Hello and welcome everyone to The Dungeon Folks, where we take a break from discussing movies and music to, instead, tackle some Dungeons and Dragons. Join us on Monday nights on our Twitch channel to tune in and watch our campaign, DM’d by yours truly, live, and watch the events unfold! So, sit back, and get ready to roll some saving throws with us!
In addition to Twitch, you can also find the weekly installments of this campaign in video form on YouTube and Facebook video, and in audio form on Soundcloud, Apple Podcasts, and android’s Pocketcasts!
In The Big City…
Far off in the wild and untamed Western Reaches of the known world lies the colossal city-state, V’alliman. Only, nobody calls it by its real name. Rather, everyone knows this city as The Jungle – the wealthiest, most diverse, and most dangerous city known on the planet. Walking the streets of The Jungle, one is just as likely to strike a lucrative bargain with gnomish entrepreneurs as they are to get accosted by elven mobsters as they are to stumble upon an eldritch horror lurking in a dark corner. Greedy crime bosses rule the streets, scheming syndicates claim various districts as their own turf, and the royal family in charge is largely just for show. However, that danger does not deter the thousands of new immigrants and adventurers every year, seeking a fresh start in The Jungle – either to flee their past life, find new fortunes, or make a name for themselves. Among those adventurers, we find our heroes.
And they could not have come at a worse possible time.
The King has been slain. The Princess is in hiding. The city is in chaos. The power vacuum has led all of the nine most powerful organizations – the real movers and shakers of the city – to start jockeying for total control. And amidst everything, rumors and whispers spread that a forgotten evil of the past has returned to seek vengeance and ruin…
What will our heroes do? Will they seek out this evil and purge it? Will they restore the royal line? Or will they abandon it all, favoring to align themselves with some of the great powers of the city, or seek their own fate entirely? Only time – and some dice – will tell. But no matter what happens, swords will surely be crossed, deals surely made and betrayed, and drama surely unfolded. Because no matter how many beasts roam, and no matter how much blood is spilt, there can only be one King of the Jungle.
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Meet The Cast :
Evan Griffin is Flint, the Dwarf Fighter
What this man lacks in height, he makes up for in gusto. Toting a pair of hand axes, a trusty long sword and, now, a nice big great axe, Flint Fireforge is a former mountain dwarf, and more formerly a salty pirate, looking for new plunder in the endless possibilities of The Jungle. He may be a bit impulsive and outspoken, but at least he’s got enough HP to balance that out. Also, he has a taste for shark-man flesh. (That was ONE TIME!)
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Ryan Gibbs is Merit, the Human Rogue
As someone with an incredibly shady, and poorly hidden, past involving a wizard and an even shadier moral outlook, this human criminal on the run just took the first boat out of town and picked up the name “Merit Galladay” on a whim. Merit didn’t expect to get swept up in some mess with a lost princess and a mafia-run city, but he expects the misadventures with his new band of adventurers to be, at the very least, profitable.
Travis Hymas is Karnov, the Tiefling Sorcerer
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It’s not easy being a tall devil man in a superstitious world, and it’s even harder when you’re bone white and got a knack for slinging spells. But somehow, Karnov the Pale makes due. A serious mind, and a natural sprinter, he doesn’t mind drawing attention to himself; he only minds anything that gets in his way of attaining more power and influence.
Leigh-Ann Brodber is Ori, the Dragonborn Monk
An exile trained in deadly martial arts, Ori has abandoned the evil monastery that raised him and now seeks redemption in a city with the reputation of providing new beginnings, and opportunity, for those looking to remove themselves from what they once knew. But it’s also a city known for violence, crime, and sin, and Ori has found himself in the company of not the most savory of types. At the very least, he’s less skeptical of this lot of adventurers than most. But hey, a crazy wizard told him he’d do great things if stuck around this group, and crazy wizards are never wrong, right?
Justin Carreiro is Alexandrus, the Human Cleric
Alexandrus never wanted to be a cleric to the Grave God, Kelemvor, yet here he is: on a fool’s errand to hunt down some defiled souls in the biggest city on the planet and return them to the land of the dead. Worse, he’s had to resort to adventuring just to get by. So now he has to walk a fine line, making sure his old enemies stay dead, and making sure his new allies stay alive. He only hopes that they would return the favor to him, were he ever to need it.
And, I, Alex Suffolk, am your faithful Dungeon Master. Join me in my homebrewed 5th Edition based D&D campaign setting, where I weave webs of intrigue, contrive ways for monsters to get angry at a bunch of wandering schmucks and mostly make a fool out of myself trying to pull off various accents.
The Story So Far :
Chapter One: Welcome to the Jungle
The campaign began with a boisterous dwarf, a sketchy human, and mellow tiefling aboard a ship to V’aliman, the biggest, richest, and deadliest city-state in the Western Reaches of the World. That’s why they call it “The Jungle.” Yes, Flint Fireforge, “Merit Galladay” and Karnov the Pale cemented their alliance whilst battling some shark monsters, and then a crazy cultist going on about a Great Tiger King named Nakresh. They obtained a fancy amulet from the madman, and first thing they did upon arriving in the city was get an object identified by a wizard named Old Greenie. Along the way they picked up a new ally, Ori the dragonborn monk, who also wanted a word with the loony wizard. They cleared out the old man’s basement, learned the amulet they possessed was actually the Amulet of Royal Loyalty, a MacGuffin linked to The Jungle’s missing princess! Unable to decide what to do with it, the party made their way to The Tunnels, the crappiest but cheapest part of town, to shack up in the Dragon’s Dungeon, an inn with cheap lodgings and a job board. There they found the last member in this merry band of misfits: Alexandrus Tillart, a human to the Grave God Kelemvor. He needed their help, they needed his healing, and so the team was formed. For their first job: they delved into the Undercity to score a job with a drow matriarch named The Queen. Little did they know what kind of chaos would ensue.
Get more details and watch all the action play out right here!
Chapter Two: Crazy Train
The party took a train job that seemed simple: get on board the South Line, fool the gnome train conductor, steal his crystal that powers the thing. Karnov and Alexandrus had a good thing going fooling the gnome with a surprise workplace inspection to stop the train, but things got out of control when Flint bashed the train console and got the train moving again. Then things got even worse when a Bullete (or as it came to be known, a Street Shark) came out of the ground. The party had to then deal with a little magic man on the run and a Street Shark on the hunt. Somehow, they managed to pull through, get the treasure and even level up to boot! With their transit passes in hand, the party can now travel wherever they want, whenever they want. That will surely lead to all sorts of great things, right?
Get more details and watch all the action play out right here!
Chapter Three: Separate Ways
For their next big gig, the Party decided to head on down to Tinker Town to meet with a mischievous little gnome named Alvyn Blacklung. He’s a small fella, but he’s got big plans to pull off a heist at the Clockwork Castle in four days. But first things first, all our heroes have to find a way to score an invite to the shindig.
The party decided to split up and go their separate ways for now. Flint set upon himself to rise up the ranks of the Hall of War’s fight club to secure his invitation as its champion. Ori decided a wealthy dragonborn of the Spice Guild would be amiable enough to a fellow of his kind, and Alexandrus sought out the leader of the Holy Concordance to become her envoy – and has stumbled into detective work as a result. And finally Merit and Karnov through a lot of luck and clever deception managed to befriend a beautiful bard named Ziggy Starchild.
As the split storylines continue, our heroes found themselves in greater struggles. Flint encounters his strongest opponent yet in the fighting pits. Alexandrus investigates a spooky house and finds a powerful undead foe. Ori is accosted by the Cult of Nakresh, but to his great luck, Merit, Karnov, and Ziggy arrived in the nick of time to help out. What ensues is a grand triple battle, “Duel of the Fates” style.
After the dust has settled from each battle, all our heroes reconvened back at the Dragon’s Dungeon Inn. There they have long conversations with a new ally and a captured foe, in which they learn more details about the mysterious and dangerous Cult of Nakresh.
Following a discussion with their gnome friend Alvyn about rewards for the heist (which involve unlimited mayonnaise and fancy patches), the party split once again to continue their own missions. Alexandrus skulked about Religion Row to find out more about his angry zombie target and a demonic idol he picked up. Flint fought a samurai in his toughest bout at the Hall of War’s fight club yet! And as for Merit and Karnov? They’re new musician friend has gone missing and they were given 24 hours to find him again or The Butchers would come for their necks. Just another fine day in The Jungle.
Chapter Four: Come Together
Now that they know they have a ticking clock to get back their friend Ziggy, Merit and Karnov returned to base to try and rally the rest of the party. They learned from their ally Debora the Cutear that it is actually she who has their musician friend, and that she’s willing to hand him over… if the party does another job for her. A job that’s almost as gross as the zombie that kept kicking Alexandrus’ butt. But on the bright side, Flint finally fought the champion for the top spot at the Hall of War’s fight club. Now the gang’s gonna get back together again to fix Merit and Karnov’s mess in the probably the most messy of places: the sewers of the Red Light District.
Given their new mission, the heroes then dove into the sewers for their crappiest day yet. They fought some skeletons with a bone to pick, made some memories with Modrons and came face to face with the horrifying creature that’s making the filthy sewers even filthier.
In perhaps the most nailbiting and stomach-churning encounter yet, our heroes squared off against the monstrous Otyugh at the depths of the sewers! While our heroes survived, the beast certainly took a bite of their health – quite literally in fact. And when the heroes returned to their old ally, Debora the Cutear, to exchange their newfound treasure for the life of their new ally, Ziggy Starchild, they discovered a closely guarded secret.
This secret of course being that Debora the Cutear is actually the Princess, Mogla Yarud! She revealed everything to the party: why she went into hiding, how she came across Ziggy, and what she plans to do next. All of it, revolves around the machinations of Nakresh, the Great Tiger King, who has returned from the dead to reclaim his lost throne by way of a game of political intrigue. Because even though he was known to be nigh invincible, Nakresh’s greatest power is that he can adopt the image of anyone he chooses. He can be anyone, he can be anywhere. And Mogla said she needs the help of our heroes. She needs people she can trust. But before that, the party has to ask one another, can they trust themselves?
So with the advent of the gala now rapidly approaching, the party realized they still had a few loose ends to tie up. The first being the roving rabid Revenant, Felix Thorncutter, who Alexandrus sent back to hell thanks to the aid of Merit, Karnov, and a roaming demon… and then he sent the demon back to hell too. Ori spoke to the mysterious Madame Zeitalia and learned about the nine things that the party could acquire after the gala in order to help turn the tide against Nakresh. And finally, the party did some reconnaissance about the Clockwork Castle, meeting some of the workers there and learning where they needed to strike. Now, finally, they were ready to stage their heist.
Chapter Five: Ballroom Blitz
After all their tying of loose ends, the party made some last-minute preparations and then finally embarked on their heist mission. Ori had a confrontation with the sinister musical group, The Answer, and then sent his young ward Turget to get more information about the bunch. Karnov was able to acquire a potent Sleep spell from the party’s favorite eccentric wizard – something that would prove useful to Merit’s plans. Merit meanwhile, learned more about the magic circles throughout the city – something even more useful. Meanwhile, Flint was the first to inhale a bunch of mushroom spores to mindlink the party.
At the gala itself, the party met a whole plethora of movers and shakers in The Jungle, including Madame Kahdee, the serpentine mistress of the Red Light District, a strange elf from the reclusive commune, the boisterous and entitled dwarven lord, Bahlo, meets a dragonborn paladin of the royal guard named Kosef, and a cheery Halfling woman named Monika Whitebow – the real estate mogul of Pleasant Hills. Not to mention the gnome of the hour himself, Sumee, an energetic artificer who romps around in a mechanized suit of armor. Oh, and the wizard that Merit supposedly killed some time ago wasn’t actually killed, but turned into a pug. So there’s a pug wizard on the loose.
And then Nakresh showed up.
Yes, while Merit was able to secure the weapon schematics and leave the gala with incredible speed and efficiency, the group didn’t have any time to celebrate their success. As the Great Tiger King of V’alliman decided this was a night to crash a party as well. It wasn’t for fun though; it was to give everyone a proposition: stand with him or stand against him and perish. Some organizations signed on with the Tiger King, such as the Elves only interested in their own society, and the Dwarves who feel their contributions to the city have gone unnoticed and promise to rally The Butchers and the Undercity behind Nakresh as well. However, the Red Light District will never support Nakresh, and The Pack refuses to buckle under anyone. Thus one disgruntled, gunslinging Axle Thorne invited everyone in the room to attack Nakresh and bring him down. Nakresh was delighted by this. It gave him a chance to display his power.
And so the entire ballroom broke out into a fight, with our heroes caught within the chaos. It did not go well, with Nakresh able to dish out devastating amounts of magic and take devastating amounts of attacks without any harm. Several people died, our heroes on the brink of death as well. But eventually, Nakresh tired of the display and took his leave, as did our heroes.
They reunited with Merit, who had successfully given the weapon plans to Alvyn Blacklung and was given several magic items in return. They went back to The Tunnels to return to Princess Mogla and in doing so, witnessed The Dragon’s Dungeon Inn, their current place of residence, go up in flames. It would appear, it isn’t just Nakresh himself that has become bolder, but his cult has as well. And what will happen next? Only time, and some dice, will tell.
Be sure to catch the latest episode right here!
And so the dice roll, and so our story continues…
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