I'm going to start by giving as much context to the over-the-top cutscene I just shared with my players as possible because I've learned that if I don't, I'll get shouted down for being a bad DM and that tends to make me cranky.
The story might have some ideas worth sealing, though, so feel free to reading it. Also, it may help you to understand where I'm coming from so I won't hfeel like I have to do this as much in the future.
On the other hand, if you're willing to trust me that I'm doing right by my players, feel free to skip the next few paragraphs that are written in Comic Sans and jump to the cut scene.
My campaign's theme is D&D turned up to 11. As a result, it's pretty solidly over the top. At the moment, they're traveling though Canalcitaia, a city of canals that's a blend of Venice and the touristy cities of New England like Salem, MA or Mystic Seaport, CT. Shortly after arriving (and visiting the city's new menagerie), they discovered that lizardfolk were infiltrating the town by way of the canals under illusionary disguise.
After some investigation, they got the attention of the city guard. They were then able to connect the infiltration to a major world plot involving a hag lead cult that's reviving long extinct creatures through ritual summoning magic and using them to try to destroy civilization. This lead to them questioning a prisoner and returning to the menagerie in order to figure out what they might be dealing with besides lizardfolk.
Molly the Menagerie Curator: "Giant magical fish that can cast illusions? Well, it could be an aboleth... except that those are extinct!"
PCs "hmmmm... Must be the Cult of the Bygone Beasts again!"
So, it fell to the PCs and the city guard to defend Canalcitaia
On a side note, it turns out, the captain of the city guard is a Half-Celestial Werebear Paladin. And a paladin. As you'd expect, he's good at his job.
(Why a Half-Celestial Werebear Paladin (5)? Because I like to give my PCs solid allies, especially when they're only temporary, and I like to occasionally show them that even at 9th level, there are people out there who are bigger than they are. Also, I have made it my stated goal for this D&D-turned-up-to-11-game-that-only-meets-once-a-month to use every monster in the monster manual.)
The PCs, over the course of the game took on, in order, a small group of lizardfolk, an aboleth, another group of lizardfolk (really they just ran past this group), three previously injured chuul, a water naga, and a sea hag. In otherwords, they got their ass kicking on. Although they were in rough shape at game's end.
There, justification for the following over-the-top cut scene finished.
Anyway, as a PCs in my game helped the guard of a city they're traveling through defend it from an invasion force of lizardfolk, aboleths and chuul, they took a break from the action to watch as, in the distance, the captain of the city guard went salmoning eagle/grizzly bear style for an aboleth. The half-celestial werebear guard captain flew over a canal, grabbed an aboleth, hauled it out, dropped it on a nearby roof and pounded the snot out it.
So, what's your favorite over-the-top cutscene / thing your players witnessed?
The story might have some ideas worth sealing, though, so feel free to reading it. Also, it may help you to understand where I'm coming from so I won't hfeel like I have to do this as much in the future.
On the other hand, if you're willing to trust me that I'm doing right by my players, feel free to skip the next few paragraphs that are written in Comic Sans and jump to the cut scene.
My campaign's theme is D&D turned up to 11. As a result, it's pretty solidly over the top. At the moment, they're traveling though Canalcitaia, a city of canals that's a blend of Venice and the touristy cities of New England like Salem, MA or Mystic Seaport, CT. Shortly after arriving (and visiting the city's new menagerie), they discovered that lizardfolk were infiltrating the town by way of the canals under illusionary disguise.
After some investigation, they got the attention of the city guard. They were then able to connect the infiltration to a major world plot involving a hag lead cult that's reviving long extinct creatures through ritual summoning magic and using them to try to destroy civilization. This lead to them questioning a prisoner and returning to the menagerie in order to figure out what they might be dealing with besides lizardfolk.
Molly the Menagerie Curator: "Giant magical fish that can cast illusions? Well, it could be an aboleth... except that those are extinct!"
PCs "hmmmm... Must be the Cult of the Bygone Beasts again!"
So, it fell to the PCs and the city guard to defend Canalcitaia
On a side note, it turns out, the captain of the city guard is a Half-Celestial Werebear Paladin. And a paladin. As you'd expect, he's good at his job.
(Why a Half-Celestial Werebear Paladin (5)? Because I like to give my PCs solid allies, especially when they're only temporary, and I like to occasionally show them that even at 9th level, there are people out there who are bigger than they are. Also, I have made it my stated goal for this D&D-turned-up-to-11-game-that-only-meets-once-a-month to use every monster in the monster manual.)
The PCs, over the course of the game took on, in order, a small group of lizardfolk, an aboleth, another group of lizardfolk (really they just ran past this group), three previously injured chuul, a water naga, and a sea hag. In otherwords, they got their ass kicking on. Although they were in rough shape at game's end.
There, justification for the following over-the-top cut scene finished.
Anyway, as a PCs in my game helped the guard of a city they're traveling through defend it from an invasion force of lizardfolk, aboleths and chuul, they took a break from the action to watch as, in the distance, the captain of the city guard went salmoning eagle/grizzly bear style for an aboleth. The half-celestial werebear guard captain flew over a canal, grabbed an aboleth, hauled it out, dropped it on a nearby roof and pounded the snot out it.
So, what's your favorite over-the-top cutscene / thing your players witnessed?
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