Dungeons and Dragons ("DnD"): The Rise of Tiamat: Season 4 Episode 28 Adventure #60
Date of Session: August 13, 2020 (5:00 pm to 8:00 pm)
Number of Players: 3
1. Eira (Male Variant Human, BARD) Level 6
2. Digit (Male Dragon-Born Cleric) Level 6
3. Chibi (Male Feline Paladin) Level 6
Series Regular NPCs:
1. Mas O (Male Dragon-born, Menos’ older brother, former teacher and current Head of Menos Investigations)
2. Kya Charisma (Female Human, Menos Investigations’ Secretary)
New NPCs Introduced:
1. Gobby (Female Goblin, Menos Investigations’ First Client, Actress)
2. Gabby (Female Goblin, Gobby’s Twin Sister, Actress)
3. Baldy (Male Human, Gobby’s Agent)
4. Unnamed Waitress (Female Human, waited on the players)
5. Three Unnamed Guards (Male Human, guarded a restaurant’s sidewalk)
6. The Penguins (Got-Ham’s Low-Level Gangsters)
Welcome to our Dungeons & Dragons’ season 4 premiere / soft reboot on the campaign. I use soft reboot loosely because we are changing the story a bit with new characters, but the old characters—Killion, WIFI, Gundam, and maybe Kai-Ku(?)—were given an open-ended exit, so the players can return to that storyline whenever they want.
With these newest characters, I decided to go smaller in terms of storytelling, putting everyone on street-level heroism rather than multiverse travels. Doing the campaign on the smaller scale also allows the players to explore their characters more in one setting: The City of Got-Ham, one of the most corrupt—but also silliest cities—in the multiverse.
The story begins in a tavern. Mas O—after his escape from Ninth Hell at the end of season 3—has decided to recruit heroes for the upcoming war against Tiamat, who is preparing for her return from Ninth Hell as well. Mas O founded Menos Investigations in response to a law firm known as Wolfram Hart, a corporation that had taken his Dragon Egg—one of the nine “keys” needed to release Tiamat—through legality during his absence. As a result, Mas O hired new heroes for his new detective hero business.
Eira is a BARD trying to become a famous musician hero. Digit is a CLERIC trying to become a hero. Chibi is a PALADIN trying to prove himself despite his short cat-like figure. They look up to the Great Menos—at least, Eira does—and want to make names for themselves in the Pro Hero business. They also decided to save Got-Ham from the corruption, poverty, and high crime rate plaguing it.
Their first case at Menos Investigations was from a woman named Gobby, whose sister went missing. Her sister was one of many women who’ve been disappearing at Got-Ham’s monthly Actress Parties.
An emergency party was being held the following night to discuss the women’s disappearances, so Gobby believed the kidnapper might strike again. The players took on the case for 30,000 Gold Pieces. Each player would take 10,000 Gold Pieces upon completing their first job. Mas O provided the players with a rundown hotel to run the operations from, telling them that they will need to use their own money to decorate the place once they get more cases. Basically, this campaign has an Animal Crossing economy.
The players escorted Gobby to the party, but they took a detour to a clothing store for some fancy clothing. They got into a fight with guards at Gobby’s dinner too, but they learned the kidnapper ran a website on the Dark Web, calling himself The Senior Partner. He was selling the kidnapped women’s photos, showing only their wounds (photos of only the wounded legs, arms, chest, back, etc.). Gobby recognized her sister’s photos and begged the players to save her.
Next, the players searched the photos down to a warehouse downtown. They discovered the Penguins—a local gang for hire—were guarding the kidnapped women on behalf of the Senior Partner. They decided to use Charisma, hoping the Penguins will think Eira is the Senior Partner. Eira loved using Charisma, but his rolls hadn’t been so lucky during this session. He tried to seduce Kya earlier, but he failed to do so, but this time he managed to trick the Penguins into giving them the women.
They also discovered that Gobby was a fantastic driver—NAT 20—when she was driving everyone out of the warehouse. There was a battle—gunfire barrage—but the players saved all the women in the end. Also, the players convinced the Penguins to work for Menos Investigations as bodyguards for their rundown hotel.
Mas O will figure out the money later for them and everyone else. Eira also expressed interest in gaining lawyer knowledge somehow, due to Mas O’s upcoming law case against Wolfram Hart. He didn’t know what Wolfram Hart had planned with his Dragon Egg, but the danger of them possessing it was far too great. The trial will take place in three months, so in the meantime, they will continue to take on cases and build Menos Investigations’ reputation.
The stage had been set for this campaign’s soft reboot on The Rise of Tiamat. Thanks for reading this session / episode recap, everyone. I hope you’ve all been enjoying the story so far. I’ll see you all next time in the next episode of D&D.