Month: Oct 2023

2023 Campaign Adventure 6

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Good evening all and welcome to a very short sixth day of adventuring. Whilst not giving away the campaign, adventure or plot moving forward I will attempt to write up each adventure this year continuing with my 2023 campaign adventure 6. Today was a mere 1 and a bit hours so there wasn’t much that was progressed however there were some key moments that would set up the campaign moments in the future.

This is a continuation from 2023 Campaign adventure 5 as that session was cut short and, it was a while ago.

2023 Campaign Adventure 6

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Plot:

The Road back to Suncrest

After a brief breakfast the party collected their items, bagged up and had a meagre breakfast. Deciding to stay the night at the Inn before leaving the party had the full day ahead of them. A few moments were taken to enquire onto their new party member, Armaeth, and before long they were heading back to the stables to get their horses. Fiona the stable-hand saw the party coming and quickly organised for their animals; a fine riding horse, two mules and a ornery draft horse, to get ready.

By time the party walked through the doors the two mules were tac-and harnessed up with saddle bags ready. However as she was moving the draft horse out of its stall it started to give her some grief. Kai rushed forward and helped her get the animal under control. With some luck and a bit of self-guidance from the goblin paladin the horse was quickly calmed and they were able to get it out of the stable with well wishes from Fiona.

As they left the city they asked the guards stationed at the gate if there was any news of the roads being dangerous of late, the guard mentioned that the last caravan that came in from those roads was Sams and that they had a good run. Kai and Tater were shocked that the large loss of life was considered a good run from the guard, but perhaps that’s a sign of how bad the roads are right now.

Chance encounter

As they were getting ready to leave the guard exclaimed loudly and was shocked at what was coming down the road. A large, ornate and dark coloured wagon was being pulled by two large lizards. The Drow riding on top had the air of someone who knew what they are doing at all times. Dressed in fine silks, and some leather, the guard was about to sound the alarm when he was stopped by his captain.

“Don’t worry about her. That wagon belongs to the Melarn family. They sell silk from the underdark on the surface. As long as you don’t get in the way of them or cause them trouble then you won’t know that the family is there.

The wagon passed by with the only drama being that the parties draft horse wanted to attack the lizards. The party thought this was a good sign of a strong survival instinct in the beast. Saying farewell to the guard they stopped to decide which way to go. Judging by the fine weather the party decided to pass through the valley which should be faster to get to both Suncrest as well as their destinations in the mountains beyond.

Closure

Following the road through the valley the party came across signs of trouble. A series of campfires revealed an old camp by the side of the road but the state of the tents and the smell told a tale of disaster. Getting Armaeth to scout the site it was revealed that a large wolf or similar beast attacked a family of trappers here. They found a small pouch filled with some gold pieces and a topaz but that was all of use.

Making a break through the valley, and talking more as they moved on through, they came to the cross roads. Forwards lay the site where they were attacked by Westly and the wolf and to the west lay Suncrest and the site where they were attacked by the stonehide Gobblers.

Main NPCs:

Thanks for joining me tonight and for continuing on this campaign with me. We didn’t get to go through all I wanted but we managed to have a bit of an adventure which set the foundation for the next few sessions.

Don’t forget to come back tomorrow as we continue from last weeks adventure. And, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

From the Pits they climb

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This Friday we meet the creatures from some peoples nightmares and from the pits they climb!

So this has been a week in the making but it would have been obvious from the description of the city, where its situated and the update from a few weeks back (the dark below). So get ready with some bug spray, a giant shoe or a swatter along side your coffee and let’s roll into tonight’s adventure!

From the Pits they climb

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Now first the obvious one – Driders. These creatures are pretty foul abominations that dwell in the underdark and they played a bit of a spotlight role in the previous mentioned post. These half-drow-half-spider creatures are like a nightmarish centaur… but no where near as nice.

Although not as hard hitting or deadly in a single round of combat as some of the other creatures we have seen these all-terrain murder machines are still as deadly as many. With their natural defences, mobility and the ability to cast spells these creatures make great foes for a big encounter, or several.

Drider created in tetra-cube.

The source of a few home-brew monsters in my time this next visitor to Kalehgrul is another monstrocity in its own right. The ettercap, while not as strong as a drider, can be a deadly assassin and in this situation where there are plenty of streets, stalls and… let’s face it, plenty of places for these creatures to crawl up from they can be lethal assassins.

Ettercap – created in tetra-cube.

So I have a new toy to play around with something that should really shape up my Dungeons and/or lairs for dragons so that will have to do for tonight! Tomorrow we look deeper into the spiders web to see what’s going on, hopefully get an update from my campaign and perhaps more. So don’t forget to come back for that and as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Kalehgrul Landing Market

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Now its not uncommon for the first thing people to see when they enter a city is the markets or stalls and the Kalehgrul landing market is no exception. Now a simple and quick one tonight as the emphasis should be around discovering that goes on and not soo heavily on combat. But there will be combat, heed my words. But… before I reveal tomorrows reveal let’s grab a coffee and roll into tonight’s map!

Kalehgrul Landing Market

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Housed on the edge of the cliffs before the deep takes over the market place has the best view of all. Its also got a large amount of foot traffic so the risk of thievery or falling over the edge doesn’t outweigh the potential for profit.

Several lanterns light the edge of the cities rocky platform and particularly where the two bridges connect it outwards. Guards patrol this area constantly and the traffic in and out is monitored heavily.

Kalehgrul market landing – Created in Inkarnate

That’s it for us tonight. Don’t forget to come back tomorrow for more content, and some encounter stat blocks, and lastly, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

News from Duraegis

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Another Wednesday has come and nearly gone and on swift heralds comes news from Duraegis, however it is too late. The city of Kalehgrul stands on the bring and perhaps only the party are strong enough to defend the city and the people they owe nothing to. But in the shadows a dark stirs and threatens to swallow the people of this land whole. In the underdark and the surface world that is. But to find out what I am talking about let’s sit back, grab a coffee and roll into tonight’s adventure!

News from Duraegis

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The interrogation didn’t take long as Morali, the ‘young’ priestess of Lolth, was very forthcoming with information. Once the plot was revealed Qistra and Umnel were quick to get mercenaries to confirm the whereabouts of the O’Lorun family. As everyone prepared for the next few days, a retaliation from the Melarn family, the party was able to get some rest.

The party woke up to a rumbling through the building. Asking Izzrysn they discovered that the city of Kalehgrul did this periodically. The devout believed that it was Lolth testing her webs to ensure that the plans she had for the city were still in motion. Asking further questions revealed a horrifying truth, that the city itself was suspended on thousands of calcified webs that had connected it to the sides of the pit they were suspended over for centuries.

After having a meal and growing tired of the plotting the party took to the streets with a loyal member of the Melarn household to shepherd them and ensure no one mistook them for runaways. The streets were busy, they were always busy according to their guide-come-guard as the city never truly slept (being full of Drow and other races of the underdark). Several shops sold fine wares and foods, stalls sold even minor enchanted and magical items, weapons and equipment. This is truly a marketplace where you could find any service or anything for the right price, or favour.

As they were wrapping up their shopping and investigation a group of people came directly from one of the two bridges into the city. They looked haggard and they were escorted by guards who sat them at the edge of a tower that overlooked the bridge. One of the people, an older female drow, grabbed a jug of water and drank deeply from it. After taking a large drink she stood up and started talking loud enough for the surrounding area to hear.

“We’ve just come from Duraegis. The city has fallen to Driders and other abominations. They came from the deep dark and before we could muster a defence the city had fallen. You aren’t safe! None of us are. The Spider queen is displeased with us and she sends her puppets on her strings to mete out her plan for us. Repent now, don’t think you can fight them as they are coming. There is no place in the underdark that they won’t find you and take you back to the deep dark.” The other survivors cried out and wept as the older drow continued to cry out.

“That’s enough out of you!” one of the guards yelled and pulled her down. “The city of Kalehgrul is safe. Even if there was a real threat of driders and other creatures nothing gets over that bridge. Nothing has for centuries and nothing will. So stop spreading your lies and be thankful we don’t cast you into the pit!”

As the guard began to argue with the rough looking refugees the party was led away by their guide. Slowly they made their way back to the Melarn shop where Izzrysn was and the house guard tried to explain the situation. “We get bandits on the road, some of which can cast illusions like the deep gnomes. People always male up stories when they have been robbed in these parts” she shrugged off the concerns of any aspect of truth to the proclamations of the drow and focused on getting the adventurers back in doors.

Setting up for this weeks encounter with a long rest and the portents of something a bit darker. The news from Duraegis was not receive well by the proud city of Kalehgrul but there may be something to these rumours (as we know…) so don’t forget to come back this week as we wrap up this adventure and as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Morali O’Lorun

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As we look at what this week brings us we start with the prisoner, Morali O’Lorun. The young priestess of Lloth has considerable influence and to kill someone blessed by Lloth could displease the goddess… or please her, she is a complicated being. To get a glimpse into this priestess and help set the scene and mood for the next few days let’s sit down, grab a coffee and roll into tonight’s update!

Morali O’Lorun

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Morali O’Lorun


Morali O’Lorun – Created in Artbreeder

The O’Lorun family has been rising in power for only a short amount of time, in Drow years that is. Originally a lesser family they rose to power when one of their daughters was chosen to be blessed by Lloth and the now-matriarch used her power and influence to raise her daughters up. Morali O’Lorun is a prodigy being blessed by Lloth as well as being a cunning business woman.

However despite her own strengths her mother is ruthless in business and Morali could never hold a candle to the flame of her mothers ambition. Her connection to Lolth and own ambition has led her down the path of futile turf wars with the Melarn family. Now her mission failed she has a difficult choice to make. Try to complete her mothers orders or make a play to take control of the family decades earlier than she had imagined. If she can only stay alive for the next few days in the custody of the drow she tried to kill..

That ends tonight’s short update. Most of the Drow portraits may start ending up looking the same as the ‘stock’ is, limited in Artbreeder. However with enough tweaking anything is possible! Tomorrow the true adventure for the week begins so don’t forget to come back as we expand upon this weeks adventure. And as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

The Streets of Kalehgrul

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After the party deal with the raiders on the Melarn farm they make their way to the streets Kalehgrul with the young priestess in tow. Now this week will go fast as there is a lot to catch up on on our way to the deep dark but never fear – we will try and blend it together coherently. So sit back grab a coffee and let’s roll into this weeks adventure!

The Streets of Kalehgrul

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Kalehgrul streets – Created in Nightcafe

In the distance the lights from the underdark city of Kalehgrul appeared like a collection of fireflies or other luminescent life. But as they got closer the stone buildings, torches and blue lights that revealed a touch of magic in the city came into view. Kalehgrul, while not being massive, was still a large city.

With no walls or towers the city appeared to be built on the top of a massive flattened stalagmite with two bridges leading into and out of the city. This meant that the only ways to approach the city were in the funnelled bridges, a steep climb up the stalagmite or from the air – most of which they had covered by soldiers and mercenaries.

Walking with the Melarn family they were granted access pretty quickly despite a few questioning looks towards the party and their prisoner, a daughter of the O’lorun family – a rival to the Melarns. But Izzrysn muttered some quick words in Drow and the guards let them pass quickly.

“I said that you were my new property, my slaves. It’s the way of this city and most of this world beneath yours.” he explained once out of earshot from the guards. “You never know when a swift lie will save your life down here.”

Onwards they walked past shops and houses that sold just about everything that could be bought from food, tools and adventuring gear to services, slaves and more risqué items. Eventually they found themselves at the entrance to an elaborate shop which had “Melarn’s silks” scrawled out in both common and undercommon on the sign. Entering they moved quickly and surely to a room on the second story where they sat the young priestess on a chair. “Now, why did your family want us dead?” Qistra demanded as she pulled out several metal tools of ‘persuasion’.

Thoughts

Now this weeks adventure will go very fast. This is just the opening part but this ‘scene’ can be delayed as long as the party want if they need to or want to go shopping. But to find our the rest you’ll just have to come back over the next few days.

Thanks for joining me for another week of adventuring in the underdark. This weeks starts off role play heavy and will quickly, very quickly turn action packed. So don’t forget to come back each day to not miss that. And as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

The Frozen Shard

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Tonight and I have created a zine for this weeks adventure. The Frozen Shard. This adventure can be used system agnostic as we explore other RPGs out there other than D&D. So please adjust to what ever creatures you are using in your adventure! However as always Kobold fight club can be used to quickly balance an encounter for Dungeons and Dragons and Tetra-cube currently provides the stat-blocks for creatures in this adventure.

So I hope you enjoy this weeks adventure, The Frozen Shard. If you like this format please let me know and I hope you enjoy.

The Frozen Shard

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Platara Glacier near the Ice Spire- created in nightcafe.

After rescuing the people from the Icewalker tribe, the party looked through the snowstorm that had blanketed the landscape when they entered the Den of the Lost souls. The Ice Spire towered above them, so close that its frozen form called to them.

The Frozen shard of ice, the first in several places that Andrasa called and singled out as important places. Would it hold treasure, wealth or powerful artefacts? Was it a bastion of knowledge or a prison for one of her enemies. Time would tell and the party was within walking distance of it.

Oskarg – The Guardian of the Spire

PDF adventure – The Frozen Shard

the-frozen-shardDownload

Thanks for joining me tonight for another Zine. This one had more content added to the Zine but like a few of my other ones I kept that in the Zine, not the blog. So you will just have to trust me on that and grab a copy of the Zine to check it out.

Next time you get a party together consider running this adventure and I hope that you enjoy it.

I hope you don’t miss a thing so come back daily in the coming week. This is so you can experience the creation of the next adventure as it evolves and shapes out. And as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Making Magic Items Magical again

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Welcome to another Musings Saturday where tonight I am looking into the future to see what I can do in making magic items magical again. A bit of a weird statement but hear me out. With spells like Identify out there I wanted to try and make magical item identification more meaningful. Yes it’s a niche spell and there are dozens of better spells to pick out there but I still dislike it.

What further reduces the magical-ness of Magic Items is that, it shouldn’t be a surprise by now, has this little rule about “Short or long rests to study and identify the item.” Now in most situations this is… fine. It’s not great but for me its taking away the mystery and majesty of magic items.

For example:

Elenore studied the silver inlay in the blade before her. The smiths had really outdone themselves with this blade this time. Reaching out to he weave she started to fill her sanctum with the sound of her piercing voice. The notes, words and rhythm were critical in creating the magical blades of her elven commune and she was a master at it. Having studied for centuries and practices for as many hours as men can only dream to live through she was peerless in her craft.

As the notes mingled with her harness on the weave she directed the magic into the blade that began to thrum with power. A moon-blue glow began to shine across the polished surface of the blade and as her elven song reaches its crescendo she forced all the captured magic from the weave through her final notes into the blade. Willing the blade to absorb the power she watched as the sword bounced across the altar before clanging loudly on the floor as the last of her power entered it. Breathing heavily she took a few moments to rest before she, weakly, retrieved the blade and studied it.

She had managed to capture one of the few elven songs that had been with her people since the dawn of their race. This blade was a masterwork and there would never be anything like it again, in the history of the world.

Two hundred years later, Tom the Menacing sat by a fire looking at the curved blade before him. As the fire danced across the blade he understood what it was. “Ah, Elenore’s Songsword of the Autumn Twilight. Sweet!”

Now that didn’t feel too meaningful for a bladed with such a history. What I hope to experiment over the next few months is an attempt to make these moments a bit… more.

Making Magic Items Magical again

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The basics.

Each item type, Armour, Weapons, Potions, Rings, Rods, Scrolls, Staffs, Wands and Wondrous Items is classified on how hard it would be to identify such a thing. Potions are easiest (take a sip and find out!) but Rings, by my reasoning, would be hardest to identify due to the nature of them.

The below is a quick justification on this order:
Potions – give a sip and you can normally tell. If not some may have labels… Maybe?
Scrolls – if you can read or decipher it. More powerful scrolls will be harder to understand but lower level or common spell scroll should be a simple affair as deciphering the inscription.
Weapons, generally swinging it around for a few days will tell you what it can do, but normally they have ornamental decorations as people put effort and pride into a fine blade. So they will have an inscription about flame or something to reveal its nature to the owner.
Armour – A bit harder than weapons. Perhaps there will be inscriptions on the armour but you may only find out what they do once it happens (like taking less damage, ignoring frost or acid, behing harder to hit and so forth). It’s very circumstantial to find out what they do.
Wondrous Items (cloaks, pouches, Trinkets etc.) Some are easy (Driftglobe, bag of holding) but some may be impossible without using the item (Quaal’s Feather Token). But it takes some tinkering to work out what they do and sometimes its a “too late” if you accidently use one once. So time and care goes into working these babies out.
Rods, Staffs, Wands – you know its magical but what does it do and how do you access that magic, or what it is? Some could be straight forward but is it verbally summoned, somatic? Right circumstance? What about how do you know what spells it has or charges? Yeah – a bit harder.
Rings – So this is hard. How would your character know that a ring with a squiggly line around the centre protects you from poison. It’s very unlikely that someone wrote inscriptions or a manual on the inside of the ring. Trial by error is also fraught with issues. Even if you are bitten by a viper and you are immune to its poison you may just think you lucked out “wow, that was lucky it didn’t inject venom” – Very difficult to work out most rings.

Before I bombard you with tables I will stop us there. Each category has a DC (starts mid-late teens and early 20s for the harder categories) and works its way up above 30 and into the 40s. The reasoning behind this is that the longer you use an item, or experiment or spend time around it and using it then the greater chance of success you will have on identifying that wand of fireballs.

Understanding languages, wearing/wielding/using an item, a thorough investigation using tools and dedicated knowledge, attempting to activate it, watching it being activated before you swiped it from that merchant or street performer or Big Bad guy and even Luck can come into play when trying to identify a magic item.

This isn’t to make it harder or impossible to make identifying magic items – but to make them feel more magic and open up chances for narrative descriptions of that moment that Tom the Menacing realised he was holding the last blade crafted by the master blade-singer Elenore Moonbrow.

Just something to think about…

Thanks for dropping by for a sneak peak into my madness this weekend. If you are interested in what this system looks like I will be posting it later on after I have thrown it at my party to be ‘live tested’ a few times. Don’t forget to come back next week and lastly, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Raiders from Kalehgrul

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Tonight we get a glimpse at some of the Raiders from Kalehgrul. These are a odd bunch of mercenaries with a twist. Its lead by a mage and a young drow priestess who may be key to the next part of this adventure. So don’t let me keep you here and sit down grab a coffee and roll into tonight’s adventure!

Raiders from Kalehgrul

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The drow mercenaries will act more like skirmishers than real fighters. Darting quickly around the battlefield and launching a volley from their hand crossbows. Very rarely will one engage in melee combat with their short sword when there is an opportunity to stay at a safe distance.

Drow created in tetra-cube.

The heavier hitters of the force will be the Duergar. Deep dwarves are resilient, strong and have the nasty habit of increasing their size which makes them a long stronger than they are when shorter! These warriors are not afraid to get into melee but also not dumb enough to realise they aren’t getting paid enough to die.

Duergar – created in tetra-cube.

Lastly the Drow priestess that leads the fight, with a mage close behind her is here to ensure that (her families – spoiler!) orders get executed. However she wasn’t planning on the adventurers being there!

Priest created in tetra-cube
Mage created in tetra-cube

So that’s it for tonight and the week! Don’t forget to come back this weekend for more D&D content and as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Melarn Cavern

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Now the Melarn cavern is where we find our map today. I couldn’t bring myself to make another map of a building (although the ruins were fun) so I tried to create something that would capture the intent behind this encounter. Two ways in, one way out. Before I get too excited about this weeks adventure let’s stop there, grab a coffee and roll into tonight’s map!

Melarn Cavern

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Melarn Homestead – Created in Inkarnate

The Melarn homestead, the smaller of their many houses, is further away from the busy cities where the family makes their claim to fame. To the south is the large cavern where the spiders are kept and their silk is harvested.

The road to the north takes them to Kalehgrul and is the direction the attackers have come from. They may be able to sneak around or fight their way through. Or, simply, defeat the attackers then move on from there.

Stalagmites grow in this cavern and they provide places to hide and get cover. But they do this for the attackers as well.

A bit of a shorter one tonight for a map. Don’t forget to come back this weekend for more content and to see where the rest of this adventure takes us. And lastly, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe