Dungeons and Dragons ("DnD"): Hoard of the Dragon Queen: Episode 3.9 Adventure #20
Date of Session: September 15th, 2019 (9:30pm to 11:00 pm)
Number of Players: 3
Legendary Hero Menos (Dragon-born Paladin)
Kai-tick, Kin-slayer and “Servant” (Aarakocra Rogue)
XerX, the “X” Archer and “Master” (NOBLE Half-Elf Ranger)
Our heroes’ separate journeys are getting them stronger and more prepared for the Ginyu Games, a concept I introduced a month ago. Finally, the Enforcers are nearing Captain Ginyu’s ill-fated games on behalf of Lord Eggza. Menos has returned to the village of Greenest while Kai-tick and XerX have entered the Time Chamber to train.
Menos has to deal with XerX and Kai-tick’s mess. of The Beast. Last we left off with him, Menos notices the tree is moving. He requests the Ginyu Force blast the tree with their energy blasts, which successfully destroys the tree and some houses. However, not The Beast. He lives on and reforms as parts of himself have survived. Menos transforms into the Paladin of White Dragon and valiantly attacks The Beast.
The Beast stands no chance one-on-one, which means it was time to cheat anime villain style. Some of The Beast’s remains infect the other citizens, including Lina, who is under the Beast’s control. Menos begs Lina to fight the mind control as he needs her to do the White Dragon Ritual again (after it wears off during the intense battle). Ned arrives on the scene to help out, but he goes rogue thinking he could take The Beast on with 25% power (MAX!). Of course, the rolls dictate The Beast absorbs Ned’s body and power to become something else: BIO-NED!
Bio-Ned is drunk on power and arrogance. Menos is terrified, but he manages to break through to Lina. She performs the White Dragon Ritual, allowing Menos to become an amazing Paladin of White Dragon. The fight goes into the sky, where Bio-Ned awaits a miracle. Menos convinced Bio-Ned to “wait” for his attack in order to stall for time. This works except for the damage output. Bio-Ned brushes off Menos’ Blue Eyes Energy and proceeds to beat up his dragon mount, Draxel.
This scene was too funny to play out because Menos has a strong attachment to Draxel the White Dragon, and seeing him hurt wasn’t easy. Menos falls off his mount and falls, managing to see his BBC Javelin (the one he tossed and infused with lightning) nearby. Menos picks up the BBC Javelin, prays to the dice rolls, and prepares another desperate attack. Lina, barely alive from the possession, lends a helping hand and tries to transfer the last of her magic into the final attack. The Nat 1 said, “here’s 1%”.
Menos and Lina attacked Bio-Ned together. The attack roll was surprisingly high enough to behead the Servant. Everyone was shocked to learn Ned Broccoli has actually died. As Dungeon Master, it came as a shock to me too. Menos and Lina destroyed The Beast with Ned having to die. The Beast was the Cell experiment from the Stranger Things laboratory they found in the Time Chamber, so Menos and Lina found some resolution to their story arc. Everything somehow fit together… that’s pretty incredible from this writer’s point of view.
The villagers cheered as they recovered, but some were skeptical about Ned’s death. Zora cried over his friend, but Captain Leon assured Menos that he understood what happened with Ned. Captain Leon also reveals that Ned will reincarnate in a month’s time as he is a Heroic Servant and already technically dead. Yes, a different version of Ned Aarakocra will enter the D&D game soon enough.
After the events of The Beast are finally over, Menos decides to help rebuild the Castle with the Ginyu Force. Lina joins as well. Governor Nighthill is grateful and even allows the Castle to be redesigned as the Enforcers’ official headquarters based on XerX’s art design, the one they originally wanted to put in Phandalin. However, the players have grown quite an interesting attachment to Greenest and its small amount of people. It baffles me how long the Enforcers have stayed in this economically-ruined town.
Menos also requests that the Castle have his parents’ statues added to the Castle’s new design. He fails to draw them accurately (bad roll), but Governor Nighthill is able to do the portraits justice and agrees to build them in front of the Enforcer Castle as a way to honor them. Menos, the player, has finally chosen names for his parents: Martha (OMG) and Miguel. Around this time, a totally unexpected visitor arrives.
Mas O, Menos’ brother and one of the Big Bads in this campaign, arrives in Greenest to pay his respects. Menos at first believes his brother is talking about Ned, and then this whole thing about racism pops up: Mas O assumed the dead bird-man was Kai-tick. It will never end. Anyway, the two brothers agree to call a temporary truce in order to pay their respects. They go to the local Greenest bar, where Mas O reminds Menos that they have done this before in Phandalin. Menos keeps forgetting how he and Mas O had this Trial by Combat battle scene… then went to get drinks with Mas O afterwards. XerX will never forget…
Mas O and Menos enter the bar, where the villain immediately starts trouble. Mas O chokes the waitress for not getting their drinks immediately, and steals a table from sitting customers in the midst of a wedding proposal. Menos had to choke him from behind to get him to behave. The two brothers’ dynamic has changed so much since those beginning days. We have no idea what we were doing back then to be honest.
Their drinks eventually arrive without another physical confrontation. Menos wants to know why Mas O is working with Vin to destroy the multiverse. This is where things get interesting: Mas O is a Heroic Servant like Ned and Kai-tick but bound to Vin like a slave. Menos asks how Vin is able to control him like this. This is through a contract that Vin is in possession of. If Menos manages to obtain this contract, he will be able to free or use Mas O to his liking. Similar to Bubby’s contract to Kai-tick, which is in XerX’s possession.
Menos promises to get the contract from Mas O to get him to see his side of things. You see, Mas O happens to agree with Vin’s actions and holds no true grudge over being this much controlled. However, Mas O does plan to fight back Vin’s control after the Dragon Queen is unleashed upon the entire multiverse. Menos wishes his oldest brother to not blame their stupid parents anymore for what they did to them.
They actually agree on the terrible things their parents did to them: trapping Mas O in Ninth Hell, making Menos the lock and key by connecting the strength of Hell’s prison seal to his pure morals (no killing). The story is starting to come together in such a cool way. Menos and Mas O drink to agreeing on something and there was no more conflict until he departs Greenest. Cass the Red rolls in around this time…
Cass the Red is sick and tired of Menos getting special treatment. Cass the Red was a wonderful Paladin, the strongest warrior in Greenest’s history, but now he’s a cripple trying to open a Cabbage Shop. Menos hates Cass the Red for hating on his past sins, which is the mindset of the whole town. They all think he’s a joke now and have zero respect for the bitter old dwarf in the wheelchair. He also reminds Menos about their agreement about his niece, who’s coming to visit from Waterdeep to watch the Ginyu Games.
Menos is inching closer to killing Cass the Red out of spite. He has no sympathy left after he tried to help him regain his status as a Paladin. Menos goes to Tiffany’s item shop and asks the shop keeper for a prosthetic leg. Tiffany agrees to help find one free of charge to get Cass the Red to stop complaining. Tiffany also reminds Menos about the quest to the Legendary Shield hidden somewhere in the Cavern of White Dragons. Menos believes he can handle the challenges to obtain this weapon, and requests Tiffany the Mountain Lion be his guide in this quest. Tiffany tells Menos that he shouldn’t ask why he is called that. I found this too SAO abridged.
Tiffany tells Menos to prepare for the quest as they’ll leave in one hour. Menos agrees and goes to get Lina Swift, the NPC with the weirdest character development yet. She started as a character from the Hoard of the Dragon Queen campaign book (a woman dedicated to being only a wife and mom). Somehow along the way after losing her kids and husband, Lina’s character needed to be redesigned into something else. I’m honestly impressed at her survival and character dynamic with Menos.
Afterward, Menos offers Cass the Red that prosthetic leg, but the dwarf ends up breaking it in half. Menos lost all sympathy for that pathetic dwarf who refuses to help himself be great again. This is where Menos’ story in the session ends right before he leaves with his new NPC friends on a quest. Tiffany and Lina traveling with Menos should be a fun thing.
Let’s check in with the other players now:
XerX and Kai-tick are planning things. After 43 days inside the Time Chamber’s twisted version of Phandalin, XerX has successfully read a bunch of Wizard books while Kai-tick failed to communicate with Corpse Eater efficiently. Things get interesting from there…
Kai-tick and XerX decide to perform a heist to take over the different Phandalin. They ask Ten the Wizard for help, and he gives them a fair warning. There is a 1 in 1 billion chance of them pulling off the action. They decide against going for that one chance for a little payoff, having a legit 5 minute conversation about how it wouldn’t be worth doing. Then, music mistakes.
As they decide to go into town for the mines, XerX and Kai-tick run into the music choir rehearsing. This is a result of playing the wrong music (Kingdom Hearts II with Halloween Town audio) and adding it into the immersion of the session. The Music Director attacks the Enforcers for not listening to his grand performance. Kai-tick flies up into the air and XerX gets ganged up by the mindless choir members.
Kai-tick dives for the Music Director and disables his waving hand. The mindless people drop to the ground. XerX was fighting a couple of them off after freeing himself from a grapple. Kai-tick demands more answers from the Music Director and why he was here right now. Music Director explained how he was the newest entertainment for the King, who wants to see a performance.
Kai-tick decides to go for the 1 in a billion chance anyway, setting them back on the billion different futures, and convinces XerX to go along with it. They pretend to be entertainment, convincing the guards, and work out a last-minute plan to not die.
They learn from the Knights escorting them that the King loves to have a song he likes always included in any performance. The Guitarist, the King’s personal musician, has a knack for playing it and agrees to help them out after running into them mid-walk. Kai-tick and XerX are terrified but continue onward to do the performance. XerX was not in the mood to mess-up (he had a minus 1 in performance).
Well, the Guitarist plays the song, XerX sings along, and Kai-tick dances like his brother King Drip-Tin. XerX also conjures the Hidden Mist to mask their actions. Kai-tick flies a couple feet up to reach the King and shove him into the bag of holding. A couple saving throws and luck-based checks managed to get the job done. Kai-tick stole King Drip-Tin’s clothes and sits on the throne, signaling to XerX to lift the spell.
XerX ends the spell, and Kai-tick cheers his loudest in the worst chibi accent ever. I don’t know why he had to use that accent for that one cheer. Because afterwards, it was gone. But, the plan worked. They kidnapped the King without anyone having a clue. Oh yeah, Kai-tick burned his face against the flames that surrounded the King’s throne. This was pretty funny how everything was working out for them so far.
So far… I must write it twice.
Ten the Wizard gives them the signature “Doctor Strange one finger-up” moment and disappears to check on the captured King. His patience is being tested with these two knuckleheads. Kai-tick, treated like the King, is rushed to the hospital to treat the very sudden injuries. This is where he learns the truth about the “behind the scenes” leader.
Vin is the true mastermind of Phandalin 2. The Menos Copy visits Kai-tick when he is alone, revealing himself to be a racist as he couldn’t tell him and Drip-Tin a part from each other. Kai-tick is not surprised about this and feels helpless in this situation. So, after Vin leaves through his darkness portal, Kai-tick wants Ten the Wizard to appear, wishing to go to the Sanctum and meet up with XerX.
At this point, Ten the Wizard was busy hiding XerX and Kenji, who has materialized for 24 hours thanks to a spell. XerX wanted training with Kenji to become a better Master-Servant combo.
Kai-tick and the Guitarist hang out. Kai-tick believes the Guitarist about the King not staying at his Castle and goes to the Stonehaven Inn for a room. This is where Kai-tick drops the act. He couldn’t handle the Guitarist’s attitude and almost killed him out in Public. Luckily, nobody was out at night. Ten the Wizard and XerX soon arrive to meet Kai-tick, who believes he is no good to play the king at this rate.
Tune in next week to see what happens next! Thanks for reading!