Recap 7- The Foresaken

Season 1: Golden Oak

Episode 7: The Forsaken

Scene 1: The Tunnel

We open on Sandro, Saxon, and Sily as they watch the two elderly Albacans perform a Beastie Boys-style rap, conveniently providing a ton of background information. Saul here's it goin' down and easily parkours his way across the 8 ft gap in the ledge. Saxon isn't impressed by the geriatric hip-hoppers and takes a few menacing steps forward with the intention of tossing the old Albacans to the hungry Trash Beast waiting in the lake below. The Forsaken, however, move with surprising speed, drawing shortswords and slashing at Saxon (who takes hardly a scratch). It appears the Fearsome Four's ageism has caused them to underestimate the Forsaken and they carve up Sandro a little, as well. Sandro wonders if they can dish it as well as they take it and does some carving himself. As his two swords find their mark in the chest of his elderly attacker, the Albacan falls unconscious, unable to deal with the pain and shock to his system. Sily dispatches the other similarly with a Ray of Frost (like when you turn the heat down below 75 degrees at your grandparents'... or Brad's, house). Sandro telepathically feels the Great Trash Beast's hunger pangs, and the Fearsome Four decide to feed the two unconscious Forsakens to it. These skin-and-bones half elves are barely enough to whet the GTB's appetite, however. The Four hear commotion from down the tunnel, indicating the presence of about a dozen more Forsaken. Saul and Saxon want to stand and fight, probably because they missed out on punishing the rapping Albacans.

Silyana, whose plans are becoming increasingly practical while still sufficiently cartoonish, has an interesting idea. She wants to bait the Forsaken into chasing the Four across the gap in the ledge, which she will hide using a Major Image spell. The rest of the Four seem on board and Saul pipes up to say, "Leave the baiting to me!  I am a master baiter!!" (He didn't say that but it was implied.)  This only leaves Silyana to face her constant nemesis, routine Dexterity checks. She gets a running start, trips on her skirt, somehow manages to lose her skirt, and winds up dangling pantsless from the far ledge, the Great Trash Beast's tentacles swiping uncomfortably close to her ankles. Sandro easily leaps the gap and gallantly saves his companion, politely muttering to himself about having such a klutz as a partner. Saxon leaps the gap easily and now it's time for Saul to do what EDM DJs do best... be irritating as fuck.

A festival kick drum distantly thumps as Saul dances like a JNCO-wearing rave kid, using his bardic magic to Entrall the Forsaken waiting in the shadows. An arrow whizzes past Saul's head but his concentration is unbroken as he start miming a box with his hands. The Forsaken have seen enough and need to end this bastard before he pulls out his pacifier so they rush out of the shadows towards Saul as he breaks for the gap. Silyana throws down her illusion right as Saul sideways-Thief vaults over the gap into a modified Quadrupedal landing (fuck you for making me look up Parkour moves). The Forsaken are incensed and the GTB is hungrily snapping below as it flails its tentacles. They have no chance of recognizing the disguised death pit in front of them and the first four charge to their deaths in the maw of the GTB below, falling through the illusion like video game characters caught in a clipping error. The next three put the brakes on, realizing what happened to the four in front of them, but the two Forsaken behind them are too eager to get at Saul and knock everyone off the ledge to the now-frenzied GTB. The last three Albacans want no part of this whatsoever and run away back down the tunnel.

Silyana dispels her illusion and leaps easily back across the ledge, landing in the center of her skirt and sliding it back on in one smooth motion, proving that she really shouldn't have had any trouble making this jump, or sliding down a tube, or climbing up a tunnel... the rest of the Four follow her. They pause at the entrance to the tunnel once again to have a lengthy discussion about their next move. As the Four search for any sign of the Hooded Cultist/Warlock, Saul slides on his Detect Magic Headphones by Dre. He hears lute-and-flute forest songs from down the tunnel, indicating the presence of the elven warding magic of the Forsaken. He listens in the chamber of the Underground Lake and faintly hears the deep, chopped and screwed sounds associated with the Hooded Warlock's magic. He understands that she is floating somewhere out in the dark up high, perhaps near the ceiling of the chamber. The voices crescendo and multiply as Saul listens. As they reach a peak in volume, a loud explosion occurs in the chamber and sewage water begins rushing in through the new hole in the ceiling. The Warlock telepathically screams,

"DROWN IN SHIT YOU WORTHLESS FUCKS!"

The lake is rising and the water level is bringing the slobbering and snapping Great Trash Beast ever closer to the Fearsome Four so they run down the tunnel of the Forsaken, finding a fork in the tunnel a little over 100 feet in. The Fearsome Four pause for quite awhile here to discuss what direction they will go, continue straight in the tunnel or follow another tunnel to the right at a 45 degree angle. Saul still has his Detect Magic Headphones by Dre on, and he can hear the warding magic of the Forsaken down the tunnel to the right. The debate goes on long enough that the Great Trash Beast is able to enter the tunnel and the Fearsome Four finally get a good look at this thing. It is about the size of a rhino, maybe a little larger and on four legs. It has three tentacles, one that apparently has its eyes (the periscope visible above the water) and another, longer two, on either of its flanks, that end in toothy paddles. The front of it is all mouth and teeth and it roars as it charges down the tunnel, the horrible stench of its breath curling Sandro's mustache hairs. Sily has another tricksy magic plan and creates illusions of the Four running away straight down the tunnel as the real Four break to the right. The Great Trash Beast is Great, Trashy, and Beasty but also pretty Stupid and fully buys Sily's illusion as the Four run away down a parallel tunnel.

Saul zeroes in on the spot that must be the entrance to the lair of the Forsaken with his Detect Magic Headphones by Dre and is aching for some slaughter-therapy but Sily really wants to keep moving down the tunnel. This degenerates into a slapstick comedy moment involving Mage Hand nut taps or something... probably nothing that should be happening as a ravenous Great Trash Beast prowls the tunnels nearby but this thing is really fooled by Sily's magic and can't seem to get back on the trail. It angrily howls and stomps then confusedly paces back and forth but just can't pick up the scent. Saul relents and the Foursome Fear continue down the tunnel because now the sewage in the Underground Lake has reached such a level that it is flowing into the tunnel (which is entirely downhill in the Fearsome Four's direction of travel) and under the feet of the Four. Saul proceeds toward a light he can see at the end of the tunnel (in no way a metaphor). Suddenly, Saul sees a figure silhouetted against the light from the tunnel opening; it's a stray Forsaken that need murdering! Hooray for Saul! He excitedly fires a crossbow bolt through the aged Albacan's thighs and the Forsaken falls unconscious and backwards out of the tunnel opening. It takes a surprising few seconds for Saul to hear the satisfying splat of the Albacan's body...

When the Fearsome Four get to the ledge, they can see why. The tunnel opening is into a river chamber similar to the one they originally slid into when they entered the Underdank but the tunnel they are coming out of is 50 feet above the walkway below. Late afternoon light casts an eerie glow from the grates above and the water rushing under the feet of the Four is an ever-growing stream, now pouring onto the awkwardly bent corpse below and running eventually off of the walkway and into the river of sewage.

"Fuck... ," says Sandro.

--- CUT TO CREDITS ---

''Okay, that was pretty sweet. I'd like to point out that Phil came up with the idea for Sily to lose her skirt after failing her jump roll (twice... I think you used "Inspiration"), so it felt less exploitative this time. I like that she's a klutzy badass. Saul is really the Swiss Army Knife of characters. I made the Forsaken roll Con saves when they took damage and they never rolled above a 10, no modifier. The Great Trash Beast really had some terrible rolls to pick up your trail in the tunnels, too. ''

WHO'S BAD?!?!?!?!?!

I mean, I think everyone did some evil shit here but I think the first place prize goes to Silyana this week. She was really driving the bus on this Underground Lake arm of the adventure and came up with the plan to Wile E. Coyote a dozen old people into being a eaten by their quasi-deity. Everyone was pretty quick to do violence to the elderly and Saxon definitely gets an honorable mention for his eagerness to feed the hungry, hungry Trash Beast. Saul and Sandro both personally tore into the flesh of the Forsaken and Saul certainly did a lot of raver kid dancing... always a great way to show you are morally bankrupt.

WHAT'S NEXT?

A Quote from the D&D 5e SRD:

"Falling
A fall from a great height is one of the most common hazards facing an adventurer. At the end of a fall, a creature takes 1d6 bludgeoning damage for every 10 feet it fell, to a maximum of 20d6. The creature lands prone, unless it avoids taking damage from the fall"

I mean, I just thought it might be relevant...

Anyway, hopefully y'all can get out of the sewer (maybe even take down the Hooded Warlock) and on to bigger and less stinky things.

You'll be heading in to Golden Oak proper pretty soon... and then the TRIAL OF THE CENTURY... or something...

--

It was a wild time! Hopefully we play again real soon!

Thanks!

-back to The Golden Oak Campaign