Hey everyone, I’m working on my first D&D campaign and wanted some feedback on the overall story and twist.

The campaign takes place in a town called Hollowmere. Twenty-five years ago, according to the official story, a dragon descended from a nearby mountain and completely destroyed the town. Everyone died. Afterward, King Aldren arrived and used powerful necromancy to bring the entire population back to life. The town was rebuilt, and every year since then Hollowmere has celebrated the anniversary of its resurrection. The campaign begins during the twenty-fifth festival celebrating what the townspeople call “The Miracle of Hollowmere.”

The players start out believing the same story everyone else does. During the festival, strange tremors begin coming from the mountain where the dragon supposedly lives. The next morning, King Aldren announces a massive reward for anyone willing to slay the dragon. Naturally, the party decides to investigate and hopefully claim the reward.

As the campaign progresses, they find clues that the story doesn’t entirely add up. Missing researchers, contradictory records, strange necromantic corruption around the mountain, and witnesses whose memories don’t seem quite right all begin pointing toward a different version of events.

The main twist is that the dragon never destroyed Hollowmere at all.

King Aldren was the one who massacred the town twenty-five years ago. He deliberately killed every resident, blamed the nearby dragon, and then resurrected everyone himself so he could become the hero of the story. The entire town’s identity, and much of the kingdom’s view of Aldren, is built on that lie.

The dragon survived because it knew the truth and confronted Aldren afterward. Neither was able to kill the other, and for twenty-five years the dragon has remained isolated on the mountain while Aldren’s version of history became accepted fact.

The reason Aldren places the bounty on the dragon at the beginning of the campaign is because he is preparing to repeat the massacre on an even larger scale. Hollowmere’s population has grown significantly over the last twenty-five years, and Aldren intends to kill them all again before resurrecting them a second time, creating an even greater “miracle” and cementing his legacy forever.

The dragon has begun waking because it senses what Aldren is planning. Aldren knows that if the dragon becomes active and starts speaking to people before his plan is complete, the truth could come out. The bounty is essentially an attempt to eliminate the one witness capable of exposing him.

My main concern is whether this twist feels compelling and whether the king’s motivation makes sense. Does this feel like a strong mystery for a campaign, or are there any major problems with the premise that stand out to more experienced DMs?

Pick a year 2021-2026 and I’ll tell you something either mildly interesting or batshit crazy that happened in that specific year at the camp I work at.

Where the Fence Bent

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The final bell rang and the school exploded all at once.

Lockers slammed open. Chairs scraped across the tiles.

The whole building smelled like sweat, cafeteria pizza, and wet hoodies drying badly from the rain earlier that week.

Maximus shoved through the front doors first, one hand hooked through his backpack strap.

Cold air hit him immediately.

Behind him, Hannah stretched both arms toward the cloudy sky.

“Freedom at last.”

Gene walked past her toward the sidewalk. “You’re literally coming back Monday.”

Hannah pointed at him. “Why are you like this?”

Without looking back, Gene flipped off the school over his shoulder.

Maximus snorted.

“One day a teacher’s gonna catch you doing that.”

“I can only hope,” Gene replied solemnly.

Outside, traffic crawled beside the curb while buses hissed open and shut every few seconds. Parents leaned on horns. Freshmen clogged the sidewalks in slow-moving packs.

Maximus checked his phone while they walked.

“By the way, thanks for ghosting us yesterday.”

Gene winced.

“My bad.”

“That’s what you said the other three times.”

“In my defense, consistency is important.”

Hannah laughed.

“You are unbelievably annoying.”

“And yet you keep inviting me places.”

Maximus cut left across the wet grass automatically.

Hannah sighed immediately. “Oh no.”

“The parking lot takes longer,” Maximus said.

“You say that like we’re escaping prison.”

“We are escaping prison.”

Gene followed after them with both hands shoved into the sleeves of his hoodie.

Not pockets.

Sleeves.

Maximus noticed because Gene usually complained about hoodies constantly.

“Hot in these things,” he always said.

The field behind the tennis courts was still muddy from the rain. Gene stepped directly into a puddle and immediately swore under his breath.

Hannah laughed. “Nice one.”

Gene stared down at his soaked shoe.

“These were my good shoes.”

“No they weren’t,” Maximus said.

Gene thought about it for a second.

“Fair.”

They reached the bent chain-link fence behind the courts a minute later.

The bottom corner had been peeled upward so many times it barely counted as a fence anymore.

Maximus crouched and lifted the metal higher.

“Ladies first.”

Hannah pointed at him immediately. “If you say that one more time, I’m pushing you into traffic.”

“Alright. Gene first. He’s prettier anyway.”

Gene placed a hand dramatically against his chest.

“Finally. Recognition.”

He slid beneath the fence feet first.

Hannah followed more carefully, stopping halfway when her skirt snagged slightly against the wire.

“Oh my God— hold on—”

“Wait, don’t move,” Maximus said automatically.

“I KNOW.”

Gene applauded from the other side of the fence.

“Thank you,” Hannah said flatly once she freed herself.

The creek behind the school looked shallow until you got close enough to realize it was exactly deep enough to ruin your day.

Gene backed up several steps dramatically.

“If I die,” he announced, “delete my search history.”

“Oh, Jesus Christ,” Hannah muttered.

“In front of the lady too,” Maximus added.

“Actually disgusting,” Hannah said.

Gene sprinted forward and launched himself over the creek with way too much confidence.

He landed hard, stumbled violently, windmilled both arms, then barely caught himself before falling face-first into the dirt.

“Clean,” Gene declared immediately.

“You almost died,” Maximus called back.

“But I didn’t.”

Hannah grabbed Gene’s hand while jumping across herself.

She slipped slightly on the landing and crashed shoulder-first into his chest.

Gene staggered backward.

“OH— okay— alright—”

“You survived,” Hannah informed him.

“My spine compressed by at least two inches.”

“You weren’t using it anyway,” Maximus said.

The skate park appeared through the trees a minute later.

Concrete ramps covered in faded graffiti. Rusted rails. Cracks splitting through old repairs. One bent metal bench beside the bowl that looked like it had survived several wars.

Perfect.

A couple middle schoolers filmed each other near the far ramp while distorted music crackled through somebody’s speaker.

Gene collapsed dramatically onto the bench.

“My legs are killing me.”

“You skateboard,” Maximus said. “That’s embarrassing.”

“Walking and skateboarding are entirely different skill sets.”

Maximus unzipped his backpack and pulled out a folded biology worksheet.

Gene recoiled instantly.

“Absolutely not.”

“You said you’d help.”

“No,” Gene corrected. “I said I’d emotionally support you while you suffered.”

Hannah leaned over automatically.

“Which part are you stuck on?”

Maximus pointed vaguely at the page. “Literally all of it.”

Gene grabbed the worksheet before Hannah could answer.

He squinted at it.

“Okay,” he began seriously. “So basically the plant eats sunlight—”

“That is already incorrect,” Hannah interrupted.

“—then it does leaf activities—”

“Gene.”

“—and oxygen comes out because trees are obviously doing witchcraft.”

Maximus laughed hard enough to cough.

Hannah shook her head, trying not to smile.

“You two are hopeless.”

A gust of wind swept across the park.

Gene reached down quickly to stop his skateboard from rolling away.

His sleeve slipped back.

Just slightly.

But enough.

Everything went quiet.

Not literally.

Skateboards still scraped across concrete nearby. Music still crackled through blown-out speakers. Somebody shouted after landing a trick.

But all of it suddenly sounded far away.

Gene froze first.

Then followed their eyes downward.

His hand jerked back so fast it almost looked painful.

“Oh,” he muttered softly.

Not angry.

Not defensive.

Just tired.

Like he already knew exactly what came next.

Gene stood too quickly from the bench.

The biology worksheet slid from his lap and fluttered across the concrete.

“I’m fine,” he said immediately.

Nobody had spoken yet.

Maximus felt something cold settle heavily in his stomach.

Because suddenly every canceled plan, every ignored text, every “sorry I fell asleep” rearranged itself into something obvious.

Gene rubbed both hands hard across his face.

“Can I just—” He swallowed once. “I just need a minute.”

Then he walked toward the trees beside the trail.

Not running.

That somehow made it worse.

Silence settled over the bench after he disappeared.

Hannah stared toward the trees.

“He’s been wearing long sleeves constantly.”

“Yeah,” Maximus said quietly.

“And barely answering anybody.”

“Yeah.”

Hannah looked down at her hands.

“I thought he was getting better.”

Maximus rubbed hard at his mouth.

“So did I.”

But underneath the guilt sat something worse:

Fear that Gene had been drowning beside them for months while they kept joking like everything was normal.

Maximus stood abruptly.

“Nope.”

Hannah looked up. “What?”

“We are not letting him sit out there alone thinking we’re scared of him.”

They found Gene sitting beneath the oak tree near the walking trail.

Elbows on knees.

Head lowered.

He looked up when they approached.

Fear flashed across his face instantly.

Like this might be the moment everything changed.

Nobody spoke at first.

Then Hannah crossed the distance between them and wrapped her arms around him without hesitation.

Gene froze completely.

Then folded inward suddenly like something inside him had finally cracked.

A shaky breath escaped him.

Then another.

“Oh, dude,” Maximus muttered softly.

He crouched beside them and rested a hand carefully against Gene’s shoulder.

Gene laughed once unevenly.

“This is so bad.”

“No it isn’t,” Hannah said immediately.

“You think we care about that right now?”

Gene wiped hard at his eyes with his sleeve.

“You weren’t supposed to see it.”

Maximus shrugged slightly.

“Okay. But we did.”

Wind moved softly through the branches overhead.

Somewhere behind them, skateboard wheels clattered across concrete again.

Life continuing anyway.

Finally Gene spoke again, so quietly Maximus almost missed it.

“I didn’t know how to tell anybody.”

“You don’t gotta explain everything right now,” Maximus said.

“Just don’t disappear on us again,” Hannah added softly.

Gene pressed both hands against his eyes.

“I didn’t mean to.”

“I know.”

Silence settled around them again.

Not awkward.

Just tired.

The sunlight faded slowly through the trees while the sounds of the skate park echoed faintly in the distance.

After a while, Gene leaned back against the trunk beside them.

“Thanks for coming after me.”

Maximus nudged his shoulder lightly.

“Obviously.”

Hannah smiled and bumped Gene gently with hers.

“You’re stuck with us now.”

Gene laughed quietly through what was left of his tears.

And this time, when the wind picked up and pushed his sleeve back again—

he didn’t pull it down immediately.

DMs are open!!!

I love hiking, gym, cooking, cats and dogs, animals in general, gaming, and writing.

NSFW is fine, I don’t mind but if you want a regular convo too, that’s great!

Thanks yall, DM me if I sound interesting.

I’m just looking for some human interaction, I’m fairly open minded and just want to talk to someone, 🤷‍♂️

NSFW is fine, just don’t expect me to send nudes or anything like that.

I like hiking, gym, cooking, writing (my fantasy novel) and hockey, I also collect Pokemon cards and DnD dice.

I know the Pokemon thing makes me sound like a fat slob I promise you I’m not, some of us in the fandom shower 🤦‍♂️

Thanks for reading all this, if you want to talk, DM me!

I’d like to talk to anyone about anything, I’m fairly open minded!

NSFW is fine, just don’t expect me to send you nudes or something.

I enjoy hikes, cooking, hockey, gym, writing (my fantasy novel) and collecting Pokémon and DnD dice.

I know the Pokemon thing makes me sound like a fat slob, I swear I’m not.

Anyways, if you have a topic of conversation lead with that and don’t just DM me “Hey.” and expect me to respond, thanks!

We could talk about anything, interests whatever, I honestly don’t mind, I’m just bored and looking for human interaction lol.

DM if you want to play like truth or dare or two truths and a lie or like the numbers game or something.

(light nsfw stuff is okay, just know im bi, and don’t send me pictures of your dong as an opening message geez.)