Devil Dog Martial Arts Presents
The DDMA D&D Game is a quarterly 6 hour 5e game. We make our D&D game open to all, not just school members. If you are interested in joining our next game, please contact Greg Koval for more details.
Our Next Game Days: Saturday May 24th & Saturday September 27th
The
Known World
The World
The country of Nexus Neruda is a growing terror. For twenty years there have been long winters and droughts in the summers and a the food grows scarcer, and the country poorer and more desperate, the Nexan leadership has grown powerful by preying off that desperation. The Nexans, guided religious leaders, started to see this as a sign they have displeased their god with tolerance to evil, and sentient non humans have become their target of disdain. They have recently become highly xenophobic, and have begun severely restricting the rights of all sentient nonhumans, and many have outright been imprisoned or put into work camps.
Nexus Neruda and the Republic of Trimark (RoT) have had a fragile alliance for the last hundred and twenty years since they last had a conflict, mostly arising from differing religious majority in each country and a history of border disputes. In recent years, Nexus Neruda has begun pouring resources into military might. Most privately owned farms have been seized for national order. The Nexans also started by raiding ROT villages over the border as well, using Nexan soldiers disguised as well armed bandits.
Religion: Nexus Neruda are worshippers of Lethander, while the majority of the Republic of Trimark are worshippers of Oghma.
Political Leadership: Nexus Neruda, ruled by by a paper king, Ansel the II, is governed in fact by the Awakened (religious servants of Lethander). The ROT is governed by the council of seven, each member representing a core aspect of society: merchant, soldier, politician, scholar, religion, artist, and wizard.
Game 1- The Battle of Chamberlain
Prior to the invasion, the Nexans sent lightbringers into the city to begin paving the way and winning people over to their cause, both through the overt methods of winning of hearts and minds to bring like minded humans to their cause, and through the indoctrination of extremists. These extremists set off an explosion in the wall to let troops in.
The invading force used a combination of human troops and monsters to invade and eliminate large portions of the city population, intent on genocide.
During the invasion, a rider in silver riding a black dragon showed up to attack the city. Dragons are all but destroyed in this world and only a few remain in the whole world. Most people think they are just myths. However, during the battle, another dragon, this one riderless, also emerged and fought the black dragon, but ultimately lost, and after being severely but not critically injured, it was forced to flee.
During the escape, the party was assisted by a goat named Gary multiple times. Realizing the goat was following them and assisting them, one of the party members tried to telekinetically speak to Gary and Gary shut him down.
The final act of the Nexans was to set off a thaumaturgy spell that set off Lighting storms that destroyed half the city, including many of the Chamberlain the evacuees. When all was done, the Nexans managed to kill off over two thirds of the population of Chamberlain, killing over 70,000 people, while the rest managed to evacuate into the mountains under the leadership of Colonel Ros Rosa e'Buddle who took command after General Enno was killed in the battle.
Game 2 - The Assassination
Following the Escape of Chamberlain, several members who stood out in the evacuation were brought to the attention of the Col. e'Buddle. The Colonel knew that it was essential to create a distraction to allow the refugees to escape and to give the RoT time to reinforce the Chamberlain forces. His plan was to gather several small groups to infiltrate the city. One group was to steal a magical artifact from the enemy that they could set off, while another was to set fires and release monsters, and a third group to assassinate the enemy general leading the assault. The first group was killed just outside the city, while the second killed within its gates before it could set the fires. But the third group was successful.
The small group of heroes managed to sneak into the city, where they were aided by a resistance group led by Pierre the Mad. Pierre gave them a grenade and led them down to secret tunnels before the Nexan army discovered their location and he and his resistance fought them long enough to give the party a chance to escape. Pierre is presumed dead but this is unconfirmed.
After making their way into the citadel, they found that the worst of the monsters were being kept in secure pits near the castle. The party released a dragon, a beholder, and dozens of mind flayers simultaneously which in the battle killed many Nexan troops and created a distraction that not only allowed them to attack the citadel proper, but also to give the RoT refugees time to escape.
As they entered the citadel, they encountered a large number of armored troops which were dispatched quickly by a well placed grenade that was forgotten about by the DM. However, before they could kill the general, the staff of the castle who previously served Chamberlain, killed the general before escaping.
Along the way, they were also assisted by Gary.
Game 3 - Prison Escape
As they made their way out of the city of Chamberlain, the party fell into a trap and were gassed unconscious. They were then put into a cart and kept in a coma over several weeks of travel as they were taken to Southeast Nexus Neruda to a prison castle as political prisoners. There they learned that they were suspected as being involved in the assassination but not confirmed and they were to be either killed or converted to the light. Within the prison were several groups of prisoners.
The MDK gang were illegals from Dug who formed an organized crime syndicate.
The Armares were a gang of pirates who were caught raiding villages and sinking military vessels
The Light Foot Deplorables were a militia group of extreme conservatives who didn't feel the Nexan army went far enough.
The Revolutionaries and Political prisoners were those suspected of war crimes
The party was interrogated and Bumgard the paladin refused to renounce his god and was tortured. Shortly after that, our party managed to make friends with Max the Pirate Lord for the Armares and a reptilian changeling who helped them in their escape.
The party, along with other prisoners created a distraction before killing off the section guards and leading a revolt. Bumgard was empowered by his God and inspired to draw his holy symbol on his chest with blood. Suddenly he was healed and an explosion of light appeared and he killed his enemies with holy fire.
After fighting their way through heavy resistance, and getting their equipment back, they began to search for many items in the storage area, looking for other items. One member, Lao Shen, found a deck of many things and pulled the imprisonment card which summoned a Djinn and caused the rest of the deck to disappear. Lao was temporarily imprisoned before Max made a deal with the Djinn for his release, costing him his hand and summoning a shadow hand in it's place.
Gary the goat followed them and helped their escape. On the way out they ended up fighting the remaining Light foot Deplorables who killed off the MDK. The leader of the brigade was a druid who changed into a bear. Simultaneously the Paladin Morninglord Fleetwood supported the group until attacked by Gary the goat. Fleetwood threw fire and ice at Gary but could not harm him. So he threw lighting at the party instead. During the last blast, Lao Shen managed to channel the lighting blast and redirect it into a chi strike that left the bear leader scarred with a handprint on his face, and changing back to human form he fled and vowed revenge.
The party finished off the paladin and Mercury the changeling revealed that he was a servant of Oghma who is trapped in the body of the goat, Gary. The party was tasked to find the 7 crystals that bound Oghma and destroy them. They and several others quested by Oghma are to be the Acolytes of Oghma's Fire and will set out into Nexus Neruda to find the crystals which are likely kept separated in defendable positions. They must also find a way to destroy these crystals.
Things to Note
Magic is rare in this game. Less than 1% of the population has magical ability, and less at a significant level. It's like being a collegiate or professional athlete. Most people maybe know 1 or 2 people with magical abilities. Over 10th level is like being a major league professional athlete. Over 15 is like being Lebron James. Your name rings out around the world. It's unlikely most people ever met someone that level. Most (but certainly not all) magic users have either political, religious, or military appointments. A magic user who does not work in an official capacity is usually considered an untrustworthy person by most people.
Magic items and potions are even rarer. A true healing potion most people only think are things of myth..
Monsters are almost as common as normal animals. It is a common military practice to have a monster assigned to a unit, and entire units of a particular monster designed to achieve a specific function, such as throwing a hundred gelatinous cubes over a city wall as was done in the Battle of Chamberlain.