D&D The Rise of Tiamat: Season 1 Episode 7

Date of Session: February 18th, 2020 (5:00pm to 10:00pm)

Number of Players: 3

Kai-Ku Midoriya (FIGHTER Human) Level 3
Gundam, Model K (SOLDIER War Forged) Level 3
Killion Gilgamesh (WIZARD Avariel ) Level 3

Series Regulars NPCs:

Principal Kruger (Male Tabaxi, Power: Unknown)
Roshi Nighthill (Chibi Human, Power: Bulk UP)

Recurring Guest Star NPCs:

Professor Stoner Head (Mummy, Combat Teacher, Power: Negation)
Vice Principal Cassidy (Male Aarakocra, Power: Unknown)
Nurse Kissey Kiss (Female Human, Power: Healing Kiss)
Baxter (Female Cow Humanoid, HERO Support Worker)
Gordon the Goblin (HERO Academy’s Custodian)
Gilgamesh (Father of Killion, King of Epic Heroes, Power: Gates of Babylon)
Professor Gear (Robot, Gilgamesh’s Hired Spy, Enemy of K-Krew)
Bran Whitey (Fat Human, Villain Gambler, Owner of Samuel High Flyers)
Twenty the Goblin (Doctor Suresh’s Ex-Minion, K-Krew’s teenager frenemy)
Gen Kai the Masked Fighter (Female human, Pro Hero, Power: Spirit Wave)

New NPCs Introduced:

Superintendent Sayko (Male Human and Owner of HERO Academy)
Toguro (Alleged Male Human, Bran Whitey’s Hired Villain, Power: Muscle Growth)
Bon Bon (Blue-Haired Human Girl, Assistant to Gen Kai)

“The Gen Kai” Arc is getting underway. The players gamble and face serious challenges to earn Gen Kai as a mentor / teacher in order to save HERO Academy from its corruption. It was a lot of fun this particular session because of the gambling that went down. Gundam showed true emotion through Assassins Ante.

Picking up where the last session ended, K-Gundam has NAT 20 convinced Professor Stoner Head that “They Are K-Krew!” Then everyone’s stomachs start to growl. While trying to figure out where to eat, K-Krew decide to visit Spirit World’s Casino for their buffet. Also, they wanted to kill time while waiting for Gen Kai to finish her Pro Hero Shift.

K-Krew started to play the games and loved Assassins Ante. It was their favorite game to play throughout the session. Kai-Ku had bad luck, K-Gundam was addicted, and Killion’s luck went haywire basically the entire time. The Goblin dealer loved playing with them.

After losing the 11,000 Gold Pieces they had hustled from Cowboy Hunter, K-Krew bet their own gold pieces to earn the rest of the money needed to pay off Gen Kai’s 15,000 DEBT. Eventually, Killion was able to use his “Golden Time” ability to win enough cash. They continued to play Assassin Ante a lot more times despite having their main goal achieved.

This was easily the best part of the entire session. Seeing the players gamble their gold pieces was all-around insanity and fun. Gundam finally expressed human emotions. It was a great character moment. Kai-Ku was keeping track of the wins and losses. Killion was resistant to gamble, but he ended up getting into it with his consistent lucky rolls.

After several in-game hours of gambling and winning Assassins Ante, the players run into Gen Kai. She had arrived to Spirit World’s Casino to settle her financial problems with the King of Epic Heroes, Gilgamesh. The story is here: Gen Kai has serious issues gambling and lost a lot of money to Gilgamesh. To pay off the debt, Gilgamesh made Gen Kai work as a Pro Hero in Urameshi City, one of the many places he’s supposed to protect as an Epic Hero.

K-Krew also discover that Gilgamesh has a thing for Gen Kai like Professor Stoner Head, but like the professor, Gen Kai has strong disdain for Gilgamesh and vows to never give into his romantic proposals. Killion reveals his father and mother are not exclusive.

Kai-Ku despised how Gilgamesh treated Gen Kai and challenged the hero on her behalf. Killion and K-Gundam stayed out of this battle. Despite knowing he’ll lose or potentially die, Kai-Ku fought valiantly with his Rusty Sword. The battle ended as soon as it finished when Gilgamesh barraged the young hero with Gates of Babylon. Gilgamesh petted him on the head like a dog, congratulating Kai-Ku for surviving his barrage of weapon arrows.

Gilgamesh declared Gen Kai free of his debt, but he confidant says that she’ll return to him someday. All of Gilgamesh’s treasures return to The King at some point.

Kai-Ku punched Gilgamesh in the face twice. Gilgamesh ate it and simply took the 15,000 he was owed. Gilgamesh and Killion exchanged insults on his way out. Gilgamesh doesn’t seem to care much about his son’s current activities, but he knows Killion will indeed be a great hero someday. K-Krew allowed him to leave because they’re no match for him. YET.

Kai-Ku and Killion promise to beat him someday. K-Gundam goes back to gambling and encounters Bran Whitey on the way. He was the Fat Human that tried to kidnap them in the previous session. He was here gambling and managed to win Professor Stoner Head as a “person prize”. This was an outrage because K-Krew needed their teacher to gamble.

Gen Kai was pissed, too. She wasn’t going to leave no man behind—it violated her morals—and decided to play a Drinking Contest against Bran Whitey. Kai-Ku tried earlier, and it cost him his own life to Bran Whitey, who out drank him. Gen Kai and Bran Whitey drank, with Gen Kai losing early on, but she managed to win the challenge and win back Kai-Ku and Professor Stoner Head. Gen Kai risked her own life and her “Spirit Wave” Technique, an extremely dangerous tactic, but no harm was done.

Bran Whitey was humiliated—and shamed for what his son Samuel would think—by K-Krew, Gen Kai, and Professor Stoner Head. He left Spirit World Casino without making a huge scene alongside the rest of his low-level security guards. NPC character growth is a interesting thing to experience.

Well, after everyone finishes gambling some more, Gen Kai offers to take K-Krew and Professor Stoner Head to a friend’s house. She walks them to a neighborhood house, knocks on the door rudely, and demands “Bon-Bon” allow them inside. For a moment, everyone thought Gen Kai was going to break the front door down.

Before that happens, a blue-haired human girl opens the door. She’s cranky, but she immediately lightens up when she notices it’s Gen Kai. Gen Kai introduces the girl as BON BON, her assistant. Then Gen Kai walks into Bon Bon’s home, and gives K-Krew permission to stay for the night. Bon Bon is cranky about Gen Kai’s behavior, but she doesn’t dare object.

K-Krew also enjoy her delicious NAT 20 sandwiches. Professor Stoner, getting high inside his bandages, sleeps on the couch. Stoner Head wants to forget he was enslaved, and the lost gold pieces he needed for school rent. Killion and Kai-Ku raid Bon Bon’s house for the best beds while Bon Bon prepared to sell the house. She planned to follow Gen Kai to the HERO Academy.

While Killion and Kai-Ku slept during long rest, K-Gundam and Professor Stoner Head decided to go gamble some more. They lost gold pieces quickly and call it a night. The gold pieces Stoner Head needed for rent were won back at least.

The Next Day: Gen Kai instructed K-Krew to pick her up from Spiritual Mountain to test their strength and will as students. It was a simple task rigged with challenges. Killion’s inability to fly—Gen Kai forbid it during the challenges—annoyed him because flying’s cool, but Killion decided he was still the best. Besides, they had no choice but to pick up Gen Kai since she had already left to go there before they woke up.

Bon Bon drives K-Krew—and a still sleeping Professor Stoner Head in the back of the Bus—to Spiritual Mountain. A Huge Brick Gate is standing between K-Krew and their way. It was a heavy-ass door according to K-Gundam, the biggest member of the group. Bon Bon and Professor Stoner Head stay behind because Gen Kai is truly testing the students.

The first test is to Open The Gate. It took the team 3 to 5 tries before they could open the Gate together and jump to the other side. The second test was to survive the walk in the forest, otherwise known as Gen Kai’s front yard. While on the path, they run into an old face: Professor Gear is back in the scene.

Kai-Ku takes him down with his Rusty Sword in a few seconds. Gundam pointed a gun at Professor Gear’s head. They figure out Professor Gear’s spying on Gen Kai for Gilgamesh. After Killion finishes peeing in a tree, K-Krew decided to tie Professor Gear to a tree and continue on their way to Spiritual Mountain. The encounter didn’t go in Professor Gear’s favor.

The Second Test stands in their way: A Wild Owl Bear attacks K-Krew. K-Gundam starts to wrecked by the Owl Bear’s claws, but Killion and Kai-Ku manage to beat the monster into submission. K-Gundam wanted to finish it off for wrecking him, but Kai-Ku didn’t want to kill an animal living in its habitat. They leave the wounded beast alive, passing the test of keeping the monster alive after combat.

The Third Test is to answer a simple ethical question. After they failed two out of three questions, K-Krew get one right and are able to pass through the Cabin without a fight against wolves. This unnamed NPC woman was grateful for K-Krew’s mercy of her Owl Bear. This Third Test was based on Hunter x Hunter’s What-If Question Scenario.

The Final Test was to climb the long stairs to reach Gen Kai’s Temple. Halfway to the top, K-Krew encounter Twenty the Goblin standing in their way. They also realized that they lost track of Twenty the Goblin from the previous session. Twenty explains Gen Kai had hired him to stop K-Krew from reaching Spiritual Mountain. Everyone fights Twenty, so they can win Gen Kai as a teacher.

Twenty takes heavy damage from Killion and K-Gundam from afar while Kai-Ku fights close-range. This is their go to strategy. After the many hits, Twenty starts to transform into a Berserker Goblin. Throughout all their previous battles, K-Krew had no idea this was a thing Twenty could do.

Twenty the Berserker attacks Kai-Ku with Reckless Advantage. Eventually, K-Krew is able to wind him down from the rage with Talk No Jutsu. Kai-Ku and Twenty, down to one HP and rolling Nat 1’s, walk and fall to the top of the stairs together. Killion and K-Gundam’s following close behind, tired out as well. Twenty has earned their friendship at long last.

Gen Kai congratulates K-Krew for passing all four tests and reaching Spiritual Mountain. She is ready to depart with them back to Bubby Island and HERO Academy. However, K-Krew isn’t ready to leave just yet. They have three days left until the weekend hits. They want to do serious three-day training to understand Spiritual Energy. To nail the basics down at least.

Gen Kai agrees to train her students. Of course, this doesn’t come easy. K-Krew must begin with understanding what Spiritual Energy is inside them. They waste about 8 hours in-game trying to bring out their Spiritual Energy. K-Gundam revealed he had greater potential than anyone thought possible (based on their d20 roll). It took the other members of K-Krew to catch up, but they eventually got there.

Day One was dedicated to bringing out their Spiritual Energy and attempting to harness it to balance on a spike without wings. Day Two was dedicated to climbing the mountain in order to reach their physical limits so their spiritual limits could be unlocked. After the climb, K-Krew raced to see who could reach the bottom. A series of bad rolls and a NAT 1 on flying Killion caused the team to crash into each other, ending the race on a tie. Well, Gen Kai technically won with the high knee sprint.

Then day three was about Gambling before they headed back to Bubbly Island and Hero Academy. This was originally meant to test their mental limits, but the fun got the better of K-Krew.

After gambling, K-Krew make a quick stop to Koenma’s Weapon Shop. They ask the Ogre Blacksmith for many items like a Sniper Rifle and elemental bullets (K-Gundam), A Shot Gun (Killion), and an upgrade on Wooden Shield (Kai-Ku). They tried to get more things, but the Ogre Blacksmith was only experienced in medieval weapon upgrades. K-Krew is accepting of this… because they know they can bother Baxter at HERO Support later.

When they had left HERO Academy one week ago, K-Krew had Professor Stoner Head with them. Now going back to HERO Academy, the Bus Plane was filled with Bon Bon, Gen Kai, and Twenty the Goblin. K-Krew tried to kick Twenty off the bus, but he didn’t want to leave his current employment with Gen Kai. A really funny, but valid moment considering Twenty started out as an enemy.

K-Krew and allies were surprised to see Samuel High Flyers, Bran Whitey’s Coliseum Dome in the Sky, floating above Bubby Island. K-Krew wanted to attack first initially but backed down after seeing the dome not attacking whatsoever. In addition, the Dome passed the barrier without conflict. This meant the very least Principal Kruger gave Bran Whitey the access to get past HERO Academy’s defenses.

Once Professor Stoner Head landed the Bus Plane inside the Hangar, they discovered Vice Principal Cassidy there waiting for them. Cassidy is there to bring only K-Krew to Principal Kruger’s office. K-Krew agreed to follow Vice Principal Cassidy and leave the rest of the NPCs behind to have another chat with Principal Kruger.

K-Krew enter Principal Kruger’s office and finds him in a deep conversation with Bran Whitey, the annoying fat human that won’t leave them alone. This time, he brought a powerful man with him. Gundam made a good guess on the name: Toguro.

Bran Whitey hired real muscle after the last few encounters with K-Krew didn’t go in his favor. Plus, he wanted to make sure everything would go smoothly with him buying the whole island and HERO Academy along with it. Toguro was hiding in the shadows until he was needed for the scene. Toguro doesn’t really talk much, but he’s very excited for a good fight.

The exposition: Bran Whitey made a deal with the Superintendent / Owner of HERO Academy Sakyo. Bran Whitey waged 2o million gold pieces, everything he had to his name, that Toguro would defeat K-Krew in a public school match. If Toguro defeated them, Bran Whitey wins the school. If K-Krew wins, Superintendent Sakyo claims the twenty (20) million gold pieces. Superintendent Sakyo told Bran Whitey he agrees to those terms, believing calmly that K-Krew will win the public school fight.

K-Krew interjected into the deal, adding their own terms to the agreement. They wanted Superintendent Sakyo, AFTER they won the fight, to dismantle the Enforcer Class System—Kai-tick Red, XerX Yellow, and Menos Blue—from HERO Academy for good. This was a interesting move that Superintendent Sakyo appreciated. As a result, he added K-Krew’s terms if they win. This means the extra 20 million will be used to restart HERO Academy with improved teachers, equipment, faculties, and a regular class system like freshmen, sophomore, junior, senior type system.

In addition, Gen Kai will be promoted to Principal of HERO Academy with Principal Kruger’s negligence being called into question.

With the stakes higher than ever going into the last hour of the session, the excitement was tense. K-Krew decided to figure out a game plan to win against Toguro. They talked about doing the usual: Kai-Ku running ahead while Killion and K-Gundam attack from a far. This method has not really failed them yet.

They decide to go to Baxter next, realizing that adding traps (land mines) to their game plan might work in their favor. When they visit Baxter, they find her injured and left for dead in her workshop. A note was attached to her chest: “See you soon, Toguro.”

K-Krew became angry that Toguro would do this to their friend and only source of HERO Support. They scrambled to Nurse Kissey Kiss’s office to heal Baxter. Killion used Cure of Wounds to keep her stabilized. Nurse Kissey Kiss was happy to see K-Krew not wounded for once. K-Krew was glad for that too. Character development was amazing throughout this session.

Baxter was happy to see K-Krew saving her and gave them the location of the land mines to use against Toguro. She wasn’t in a good condition to work more for them, given what Toguro did to her hands (brutalized and unusable until Nurse Kissey Kiss’s power kicked in). The severe damage will take longer to fully heal. K-Krew hated Toguro for assaulting their friend’s dream.

K-Krew prepared to go to the fighting arena early to plant the mines. They arrive at the arena to find Toguro and Bran Whitey already there. The nerve of them to come earlier like them. Killion used his Familiar Owl—Enkidu—to plant a landmine without Toguro or Bran Whitey noticing. The roll allows the attempt to succeed.

During the smack talk between K-Krew, Bran Whitey, and Toguro, Gordon the Goblin arrives to mop the fighting arena before the public school fight. K-Krew tried to alert Gordon about the land mines, but they couldn’t hide it from Toguro’s NAT 20. To save face, Kai-Ku threw his boomerang at the landmine to create a Power Rangers moment with epic explosion pose. Toguro is impressed and grows more excited to battle kids.

K-Krew decide to wait to use their landmine during the public school fight. They were planning out when and how to use it to their advantage against the body builder man. That’s what they did before the public school fight would begin.

Most of the student body was sitting in the bleachers, watching the Public School Fight. They knew what was at stake. Even Roshi made a cameo in the crowd cheering them on. K-Krew acknowledged their friend and had their “Suit Up” Hero moment as well.

Kai-Ku charged at Toguro first, Killion summoned a familiar Enkidu to plant a landmine, and K-Gundam shot Fire Bullets at Toguro from a safer distance. Toguro also stepped on the landmine during this cool team-up move. He was impressed and ate the attacks like a hot shower.

Toguro took his shirt off anime-style and declared, “20% should do the trick.” Then, his muscles grew and so did his Spiritual Energy. Kai-Ku blocked Toguro’s punches with his new shield, but then a Earthquake stomp knocked the young hero prone.

Toguro chose to stomp on Kai-Ku’s chest in order to keep him down.

Kai-Ku managed to stab Toguro in the leg and crawled away to K-Gundam’s side. K-Gundam had just fixed his jammed sniper rifle from a NAT 1 earlier. He bombarded Toguro with more fire bullets, but that didn’t stop Toguro from going after Killion. It made Killion prepare his shot gun with an Earth elemental bullet, using his reaction / opportunity attack to stop Toguro. The NAT 20 was enough to put a hollowed hole in Toguro’s chest. The whole school cheered for K-Krew’s insane victory!

The players were unsure how to feel about killing Toguro, and each player checked their enemy’s pulse. As far as they knew based on their rolls, they didn’t feel his pulse. K-Krew had grown respect for Toguro’s honor and honesty. Superintendent Sakyo gave praise to K-Krew for their efforts and requested a word with them in Principal… Gen Kai’s office.

They agreed to meet with the Superintendent Sakyo to discuss the new changes that will be happening to HERO Academy.

K-Krew also witnessed Bran Whitey going crazy over losing 20 million gold pieces. They asked Nurse Kissey Kiss to make sure he was okay. She agreed and went after him. Bran Whitey was likely finished after this life-shattering loss. He had no gold pieces—or any kind of money—left to his name.

Afterwards, K-Krew walked to Principal Gen Kai’s office to speak to Superintendent Sakyo alone. He was smoking a cigar while telling them the truth about the Public School Fight. He had rigged the whole match in his favor, scamming Bran Whitey out of everything he had owned. Superintendent Sakyo was not happy with how Principal Kruger was leading the school, having learned about all the unethical activities that have conspired since the first semester began.

Superintendent Sakyo also revealed Toguro was not dead. He was alive and faked his death, killing his heartbeat, in order to scam Bran Whitey. Toguro was really working under Superintendent Sakyo’s command, his real client. Toguro is an undercover Pro Hero who regularly pretends to be a villain. Like undercover police but superheroes.

K-Krew is happy to hear Toguro isn’t dead, declaring that they’ll defeat him on their own someday. Toguro is looking forward to it, speaking to the players through the television.

Superintendent Sakyo promises all the school changes will begin immediately tonight (Friday) and throughout the weekend before Week 3 Classes start on Monday. The next mission: study for final exams, which means to prepare for Mid-Term Exams coming up soon.

The session ends with K-Krew going to the library to study during the weekend.

All of us had crazy fun throughout this session. I believe this was one of our best sessions yet. There was good role-playing, action-packed fight scenes, plot progression, and trials that made the players think. They also got to spend their hard earned gold pieces. There was a good payoff.

I’m looking forward to see what we do in the next session. K-Krew have reached level 4!

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