Month: Apr 2022

Bog light

thebrazenwolfeLeave a comment

Hi all and welcome to an unconventional Tuesday as this week the heroes at trekking across the marshlands to reach the port town where they hope to muster aid to return to the Dancing Drake and conduct emergency repairs. Now that doesn’t sound unconventional by any stretch on ones imagination but what if I told you that I was going to throw the story line in the dice bag, scramble it and then take it out in a different order.

So sit back and see if you can work out the missing piece.

Shamans Harvest

215TuShHa

The old toad-kin hobbled around the little mudbank hut using a large cane to support her missing foot as she walked from shelf to shelf.

As she grabbed the last flappy appendage from the dried bundle she frowned, the ingredient was a hard one to locate and harder to retrieve. Shrugging and tossing it into boiling pot she began to stir the green-brown slime until it bubbled with a earthy meaty smell.

A large frog appeared in her windowsill between her and the mossy natural curtain that hid her windows and hut from the outside world. The frog looked at her and began to croak loudly and rhythmically.

“two toads approach you say, its about time they come to see me I am almost out of the good stuff.” She croaked back at it. The frog croaked in return conveying its message more urgently. “What do you mean humans approach as well. Do not think that although I may not move around as I once did that I can’t catch you and cook you up too” she replied as she walked to the window and peered through the curtain of moss. “Oh, you’re right. There is humans there…”

The party having limped, injured, through the swamp through most of the day and into the night looked around the large heavily vegetated marsh flat where a chest height hill had formed to support the only tree for miles around. The two toad-kin pointed and croaked deeply, a reverberation that seemed to dance across the grass and moss and then towards the mound. Slowly the clack of wood came forward from the mound and a one footed ancient, short female toad-kin hobbled out.

The toad-kin looked from one party member to the next she spoke in elven. “These Toads tell me you seek passage through the marshlands, I believe I have a solution”..

Well that’s the end of tonight’s writeup, the hardest one I had planned for this week. Thanks for joining me tonight and don’t forget to join me here for the next few nights this week.

With the Easter period approaching I’ll find myself with more time to go back and refresh some previous posts that I feel may need a bit more. So don’t forget to come back to check what we post here and as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Across the Marsh

thebrazenwolfeLeave a comment

Hi all and welcome to a new week where the heroes would be continuing on their journey across Ryokughan – well they would be if not for the battle that took place in the marshlands.

So this week we will be looking at the next stage in the adventure, being the fifteenth week we have been writing for this year (and the 4th month!) we have a lot of ground to cover if we want to reach our end of year goal – So I better roll on with it.

Marsh Caller

215MoMaCa

As the war-chief fell back and slid into the murky depths of the river the boat rocked and ceased to move along the river current. It appears whilst the main fight was going on above deck something more sinister was happening below deck, below the waters surface to be more precise. A series of large holes had been ripped open in the hull just below the waterline while the ship took on water it had drifted between two marsh islands and as it sank it had become lodged between the muddy banks.

The Toad-kin left the ship and celebrated on the marshy outcroppings below whilst tending to the wounded who had survived the attack, and their chiefs and a chorus of grunts, hoots and croaks filled the sound in a rhythmic tribal beat. Thankfully a large portion of the toad-kin had survived and the crew had come away with some wounds, but nothing life threatening whilst Lizbet was around.

After some time two unarmoured toad-kin approached the crew and were eventually lead to Lizbet and the party. Whilst able to understand common communication seemed hard, body language and communication with hand gestures revealed that these two toad-kin (Kiri and Trip) wished to help those who walked amongst the walking star and could show them the way through the marsh, they think.

The crew and Kyoko both agreed that travelling the marsh would cut days off their travel, considering their ship was grounded until repairs could be made, and it would take a savvy survivalist to lead them through unscathed, particularly the darker deeper parts of the marsh and jungle that lay between them and the port they were travelling to.

The issue is that the Toad-kin could not communicate traditionally but they wanted to take them to someone who commanded the spirits and magic of the swamp to create a charm that would lead them through the worst of the marsh and perhaps find a way to enable the two Toad-kin to communicate with those they wished to serve and assist.

Reluctant to agree they considered their other options, sure that they could find a spell or charm to speak and communicate with the diminutive humanoids they set off on their own, heading in the direction with a compass borrowed from Choi to seek help at the port to retrieve supplies and a crew to repair the dancing drake and get it sailing again.

Kiri and Trip not wanting them to fail followed them but not being able to communicate effectively started to wear down the party and their guides nerves as the marsh got thicker and the sun got lower as the day went on.

I can not begin to express how excited I am for this weeks adventure. What I don’t reveal that often is that most of the time the process I have with my adventures is very adhoc, natural and spontaneous which means that the story grows, shifts and evolves as I wear it – however this week I reached that point of clarity much earlier in my mapping and I am excited to see what I can reveal to you this week as the party continue through the marshlands and beyond.

As I say every night don’t forget to keep an eye on the blog for my daily updates, I have a bout of leave approaching and I plan to make a mad sprint to have a lot of my Skaven army painted by the end of the two weeks of leave. I also have a few exciting days ahead for this weeks adventure as we meet colourful critters and lumbering lurkers that wait amongst the reeds and rotting wood.

So don’t forget to come back each day this week and, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Marsh-dweller

thebrazenwolfeLeave a comment

Welcome to another writeup that looks at the past week where this time our party have ventured across the sea to Ryokughan and were on the last leg of the journey where normally peace loving toad-kin have been rallied into a heaving mass of amphibious aggressors who have been told by their dark patron to stop the Dancing Drake for their debt to be paid.

So instead of re-writing the past week let’s jump into the end of week write-up and the adventure..

Peaceful Marauders

Sailing towards the continent of Ryokughan the party start to relax with the setting of the sun as the ship sail are pulled in and several great oars are produced from portholes on the side of the ship.

As the ship moves through the marsh and the lanterns are lit across the deck of the ship one of the crew, Choi, mentioned to them.

“Don’t follow lights in this jungle. Not during the night and definitely not during the day” Choi fang mentioned as he wound up a length of rope as he finished tying up one of the sails. “There are witches and fell spirits in these marshes that would love for nothing more than the easy meal of someone who doesn’t know the rule of these lands. ”

When the question is asked, “What’s that?” Choi replies with a grin, “Don’t follow the lights.. All light casts a shadow and the smaller the light the bigger the shadow” before he walked off below deck to get a meal in before a long night of navigating through the marsh.

Meanwhile deeper in the marsh Kiri and Trip, two toad-kin who had been summoned by their large and more violent chiefs met and shared a meal. The war chief; a large, violent and terribly powerful member of their kind had received orders from The Shadow to ensure none of the crew upon the Dancing Drake survived their trip through the Marsh.

Area of note

The boat – The Red Fleets Dancing Drake is where the party find themselves calling the ship home, for the time being at least.

The Marsh – The marsh is small islands of mud and root systems of the bushes and reeds that grow in this otherwise deep waterway. Those who fall overboard are treated with deep water, slippery mud banks and thick 4feet tall reeds that make traversing these waterways dangerous during the day and lethal at night.

NPCs

Koyko Harimasu

Kyoko spends her time fighting off toad-kin as they swarm the helm – attempting to keep the little humanoids(ish) from running the ship aground.

Elizabeth “Lizbet” Scaulder

When Lizbet appears on deck, her divine magic appears as if she was a fallen star. The Toad-kin cease fighting and drop to their knees in worship as the vision that walks before them is like a tale sung from campfires from their elders.

Siu

Siu is in a good mood, nervous and anxiety being this close to his home land in a very long time when he senses danger and Lizbet moves to go up on deck he races forward to protect her. To the Toad-kin he appears as an emissary of the ancient ones – dragons. His fangs, claws and shimmering gold scales cause lesser toads to jump overboard and those brave enough to hold fast dare not strike him

As well as random NPCs. The Dancing Drakes Crewmates Choi Fang takes a more active role this adventure.

Choi Fang – Crew member of the Dancing Drake

Environment and running the adventure

The Marsh banks – If someone was to fall overboard a DC10 Dexterity check would be required to stand up safely on the river bank (or they fall prone), made with disadvantage if the person on the bank is wearing heavy armour. The islands are 5ft by 10ft on average with some longer but skinnier, and some 10ft by 10ft banks of mid and reeds sporadically spread out either side of the deep river.

The Boat – See Map

Encounter

In this encounter lets assume that our party of 4 have all reached level 5, I think that would be fitting for being this far in the adventure-year. (disclaimer – forgotten from Fridays writeup – the Goblin and whale are placeholders for the CR..)

That is a lot of critters and yes it does say deadly, but if we break it down into how these creatures fight then it will make more sense.

These creatures will send through the foot soldiers, the humble toad-kin, first before the chiefs will be riled up to fight. If the chiefs begin to falter (and they do easily not being dumb creatures and valuing their life more highly than most things) then the war-chief will wade into the thick of things to dish out discipline and intimidate through violence the lesser toads.

Once Lizbet arrives the toad-kin will stop fighting and three chiefs will arrive the War chief falls and they will use their bully ability to get toad-kin’s to fight the party (despite them not wanting to and it being very obvious that they don’t want to. The Toad-kin (not chief) will had disadvantage on attack rolls when they are fighting in this part of the fight.

Once the Chiefs die then the War-chief will appear, with a second larger chief and they will then attempt to kill the party – using their size and weight to bully the toad-kin who are reluctant into fighting.

Toad-kin War – Chief

While the Toad-kin are a peaceful those particularly blessed by the shadow grow to large intimidating sizes, the smallest at which being the size of the largest of a faerun orc, and with their size comes a hunger for violence and destruction.

Whilst violent and destructive these war chiefs of the toad-kin are cunning, calculating and meticulous in their planning utilising and commanding great throngs of lesser toad-kin usually by bulling and intimidating the clan chiefs and eating the smaller toads who defy them. True servants to the shadow these creatures have forgotten the way of their people, the worship of light, life and nature and seek only the glorification of themselves and the gratification of brutality.

The war chief toad-kin occasionally reaches large size, gaining a thicker hide, mightier constitution and more cunning after surviving so long. These Large ogre sized creatures are rare but extremely powerful and should be feared due to the sheer volume of clans that they bully into service.

Toad-kin Chief

The chief of a clan of toad-kin is larger than most, broad chested, heavy and brutal. Blessed by the taint they received by the shadow they bully lesser toad-kin into doing what they want using their size and powerful bodies to get their way and keep control over their people.

Still somewhat superstitious they look for signs that align to their plans and are quick to point out bad omens that would put their plan or right to rule in favour.

These toad-kin are only second to the largest of their kind and take orders from only them. These large toad-kin chiefs emerge from the dank, dark, murky waters of the marsh and jungles to launch raids and attacks on other races for the betterment of themselves.


The Toad-kin

The toad-kin by itself is unimpressive. Small (about 3ft tall) but fast and nimble it uses its large powerful legs to hop around the marsh to catch food and forage. Servants and cowards they serve their chief with total loyalty and only their superstitious nature will overrule the orders and commands that is barked at them.

Aftermath

Once the war chief dies a dark mist will escape from its lungs as it exhales the last time and will fly away to the north. The Toad-kin will throw down their weapons and appear joyous at the death of the chiefs, maybe not all of them but a majority will and they will attempt to communicate with the party if they can; led by Kiri and Trip.

Well that’s it for tonight, thanks for joining me as we wrapped up this weeks adventure and I am looking forward to party members falling overboard.. I mean learning the true nature of the toad-kin – who I am sure we will explore more of in the near future!

Don’t forget to come back next week as we look to continue with this months adventure oh, and as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Hobby update April 9

thebrazenwolfeLeave a comment

Hi all and welcome to a hobby update!

I finally put paint to brush and made a start on the first bits of the basing theme I have for my Skaven army.

The army will be neutral autumn tones with each clan of rats being a different tone of autumn, reds, yellows, oranges, purples, greens, browns and so forth and for my Verminus (Clanrats and Stormvermin) I chose red as there is something nice about a red Clanrat.

So tonight I painted the bases for the 26 painted clan rats I have been working on so far and I focused heavily on one of my Clawleaders, the leader of the clawpack.

So let’s have a look at some pictures!

The first step, done ages before, is using mod podge to form a basing texture using sand, tiny stones and some larger ones that you can get quite easily as aquarium gravel.

The second step was to paint with a dark brown – my paint of choice is cheap art acrylic (raw umber and just smother it all over, slightly watered down to make it flow into the sand to reaffirm that binding.

The third step is to do a heavy dry brush of the next darker shade of brown I have, burnt umber and try and leave some parts revealing that raw umber colour still.

Then its a repeat of the next few colours, progressively dry brushing lighter and lighter until barely touching the ground (focusing on the rocks where possible). The next colour for us is Burnt Sienna.

Then we hit it with “stone grey”

Next up is “Neutral grey” chosen for its slight warm hues in it.

Then sticking on the miniature, our Clawleader, superglue in this case to bone the raw plastic with the painted surface.

Afterwards more matte mod podge was dabbed onto the surface where I wanted larger rocks (Fine rock) and some super great fine green flock applied overtop and around the rocks (as to not completely hide them). The flock in this case is woodland scenics.

And finally I added a few choice bits of Gale force9 Autumn flock blend (fine consistency, I guess as I have a lot coarser flock there from them too). This was once again secured down with some undiluted mod podge and then had a watered down mod podge wash dabbed over the top.

I am quite happy with how this is looking at the moment, my Rats of Autumn are finally coming together and I am excited to have a full table full of them in their multi-coloured goodness.

This is just one of 26 that I have done, the process taking a few hours over all (paint drying, am I right?) but setting down with a clear goal in mind helped out massively.

Finally, I am not sponsored by any company and bought these quite some time ago but below are the products I called out in the above steps in case you like the look and want to attempt the same.

Thanks for joining me for a bit of this hobby update, I do have some more refining to do and extra bits for my clan rats but am working on provisioning the materials for the extra steps for the basing and extra bits of detail.

Don’t forget to come back tomorrow for the writeup of our weekly adventure and, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Marshland Marauders

thebrazenwolfeLeave a comment

Hi all and welcome to fight night! It nay be Friday night for normal people but for us here at Brazen Wolfe Tabletop we know it to promise encounters, puzzles and other goodness.

Now there’s a saying in Ryokughan that the dragon holds a ember of fire in it’s cheek incase the night is long… No, not really, but still the message is always keep something in reserve and today I have just that!

War Chief

214FrWC

While the Toad-kin are a peaceful those particularly blessed by the shadow grow to large intimidating sizes, the smallest at which being the size of the largest of a faerun orc, and with their size comes a hunger for violence and destruction.

Whilst violent and destructive these war chiefs of the toad-kin are cunning, calculating and meticulous in their planning utilising and commanding great throngs of lesser toad-kin usually by bulling and intimidating the clan chiefs and eating the smaller toads who defy them. True servants to the shadow these creatures have forgotten the way of their people, the worship of light, life and nature and seek only the glorification of themselves and the gratification of brutality.

The war chief toad-kin occasionally reaches large size, gaining a thicker hide, mightier constitution and more cunning after surviving so long. These Large ogre sized creatures are rare but extremely powerful and should be feared due to the sheer volume of clans that they bully into service.

In this encounter lets assume that our party of 4 have all reached level 5, I think that would be fitting for being this far in the adventure-year.

That is a lot of critters and yes it does say deadly, but if we break it down into how these creatures fight then it will make more sense.

These creatures will send through the foot soldiers, the humble toad-kin, first before the chiefs will be riled up to fight. If the chiefs begin to falter (and they do easily not being dumb creatures and valuing their life more highly than most things) then the war-chief will wade into the thick of things to dish out discipline and intimidate through violence the lesser toads

Now that we have all the stat-blocks for this weeks encounter and a bit more of an insight into the hierarchy of these normally peaceful creatures we have ourselves a fight on our hands.

So don’t forget to come back for the weekend nights to get more hobby updates, the final writeup and hopefully something extra, if I can find the time to do so!

Don’t forget to let me know if you are playing along or if you have any questions around how to incorporate this setting into your forgotten realms campaign and above all else, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Hopping mad

thebrazenwolfe2 Comments

Hi all and let me start off with saying, the title, not my greatest moment I know but for a Thursday post where we look at adding extra material to this weeks adventure I think the title is fitting!

Now instead of making a carbon-copy of the already established frog like race, the Bullywug, I have adjusted them slightly to reflect the differences in creatures between Faerun and Ryokughan.

Peaceful marsh dwellers

214ThPMD

The Toad-kin, a Ryokughan Bullywug (more or less) is thought to have originated from a toad of such age that the spirits and ancestral beings blessed it and its kind to join the humanoid races.

The creatures were preyed upon by the more predatorial and vicious of the humanoid races but they walked with elves and spirits and learnt how to interact with the world. They learnt of nature, the importance of life and the value in all creatures as well as how light was the source of all life.

Then the Oni came down from the mountains and started to enslave and butcher the toad-kin. The elves and spirits disappeared to push back against he Oni and other forces that were rallying against the peaceful races. When the toad-kin thought all hope was lost and their numbers had dwindled down to a point where it was unlikely they could recover a shadow crept into their midst and promised them power enough to fight back against their aggressors for the same of a taint upon their kind. They accepted, with hesitation at the time but as the magic and power flooded through their kind they cherished they power that came with the taint. The next day the Oni were no where to be found, the toad-kin never had to use their powers and they began to rebuild their society with the ones most blessed by the shadow taking rulership over their kind and ruling the swamps and jungles.

The Toad-kin

The toad-kin by itself is unimpressive. Small (about 3ft tall) but fast and nimble it uses its large powerful legs to hop around the marsh to catch food and forage. Servants and cowards they serve their chief with total loyalty and only their superstitious nature will overrule the orders and commands that is barked at them.

Toad-kin Chief

The chief of a clan of toad-kin is larger than most, broad chested, heavy and brutal. Blessed by the taint they received by the shadow they bully lesser toad-kin into doing what they want using their size and powerful bodies to get their way and keep control over their people.

Still somewhat superstitious they look for signs that align to their plans and are quick to point out bad omens that would put their plan or right to rule in favour.

These toad-kin are only second to the largest of their kind and take orders from only them. These large toad-kin chiefs emerge from the dank, dark, murky waters of the marsh and jungles to launch raids and attacks on other races for the betterment of themselves.

Now that we have some rules we can have a go at coming up with some encounters tomorrow night!

So don’t forget to come back the fight night tomorrow night, hopefully some more hobby progress and the end of week write-up this weekend. If you are enjoying what you read here and haven’t subscribed don’t hesitate, its a great way to make sure you don’t miss a single update from here and, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Starlit

thebrazenwolfeLeave a comment

Hi all and welcome again to my blog where we explore a d&d adventure a month and a session a week, or so the theory goes. Today we will look at twists, turns and secondary plot hooks as we have done for quite a few Wednesdays in a row.

Tonight I’m flipping the script a bit and approaching the Wednesday twist a bit differently than normal so buckle up, it may seem a bit disjointed but it should be worth it.

Star born

214WeSB

As countless bodies leapt from the marshy bank just as many fell over the edge, their bodies burn, cut, pierced or crushed by the defenders of the ship. The loud, large croaking voice of the war chief pierced the shrieks of the toad people and the cries of pain and alarm from the humans and vanara onboard the boat.

Kiri prepared himself to begin his attack, Trip standing next to him looking jittery, with energy or nerves he could not tell. ” This is it old friend,” he began as the ship came within leaping reach, “may the stars embrace you. I dare say we will join them soon” he said, blinking his bulbous eyes once as he attempted to Swallow his nerves away. Trip just nodded before leaping onto the side of the boat along with dozens of other toad kin.

As their clawed, padded fingers expertly found hand and foot holds they scaled the side of the ship amidst the flow of bodies tumbling over the side. Their hands reached the edge of the ships railing and the volume of creatures fighting on-top of the ship was staggering, there was a wave of greens, browns, yellows and the occasional white toad as they stabbed, cut, bashed and leapt towards towards the humans. As soon as a toad fell their comrades would grab the body hastily and throw them overboard, the wounded feeding the marsh or recovering in the relative safety of the waters and reeds.

As room opened up on deck Kiri and Trip pushed up over the side of the ship helping their clansmen push a injured toad over their shoulders and into the water below. The smell of blood was ripe in the air, the sticky sweet of their kind and the harsh metallic of the humans and monkey kin. As the toads pushed forward, their ranks swelling and moving as one living mass of bodies one of the humans received a spear to their thigh, crying out their allies pulled them back behind their closing ranks as the clink of metal and the scent of death approached. A group of humans unlike the others strode forward, getting where they walked from the pile of dead toads was so many that their people were simply unable to clear the deck. The scent of fear and increase in bodily secretions grew where ever the group moved and when they did bodies lay on their wake.

“Liz! We need you!” Cried out a voice from somewhere and a door burst open a few moments later revealing something that terrified the toads more than the death bringers. A emissary of the ancient ones. Fangs, claws and a touch scaled hide of shimmering gold caused lesser toads to jump overboard. But behind the emissary is what stopped the fighting.

A fallen star walked forward, light radiating from it as if bringing warmth, hope and life to the night. The toads as of single organism dropped to their knees and bowed low on reverence as nothing was more sacred to them as the stars above.

Kiri trembled. Ancient stories spoke of stars walking amongst their kind and where they walked life flourished. That was before the great uprising where the oni attempted to enslave all life on this land and the stars vanished. Ot was during this time of war, death and fear that the shadow brokered its pact with his kind and they survived the oni somehow.

Silence and confusion littered the boat and Marsh and only the croaking of several chiefs, and the deep reverberation of the war chief could be heard as confusion stillness moved across the ranks of toad kin.

“Well. I don’t know what spell you cast Liz but they don’t seem to be attacking us any more” one human said and, risking a glance up Kiri looked towards the star and his eyes flew wide, it was a human.

Now you may think that I have revealed too much already and ask yourself “surely he has no where to go for the rest of the week” well you would be forgiven as a good tactician always has another tactic, angle or approach lying in the wings.

So don’t forget to come back the for the last few nights for this weeks content. I hope to also have some more progress on some other hobby work one of these nights this week as well. Oh and as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Mire-strider

thebrazenwolfeLeave a comment

Hi all and welcome again to Brazen Wolfe Tabletop where Tuesdays we look at NPCs and instead of focusing on a crew member of the Dancing Drake I wanted to tie some things in together and drive a bit more of the worlds narrative.

So sit back, sip on some coffee and enjoy!

Talking Moss

214TuTM

Kiri hoped across the marsh using his powerful legs to jump from one clump of reed to the next trying to keep his bare feet dry as the sun set across the marsh and the night creatures began to howl and call to each other in the jungle beyond. His head bounding above the grass he gripped the sharpened harpoon in his hand as the smell of roasting meat hit his nostrils and he slowed down from a bounding leap to a hop from one dry perch to the next.

“you’re late Kiri” a voice grunted from his left. Startled he whirled around and stumbled onto a dry mud bank that had been flattened with many feet pushing down the reeds to form a carpet under their feet. The creature that stepped out, it walked on thick meaty webbed toes that made crossing the marsh and navigating the deep, cold, treacherous waters easy for it whilst its ankle bent backwards much like a cat.

“Trip, I could smell your fire from across the marsh. You’ll attract company if you don’t keep it under control” he chided the creature in front of him, grinning his broad toothed mouth at his fellow hatch-mate.

“I did. Well, to be precise, company has been called.” Trip said, a touch of sadness and bitterness coating his words. “The shadow has called and the people answer. We have not forgotten our debts and its time for us to make amends” Kiri sighed, reaching into the pot upon the fire and bringing out a questionable chunk of meat, still with rat like tail attached.

Confirming it was indeed rat Kiri swallowed it with glee, it was his favourite meat after all, before turning to his friend. “What does the shadow want of us?”

Trip nodded in approval at his friends respect for the old ways. “There is a boat crossing the marsh tonight, we are to make sure it doesn’t reach port.” the old toad-like humanoid said with a sigh as he drew out a long slender blade.

Nodding Kiri reached into the pot again, this time turtle, and handed it to Trip who grabbed it with his three fingers. “Well, if one night of bloodshed can mean that out people, children and their children can leave in peace as we have these past centuries then let the debt be called.” Kiri asked as he waited for his friend to finish picking the meat off the bone. “How many is coming?” Kiri asked at last.

“The clans” Trip responded slowly looking across the marsh as the sun set, similar little camp fires could be seen glowing amongst the reeds in the quickly encroaching darkness, the marsh a sea of small fires that reflected the glowing stars above. Following the river with their eyes as they begin to focus on the surroundings as darkness flooded the land, a gift from the shadow from when their ancestors made the first pact with it. “All of them” Trip continued as he stood up staring at the large ship, lanterns being lit to illuminate the deck, masts and oars as it made its way down the river.

Kiri and Trip glanced towards the stars, sacred to their people and a thing of great worship and respect. Their kind was peaceful and wanted nature to flourish and life to prevail but to overthrow their past masters, the Oni, they made pact with the Shadow which gave them the strength and power to overthrow their aggressors and captors which dwindled over time with peace taking over their culture. But tonight it was war, he just hoped that he would see his family again after the pact was honoured and that he could look at them even after spilling blood of a humanoid.

A great reverberating croak resounded over the still marsh and Trip, like presumably everyone else, put out their fires and plunged the marsh into darkness. The croak of the war chief was to be respected cause only they truly help any semblance of their kinds power and it was power that they respected and feared.

Well that was a lot of fun to imagine and I am excited for this weeks writeup! Let me know below if you enjoy the focus of this week so far as the next few nights will expand upon yesterdays and tonight’s content to flesh out the toad-like race of humanoids that inhabit the jungle and marsh as well as how they relate to the current situation in the continent.

Don’t forget to come back the next few nights to follow along as this adventure grows and, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Shallow Shadows

thebrazenwolfeLeave a comment

Hi all and welcome to a ‘new month’ where we begin the next leg of our journey across to Ryokughan – the home continent of Kyoko Harimasu and her Red Fleet.

So, instead of delaying the writeup further I anticipate it may be bit of writeup tonight and I really do need to kick it off.

Shallows of Ryokughan

214MoSoR

As dawn greeted the Dancing Drake a week after they left Ophidian Island Kyoko and her crew stopped what they were doing so they could walk to the bow of the ship to witness what the dawn’s light revealed. The Captain, crew and passengers nearly breathed in deep collective breath as the salty air mixed with the jungles of their Red Fleets homeland came to view with dawn, Ryokughan they had made it at last. A few of the crew who insisted on wearing their masks came looked around cautiously before taking them off, revealing themselves to be Vanara, the simian race that the party had encountered back in Daye.

“We will be at the great docks in two days as we head west along the coast. This boat is built to fit down the shallowest parts of the marsh which we will be passing through tonight and with any luck we will be through it by dawn.” Kyoko said, clapping the party on the back as she walked up behind them. The injuries she had sustained during the fight with the pirates and then the snakes and Naga on Ophidian island had been healed finally, the crew and Lizbet insisting that she get her own wounds taken care of first.

The crew’s mood increased threefold as they began to sing songs of their homeland, music and laughter now the main sounds onboard the Dancing Drake and their mood and energy was infectious. Soon even the glum and brooding golden scaled Siu was singing as he climbed up the masts and helped where ever he could (whilst keeping an overly protective eye on Kyoko and Lizbet that is).

True to word and prediction the ship began to encroach upon the land as they headed towards a wide river through the marshes that broke up the coast between the border of east and west Ryokughan. The Party looked on as strange creatures grazed, stalked and drank near the waters edge until the boat passed at which point they looked on with interest or disdain at the ship spooking their prey. Each of the creatures had similarities to the ones back home in Faerun but there was distinct differences whether it was horns, tusks, colour, size, extra limbs, a long tail or any combination.

As dusk encroached the noises from the jungles started to echo and boom out, drowning out the scattered merriment and singing as sails were restricted, and oars came out from purpose built holes in the sides of the ship which would give the party more control over the ships speed and direction than the sails and rudder alone.

“Don’t follow lights in this jungle. Not during the night and definitely not during the day” Choi fang mentioned as he wound up a length of rope as he finished tying up one of the sails. “There are witches and fell spirits in these marshes that would love for nothing more than the easy meal of someone who doesn’t know the rule of these lands. ”

“What’s that?” Lizbet asked, shrugging over a hooded cloak to shield her from the evening chill.

“Don’t follow the lights..” Choi replied with a grin. “All light casts a shadow and the smaller the light the bigger the shadow” he said as he walked off below deck to get a meal in before a long night of navigating through the marsh.

Thanks for joining me tonight and sticking around for the next leg of this journey I am taking us on this year. Now I cant have a ship moving through a marshy/swampy patch of water next to a jungle without some form of drama – so make sure you come back for the next few days to see what I have in store for the party and the crew of the Dancing Drake.

Don’t forget to keep an eye on the non-story posts too as I am attempting to ramp up my other hobbies and may have more than one post coming out per day in the future.

And, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Open Sea’s & the Slithering Evil.

thebrazenwolfeLeave a comment

Tonight we will look back at the parties first leg of their journey to Kyoko and Siu’s home country as well as their unexpected stopover on Ophidian Island.

So I will continue using this format which I don’t know if its easier but it certainly collates the adventure a bit more for ease of reading.

As with last time Pages 1, 2 and 3 are content pages, the description, flow, random tables, etc. and such that you’ve previously seen.
Page 4 contains all NPCs and portraits to help the DM describe them and a bit about them to help play them out.
Page 5 will be stat blocks and map(s) – all that D&D encounter goodness that you want.

Now I will assume you have read the entire post (although it is ~6700 words long..) and say thanks in advance for reading this – I have expanded, added and adjusted a few things to make sure the adventure flow better.
If you do like this format do let me know, if you don’t also let me know so I can see what I can tweak for next time. this probably was just about as much effort as writing it all from scratch the first time around but this way I think it makes sense.


Don’t forget to come back next week and, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Part 1&2 – Searching for Reason and Facing the truth – 209MoSfR+210MoFT

The high priestess Lizbet and Katya were introduced at last, the party shepherding them into town to ensure the safety of Katya and that they completed their quest. People lined the streets to welcome the returning hero and to bear witness to the high priestess, Lizbet, and the newcomer, Katya, radiating divine magic which radiated the warmth of a spring after a dead cold winter.

Along the rooftops Siu scampered, a little dragonoid that was covered in fur as it watched Lizbet and Katya, praying to the ancestors (of whom he was enslaved to due to his past mistakes) that his plan to convince one of both of them to come with him back to his home country would succeed. There was a growing shadow across the sea which was slowly devouring the land and people of the place he called home many-many years ago, the Harimasu families lands and the villages that were within its borders.

But as he was watching from a safe distance he noticed something dark happening and when he investigated he was attacked by a shadow stitched – a creature that was killed and which is now inhabited by a Shadow-mist creeper. Calling upon his treasured blessing – returning to his humanoid form for 24 hours, something he could use but once a decade he dashed for the temple of Chauntea to try and get the attention of the priestesses, to get their help in healing his wounds.

Successful in his ploy he was unable to treasure and use his blessing to enjoy his human form but instead found himself organising the defence of the priestesses who the creatures would be drawn to hunting down due to the amount of divine (life) energy they radiated. The plan was afterwards, if successful, he would ask for one of them (Lizbet had already had whispers spoken to her whilst she was not aware of his presence, one of his talents) to board the Red Fleets Dancing Drake, Kyoko Harimasu’s ship and sail back to his home country. If they survived that is.

Areas and places of note

The Road to Daye – The road back to Daye is long but easy. Its general downhill slope makes travel easy and the road after the ambush site, where the undead attacked, cleared out to have a sight of all potential threats for miles. Random encounters could be possible but they would be wild beasts, more undead (or fiends) but not brigands and the like would have a rough job trying to get an ambush on the party and their wagon.

Daye Streets – The streets are no more than 30ft wide, enough for a wagon or two to pass comfortably with stalls either side of the road. The buildings that line the road are one or two story predominantly with the odd three story building here and there. Currently there are people from the city lining either side of the street paying respect (silent or otherwise) to the priestess and her procession. The raw energy that comes from Katya would also put people into a shocked state as they are used to the grace and touch from Chauntea (through the temple) but not in such a potent form.
*After the battle* the streets are empty early in the mornings and talk of the creatures and nightmarish sounds from the night before are the talk of the town. Soon though merchants bring their stalls, wagons and carts out and begin to advertise their wares – it truly is a market city where the streets, particularly around the docks, are a source of just about all mundane items and objects you could seek.

The Temple– A large, 50ft x 90 ft building with a large alter and statue to Chauntea being the centre piece of the large prayer room with several rooms off to the sides and a wing for where the priests and priestesses would sleep.
*After the battle* the temple has guest quarters where the party would have been encouraged to stay to rest and heal, as well as to have close in case more creatures appeared in the middle of the night. The people who call this place home, the priests and priestesses are kind, welcoming and excellent cooks believing that Chauntea’s bountiful blessings are meant to be shared to not just he devout but all.

The Docks – Quieter than when the party first stepped upon the docks they are still busy with people from the red fleet still selling the last of their wares. Many of the large red sailed ships have left and several other trading ships have also arrived and they have brought with them not just their normal wares but a small influx of magical items. Different to the lucky trinkets and lesser magical items of the Red fleet these merchants sell potions, scrolls and other wondrous items – if the gold is plentiful enough.
The docks, however, of late have begun to start selling magical items and as the Red fleet begin to head home back across the waves to restock on goods the demand on magical trinkets and items is at a new time high with supply being short and the patience of the customers being little.

Environment and running the adventure

Day1 & Night 1.

Street – No one would dare attack the party, not with the rumour spreading of what they fought in Bracken Hollow nor the spirit they fought in the city. Furthermore the presence of the city guard, the priestess and priests of Chauntea as well as the gathering of folk from the city would make it very difficult to get the drop on them. However once the party reach the Temple of Chauntea they would leave the priestess there and head into the streets.

On the streets they may become the target of the Shadow-mist creepers or the Shadow Stitched beasts – lunging at them n shadow in small violent bursts (up to 3 creatures at once, all mixed species). As night falls a dockworker would attack them – visible seems where the shadow-stuff that holds the flesh together glowing in the moonlight as it attacks them – the intelligence maliciousness would seek to attack the one who was last closest to Katya.

After the fight is over a bell would start ringing from the temple – the urgency and oddness of the hour should be alarming to the party and someone would likely step out from a building and state the obvious (a helpful nudge for the party).

Temple – The centre room once the party get to the temple is where the priests can be found praying to Chauntea, flooding the room around the alter with daylight. Katya, Lizbet, Carline and Paul with a young man who looks to be of the Red Fleets people are currently fighting back a few creatures that attacked the party. As the party fight their way through some of the shadow stitched creatures they notice a dog grab Katya’s robe and drag her from the room, rushing through the side door and into the outside beyond. Lizbet and the others rush after them and into the night beyond.

The dog carries Katya into the streets where the party who give chase encounter more creatures to come and push back at them – Lizbet, Paul, Carline and the young man (Sui) catch up to Katya and separate her from the dog but they are quickly surrounded.

Day 2

Decision– The decision to leave would need to come from the party – Going to go see Siu at the docks wouldn’t be a hard decision (he looks just like a man after all) and Lizbet would ask the party to escort her just in case of a trap before deciding to walk off herself.

The party can tell that she is nervous, perhaps anxious about the decisions to be made and her nerves would be obvious to all (she isn’t one to hide behind a mask).

The boat– Once the party see the boat the decision needs to be made – follow the creature and Kyoko across the waves with Lizbet to help save their people or stay back and wait. Regardless of the decision initially Kyoko will ask that the party and priestess give her a week to give her time to get ready for the voyage back home. This gives the party some time to shop, if they are short of ropes/ arrows / etc. and to find out more bout where they are going from Kyoko, Siu or any of the Red Fleet.

If the party do stay behind then the adventure at the end of the month will come into affect (with the aim of still getting the party to travel across the sea)

Adventure Areas

1st night – Shadow Stitched.

As the party leave Katya if they move through a place with shadow that is too far from people (use DM discretion here) then its likely they will be attacked by the Shadow-stitched. The first attack would have one or two creatures attack but only as the party turn their back, an ambush as if carefully plotted. As one of the creatures dies the other would fall limp and the shadow-mist creeper would flee into the sky where it would dissipate (its energy spent). Examination of the body would reveal it being dead for hours and an arcana check would reveal that a dark magic (enchantment more so than necromancy but it has that tinge) held the corpse together as if possessed.

The second attack would be more feral – as if all control of their will power was gone – the astute party member would note that the creatures almost moved as if commanded or as if puppets to a greater powers will. These creatures would attack from the shadows but into the sunlight where they would flinch and a dark smoke would flow from their stitches – which glow black in the sunlight. As the creatures are killed (three, a cat, a dog and maybe a raven (use the owl block) then a dark mist would escape and bubble in the sunlight before dissipating.

The next encounter would be the temple after the bells start to ring (as the sun finally sets) – the temple would e filled with little creatures, cats, dogs, rats, birds who are in the shadows (away from the sunlight being produced by the priests) except for where Katya and Lizbet are – the creatures are braving the light to get to the princess.

1d4+1 creatures would actively block the path to Chauntea’s chosen and as the party slay the second last one then a large dog would grab a hold of Katya and quickly drag her from the safety of the temple.

In the streets every 60 feet another creature would appear, randomise what it is each time!

Once the party reach Katya and Lizbet + company they would start to get 3~5 creatures attack in waves (every 2 rounds) until an ogre wearing leathers of a dock worker (and looking like he works on the docks) steps forward to fight the party. Once the ogre falls then all of the creatures fall and the dark mist floats into the sky and disappears.

2nd day – Decisions

The aim of day 2 is to get the party to consider shopping for things using the gold they have now as well as tying up any lose ends. They should see going over on the boat a desirable prospect and the right way to progress the story moving forward.

Notable NPC interactions.

Kyoko Harimasu – Interaction with Siu and the party when his true form is revealed, which upon him showing true selflessness he is gifted a more suitable draconic form. See – Twist of fate

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5