Bellandra was satisfied that the centipede had been dispatched by the combination of actions from Gilius, herself, Karnstein, Baldbeard's pack, and one of the stone elementals.

She thought about either exploring the tunnel or collapsing it to prevent further centipedes from arriving, but for the moment she concentrated on other things. If she heard or sensed an enemy arriving through the tunnel, she would alert the others and fire an explosive bolt at the tunnel entrance to collapse the tunnel onto the enemy.

She saw Aeshma and Gilius moving towards the grove in need of protection and quickly looked through her mirror to scan for hidden threats in that direction. If she saw any she would alert Aeshma and Gilius.

As Gilius began to purify the grove she felt the oppressive feel lift somewhat, but she kept alert, realizing this could also enrage the aboleth or other dark forces that had benefited from the grove's corruption. She then heard Gilius shout to look for and remove small black stones in the stone elementals and kept this in mind.

She then saw the harpies rising from the grove. Through her mental connection she senses the Griffon's alarm, realizing the harpies are heading to attack it, Aylar and Grog'tial. She quickly fired a bolt towards the nearest harpy close to Durik, then another one at the further away Harpy to the east of the stone elementals. She would continue to fire bolts at the harpies as long as they were in range.

She then moved towards the stone circle, and towards Karnstein and Aeshma, peering around through the mirror to see if there are hidden threats. She also tried to use the knowledge she had gained through the book of puzzles and treasures to see if anything in the grove and the stone circle seemed to be part of a greater mechanism at work, either as a trap or an opportunity. If she noticed something she would alert the rest of the party.

When she was close enough to the stone elementals, she would try to look for the black stones Gilius had mentioned, seen either in plain sight or through her mirror, and she would try to dislodge them with her cutlass if she was close enough to do so.

She kept her mind alert for various things that could happen:

- In general her aim was to protect Aeshma and Gilius while they worked on their mission, and to protect the rest of the party. She would try to attack with bolts and her cutlass against any incoming enemies and dodge attacks as they come.

- If something were about to destroy Aeshma and Gilius, such as a stone elemental about to crush them where they could not get away in time, she would use her sextant to freeze the enemy and allow them time to get away.

- She also kept her sense alert for any warnings incoming either from the Griffon or from the Mermaid and Sea Horse.

- If enemies started to arrive through the centipede tunnel, for example chuul or others, she would fire an explosive bolt at them hoping to also collapse the tunnel.

- If a group of enemies arrived, for example spiders or others hiding in the trees, she would use stun bolts to attack groups of them.

- If the stone elementals started to attack she would back away and try to to lead them away, using explosive bolts where needed to slow them down.

- If the harpies' charm song successfully charmed members of their party she would try to disrupt her song by attacking the harpies with an explosive bolt. She would hope others could revive their charmed party members, but if she had to she could use a stun bolt to stun a charmed party member so that they could be broken out of the charm without fighting them.

Mission 4 - Turn 6, Dragon Turtle
*Next turn starts 4 AM UTC, 27 November

The Stone Elemental had finished the centipede. (roll dice) Gilius calls upon the now healing Grove and the roots respond, entangling the Elemental while one small root works its way into the joint and dislodges the black stone. (roll dice) The black stone tumbles to the ground, where it suddenly uncurls and grows, revealing the mutated form of a black Chuul the size of a Corgi dog (12" tall x20" long = 0.3mx0.5m) with a scorpion tail. The Chuulpion immediately shrills a high pitched squeal that is stunning and the other Stone Elementals begin to rumble and awaken, it then begins a chittering call. (roll dice - resist) Gilius manages to resist the stun (roll dice) and swiftly entangles the two awakening Stone Elementals within his range and has the roots remove the stones. (roll dice) Two more Chullpions emerge and shrill, then quickly move to attack heading towards Aeshma. (roll dice) Resisted! Realizing he may need an ally, Gilius pulls once again on his memories and natural affinities. (roll dice) Two Stone Elementals respond and Gilius is able to establish a connection with two new friends! The third simply remains in place. (Two Stone Elementals are now under Gilius' influence and will protect the Crew. But who need to be unentangled first.)

Count Karnstein can't believe his stunt really worked but instantly regains composure when his eyes meet Aeshma's. "Ha! Have ye seen it, m'lady? No better riders than Karnsteins in the whole world. I shall tell ye once 'bout my family's famous stable 'n that beautiful, mischievous mare - Millarca. You'll love it. But what on earth were ye thinkin' goin' there alone?" She answers that 'Something is coming' and she has to get there NOW. "My, aren't ye one eager vixen. Hey, ye even kinda look like a red vixen, ain't ye? Ha, that's a good one! I think I may just stick to it." The Count grins. "But for now, please, be more careful."

Seeing that Gilius has the first Stone Elemental entangled, Count turns towards the other Stone Elementals, looking for the black stones. He pulls out the small spider figurine to summon the spider. (roll dice) A large black widow spider appears just as the first Chullpion unwinds itself and shrills. (roll dice) The Count's ears ring, but he resists the stun as he sees Gilius entangle two more Elementals and two more Chuulpions shrill and move to quickly attack, coming straight for him and Aeshma. (roll dice) He commands the spider to distract any hostile Stone Elementals and pull out the black stones while he prepares to meet the Chuulpion's attack. (roll dice) The Chuulpion's tentacles whip forward and the Count dodges just as the tail then stabs at him. (roll dice) Count counterattacks, slicing through a claw at a joint then kicking the Chuul completely away. It spins and rushes around him to get to Aeshma. (roll dice) Count kicks the thing into a tree and this time stabs Frostbite through a joining in the chitin and then withdraws the saber and severs its head off.

Argy quickly enters the grove and makes a signal to Pugwash, pointing at the harpy above: "I think mateys above need yer keen eye an' bolts." She returns then near Durik, looking anxiously at her surroundings. She can feel some ominous tension floating in the air. She holds a tight grip on her pan, just in case, and hands Durik her Mental Resist Potion. "If things get outo' control, start singin' with me again, matey" The Chullpions reveal themselves and shrill. (roll dice) Argy resists the shrills as the nearest Chuulpion starts to chitter a summons.

Pugwash hears Argy and quickly moves to a spot where the treetops do not obscure the view and scans the sky for Harpies, using the Music Box to insulate him from any Harpy song. (roll dice) Pugwash quickly raises his crossbow and shoots. The shot tears through the harpy's chest, severely damaging her lungs and bringing her crashing down to die. Pugwash reloads as the Chuulpion shrills. (roll dice) The Music Box protects Pugwash from the shrills.

The closest Stone Elemental now under Gilius' control brings a huge foot down on its Chuulpion, smashing it completely. Beneath them the ground shifts.

Bellandra is satisfied that the centipede had been dispatched. She thinks about either exploring the tunnel or collapsing it to prevent further centipedes from arriving, but sees Aeshma and Gilius moving towards the grove in need of protection and quickly uses her mirror to scan for hidden threats in that direction (that she can see through the trees) but there was nothing showing. As Gilius purifies the grove she feels the oppressiveness lift somewhat, but she reminds herself to keep alert, realizing this could also enrage the aboleth or other dark forces that had benefited from the grove's corruption. She hears Gilius shout to look for and remove small black stones in the Stone Elementals but is distracted by the sight of harpies rising from the Grove. Bellandra senses the Griffon's alarm, realizing the harpies are heading to attack it, Aylar and Grog'tial. Pugwash's bolt takes out the nearest Harpy. Bellandra fires at the farther one (roll dice) but misses. Just then a new threat arises as the black stones reveal themselves to be Chullpions. (roll dice) Bellandra resists the shrills, then hears more chittering coming from the tunnel now behind her. She is reloading as three more Chuulpions arrive.

"Sure tiny, we can sing again. But keep potion, me have one already." Durik tells Argy. He keeps an eye on Argy, but knows he cannot get high enough to hit the already flying harpy. Luckily Pugwash brings it down. Then Durik has an idea. "Maybe if me distracts rock dudes, Tiny fast to climb back and remove black gem?" Durik is about to do this when Gilius entangles the nearby Stone Elemental and a Chuulpion unwinds itself from what Durik was told should be a black stone. The Chuulpion shrills at them. (roll dice) Fail! Durik is stunned for this turn. (roll dice) Argy quickly runs past Durik and smashes the Chuulpion with her pan straight to its ugly squirming tentacled face, stunning it as she sends it tumbling backwards for screaming at them!

(roll dice) Having reloaded, Pugwash quickly shoots the Chuulpion Argy hit as it gets back up, still stunned by her pan. His bolt goes right through its armor and pins it to a nearby tree trunk, dying.

(roll dice) The Count's spider is webbing one of the Stone Elementals while poking at the black stone. (roll dice) On its third try it finally pokes the stone free and then finishes webbing the Stone Elemental, not having been instructed to do anything about the Chuulpion, that now heads for Aeshma.

[Per PM] (roll dice) Captain Baldbeard resists the shrills of the first Chuulpions but his ears ring loudly. As he sees those Stone Elementals that have become friends or passive, he instructs the pack to instead attack any Chuulpion heading for Aeshma or Gilius. He cannot do anything about the harpies, but he hefts his cudgel and is about to put his new ring to use when he hears the chittering and sees the three new Chuulpions emerging from the tunnel. (roll dice) Captain Baldbeard has had quite enough of shrill noises hurting his musically attuned ears. The first Chuulpion out of the tunnel gets no chance to shrill as Baldbeard's cudgel completely crushes its head in. (roll dice) Following his command, the sharks attack the Chuulpion heading for Aeshma. Being completely immune to any poison, they tear it to pieces, starting with the appendages and tentacles.

Mighty, made aware of the magic stones attached to Stone Elementals, decides to help the Count in deactivating them by moving counter-clockwise, skipping the ones Gilius has entangled. He tells Cracker to fly around first and point out the stone to him. Then the Chuulpions are revealed from the black stones. (roll dice) Mighty barely resists the shrills and is left a bit dazed at first. By the time Mighty comes out of it the first Chuulpions are dead, but more are coming from the tunnel right ahead of him and Captain Baldbeard. (roll dice) Mighty uses his Mighty Cudgel to crack the skull of the second Chuulpion while his Claw takes the head off the third Chuulpion just before it can shrill.

Bellandra, having reloaded with an explosive bolt, shoots it into the tunnel, partially collapsing it. The ground beneath them shifts again.

(to be continued ...)

(... continued from above.)

The Count has done his best to keep Aeshma behind him. There are still two Stone Elementals slowly becoming active. Aeshma, however is desperate to reach the Spring. She feels Something Terrible coming. (roll dice) She tries to dodge past him, but the Count once more stops her. (roll dice) Aeshma literally screams at him then turns completely pale as a 20' (6m) monstrousity of Night Terror black tentacles and bulbous eyes rises from out of the Spring. It is an abomination, a nightmarish twisted mutation of Deep Magick with poisonous tentacles and eyes that can freeze a being in Fear and Torment.

In the temple below the waves, the Aboleth gloats. It has taken him years to create this new servant.

-----
Grog'tial warily eyes the massed Chuul. He's glad that the rest of the crew don't have to deal with the combined mass of these beasties, but thinning them out sure is going to take a while at this pace. As he becomes aware of the incoming harpies, he mourns the short-lived air-superiority which they'd had for just a bit there. "Captain?" He says, "Ye think ye can steer this griffon in such a way as to have most of those harpies reach us around the same time? If they close, I can blow me shell, and we can see if they continue flapping their wings while mesmerized!" Grog'tial prepares an explosive bolt, figuring that a blown-off wing will be just as fatal as a heart-shot, and much easier to accomplish.

Aylar eyes the harpies. "No promises that we get them all, but we be able to circle round the clearing and the tree-edges, that ought to bunch them", he says, trying to judge the proper distances and trajectories. He quickly takes out a strip of cloth out of his pocket, loops half of the length round his left hand, then prepares his cutlass, letting the cloth go once or twice through the grip, then looping the rest of the strip. While doing that, Aylar steers the Griffon away from the barns, wanting to get some distance from the roof-piles of Chuul before they get a chance to stack up. Heading SW to a clearer area, he sees one harpy fall to a crossbow bolt over the Grove. One less to be pestering them then. He directs the Griffon to start to circle round the clearing trying to get several harpies to bunch together. Clíodhna picks up his disdain towards the approaching enemies, mixed with the anticipation of a poised strike clear in his mind. He is learning to use the link quickly now, his natural tactical nature understanding the benefits.

(roll dice) The harpies come in singing their Charms, but quickly get peeved as Aylar does not react at all. They stay back a bit, circling, singing. (roll dice) Grog'tial finds himself listening, leaning out a bit, (roll dice) then the tingle begins in his arm and he quickly jerks back as the Griffon is pulled off a bit trying to keep him from over-balancing. The three change tactics again, starting a series of feints, first one, then another from a different direction. One flies high, then dives out of the sun as her sisters keep taunting just beyond Aylar's and the Griffon's reach. (roll dice) It might have worked, but Grog'tial pulls the trigger as the shadow comes over him. It hits a wing, and Grog'tial is satisfied to see the explosive bolt does indeed blow a wing off, sending the harpy spinning downward out of control to crash below.

However the Chuul are now also gathering below them. (roll dice) Several Chuul stop, as if listening and Aylar and Grog'tial can hear a shrill high-pitched squeal coming from the Grove, soon followed by more. (roll dice) A group of three Chuul separate and start for the Grove.

Aylar sees only a few Chuul splitting off and answering the call. Three shrills, three Chuul split off. A coincidence, or nae? Right now there are two harpies left and they need to be dealt with. (roll dice) He waits just a wee bit longer for them to get bolder, then turns his head intentionally away from one, as Clíodhna watches intently from the Ship. Now! she sends through the link. Aylar spins back with a lightning quick flash of his cutlass, (roll dice) cleanly taking off the harpy's head. That leaves one, and one be easy enough to chase down.

(roll dice) Grog'tial quickly sees the advantage now shifted back their way and loads another explosive bolt. He waits as Aylar uses the Griffon to drive the harpy, waiting for the mistake to come. (roll dice) When it does he almost laughs. She turns her back to him. It's his favored shot and he takes it, satisfied as the last harpy falls.

Aylar hears Aeshma scream and his fae blood and phoenix sensibilities suddenly twist. A dizziness hits him as a WRONGNESS assaults his senses and he feels Clíodhna trying to help steady him while her own internal alarms are going wild. Looking over at the Grove, Aylar and Grog'tial see a terrifying monster rise from the Spring and Aylar is reminded of very old stories of twisted magicks before even the Fae.

-----
Kyp communicates with the Dragon Turtle through feelings, ideas and seaspeak to remain calm, since the unknown might be scary but in the end everything will be ok. He asks her bring her head up out of the water, to keep air in her face to help her head float and to tilt her head to drain her ear. He takes his net to be ready to catch anything, (roll dice) but the Dragon Turtle begins to struggle.

[Action verified in PM] Kyp soothes the Dragon Turtle again and dives into the water, ready to fight any oncoming creatures if he must, but the SeaHorse swims with him as protection. Arriving at the head, Kyp sees a cruel netting of ropes trapping her head inside. (roll dice) He works to carefully cut and untie the ropes, keeping up soothing images and feelings, letting her know he is trying to help and to rest and be brave, humming a bit of his song to her. (roll dice) Once he clears the ropes he gently encourages her to extend her head, which she does slowly, and looks inside her ear.

(roll dice) Kyp sees the back end of a Chuul, being used to send horrible thoughts and images to her, tormenting her mind and sleep. Swiftly he uses his net to entangle the feet and tail end and pull it out as calmly as possible so as to not awaken the Dragon Turtle, (roll dice) who he senses is becoming more agitated as the Chuul begins to struggle. (roll dice) Kyp hauls the net and the Chuul free. (roll dice) Being quite swift in the water, Kyp dodges the tentacles of the Chuul and uses his rapier to sever them, then stabs through the mouth into the head, killing it. He checks the Dragon Turtle's ear and is happy to see it clear. (roll dice) Then Kyp turns and sees one large eye slowly open to regard him ...

-----
There are 2 hostile Stone Elementals that will activate this turn, 1 webbed (now neutral) Stone Elemental, 1 free neutral Stone Elemental and 2 Allied Stone Elementals under Gilius' influence. The Spring Monster can cause Fear just by looking at it too long, but it is physical so can be hurt. 3 Chuul are also now heading for the Grove. The Dragon Turtle is coming awake with all this going on ... and this is the last turn of somewhat fair weather before the Storm will resume. Have fun!
-----
Your current inventory can be found in Post 2 (loaner books are read and returned)
Argy = Northside Grove near Durik
Aylar = Griffonback (S. Clearing area)
Bellandra = Northside Grove near Baldbeard & Mighty
Captain Baldbeard = Northside Grove near Bellandra & Mighty
Count Karnstein = NE Grove w/Aeshma
Durik = Northside Grove near Argy
Gilius = NE Grove w/Pugwash
Grog'tial = Griffonback (S. Clearing area)
Kyp = Sea, near Dragon Turtle's head
Mighty = Northside Grove near Baldbeard & Bellandra
Pugwash = NE Grove w/Gilius

NPC
Aeshma = NE Grove w/Karnstein

What happened? Durik stood still instead of smashing Chuulpion? Bad orc!
But good tiny saved him. Thanks Argy!

When Durik came out of the stun, he asked again Argy if she wanted to deal with a stone elemental while he distracted it (if the remaining 2 weren't already defeated).

He wasn't sure if he could fight with the Night Terror, since the last time his cudgel didn't work against tentacled monsters.
However, he noticed the Chuuls incoming, so he prepared to ambush one of them.

Grog'tial gulps as he sees the monster rise. He sighs deeply as his mind immediately reaches the conclusion that he finds himself on the Griffon with the wrong companion. He figures there's no way the Captain will let the rest of the crew face this enemy by themselves. Why did he ever think it was a good idea to get into this position where someone else could determine if he'd live or die? He'd thought that on the Griffon he'd be safely out of harm's reach, but instead they'll be flying straight toward it, and he doesn't have any control over it. This was the very thing he'd been working to avoid for most of his life!

Grog'tial holds very still, hoping that he's wrong, but if/when the captain decides to go play hero, he does swiftly ask to at least first do a single swoop low over the Chuul below, so he can blow his shell and prevent those Chuul from following them to the grove for the next 15 minutes.

If the captain listens, he indeed blows his shell when it'll cover as many Chuul as possible.
Later, when they're in range of the nightmare monster, if it's still alive, he fires an explosive bolt at a likely looking hopefully vital part of it (assuming that with its 6m length, there must be a spot where he can do so without endangering any crew; if not, he'll opt for a hardened bolt).
Depending on the state the monster is in and the (lack of) effect of his bolt, he might also try tossing his holy water at the monster.

On the way, only if he thinks he'll have time to reload before they reach the monster (so probably not? though he's gotten a lot of practice in, and seems to be getting faster at reloading) he'll also fire a stun bolt at the three Chuul heading for the grove.

Seeing the dark thing arising, Argy whistles, takes some impulse and skillfully tosses the magical lantern to Aeshma and Karnstein. This item is said to cut through *any* darkness, and has proven useful before, during the ship attack. They might need it more than her.

Once Durik regains his senses, she'll agree: "Let's do it, matey!"
Before reaching the grove, she gives the goo jar to Durik: "Do. Not. Eat. Spread this here thin' on any black stone fallin' o'er 'ere."
She takes a kitchen knife and grabs it with her teeth.While Durik distracts the stone elemental, she´ll climb to the back of it and pry out any black stone she notices.

If spider is still around, Count will command it to provoke one of remaining hostile elementals and lure it away from the spring and the group.

He takes cover behind allied stone elemental and yells "Cover yer eyes!" before throwing Flash Powder in Monstrosity's eyes, hopefully making it temporarily blind, disoriented and enraged.

If elemental is untangled and walking towards the Monster, he will move closely behind this living wall, looking for opportunities to cut off some tentacles and eventually maybe damage some vital part (and trying not to stare too much at it). Otherwise he will try first to untangle it or cut the roots himself.

"Ops yes, better say. But goo looks less yummy than cupcake. Thanks Argy."
"Now let's fight! But pls retreat if too dangerous, don't want tiny hurt."

Bellandra scowled at missing the harpy, but from the sounds of the remaining harpies' pained shrieks to the east it seemed Aylar and Grog'tial atop the Griffon had done well against them.

As she had feared, the tunnel led more monsters to them, chuulpions this time. Thankfully their shrills had not affected her, Baldbeard or Mighty too much, and they had been able to dispatch the arriving chuulpions and she had then been able to collapse the tunnel - partially at least.

She had thought to fire another explosive bolt into the tunnel to collapse it properly, but then the abomination arose from the spring and she knew they were in danger of being overwhelmed. This took priority.

She quickly looked through her mirror for any hidden weak spots of the monster. If there was such a weak spot, she would fire an explosive bolt into it. If no other weak spot was seen, she would fire an explosive bolt at the rising abomination's eyes, hoping to either disable its gaze, or at least blind it temporarily, so that it would not be able to cause terror to the party. Then, her following actions would depend on what happened:
- If the attack with the bolt succeeded, she would follow by slashing at the monster with her cutlass, aiming to sever its tentacles or to reach its heart while dodging its flailing attacks.
- If instead the attack failed, she would instead fire another bolt: if the monster seemed vulnerable to fire, she would use an explosive bolt again, or if it seemed hard-armored she would try a reinforced bolt, and otherwise she would try a stun bolt.
- If the monster's attacks seemed beyond her ability to dodge she would retreat and fire from greater range at its eyes or whatever weak spot was known.
- If the monster or the hostile stone elementals seemed about to kill or grievously wound Aeshma or Gilius or another party member (or herself for that matter), she would use her sextant to freeze the monster or the elementals.
- If the arriving group of chuul came close enough to be a threat to Aeshma, she would fire a stun bolt at them.

Kyp seeing the eye of the dragon turtle open is unsure of what to think, this could be bad if the turtle is enraged, but can be good if the turtle is pleased and will be a friend.

Kyp says to the dragon turtle "Hello friend, how do you fair? We are my crew and I are friends on a mission to help you and the surrounding area, so it would be very big help if you let us complete our mission before you move a whole lot."

"Mainly we just need your shell above water since most of the crew aren't sea folk and much prefer land"


GM question: Which way is the storm coming from and if the turtle turns out to be friend can I request turtle to accelerate slowly (so those on the turtle back do not get thrown by the momentum) away from the storm?

It is a magical storm so is already pretty much encircling us on all horizons and will close in and erupt right over us, definitely impacting both sea and sky (Griffon flight).

Mighty

Mighty, still feeling a bit dazed and stressed, focuses on the claw invoking its powers. He will shield himself with it and obscure the view of monster. He does not like all those magic monsters at all.

As Mighty does not have any protection against poison, he will try to move behind the other allied stone elemental.
- If he is approached by hostile stone elemental, he will ask Cracker to distract it and try to attack it and pry the black stone. If Cracker is unsuccessful he will fight golem with cudgel, shielding himself with claw. He will try to hit the black stone, hoping that it would be loosened by hits and fall of.
- If the golem moves to fight monster mighty will try to perform hit and run attacks with his claw, trying to cut tentacles and if near, use the claw as a spear and thrust with it deep into the monsters body.

Mighty remains prepared for any dangers. Maybe it is a good time to pray to the Monkey God?

As soon as Gilius finishes controlling the 2 stone elementals, he commands the roots to let them go.

If Gilius gets to act before the 2 hostile stone elementals :

Gilius grabs his bottle of holy water and gives it stealthily to the closest of the friendly stone elementals who will grab it delicately. Then he will command both of them to run towards the monster. The one with the holy water will try to smash it wildly in the monster's face, afterwards (whether it works or not) both will try to grab it by whatever they can get a hold on, and get back to try to stretch it as much as their strength permits, immobilizing, and possibly hurting him in the process. They shall not release the monster even if attacked by the hostile stone elementals, they shall keep their hold on it no matter the cost.

--------------

If Gilius gets to act after the 2 hostile stone elementals :

Once freed, he commands them to be wary of the hostile stone elementals and to interpose themselves if they come towards the crew. Should they fight in melee and an opportunity arise, he commands them to try to either pry the black stone in each of them off and to smash the chuulpion that would appear, or even to smash the stone directly depending on the opportunity. If a chuulpion gets killed, they should stop fighting the elemental that spawned it and concentrate on protecting the crew from any attack coming from the monster at the spring.

Meanwhile, Gilius will grab his holy water, get closer to the monster and throw it at him.

--------------

After that if he still has time to act, Gilius will concentrate and try using his quartz crystal directly on the monster to try and see if it affects him.

Whether it works or not, Gilius will then focus on the energy of nature around him and try to awaken the 2 neutral stone elementals. If successful, he will command the free one to remove the web on the other one.

Finally, if he still has time to act, Gilius will concentrate and try to sense if there is still any life form living in the grove (or even under the grove) that may be hiding itself from the evil forces, and call for it to join in the fight in any way it can to help, for example by providing a distraction to the hostile stone elementals, or any other useful act they see fit.

Pugwah hears Aeshma's scream and focuses on the cause. Trusting in the effects of the music box to protect him, Pugwash loads an explosive bolt into his crossbow, and fires it at the spring monster. Rapidly reloading with another explosive bolt, he takes another shot if the monster is still a threat.

If able to take a third shot this turn and the spring monster has not been defeated, the next bolt to shoot will be an ordinary bolt - the rest of the explosive bolts must be saved for later in the mission.

If the spring monster is defeated and he can still act this turn, .he will survey the scene looking for other enemies he can engage. If he can see the Chuul approaching, Pugwash will shoot at them with ordinary bolts.

Throughout all this, Pugwash will be mindful of the stone golems and will retreat if one approaches him. He does not believe he can do anything to harm them.

Aylar will do as he be asked and lead the Griffon to do a sweep low enough fer the song of the shell to reach the crowding Chuul below, cutlass at the ready in his hand to slice at any that might try to jump up to reach them.

Once that be done, and if it be successful enough to render all of them be no threat, he will warn Grog'tial that they be needing to land, as the storm be coming back very soon, rendering the air unsafe fer flight. He notes that as much as he like to rejoin the rest of the Crew in the grove, the Griffon would nae able to land easily in the thick of the trees - it be best to land in the clearing closer to it, and if so, it be best to utilize their aerial time remaining to attack and be utterly rid of the three Chuul heading in the direction of the Grove, or to at the very least to hold them off. He will attempt to hopefully communicate the sense of approaching danger and combat to the Griffon as well. (As the goal would be to focus those three, Grog'tial should be having plenty of time to load up his stun bolt).

Note: If the shell plan doesn't go off well enough and some of the Chuul will turn out not be mesmerized, then the course of action would be to reposition and to lead them away from the Grove (to the north side of the clearing perhaps?), with same warnings about the storm offered on the way, and seek most tactically opportune spot to land and be ready for combat.

Even though Aylar is trying to focus at the task at hand and dealing strictly with what their group would be best to deal with at that moment, his thoughts to be wandering to that beast in the Grove. Just what be it? he asks, trying to reach out to Clíodhna.