Fight night is here and we find ourselves with enemies at the wall. Tonight we look at the multi-staged (potentially) encounter for the week which we highlighted on Wednesday. While the rain continues to fall in Australia and much of our Southern and eastern states prepare for flooding I wanted to take a moment to wish those bracing for another wet weekend the best of luck. If I had a lucky dice, or inspiration I would send it out to all of them so that they may use an extra dice when they need it most. Take care Australians.
Enemy At The Wall
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Tonight the encounter was balanced assuming that our party would have levelled up after reaching the wall and the fights along the way. This sets us at around 30000 xp for a daily encounter budget and around 6400 for an encounter.
Our first lot of encounters is the wall – Oni (hobgoblins), a captain and some lesser creatures (gnats or zombies.. something that is CR1/4) can flesh this part of the encounter out. If we treat them as coming in waves with the waves being 5 rounds apart it can make it feel like the tides are endless – just need to describe the creatures taking some time making it across the fields.
The second encounter is when the party realise that they are being torn apart by the Yuki-onna and so they leave the wall to take the fight to her. Now if the party has ranged weapons, abilities or spells it makes this part of the fight easier so I would enforce that the spikes summoned (see last nights map Sieged under snow) provide 3/4 cover for the ice queen from range where there is spikes between her and the attacking party.
Apart from fighting through the waves of Oni, the captains and zombies or lesser Gnats once they reach the ice queen she is quite formidable. I would have the waves still come, our party is level 9 after all, but maybe have supportive arrow fire dwindle the horde a bit from the wall.
For the Onikage as this one is meant to be huge, a more impressive specimen, change the size to huge and HP to 60 and that will just about do it for us.
As for the other parts of this encounter treat the shadow as something that can be spotted and targeted as a creature.
This creatures sole purpose is to find holes in the wall and act as a way of channelling ice magic from the Yuki-onna to damage, bring down the wall and act as a bridge and ladder for the warriors on the ground. Or those on the wall to go down to the ground.
Well that’s it for us tonight in Ryokughan. Don’t forget to come back this weekend for more content and as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
Thursday has come and that means its another day where we look at MAPS! I have some big plans for this weekend, lets see if I can pull it off, but I hope that this first instalment of Sieged under snow is a good indication of what’s to come.
A nice short easy night tonight but the next few nights will amp it up a bit. Thanks for joining me tonight and don’t forget to come back in the next few nights. As we ramp up to the end of the month each day is crucial in building up our story for the players. So on that note let’s not lose sight of and forget the end goal, saving Ryokughan, Kyoko and the friends the party may have acquired along the way. And, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
Twisted Wednesday has come and tonight it brings me foul tidings amongst them tides of Shadow. Tonight we look at how The Shadow isn’t quite done with the party yet.
Tides of Shadow
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As the snow began to settle on the wall the movement of hundreds of feet broke the eerie silence. The drone of stampeding feet rose to a thunderous roar as spirit folk, oni, demons and undead rushed towards the wall.
As the humans manned the defences and shot arrows into the oncoming horde the oni and spirit folk that fell quickly rose again as undead. The telltale signs of the Yuki-onna’s magic appearing as steam, frostbite and ice clinging to the freshly raised bodies.
As the bodies hit the wall the undead began to pile up the oni and spirit folk used their bodies to climb towards the top of the wall. But, the bodies concealed the real threat. Dark tendrils of Shadow crept along the ground under and around the feet of the humanoids. As they touched the wall they began to feel for cracks, gaps or holes in the wall in which they quickly filled the crack with their shadowy mass.
All across the wall the masses of bodies rose and fell as they were expertly cut down as the shadowy tendrils pierced the walls. The shadows weaved from the wall across the battlefield and back to the Yuki-onna.
With a surge of magic she gathered the shadow energy and merged her own power within it. Forcing the shadowy tendrils to freeze as if dark permafrost the ground erupted and cracked as the shadow expanded. As the ice rushed forward beams of light shot from the sky and the weapons and items of the heroes which banished the shadow, shattering the ice as it formed.
Where the shadow and ice wasn’t banished it cracked the wall and created walls of ice that protected the shadows minions while creating a ladder for them to climb up.
Appearance of a hero near the tendrils sent the ice and shadow into splinters to the ground and the invaders crashing down behind them. But more bodies brought more tendrils of shadow, their bodies leeching it across the ground where they ran, shuffled, fell and died.
The constant flow of shadow magic and the influx of dark ice came from the Yuki-onna who commanded the battlefield from a raised perch surrounded on all sides but one by jagged ice. One clear path to confront the source of dark magic and end the siege before it brought the wall down.
Thanks for joining me tonight for a, to be honest, exhausted Wednesday. Tonight we looked at a brief description of the siege and mechanic of the battle this week which I am excited to work on in the coming days. So don’t forget to come back each day this week and, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
Welcome to another Tuesday where we don’t look at adding new NPCs but look at fleshing out and adding more to an existing one. This week we look at Kit Hou and her answer to the call of the dragon which led her to choose between her mission and her father.
As Kit sat down at the table with her hands crossed in front of her face she met the uneasy stare that her father was giving her. “So before you begin I want to explain why first…” she said as she accepted a hot cup of tea. “I had a vision…”
“A vision of your death?” her father, Captain Hou interrupted bluntly. His displeasure mixed with concern evident on his face and in his voice.
“No. If you’d let me continue, I had a vision of a golden dragon asking me to find out why there was a demon at the wall. It asked me to have faith and stay on the outside of the wall and watch the enemy as they went by with their attack. And I did.” she stopped to blow on her tea before sipping it slowly.
“They were studding the wall with these.” she aid as she reached into a torn pocket and deposited what appeared to be a shard of obsidian like material that had been carved into a thin stud. “I wasn’t sure at first but I watched them firing arrows towards the wall and us. I almost gave up when suddenly an arrow hit one of the fragments and this cloud of shadow sped across the ground and attacked all who stood above where the arrow hit. The next wave of attackers did the same thing. Ran up, those that got to the wall embedded another shard and then they would launch a few volleys of arrows. Each time the Shadow demon, the Wrath Wraith, would appear.”
She paused for a moment and let it sink in. “I though that if the creature just did as it was told and attacked where the shard was broken then we may be able to use it as a weapon. So I tried it out and it worked. The wrath wraith appeared and attacked the oni when they appeared over the ridge. They must have worked it out because I was retrieving one of the shards when they attacked. Lucky these adventurers appeared in time and saved me as during the commotion the shard I had scavenged broke in my pocket.” she paused to sip from her tea.
“I grabbed a few more shards on the way here so we can analyse them but if the wrath wraith is dead then there is no ability to summon it again.” she added. “But I think I did what the dragon ancestor had asked as I could see the glow of the ancestors on these adventurers. I decided that my task was complete so I didn’t need to stay out there any more.”
As if to punctuate the closure of her story the room dropped in temperature suddenly and a horrible scream broke through the night air outside. Racing up the steps the party looked over the edge of the wall to see walls of ice littering the battlefield. As they trace the direction the walls seemed to point in the Yuki-onna, Yukir Toshio and a huge Onikage stalked away from the battlefield.
The first flakes of snow began to drift down from the darkened clouds.
Well another night has come and gone and we are now half-way through the weekly content. Don’t forget to come back tomorrow for the plot twist and secondary hook night and, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
Welcome to another plot Monday where this week we look at enduring the chilling call of the queen, Yukri Toshio the Yuki-onna. This week sees the commencement of a siege, perhaps the breaking of it and maybe even the closing conflict between the Yuki-onna and the heroes.
Chilling Call of the Queen
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As the Onikage snorted with barely contained violence and hunger, Yukri watched the humans from its back. The yuki-onna knew that the Shadow, the one who had given her powers to rule as the Ice Queen, wanted these humans dead. But killing these humans had proven difficult, even the enlisted help from the Laelóng but the vain beast failed.
“Queen. The humans have escaped back on top of the wall. They have powerful weapons and we have to retreat…” a hesitant voice spoke from her side. The Oni looked down at its feet and braced for the worst but it didn’t come. A second voice spoke, much older, darker and more influential than the lowly Oni.
“You must stop them. Those weapons are cursed by the dragons and elves of old. Their magic has the power to bring down your kingdom. You must kill the wielders and stop them from taking everything you have fought for” The Shadow whispered in her ear. The sound of its voice so filled with power and malice that all other noises, thoughts and reason drifted from her mind. Eventually the sounds of screams, pleading and The Shadows intent washed her thoughts away until there was nothing left but overwhelming rage.
All she had worked for. All she had sacrificed and for what? A group of humans and magic swords to take it from her. Not likely. She watched her warriors and the creatures she commanded flee from the wall, all except the mindless undead, and her frustration grew. The frustration and rage boiled up within the Yuki-onna and it overflowed. Screaming her hatred and rage across the battlefield her intensity of her thoughts mixed with her magical abilities and a wall of frost formed over the fleeing warriors.
“Cowards…” she muttered as she looked upon her frozen troops. “Tomorrow they will take the wall. I don’t care how many it takes I will not have everything I worked for taken from me.”
Thoughts.
The start to the end of the week and we have a bit of a fun one planned. A siege firstly followed up by something a bit more… Regardless it looks like it will be a good week and a good closure to the month.
Thanks for dropping by to read my content and for remaining up-to date for this yearly adventure. Don’t forget to come back each day this week as we explore more of the Yuki-onnas plans and see if our party can survive the siege. Oh and, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
Welcome to the 7th last (I believe) end of week writeup!. This week we followed the party along the road to the wall as they were attacked by creatures after the dragons tears items. Despite the ferocity and unrelenting creatures they came out on top and perhaps learned a thing or two about the items they carry.
As the party arrived at the wall the first thing that they noticed was the sheer lack of people. For such a crucial point in the defence of Ryokughan it was shockingly unmanned. A head appeared at the edge of the wall twenty feet above the ground before calling out. “Princess Kyoko is here! Reinforcements have arrived!” the voice was overcome with emotion before several others echoed with joyous cries of relief.
“Kyoko. I don’t think our message hawk arrived here safely. They believe we have more reinforcements for the wall” Takeo spoke in a hushed whisper to Kyoko and the party. “How did you want to handle this?” he added looking from Kyoko to the party who were in fact the reinforcements.
After a few moments a platform was lowered over the side and the party, the princess and the spy were lifted atop the wall. Despite the low numbers of people on the wall they all were veterans. Heavily armed, armoured and trained they carried themselves with a martial poise that was lacking in many. As they rushed towards Kyoko they greeted Takeo and the party, the exhaustion on their faces replaced by joy and relief.
“Before we continue the pleasantries I believe I need to have a word with you lady Kyoko” a particularly grizzled and hard man said from a nearby door to a small tower. “There is something that is of great urg…” he began as he held up a fist and listened to the quiet that his signal instilled. “It comes!” the wall captain roared as every single soldier drew their weapons and surrounded the party and princess.
In a moment of chaos clouds of shadow-smoke appeared around the wall in sporadic bursts. Soon the sound of steel clashing, grunts and combat rang out around the party as the unknown adversary launched itself at the walls defenders. After a few moments the creature disappeared and the shadow-smoke dissipated soon after.
“To your posts. Prepare for combat!” roared the captain who eyed his men and women closely, inspecting for wounds. Finding one he pulled them aside “to the infirmary,” he said with a sigh as the realisation set into the face of the woman in front of him. “you’ve been stung. You won’t be seeing battle again until you’ve recovered” he added as he clasped the soldiers shoulder.
“yes sir!” the soldier barked obediently as with a great deal of sadness she handed over her weapons in resignation to the captain before retreating down a nearby set of stairs. As she disappeared into the bowels of carved and fortified stone.
“We are hounded by a creature that does not kill, it barely wounds but what it touches quickly dies. Normally at the hands of the victims allies.” the captain said as he grabbed a helmet and moved to the wall. “Those unfortunately enough to get injured by it recover after some time. Normally after heavy sedation. Some don’t and they choose to live on the outside of the wall so that in their condition they can still benefit their brothers and sisters.”
“What do you mean wall captain Hou?” Kyoko asked as she moved over to the wall before clasping a hand to her mouth.
“They go mad. Their blood boils and they cant detect friend from foe. They will kill anything in sight. Lethally trained warriors who can’t tell friend from foe and who have a lust for blood that a demon would envy. I haven’t seen it before. Our healers can only sedate and hope that their spirit is strong enough to fight the affliction. If they can’t resist then they spend their final days ripping into our enemies and serving us in their death.” the captain said with great reverence as he saluted a human who stopped pacing by the base of the wall, bloody froth covering its mouth.
After a moment the human, one a warrior that defended the wall turned and charged away from the wall, picking up a crude looking sword as it charged headlong into a mass of charging Spirit folk. The brutality in which the warrior cleaved into the fey creatures was outstanding and hard to watch. But that wasn’t only sight on the other side of the wall. Dozens of injured and dying lay strewn about the battlefield on both sides. Humans, those afflicted as well as the minions of The Shadow, all of them calling for help or crying out in pain or fear.
“We have tried to recover our wounded or dead and we started to lose more men than we saved…” a wall guard said from next to the party. Nodding towards the captain who pulled on a helmet and drew a magnificent longbow as he climbed a nearby watch tower. “He lost his daughter. She was a fine warrior and led the last recovery mission. She was cut down by a Oni.” The guardsman nodded towards a banner that stood high amongst the bodies, rocks and toppled trees. “She lies somewhere over there. Some men swear they have seen her moving about the battlefield but I think they are just seeing things.” he sighed. After a moment he ran off down the wall to continue to guard as creatures started to reach the wall.
As the party stood atop the wall they thought of the day that they had witnessed. Twice more the shadow creature had struck but by luck, skill or divine grace they had not been inflicted with the affliction. The woman in the infirmary howled with rage and even while heavily sedated it only eased the peaks of her fury.
They also had to witness the dead rise from their broken and battered forms and assault the wall, beaten back and slain by either the warriors on the wall or those afflicted driven mad by rage who hunted the no-mans land between the wall and the rocky mountains where the attacks came from. Even while the party watched from the wall and aided in driving back the dead or the twisted spirit-folk there was little joy in the tasks they did.
It was at this point, at the edge of torchlight that the party saw movement. To precise and too careful for undead or afflicted. Too subtle and tactical to be spirit-folk or beast. As the party watched the shadow approached the edge of the light cast by the braziers and torches that lined the wall and it quickly darted forward and grabbed a pack from a fallen oni warrior. The distinct human colour skin flashed from under layers of tattered and ripped cloth as a sudden gust of wind caused the light cast by the fire to flash across the face of the creature and a human Ryokughan female looked up at the party startled.
The figure pressed a finger to her lips before skulking off towards a crest in the battlefield.
Bonus – Over the wall
“That’s her! That’s the captains daughter!” The wall guard from earlier that day announced. Gin Seng pointed at the captains daughter as she hurried across the battlefield towards a rocky outcrop. Moments later several shapes started to move towards her and the rock rise in the battlefield, she appeared unaware.
“we have to do something” Gin said as he hurried towards the crane. His voice causing a commotion amongst the other guards.
“What’s going on here?” barked Captain Hou.
“Kit is out there Sir. We saw her” Gin said, the party confirming with him.
“It’s probably a trick of the Shadow…” The captain said, his own voice betraying the hope he held deep inside. “Kit is gone…”
A scream erupted from the battlefield. The shadowy-Kit had been ambushed and the sound of combat could be heard. “KIT!” her father screamed as he threw the platform over the side of the wall. “Man the defences. Ballista and arrows trained on the battlefield. Nothing comes up whilst I go down.”
“Captain Hou, the plan can’t succeed without you. The adventurers are veterans at combat and have surprised me more than once. Besides it will be a test to see if the simple presence of the Dragons Tears artefacts can draw forth the shadows minions…” Kyoko said as she stepped out in full armour.
“I hate to ask this of you my friends. But are you willing to rescue the captains daughters and see what happens when the dragons light erupts forth from you?” she asked with a tinge of guilt and regret.
Captain Hou is a rugged veteran commander of the wall guard for decades he has led the elite troops in defending the land from the Shadows Influence and was so honoured that his own daughter joined him. This was his biggest regret as his daughter was just as head strong as he was in his youth and led a foolish mission to retrieve the wounded from the battlefield only to be struck down herself.
Kyoko Harimasu
Kyoko keeps herself hidden and defended by many guards. Captain Hou and Takeo spend most of their time talking tactics into how to lure the Ice queen towards the wall and a trap.
Miss Hou
Captain Hou’s daughter…
Wall Guard Gin Seng
Gin Seng is one of the warriors in the Wall Guard. He is well trained and a natural in combat but perhaps a bit too emotional for the captains liking.
Leading with emotion rather than discipline Gin Seng is sure that the captains daughter still lives and swears that he has seen her at night.
Environment and running the adventure
Night time shouldn’t be a hassle for the party with their level, abilities and gear by now so it’s another night time encounter.
Any creature from our vaults can be used here. I would suggest some Oni and perhaps an afflicted human warrior (see gladiator stat block with affliction template added). The Wrath Wraith also comes forth and attacks the party as they reach Kit Hou – she seems to be untargeted by the creature but the party are less fortunate.
Aftermath…
As the party defeat the wrath Wraith the all too familiar haunting call of the Onikage echoes through the battlefield and Yukri Toshio – the Yuki-onna appears on the back of a huge Onikage. She points towards the party as the crest of the hill she is standing on erupts into dozens of shadowy shapes running toward the party. Kit pleads for the party to retreat as the guard on the wall start to call for them to run back as well.
Thanks for joining me again for another end of week writeup. The second last week and of the second last month see’s us drawing things to a close. Next week we go over the wall and further into enemy territory as we try and draw forth the Yuki-onna and her dreadful mount. Don’t forget to come back each day this coming week and as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
Good evening and welcome to another Saturday random-topic discussion piece. Tonight I wanted to touch on when you can have too much preparation and some wandering thoughts I had on it.
Now I am probably prone to going too deep into world building from the get go. I normally have a rough plot, some segues (relatable secondary hooks) and a rough idea from how to go from session zero to session 26. But I then tend to go super deep into it establishing the origin story for the homebrew setting, complex political movements, secondary (and even tertiary) powers who oppose the player and main plot and so on.
I then create new races, new religions, new creatures, sometimes new classes and subclasses and before I know it I have a whole book worth of content before I even have my players. This well of ideas, lore and history sometimes doesn’t translate well when my players rock up at the table and begin to discuss their back story.
Sometimes empires shift. Relationships, cities and outcomes of battles may change based on what the party members have achieved or where they have come from. Sometimes I get bogged down in too much preparation that I fail to factor in a fundamental step that I weave in with my games.
The simply fact that, the players and their characters tell the stories.
I recognise that some of the re-work, potential-frustration as well as mental fatigue and exhaustion that I go through with world building and campaign setting could be removed if I was to simply involve my players early on. Maybe having session -1 where I have the players get involved in the world building.
Simply telling them about the world and giving them the opportunity of asking me questions they care about. What races are there? Is there any political drama? Where do elves fit in? Simple things like this could help me, the DM, in build the world for them to explore.
After all there is game without the players so why not involve them earlier in the process of creating it.
This also serves a secondary purpose – to get your players invested in this world. If they asked what gnomes were like in this world and you explained that they happened to be extremely military perhaps they could expand why. Maybe Gnomes are military because dwarves invaded their lands? Perhaps a certain gnome family or village was the reason for the banding together of the gnomish people into this warrior state. Maybe one of the party was a descendant of the king that brought them together and they now are trying to broker peace with the elves.
Getting investment from your players
Little things such as these questions can grow into bigger investment for your players. And this is a great thing because after all, we want them invested in the world. We want them to show up each week to go “I need to make sure that my people continue on the right path.” With a greater level of investment the greater chance that those players will prioritise a slot in their calendar for D&D night.
What a fantastical notion. In fact the breaking down of the DM role’s walls and exposing the inner workings to your players could be the best thing you could do.
The future
I think that my next adventure, which I hope to start in the coming months after a lengthy break, will be a collaboration between player and DM. Getting my players to explain the world, perhaps build parts of it for themselves will help tie their characters involvement in with it.
I believe that with less focus on the world building and more focus on the involvement will help me level up as a DM. Perhaps it will help my players level up as players too. Regardless the new year and next few months should be a learning curve for myself and my players as we build a world together.
I will hope to post a few updates on here when the times comes to get involvement from my readers. So if you have questions for me in the setting I will creature let me know. I will have some more info on this coming December and hopefully the new year brings with it a new adventure for me and my players to begin.
On that note don’t forget to visit me again here tomorrow for the end of week write up. We have a few hidden things to work through and a mammoth week next week to prepare for. So, lastly, don’t forget to roll with advantage and I’ll see you tomorrow, The Brazen Wolfe
Hello all and welcome to another FightNight! I can’t believe its Friday already and after we surveyed the lands battlefield night tonight is stat blocks! I bring to you a template, made in the wonderful Homebrewery who have gone through a bit of a glow-up of late and as always, Kobold Plus Flight Club and Tetra-cube.
The Wrath Wraith
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The Wrath Wraith is another interesting creature. On its own it isn’t that terrifying but when you implement how it fights, its tactics behind the encounter it becomes quite terrifying.
This week the Wrath Wraith is under the influence of the Shadow. Like many fiends it will barter its way out of where it lives into the material plane in order to sew chaos. This creature has been tasked with breaking the wall and by using hit and run tactics and wearing out the defenders it is slowly doing so. But, it still loves to sew chaos and by afflicting creatures it hurts with an unquenchable rage.
The affliction enables the Wrath Wraith to to see chaos on top of the wall as well as on the battlefield below when the humans decide to send their allies away. This also creates glorious chaos within the humans hearts and mind as they watch their friends and family turn into feral creatures.
A win for the Wrath Wraith.
The Affliction is more of a curse than a disease or poison. Remove curse will abolish it but also those who are strong of body can resist it as it attempts to wrestle control from their mind.
Those also afflicted by it can attempt to force the curse out of their body by will power alone. It is more difficult but one who can reign in the wrath curse is also immune to it.
That’s it for tonight. Don’t forget to come back tomorrow for a bonus twist night and, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
A map giving Thursday is here and tonight we are surveying the battlefield. With tonight bringing some inspiration in Inkarnate I decided to also finish up a map from last week (Road to the Wall) and include it here. So enjoy!
That’s it for tonight. Don’t forget to come back tomorrow for a bonus twist night and, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
Wednesday is here and with it comes a small change or potential plot twist for this weeks adventure. Whilst on watch many things can happen at the edge of torchlight and in this case. With this adventure. We have the revelation of life in the unliveable zone between the human defenders and the creatures of the Shadow.
The edge of torchlight
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As the party stood atop the wall they thought of the day that they had witnessed. Twice more the shadow creature had struck but by luck, skill or divine grace they had not been inflicted with the affliction. The woman in the infirmary howled with rage and even while heavily sedated it only eased the peaks of her fury.
They also had to witness the dead rise from their broken and battered forms and assault the wall, beaten back and slain by either the warriors on the wall or those afflicted driven mad by rage who hunted the no-mans land between the wall and the rocky mountains where the attacks came from. Even while the party watched from the wall and aided in driving back the dead or the twisted spirit-folk there was little joy in the tasks they did.
It was at this point, at the edge of torchlight that the party saw movement. To precise and too careful for undead or afflicted. Too subtle and tactical to be spirit-folk or beast. As the party watched the shadow approached the edge of the light cast by the braziers and torches that lined the wall and it quickly darted forward and grabbed a pack from a fallen oni warrior. The distinct human colour skin flashed from under layers of tattered and ripped cloth as a sudden gust of wind caused the light cast by the fire to flash across the face of the creature and a human Ryokughan female looked up at the party startled.
The figure pressed a finger to her lips before skulking off towards a crest in the battlefield, as the moon strained to peak through the oppressive clouds the flag, the standard of the wall guard flapped calling the mysterious figure to it.
This weeks looking to be an exciting one with a few fronts to take charge on. As we reach the mid-way mark of the month we look to how we can create tension, intrigue and excitement for the party. Mysterious creatures, unidentified illness and a figure out in no-mans land all help push the party to where we want them to go. So don’t forget to come back the rest of this week to look at where we take this adventure as I have another part for later this week. Oh and, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
Brazen Wolfe Tabletop 