Dungeons and Dragons ("DnD"): Hoard of the Dragon Queen: Episode 4 Part 5 Adventure #29
Date of Session: November 17th, 2019 (5:00 pm to 9:00 pm)
Number of Players: 3
Legendary Hero “Colonel” Menos (Dragon-born Paladin / Warlock)
Kai-tick, Kin-slayer and “Servant” (Aarakocra Rogue / Monk)
Eternal Hunter XerX and “Master Lieutenant” (NOBLE Half-Elf Ranger / Wizard)
I’m sorry for the delay in D&D session reviews. I had novel writing issues that couldn’t wait, but I’m ready to talk us through what happened since I last wrote anything D&D related. In the previous session, the Enforcers + Captain Leon taken refugee in the Fox Traveler’s safe house. They quickly discovered not all was right with the Fox Traveler’s intentions with them.
XerX drank some questionable water, and not surprisingly, it was drugged. He rolled to resist, but the poison had affected his movements. Kai-tick wants to leave and help his master, but Fox Traveler traps them inside his anti-magic safe house. Captain Leon has shown indifference to his friend’s betrayal. It’s because Captain Leon used the water to brew his tea. Menos and Kai-tick were left to stop the Fox Traveler’s odd behavior.
The Fox Traveler revealed he wished to “examine” the Enforcers’ bodies. Fox Traveler was their biggest fanboy, which disturbed them all greatly. Ultimately, the Enforcers allowed the examination, given that he trapped them inside the place. Fox Traveler loved XerX’s Nat 20 tattoo the most. Around this time, Kai-tick jumped him and tortured him for the way out without killing him. Killing him would mean staying trapped inside his house.
The Enforcers, XerX is sober now, continue searching for the exit. However, what they find instead is much more dire. They walk inside a room, and discover a Lizard person performing surgery on XerX’s biological sister, Yara. She is already opened up.
Low key moment: I forgot she was with them, and did this whole thing when I eventually remembered to justify her absence. They didn’t pay attention or notice anyway, but I care about continuity. The Dungeon Master in me has to notice and care about these things.
The Enforcers dispose of the Lizard person, and poke around in Yara’s open body. Kai-tick rolled a NAT 1, and was totally blind to which body parts were which. XerX poked around next, and discovered something. Menos was judging from a distance.
XerX ended up killing his sister while uncovering a darkness, but he ended up bonding with that darkness. A demon that tempted XerX to reach his full potential. The power between XerX and the demon awakened an unexpected transformation. This changed XerX into the Black Bulls Defender full-time. It allowed him to break through the anti-magic house, giving everyone the chance to escape.
Menos calls out to Mas O in the sky. He was ready to submit to the dark side. This was an interesting moment that threw me off as the Dungeon Master, but I went along with it and summoned Mas O.
Older Brother Mas O was pleased, and told Menos that there was one thing he must do to prove his intentions. Menos had to kill his wife Lina and destroy the rest of Greenest. Menos accepted the job without hesitation. Pleased, Mas O opened a dark portal that took Menos back to his former home.
Menos headed to Keep Greenest and ambushed Governor Nighthill. He wasn’t expecting Menos to strike him down. Next, Zora and Menos clashed. Finally, his wife Lina was next. Menos lost all his love for Lina, despite the power-ups, and attacked her to gain the trust of his older brother. Lina pleaded with Menos to stop the madness using her powers, but in the end, he impaled her in the chest. This fatal strike didn’t touched the alive baby boy inside the womb. Menos extracted his son successfully, and placed him inside the bag of holding next to his Blue Eyes Dragon Eggs.
Killing Lina also released the evil cousins from Ninth Hell (the same ones from the previous session), who immediately destroyed the rest of Greenest. Cass the Red’s prideful actions weren’t nearly enough to stop Menos’ long overdue rampage.
Menos kills Cass the Red, and wears his face skin like a mask to symbolize his victory. He also declares that he’ll kill the rest of his family like Gundren the Dwarf before him.
The session was slightly out of control, but I kept the chaos (somehow) to a minimum.
Meanwhile, XerX and Kai-tick decided to turn against Captain Leon. XerX, in demon form, was power drunk. He loved being transformed indefinitely due to the demon’s connection. But, XerX was ignoring the demon’s direct command to murder Kai-tick. XerX didn’t want to fight Kai-tick the Kin slayer. This distraction also allowed Captain Leon the chance to escape.
Kai-tick the kin slayer also evaded XerX, and encountered Shin-Tock, his father and the founder of the League of Whispers. Shin-Tock was in Baldur’s Gate doing business, and heard about the Eternal Hunter’s death at the hands of the Enforcers. Shin-Tock wished for one of the nine dragon eggs (the Earth one) that was currently in Menos’ possession, and requested that Kai-tick retrieve it for him. The kin-slayer agreed to get it for him.
Then, Shin-Tock vanished like Batman. Without making a noise. This freaked Kai-tick out a bit, but he continued onward to find Menos. Kai-tick encountered XerX who was in the middle of the demon transporting him somewhere. Kai-tick hitched a ride with XerX.
Back to Greenest is where the Enforcers are reunited. The demon took XerX there to kill Zora, who also possessed a darkness inside him. This revelation confused Kai-tick, who thought Zora was his adoptive brother. XerX didn’t care because he wanted more power, and unleashed an energy barrage against an already beaten Zora. Menos defeated Zora earlier in the session.
XerX took Zora hostage. Kai-tick rolled successfully and snatched Menos’ bag of holding. At the same time, Kai-tick used the Stranger Things flower to escape back to Baldur’s Gate. Menos was upset because his son was still in the bag of holding. Kai-tick forgot about the kid and was super shocked when Shin-Tock took him out of the bag later in the session. I enjoyed that WTF so much. Continuity is my thing, apparently.
Then, Shin-Tock disappeared like Batman again, and kidnapped Menos’ child alongside the Earth dragon egg. Kai-tick had no idea things were going to be like that, and decides that joining Mas O might not be the worst idea.
Also, XerX’s and Kai-tick’s children have arrived in Baldur’s Gate. They crossed paths with their fathers a couple times, but the Enforcers didn’t care. Dead-beat daddies.
Menos, Kai-tick, and XerX join together in Baldur’s Gate, ready to submit to the Dragon Queen and Mas O in exchange for power and control. This makes Mas O very happy, and he calls upon his Master to give a proper introduction. They all join hands, including CJ and Azula (the children’s names), and meet the Dragon Queen Tiamat’s sinister voice.
The session ends with the Enforcers pledging their allegiance to the Dragon Queen Tiamat and Mas O, promising her that they’ll deliver Vin to prove their loyalty. They impressed me greatly in this session.
The next session deals with the Sky Castle’s invasion. Catch you all in that one! The Hoard of the Dragon Queen campaign is coming to an end.