Dungeons and Dragons ("DnD"): The Rise of Tiamat: Season 4 Episode 36 Adventure #68
Date of Session: October 17, 2020 (7:00 pm to 10:00 pm)
Number of Players: 3
1. Hero Captain #2 – The Great Menos (Male Dragon-born Paladin) Level 7
2. Kai-Ku Midoriya / Kai-tick (Male Human Fighter-Rogue) Level 7
3. Gundam, Model K (Male War-Forged SOLDIER) Level 7
Series Regular NPCs:
1. Mas O (Male Dragon-born, Menos’ older brother, former teacher and current Head of EDC Agency)
2. Eri Menos (Female Goddess, Menos’ wife, and current protector
3. Roshi Nighthill (Male Human Fighter, Former HERO Academy classmate of Kai-Ku and Gundam)
Recurring NPC Characters:
1. Hero Captain-Commander Nero (Male Human, God-Human, One for All)
2. Hisoka (Male Human, Pro Hero Test Examiner)
3. Baxter (Female Cow Humanoid, K-Krew’s Main Engineer)
4. Cybertron (Gundam’s “Father” and God-Planet)
5. Mecha Huevos Black (Lord Eggza’s Brother, Servant of Cybertron)
6. Lord Eggza (Male Aarakocra, Hero Captain-Commander Candidate)
7. Jamies Blondie (Male Vampire-God Child, First Son of Gilgamesh)
8. Gilgamesh (Male God-Human, Father of James Blondie, Hero Captain 2 and Hero Captain-Commander Candidate)
This session picked up with the players + Roshi, Mas O, and Eri exiting the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. They had grown to level 7 with new powers and a new mission to stop Lord Eggza, Gilgamesh, and their distracting political games. The Rise of Tiamat was approaching, but the political games are so damn distracting to them! Gundam especially, with Gilgamesh working with Cybertron—his father—to destroy him once and for all. Nobody—including the DM—had any idea why these villains were targeting Gundam.
Then Gundam was teleported to Cybertron—due to their connection flaring with Gundam’s new power ups. Eri kept the connection open with her own God powers, and helped the other players + Roshi go after him. Mas O was left behind for some reason—we forgot about him, honestly—but he learned how to become a Chibi. I learned this from Tower of God and Rak’s Chibi form. So, Mas O looks like a cute Dragon-born now to suppress all the power he developed in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber!
Gundam versus Mecha Huevos Black was about to begin! They were having a rematch—a score to settle—from their last fight that occurred during season 3 episode 1 with everyone else joining to help.
After Mecha Huevos Black explained how Cybertron saved him—think Mecha Frieza and surviving Planet Namek—the battle to see how strong everyone became began. Gundam stayed back while Menos and Kai-Ku went for the close range. Roshi powered up too, and slammed Mecha Huevos Black with a NAT 20—grabbing his face like how Ichigo grabbed Aizen and forced him across the battlefield. Menos transformed into his new Stardust Blue Eyes Form—the same form he achieved at the end of the previous campaign.
Kai-Ku used a new Spirit Wave Ultra Instinct form, and then Gundam unveiled a really big gun that hit for big numbers. There were interesting role-playing moments that occurred throughout this fight scene. Roshi and Kai-Ku rediscovered their Vegeta-Goku dynamic—with Kai-Ku using a NAT 20 to “steal” Roshi’s turn similar to Goku stealing Vegeta’s moment. Menos was reminded of how much hits he takes as this character, having been used to supportive roles in Killion and Eira before. This fight scene was one of the most fun ones we had in a while.
After they defeated Mecha Huevos Black, they realized they were stranded on Cybertron. Eri tried to open a portal, but then she realized Cybertron was blocking her magic. They hijacked a sentiment plane, and forced it to fly them out of Cybertron and toward the Vanishing Point—the site of the Pro Hero Exam—where no villains can follow because it’s a neutral zone.
Once they arrived safely, the heroes encountered Hisoka working as a Pro Hero Examiner. After explaining the situation to him, he directed them to Hero Captain-Commander Nero, who was on-site for the latest test rounds.
Hero Captain-Commander Nero was informed of the horrible Gil & Egg situation, and challenged Gilgamesh and Lord Eggza—on social media—to a hero election to let the citizens of the multiverse decide who should lead them during this crisis. Then Menos stepped up, adding that Nero should retire given his ancient age and to let the next generation take over. Nero agreed—persuasion roll—and decided to endorse Menos as the next Hero Captain-Commander for this hero election.
Nero also offered to split his great power—known as One for All—among the players since they aren’t able to handle all the power on their own, but splitting it is reasonable and manageable on their bodies. They agreed and began training to inherit the power to prepare for the election in addition to Tiamat’s eventual return.
The Rise of Tiamat story elements were being gradually weaved into this session, setting the players up with their eventual battle against her during the Endgame.
Eri explained the Dragon Eggs, and how they’ve been reactivated since Lord Eggza was resurrected. She has sent XerX, WIFI, and Killion after the Earth Dragon Egg hidden in the Sky Castle, where the original Enforcers have hidden it prior to their battle with Lord Eggza the first time around.
Eri had been locating the other ones since, and recently discovered the Steel Dragon Egg on Cybertron—disguised as something called the All-Spark. This explanation revealed Cybertron’s sentience because of the Steel Dragon Egg—a God because of it; this also explained why Gundam had such a natural affinity with Spirit Energy since the beginning of this campaign. This also meant they needed to return to Cybertron and retrieve the Steel Dragon Egg, which also meant they needed to kill Gundam’s “father”.
Gundam was 100% okay with this, wanting to take his place after they killed him. The rest of the team agrees too, with Mas O arriving in time to join the second trip toward Cybertron. When they arrived to fight Mecha Huevos Black though, he had split and multiplied similar to Metal Cooler from Dragon Ball Z. They were fighting hundreds of him all at once. While Roshi and Mas O struggled with the sheer numbers, the players quickly realized Mecha Huevos Black was ultimately weaker split like this and were slowly gaining the advantage in the fight.
Leaving Mas O alone to fight against the Mecha Huevos Blacks, the players + Roshi ventured back to the Steel Dungeon—again, from season 3 episode 1—to confront Cybertron. They were ready to finish what they started last season with more power-ups and a clearer goal.
Cybertron created a God Ultron body to fight the players, refusing to give up his life source and Godhood. Roshi ultimately undermined Cybertron by using a new technique called the Hellzone Destructo Disc. Since Cybertron rolled a NAT 1, he mocked Roshi heavily for “missing” and was then spliced into pieces. Menos then used his new Vanishing Blade to make some pieces “vanish”, so Cybertron couldn’t reassemble right away. This allowed Kai-Ku and Gundam to destroy the rest of the pieces, then Gundam ripped the Steel Dragon Egg—the “All Spark”—out of the main body.
Afterward, Gundam became “God” and created a new species—Zoids and a new Optimus Prime—while eliminating Mecha Huevos Black for good with his new direct connection. Then they crafted a video telling everyone to vote for Menos and that this new Cybertron is endorsing Menos for new Hero Captain-Commander.
In the meantime, Hisoka is also gathering them new allies from the latest Pro Hero Examinees to help for the upcoming war against Tiamat and her Servants Lord Eggza and Gilgamesh, the King of Epic Heroes. They also learned Lord Eggza’s weakness from Huevos Black’s dying words. Lord Eggza has a family—a wife and child. The players didn’t feel comfortable about that implication—using his family against him—but they did find that information somewhat helpful.
The session ended with the next mission. Going back to HERO Academy to expose Gilgamesh’s “influence” on the future heroes, and how the Dai Li policing is creating biased new heroes. I am liking the new direction that is ending season 4 and going into season 5. The heroes are going back to where it started—Hero Academy—to save everyone for the season 4 finale!
Thanks for reading this DnD season 4-episode 9 recap / review! I’m excited to play out the season 4 finale and to see how season 5 will play out. We’re heading into the Infinity War and preparing for our Endgame to conclude The Rise of Tiamat campaign! Let’s keep this great energy going into the next session!