D&D The Rise of Tiamat: Season 1 Episode 1

Date of Session: January 16th, 2020 (8:00 pm to 9:30 pm)

Number of Players: 3

Killion (Wizard Winged Elf) Level 1
Kai-Ku (Fighter Human) Level 1
Kensai (Monk War Forged) Level 1

The Next Generation 2020 Campaign has begun. Same three players but with different characters. The players had grown tired of their characters, and we had agreed together to begin anew with The Rise of Tiamat with the Next Generation. Heroes that rise to fight Dragon Queen Tiamat in place of retired / dead Enforcers. We don’t plan to dive into the actual campaign book until they reach level 8, but that won’t stop us from having fillers.

At least 400 years have passed since the climatic battle (The Enforcers vs Lord Eggza) at Fake Waterdeep. Technological advances have been made to give the players more tech options for future sessions.

I didn’t much prepared for this session, but the players were excited and hyped from the epic last session… so I sucked it up and had some fun with them. Let us enjoy the session.

Kai-Ku, Kensai, and Killion have arrived on Bubby’s Island for their first day of school at Hero Academy. They don’t know each other yet, but that would change after this session. The huge isolated island is named after former player, Bubby Mike Gee. They traveled to the island via cruise ship.

Hero Academy is a school for young heroes. More details to come. There is class system in honor of the Enforcers listed below:

Low class: Kai-tick Red. - Kai-Ku
Middle class: XerX Yellow. - Kensai
Upper class: Menos Blue. - Killion

The students are gathered in the middle of the field by Professor Gear, an ugly pretty boy type character. Professor Gear tried to welcome them to Hero Academy, but was having a rough time because the Principal was supposed to give the speech. In the meantime, the new Professor decides to split the students in groups of three to test their teamwork skill. Professor Gear’s first selection was Kensai, Killion, and Kai-Ku. The K-Squad followed him into the main building and inside a private classroom.

Professor Gear assigns the K-Squad one simple task: defeat him or fight until he tells them to stop. Whichever comes first. If the K-Squad fails to do either, they will not be attending first day of classes… because they’ll be expelled.

These threats were coming right out of my ass.

Professor Gear and the three players fight. Killion uses his portal swords (Gilgamesh from Fate) against the Professor. They miss, but Professor Gear and Kai-Ku used them to sword fight. Kensai punches the Professor a few times, but it didn’t distract him away from “Kai-tick Slacker”, the insult given to Kai-tick Red students.

After the swords are taken away, Professor Gear knocked Kai-Ku’s head into the stairs, putting him in death saving throw mode. This lead to an interesting plot twist: Gear’s injured a student. He freaks out, and hurries Kai-Ku to the nurse’s office. To keep this whole thing quiet, Professor Gear promises the K-Squad a free pass. Everyone agrees.

Nurse Kissey Kiss, a sweet Grandma character, uses her over sized lips to heal all Kai-Ku’s injuries. The rest of the K-Squad says they don’t ever want to get hurt at this school. Gross process to say the least.

After Kai-Ku recovers completely, the students are summoned to the Principal’s office. A Tabaxi named Kruger. He summoned the K-Squad concerning the recent incident with Professor Gear, mostly to see if anyone was going to sue the school or pull their funding.

Kai-Ku’s view of the school dwindles based on this interaction with the greedy Principal Kruger. Principal Kruger also makes a reference about being a part of the “K-Squad” too. Nobody appreciated the similarity.

Moving along the story here, Principal Kruger wants the K-Squad to investigate a missing student, last seen at the Abandoned Dorm. Based on what happened with Principal Gear, Principal Kruger believes they are capable and prefers not to use real heroes … they’re an expensive he can’t afford.

The K-Squad agrees to find the missing student under the condition that they can remodel the Kai-tick Red dorm. The Principal agrees to that condition, and allows common living as well. Kai-Ku is happy that he doesn’t have to live there alone.

The missing student is named Trudy, the number one student at Hero Academy based on last years GPA. Killion is interested in the case because he wants to be number one at the school. Kai-Ku wants to help someone. Kensai tags along for the ride. Everyone’s motives work out somewhat perfectly. It’s at least realistic.

Principal Kruger reveals five other students have also gone missing during the summer, but this disappearance was really too recent. This could be the school’s chance to solve this horrific mystery. The K-Squad are worried, but still agree to the mission.

They head to the Abandoned Dorm in the Forest Area of Bubby Island. The dorm freaks them out, but the K-Squad continues inside. They search the place, and eventually find the missing student, Trudy, inside a meat locker. After they go inside the locker to check on her, the door closes behind them.

Professor Gear reveals his ugly face through the small window. He plans to deal with them after he finishes the job of making Killion the number one student. Professor’s intentions are made clear. Killion hates his parents for cheating his way to being the number one student at Hero Academy.

Kensai breaks the door, and helps the K-Squad give chase to Professor Gear. Kai-Ku, Killion, and Kensai engage Professor Gear in combat. Round two.

After a couple rounds of throwing punches, Killion decides to end the fight with a sword cutting Professor Gear’s throat. Kai-Ku freaked out about a potential killing, and tries to save Professor Gear’s life. However, the plot twists keep coming.

Professor Gear turns out to be a robotic teacher. Kai-Ku got spilled oil over his hands. The fight comes to a true end when Killion calls his parents to end Professor Gear’s mission. I was having a good time role-playing this scene. Gilgamesh and Killion’s mother were the absolute worst parents.

Subconsciously, I took the “make my kid number one” idea from a Kids Next Door episode. It was too familiar that I had to look it up after the session was over.

Anyways, the session continues. Professor Gear is officially fired for kidnapping Trudy. However, he admits that the five other students weren’t his doing. Principal Kruger is believes him because Professor Gear hadn’t been to Bubby Island prior to today. Their investigation into the other five students isn’t over, but at least Trudy was saved. She’s taken to Nurse Kissey Kiss the last time they see her.

Professor Gear went into the wind after his defeat. The K-Squad decided to look for him and bring him to school justice. They locate him, talking to various nonimportant NPCs, at the Menos Blue dorm. Killion admires the statue of Menos outside the building while searching.

Kai-Ku, Kensai, and Killion give chase to Professor Gear cleaning out his office and some school funding from Menos Blue. Professor Gear boards the departing ship, but Kai-Ku’s determination gets him hanging on the edge of the deck. Professor Gear kicks Kai-Ku off, but at the cost of his riches. The cruise ship continues onward with Professor Gear crying that he’ll get his vengeance on the K-Squad.

Kai-Ku rolls to grab onto Killion, flying around, to avoid falling to death. The K-Squad call it a day, and go to sleep at the Kai-tick Red dorms. The team is not looking forward to first day of classes the next day. The session ends there on a low-key note.

Everyone had fun with it, and figured out what they want to do with their new characters moving forward. Doing this session after the epic last session didn’t help with keeping up the momentum, but it was still great nonetheless. I learned a lot about the world we’ll be inhabiting and the type of story that we’ll have. I’m excited to start over with the K-Squad.

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