Bear Lord Escape

Summary

The Bear Lord Escape was an improvised prison break executed by Sucks and Vasso in Session 10 of the campaign. The two teenage boys gutted a Taxidermy Bear found in their cell and climbed inside its pelt to create a terrifying disguise. Emerging from their cell in the hollowed-out bear skin, with Vasso's glowing circlet shining through the bear's eye sockets and their disjointed crab-like movement, they succeeded in completely terrorizing their Thunder Hogs captors. The horrifying appearance of the improvised "Bear Lord" caused one guard to knock himself unconscious running blindly into a wall, while the other froze in terror, allowing the imprisoned party to reverse their captivity.

Details

While imprisoned by the Thunder Hogs, Sucks and Vasso devised their escape plan around the Taxidermy Bear in their cell. The two boys gutted the bear pelt and climbed inside in a side-by-side configuration, holding the seam closed with their inner arms while using their outer legs to move. Vasso placed his wooden stick on top of his head to fill out the bear's height, and activated his Light spell to enhance the glow from his circlet, causing light to emanate eerily through the hollow eye sockets of the bear's head.

When Cat unlocked the cell door, Sucks and Vasso emerged into the corridor where Safia was struggling with Thunder Hogs guards. The creature that emerged was described as having "the almost too stiff neck of a grizzly bear, skin hanging off," followed by the rest of the figure "scuttling forward without moving its lower half, kind of like some sort of weird bear crab."

Vasso rolled an 8 on Defy Danger (Charisma) to make the disguise convincing. Despite being a mixed success, Shawn described the result as "the scariest thing that you have ever seen." From inside the bear's chest cavity, Abdul proclaimed in a hollow voice:

"All hollow be to bear lord, brother of the sniff lord."

The effect was immediate and devastating. One Thunder Hogs guard "just screams and turns around and blindly runs head first into a wall and knocks himself out of cold." The other guard, who was holding Safia and "was still processing the fact that a rat just turned into a teenager in his hands, is now just wide eyed shaking, looking at this monster in front of" them.

Participants

• Sucks — Co-pilot of the bear disguise, operating the left side of the creature and helping execute the crab-scuttle movement
• Vasso — Co-pilot of the bear disguise, providing the height with his wooden stick and the eerie lighting effect through his glowing circlet enhanced by his Light spell
• Abdul — Provided the terrifying voice from within the bear, proclaiming the Bear Lord's holy message
• Cat — Unlocked the cell door, enabling the "bear" to emerge into the corridor
• Safia — Was struggling with guards in the corridor when the bear appeared
• Thunder Hogs guards — The targets of the terror tactic; one knocked himself unconscious fleeing, the other froze in fear

Consequences

• One Thunder Hogs guard was knocked unconscious after running blindly into a wall in terror
• The second guard was rendered unable to act, frozen in fear while still holding Safia
• The party successfully reversed their captivity through psychological warfare rather than direct combat
• The legend of the Bear Lord was born, with the guard witnessing what Abdul described as a holy figure, "brother of the sniff lord"
• The absurd plan's success demonstrated that in Session 10, even the most ridiculous tactics could succeed when executed with commitment and a successful Defy Danger roll