D&D The Rise of Tiamat: Season 1 Episode 5

Date of Session: February 11th, 2020 (5:00pm to 9:30pm)

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

Recurring Guest Star NPCs:

Nurse Kissey Kiss (Female Human, Power: Healing Kiss)
Principal Kruger (Male Tabaxi, Power: Unknown)
Officer Parkman (Male Bug Bear, Head of Security, Power: Telepathy)
Roshi Nighthill (Male Chibi Human, Kai-tick Red Student, Power: Bulk Up)
Jessica Chang (Female Human, Kai-tick Red Student)
Tyler Tatum (Blind Human, Kai-tick Red Student)
Trudy Overlord (Female Human-Dragon Hybrid, Menos Blue Student, Power: Split)
Marvelous (Male Human, Menos Blue Student, Power: Copy)
Shane Offender (Male Human, XerX Yellow Student) + unnamed friends
Emma #2 (Female Human, Missing Kai-tick Red Student, Power: Clairvoyant)
Spook (Disfigured Human, XerX Yellow Student, Power: Teleportation)
Baxter (Female Cow Humanoid, HERO SUPPORT)
Professor Mas O (Male Dragon-born, Homeroom Teacher, Former Villain)
Professor Mirna (Immortal Human, History Teacher, Power: Regeneration)
Professor Stoner Head (Mummy, Combat Teacher, Power: Negation)
Nat 20 Goblin (The Surgeon’s Minion)
Doctor Petrelli (Human Scientist, Fake Surgeon, Swordsman with a limp)
Doctor Suresh (Human Wizard, The Surgeon / Season One BBEG, Power: Telekinesis)

New NPCs Introduced:

Brandon (Male Doppelganger, Missing Kai-tick Red Student, Power: Shape-Shift)
Regina (Female Half-Elf, Missing Kai-tick Red Student, Power: Phase)
Jaime (Female Half-Elf, Missing Kai-tick Red Student, Power: Muscle Mimicry)
Gilgamesh (Killion’s Father, King of Epic Heroes, Power: Gates of Babylon)
Great Demon, Lian Yu (Daughter of Dragon Queen Tiamat, Doctor Suresh’s Master)

My DnD The Rise of Tiamat’s Season One is at the halfway point. I conceived a 10-episode plan, but that might change. Being a Dungeon Master, I already expect my plans to not go my way. So, it was surprising that last session, I did what I planned without forcing it onto the other players. In fact, they seemed encouraged and that’s awesome. Honestly, last session was really fun and impactful to the story we’re creating together.

The last session focused on K-Krew saving the last of the missing students, Doctor Suresh’s escape, and Killion’s unexpected resurrection. All this happened during the weekend after first week of classes. They’re going to have a rough semester, alright.

This session will dive into The Surgeon’s (Doctor Suresh) true intentions and the end of his five-episode arc. The next arc is also set up towards the end of the session. Season 1 will end with the next arc. I’ll get into that more at the end of the recap.

K-Krew started where we left off from the previous session. K-Krew + Roshi + Marvelous + Trudy have saved the three missing students from Doctor Suresh. Killion was resurrected, and he was freaking out about being dead. The missing students were unconscious. NPC group escorts the missing students back to the Nurse Kissey Kiss while K-Krew goes after Doctor Suresh. To end this once and for all.

Back to the Kai-tick Red Dorms. Where it all indirectly began.

Then they notice a green magical circle above Bubby Island. The barrier has been placed over HERO Academy. K-Krew continue onward, definitely confirming that Doctor Suresh hasn’t left the island. Kai-Ku goes first, and tells the others that it’s safe to get closer. The rest of K-Krew follows and reenter their first home.

Doctor Suresh’s Office Home was the same as they left it. Except for the computer being on. K-Gundam went to check it out first and after failing to get the password right three times, Kai-Ku smashed the screen with his Rusty Sword. Then they put the parts in their bag of holding. Killion raided Doctor Suresh’s fridge during all that.

K-Gundam searched Doctor Suresh’s bookshelf next. Eventually, K-Gundam grabbed the right book and discovered a secret passageway. K-Krew goes down there, dodging a NAT 20 Landmine, and successfully get to the cavern-like basement area. They discover dead bodies without their brains, and the Limping Fake Surgeon. K-Krew attacks the man and easily disarm him. K-Gundam literally chops his hand off using his new Gun Blade.

Lowering their guard, K-Krew discusses what to do with him next.

Limping Fake Surgeon activates a trigger to trap them in the room. Since the walls have blocked all airways, they’ll eventually suffocate. After failing to lift a wall up, everybody attacks the Surgeon and take his trigger button. They lift the walls up and escape. They debate whether to keep him trapped or not. Limping Fake Surgeon declares himself as “Doctor Petrelli!” before K-Krew leaves the cavern basement.

Kai-Ku leaves him a potion of healing. That was very nice of him.

K-Krew head to Nurse Kissey Kiss next, learning from Doctor Petrelli that Doctor Suresh is going after the missing students again. They arrive at Nurse Kissey Kiss and find pure horror. Blood everywhere. Emma #2 dead in her bed. Kai-Ku pukes. Nurse Kissey Kiss is pinned to the ceiling with a slashed stomach. With teamwork, K-Krew get Nurse Kissey Kiss down and healed enough to speak.

Nurse Kissey Kiss tells K-Krew Doctor Suresh kidnapped all the students, including Roshi + Trudy + Marvelous. She tells them that they’re on the other island with Mas O. Also, an unimaginable darkness will soon be unleashed. The Seal hanging over Bubby Island is called The Seal of Lian Yu. Once that name is uttered, a bright angelic woman appears: the Great Hathor, the Deity behind the Enforcers. She has made her return.

Hathor warns K-Krew about the Great Demon, Lian Yu and her return from Ninth Hell. Hathor also reveals Doctor Suresh’s endgame: he plans to sacrifice his body to Lian Yu, then Doctor Suresh will resurrect himself through the missing students he kidnapped.

Killion reminds Kai-Ku to choke him out if anything happens… like if Doctor Suresh tries to take over Killion’s mind. Kai-Ku agrees, and shows K-Gundam how to choke someone without killing. K-Krew is in agreement with the backup plan to stop Doctor Suresh and whatever body he ends up in.

Before leaving Bubby Island, Hathor gifts Kai-Ku with secret PC background knowledge, a durable but edible leaf, and believes they are the only chance the world has right now, considering all the other Pro Heroes aren’t able to even enter Bubby Island or get to the other island in time.

K-Krew agree to do their best to stop Doctor Suresh, but they don’t think they can save the world on their own. Hathor agrees and tells Killion that his Father is coming. With that, she disappears. Once that happens, Gilgamesh, the King of Epic Heroes, appears with a Golden Fighter Jet. A swarm of Wyverns attack Gilgamesh, but he kills them all using his Gates of Babylon. Gilgamesh also destroys the Seal of Lian Yu temporarily in order to enter Bubby Island.

Gilgamesh declares himself and prepares to unleash his “Sword of Arrows” on Bubbly Island, believing the school has failed his son. K-Krew realizes Gilgamesh will destroy them all and convince him that Killion is still alive. Gilgamesh believes the mongrels, lowering his limitless weapons. Gilgamesh shattered Nurse Kissey Kiss’s large office windows to enter the scene. Killion and Gilgamesh start talking smack to each other.

Kai-Ku is confused about Gilgamesh’s immense strength and epic hero status because it doesn’t match his arrogant / prideful behavior. Gilgamesh thought Killion was dead due to the lost connection when he did die last session. He was on his way to Bubby Island to punish the ones who were sensed in his Treasury Dimension. K-Krew want Gilgamesh to help them save the world from Great Demon, Lian Yu. Gilgamesh agrees to drop the kids off at the other Island as long as he gets to punish the man who killed his son, Killion. An agreement was reached.

K-Krew hops on Gilgamesh’s Golden Jet. They fly off to the other island, attacking the swarms of Wyverns and meeting another Jet in the skies. K-Krew recognizes the pilot: NAT 20 Goblin has returned and glares at K-Gundam in an anime show-off fashion. It pissed Gilgamesh off, and he focuses everything into taking the Jet down. K-Krew get thrown off the Jet and onto the Second Island, not wanting to get involved.

Kai-Ku falls in the water. K-Gundam lands on the Second Island. Killion flies and goes save Kai-Ku from drowning. All the players are now on Second Island, ready to rescue their classmates and Homeroom Teacher from the End of the World. K-Krew run into forest terrain and discover Professor… STONER HEAD?

Professor Stoner Head had already captured Doctor Suresh using his power of negation to block The Surgeon’s Wizard abilities. There will be no Fireballs or magic incantations. K-Krew remove Doctor Suresh’s mouth gag and demand to know where everyone is. He merely tells them that everyone is at the Temple. Professor Stoner Head encourages K-Krew to keep going, but he’ll stay with Doctor Suresh and keep him contained. Another agreement has been reached.

K-Krew continue onward to The Temple and vow to save everyone at the temple, not willing to lose anyone else to Doctor Suresh’s madness. They rush through a hallway recklessly. A huge block boulder comes crashing down, and threatens to crush them. When they fail Dexterity saving throws, they use Strength checks to catch the block together. They are successful and try again to escape without getting crushed. Their checks are successful… except K-Gundam. His robotic leg was crushed.

The first minute of Yu Yu Hakusho Episode 15 was the boulder scenario.

Kai-Ku lifted the boulder off enough so Killion could pull K-Gundam out. Then Killion used Cure Wounds to restore the damage. There are still creaks, but K-Gundam is still able to move fine. They recompose themselves and encounter… DOCTOR SURESH?

They soon realize it’s Brandon, a missing student and male doppelganger. He has been possessed by a Doctor Suresh Virus and used Brandon’s shape-shifting power to appear in the form of Doctor Suresh. Kai-Ku thinks he doesn’t know Fireball and charges ahead. Then Kai-Ku takes a Fireball to the face. Despite having only 2 HP left after that Fireball, Kai-Ku still fights. K-Gundam and Killion join in the battle from afar. K-Gundam NAT 20 Doctor Suresh—Brandon—in the head, ending the threat.

K-Krew believed there was no saving Brandon now. The door he was safeguarding opened, allowing them to continue ahead. K-Krew hated that they couldn’t rescue everyone. They reach the next hallway that’s split into three rooms, but they won’t separate the party. They take the middle pathway and encounter another missing student named Jaime, a female half-elf.

Doctor Suresh Virus has taken over her body too. He wants to take over Killion’s body to gain access to Gilgamesh’s Gates of Babylon and pulls a gun to Jaime’s head. Kai-Ku and K-Gundam manage to stop Doctor Suresh Virus from offing another body. Killion thinks carrying this Virus in his brain is super dangerous. Kai-Ku gets some rope from their bag of holding and captures Doctor Suresh Virus Jaime.

Since they didn’t kill Jaime, the doors won’t open. K-Gundam discovers a weak point in the wall. K-Gundam, Killion, and Kai-Ku combine their attacks to destroy the wall. The whole thing collapses, and they find Regina on the other side. She’s sitting on the floor, but she won’t move away from the last door. Regina, the last missing student, warns K-Krew that she’s sitting on a landmine that will blow if she gets up.

K-Krew devise a plan, but they need to find everyone else first (Roshi, Trudy, Marvelous, and Mas O). K-Gundam and Kai-Ku strength check the last door to open it up. Once the doors are opened enough, they see Mas O on the other side. He’s being controlled by a Doctor Suresh and making the Homeroom Teacher keep Roshi and Marvelous hostage.

Trudy is nowhere to be found. Kai-Ku strength checks Mas O and wants him to fight Doctor Suresh’s influence. Mas O begs his students to escape while he fights Suresh mentally. Kai-Ku frees Roshi first, and helps his friend get the hell out. K-Gundam is rolling high and grabs Marvelous next. Killion stays behind to help Regina and save themselves from the triggered explosion.

Five minutes later… Kai-Ku, K-Gundam, Roshi + Marvelous, and Doctor Suresh Virus Jaime are outside the Temple, waiting for it to explode. Killion opens a portal to get Regina and himself to safety. Regina tries to steal gold pieces, but Killion stops it.

The temple explodes with Mas O and maybe Trudy inside. Kai-Ku miscounted during the rescue and forgot about Trudy until it was too late. Mas O survived the explosion because he was technically an Undead Dragon-born Servant. There were no other remains found.

Doctor Suresh Virus Jaime laughs at everyone. Professor Stoner Head, with the Original Doctor Suresh in tow, catches up with the group. K-Krew catch Professor Stoner Head up to speed, but then Gilgamesh arrives. Gilgamesh is itching to eliminate Original Doctor Suresh for disgracing his bloodline and killing his son. No matter what they tried to do, there was no changing the King of Epic Heroes’ mind.

Gilgamesh executed Doctor Suresh with his barrage of swords. While Gilgamesh’s attack avenged Killion’s first death, it also triggered the big sacrifice made to the Great Demon, Lian Yu. Doctor Suresh’s body was encased in a pillar of light, impenetrable, and taken to the skies.

“The Great Demon, Lian Yu was being resurrected!” - said Doctor Suresh Virus Jaime.

Doctor Suresh’s endgame was to sacrifice himself to the Great Demon, Lian Yu. To cheat mortal death though, he created the Viruses so he could keep serving Lian Yu through a series of bodies known as his “Horsemen”. Doctor Suresh was officially insane for having this plan work. However, the Great Demon, Lian Yu didn’t appear in front of K-Krew. The swarm of Wyverns instead separated and dispersed in seven different directions, giving light back to the sky.

Everyone hurries back to HERO Academy, not trusting the beautiful sunshine. Spook arrives and teleports everyone back the Bubby Island. Principal Kruger is updated on everything that happened and shows K-Krew the events of the outside world. Swarm Wyverns are attacking all over the planet, including Gilgamesh’s and Killion’s home.

Killion calls Gilgamesh to figure out their next course of action. Gilgamesh wants the Great Demon, Lian Yu to get shoved back where she came from. He promises them a future at his Agency if they complete this assignment for him. Killion and Gilgamesh argue for a couple minutes before ending the phone call.

Kai-Ku remembered about Future Spook’s envelope and decided to finally open the message. They saw a projected Future Spook from the message, as he warned them about Great Demon, Lian Yu. The message was to stop the rise of the Tiamat’s child, which they already failed to do.

However, Future Spook gave K-Krew hope by saying K-Krew will definitely need Professor Mas O. Future Spook reminded them that—like Great Demon, Lian Yu—Professor Mas O was also imprisoned in Ninth Hell for centuries. This provided them a clue on how to win against Great Demon, Lian Yu, but it didn’t provide them with her current whereabouts.

K-Krew are at lost on what to do. So, they decide to hit the library for clues and later HERO Support for… well, support from Baxter. First the library. They history check a couple books until Kai-Ku hits the NAT 20, learning there’s only one sure way to stop Great Demon, Lian Yu is to “Go back to the Beginning”.

This meant K-Krew had to take her back to Ninth Hell. Once they figured that out, K-Krew went to Baxter for HERO Support. K-Gundam needed to buy ammunition for his firearms, and they also got new weapons to prepare for the final battle.

Kai-Ku was given a Cyclone Boomerang with “Dispel Magic” attached to it.
Killion was given Gauntlets of Ogre Strength that gave him 19 STR.
K-Gundam was given Adamant Armor that didn’t allow NAT 20 strikes.

They were excited to use them out against Great Demon, Lian Yu. However, they realized they needed to finish Doctor Suresh off first. Once and for all. They killed the ones inside Regina and Jaime first before fighting the Doctor Suresh Virus inside Killion with Officer Parkman’s telepathic help. Once Doctor Suresh was eliminated for good, K-Krew decides going to Ninth Hell was the only course of action. Killion wasn’t looking forward to dying again.

Professor Mas O agrees to guide them back because he was a prisoner down in Ninth Hell once before. He knows the area quite well, but it was a risk to him going back, as Professor Mas O could get trapped down there. It was a risk he was willing to take for them. K-Krew + Professor Mas O call Spook for a teleportation assist. Spook gives the team a good luck afterwards and teleports out of the Second Island.

K-Krew and Professor Mas O check out where the Temple used to be and discover a portal into Ninth Hell. They take a deeper look inside, and see all the Swarms of Wyverns flying out to different portals. The Great Demon, Lian Yu was coordinating her attacks from the safety of her former prison. K-Krew and Professor Mas O jump into the portal and appear at the surface level of Ninth Hell. The climatic battle was about to begin.

Kai-Ku was prepared for Ninth Hell’s fiery terrain and likely techniques like Fireball, having fire resistance added to his superhero costume. Killion and K-Gundam liked attacking from a safer distance using Wand of Magic Missiles and Laser Chain Gun.

Kai-Ku was fighting Lian Yu up close. Professor Mas O was immediately restrained with Ninth Hell trying to put him back in his prison. The Great Demon, Lian Yu knocked Kai-Ku unconscious and attacked Killion with a Hell Chain. K-Gundam prayed he would be spared. The players were at the edge of their seats until Professor Mas O freed himself and grabbed Great Demon, Lian Yu. This action gave K-Krew the chance to escape and stop the End of the World. However, this would mean Professor Mas O was going back into Ninth Hell as a prisoner once again with Great Demon, Lian Yu for company.

K-Krew deemed Professor Mas O a true hero and used his sacrifice to escape Ninth Hell as the Swarms are being pulled back as well. The portal closes behind them, and Mas O bids his students farewell until next time. K-Krew promises Professor Mas O that they’ll find a way to get him out someday.

Doctor Suresh and his Great Demon, Lian Yu are officially defeated. “The Surgeon Arc” has concluded. The session continues however for one more hour! The next part is the aftermath of the arc ending and the set-up of the next arc. This Dungeon Master came prepared.

K-Krew reunited with Spook and told him the news about Professor Mas O. They also told Trudy, who was LOST on The Island the whole time. More on that later. The students were devastated but happy that he went out like a real hero. Like his younger brother, Menos. I didn’t know he was going to do that until it happened. What a genuine moment that will be cherished and remembered.

Spook took everyone back to Menos Blue. K-Krew called it a day.

The next morning, they all went out for a jog before morning class. They notice all the students hanging out and walking to class like the end of the world wasn’t happening during the weekend. Somehow, Principal Kruger appeared jogging next to them. The Tabaxi informed K-Krew on the current predicament. He used the “forget me” flowers and put them into the school’s most popular coffee cart.

Principal Kruger explained that everyone’s memories of the experience with Doctor Suresh and Great Demon, Lian Yu had to be erased in order to keep the news of this Apocalypse to a minimum. Principal Kruger wanted to protect the students and the school’s reputation. He also expressed his condolences regarding Professor Mas O’s sacrifice and felt guilty that the flowers will erase the fallen hero from everyone too.

The team is heartbroken about this revelation, but they’re happy that the NPCs who matter will at least remember Professor Mas O’s heroic sacrifice. K-Krew learned the harsh realness behind heroes: “You save as many people as you can. Sometimes that doesn’t mean everyone.”

K-Krew declared that making everyone forget was sketchy, but they did understand the dangers of knowing about “The Rise of Tiamat”, the very last thing Great Demon, Lian Yu had uttered to K-Krew.

Principal Kruger promised to restore the students’ memories when the time was right using Officer Parkman’s telepathic abilities. K-Krew thought it was sketchy, but they’re choosing to trust the faculty who hadn’t actually betrayed them this week. What a rap sheet with lost professors: Professor Gear in episode 1, Doctor Suresh in episode 3, and Professor Mas O in episode 5 (now).

Principal Kruger also gives them a 100 gold pieces each and a week off classes for saving the world. They’re actually happy and move the story along. Killion finds out Gilgamesh had cut him off financially too. But he still has access to his weapons at least.

K-Krew jog away from Principal Kruger after their conversation ends. K-Krew decide to go to Homeroom and found that it was cancelled already. The students were also given free coffee, gradually forgetting Professor Mas O as they drank and walked out. This gives the team some extra time to hang out with Baxter at HERO Support. K-Gundam went earlier hoping to get another Gun Blade and maybe a part-time job to earn more money. Kai-Ku and Killion also join in on that idea.

Sometime during the Baxter scene, K-Krew witness Doctor Petrelli get handcuffed and arrested, and he was turned into the authorities for his involvement in Doctor Suresh’s Endgame: Helping The Surgeon resurrect Great Demon, Lian Yu from Ninth Hell and experimenting on the missing students underneath Kai-tick Red Dorms. I’m happy at least one NPC villain is going away for this horrific endeavor.

Baxter decides to have the team start their jobs next week. She was informed that they would taking a week off and going on a mission to find their new homeroom teacher / adviser. Principal Kruger has assigned K-Krew the task of retrieving a Pro Hero named GEN KAI to take over Professor Mas O’s classes and Kai-tick Red Adviser. She is a rough person who had already rejected the offer from Principal Kruger.

Principal Kruger promises to disclose the information on GEN KAI prior to their departure, but he thinks this is a good opportunity for K-Krew in order to regain confidence in teachers. They agree once they hear there will be gold pieces and adventure involved. The week off classes is starting to look even better.

K-Krew spend the rest of the school day training Spook in swords, salvaging usable plane pieces from the Second Island, and playing “Save The Citizen” in Professor Stoner Head’s Combat Class with XerX Yellow Shane and his friends. The session ended rather light as the next arc with GEN KAI is starting next session.

Episode 6, next week’s session, will begin anew for K-Krew. Their epic adventures are just getting started. Thanks for reading until the end. I’ll see y’all next time!

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