D&D The Rise of Tiamat: Season 1 Episode 3

Date of Session: January 29th, 2020 (5:00 pm to 9:30 pm)

Number of Players: 3

Kai-Ku Midoriya (FIGHTER Human) Level 2
Gundam, Model K (SOLDIER War Forged) Level 2
Killion Gilgamesh (WIZARD Avariel ) Level 2

Recurring Guest Star NPCs:

Principal Kruger (Tabaxi, former Cult of the Dragon Villain, Power: UNKNOWN)
Roshi Nighthill (Chibi Human, Kai-tick Red Student, Power: UNKNOWN)
Nurse Kissey Kiss (Human, HERO Academy’s Top Healer, Power: HEALTHY KISS)
Gordon the Goblin (HERO Academy’s Janitor)
Professor Mas O (Dragon-born Servant, Homeroom Teacher, Menos’ older brother, and the Cult of the Dragon’s former leader, Power: UNCLEAR)
Professor Stoner Head (Mummy, Combat Teacher, Power: NEGATION)
Doctor Suresh (Human Wizard, Kai-tick Red’s Adviser, Power: TELEKINESIS)

New NPCS introduced:

Bran Whitey (Fat Human, Father of DECEASED Samuel, Basketball Dad)
Tyler Tatum (Blind Human, New Kai-tick Red Student, Power: NOT BLIND?)
Jessica Chang (Human, New Kai-tick Red Student, Power: UNKNOWN)
Grandma Dorothy (Human, Manager of the School’s General Store)
Unnamed Cow Humanoid (Employee at HERO SUPPORT)
Vice Principal Cassidy (Male Aarakocra, dislikes K-Krew, Power: UNKNOWN)
Officer Parkman (Bug Bear, Head of Security at HERO Academy, Power: TELEPATHY)
Spook (Disfigured Human, XerX Yellow Student, Power: TELEPORTATION)
Future Spook (Time Traveler, Power: SPACE-TIME MANIPULATION)
Unnamed Beach Student (Human, XerX Yellow, Status: ALIVE)
Dolly (Human, Emma #2’s Friend, XerX Yellow Student, Power: UNKNOWN)
Emma #2 (Missing Kai-tick Red Student, ALIVE, Power: CLAIRVOYANT)
“The Surgeon” Impostor (Mad Human Scientist, skilled with a sword)

Before I recap what happened in this session, let’s chat about the latest changes in character. For now, Kai-Ku and Killion remain the same. K-Gundam is now Gundam, Model K as his full name. I might continue to write it as “K-Gundam” to keep it short writing these posts. The player changed it in honor of Kobe Bryant’s untimely death.

What happened to Kobe Bryant inspired the events that transpired in this session. Specifically the basketball fight scene with D&D items at stake. I wanted to do the basketball scenario since Hoard of the Dragon Queen days, but there was never time.

A school setting campaign is better than a Nomad / Murderhobo styled campaign. In a Nomad setting, wandering from place to place, the temptation to kill is powerful. This HERO school environment put a stop to all that. Only three episodes / sessions into the new campaign, and it’s super refreshing. PLUS ULTRA!!!

The session began at Principal Kruger’s office. K-Krew tries to explain to him about the Abandoned Dorms, the Gear Bots, the dead missing student, and how they needed to take action to save the remaining four students. In response, Principal Kruger pressed something underneath his desk. The doors close. Kai-Ku tries to jump out the window, but the bullet-proof glass stopped him from leaving out there too.

K-Krew wanted to be heroes and not lie to the student body. Principal Kruger wanted to keep things under wrap until they learned more information. K-Krew was about to beat Principal Kruger, or at least try to, until Doctor Suresh defused the situation.

Doctor Suresh told K-Krew that Principal Kruger was still the headmaster, and that students needed to show some respect. Principal Kruger made several phone calls, needing his top men on the situation. He had heroes sent out to investigate, and a special call out was made to Officer Parkman.

Officer Parkman’s the Head of Security at HERO Academy and only brought into situations as a last resort. He uses his telepathic abilities with such ruthlessness.

Principal Kruger needed him to make sweeps on campus because The Surgeon has returned. The Surgeon was a villain from 400 years ago. The first real incident that targeted five students, but they were never seen again. Only their bodies were left without brains. The same pattern has made a comeback, K-Krew realizes. Principal Kruger also begins to see the pattern.

However, since HERO Academy never caught The Surgeon, nobody can positively ID the current kidnapper. They don’t know if this is The Surgeon from 400 years ago or a mimic, a copy cat killer. The only thing they know for sure is that The Surgeon hasn’t left Bubby’s Island. Neither have the missing students. It’s something that’s puzzled HERO Academy for the past few months.

For simplicity, I’m going to use “The Surgeon” very loosely in this recap. So, I apologize if it gets confusing.

Bran Whitey, Samuel’s Father, arrives in Principal Kruger’s Office. He’s outraged about his son Samuel’s death but grateful to learn that his body was discovered. Samuel was oddly not killed at the crime scene, according to the most recent reports being sent to Principal Kruger’s computer. They learn that Samuel was killed elsewhere and moved to the crime scene afterward.

Bran thanks Kai-Ku for saving his son’s body and gave the boy an inappropriate hug. He continues to cry over the joy of knowing his son was dead and with his mother, who was killed in a helicopter crash on route to Bubby’s Island. She died on the day Samuel went missing. Bran Whitey wants to further thank Kai-Ku, but at this point, Principal Kruger’s patience has run out. He lets K-Krew leave his office. They go back to their dorms before Combat Class with Professor Stoner Head.

K-Krew bump into Roshi Nighthill and the new Kai-tick Red Students: Jessica Chang and Tyler Tatum. K-Krew welcome the new students to HERO Academy and sticks with them for the tour, knowing that they might need protection from The Surgeon.

Kai-tick Red Dorm was also still a mess from the party in the last session. K-Krew decides to let Gordon the Goblin handle that once they discover where he lives. They think it’s an odd shed somewhere near Kai-tick Red, but they decide to deal with that later too.

K-Krew + Roshi and friends walk to Combat Class together. Professor Stoner Head tells the students about Samuel’s untimely death, directed by Principal Kruger, and has the class play basketball in honor of his lost dream. Samuel attended HERO Academy for a chance to become a Pro Basketball Player. He also had the power of Flight but it wasn’t allowed in the game. Killion was sad about that rule, but he still wanted to play ball at least!

Professor Stoner Head changed into his referee uniform and prepared the first game with selected students.

The first basketball match was K-Krew vs Roshi and Friends. Whoever won this match would also win items. K-Krew immediately accepted the game. The game was intense, half court going to 21 points, and Roshi + Friends were given mercy at 12-0. This was a tough game. K-Krew believes Tyler isn’t blind based on how he played, but they didn’t worry too much about it. They were more concerned about the four missing students.

After class, K-Krew went back to the Abandoned Dorms to investigate, and found the whole place already being searched by HERO Academy’s Professional Heroes. Doctor Suresh meets with K-Krew and assures them that he already swept the place with his magic and found no new information about Samuel’s death or The Surgeon’s current whereabouts.

Kai-Ku realized a new theory after speaking with Doctor Suresh. He left the scene quickly with the rest of K-Krew. After getting back to the safety of Kai-tick Red Dorm, Kai-Ku tells K-Krew that he believes that Doctor Suresh, their adviser, is The Surgeon. Doctor Suresh’s access, convenient magic sweep, and him being with the Gear Bots in the last session has this player convinced. The rest of K-Krew agrees, but they don’t have any solid proof.

They hear a knock on the door. They freak out, thinking the room’s bugged and Doctor Suresh has come for them. It was actually Professor Stoner Head at the door. K-Krew is relieved and let Professor Stoner Head inside. He came to visit them because they had forgot their basketball win reward. K-Krew completely forgot they won items. He gives the players special weapons to protect themselves.

Kai-Ku was given an Eldritch Blaster, a gun version of Eldritch Blast cantrip spell.
Killion was given the Wand of Magic Missiles. A wand dedicated to using Magic Missiles.
K-Gundam was given a Laser Chain Gun… a really big gun.

Two out of three weapons would be utilized later in combat!

After Professor Stoner Head leaves their dorm room, Kai-Ku and the rest of K-Krew search for any bugs that Doctor Suresh may have implanted. They roll and discover bright green sparks in the vents. Then, Kai-Ku finds and destroys a magical spy bug.

K-Krew had been bugged! They were spied on!

They decide to investigate Doctor Suresh’s Kai-tick Red room. They hurry downstairs and stand in front of his door, but K-Krew didn’t know how to unlock it. After some debating on how to open the doorway—D&D opening door memes make sense to me now—Killion peeks inside to see if Doctor Suresh’s home. He spots Doctor Suresh is home. Gundam knocks to get things going.

Doctor Suresh welcomes them inside and offers them some tea. They refuse and want to talk to Doctor Suresh about the missing students and the current investigation. They get theorizing on patterns like all students were Kai-tick Red and had distinct powers. It was also pointed out that The Surgeon snatched the children of investors at HERO Academy, but money’s clearly not the motive. Otherwise, The Surgeon would’ve already called for ransom money months ago and not kill Samuel.

There was a lot of brainstorming throughout this session. It was a lot of fun!

After another round of debate, Doctor Suresh informed the students that their dorm room and the outside had returned “exactly the way they had left it before”. This was picked up quickly by K-Krew as “the bug is back”. Doctor Suresh was allegedly talking about the Kai-tick Red Party from the previous session. Which was cleaned up, but it wasn’t what he meant.

This time, K-Krew stayed silent in the dorm best they could. Kai-Ku tried to study a book for Professor Mirna’s History Class, but his low roll made him freak out about the return of the magical bug. The rest of K-Krew was also uncomfortable and decided to look for it in the vents. Well, Kai-Ku and K-Gundam looked in the vents. Killion wanted to cast Find Familiar to conjure an Owl companion named Enkidu. This spell takes ten D&D minutes (D&D minutes are like anime minutes).

Kai-Ku fails to find anything due to low roll, but K-Gundam found green sparks that start infecting the dorm room. K-Krew run out. Killion has Enkidu blow the green sparks away from them. Then, Killion rolls a medicine check to see if Enkidu was okay. The roll made Enkidu coughing, but ultimately not contagious. Killion dismisses Enkidu just in case.

They believe Doctor Suresh is The Surgeon. Soon they bump into Roshi who’s panicking about Tyler and Jessica, the new Kai-tick Red Students. Roshi hasn’t seen either of them since the basketball game. K-Krew assume the worst, rightfully, and go looking for Tyler and Jessica. Roshi goes check the main building while K-Krew searches the forest.

K-Krew is growing fond of the forest terrain on campus. But they didn’t find anything this time. Just endless trees. They decide to search the beach next. They’re thinking ahead on this one. They thought Doctor Suresh might try to leave Bubby Island, like how Professor Gear did in the first episode.

K-Krew comes upon a Human XerX Yellow Student sunbathing quietly. Kai-Ku didn’t want to bother the kid, but when K-Gundam approached him… he found the student brutalized, cut up, and barely alive. They try to wake him up, and he tells them that a man attacked him and kidnap Doctor Suresh. He lost consciousness again after that.

Everyone looks for tracks in the sand and discover a pair going into the ocean. Kai-Ku dives into the water first. He spots a stairway that lead into a wormhole. But, nobody goes into the portal. K-Krew think getting the hurt student back to Nurse Kissey Kiss should come first.

Nurse Kissey Kiss heals the XerX Yellow Student and asks if K-Krew needs anything else from her. She offers them condoms that only Kai-Ku and K-Gundam accept. Kai-Ku took six, and K-Gundam puts one over his hand. The role-playing is excellent. I have to admit.

Officer Parkman is summoned to Nurse Kissey Kiss’ office in order to erase the student’s traumatic experience. K-Krew discovers that Officer Parkman has telepathic powers and uses them to cause harm while searching through this kid’s brain. Kai-Ku demands that Officer Parkman stop, but the Bug Bear doesn’t listen. After taking what he needed, the Head of Security leaves the Nurse’s Office. There was nothing K-Krew could do about it.

They hit the General Store next. K-Krew wanted to save Doctor Suresh prepared. Kai-Ku buys a potion of healing for future and heads to HERO Support next with Killion and K-Gundam. The Cow Humanoid running the garage was creating new gear. She also had weird standards when it came to buying weaponry. Only “earned” money she accepts.

K-Krew plan to figure out how to get more gold pieces later. That’s next session’s problem.

Once they made proper preparations, K-Krew has the classic hero “Suit Up” moment and marched back to the beach. They dove underwater and swam into the portal. They enter a hallway, surface level, and see the water being held back on the other side of the portal. They don’t see any traps and walk forward into the bigger square room.

They discover Doctor Suresh chained inside a coffin at the other side of the room. K-Krew charges forward to rescue their teacher, but they end up setting off a trap that makes the floor collapse. Killion flies to safety, K-Gundam grabs the ledge, but Kai-Ku rolled a NAT 1 into the endless pit. We all thought this was the end of Kai-Ku Midoriya.

Luckily, Killion flies to save Kai-Ku and succeeds. However, the roll made the catch rather clumsy. Killion is barely holding onto Kai-Ku. They roll to see if Killion can drop Kai-Ku at the surface. They roll the same numbers (NAT 1 and a low 6) and this whole paragraph is repeated.

Third time’s a charm. Everyone makes it to the other side of the room. They heard a slow applaud and turn to find a Human Scientist wielding a sword. He didn’t expect that trap to work so effectively. K-Krew wants to know where the other students are. The Surgeon refuses to tell and attacks them. K-Krew is clear that they can’t kill this villain. Otherwise, the students and Doctor Suresh are practically sentenced to death.

Kai-Ku and The Surgeon engage in a sword fight. K-Gundam and Killion attack from a far, hoping to distract him. Eventually, Killion NAT 20 The Surgeon’s leg, paralyzing him and defeating him. K-Krew tries to remove Doctor Suresh’s chains afterward but learn that it has a command word attached only The Surgeon knows.

The Surgeon’s too gone into the madness to care. The crippling was too much for The Surgeon to handle. Killion dismisses the buried sword from The Surgeon’s leg to help make the pain more bearable. The Surgeon gives the command word to open Doctor Suresh’s chains.

Afterward, The Surgeon pulls out a red button handle.

Killion tries to disarm The Surgeon before he presses the button, but the roll wasn’t high enough. The Surgeon presses the button. This causes the water to start pouring into the secret lair. Everyone make a run for it. Doctor Suresh chains The Surgeon and keeps him close to his side as they escaped.

Everyone gets back to the beach safely. Doctor Suresh thanks K-Krew for their help and leaves their presence to deliver The Surgeon to Principal Kruger. Killion and K-Gundam return to Kai-tick Red Dorms. Kai-Ku falls asleep in the sand. What a long day they had, but the session continues for a little bit longer.

The following morning arrives… Kai-Ku is awakened by Principal Kruger and Nurse Kissey Kiss. They are taking their daily walk across the beach and stumbled upon a sleeping Kai-Ku. Kai-Ku asks Principal Kruger about The Surgeon and Doctor Suresh. Principal Kruger is confused by these questions.

Principal Kruger does reveal something rather startling: Doctor Suresh has resigned from HERO Academy this morning. He has left Bubby Island with a limping research assistant. Kai-Ku realizes he was actually right about Doctor Suresh and leaves to tell the rest of K-Krew that Doctor Suresh is indeed THE SURGEON! He played them all and has made his grand getaway with The Surgeon Impostor.

K-Krew search Doctor Suresh’s dorm room, still furbished and intact, and find a letter from him that confirms the truth. Doctor Suresh is The Surgeon and K-Krew catching onto them forced his hand. He had to accelerate the timetable and leave without any interference. The missing four students were left behind though. In fact, this letter is their first clue. Doctor Suresh is playing an odd game with K-Krew.

The letter’s first clue directs them to morning homeroom. K-Krew regroup with Roshi, who has discovered Tyler and Jessica safe and sound. They were hanging at the school this whole time. Doctor Suresh didn’t abduct them. K-Krew deciphers the letter’s clues and sit next to Dolly, a XerX Yellow Student who was friends with Emma #2, a missing student.

Through their conversation, K-Krew figures out that Emma #2 is talking to Dolly inside his mind. Emma #2’s trying to reach him, but the mental reach out drove Dolly insane. They see his notebook is filled with “HELP ME” written over and over again.

K-Krew get Professor Mas O before class officially starts. Professor Mas O understands the situation and tries to communicate with Dolly to no avail. Somehow, they manage to find Emma #2’s location via Killion’s Detect Magic. Professor Mas O excuses K-Krew from class and also ropes Spook, a XerX Yellow Student, to help them out with the rescue mission.

Spook, a disfigured human, has the power of teleportation, similar to Goku’s Instant Transmission, and is able to take K-Krew to wherever Emma #2 was taken. Thanks to Killion being able to discover Emma #2’s presence through Detect Magic.

K-Krew + Spook appear in a small hallway… surrounded by twelve armed Goblins. Six on each side. Spook teleports back to the classroom promising to come back for them after they save Emma #2. Kai-Ku takes on six on one side, K-Gundam fights the other six, and Killion stays in the middle to play HERO Support.

Kai-Ku is on offense and defense against the Goblins, taking them out one by one with his Rusty Sword. Killion uses his Wand of Magic Missiles to take out a few Goblins. The other Goblins are gunned down by K-Gundam, but one Goblin manages to NAT 20 his arm. In response, K-Gundam NAT 20 a bullet into that Goblin’s head. The Goblin went down, but he was still alive and twitching.

Kai-Ku and Killion were hit by arrows, but they were managing the HP. All twelve Goblins are defeated. They exit the hallway and enter the ship’s deck, encountering more Goblins outside. Twelve more Goblins + The Limping Surgeon with a Crutch. He ordered his army to finish Killion first for what he did to his leg.

Kai-Ku slams the door on the Goblins and runs the other way to escape. Killion casts an illusion spell to prevent the Goblins from following them further. K-Krew enter another hallway and start opening doors. With the rolls on their side, they see the door leading into the lower level. Killion remembers Emma #2 was secluded and kept in a basement level room.

They run down there and encounter a chained door. They debate once again how to open it. K-Gundam tries to shoot it, but the low roll caused a recoil against the chains. Everyone had to roll saving throws to dodge the bullet. Killion and Kai-Ku smacked the chains with their swords until it eventually came loose. K-Krew crash the small room and find Emma #2 chained against the wall. Before they can try to rescue Emma #2 from the immediate danger, Doctor Suresh arrives to greet his former Kai-tick Red Students.

As Doctor Suresh descended the stairs though, he froze. K-Krew looks around and notices Emma #2 is frozen too. Somebody had frozen time. They look around and found Spook in different clothes… dark clothing in contrast to the XerX Yellow uniform. Spook also had a sword on his back. This was a different Spook from a different time.

K-Gundam tried to shoot Doctor Suresh mid-frozen, but the bullet moved slowly. Future Spook didn’t have much time to spill information given the risk he was taking. He simply told K-Krew that they needed to save the students in order to save the world and gave an envelope to Kai-Ku with more information. He disappeared after that. Time resumed on schedule.

Doctor Suresh dodged the bullet. Then, he used his power of telekinesis to pin Kai-Ku to the wall. K-Gundam and Killion tried to fight him, but then K-Gundam fell to his powers as well. Killion was helpless to do anything. Luckily, Present Day Spook returned to save them. He teleported Kai-Ku out of there first. Until Spook returned for them, Killion and K-Gundam tried to free Emma #2 while holding off Doctor Suresh’s telekinesis, the main destructive power of The Surgeon.

Spook managed to save Killion, K-Gundam, and Emma #2 from Doctor Suresh before he could use his telekinesis to slice their heads open. Spook was almost done in the process, but Spook did it. Everyone ended up at Nurse Kissey Kiss’ Office for healing treatments. I think visiting Nurse Kissey Kiss will be a regular occurrence.

Emma #2 was conscious and thankful to K-Krew for saving her. She reveals that she has the power to locate people. K-Krew wants Emma #2 to find the other missing students. Emma #2 agrees and tries to do so. However, Doctor Suresh is able to “see” her and has her attacked mentally. This stops her power from working properly, and she’s knocked out.

After this happens, Vice Principal Cassidy, an Aarakocra with a Ph.D in Heroism, shows up with Officer Parkman. Vice Principal Cassidy makes it very clear that he dislikes Kai-tick Red Students and forbids K-Krew from further involvement due to them being the students. Let the professional heroes take care of this mess. Officer Parkman is here to extract the information Emma #2 knows without needing her to talk, or giving her the chance to lie.

K-Krew thinks that sounds sketchy, but they can’t do anything to stop faculty members from doing their jobs. Officer Parkman uses his telepathy on Emma #2, extracting her memories of her captivity, the other missing students, and Doctor Suresh taking them. Vice Principal Cassidy promises that Officer Parkman will write a report with what he found inside Emma #2’s head. Again, K-Krew is really thinking that’s sketch.

To prove himself to K-Krew, Officer Parkman forces all Emma #2’s memories, the ones he extracted, into Kai-Ku’s mind. He tried to resist, but he rolled a NAT 1. Everything poured into him. Kai-Ku was overwhelmed and knocked out.

The session ended on that cliffhanger. A lot went down regarding the plot and the villain of the first season, Doctor Suresh / The Surgeon. Next session will deal with the fallout of Doctor Suresh’s betrayal and the ongoing search for the missing students. Mostly fallout.

Thanks for reading, everyone. I’ll see you at the next D&D recap! I’m already looking forward to it.

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