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Spoiler: Session 11
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: Gabriel wants to continue to the Grotto and isn’t too open to hearing the party’s objections about fighting them. They continue ahead, using the greenspawn leapers as scouts for the time being and making it to the Grotto. Two Aboleth’s sit in large pools at the far end of the battlefield and actually converse with the party a bit before the battle begins. They state the terms, a fight to the death/them being mind controlled and when Zaffrin questions if they are willing to be killed they just state that they are servants of a greater power and their deaths don’t truly matter (technically true, but they were mostly just being arrogant). The party questions if that power is Thoon and they react with an emphatic negative, despising Thoon. They refuse to answer what power it is that they serve, though.

The battle begins, however Aerin and Jorvaskyr notice that there are enemies lurking behind the foliage and underneath the water nearby, attacking their allies, but no one is reacting to it… or to their words of warning. After the first round the effect ends and anyone that hadn’t seen through it realizes the Aboleth’s were messing with their senses. The battle begins in earnest with the Skum attacking the dragonspawn far more effectively now that they are in their element and a couple of human archers peppering the PCs with arrows. Westin critically resists the Aboleth’s mind control, but the two of them are putting out a number of other devastating mental effects as Jorvaskyr and the other melee fighters attempt to close the gap and beat up the Aboleths. Gabriel strikes a devastating hit with his battleaxe against one of them and both are being worn down by a couple of psionic attacks, but they’re still doing pretty well by the time their skum minions converge on the casters and the remaining archers focus on them as well. All except for one archer who calls Lady Mistsplitter by the name ‘Gitta’ and drops her bow. The barbarian refers to her as Salma and rushes up to embrace her mother. The other party members think it’s a trap, but the two of them then quickly run off the battlefield, Lady Mistsplitter looking to protect her mother.

The battle takes a turn for the worst as many of the melee fighters are confused and Jorvskyr is dominated. A Wall of ectoplasm is made, separating the PCs from Jorvaskyr and Gabriel from the rest of the party. The Skum at least are repelled by Aerin, using Bearin and a summoned bear to rip into them. They hurt the casters a bit more before they die, but no one drops from their attacks, but they still have the remaining archers to deal with.

Eventually the Aboleth’s call the battle, recognizing that the party is strong and if they continue they are likely to prevail, though the party will also likely lose many of their own members. They let Gabriel take a Jorvaskyr he knocked unconscious back and he works out the terms with the Aboleths. The party returns home, ready to rest for a long time after that battle.

They spend a couple weeks while back in the camp, getting to know the layout and learn about the maps and where certain movement activities are. They serve as guard duty during most of this time and they get the feeling that they aren’t the most trusted, especially by Bartholemew (the Greenspawn Razorfiend has returned but it reports that Cormick escaped due to a persistent Tailwind that carried him beyond the Rezorfiend’s ability to track and follow). He invites them to go on a food gathering trip with him the next morning and they agree. They feel they have to leave this place, their actions have only made it stronger, but they think they’ll be too watched this time so they can’t leave on this outing. Aerin realizes that Bartholemew is planning on killing them regardless; if they don’t flee he’ll just attack the party and say they did try to escape. They agree to leave in the middle of the night to catch everyone off guard.

Zoe is fearful but suggests using the tunnel that connects this base to the Science Division in Grandellia. She doesn’t like the idea of going there but she sees it as their best hope. They trick their way past the Whitespawn guard (whose partner is being ‘prepped for the morning mission’ by Bartholemew) and start running to Grandellia. They push hard through the night for 13 hours before collapsing and getting rest. Just as they finish getting ready in the morning they hear footsteps from behind them and suddenly the Greenspawn Razorfiend is upon them. The battle is brief as together the party quickly defeats the Greenspawn even with it’s tough hide and acid breath. The creature tries to flee, but can’t outpace the ranged attacks or Jorvaskyr’s sudden burst of speed (from his Sandals of Sprinting) and it is slain.


Spoiler: Session Thoughts
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A really good session all around. The Aboleth battle was really fun, getting to use a large section of map tiles that had battles taking on all around it. Adding more tile pieces to help show the truth revealed from the Aboleth’s false sensory input was cool. The battle itself really got to showcase the powers and abilities of the Aboleths and the party worked well in putting counter offensives together. The Greenspawn battle was a bit rushed and pushed us over the time I wanted us to end at, but it was a good thing to include there and a fitting way to push everyone to 5th level. It would have been nice to have Lady Mistsplitter’s player there for the session but we messaged about what would happen and what they wanted Lady Mistsplitter to do, so that was good.