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Saturday, September 3, 2022

Dungeons & Dragons Animated Series Ep. 16

Today we'll check out what is essentially a "filler" episode. It's definitely a scenario worth using in your own game, though.

You can buy the complete series right here

Check out the previous episode recaps: 

Part One (Episodes 1-6)
Part Two (Episodes 7-13)
Episode 14
Episode 15
Episode 16
Episode 17
Episode 18
Episode 19
Episode 20
Episode 21
Episode 22
Episode 23
Episode 24
Episode 25
Episode 26
Episode 27
Episode 28

Episode 16 - City at the Edge of Midnight

We start off with a kid on Earth getting sucked into some kind of rectangular portal.

The adventurers are in a desert littered with crystal or glass growths. This show has the coolest D&D environments.

Dungeon Master appears, and tells them they have to find the city at the edge of midnight. "Time is on your side." It is up to the heroes to save children from Earth.

They come upon an oasis. Lurking there is... a hook horror! One of the very first articles I ever wrote was about hook horrors.

Wait, there's a whole bunch of horrors. The heroes are saved by a guy riding a giant monster elephant. A fantasy pachyderm, if you will.

The guy riding the beast jumps in to help the group. Together, they proceed to come up with a bunch of different ways to trip the hook horrors. The mysterious man has a scimitar which can fire off sonic rays, which chase off the remaining monsters.

We learn that the man is Rahmud, caravan member from Kadish. He explains that the group has arrived at:

The Forbidden Oasis of No Return. The oasis appears once per year - a trap for unwary travelers. Those who spend the night at the oasis become hook horrors.

That's just a perfect D&D locale. It's so easy to drop in to your game.

He takes the heroes away from the oasis, to his camp of tents. There, the group eats a giant meal and learns that Rahmud's daughter has been abducted.

That night, while getting ready to rest in one of Rahmud's tents, Hank reminds the group that they'll need to pursue Dungeon Master's quest the next day. They groan and talk about how Rahmud is almost like a dad. Eric points out that Rahmud is nicer than his dad ever was. This comment goes ignored by the group.

When midnight strikes, a portal opens up beneath Bobby and is pulling him in.

A monster rises up out of it, looking sort of like a 12-foot-tall bugbear. I snatches Bobby and vanishes.

Rahmud explains that this creature has taken Bobby to the City at the Edge of Midnight. The creature is known as "The Nightwalker." That's kind of interesting, as the D&D version of a nightwalker looks very different.

I love it when the heroes of this show get angry. They quietly decide that they are going to go to the city right now. Using a random B.S. combination of Presto's hat, Rahmud's blade, and (of course) Hank's arrows, they open a portal to the city.

This seemingly empty city reminds me a bit of Gloomwrought, a city in the Shadowfell. There are a number of clocks which are always a few minutes from midnight.

The group somehow convinces a bunch of imps to lead them to Bobby. They are taken to a building where children are forced to "hold back the wheels of time." The clock must never strike midnight.

The Nightwalker attacks the heroes. They run, and ascend a tower. They get the clock running by smashing some stuff. The clock strikes midnight and the spell is broken - the children vanish and appear home. Nightwalker disappears as well.

The heroes run into a kid that they know. Before he vanishes, he indicates that almost no time has passed on Earth since they've been gone.

Appearing at Rahmud's camp, Rahmud's daughter is back. Dungeon Master explains that Rahmud is a king, ruler of a vast land to the East. 

Most of these episodes are filler, but this one was pretty good. The oasis is a great locale, and the city could be cool with a little tweaking. I guess you could say that it was in the Shadowfell and the people abducted were exploited for other reasons in addition to keeping the clock from striking midnight.

Stuff that Presto's Hat Does:

40. Spews forth energy that opens a portal to a magic city.

Eric's Life is Horrible Because:

12. The group laughs at him as 8 hook horrors have him trapped in a corner.
13. He opens up about his father's cruelty and nobody cares.

Hank's Bow Can:

43. Shoot at the feet of advancing hook horrors.
44. Collapse a stone wall.
45. Uselessly fire arrows into a portal.

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