouch! Argh! Ouch!

The mimic turns into a reasonable facsimile of your fifth grade teacher, which gives you a stern talking-to. You claw your eyes out in horror. Oof! Ouch! Eek! Oof! Ugh! Ooh!

The mimic mimics a rock, and trips you, causing you to fall square on your <knee>. Ugh! Ouch! Argh!

The mimic turns into a delicious bag of pretzels. You gobble them down, and choke on one. Ugh! Ugh! Ugh!

The mimic does a barrel roll all over your <knee>. Argh! Argh!

Critical Hit Message:

Just as you think you're winning the fight, a swarm of miniature barrel-makers jumps out of the barrel and stampede over you! Yup, you've been run over by at least 11 mini coopers. Ooh! Eek! Ugh! Eek! Argh!

Miss Message(s):

It does a fairly lousy impression of something that's able to hurt you.

It does an awful impression of a monster hitting you in the <knee>.

The mimic turns into a reasonable facsimile of your fifth grade teacher, but her varicose veins form a map that lets you evade her scolding.

The mimic mimics a rock and tries to trip you, but you're not trippin'.

The mimic turns into a delicious bag of pretzels, but you say "no thanks, I'm trying to cut down."

The mimic tries to rain blows upon you, but you move away from the mimic to breathe in.

Fumble Message:

It starts to hit you again, but a miniature barrel-maker jumps out of it and starts pounding on it with a hammer. "Thanks, mini cooper," you say, and sit back to watch the beating. (FUMBLE!)

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After Combat

You gain 3-7 <substat>.

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Occurs at The Barrel full of Barrels.

Notes

• The defeated mimic will drop a single item that is dependent on the barrel row, as is the stat gain:

• The top two rows give the highest stat gain (7) and give the best reward (see the location page for drop details).
• The middle two rows give a middle stat gain (5) and give a middling reward (see the location page for drop details).
• The bottom two rows give the lowest stat gain (3) and give a less desirable reward (see the location page for drop details).

• As of July 5th, 2006, a mimic, if defeated, will drop the item that you would have gotten if you hadn't found a mimic in that barrel.
• There are 4 different barrel mimics each with their own set of factoids for the purposes of Monster Manuel. One of these can only be accessed via copies as it has been retired in favor of the other three.

References

• The "you thought these things could only mimic chests!" is a reference to an RPG cliché where chests are sometimes monsters. Some examples where this is true are: NetHack, Dragon Warrior I-IV, Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn, Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, Fate, Tales of Symphonia, and Golden Sun. This in turn originates from the illustration of the Dungeons & Dragons mimic, which appears as a chest and was rarely encountered in any other form.
  • Ironically, you don't see a chest mimic first unless you save the barrels for after when you see them in the Dungeons of Doom.
• The "bag of pretzels" attack may reference an incident with President George W. Bush, who choked on a pretzel at home while relaxing, causing him to lose consciousness for several minutes.
• The fifth grade teacher attack is probably a reference to the Nickelodeon show The Adventures of Pete & Pete. In one episode, a main character's history teacher has varicose veins exactly matching a highway map.
• The fumble message refers to the Mini Cooper and that coopers make barrels.
• "The mimic tries to rain blows upon you, but you move away from the mimic to breathe in" is a fairly recent reference to Tay Zonday's "Chocolate Rain," an instant hit on YouTube in which Tay (a singer) moves away from the microphone to breath in and not disrupt the flow of the song.