Dungeons and Dragons ("DnD"): The Rise of Tiamat: Season 2 Episode 19 Adventure #51
Date of Session: July 5, 2020 (8:30 PM to 12:00 AM)
Number of Players: 3
1. Gundam, Model K (SOLDIER War Forged) Level 6
2. Killion Gilgamesh (WIZARD Avariel) Level 6
3. WIFI (Bunny Humanoid Cleric) Level 6 – Kai-Ku’s new character
Recurring Guest Star NPCs:
1. Vincent “Cent” Kelsier (Male Water Genasi, Captain of the Wave Rider)
2. The Almighty / Krypto (Formless Deity, Gundam’s Robot Dog)
3. Baxter (Female Cow Humanoid, K-Krew’s Tech Expert)
4. Shadow (Male Black-haired Human Speedster, Enemy from the Baldur’s Tournament, and HERO License Exam Participant)
New NPCs Introduced:
1. Hisoka Joker (Male Human Clown, HERO License Exam Participant)
2. Rocky (Chubby Male Human, HERO License Exam Participant)
3. Mister Skinny Skinny Biscuit (Male Human, HERO License Exam Procter)
4. Moon Necromancer (Male Undead Human, Moon Breath Swordsman, HERO License Exam Dungeon Procter, Gil Supporter)
Season 2 Episode 9 had finally taken our players—after two episodes of interrupted multiverse traveling—to The Vanishing Point, the home of the HERO License Exam and the only place outside of space and time. This basically meant any kind of timeline or reality change won’t reach The Vanishing Point or the people who lived there. It was the perfect place in the multiverse to hold the HERO License Exam for this exact reason.
However, Kai-Ku had bailed on K-Krew by the time of arrival. Kai-Ku had decided to take a Jump Ship, wanting to pursue the person—Tommy from the Rick & Morty adventure—who stole his precious White Sword. The player behind Kai-Ku decided to play a new character for the HERO License Exam. A Bunny Humanoid Cleric named WIFI came to play once Cent Kelsier dropped off Gundam and Killion at The Vanishing Point’s docking station. Everyone also leveled up to 6 for a power-up to help in the Exam.
WIFI befriended Gundam and Killion very quickly, forming an interesting friendship right before the HERO License Exam. They also met bad participants like Rocky—a Dai Li Supporter—and Hisoka Joker, a participant with great interest in K-Krew. K-Krew found Hisoka very creepy, but they could sense how powerful he truly was. They didn’t want to mess with him.
After everyone filled out their HERO applications, Mister Skinny Skinny Biscuit—the Procter of the HERO License Exam’s Phase 1—told the participants to follow him through an underground tunnel. Everyone—about 500 HERO participants—did so, not realizing that the test had already began. Following Mister Skinny Skinny Biscuit proved difficult when he picked up the pace. Many couldn’t keep up, but there were also others trying to sabotage K-Krew’s efforts to pass the exam. “For the Dai Li”, they all cried out.
K-Krew fell behind at times with Mister Skinny Skinny Biscuit’s fast pace due to opponents following the Dai Li’s orders, but they managed to overcome their opponents. One human ninja—named Omi—decided to join forces with K-Krew. Gundam fell super behind fighting against Rocky, but he rolled a NAT 20 to catch up with everyone to pass the first part of Phase 1. The HERO License Exam was composed of 3 Phases with each Phase having multiple parts.
The second part of Phase 1 continued the theme of survival: The Prison of Death! After a well-earned twenty-minute break, the remaining 100 Participants must now survive in the Prison of Death, a supernatural meadow forest area with Michigan’s abnormal weather patterns.
During the twenty-minute break of resting and buying items, K-Krew encountered Hisoka Joker, who expressed interest in children. His eye for kids was so strong, Hisoka was able to tell Gundam was a child just by looking at his shiny metal armor. This ability disturbed all the players. They vowed to avoid Hisoka at all costs, given his lewd nature and incredible fighting power. Also, Mister Skinny Skinny Biscuit explained the objective of this test.
All the participants must survive in The Prison of Death for 72-hours (three days), and they must reach the Prison Tower—a big cylinder tower in the middle of the area surrounded by a river—with a map to gain entry and officially pass Phase 1. There were only 12 maps scattered in The Prison of Death, which meant only 12 people can pass Phase 1 of the HERO License Exam. K-Krew started to realize how dangerous this exam actually was. They also realized they each needed a map to pass Phase 1.
While exploring The Prison of Death, K-Krew were ambushed by a few enemies, but they weren’t that powerful compared to them. Eventually, they forced one of the enemies to lead them to a dungeon. K-Krew—upon arriving—witnessed three people shot out of the dungeon, defeated and on the brink of death. Gundam ran inside immediately, which made WIFI, Killion, and Omi follow him. At this point, Gundam tricked Omi into going a different direction in order to ditch the ninja. It was every HERO for themselves.
At the end of the dungeon, K-Krew encountered the Moon Necromancer and holder of a map in addition to two fakes. He was also a Pro HERO on Gilgamesh’s payroll, being specifically instructed to stop Killion and his friends from passing the HERO License Exam at all costs.
The Moon Necromancer was also a skilled swordsman, able to utilize Moon Breath Techniques—based on Pokemon moves—like Moonblast and Swift. Being able to summon zombies—Omi had died offscreen—was also useful. He proved quite challenging, but once Gundam started rolling high, the battle shifted in K-Krew’s favor. WIFI’s Cleric spells proved useful to enhance his teammates’ odds of hitting those magical numbers.
In the end, Moon Necromancer was defeated. He surrendered the maps (stuffed inside his body), asking the players which one wanted the real map in hopes of causing discord among the players. They all decided Gundam in about five seconds. He failed to break the team apart with this poor tactic. Killion explained that Gundam wouldn’t just ditch them. He also implied that he wouldn’t have let Gundam ditch them either, but they were definitely K-Krew. The Moon Necromancer respected that, warning K-Krew that Gilgamesh won’t stop coming after them.
K-Krew countered, saying they wouldn’t stop going after Gilgamesh either. They left the dungeon afterward, running into an old friend from the Baldur’s Tournament. Killion had a hard time remembering Shadow despite killing his two brothers—Sonic and Knuckles—with the Fireball. Killion actually kept saying “father and brother”, mistaking one of the brothers for Shadow’s father. Shadow cried out, “Say their names!” and attacked Killion and Gundam, having no interest in WIFI.
Shadow did grow stronger since the last time K-Krew saw him in Baldur’s Gate, but Killion killed him in the end. Killion officially ended Shadow’s family line, but they were able to learn the location of two other maps before Shadow died. Shadow revealed—through coercion—that he hid his map with Hisoka Joker, a temporary ally for this portion of the Exam. While WIFI thought going to another dungeon would be safer, Gundam and Killion thought about using WIFI as bait to lure out Hisoka instead.
WIFI was against this idea. Luckily, prior to dying, Shadow led K-Krew to Hisoka’s campsite. He was roasting weenies and the map on a stick. They needed a plan to stop him without actually fighting him. It seemed impossible, but K-Krew really didn’t want to fight Hisoka. He might not have been the strongest opponent, but he’s definitely the scariest. Gundam tried to use the Data Drain Technique on Hisoka, but Hisoka NAT 20 the attack away with ease. What a way to start a losing battle.
Gundam successfully froze Hisoka’s hands with an ice bullet though, but then he got caught in Hisoka’s bubble gum trap. Killion tried to grab the map next, but his foot got caught in the bubble gum trap too. Hisoka was happy to “play” with these children as he hoped Shadow would lure K-Krew to him. This battle was not going their way.
Even when Killion successfully used Charm Person on Hisoka, the creepiness was amplified due to seeing K-Krew as “friends he could play with” instead of enemies. As a result, Hisoka gave up his own map and Shadow’s to K-Krew. This guaranteed everyone would pass Phase 1 once they reached the Prison Tower. K-Krew abandoned Hisoka after this, not wanting to deal with his creepy ass anymore. But they also knew they’d see him again during Phase 2. Hisoka Joker waved K-Krew goodbye, still under the influence of Charm Person.
A day had passed since The Prison of Death started. Day Two was close to ending too. The last thing for K-Krew to do was fighting through the remaining participants hovering around Prison Tower. There were 12 fighters standing nearby the entrance, overly prepared to ambush and attack anyone with maps. Gundam approached and pretended that he wanted to join, but he didn’t account for the math. 12 maps = 12 people, so that meant Gundam had no hopes of really joining unless…
A huge fight broke out. The numbers were overwhelming K-Krew at first, but Gundam’s gunfire overwhelmed them more. Six participants were killed by Gundam, and the other six were killed by Killion’s Fireball Technique. WIFI played support from the back.
Fire Style! Fireball Jutsu!
The session ended with K-Krew entering Prison Tower, officially passing Phase 1 of the HERO License Exam. However, they couldn’t help but feel anxious seeing a Dai Li Police Agent stationed nearby. The Dai Li agent even whispered, “Gilgamesh will be coming for you, K-Krew. You have been warned.”
Overall, what a nice action-packed session. The “HERO License Exam Arc” might go beyond episode 10 depending on what happens next. The session was intentionally influenced by Hunter x Hunter and Naruto obviously, but I tried to not make the whole thing seem derivative. In fact, the players wanted to rewatch Hunter x Hunter now. Me too! Let’s watch Hunter x Hunter and The God of High School!