Dungeons and Dragons ("DnD"): The Rise of Tiamat: Season 3 Episode 22 Adventure #54
Date of Session: July 19, 2020 (6:00 pm to 10:30 pm)
Number of Players: 3
1. Gundam, Model K (SOLDIER War Forged) Level 6
2. Killion Gilgamesh (WIZARD Avariel) Level 6
3. WIFI (CLERIC Bunny Humanoid) Level 6
Series Regular NPCs:
1. Roshi Nighthill (Chibi Male Human, Power: Bulk Up)
2. Vincent “Cent” Kelsier (Male Druid Water Genesis, Captain of the Waverider)
Recurring Guest Star NPCs:
1. The Almighty / Krypto (Formless Deity, A.I. of the Wave Rider)
2. Cyborg (half-human, half-robot, Captain of the Astro Megaship)
New NPCs Introduced:
1. Gundam, Model OP (Optimus Prime, Leader of the Auto Bot Resistance)
2. Auto Bot Resistance Fighters (Red, Blue, Yellow, Green, and Black War Forges)
3. Gundam, Model Q (Decepticon Model, Follower of The Fallen)
4. Gundam, Model D (Steel Adult Dragon, Enslaved Protector of the All-Spark)
5. All-Spark: The Risen (Formless Planet-Level Power, Cybertron’s Favored Son)
6. Grey Matter (miniature alien lifeform, creator of the Steel Dungeon)
Picking up where we left off in the season 3 premiere, K-Krew have found themselves stranded somewhere on Cybertron without a spaceship. They spotted a blackened version of the Astro Megaship coming for them, which revealed themselves as from the Auto Bot Resistance Fighters. Once it landed, K-Krew met Gundam Model OP, otherwise known as Optimus Prime—a merger of two different models O and P. Killion was oddly excited to learn that Gundam could merge with his own kind.
Optimus Prime arrived to pick them up following their victory over Huevos Black and his army of XerX-Eggza Chimeras. Optimus Prime wished to have K-Krew join their efforts in the War for Cybertron’s freedom. K-Krew agreed and asked for an escort to their base of operations. K-Krew went back to their Megaship with Cyborg while Optimus returned to his, where K-Krew followed them to Cyber Pluto, a deserted meteor orbiting Cybertron. It was the safest place for the Auto Bot Resistance Fighters, as no one bothered to check on it given its non-planet status.
There, K-Krew met the remaining five War Forges—Red, Blue, Green, Black, and Yellow—in the Resistance. Optimus Prime regretted to inform them that most of the War Forges were killed in endless battles against the XerX-Eggza Chimeras and The Fallen’s Decepticons. Gundam wasn’t liking the odds of winning the War for Cybertron with only five non-Gundam models. WIFI said they didn’t need to fight technically. As long as they retrieved the All-Spark first, they essentially would win the war because its power equaled a planet’s. Killion seconded that assessment. Optimus Prime agreed as well, thinking it was time to storm the Steel Dungeon, where the All-Spark was hidden.
However, The Fallen’s—Gundam, Model F—had a fleet of spaceships guarding the outside while he had his Decepticon minions searched the Steel Dungeon. Optimus Prime proposed they make a distraction with the Mega Zord Protocol—the Astro Megaship can transform into a fighting robot machine—while K-Krew and Optimus snuck inside the Steel Dungeon. Everyone agreed this was the best plan in order to bypass all those ships. Red, Blue, Yellow, Black, and Green were given the information on how to operate the Mega Zord Protocol from Optimus Prime, and they attacked the fleet.
K-Krew and Optimus Prime used a teleporting tunnel system to head down to the catacombs of Cybertron, where the Steel Dungeon was located. Outside the Steel Dungeon, they encountered two Gundam Models—letters unknown—standing guard to the entrance. Killion cast invisibility on everyone in an attempt to bypass the security. It almost worked… Gundam was caught. Optimus Prime shot the two Gundam guards, disabling them long enough for everyone to successfully enter the ever-changing Steel Dungeon.
Inside, they encountered Gundam, Model Q. They engaged in battle, which resulted in their obvious victory. They stole his map, and then Gundam decided to merge with Q in order to gain more strength. Gundam utilized his Data Drain Technique to successfully download Model Q into his hardwire. Optimus Prime was appalled at the violation, but Killion and WIFI were quite excited to see what happens next. They continued onward through the Steel Dungeon, but then they decided to short rest it in a small rectangular room. They found a small box and key to an ancient Data Drain Bracelet, but it was obviously broken.
WIFI also encountered the resident of this room—Grey Matter—and stuffed him inside the box along with the Data Drain Bracelet. Then WIFI locked the box and put it in Kai-Ku’s bag of holding. For some reason, WIFI had Kai-Ku’s bag of holding. After they finished the short rest, they waited until the map showed them the path directly to the All-Spark.
However, when they entered the core room… they spotted a Steel Dragon protecting the All-Spark deep in his dragon-sized pool. It was also napping. K-Krew and Optimus Prime were scared to engage with an actual dragon. WIFI went up there first to check how deep it was, getting too close to the Steel Dragon’s nail in the process. Gundam did the same thing, preparing himself to dive into the pool for the All-Spark. Only certain Gundam models could wield the All-Spark.
The Steel Dragon ended up waking up somehow—I can’t remember how—and started attacking those on the surface. Gundam dove for the All-Spark when it woke up, but he got trapped by the Steel Dragon’s grip alongside WIFI. Killion tried to minor illusion a meteorite, but the Steel Dragon NAT 20 through the trick and smashed rubble to fall on him. Killion dodged with his own NAT 20, but Optimus Prime was trapped beneath the steel avalanche. WIFI, Killion, and Enkidu—Killion’s familiar owl—fought the Steel Dragon, hoping to buy Gundam enough time to retrieve the All-Spark.
Gundam strength-checked his way out of Steel Dragon’s grip alongside WIFI, who created a distraction with his gun. A NAT 20 into the Steel Dragon’s eye allowed Gundam to dive into the pool successfully. However, Gundam encountered the Steel Dragon’s Tail within the waters blocking his path to the All-Spark.
To get around the Dragon’s Tail, Gundam activated his Almighty Morpher, summoning Krypto and transforming together into Gundam Almighty. Gundam Almighty sliced through the Tail and met with the All-Spark, who had been dormant for centuries. Once Gundam explained the War on Cybertron to the All-Spark, whose real name was The Risen—the counterpart to The Fallen—they agreed to work together. All-Spark infused with Gundam Almighty in order to become Gundam Almighty Risen!
GARRRRRRRR!
Once Gundam Almighty Risen returned to the surface, he noticed WIFI barely hanging on against the Steel Dragon and Killion had been knocked unconscious by the Steel Breath Technique. The Steel Dragon and Gundam Almighty Risen faced off against each other, one-on-one. The problem was… Gundam Almighty Risen rolled a NAT 1 for his first attack, resulting in Model Q resurfacing and taking control. During this brief moment of weakness, Model Q ambushed WIFI unexpectedly with a NAT 20. This knocked WIFI out of the battle.
Seeing his new friend beaten though by his own hands, Gundam also rolled a NAT 20 to regain control of his body. The Risen also deleted Model Q from existence, which made Gundam question the severe punishment. Now it was truly a one-on-one battle to the death: Steel Dragon versus Gundam Almighty Risen. This fight scene was spectacular to DM. Even the unconscious players were having a good time watching this unfold. Gundam had come a long way from season one at HERO Academy.
The Steel Dragon rolled a NAT 1 in his next attack, resulting in its whole arm breaking. Gundam Almighty Risen took advantage and struck the rest of its body down!
Gundam Almighty Risen had slain the Steel Dragon with his relentless energy slashes—augmented by the Risen’s Godly Power. Shortly afterward, Gundam Almighty Risen healed Killion and WIFI with potions of healing. It also took them 15 minutes to dig Optimus Prime out of the rubble. They recovered from near-death and were in awe of Gundam’s new power, feeling proud that they accomplished the goal of retrieving the All-Spark.
The Risen was proud too, now having the chance to stop the Decepticons from taking over Cybertron and destroying the multiverse. The Risen could finally reclaim his home and “share the love of Cybertron” instead, intending to rebuild it as the Cyber-verse in honor of their Father. Gundam didn’t like the sound of that, saying it sounded too similar to what The Fallen wanted to do with the All-Spark.
The Risen wanted to take over the multiverse in order to create a better world under his rule, using Cybertron and the All-Spark as weapons to do so, while The Fallen wished to use the All-Spark in order to remake Cybertron—killing The Risen and their Father—in order to conquer the multiverse and reshape it to his will. The goals were indeed very similar but with key differences. Gundam Almighty refused to comply with The Risen, but the merge had too much of a hold on Gundam. Somehow, the rest of K-Krew were drawn into this conflict.
WIFI had to use magic in order to contain Gundam Almighty Risen from escaping and enacting the plan. Gundam kept rolling the D20 hard, but he couldn’t reach the magic number to break free. This led to WIFI going into Gundam’s body and grabbing the All-Spark with his bare hand, knowing the risk of touching it.
WIFI successfully removed the All-Spark, but it began to consume his right hand and moved its way down to his elbow. He cried out, begging for someone to cut his arm off. Killion and Gundam worked together to disarm WIFI, watching the All-Spark fly into the air and burn WIFI’s right arm to a crisp. WIFI had only one arm now. Gundam shot at the All-Spark—a planet-level energy source—to eliminate it, but this led to an explosion that engulfed K-Krew. They were once again trapped by The Risen, who wanted K-Krew to work for him. WIFI rolled a NAT 1 to escape, so he was under The Risen’s total control.
Gundam and Killion feigned an agreement to work for The Risen. Their only condition was to go after Gilgamesh’s home world first. The Risen agreed, only to have been betrayed once they made contact with Optimus Prime. He sacrificed himself to the All-Spark / The Risen to give K-Krew time to escape.
Luckily, Gundam decided to absorb Optimus into him—similar to Model Q—before his whole body was taken by The Risen. Optimus’ memory banks had the location of a spaceship in his programming, which lead to K-Krew getting that jump ship and flying back to the Wave Rider. They had no intention of finishing the War on Cybertron. Once they returned to the Wave Rider, Cent Kelsier set a course back to the Temporal Zone. Gundam apologized for dragging his teammates to his home world. That was a mistake.
The session ended there. The “War on Cybertron Arc” was only two sessions—episodes—long, but it was an excellent two-parter that gave Gundam a real good chance to shine. I have a good feeling about our campaign’s season three, now that they have the ability to roam the multiverse. Things didn’t go their way, they cut their losses, and flew the fuck out of there. Thanks for reading our adventures so far, everyone! D&D’s so fun!