Forest Temple Finale

Though Azra has stolen off in the night, the rest of the party reaches the inner sanctum of the Forest Temple, where they face off against Melodi, a corrupted apprentice of the Forest Sage Serena, and her hideous monster Gohma.

8:00 AM, Day 3 – Forest Temple
The heroes awaken from their nap to find that Azra has picked up and left them, stealing off while no one was watching. Disheartened but still determined, Setnam, Rocco, and Sylph head back into the temple. Using the newly acquired Deku Leaf, they spray the Deku Pods with enchanted pollen, which causes the propellers to spin and the plants to uproot and fly away.

With the door beyond the Mushroom Garden open, the heroes step inside to find a dimly lit alchemical laboratory. Rocco manages to break off and eat a corner of the decorative stone counter, while Setnam finds an unknown gold ring. As he puts in on, he begins to sense nearby plant life, noticing just in time that the bundle of wild grass Sylph is about to investigate contains two Deku Babas, still alive and thrashing. The heroes chop the grass bundle to pieces. Beyond this chamber is a small courtyard with a large, ornately carved tree, which appears to be wrapped up with an enormous chain and lock. The team backtracks to the Root Cellar, where they remove another set of Deku Pods, allowing them to travel into a cavernous chamber even deeper in the ground. There, three Bokoblins sit around guarding a treasure chest. The heroes dispatch the clueless sentries, kicking them into a deep pit in the fashion of a certain Spartan warrior. Inside the chest is a large key that unlocks the chain around the carved tree. The tree splits open like double-doors to reveal the final chamber of the Temple.

The heroes step out into a round, open-roofed courtyard, which appears to be the Forest Sage’s personal flower garden. Above them, on a balcony, they see a short, purple-hatted figure playing music. Setnam takes the Deku Leaf and flings a mighty gust at the hat, blowing it off the wearer’s head and onto the ground, where he scoops it up. The flautist reveals herself to be Melodi, a Picori bard who follows the teachings of the ancient sorcerer Vaati. As she cackles about having captured the Forest Sage, the party begins attacking her with bombs. She falls backwards onto the balcony and plays a song on her flute that summons a hideous, enormous insectoid creature from the forest – Gohma.

The monstrous scorpion-esque Gohma begins to lash out at its master’s adversaries with its giant claws and acid spit. Ren receives several injuries defending his master, Sylph, and she pulls him from the battle to tend to his wounds, while calling lightning strikes down upon Gohma and Melodi. To add to the chaos, Melodi sends her enthralled minions – three adults from Haven City – to enter the fray and distract the heroes. While Rocco chips away at Gohma’s armored claws, a handsome Kokiri villager comes up behind him. Rocco instinctively takes a swing at him, but luckily misses.

Sylph summons a hawk from the forest that pursues Melodi into the room beyond the balcony, where she is hiding, but Melodi swats the bird down. Sylph gives chase, where she finds the Forest Sage tied up and badly beaten in her own bedroom. Melodi, sensing that she has been bested, leaps out the window and summons a gust of wind to carry her to safety. With her spell broken, the villagers come to their senses and run screaming to the edges of the courtyard. Nick, the older brother of Penny, is snatched in Gohma’s claws as she attempts to eat him. With a spell that engulfs his hands in flame, Setnam sets fire to Gohma and finishes her off, leaving nothing but a burned-out husk of an exoskeleton.

The Forest Sage Serena conjures a staircase of leaves for the heroes to enter her bedchambers and discuss what just happened. Serena reveals that Melodi was one of her apprentices, but she was corrupted by the dark influence of Ganon and attempted to claim the Forest Temple for herself. After hearing about the death of Kneill, who was apparently Serena’s best candidate for the Hero of Time, she becomes worried that Melodi’s attack was part of something larger. She sends messenger birds to the other Sages to call for a meeting in Hyrule Castle.

Characters

 * Setnam Onalos
 * Rocco
 * Sylph Summend
 * Forest Sage Serena
 * Melodi

Minor Characters

 * Azra Garual
 * Marin Zephros
 * Strappe
 * Nick Coyne
 * Sina Lopez
 * Jacques
 * Dropp Titra
 * Locke

Enemies

 * Gohma
 * Bokoblin
 * Deku Baba