The Adventure Zone: Amnesty - Episode 5

Synopsis
''Our heroes band together to hunt down the Beast terrorizing the woods outside Kepler. Ned remembers a fateful night. Aubrey receives a letter. Duck feels the weight of destiny.''

Ned, in full Wookiee garb, waits patiently in the driver seat of his Continental, which he has parked on a road a quarter mile up from Crooked Bend Cave, where the others lie in wait to ambush the Beast. As he waits, he passes the time listening to some Broadway show tunes, specifically, Come From Away, and wishing he wasn't fucking doing this.Suddenly, the ambient sounds of the forest go quiet and Ned hears the pained breathing of multiple mouths in front of him and he sees the moonlight glint off of a shape ten yards in front of him. Ned lets out one last, "I wish I wasn't fuckin' doing this," and attempts to gain the Beast's attention by laying on the car and turning on the headlights. The Beast sniffs the air and, catching the scent of a dozen animals on Ned's being, charges towards his direction with an echoing scream. Ned throws the car into reverse and guns the shit out of it, narrowly dodging a claw swipe from the Beast. Ned glances into the rearview mirror and sees the Beast pursuing him. He turns his attention back to the road, and he looks back at the mirror to see that it has disappeared. Ned turns back and sees the Beast behind the pine trees lining the roads keeping pace right beside his car. The Beast, black slime spewing from its mouth and every one of its many eyes pulsating with bright red light, takes one big, last step and jumps towards Ned's car. Ned jerks the wheel right, putting the car slightly off-road, and narrowly dodges the Beast, which tumbles and rolls behind him before getting back up to a full gallop, and his headlights catch a pine tree which he is barreling towards at a deadly speed.

'''Several years earlier... '''

Ned lies on the ground and, as he comes to, he sees a wrecked, black Imperial Crown Coupe wrapped around a tree. Suddenly, Ned recalls that he and an accomplice just pulled off the biggest job of their careers and that the wrecked car in front of him is carrying both his haul and his accomplice, who is lying unconscious and splayed out on an airbag in the driver's seat. Ned hears police sirens further down the road and he attempts and fails to open the busted up door to the driver's seat and awaken his accomplice.Ned stuffs his pockets full of as much loot as he can carry and runs off into the woods.

Several years later...

Ned, seeing the tree coming towards him, Acts Under Pressure and jerks the car left, getting it back onto the road, and as he continues to speed down the road, his headlights catch Mama and Barclay hiding out in a bush in the distance right next to a sign for Crooked Bend Cave.

Aubrey, having finished spreading the oil along the floor of the cave’s entrance, waits inside Crooked Bend Cave while also attempting to find the best hiding spot. As she's doing this, she hears Ned, still singing at the top of his lungs, racing down into the cave.Ned takes his position as the Beast makes its entrance, hitting the oil patch along the way, and skids to a halt in the center of the cave. The furious Beast looks at the two of them and howls, and Aubrey raises her hand and prepares to shoot some flames at it.

A few hours earlier...

Aubrey and Barclay, both holding flashlights, survey the cave before them. Barclay kneels down and asks Aubrey how she plans on trapping the Beast. Aubrey suggests that they cover the entire cave floor in oil and light it on fire, but Barclay shoots her down on the grounds that that would burn all of them to death and suggests that they strategically place the oil on certain spots of the cave. Aubrey suggests they put a big oil patch in the middle of the cave and a ring of oil around it to prevent it from fleeing.After setting up the trap, Barclay asks why she's helping the Pine Guard out and she explains that she feels it's something she has to do. WIP

Featured NPCs

 * Barclay
 * Beacon
 * Kirby
 * Mama
 * Minerva

Featured Music

 * The Beast, Confronted
 * Amnesty Lodge (Sunrise)
 * "All Night Long" by Lobo Loco

Featured Locations

 * The Cryptonomica
 * Kepler