Hello fellow adventurers,
I will be reviewing two different one-shot adventures (as players became separated / new characters were also introduced) that will ultimately put everyone on direct course for a reunion session next week before our month-long hiatus. As half the group is going on different summer vacations, we all decided not to begin the Hoard of the Dragon Queen campaign until July. However, I decided to use these “transitional sessions” to give Kai-tick screentime since he missed out on the Stranger Things adventure, and to reassemble the main party while having another player join the team, christened “The Enforcers”.
Alright, enough information. Let’s get into our latest adventures.
One-Shot Adventure Session #1 (05/13/2019)
Number of Players: 3
Legendary Paladin Menos (the last original character standing)
XerX, an Elf Ranger
Bubby, an Aasimar Cleric
I am officially the Dungeon Master (DM) once again.
Bubby showed interest in Dungeons & Dragons after hearing the tales of Kenji, Menos, and Kai-tick, and wished to give the game a try. He adapted to the role-playing quickly, and assembled the brand-new team to face the END OF THE WORLD.
Yes, the Apocalypse is here. After defeating the Hydra, Menos teleported to Phandalin in search of the missing Kenji (retired character), and finds himself in a family squabble. He is taken captive by his older brother, Mas O, who is in the midst of raiding Phandalin with an army of Knights at his disposal. Shortly after the capture, Bubby and XerX arrived to recruit Menos based on the Dragon Queen prophecy, but were disappointed to see him captured.
Bubby decides to hide behind the smoking building, but XerX takes a stand against Mas O and his Knights to save Menos. He does not succeed (I’m having a hard time remembering the exact details), and he must submit to being captured. Menos and XerX are chained together, but they do not communicate as Menos concentrates on his Trial By Combat challenge against Mas O. If Menos wins the one-on-one fight, he is allowed to walk free, which Mas O accepts out of honor. Bubby follows the Knights concerned, but at the same time baffled, because XerX didn’t think strategically against Mas O’s overwhelming forces (there are 50+ Knights).
The Trial by Combat occurs at early sunrise. Menos is freed from his chains when he is escorted to the center of town. His weapons (sword and shield) laid in front of Mas O, the older brother he never knew about. Mas O seeks revenge because their father sealed him in First Hell for over 900 years. This fight (initially) was in Mas O’s favor, and at one point, could’ve beheaded his younger brother after a critical strike (Natural 20), but thanks to XerX pulling stealth moves in the crowd, and Bubby helping in the sky, Menos managed to defeat his older brother.
Menos spared his older brother mostly out of Trial by Combat rules, and officially meets Bubby and XerX. After learning about the Dragon Queen prophecy and his role in freeing Mas O from First Hell, he forgets about Kenji and joins The Enforcers, refocusing his attention to finding Kai-tick, who is also meant to join the dream team. They decide to follow Mas O to a random building the Knights call the “bar” (where the alcohol is essentially), where ice breakers proceeded to happen.
Mas O explains his time in First Hell, why Menos was favored over him, and how their parents treated them like crap. Also, he revealed the first seal was connected to Menos’ morals, and how killing his first innocent life was what broke it… earlier in the past adventure, Menos killed a dwarf named Gundren to hide Kai-tick and Kenji’s evil activities. Menos shrugs this off, and Bubby and XerX don’t seem bothered by this either.
Anyway, after the small talk, Mas O reveals he heard Kai-tick was off to Thundertree, a ruined city, to kill the Red Overlord. Not too concerned about the assassination mission, The Enforcers all agree they needed to find Kai-tick because they need him to fulfill the prophecy of stopping the Dragon Queen’s rise from Ninth Hell. Mas O provides horses and a wagon, and after a quick stop to Baron’s Provisions to restock, they hit the road.
Fun Bit: while the “quick stop” occurred, XerX wanted to fight and went off to find a few Knights to fight with. They agreed because they love violence, and the longest combat sequence happened. XerX (formerly Kenji) is adjusting better to this character, having found Fighter boring, and loved being “Zabuza, the demon of the hidden mist”. In the end, XerX defeated the two Knights, and earned lots of XP.
Back on the Road:
As they began to travel, Menos learned the “Find Steed” spell and uses it to summon a noble warhorse, leading The Enforcers as the Great Paladin who has taken the Oath of Vengeance. They run into a dwarf named Gum Gum who is transporting eight prisoners on behalf of The Cult of the Dragon, an evil group wanting to sacrifice them as offerings. Initially, The Enforcers agree to help escort the prisoners for 100 gold pieces, but once Bruce, a prisoner who bonded with XerX, gets an arrow with salted pork; he uses XerX’s mistake to kill Gum Gum, and a high-speed chase happens.
Ultimately, The Enforcers cut their losses and leave the eight prisoners for dead. Then, before the session ended, our heroes encountered Gargoyles, but luckily, Menos slayed all three using his greatsword, and the rest was history as they continued onward to Thundertree.
Before I continue to One-Shot Adventure #2, I have to say something. DMing two long sessions in a row is exhausting. I really hope to avoid doing it in the future, but it is a lot of fun to see the two different stories / sessions coming together. Maybe, I’d be up to do this again, but not anytime soon.
Okay, let us talk about the other one-shot adventure for Kai-tick.
One-Shot Adventure Session #2 (05/14/19)
One-Player: Kai-tick (Aarakocra Rogue)
Dungeon Master: Me (Again!)
The events of this one-shot adventure take place directly after Kenji and Menos leave to do the Stranger Things Adventure and partly connects to the one-shot above.
After Menos and Kenji departed through the portal, Kai-tick reads the note delivered to him, and learns his next target is someone named the Red Overlord, a sorcerer trying to revive the Red Band Ruffians in order to reclaim the open Lost Mines for The Cult of the Dragon. Kai-tick sees the End of the World when he arrives at Phandalin: hundreds and hundreds of Knights start falling from the sky to raid the town, and some try to kidnap a helpless prisoner named Mirna, someone Kai-tick, Kenji, and Menos had rescued before from Cragmaw Castle.
Kai-tick manages to save her using intimidation, and asks her why they wanted to kidnap her. She cries practically the whole time, saying random information here and there to Kai-tick’s frustration. Then, Kai-tick learns the truth: Mirna’s family heirloom has the power to control the Young Green Dragon, a fierce enemy that almost killed the entire team. This inspires him to help Mirna return to Thundertree, the last place she had it. However, Kai-tick is scared because Knights running around, and the Gargoyles were flying the skies. Some were turned to stone in the middle of the road, and chased the wagon Kai-tick had with his team since day one.
RIP Wagon that held all the booze.
He eventually finds a remote cabin where a Cultist named Taff lived. Eventually, Kai-tick is forced to kill the Cultist because he immediately recognized the surprised Rogue as the “Kin-slayer” rather than fall for his alias, “Drip-Tin”. Mirna is shocked at the kill, and is too scared to go anywhere else. Kai-tick wants to keep Mirna comfortable so he can channel the power of a dragon, but not remembering her name made it difficult. As she became too inconsolable to reason with, Kai-tick abandoned Mirna at the cabin, and continued onward to Thundertree alone. Mirna gave him a piece of paper enchanted to reveal the family heirloom’s location, and Kai-tick gave her a knife to use in case of protection.
Kai-tick sneaks out the back because there are too many Knights in front having a bonfire outside celebrating Mas O’s freedom from First Hell, and the vicious Gargoyles patrolling the literal hole-in-the-sky. He does run into trouble when he encounters a strong female Assassin, who wants the bounty on the Red Overlord, and plans to stop Kai-tick by killing him first.
They engage in a vicious battle, where poison arrows are drawn. Kai-tick uses the trees to hide, and after hitting both of her legs—crippling her—he finished her, and claimed the lethal arrows for himself. Immediately afterwards, ten Cultists run into him, where Kai-tick tries to persuade them of his allegiance to the Cult of the Dragon. They capture him, restrain him using steel chains (exactly like XerX and Menos were tied up from one-shot adventure #1), and escort him via wagon to the Red Overlord. At least he was on the way to his intended target.
Kai-tick’s next brilliant plan was to pick the lock. However, he rolled a “natural one”, the worst possible thing you can roll, and he dropped the lock pick. The Cultists picked it up, and proceeded to take his one chance to escape. After wearing a shocked expression at the biggest fail, he decided to “roll with it”, and awaited to meet the Red Overlord.
The ten Cultists bring Kai-tick to Thundertree’s town square, an area the group never visited when we played the Starter Set. There, Kai-tick spotted a dozen more cultists, another Knight, and the Red Overlord. The sorcerer turned out to be Halia Thornton, Gundren’s sister-in-law. She joined The Cult of the Dragon to claim the Lost Mines in exchange for relinquishing control over the Young Green Dragon.
Then, Red Overlord summoned her “husband”. He slammed Kai-tick into the ground, revealing himself to be a wild Berserker, and his old friend Kenji! Red Overlord reveals after Kenji returned to the Lost Mines using the dimensional flower, he ran into Halia, who offered him a deal: if Kenji willingly became a Berserker, she’d marry him to give him complete access to his greatest dream: having a 9-5 job working the Mines.
Of course, Kenji agreed to take the deal and became Red Overlord’s greatest Servant. Berserker Kenji attacked Kai-tick using his Great Axe, but he didn’t land the finishing blow. Berserker Kenji wanted a fair fight, and had a Cultist release Kai-tick. Then the former allies battled each other.
Kai-tick focused on the Berserker, but also feared the dozen other enemies who allowed Kenji to have his fun. After several poisonous arrows pierced Kenji’s chest, Kai-tick made a move to use the teleporting scroll, and escaped the town square. As Kai-tick comforted his former ally turned monster, he listened to Kenji repeat his name over and over again. Then, Kai-tick sliced Kenji’s throat to give him an uncomfortable farewell, and looted his things, too. Except the Battle Axe.
At a safe distance from the town square, Kai-tick was losing confidence at his chances of survival. Luckily (Deus Ex Machina almost), Mirna returned to confront the Red Overlord, who is her sister, and unearthed where she hid the family heirloom. She tapped into its energy, and SUMMONED the Young Green Dragon, who almost killed Kai-tick on sight.
Mirna used the family necklace to subdue the Young Green Dragon, and declared herself its master. The Dragon obeyed, and allowed her to ride his back. Kai-tick, giddy at having a dragon, flew alongside the great beast to confront the Red Overlord.
The final epic battle starts!
Mirna and the Young Green Dragon, after a little conversation with Red Overlord, ascend to the skies. They are dealing with all the Gargoyles flying around. Kai-tick, having found his confidence, attacks the Cultists, and makes his way to the Red Overlord using the new arrows he acquired. This angers the Red Overlord, who uses 1st level mage’s missiles, and a 4th level ice storm to bring down our anti-hero. The entire town square is hailed, killing all the other cultists and knight, and partially hurts Kai-tick.
Mirna and the Dragon are also brought back down to the difficult terrain, having been affected by the ice storm. This turns out to be the Red Overlord’s undoing however, as Kai-tick orders the Dragon to unleash its finisher (via Mirna) upon the sorcerer. Mirna cries out to her older sister, but alas, what’s done was done. The Red Overlord burned, and as Mirna held her dying sister, she used the knife Kai-tick gave her to finish Halia herself.
Kai-tick was shocked at the turn of events, and Mirna’s creepy declaration of love to him. Afterwards, they traveled to collect the bounty (via Dragon), and asked for the Dragon’s name. He did not have a name because he was raised as a weapon by humans. Kai-tick suggested the name “Overlord”, which Mirna accepted because it was in honor of Halia, her older sister. Overlord also grew fond of the name.
They arrived at the bounty office, which was nearby Thundertree in the forest area, and Kai-tick was granted (???) gold pieces. I forgot the exact amount. There, the strange duo learned more about Mas O’s plan, and Menos return to Phandalin (The Trial by Combat) from the clerk. Needing all the help they can get, Kai-tick and Mirna take flight toward the Apocalyptic skies to meet with the Legendary Hero Menos at Thundertree.
End of One-Shot Adventure.
I love being a Dungeon Master. Next week’s session will be our last one before everyone goes on vacation, but I’m happy we made it this far. I’m learning a lot from this game in terms of writing, storytelling, socializing, characterization, world-building, roleplaying, and speaking way more often. I used the one-shot adventures to give the heroes of this story a fun experience while setting-up Hoard of the Dragon Queen in July. I plan to make so many changes in that campaign to fit the current story I already have going on. They haven’t seen anything yet.
