Session Report: Greta Revealed
General Summary
"Yes, maybe I never knew the real you, but the times we spent together were great. And, if you'd let me, I'd love to get to know the real you."Boston Bornes awoke in a strange, yet oddly familliar place, resembling a bathhouse, submerged in the water with a voice calling out to him. Climbing out of the pool, he found all doors were locked, and he felt no drive to continue down the pathways that led away from the pool. The voice called out again. Boston tried to break down the door, making little progress. He suddenly became aware of a body in the water and dove in to investigate. Whilst struggling against the water, as if an invisible force was holding him in place, the body came to the surface, revealing the visage of a woman he knew well. The man known as "Evil Boston" stirred from his sleep, whilst the elven ranger Elarnya regarded him with suspicion. Evil Boston, unaware of the struggles within his mind, waited for the rest of his counterpart's companions to wake. Once they had, the Hat Gang decided to leave the temple and continue into the mine, leaving the Rockseeker Brothers behind until the path was clear. Outside the temple, the party spotted a bugbear by a stream which flowed into a nearby crevase. Although he seemed to be keeping watch, the bugbear had not yet seen them. The gang waited for a moment, and when the guard spotted them they attacked, but not soon enough to prevent him from calling out to his allies, who had been waiting nearby for an ambush. This group of bugbears included a pair of rangers and a ripper. The rangers took cover to begin with, summoning bestial spirits to attack the party, but Elarnya made quick work of them and swiftly dealt with their masters. The ripper proved more tricky, but Evil Boston created an area of darkness and dueled the bugbear inside it, eventually overcoming him thanks to the advantage granted by his devil's sight. The party stopped for a brief rest, and Boston awoke once again by the pool. He saw the woman from before, who seemed to be in a state of distress. He also heard voices outside of the room, and tried to leave, but the door was locked. With great mental energy, Boston was able to break down the door and pull through, crawling towards a bright light. Boston found himself in a cave, surrounded by his friends from the Hat Gang, who were happy to see him. Curious to uncover the source of Boston's transformation, Jensen used detect thoughts to look into his mind and descern the cause of the switch. The wizard was transported inside his friend's mind, where he saw Evil Boston floating face-up in the pool and, like Boston had, noticed a body beneath the water. Entering the pool, Jensen tried to approach the figure, but struggled against the water. as the Woman came to the surface, Jensen recognised her as Greta, who was equally as shocked to see Jensen. Greta dissapeared when she noticed the dragonborn, and Jensen left Boston's thoughts. When Jensen attempted to encode boston's thoughts onto a memory strand, a psychic thread drifted off from the main strand, seemingly erasing Greta from the memory. The gang quickly followed the thread deeper into the cave, towards a fleshy, organic tunnel blocked off by hard, bone-like plates. After Thokk pried the plates abart, the party continued into a large cavern, dominated by a pool of red liquid. Upon approaching the pool, Boston and Jensen noticed a body, just like in Boston's head, and the party was shocked to see Greta emerge from the liquid. She was apparently distressed, so Boston ran forward and attempted to comfort her, his senses leading him to believe that this was "the real Greta." Clearly confused, she asked what had happened to the Black Spider, and when told that he had been killed, she broke down, blaming the Hat Gang for ruining everything before walking behind an enormous polyp and reemerging in the form of a drow, the very same drow the party had encountered at Cragmaw Castle. A brief conversation ensued, wherein "Greta" revealed that she was a doppelganger masquerading as the real Greta, whom the party at large had never known. The drow lashed out, claiming that the party would "never be able to understand her," and attacked the adventurers. Although she was a formidable opponent, and despite Dymera's efforts to diffuse the situation, the party quickly defeated the drow, causing her to retreat into her cocoon and release the real Greta. The party pulled Greta out of the pool and tried to comfort her, although she didn't recognese any of them. They introduced themselves as friends of Nissany, which helped Greta to trust them, although some party members struggled to come to terms with the fact that this was not the woman they knew, especially Boston. Suddenly, a half-formed humanoid resembling Greta emerged from the pool and moved aggressively towards the party. Following this, the doppelganger emerged from her cocoon, once again resembling Greta, much to the distress of the real Greta, and angrilly attacked the party, focusing at first on Boston, who began to feel guilty about his previous actions. The doppelganger created another "Greta clone" and retreating behind a bulwark of fleshy matter. Dymera attempted to calm her down once more and was partially sucessful. However, when Boston broke down a section of the bulwark, she didnot accept his apology, stabbing him twice in the chest and pushing past him. Thokk cleaved apart a Greta clone, but a cloud of poisonous gas was released from a nearby cave wall, seriously wounding him and Droop, and knocking the real Greta unconcious. Other party members had began to hesitate at this point, especially Jensen and Elarnya, although the ranger kept her weapon ready and trained on the doppelganger. Desperate, Dymera grabbed the fake Greta by the hand, telling her that, although she may have never known who she really was, she has enjoyed the time they spent together and would like to get to know her. She then asked the doppelganger her true name, who revealed that she goes by the name Vyerith. Apparently, Nezznar found Veyrith in wave echo cave, and had told her that she had no place in the world, but that he would make a place for her in his new empire. Armed with this information, and with some help from Elarnya, Dymera assured Vyerith that somewhere in the world, she would be able to exist, and that she didn't need Nezznar's help. With tears streaming down her face, the doppelganger relented in her assault on the party and revealed her true form to them for the first time. As Dymera reached forward for a hug, Vyerith melted into the floor of the cave and left. When it was safe, Gundren and his brother entered the cavern, and Greta was delighted to finally see a familliar face. As they had yet to find the Forge of Spells, Gundren agreed to take greta to the saferoom next to the temple whilst the party explored the rest of the caves.
"How about, you won't be able to see then?"
Simic Growth Chamber by John Avon
In-Game Date
17th of Hammer 1492 DR
17th of Hammer 1492 DR
Report Date
09 Jan 2024
Related Characters
"Psychic energy, that way! Let's go!"
Notion Thief by Clint Cearly
"We're not killing Greta, even if she is a drow"
"My teacher used to tell me, control is the coward's form of power. It just hides you away from the world."
Vyerith in her most basic form.