Session Stories - The Dragon Riders Chapter 0: Introductions

I'm currently running my table through the Hoard of the Dragon Queen, a published official D&D 5e adventure. Many people have said good or bad things about this campaign. I think it can be good if the DM is willing to improvise and make major changes. I think it is still worth picking up, especially as inspiration, and for the pre-made dungeons, characters, and encounters, that can easily be plugged into your own.

Future posts for these Session Stories will contain spoilers for Hoard of the Dragon Queen, however this post will just be an introduction.

Here are the members of The Dragon Riders. Although they weren't called this from the start.

• Arromar - Tiefling Bard - Standard horny bard. Hits on everything that moves. Discriminated against because of his race. Plays the lute and tells stories of his own greatness. He searched for adventurers to travel with, to find inspiration for his songs and poems when he met...
• Apollo - Half-elf Paladin - This paladin is Lawful Neutral and of the vengeance archetype. He hates necromancers because of a sad background story involving necromancers killing his family. Hates evil, big on smiting and using his sad backstory as an excuse for vengeance. Was traveling with Arromar when he found a half-orc he thought was evil named...
• Feng - Half-orc Barbarian - Very stupid. Very strong. Never wears a shirt, or much other than a loincloth. Doesn't know how to read. Was captured by Apollo while walking on the road because Apollo assumed that an orc walking alone was something that needed to be smited. Was rescued by...
• Alric - Half-orc Ranger - Very studious for a half-orc, and polar opposite of Feng. Not only does Alric know how to read, but he has his own reading glasses that he took from some slain enemy. When he saw a paladin with a half-orc captured only for his race, he taught Apollo the error of his ways. They decided to all join up, because Alric had an important quest with his travelling companion...
• Cogglescod - Gnome Druid - Known as Cog for short, this gnome gave up the tinkering life of most of his family in exchange for quiet solitude in nature, taking care of the balance of things. One day he was meditating and saw great fire and turmoil. He sought to find civilization to see what these things could mean, when he met Alric. He was traveling through the woods when he found a small raccoon trapped and dying. He rescued it, just before Alric appeared and demanded him to leave his traps alone. Cog explained his vision, and asked for help finding out what it meant, for he didn't know much about communicating in civilized society. 

This has been a very basic introduction to these characters. For those of you who have played Hoard of The Dragon Queen and are hesitant to keep reading because you know the story, keep with me. Things go quite off the rails in future sessions.