Hi all and welcome to another night here at Brazen Wolfe Tabletop. Tonight, being Thursday, tonight is reserved for things that enhance the encounter, adventure or weeks experiences for the party whether it’s maps, additional rules (such as weather effects), creature stat blocks or magic items (like what tonight will be).
So a small writeup tonight to glance at a few items we could throw amongst the temple from this months adventure, or,
Items of the Serpent
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Creeper Cloak
The Creeper cloak looks to be made from the skin of a large snake with circular pattern on the scales.
The circular patterns on the snake shift when danger approaches and if the wearer and the cloak are attuned the cloak will extend and move the wearer (and itself) move a short distance away.
Other item ideas
Serpent Tongue earing
This serpent earing pierces the earlobe before looping behind the ear to allow the head of the snake to point towards the ear canal. Anyone who wears this earing can activate the earing by spending 1hp (as the snakes head bites the users ear subtly to draw blood) to be able to detect any lies spoken within hearing distance for 1 hour. The snake would hiss when it detects a lie but otherwise lays inert against the ear occasionally moving slithers backwards and forth.
Serpent Arrow
These arrows appear to be carved from a rich black wood to look like snakes but as they fly they turn into black writhing snakes. These arrows require the creature struck by them to make a DC12 Constitution saving throw vs poison or take 1d6 extra poison damage.
Hissing Amulet
This amulet can be fed poison or live snakes to grant the user a shimmering aura of sound that deflects arrows, magic and sword strikes. By pouring a vial of poison or placing a snake (alive or dead) against the amulet the wearer can gain 1d4+1 temporary hp.
Thanks for joining me tonight for the short writeup to look at some additional items that we could weave into the adventure this week.
Don’t forget to come back the next few days to see the end of month writeup for this month as well as any additional things that come up over the next few days.
Oh, and as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
Hi all and welcome to another night here at Brazen Wolfe Tabletop where tonight we look at twists and turns that can shake up the fundamentals of our adventure.
Tonight, like Monday I want to take a step away again and develop the environment that our party is walking into and so, with that, let’s roll onto it.
Walking Shadow
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Running through the tall stalks of grain Rohun he called out to Ling who was lagging behind him “We’ve got to run, now! We will lose them!” he called, eagerness in his voice as he pushed the stalks and reeds away with his shield as the voice called out to them “Help” from somewhere up ahead.
As the voice came louder the more uncertain of its origin he became, eventually coming to a stop a few dozen feet from the wall that separated the next paddock and the mountains beyond. As Ling walked in front of him he was glad, not for the first time that he had her by his side when things by the fringe got weird or out of control. As the voices started to pickup, repeating words back to them Rohun was so focused on the noises and looking for a person speaking to them that he didn’t notice his own shadow elongate, slither up his body and wrap around his mouth.
The moment the shadow clamped down around his body, constricting him stronger than any creature he had encountered could, binding his arms to his sides, his spear to his arm and holding his mouth shut. It was impossible to move and when he felt a tug on his legs he fell forward on his face he was whipped back into the reeds with such speed that his only chance at survival and freedom was Ling noticing. As he stopped moving and he looked up through the reeds, blinking trying to clear the dirt that had been flicked into his eyes he stared with confusion then horror as he saw himself standing next to Ling in the patch of reeds he was just standing in.
“Run Ling. It’s all we can do now. Go now!” the imposter yelled as he took off, away from the reeds and shadows. Rohun strained against his bindings, moving and straining against the shadows themselves. That’s when he felt them moving him again, pulling him towards the wall and the mountains beyond. He cried out but the shadow around his mouth squeezed tighter, making sure to not hurt him or damage him but keep him quiet as his feet hit the stone of the wall. Then, after a moment of pressure on his feet he felt his legs lift and he started to move over the wall, turning around using what little control he had over his body he looked with terror filled fascination as short little creatures moved with the shadows to attack Ling, but not savagely enough to hurt or harm her seriously but enough to drive her away. He strained, pushed and shouted – praying to his ancestors to seek their assistance – just one noise, one movement enough to get Lings attention so she would turn around and see him.
He felt his feet flick over the top of the wall, then his calves, thighs, hips and lower back. The entire time straining so hard to try and get Lings attention. Pop! his efforts rewarded him with his right shoulder dislocating causing his cries to help to turn into cries of pain and shock. As he felt his shoulders reach the top of the wall he glanced once more at his friend as she stopped, paused and looked back at the wall just in time for him, engulfed in shadows to fall over the wall and land hard. Creatures, bald and naked with exaggerated features stood around him, their forms cloaking in shadows like cloth would be worn by humans. As they walked so did the shadows that bound him move as they headed off in the directions of the mountains – a strange garbled language being spoken but each of them holding a weapon, token, or something of the people of this land – victims from previous abductions no less. As he banged his head on a rock and his should smashed into something else hidden amongst the vegetation beyond the wall his mind wandered as he contemplated what his next move was – how does he escape to save Ling from the doppelganger and warn his people of the shadowy threat this close to their villages.
Thanks for joining tonight I hope that you are all doing well and that this update intrigues you as much as it helps drive my creative process to flesh out the happenings and plot for the party once they land on the new continent.
Don’t forget to come back tomorrow night for more content where tomorrow is a bit of a free-formed night this week and, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
Hi all and welcome to another night here at Brazen Wolfe Tabletop! Tonight I wanted to touch on how we can refine our important NPCs just that little bit more so that when a player asks us them a question like “Whats your family like?” we are prepared with a well thought out answer – whether or not the NPC chooses to disclose this answer is another story.
So taking a leaf out of the Soulbound core book I wanted to delve a bit more into the idea of refining those key NPCs. I wouldn’t suggest spending hours on these questions for all NPCs but maybe limiting it to a quick minute for each significant (not Key) NPC so we can look at having something prepared for for when our players do ask these questions (or similar ones).
Now instead of “What is your name?” “What is your quest?” and “What is your favourite colour” these questions are designed to prod and poke a bit further and to encourage character development.
“5” Questions
What was your childhood like?
This question really drives a few deeper thoughts, did they have present parents? A guardian? A community? No one.? Was there siblings or people they got along with? What was their social economic status like? Wealthy, poor, somewhere in between? Happy, sad, filled with fear or love or both?
This question poses a few bigger thoughts and can probably be enough to flesh out enough of a basic character that the party doesn’t spend a lot of time with.
Who do you least want to run into and why?
Old romantic interest and how did it end (if it did)? What’s their name? How did you meet? What did they do to you? What did you do to them? Where would be the most common place to meet them and why?
Establishing a connection can help drive narrative and quests or at least adventures for the party. Having a person responsible for grief, anxiety or fear means that there is a response when that person is encountered by the party which drives the story and character development.
What motivates you to do what you do?
What do you desire? What do you fear? What are you running from or towards? Why are you doing this?
This one is maybe a bit of a bigger more ambiguous question but it can help with an important question – what motivates the character to do what they are doing – plain and simple.
What do you think is overrated in this world?
A virtue? A freedom? Money? Food? What is it that they think the world could do without?
This one isn’t too difficult and I would maybe save this one for those really deep and importance characters that you just want to really develop and refine. This could help identify character flaws, their alignment (Evil-good), refine their motivations and potentially get a bigger glimpse at their personalities than what the other questions could reveal.
What can’t you live without?
A pet, item, trinket or other possession? A substance (addiction)? A person? A faith or belief? A talent or skill?
Short of the obvious (food, water, air, sunlight) this can introduce interesting little character flaws, dependencies or traits that make the character who they are. If they have an alcohol problem but believe in the guidance and forgiveness of Torm then this is also something that can be explored and used by a good DM to drive plots, stories and the Player character development by interacting with this individual.
The above questions, although maybe not as comprehensive as some that are out there like this one (The Ultimate Character Questionnaire) could be used to flesh out an important NPC or Character in general to help shape and drive their involvement in the stories you write or facilitate (as the players are the real story tellers in our games).
Thanks for joining tonight for a little refinement workshop on NPCs, I will practice the above and hopefully this week come back with a more full and refined character for our D&D campaign.
Don’t forget to come back again tomorrow to look at the midweek madness that is twists, turns and pivot night where we look at what else can shape the adventure we are working on and what can enhance the adventure we create.
And as I wish and remind you each and every night, don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
Hello all and welcome to the last week of March where I consolidate thoughts, take a bit of a breather and, collate a months worth of work into a single post that aims to be used as an adventure of its own.
Today I want to expand on some plot thats happening beyond the reach and sight of the party but something that helps drive understanding of the situation for the world we are steering into.
Shadows amongst the stalks
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Ling walked along the road using the haft of her spear as a walking stick as she and her patrol partner walked along the stone fence that was the border between the fields of wheat and other grains and where fields gave way to buildings and houses.
Pausing Ling watched over the tall stalks of crops, watching them sway in the light cold breeze that came down from the mountains to the north – the seemingly unending tide of crops eventually ending at another small wall that indicated another boundary between property under the Harimasu families land. Squinting, the setting sun to the west causing shadows to drive lazily amongst the stalks of grains she watched as a cloud caused rippling shadows to pour over the far wall giving them a writhing look briefly. Yawning and stretching she continued her patrol, her partner a few feet ahead now but within ear shot and a close enough distance if required to assist if anything went poorly quickly.
“hello” a soft voice carried from the paddock across the wind causing both Ling and her companion, Rohun to stop and look across the field for th owner of the voice. “Hello” it came again, this time Rohun and Ling climbed over the stone barrier and stood in th waist high stalks.
“Hello?” Called Ling,
“We are from the Harimasu family guard. Do you need help?” Rohun asked gripping his shield and spear tightly.
“help” The voice called back, a soft tone that sounded distant and muffled. Ling and Rohun walked through the crop sticking to each others flank and moving in the direction that they thought the voice was calling from. A few moments later the voice called again, this time stronger with more urgency “Help!”. Rohun and Ling began to jog in the direction.
“we’re coming to help. Hold on!,” Ling called out.
“Where are you, show yourself! Let us know where you are” Rohun called.
“Help! Where are you?!” The voice called back. Louder and more frantic which made Ling and Rohan run. “Help!” It called again once more closer. “HELP!” This time shockingly loud, close and desperate.
Then the other voices began. “Help”, “show yourself”, “coming.. we’re coming!” The voices rang in a chorus as the stalks of grain rattled and shook all around them. Stopping, their blood Freezing Ling and Rohun looked back towards the road, they were hundreds of feet away, near the next wall. The rustling continued, now aware of the situation they could pick out their own words and voice being spoken back at them.
“Run Ling. It’s all we can do now” Rohun said. Gripping his spear “Go now!” He yelled running towards the road and Ling running next to him, the stalks either. side of them bending and shaking as shadows moved between and through them.
The first attack came quickly, the shriek of rage inaudible through the cacophony of words, their words, being spoken back at them. Burning hot scratches appeared on Lings back and as she spun around she heard Rohun grunt as he was also attacked, their aggressors to quick for them to see or counter attack. This continued for what seemed like minutes then with a final high pitched “WE’RE COMING!” they stopped and Ling and Rohun jumped the wall as best they could, their backs, legs and arms a patchwork of cuts from talons.
Looking back over the field they sprinted through they noticed the same shadows cast by the clouds reversing over the wall towards the mountains.
Well, thats it for tonight. The threat that the party is coming to aid with has almost reached settlements and are becoming bolder to attack during daylight.
I hope you enjoyed this little glimpse into what’s happening elsewhere and, like me are excited for whats to come.
Don’t forget to come back tomorrow for more content, and, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
As the COVID situation in Australia, well it’s doing something, but regardless of whats going on with it and the new variants out there I am finally able to return back into the office where I normally work (about 1.5 hours commute from home). This is a great step moving forward to get out and mingle with the new team I joined in February 2021 (of which I have met them in person twice in the last year…) but it also means some potential changes to this blog.
I anticipate that the long hours, long commute and the other duties and activities I have outside of work will sometimes lead to delays in posting updates here, for BTW. But, don’t fear I will endeavour to post something daily but it some things may just be the following morning rather than the night of the day – so a small disclaimer if there I am a few hours later than anticipated.
Or I may be many many hours early and you may think that I have been sipping on some form of Abyssal Naga venom… Who knows what the new world will bring but I will still be here, just may be writing to a different schedule.
As always, find that spark of creativity, be good to your fellow humanoid and as always, roll with advantage – it’s a strange world out there and we can all use that extra little bit of luck. The Brazen Wolfe
Hi all and welcome to a Saturday writeup where it was triggered by a message coming through this morning. Like most Saturday mornings I was greeted by the bombardment of notifications informing me that thee was another post in the Warhammer group that I am a member of and I was greeted by a welcome surprise.
Soulbound – the TTRPG that was released by Cubical7 in conjunction with games workshop had a humblebundle where you could get 24 books, yup, 24 books for the TTRPG for the the low price of around $25au. Now my love for TTRPGs as well as my love for Warhammer merged into one low priced bundle that supports charity – how can I say no?
To be truthful I had been looking at soulbound for some time now, not that I have grown out of love with Dungeons & Dragons or OpenLegendRPG but as a way that I can explore another format, another set of rules and broaden my understanding of what’s out there while I try and work out the best system for me when I try to create a RPG system of my own – but more on that another time when I hopefully have it more fleshed out.
So the long and short of Soulbound is really you take command of a hero from one of the forces of order, death or destruction and you take your character and fight your way through Goblins, Orruks (Orcs), zombies, ghouls, Skaven (my favourite little critters) and a whole bunch of other chaos warped things to sink and axe, hammer or arrow into.
Your hero will have a set of Skills, Attributes and talents that generate more dice for the pools which you can use to achieve actions by meeting a difficulty number (DN) and generating the required number of successes based on the requirement the GM put on the check.
In Dungeons & Dragons and many other d20 systems you have a few dice, modifiers or items that enable you to meet and beet a Difficulty Class (DC) which determines the success or fail of the action. With Soulbound you have a pool of dice that you would roll to try and beat the difficulty number with each dice. So each dice you roll has the potential to cause you to succeed and what’s more – its only a d6 (not a d20) so if you needed to roll a 4 (DN4:1) and the check, to jump a fence or barricade for example, required you roll succeed only once. Then if you roll a 3 dice on average you should be fine. This style of mechanics means the more dice you roll the more likely you are to succeed and I do have a fondness for rolling lots of dice.
Now I have only spent a hour or so skimming over the character creation guide (from the core rulebook) but the concept is looking at adding your base ability (Body- Physical prowess, Mind-mental aptitude, and Soul-Spiritual presence.. I guess) to the skills you are trained in to establish what your Melee, Accuracy (Ranged) and Defence rating is from Poor to Exceptional. The higher number your skills and attributes the higher quality your rating is and the higher rung in “The ladder” you are in.
This Ladder is used primarily to determine the difference in quality between the attackers skill and the defenders defence. This determines the Difficulty number on the attack roll to deal damage to try and defeat your opponent. This is a bit complex but once the maths is over then the system is quite.. simple from what it looks like.
I will look at this a bit more over the coming week and hopefully I may try and have a Soulbound Saturday where I post some Soulbound content where I play the game with my fellow warhammer players – well that’s the idea.
While the bundle is cheap on Humble-bundle I would suggest going to have a look at it and see if its something for you. Saving (I think) a bit over 90% of the total cost of the books that are in the bundle for this amount of content is pretty incredible.
Don’t forget tomorrow is the final writeup for the week where we take the party into the temple and confront a bunch of snakes, and their abyssal lord.
Oh, and as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
Hi all and welcome to the end of the week writeup and, the last week of content before I produce the end of month adventure that looks at the last 4 weeks (yup. 4!)
This week we saw our party have to make an emergency stop on a lost island after their ship, the Red Fleets Dancing Drake was attacked by pirates. However unknown to them this island was home to a powerful creature who had claimed the vacant, fertile land as its hunting ground and with its demonic powers it had empowered its servants to kidnap any who dare take refuge on its sandy shores.
So without any more drivel or waffling on let’s get to the write-up!
Ophidian Island
As the storm subsided the party and the crew made their way across the waves their ship having sustained damage from the fighter and the Storm. It was on the second day that the crew saw across the waves and island with tall trees scattered across the island surrounding a lone mountain. Jutting from this mountain was a tall steep spire which towered above the island and into the clouds above.
As the ship limped its way to the sandy shores Kyoko limped forward having sustained a crossbow bolt to her leg during the pirates attack. “Alright crew. We rest here for three days. Get some in wood to repair the ship, get some fresh water and food and we leave. Anyone late to the ship in on the sunrise of the third day gets left behind” she commands and the crew, most of them fully healed from Lizbet, rush off to complete their captains orders.
She beckons for the party. “My maps show this island but warn people to not set up camp, they believe this island to be cursed. Can you keep watch over the crew, Siu and Lizbet to make sure we all leave this island in one piece, or at least the same state we arrived in” she requested, grimacing as she lent the wrong way on her injured leg.
The party nod as Kyoko turns to head back towards her cabin and maps. She had insisted on Lizbet healing her crew before using magic to heal her leg, Lizbet had used all her magic on the crew and was yet to fully recover her magic to heal the captain.
A hour later a group of four crew members run towards where everyone was set up not far from where the ship was moored, the deep water of the cove perfect for a ship of this size.
“we’ve found another ship that looks untouched that would have all the gear we need to make repairs. The other crew are too spooked to enter it and we are finding it hard to get the materials from the trees to make repairs. What should we do?”
Area of note
The breached boat – The crew members that scouted out the beach just north to where the Dancing drake reported in finding a large multi-sailed ship that had a abnormal breaching in its hull that was the ships doom, apparently. The ship itself contains enough material to repair the Dancing Drake and provide spare sail in case something goes wrong, though it wont be Red. However, whilst on and near the ship recovering the materials the party kept seeing glimpses something watching them from the ship – the crew members calling out saying that its the lost crew of the ship who have taken refuge onboard their broken ship.
The Beach – the beach is a mixture of soft, fine sand and smooth pebbles that coat the edge of the island in a welcoming soothing blanket of warmth. The sand, however, is so find that tracks of all kinds seem to melt away quickly with but the faintest of breeze so it’s easy to get lost and not to notice the presence of animals or other creatures until its too late.
The Forest – a relatively humid jungle has sprung up not far from the beach and waters edge. It’s home to mainly snakes of all sizes but any trace of them from when the party first encounter them seem to have disappeared once they enter the jungle in true after the disappearance of their crew and Captain Kyoko.
The Mountains – A large range of mountains has erupted in the centre of the island – large and imposing and so closely clumped together that they could be considered a single large mountain. Fresh water streams form pools at the base of the stone cliffs and, with some time searching, statues of humans bound and constricted by giant snakes can be found littered around the mountains base. Other ruins, evidence of settlement can be found and a large winding staircase was crudely cut into the side of the mountain leading towards a singular jagged spire that juts from the mountain into the sky like a spear piercing the clouds and heavens above.
The temple – at the base of the spire is a large, well crafted temple that is guarded by a large snake statue. The statue is so well crafted that it appears to be a snake until people notice the worn out foot and hand holds that appear to lead up to the snakes snarling jaw where two large blood stained fangs have been a carved out of white stone. These fangs drip with a sickening ichor and appear to have blood seeping into the white stone as the party examine them. The abyssal scripture around the statue states “the faithful, anointed by the serpents venom will be blessed by the serpents gift and will be welcomed as one of the faithful” and only once one of those present has placed blood upon the fangs will the statue briefly come alive and move to the side revealing the steps down. Those who force the snake fang onto their arm as a way of anointing the fangs with their own blood in this manner will feel the affects of snake venom (poisoned) but will feel a sense of unease like a creature is beckoning them into the dark depths below.
The Temple itself is filled with snakes, some forming a single humanoid shape when they encounter the party attacking as a swarm. Behind large sealed double doors an Abyssal Naga waits for the party.
NPCs in this adventure
Choi Fang
Choi is one of the crew members that managed to be spared from the abduction of the the rest of the crew as he was with the party near the other beached ship.
Koyko Harimasu
Kyoko and several other crew members were taken by the snake servants and are unconscious within the temple. As she still suffers a wounded leg (Lizbet being unable to heal her due to her magic needing to replenish and Kyoko insisting the crew take precedence) she is unable to move quickly or defend herself adequately.
“Wild girl”
Living on the island after having escaped the Naga within the temple when her ship’s crew and other passengers were taken after a freak storm ripped a hole in their hull, or so they think it was the storm.
Living on the island with the Naga’s servants has made her cunning, stealthy and self reliant but the potential of leaving with the adventurers made her do something that she swore she wouldn’t do. Hope. She trails the party, wedging the stone serpent statue open so they can escape whilst following behind them making sure that she is there in case she can help them leave with their lives.
NPCs
The Dancing Drakes Crewmates. Several crewmates are with Kyoko and unconscious within the temple. Luckily Siu and Lizbet seem to have been spared (safely onboard the Dancing Drake instead of being on shore)
Environment and running the adventure
The Island –
The wind and fine sand makes tracking difficult (other than the site where the crew was ambushed where the volume of disturbance makes the tracks easily readable). Any survival check to look for tracks or signs of life are made with disadvantage on the beach. The sounds of the jungle in the trees, and the wind howling through it makes sound dissipate before it reaches the ears giving disadvantage on perception checks that rely on hearing.
The Temple – Entrance
Simply put, placing blood on the white fangs will cause the door to open. The script is written in Abyssal (except some parts in common have been added saying “Serpents Gift” – referring to the dripping white fangs and the ichor they produce.
Any blood smeared on the fangs will do and the puncture of the skin to place blood will inflict the poisoned condition on the person (DC18 to resist…) but that person will feel a strong connection to the temple afterwards. Many people can voluntarily be poisoned and each of them will gain the following:
-Advantage on saving throws vs charmed, paralyzed and poisoned from snakes or the Abyssal Naga. -Poisoned condition until the end of a long rest. -Advantage on perception checks to notice snakes. -Advantage on Animal handling checks (snakes).
Room 1 appears to be a small entrance room, small shrines litter the walls where the emphasis appears to be on the worship of snakes. There isn’t much else to this room.
Room 2 is a large room that looks like it would have held books and a small library at some stage – the wall opposite the party a decomposed bookcase has crumbled away from the wall and has revealed what used to be a secret door that lead into a small room beyond.
Room 3 and 4 were separated by a wall that has long since fallen down – the rooms appear to have been bedrooms once but have long since rotted away to nothing. Home to snakes with area being warm and humid there may even be several snake egg clutches in these rooms.
Room 5 (and trapped hallway) a small spike trap will shoot upwards on any who step on the pressure plate. DC14 dexterity check will see the person unharmed, if they fail 2d6 piercing damage and their movement speed will be reduced by 10″ until a long rest due to the injuries to their legs.
Just outside the Naga room there is a wide hallway – at the end of this two large Constrictor snakes would be coiled around humanoid statues by the door – they wait like statues until creatures come within 10 ft or they take damage – at which point they throw themselves at the intruders as their Naga commands.
Naga Room a Large hole in the roof (not drawn in as it was decided later) appears the only other way in or out, on the left side there is a hidden trap door that will lead to a small treasure room that is little more than a crawl space. To uncover the room a perception check of DC14 (or investigation once the door becomes cracked – see encounter) will reveal the room.
Encounter
For this fight let’s assume that the party is Level 4 and that they have had a full long rest before coming into the temple. The aim of this temple is to throw a few creatures at them during the temple to wear them down on spell slots and limited abilities to make the Naga fight a bit harder (as it is just a single creature…)
Room 1 will have a Giant poisonous snake and a Swarm of poisonous snakes in a swarm. They attack the first thing they become aware of.
Room 2 will have one Giant Poisonous snake per person in the party with an extra one lurking behind the chests in Room 5.
The hallway to Room 3 and 4 – this area will have several holes in the top of the walls near the roof – as the party members walk by them giant poisonous snakes (three in total) will drop down on the party.
Room 3 and 4 will have a single Swarm of poisonous snakes guarding the clutches of snake eggs.
Room 5 the trap will reset but once triggered it is easy to avoid when someone knows its there. The room itself will have a giant poisonous snake hiding behind the chests and will lunge and bite who ever comes close.
The hallway to the Naga room will have two poisonous snakes come from holes in the walls when the party walks past them – but they will attack before the Giant Constrictor snakes will attack the party (so to not overwhelm them) while these snakes attack the “totally-not-statue-snakes” will remain motionless. Once the party comes within 10ft of the statues the Giant Constrictor Snakes will attack the party and engage them.
Naga Room – the Naga will drop out of the ceiling once the party reach the centre of the room. Along the back wall the crew members and Kyoko can be seen unconscious, drooling and staring open eyed as if hypnotised or charmed. Once the Naga reveals itself it will attempt to charm the parties magic users and then knock the others unconscious (as it did the crew). It doesn’t hold back and doesn’t seem to care about getting injured (knowing it will revive in a few days time) and will guard its resurrection like a closely held secret. Once the Saga is slain it will fall down, convulse and in its death throws it will break the hidden trapdoor – causing a crack to appear and the steps beyond to become visible to those who actively look there.
Swarm of snakes
The snakes will appear in a humanoid form, walking forward on two shaky legs made from snakes slithering together and they will bite their target by throwing long punches and grabbing the party member within range – the arms, legs and body flowing over the target creature as fangs bite into any exposed flesh they can find.
Giant Poisonous Snake
There will be many more of these in the temple than there would be other creatures. They would attack in hall ways and shouldn’t be limited to just rooms. Dropping from holes in the ceiling or from holes in the walls will be the plan with these medium sized snakes.
Giant Constrictor Snakes
The guards for the Naga room – looking like statues as they curl up at the end of the hall.
Abyssal Naga
Horribly vain, evil and malicious this creature doesn’t hold back and will start to try and charm, bite and fight the invaders of its net.
During this fight however it is careful to not hurt or endanger the crew and Kyoko along the back wall having plans to sacrifice them to the greater demon it wants to curry favour with.
Treasure
Distribute the following in the 3 chests in the map
Immoveable rod
1x Potion of Resistance
Ring of Swimming, Ring of water walking
Potion of animal Friendship
Chime of Opening
Potion of Hill Giant Strength
4 Art items – each estimated to be worth 250gp each to the right buyer.
Thanks for joining this week where we had a small detour and explored a bit of a dungeon, albeit a short one it was one never the less.
Next week see’s the winddown of march and the hopefully publication of the end of month adventure, it’s a big one so don’t miss out.
Don’t forget to come back this week for the linking adventure titbits and perhaps some Soulbound material (and hopefully an age of sigmar battle report write-up too as I missed out on my game last week..) and as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
Hi all and welcome to another night here at Brazen Wolfe Tabletop where we create adventures weekly and we reserve Friday to all things fights (Fightnight!).
So this week we have found ourselves in a slithery situation where the party have come back to where their ship has set down anchor to repair and replenish supplies and the crew and captain Kyoko are missing. After some investigation, and a small wild looking girl pointing them in the right direction, the party came across a temple high in the mountains that appeared to be dedicated to snakes.
So tonight, lets look at some snakes.
Snakes in a Pit
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So without much waffle tonight lets look at the stat blocks for this weeks content!
Swarm of Poisonous Snakes
A pile of snakes, the idea behind these will be the people that abduct and grab the people from the beach (the crew members and Kyoko) will be a bunch of snakes shifted into a humanoid form and when they are back in their temple, their prey before the deity that they worship (seen below) they return to their serpentine form.
Being a more challenging foe I wouldn’t expect more than one or two of these for the temple.
Giant Poisonous Snake
Not as giant as the giant constrictor snake but still large and dangerous these creatures, like the snake swarm above, will take the form of a humanoid to abduct victims from the beech. I would anticipate these snakes will be the main one that is found in the temple and will support either a swarm of snakes, the giant constrictor snake or even the Naga.
Giant Constrictor Snake
Reserved forms of the larger and stronger (more faithful) serpents that serve the Naga these snakes will be seen to have a place of respect – grappling a creature whilst the swarm of poisonous snakes slither forth and bite the prey that is grappled.
These snakes are large, as and with the 10ft threat range on the bite (same as the poisonous snake) makes these creatures a large threat.
Abyssal Naga
The commander, the boss of the temple and being highly intelligent, immune to conditions and poison and being able to cast spells these creatures are impressive to behold.
This creature wont be alone and should have a few snakes outside its room/alter and should reveal itself from hiding (having a high stealth ability). It should try and convince the party to worship it, as it is arrogant and believes itself above all others but when it fights it will attempt to control the biggest threat (mage) and will then attack the others with spells.
Thanks for joining us tonight, I hope that you enjoyed what you have read and are looking forward to the end of week write-up as much as I am.
Don’t forget to come back this weekend for more work, and if you have a word for my “one word challenge” then feel free to propose one for me to write to this weekend!
Oh, and as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
Hi all and welcome to Thursday night where we look at extra’s, maps and other things that we can add to our adventure to give it that little bit more.
Tonight I wanted to expand upon something that I had drafted out in the Serpent temple in a previous post, but wanted to focus and do a deep dive on the “how” to get into the temple itself and what it requires.
So without getting too much into it before the hand-drawn diagrams of the contraption let’s roll on with tonight’s write-up!
Snakebite
212ThSB
When the party enter the temple they are greeted by an imposing snake statue that is ten feet tall and the intricately carved serpent coils around a large dark stone that is positioned against the far wall. As the party approach the serpent statue a dank, warm draft comes from behind the statue where, upon investigating the party can see stairs leading into the darkness beyond and below.
Closer inspection into the serpent statue itself reveals deep, purposely crafted recessions into the statue itself leading up the carving of the snake towards the top where the gaping jaw of the hissing snake reveals two large white carved stone fangs that drip an ichor.
Looking around the room they are in they notice a scuff mark on the stone to the right of the statue that look as if a large, heavy stone object had recently and often prior moved across the roughly carved stone slabs that formed the floor of the room.
Large engravings in a foreign and abrasive language are carved into the door frame amongst images of slithering snakes and to read the words aloud gives the party a deeply unsettled feeling within. There is a single phrase that is readable in common “Serpents gift” that is repeated at different parts in the symbols.
The intention of this room is for the party to investigate the stone statue and uncover the puzzle – to be bitten by the serpent will bestow its gift and allow the worth to pass through.
The groves (as seen in the second drawing) are steps up towards the fang – investigation or high perception will reveal worn groves that looks like shoes, and blood in these recessions as if someone who was bleeding used them as a hand or foot hold.
The fangs themselves (the image of the serpents gaping jaw) are dripping an ichor that will inflict the poisoned status against any who take the poison into their blood stream. The statue itself just needs blood applied to the fangswhich will absorb some of the blood and the snake will momentarily come alive and shift to the right, dragging the heavy black stone along with it and revealing the pathway down into the temple itself.
The language is abyssal and will read “the faithful, anointed by the serpents venom will be blessed by the serpents gift and will be welcomed as one of the faithful” – Serpents gift is also written in common beneath it as if translated once before.
Thanks for joining me tonight, to look at the additional content that we have to expand our adventure this week. If you like the content, or, like the hand drawn aspect of this weeks content please let me know so I can continue to work on my long forgotten drawing skills – it has been quite a while.
Don’t forget to come back the next few days for more Brazen Wolfe Tabletop content and, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
Hello welcome to Brazen Wolfe tabletop where on Wednesday night where we look at twists, turns and speed bumps that we will throw at our party this week.
This week we find our party exploring a isolated island in hopes of making some repairs and getting materials food and water for their trip ahead across the sea. After finding a beached ship with a large breech in the side of it and the crew and the party said about salvaging materials from it and returning back to the ship. Little did they know that there was someone watching them from aboard the ship, a castaway, someone who had been lost on this beach long before and who saw their only way of Salvation in the form of the party at risk of being taken by the islands other inhabitants.
Tonight I tried out a little shortcut to help churn through the content of this blog so there may be a few imperfections below – I will
So without further waffle let’s get on with the write up.
That which nests in the dark
212WeNeDa
As the last of the sail and the weathered but salvageable planks came down from the beached ship the party looked over their work from the last day. As they walked away from the ship and down the beach they couldn’t shake the feeling that had nestled within their heads that they were being watched. Shrugging as they helped the few crew that remained with them take hold of the bundles of planks, wrapped up sail and other bits and pieces the party continued down the beach, dragging and carrying their pilfered goods and materials down the beach towards the row of trees they had walked through initially. To intent on their task they did not notice the rustling in the grass or the long thin bodies moving in the underbrush nor the distant screams and cries for help that the wind whisked away and the trees muffled to the point of silence.
Moving towards their ship there was no movement from the crew that had remained behind to continue their search for food, fresh water and materials as they had left to investigate the broken ship. As they drew closer to where they had set up a temporary camp, the lack of movement and people moving about the canvas tents set off alarms in the party’s minds and they dropped their heavy burdens and looked around for their travelling companions.
The astute and observant members of the party looked around in the ground and noticed many signs of a struggle and several sets of large, deep drag marks that indicated people were dragged off towards the forest not far from the waters edge.
As the party followed the drag marks and disturbances in the sand towards the forest edge a short figure darted out and grabbed a hold of the lead Party members arm. “Don’t go in there,” the little wild looking girl said, “you will end up like the others trapped… trapped in the dark waiting for your fate as the never ending hiss comes from the cavern below.” She spoke in hushed tones and looked around nervously as if expecting to see something more.
“The forest is too thick you won’t be able to find the way to where they’re keeping them. Anyway there’s to find the tracks and avoid avoid the scouts that will be keeping an eye out above the monolith, there is no way in or out not out of the dark not where the great beast nests.”
After a few moments and realising that the party would could not be decided from following their friends and trying to save them the little wild girl ran off into the forest disappearing amongst the trees and the bushes. As the party set foot leaving the crew members that help them with the salvage operation behind, they followed the drag marks and tracks as far as they could before the jungle Swallow the air tracks. After an hour of travel they eventually came to a large roughly hewn path in the side of the mountain leading up towards the spire.
The trees with sparse at the base of the mountain except for at the waters edge of the large freshwater lake that appeared to be fed from a stream coming down from the mountain.
The rough uneven ground of the path leading up the mountains enabled the parties to traverse it without much difficulty the bumps grooves and uneven rocks although creating trip hazards enabled enough footholds and they would not sleep further down the mountain. After further our of travel are they eventually came to a Plateau I’m high above the treetops of the jungle around the mountain and from this point they could clearly see several other wrecked ships positioned around the island each one of them nestled amongst the sand except for the Dancing Drake. Ahead of them lay more purposely carve out steps that lead to a large archway leading further towards the spire at the centre of the mountain.
Although vigilant in paying attention as they traverse through the jungle and the mountains and seeing no humans or humanoids on the journey the feeling of them being watched never left them and the further they climbed up the carved steps the more ghostly shed skins of snakes did they find.
As they passed passed underneath the intricately carved archway that depicted snakes coiled around bound humans that supported the large archway above. One hundred feet past the archway, at the base of the spire they could see the beginnings of a building much like a temple from back home carved into the side of the rocky face of the spire and from within its murky depths a penetrating cold feeling clutched at them greedily.
Ok thanks for joining me tonight I hope that you have enjoyed the write up this Wednesday around what happened to the crew when the party was salvaging materials to fix the Dancing Drake. Don’t fret though our little wild friend will be making a return visit in the near future perhaps assisting the party on their way through the temple.
Don’t forget to let me know if you do enjoy any of this content your comments and feedback is important and it helps me grow I craft as a dungeon master. Oh, and as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
Brazen Wolfe Tabletop 
