Month: Oct 2023

Raiders in the Dark

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Tonight’s twist finds the party back safe…enough at the Melarn residence but quickly they find themselves at the mercy of raiders in the dark. The decision for the party is, do they sit by and watch the slightly-putout Drow become victims to these raiders or do they help the people that found them in the underdark? To find out let’s sit back, grab a coffee and roll into tonight’s adventure!

Raiders in the Dark

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The Melarn family had, reluctantly from the daughters, agreed to take them back to their house. They waited in the cavern as they watched the Drow wander around the spider’s nest, the youngest daughter, Umnel, moved around the giant arachnids and they moved around her like surface herds.

The father, Izzrysn, moved around and collected the spider webs using a large pole that easily whisked the silken threads from the mushrooms and rocks into bundles. Then he placed them in neat piles on the back of the wagon that was held steady by the calm Rothe which was chewing food from a large sack. After the silken bundles were piled up the eldest daughter, and most unfriendly, Qistra, inspected the silken bundles and took notes in a little book.

Eventually the wagon became full and the party jumped on the back of it as it moved through the passages away from the mushroom forest and the cavern of spiders.

A while later they arrived at a large house that was covered in enchanted torches and braziers that shed light around the cavern. Many Drow and some Duergar worked in the lands around the house. Building, shepherding or moving bundles from a large warehouse near the central house. Izzrysn explained that they were family members, cousins, and it was their duty to the Melarn family to serve his.

Food was served and over an adequate meal of some kind of meat, fungi and something entirely different the party were briefed in where they were. The Melarn family house was near the city of Kalehgrul where they were one of the three largest merchant families. They explained where and how to get the Kalehgrul as well as some warnings of who to watch out for (mainly of the other two major families). The Melarn family, the mother absent from the family house for the time being, was also curious about how the party came to be in the dark and they were interested in the surface world.

A short while after dinner shouting could be heard from outside. Umnel ran to the window before uttering something foul sounding in Drow as she ran out of the room.

“Raiders, I fear that you have come at a bad time. We had heard that one of the other families may be plotting something but to send mercenaries to attack us directly is not something we expected. You four flee and try and make it to Kalehgrul. We can deal with these but they will likely attempt to take you as slaves to be sold in the larger cities such as Duraegis.” Izzrysn said as both Umnel and Qistra came back with large bows, wicked arrows strapped to their thigh and a curved blade on their hip.

“Wait for an opening and run.” Qistra said as she drew an arrow and stepped to the window to let her quarry fly.

So tonight is a bit of a mixed bag of activities. Thanks for joining me tonight but don’t forget to come back for the last few nights of this weeks adventure. And lastly, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

The Merchants of Kalehgrul

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This week we meet the merchants of Kalehgrul, a little settlement village who specialise in spider silk. More merchant than farmer the Melarn family have provided fine spider silk for generations to the point that they have quite the bond with the arachnids. But more on that in a little bit. So let’s sit down, grab a coffee and roll into tonight’s update!

The Merchants of Kalehgrul

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As the party got used to their surroundings they found some materials and soon those that couldn’t see in the dark could view their surroundings. Dozens of giant spiders moved across the cavern they were in and created vast net-like webs that were big enough to catch the giant bats the flew through the skies. Above them mushrooms and long plant-like tendrils shed a soft glow that confirmed they were far from a source of light.

The spiders moved calmly even when the party drew near and merle scurried out of the way instead of viewing the party as a snack. Content to feast upon the bats that they caught in their webs. As they moved around a squeak could be heard in short rhythmic patterns coming from a passage up ahead. As they approached the passage they were greeted by a Rothe, a large bull like creature, that was pulling a wagon with three drow onboard.

After a few moments of speaking quickly in drow and brandishing crossbows the male urged his two female companions to lower and he spoke in common. “Easy, we don’t want no trouble. I am Izzrysn and these are my daughters and we are merchants. I must ask though, what are you doing in this cavern?”

Izzrysn Melarn

Izzrysn Melarn – Created in Artbreeder

The drow named Izzrysn runs the merchant business for his family. Well versed in many languages he sees business opportunities instead of threats when something changes in his sphere. However despite his obvious business knowledge and intelligence he often finds himself being overruled by the female of his family – like most drow males.

Umnel Melarn

Umnel Melarn – Created in Artbreeder

Umnel is the younger sister of Qistra and tends to the spiders of the Melarn family. Whilst not blessed to be chosen by Lloth she is still able to understand and handle these creatures with ease. This helps the family collect their silk for their business but has one a few occasions protected the family when her abilities can come into use.

Qistra Melarn

Qistra Melarn – Created in Artbreeder

When business is poor Qistra, the oldest daughter of the head of the Melarn family, gets involved. She is rash and impulsive but will still listen to her mother, sister and father. She oversees production of the spider silk and inspects it for quality. Whilst her father has a business understanding and her sister can tend to the cluster of spiders she has a fine eye for quality when it comes to silk.

Whilst the party try and understand why they are here and what brought them to the underdark having some, somewhat understanding, people to help them make sense of what happened will help make plans to remedy the situation. However despite this they are still an unknown distance from home, without many supplies and in an unfamiliar land. So don’t forget to come back each day this week as we continue to expand upon this adventure and lastly, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Falling into Darkness

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This week kicks off immediately from the outcome of the last adventure in the Carrion Swamp and the party find themselves falling into darkness. I’ll save some of the mystery behind what happens but it makes a few big assumptions that I will cover tonight. It’s best if just we get stuck into it, so sit back grab a coffee and let’s roll into this weeks adventure!

Falling into Darkness

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Duraegis – Created in Artbreeder

In the final moments of the well of souls collapsing the tides of undead grey in intensity. Urged towards the well the shambling and crawling hordes faulted as an earthquake rumbled through the ground. A sickening cracking sound resonated through the air followed the rumble as the core of power for the well of souls shattered. Almost immediately the undead approaching the party fell to the ground as the necromantic energy that was commanding their broken forms fled their body. A moment of quiet broached the swamp before the tumbling of a piece of rubble hinted at a worse fate than being buried under undead.

Pieces of ruins, undead, water, earth and vegetation started moving across the ground and through the air towards the well of souls. A low howl began to rise in the ruins as a vortex of magical backlash ripped outwards and started to pull at the party. Then the unimaginable happened, one of the party members slipped and stumbled as a piece of ruins slammed into them and they fell backwards and into the shattered well of souls. As the power grew the other party members faced similar fates as the well devoured the bodies of the undead and began to pull down the ruins onto the vortex to seal it from the outside.

Falling was the first feeling for the adventurers before they landed heavily in a strand of sticky substance that immediately slowed and nearly stopped their descent. For those who didn’t pass out they were in near complete darkness except for a few sources of glowing light that moved around high above them. After a few moments they realised that they had crashed through a large spider’s web and landed on hard stone. Their eyes adjusted and a large cavern was revealed before them with spiders spinning webs amongst giant mushrooms and stalagmites that filled the cavern.

Waiting for the rest of their adventuring party to wake up they started to come to grips with what had happened. what had caused the magical vortex and, when was the last time they had seen Vikira. They were sure she had been with them next to the well of souls during the fight with the vampire and undead. As the rest of the party stirred, a single place came to mind that would fit the description of what they were seeing. They had found their way into the Underdark.

Thoughts

Now the assumptions that are made is that the party don’t flee from the fight with the vampire or undead and that they either fail to stop all the undead OR they destroy the Well of Souls themselves. The second is that one or more of the party fail saving throws to avoid falling AND being knocked into the vortex by flying rubble. And the last assumption is. If a party member does fall through that the others will try and save them before the ruins bury the well of souls.

If the party don’t the story takes a different turn. They either attempt to get to the final place, the deep dark, which is really another travel arc across the land to the entrance to the underdark closes to the deep dark. OR they get approached by a messenger of Lucile who is trying to find them with some urgent news. That she was able to decipher more of Andrasa’s notes and she was warning a that these points were dangerous seals that cant be broken…

But more on that a different time.

Thanks for joining me for another week of adventuring and the forty first adventure this year! Don’t forget to come back each day this week for more content and as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

The Hidden Shrine

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Tonight and I have created a zine for this weeks adventure. The Hidden Shrine. 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 Hidden Shrine. If you like this format please let me know and I hope you enjoy.

The Hidden Shrine

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The City of Hark – created in nightcafe.

Rumours have flitted around the city of Hark for many years of magic, sorcery and wealth hoarded by some of the noble families of the city. Some had been investigated but nothing had ever come from such rumours. 

Some investigators quickly rose through the ranks and were granted manors and a life of privilege of which they hadn’t been entitled to before as a result of their investigation. This only spurred the rumours on more. 

However, the city of Hark is a mercantile city where religion, wealth and politics blend into a miasma of discord and discontent. The Party find themselves in a busy chaotic city where your station seems to be judged by the size of your purse.

PDF adventure – The Hidden Shrine

the-hidden-shrineDownload

Thanks for joining me tonight for another Zine. This one had more content added to the Zine but… not so much that I could reveal in the blog update. So you will just have to trust me on that and grab a copy of the Zine. 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

The dark below

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The village streets lay quiet and empty with the silence only occasionally broken by frantic footsteps. The doors and windows were boarded shut but many had been tipped though, a futile effort for the residents of Duraegis.

A sudden scurry of movement saw two residents, drow, dash from a hiding place towards a doorway but they were not careful enough. A large mass of chitinous legs smashed down upon one drow while the spear plunged through the second. The cries of agony lasted a minute as the drider savoured its prey.

“Why are the drider attacking us?” Asked an unfortunate witness to the murder of the two drow to their parents.

“Something foul is happening in the pit. These manic and feral drider appear more often.” The older drow spoke back trying to reassure. “But don’t fear, the priests of Lolth will come and banish them back to the pit soon enough, you’ll see.”

The driders continued their hunt as their victims were dragged to the pit’s edge and thrown into its depths. No one came back from the pit, its deep dark was matched only by the chitin of the drider who patrolled the city’s streets.

If the priestesses or mages council did not arrive soon there would be no people of Duraegis to save.

Thanks for dropping by for a sneak peak of the dark below Duraegis. This is the next step in the conclusion of this years zines. So don’t forget to come back next week to see the adventure for yourself. And lastly, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,

The Brazen Wolfe

Guardian of the Well

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Now leading into the weekend, in which I have another Age of Sigmar Tournament to go to, I have something that we can raise for this weeks encounter, a guardian of the well as it were. With a vested interest in keeping the well working, well malfunctioning in its current stage this guardian is also keeping the true purpose of the well barely holding on. But the darker forces at play work against the guardian and perhaps, so do the party… But enough on that, let’s sit down grab a coffee and roll into tonight’s adventure!

Guardian of the Well

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The Guardian of the well is a vampire who wishes to have an army to keep the swamps clean from the living, well most of the living. this one will be swampy themed, dressed in sodden mossy clothes, looks as if it drowned once or twice just to come back to life. Using the canopy and dense trees of the swamp the creature flitters between trees and ruins to strike at the party. since the water is stagnant it gets to use its full powers as well and use them it shall.

However, it simply wants to keep the well of souls as it is, churning out undead and malfunctioning. But we will see more of that in the Zine.

Vampire created in tetra-cube.

In addition to the normal minions of the Dark Prince giant frogs (zombie or otherwise, zombie in this case) would be also a good fit for the vampire to summon. These creatures would listen to the vampire in the same ay as the other minions summoned by children of the knight ability (same number as wolves).

Zombie Frog – created in tetra-cube.

In addition to the above two stat blocks all the other zombies from last weeks encounter (A variety of undead) would also be fitting. Such as, once again, the humble zombie.

Created in tetra-cube

As with the last few adventures there is a bit more to add to the final product of this. So you will have to hang out for the final Zines for this adventure. So 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

Heart of the Ruins

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The time has come to visit the heart of the ruins. How the party interact with the map is up to them but this little map has a bit of everything. Boggy water, plants and vines that could snare your feet as you travel through. Rocky terrain and oh, I don’t know… I giant glowing orb of power? So let’s roll up our pants legs and dive in to tonight’s map!

Heart of the Ruins

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The well of Souls – Created in Inkarnate

The areas around the building provide a good vantage point and a good place to hide from the undead that will be swarming around the well of souls (the big glowy thing). However the ground is unstable with rotting vegetation, vines, leaves and debris from the ruins themselves so whoever treads across them best be packing an ankle brace.

The trees are twisted with large thick roots that piece into the soil. small creatures can hide within them (undead or alive) and they are easy enough to climb as well. The bushes along the way are thorny but don’t impede movement as such – but if unlucky they may nick a coin purse or bag.

The area in the centre dips inwards towards the well. The level where the well is is five feet lower than where the edge up the top is. This makes it harder to see down into the pit and the well itself, but that doesn’t seem to stop anything.

The orb, the power source in the well, emits a force field that disintegrates what touches it – however it fails. The more undead (or attacks from magical items, spells or effects) that hit the shield the more the power wanes. But it’s impossible to tell whether the shield was to keep things away from the core OR to keep the magic from the core contained. Regardless it looks like it’s been here for centuries and the magic is both waning and flaring.

I enjoyed this swampy map tonight. I think the multiple layers of dirt, stone, grass and water help give it a swampy feel. The rubble was fun to work with but, not super convincing – I will have to look at how to improve that in the future. But that’s enough out of me on that tonight. So don’t forget to come back this weekend for more content and as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

To the Well of Souls

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Tonight we get a glimpse of the action before it happens as the party are driven to the well of souls. This will be the scene leading up to the final encounter in these swamps, well for not any way. So let’s sit back, grab a coffee and roll into tonight’s adventure!

To the Well of Souls

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The party didn’t have much time between the undead starting to move towards the city and when the first of them realised that there was easier prey nearby. As the first of the undead started to move towards the party a strange thrumming started to come from the centre of the ruins.

Fighting back the undead that came towards them they made their way towards the centre of the ruins where they were met by a confusing sight. A paved depression led towards a hole that pulsed with green energy. Undead shambled towards the hole before pausing at the edge. As they watched one of the undead screamed; as much as rotting lungs could allow, and threw itself in the hole. A sudden thrum of power pulsed through the air that made the undead twitch.

Slowly more undead started to throw themselves into the hole and as they did more creatures appeared from the swamps. A skeleton of a giant sloth that was missing an arm near one of the ruins suddenly reanimated after a lizardfolk zombie had launched itself into the pit before the skeleton joined the rotting humanoid a few moments later. With passing moments the undead were throwing themselves into the put and with each pulse of energy, each thrum of the bodies connecting with something below more undead started to show up and something was beginning to feel off.

The party knew two things to be true. The undead must not complete their task, whatever it was as it triggered the creation of more undead. And the second more horrifying fact was that they had found the well of souls.

Now this one is up to the players what they do. Fight back the undead, blow them up with magic or let them continue to vaporise themselves. The same with the crescendo from the ice spire the end result is kinda the same, some differences but it progresses the story. But this is where the parties choices can affect it. Whether they do something now or they don’t their presence has set in motion a chain of events.

So to see what I have in store for the rest of this week don’t forget to come back the last few days this week and as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

The Voice that Echoes

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Now after this week you may find a pattern in how I structure these remaining, 9 weeks and the pattern continues with the voice that echoes. This weeks NPC update touches on one of my favourite techniques which is giving a voice or a view of the situation and scenario to the bad-guy (or thing). So let’s not wait for them to come to us. So sit down with a coffee and roll into tonight’s update!

The Voice that Echoes

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The same creatures from the frozen lands appeared at the edge of the creatures growing conscious as they regained their power. The swamp had slowly eroded the physical barriers to the well of souls and as the waters and roots from the trees were exposed to the powerful energies from the well they were corrupted.

The undead were growing in number and those that the creature was able to influence were drawn to the well to expedite the task that time had started. But a new plan was forming in the cunning creature’s mind. Something that would bring its century of planning ever closer to becoming a reality.

Breathing deeply, if it could do such a thing, the creature marvelled at how much simpler it could be if the minions that it had could complete the task. But the mechanisms of fate were turning and the adventures, and the influential girl were so close and temptation was taking over. All it would take was a nudge.

Reaching its consciousness out it grabbed the attention of all the undead near the ruins. Fish, reptiles, beasts, humans and all other dead creatures responded to the mental nudge and as one they followed the direction. A great upheaval of dead flesh or mouldy bones moved across the swamp and towards the central thrumming of the well.

Now the creature prepared the final nudge. Reaching out to the humans it attempted a single compulsion. To eradicate the undead and its source.

Vikira muffled a shriek as not ten feet from the party a pile of bones moved. Slowly the skeleton pulled itself from the grasses, mud and rocks and with a sickening shuffle it shambled towards the ruins. Pointing Vikira looked across the swamp as dozens upon dozens of undead rose and shuffled towards the ruins.

“I think we found the source…” she whispered to the party as a strong thrum shook the loamy soil again. “There is no way that the town, Ferklend, would survive if all these undead attacked at once. And once they are done there they will seek out other towns and settlements nearby. We need to put an end to this.” she said as he face paled at the sheer volume of undead

She was right, of course, and the energy that they were feeling was surely one thing. The Well of souls. Andrasa’s next point of interest. A place of great power and potential wealth. But this place felt wrong as if the power was corrupted. They felt the need to finish what Andrasa’ had surely started and attempt to stop the chaotic undead energies that were flowing from the well. Only then will the people of this land be safe.

The final pieces are coming together. Join me for the other days of the week to see what else is revealed as the party find the well of souls and, unknowingly, act as puppets in a grand scheme. Maybe, we’ll see. As with all D&D adventures parties tend to have their own agenda, but we will have a plan for that. Don’t forget to dial back in this week for more content and lastly, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

2023 Campaign Adventure Update Sidekicks

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Good evening all and I hope that you are finding the adventure intriguing as we continue following on the party (and real players) as they trek through the scene I set before them. This update is really to capture the sidekicks, Armaeth and Groku as statblocks to help the players keep track and records of these key NPCs*. So this follows on from 2023 Campaign adventure 5 update on the weekend so make sure you have looked at that.

2023 Campaign Adventure Update Sidekicks

The creation of the sidekick block was two fold, and not that hard as it used free resources. Tetra-cube, Nightcafe, Artbreeder and what ever image software you want to.

Referring to sidekicks in dnd5e.wikidot I picked the warrior for Groku and expert for Armaeth as the classes. looking at the guidance in the source books I based Groku of a Guard and Armaeth of a modified imp/sprite.

Using the Sidekick abilities gained at levels 1, 2 and 3 I created “abilities” and actions for the two sidekicks to help flesh out them to feel a bit more unique. I gave each of them something unique; Groku the variant human feat and langue proficiency, Armaeth the lore behind her poisoned weapons (and tweaked racial traits to make it more balanced than permanent invisibility).

Fleshing this out into “two columns” gave me the freedom and space to add in their portraits to help the players refer to their sidekicks easier and the rest is numbers.

The two end-state (for now) sidekick cards are below. I can also provide the tetra-cube data files for anyone who wishes to download the file and use it for their own sidekicks.

Hope this little project of mine to create sidekick cards has inspired you in some way! Don’t forget to stay tuned for the next part of this adventure and, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe