D&D The Rise of Tiamat: Season 2 Episode 3

Date of Session: March 23, 2020 (5:00 pm to 10:00 pm)

Number of Players: 3

Kai-Ku Midoriya (FIGHTER Human, Kai-tick’s Vessel) Level 5
Gundam, Model K (SOLDIER War Forged) Level 5
Killion Gilgamesh (WIZARD Avariel ) Level 5

Series Regular NPCs:

Roshi Nighthill (K-Krew’s Friend, H.A. Student, Power: BULK UP)

Recurring Guest Star NPCs:

Toguro (Male Human-Demon, Undercover PRO Hero, Power: Muscles)
Vlad (Ancient Male Vampire, Spirit Possessing Roshi Nighthill’s Body)
Unnamed Weapon Smith (Male Ogre, small owner of a weapon store)
Bran Whitey (Fat Human, Manager of Team Surgeon, K-Krew’s enemy)
Team Surgeon (Doctor Suresh’s leftover experiments)
1. Orange-haired Kid in Jeans (Male Human, Power: Angel Blades)
2. Shirtless Dude (Male Human, Power: Grizzly Claw)
3. Old Guy In School Uniform (Male Human, Power: Invisible Slash)
Team Seven
1. Lord Wit (Teenage Aarakocra, Huevos Black’s Cloned Son, Power: Unknown)
2. Zaddy Zoomer (Speed Demon on Drugs, Power: Demonic Speed)
3. Translucent (Invisible Human Being, Power: Invisibility / Invulnerability)

The “Undercover Internship” Arc is really dark. The first two sessions—episodes—into the new season have been filled with insanity. The players adjust quickly to chaos and mayhem. The temporary departure from HERO Academy setting and the classmates / teachers have been interesting. In the sense that no matter what happens, the players have a home they can return to. I might have to re-title the “Undercover Internship” an epic SAGA based on what’s going on.

This third session concluded a three-part subplot involving Vlad the Vampire. He was a random NPC I created after Icky Vicky’s demise to give the players that unexpected plot twist. Since then, he’s become D-Crew’s unofficial arch-nemesis. Roshi was plot deviced throughout the whole subplot, including this session, but Toguro promised to cover the therapy sessions he’ll be getting after this SAGA is over.

After the players gambled and took a long rest, Dragoon (Gundam) decided to head out to fight villains. He found Roshi Nighthill being possessed and beating up bandits in an alleyway. Vlad returned through body possession, having fed Roshi a part of his essence. Vlad awakened in Roshi after his misty demise in the cave. Vlad attacked the bandits for practice. Dragoon still didn’t want to fight alone and left to warn D-Crew. Vlad promised vengeance on them all.

Side note: Raiden won so many Gold Pieces in the casino during this session. The players are officially addicted to the Casino.

Dragoon told Monster (Kai-Ku) and Raiden (Killion) that Vlad was back and in possession of Roshi’s body. They considered killing Roshi and Vlad out right, but Toguro advised that they reconsider all the options. I found a weird way to make Toguro the voice of reason in this story. Toguro mentioned a cleric that could perform this exorcism on Roshi Nighthill to extract Vlad and place him inside a prison—a glass bottle was the item they selected.

Dragoon also got some clean shots on Roshi Nighthill, paying him back for the ass-kicking he got from the previous session. Vlad Roshi wasn’t as strong, but he was in possession of Roshi Nighthill, and D-Crew sort-of cares about him the most. Out of everyone introduced so far, he’s the favorite, but he doesn’t get special treatment.

Except with exorcisms, they chose to save him over killing him. Vlad’s remaining essence is stuck in the bottle and has no way of getting out at the moment.

I thought this was a nice way to keep Vlad trapped with a potential return. After all, things break all the time in Dungeons & Dragons. The exorcism was a successful task. However, Roshi Nighthill needed severe treatment. He suffered memory loss, not a single experience in Baldur’s Gate was retained. Poor Roshi. He wasn’t ready for the second season’s dark shift in tone. This season has been very dark. Toguro promised insurance and therapy after this “Undercover Internship” SAGA is over.

Vlad was in a bottle. This happened in the first part of the session, but the players took care of it rather quickly. I enjoyed how this subplot concluded… for the time being. The “Vlad in the bottle” resurfaced later in the session, but I’ll wait to explain after the next part coming up: the final preliminary match against Team Surgeon.

If Team D-Crew defeat Team Surgeon, they will gain 300 points to their current 400 points. They need to collect 700 points to qualify for the Primary Rounds of Baldur’s Tournament. Only the Top 16 ranked teams (C-class or lower) can enter, where Team Seven are undefeated the champions. They displayed subtle fear of Team Seven and made future plans to stop them. D-Crew was the most worried about Zaddy Zoomer.

Zaddy Zoomer is a malicious speedster (ripped off The Flash’s Zoom) with a need for speed. D-Crew quickly figured out he was a drug-addict and needed serums to keep juiced-up. The blue lightning is a result of the drug’s side-effects. They also thought Translucent was the weakest member of the team. D-Crew also discovered they had seven members total, and that only three out of seven were in this tournament.

The plot’s momentum with this information skyrocketed. Basically, D-Crew preferred to battle Translucent in the tournament and someone stronger from Team Seven. This was another interesting thing going on in this campaign. There are a lot of things happening in season two. Things have escalated very quickly.

Let’s bump the brakes on Team Seven exposition, and refocus on what actually happened next in the session. All that exposition made this next fight so much more impactful. The leftover experiments of Doctor Suresh (the BBEG of season one) have entered the rounds because Bran Whitey wanted revenge on K-Krew and needed to test them out in Baldur’s Tournament to see how powerful they are.

Bran Whitey doesn’t know D-Crew and K-Krew are one and the same. Bran Whitey has gone into full insane mode at this point in the campaign. He first appeared as a crying father of Samuel, Doctor Suresh’s first victim during “The Surgeon” Arc. Then, the man decided he wanted to enslave K-Krew and buy the whole school for revenge and hired Toguro, a Public Upper B-Class Villain to get the job done. I’m explaining Bran Whitey because this will be his final appearance in the campaign. He was really insane, and a weird attachment to Gundam was formed.

Team D-Crew vs Team Surgeon was the hardest fight yet. The players were having a hard time dodging all their combo moves and the DEX Saving Throws pushed two out of three out of the ring. Dragoon was the first one down, and Raiden was the next. Raiden had the Owl Familiar fighting in his place. Monster fought valiantly against Team Surgeon mostly on his own. This player survived for so long. Even I as the DM was getting nervous. I didn’t know what was going to happen next.

Monster lost his sword and shields to NAT 1’s. They broke in half. He exhausted all his spell slots giving him temporary HP, and Team Surgeon lost only one member. One of them did get a knockout. The Old Guy in School Uniform was the weakest of the three. Grizzly Claw and Angel Blades were the moves straight from Yu Yu Hakusho, and those guys aren’t too shabby. Monster used TALK NO JUTSU, the only move he had left in his arsenal, to convince Team Surgeon to fight the mind control. He cried out how he can’t become a hero like this, revealing his identity as Kai-Ku to Bran Whitey.

Bran Whitey was shocked but fully satisfied, going into a rant about how he’ll enjoy watching him die. He was having the time of his life watching the experiments beat Monster down. However, the fun was over for Bran Whitey. Forever.

Monster got through Grizzly Claw and Angel Blades. They freed themselves from the mind control and knocked each out of the ring to give Team D-Crew—their heroes—victory. It was the least they could do for helping them win their freedom. Bran wasn’t expected that to happen, and cursed Doctor Petrelli, Doctor Suresh’s former assistant. Doctor Petrelli was the one who let Bran Whitey borrow the experiments.

Dragoon executed Bran Whitey once and for all with a shot to the head. Toguro was about to do it himself and was shocked that a student committed cold murder. This “Dragoon kills people, not Gundam” mentality is a very interesting mindset to have.

The Former Experiments thanked Team D-Crew for their help. Monster simply told them to leave, and they obeyed because they are full of guilt for what they did to them. Raiden wanted to help kill them, but he wanted the experiments to make it easier. Grizzly Claw’s offer to help out in anyway will be remembered by Team D-Crew.

Team Surgeon chanted, “Kill Us”, over and over again, begging for death and freedom from the mind control. Team D-Crew couldn’t believe the amount of body possession happening in this session. Yes, sometimes I do plan things like that. Dungeon Master having a plan can happen. It’s very rare, but it does work on occasion.

Monster, Dragoon, and Raiden learned a valuable lesson from this battle. The top 16 teams, with them being at 16, weren’t no joke. Team Seven already proved their bad-assery. The other 15 teams will be taken seriously from this move onward.

Toguro is impressed with his interns’ progress, and wants them to use their newest moves on him for practice. Team D-Crew is definitely getting stronger and Baxter’s newest weapons will be helpful in their future battles.

Kai-Ku was given a Spark Gauntlet that was compatible with his Eldritch Blaster. He uses the weapon a lot to stun people. The “Stun” function is the best part. This is the Elemental Hero, Sparkman design.
Gundam’s “Data Drain” was upgraded to “Demonic Data Drain” after he used it to scan and extract data from Kai-Ku / Kai-tick the Kin-slayer. Baxter questioned the repeated “Data Drains”, but it ended up helping fix Data Drain’s initial flaws. The upgrade should help them fight more as a team. Thank you, dot Hack G.U. series.
Killion was given the Crest of Knowledge, a microchip that would give his Golden Egg the power to Evolve Killion into an Owl Bear with Drills for Hands and a Nose. Basically, Armor Digivolution from Digimon.

The players are very happy to get these new weapons from Baxter. I’m sure they’ll find them useful soon enough. But first, D-Crew kidnaps Translucent after running into his invisible ass at the Clothing Store. Monster wants to get his Sword and Shield repaired again after JUST GETTING THEM FIXED. Like an iPhone’s screen getting broken all the time. But after getting all their errands done, Team D-Crew drag Translucent for some question and answer torture.

Translucent is uncertain about who to side with, but he ends up choosing survival and is willing to help Team D-Crew steal Zaddy Zoomer’s speed drugs. Yeah. The players, after recovering from their fight against Team Surgeon, decide to weaken Team Seven before the tournament starts this weekend. They decide Translucent wasn’t a real threat or the one of the strongest fighters, so D-Crew lets him go. They didn’t realize Translucent had took Vlad’s Bottle and shoved it up his ass. Toguro was also missing some spare change, which meant Translucent took Vlad’s Bottle without knowing who he was. Things were nasty from here. Thanks, Rick and Morty for that idea from your pilot.

D-Crew tracked down Translucent to the Casino, and started a riot in the joint when they started to whip out weapons. Bandits and other criminals followed D-Crew’s violent lead, and they started firing on one another. D-Crew managed to grab Vlad’s Bottle and escape another mob. Translucent was also kidnapped again in the process. Translucent handed a key bracelet to D-Crew. This will give them access to Team Seven’s mansion. D-Crew were planning to steal some drugs.

Monster and Raiden’s Owl Familiar performed the stealth mission. Dragon had stealth disadvantage, and Raiden offered his Owl Familiar in his place to scout. The bracelet is giving them the all-clear to pass the property without setting off the alarm. Monster is able to infiltrate Zaddy’s room and used a command to stop Zaddy from using his very fast reflexes.

Monster stole the drugs from Zaddy’s vault and made his escape. This was a very fun because he had run-ins with Lord Wit, the leader of Team Seven, and he acted like an average spoiled kid. But his Spirit Energy was incredible. Similar to Lord Eggza’s from previous campaign. This sparked another idea that will be set-up at the end of today’s session.

Anyways, Monster stole the remaining six speed serums from Zaddy Zoomer’s vault. This will make him weaker when the tournament happens this weekend, or he’ll go desperate and find more. Either way, Team D-Crew has drugs. Translucent is let go a second time by D-Crew, honoring their word to let him live. However, Zaddy Zoom executes Translucent.

Zaddy Zoomer believed Translucent took his drugs. Team D-Crew are really terrified of DEX Saving Throws. Leaning on the previous campaign’s lore, they realize Lord Wit is a part of Lord Eggza’s family lineage, which means he might have his greatest weakness: Kryptonite.

Toguro offers to take them to the only place on Earth that possesses Kryptonite. Elturiel, the most holiest city in the Sword Coast Region. The trip will take a couple hours using a submarine. They have to cross the River to reach Elturiel from Baldur’s Gate. They have a few days to kill until the Main Rounds start anyway, so this is the perfect thing to do. The next team they’ll be facing is: Team Sound.

More details about Baldur’s Tournament Main Rounds will be given in the next session. They also know Team Snow is in the Main Rounds, lead by Gilly Snow the Third. He was Gilgamesh’s bastard son until he was disowned for being outed as a public villain. Gilly behaves similar to Gilgamesh, but Team D-Crew doesn’t take him seriously.

I didn’t plan for that to happen, but I’m excited to work on the unexpected. Plus, I have the time to actually plan this out.

This was an interesting seaway to another one-shot adventure in the city of Elturiel, another previous location that the Enforcers had visited. Maybe a two-part arc. This Dungeon Master has his thinking hat on.

Thanks for reading the entire session recap, y’all. I’ll see you next time. The players and I might be going on break due to Coronavirus Outbreak Crisis. Stay healthy, and wash the hands and dice!

< Previous Adventure #43

back to D&D

Next Adventure #45 >