Month: Nov 2023

The Season of Mischief

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Welcome welcome to the end of year sessional one-shot that I have coined, Dice-ember with this years adventure focusing around the season of Mischief. If you can recall last year we had trouble in snow-town, the year before we had an adventure that was akin to heisting Santa’s sleigh and this year – we have something different once again. This adventure will be 25 days of content with, hopefully, my holiday gift to you being a complete Zine that is Christmas Themed. But before I get too ahead of my self tonight is the night before dice-ember and so, a prelude if you will.

So sit back, grab a seasonal beverage and let’s roll into the holiday season in style!

The Season of Mischief

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Dyson had just finished nailing the last of the notices on the notice boards at the Rusty Duck inn when the first of the cold winds blew down from the mountains. Dyson placed the hammer and nails back into the satchel he had slung around his shoulder and looked at the message he had just hammered to the wood.

Attention:

Several reports have come to the Rimeguard of late reporting the theft of items from citizens of Rimeglenn. All reports have indicated that in the same place the item was stolen from was left another item. Some have been handed into the Rimeguard already and we ask that if you are missing an item to come and see the guards.

Unfortunately this indicates that the season of mischief has begun. On the Authority of Lord Samite of Rimeglenn and Lady Penelope, the Rimeguard captain we are declaring this season active.

There is a large bounty to capture the offending parties as they commit these large amounts of theft but urge people to safeguard their own valuables. Lock away your items in a safe or hide them somewhere secure if possible. There is no guarantee that this will protect your items and the Rimeguard are unable to look into all of these incidents. As such we are calling for aid for all able bodies adventurers to help investigate the cases of mass theft during the season of Mischief.

– Sergeant Fiona Doleston of the Rimeguard.

Dyson had just finished nailing the last of the notices on the notice boards at the Rusty Duck inn when the first of the cold winds blew down from the mountains. Dyson placed the hammer and nails back into the satchel he had slung around his shoulder and looked at the message he had just hammered to the wood.

Dyson had himself already woken up with his bowls and plates missing and in their place small wooden figurines were left. He had reported it to the Rimeguard but his bowls and plates had not been turned in yet. So he left the figurines in with the guard so that if someone came looking for them that they may find them. However, this wasn’t the first year that this had happened. Every year for the last half-decade as soon as the weather got cold people would report that their belongings were being taken and exchanged with other residents of Rimeglenn.

At first people believed that it was a band of thieves stealing everything and when the guards started to investigate they arrested many people only to find that they had no idea how the stolen items ended up in their house or possession and that they too had their items stolen. The following years they attempted to catch the thieves but it was as if they didn’t exist.

And so the lord of the city, Lord Samite, declared a large bounty to anyone who could capture these thieves and put an end to the season of mischief. But so far the bounty had increased but no luck in successfully capturing the culprits.

Dyson sighed, it looked like he would have to find another way to eat his food without his bowls and plates until he either brought more or they were turned in.

Thanks for joining me for the prelude of this years Dice-ember adventure, the Annual December One-shot that I do for Brazen Wolfe Tabletop. Don’t forget that for the next 25 days I will be producing more updates and content that build up the full story for this one shot. So don’t forget to come back daily and, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

The Dawn of a new Adventure

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Welcome to the second last post of the campaign year and the dawn of a new adventure. Tonight we investigate what the next part of the adventure would be if we were to continue. But we will still have to see if I continue the adventure on past level 16 and beyond. So let’s get into tonight’s adventure, sit back, grab a coffee and roll into tonight’s adventure!

The Dawn of a new Adventure

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After the party came through the portal and back to the material plane were a blur. The people of both Kalehgrul and Duraegis needed a lot of help securing the defences of the cities and repelling attacks from rival cities. But soon the rumours of what the party members had accomplished the cities stopped being targeted by the attacks.

Lucile stayed with the drow in Kalehgrul after negotiating a business deal with Qistra Melarn for her family’s silk and with Morali O’lorun to assist with transportation of other underdark goods. The merchants discussed trade and agreements for weeks but the surrounding lands were still not safe enough to transport the goods. A steadfast guard would be needed to pass through safely.

But, with the defeat of the fiend, Larituron, nothing was preying on the creatures of the underdark. Mercenaries and travellers started to report stronger creatures that were prowling the roads and caverns. Some of the creatures were showing a level of distress that was not normal for their species and some were very rarely seen at the best of times. Many rumours started to circulate around what could be causing these incidents and many of them fell on a rival city forcing them out of their normal habitats and towards Kalehgrul and Duraegis. The other theory was more terrifying. Something was invading the lairs of these creatures and forcing them out.

The party rested where they could but it was evident that they would not be in want for work as long as they stuck around in the underdark.

Another step closer to my December adventure and another night done. Thanks for dropping by and for following along with the possible next steps for the party. Tomorrow we start Dice-ember and pause our normal format to these adventures, but don’t worry as they will be coming back soon. So don’t forget to come back daily for the december adventure and, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

The Price of Power

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Tonight’s update reveals the harsh truth of the price of power and the hunger of knowledge. But before we dive into this there isn’t always a darkness in motivation of individuals. Sometimes it’s just fate and sometimes its coincidence. But before I go on another tangent let’s get back to the adventure!

The Price of Power

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Lucile Bendercuff – created in Artbreeder.

Stepping through the portal as the connection and presence left her mind Lucile stumbled towards the figures waiting on the calcified webs. She recognised Alex instantly and had seen Viktira once or twice before but she didn’t know the drow. That was until one of them, Qistra, walked at her with a blade drawn. A coin dropped in her mind and she could see the resemblance to the head of the Melarn family – wealthy silk merchants who did business with the surface world occasionally.

But the young drow quickly changed her pace as she saw Lucile. A look of worry appeared and then hesitation as she stopped completely. “What happened to you? You look horrible.” Qistra said.

“I don’t remember much,” Lucile began before a wave of tiredness took over her. “I remember following a voice that called me to the deep dark and then finding myself in a trance in another space. The chanting I was doing was in a language that I didn’t know but it left a foulness in my mouth that it must have been infernal or abyssal. But I feel fine now, just a bit tired. I think the presence lost interest in me. Where are the adventurers that were with you? I must warn them…” she began before being cut off.

“They went in to stop you releasing whatever was trapped in there. Last we saw them the portal closed and they were hurrying across the fields in the other dimension. But you don’t look fine, were you attacked or touched by the fiend or a creature in there?” Viktira said as she approached Alex.

“Lucile, you better look at yourself.” Alex said as he fished out a mirror from a bag. Lucile looked down at her reflection and couldn’t believe her eyes. She had aged significantly. It was like she had had her youth, drained by a ghost or spectre. Her youthful face was wrinkled and sunken, her eyes were cloudy and the colour from her hair was receding. The hair she could fix easily enough but the rest she just simply couldn’t believe.

“I guess, this is the price of power. I got too close to real power and it took all that it could and now I have to live with the consequences.” she said as she touched the image in the mirror. Somewhere behind her the portal shimmered as a battle raged on in the dimension and the visage of a fiend flickered and wavered as the heroes that Andrasa found fought for their lives, and the future of all.

Thanks for joining me tonight. Tonight I toyed around a bit with the “slicer” that you can do in Artbreeder by taking an existing image you have created and modifying it slightly. This gave me the ability and freedom to tweak the age of Lucile and make it look like she had aged. If you haven’t given it a try already I can’t recommend Artbreeder enough for personal use. Now don’t forget that we have another day left before we completely wrap up this year so don’t forget to come back tomorrow and, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

The Final Conjunction

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Following from the final battle and the contingency that Andrasa built into her spell the party now have to deal with the final conjunction. The collapse of the dimension is imminent – but its not so much a race against time but an opportunity to see it through to the climatic end. As this is the last, few nights really, before my December adventure, Dice-ember kicks off I wanted to still expand upon the closure of the last adventure before we close the final page. So let’s sit back grab a coffee and let’s roll into tonight’s adventure!

The Final Conjunction

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Dimension Collapse – Created in Nightcafe.

As Velmore collapsed a pulse of energy erupted from where his body hit the ground. The remaining fiendish forms at the edge of the battlefield disintegrated into dust and were quickly blown away by a gust of wind that came from behind them. A voice carried across the wind “the ritual is commencing, now that his physical form is dead I can seal away his immortal form. But you don’t have long, the dimension is collapsing.” Andrasa’s voice was broken and disjointed but audible enough.

Hurrying past the shrine, as fast as their wounds would allow them to, they head back in the direction they believe they came through. But even as they searched for the next familiar landmark a splitting sound could be heard as a towering rocky mountain split into several shards which began to rupture into the sky away from where they were. All around them signs of the dimension collapsing could be seen as the land itself began to tear itself apart and great rifts in the sky could be seen.

Gone was the purple hued sky replaced by large black tears in the sky where the grey clouds were slowly being drawn into the void beyond. Chunks of rock and earth that were dislodged were slowly floating towards the rifts as well and occasionally a moment of anti-gravity would see the party losing their footing and floating through the air for a moment before being pushed back into the ground. Racing across the shattered landscape they hurried in a direction they thought was correct but doubt started to eat at their confidence.

But, in the distance a blue ring of darkness hung above the ground like a suspended mirror. The twisted cavern of the underdark could be seen on the other side and they knew they were on the home stretch now. Urging their tired bodies onwards they rushed towards the portal out of this dimension even as the ground around them started to shift and dislodge around them.

As they neared the portal the ground collapsed entirely which saw them pushing off loose floating earth. Jumping they lunged towards the portal home as the final conjunction of ritual and the collapse of the dimension collided. A forceful gust of wind collided with their backs as they started to float into the sky mere feet from the portal, a voice carried on the wind.

“Live well. We need heroes in the material plane to be ready for when the hells breach the surface again. Be well my friends” and with Andrasa’s last words they were flung through the portal, collapsing onto the rough calcified webs of the great cavern.

That’s it. Thank you for joining me on this journey as we wrap up the final parts of this adventure. Don’t forget we have Dice-ember starting this week so do make sure to come back for that as we explore what Christmas brings this year. I foresee a time of great celebration and mischief so don’t miss out on that. And finally, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Arrival at Kalehgrul

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Tonight and I have created a zine that is a few weeks overdue – but I am catching up, Arrival at Kalehgrul. This adventure can be used system agnostic but focuses on D&D so please feel free to adjust to what ever system and the 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 provides the stat-blocks for the creatures found in this adventure.

So I hope you enjoy this weeks adventure, Arrival at Kalehgrul. There week is different where all the content is within the Zine and nearly none of it was revealed in the prior week! So if you want to run this adventure you will need to download the pdf!

Arrival at Kalehgrul

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After surviving the attack on the Melarn family the party agree to travel with the family to Kalehgrul, a city where they may be able to find out what is happening and a way back to the surface. But they also have some cargo to escort, one of the attackers from the raid was the daughter of a O’lorun family – a rival drow house. 

But the city itself is a neighbour of Duraegis and it’s apparent that there is danger coming their way as the refugees start pouring into the city.

PDF adventure – Arrival at Kalehgrul

arrival-at-kalehgrulDownload

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

Blightshard

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After a big weekend and a few plans in the real world tonight I wanted to slow it down to a different pace and talk about Blightshard. This weeks encounter had Velmore using a longsword called Blightshard, Whisperer of Suffering and I wanted to explore that a bit tonight. The smith maketh the blade, but the name can do soo much more for it. Being in the hands of a duke of hell (forgotten or otherwise) the sword needed to be imposing. So Blightshard was its name – but we’ll touch on that in the update below!

Blightshard

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A few weeks ago I mentioned the concept of parasitic and symbiotic weapons that enable the weapon (or item) to grow with the party and adventurer. This is one such item that will look at testing out this concept with something that is relatively controlled.

Adding 1d6 poison damage isn’t a huge deal, nor is the DC 13 con save to ignore the effects. However if you can make that 5d6 poison damage and DC17 con save. Now that’s more of a deal. It also make sense for a blade that a devil, a fiendish angel hunter would wield to grant him the advantage against his greatest foes. And now hte blade is turned towards the party.

Blightshard – created in DnD Beyond.

That’s it for me tonight, a bit of a short one but its good to enjoy a small break sometimes. Don’t forget to come back tomorrow for more D&D content and as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Velmore Angelbane

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This week let me introduce you to a special guest. Velmore Angelbane – the forgotten duke of hell. Lost a long time ago to the material plane there are few that remember his name or the the legions he commanded when he declared war with the angel. But let’s not spoil any more. So sit back, read on and let’s investigate what happens!

Velmore Angelbane

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Velmore is a forgotten Duke of hell who dared to confront the material plane to bring his hell to earth. However Andrasa and her band of heroes stopped him and banished him in a place that no one could find. Well nearly no one.

Velmore is kitted out with some strong spells and abilities that should be a challenge for any party. However, let’s address the elephant-shaped dust pile in the room. Disintegrate. Now Velmore isn’t stupid and will likely save this for the perfect situation. Removing a barrier, destroying a magical item/artefact or something that will end him. OR, removing the biggest threat. As such he would be unlikely to use it against a party member immediately but will calculate for a few rounds before revealing this trump card.

Where possible He will start with having used ‘Summon Fiends’ to have bodyguards, the lore that I have produced this week also suggests this as well. He uses these as body doubles (up to twice a round really). I would have the Summon Lemures look like Velmore but static and obviously just hollow shells – nothing but a puppet without the strings attached. That is until he swaps places with them.

Velmore Angelbane – Created in tetra-cube.

The Lemures.

Now these creatures will stand still and look like Velmore – but if the party gets close to them they will attempt to grapple them. That’s it really – they are body doubles for Velmore.

Lemure – Created in tetra-cube.

And that’s it. The last boss and the last minions for this adventure. Thanks for joining me for this wild ride and I appreciate all who have followed along. Don’t forget to come back for the next few days for more content and as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

The Final Showdown

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Welcome to the last full Thursday of this yearly content as next week we catch up, reset and prepare for Dice-Ember. But first, the final showdown awaits us. A battlefield, a large ritualistic circle, some pillars of rock but a lot of open space to move, manoeuvre and do battle. So let’s sit down with a coffee and explore tonight’s battle map!

The Final Showdown

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And here it is. Settling with a layered adjusted ritual circle to give it a blurry, highlighted visual effect I moved quickly to the rocky platforms and pillars that litter this dimension. Some provide an elevated platform to do battle from others, not so much as the risk may not be worth the reward.

Impact craters littler the area around the ritual circle like pox marks – a remnant of when the previous heroes battled the fiend once upon a time. But elements of the purple hue, dirty ground and rocky terrain are evident everywhere.

Battlefield – Created in Inkarnate

Despite what everyone says the size of the description isn’t what is important for a battlemap – its what you do with the map that counts. As with all my maps I provide the link to it in inkarnate where you can download, tweak and adjust to your own needs. But if you are following along this several-month adventure then feel free to use it it as intended in your own games. Don’t forget to come back tomorrow and the weekend for more content and, as always , don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

The end of Andrasa’s Spell

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With the end of Andrasa’s spell coming into effect the final moments of the unholy ritual to extract the fiend from its prison is racing against the plans of the party. Centuries of planning coming up against what seems to be mere luck and happenchance and he does not want to risk it. As he prepares to be free he also prepares to fight for his freedom and his very existence. But, we can touch more on that another night. So let’s sit back, grab a coffee and roll into tonight’s adventure!

The end of Andrasa’s Spell

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Lucile could feel her consciousness waning once more. She was not sure if she was dreaming or if this was her reality. Some moments she collapsed on the cavern floor within an opaque dome and others she was watching the adventurers moving across a strange land. Her vision and what she experienced changes depending on where she was looking but something was not right.

She had memories of a voice that had called to her beyond the deep dark which she had struggled to resist. She remembers approaching the portal before realising what it really was but that is where her memories had stopped. She could still feel the presence compelling her to complete a spell; a ritual that she did not realise she had read in Andrasa’s notes, one that weakened the seals to release a creature that was stored within.

The fiend watched the adventurers within the sanctified shrine and waited patiently. It would not be long before they realised it was too late to stop him from completing the ritual through the human – a mere puppet now. Despite the seal still being active he could feel its bonds waning and the strength of the spells failing, but there was also something that was concerning. 

A buildup of magic that seemed to come from the shrine. The adventurers had seemed to trigger something and this could only be a bad sign for him. Soon his form in this area would be significantly weakened but in order to shift out of this prison he needed to stay in the zone that had been prepared. His centuries of planning and scheming now down to the next few hours and he was not about to let some mortals stop him from seizing his freedom.

No he will not let these mortals stop him. Calling the shades, mere shadows of his legion to his side he started forcing energy into them to give them a physical form. If he can hold them off long enough he may be able to escape and then nothing or no one will be able to stop him.

Thanks for dropping by tonight as I look at what the next few days bring. Don’t forget to come back over the next few days as we continue this adventure and, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

The Mages Sacrifice

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Tonight’s post is something that has been a long time coming where tonight we look at the mages sacrifice. All great feats of magic or demonstrations of power come at a cost, this week we find out about what sealing away the creature cost the mage that spun he spell. So without giving away anything more, or less about this weeks encounter that was centuries in the making – let’s get back to the adventure!

The Mages Sacrifice

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Determining, with the aid of the priestesses, that the dimension was likely to collapse and spew forth its contents within the next day regardless of their involvement or not the party watched as the fiend continued to gain power, long wings now appearing on its otherwise large humanoid form. The portal would be one way and sealed after to ensure that they would not let the creature out, but regardless if they were successful or not they would probably find themselves back in the material plane shortly if the dimension was collapsing… probably.

Andrasa – created in Artbreeder.

Stepping through the portal wasn’t the weirdest thing, even the change in gravity where movement felt odd as they floated and bounced across the ground. Nor was it the creatures that dwelled here, strange oddities that appeared to have no reason for being other than to confuse who witnessed them. No, the strangest thing was the sense of being watched and the scattered images of battles that were fought once upon a time.

Every few minutes another set of mirages, broken images of people would appear. A man wielding a great hammer, a dwarf throwing bolts of light, an elf firing arrows from the flank and a human casting spell after spell after spell. Each attack was flung towards a winged creature that parried, dodged or endured the strike before lashing back. The images were scattered as if the battle was captured by magic and it was failing, fragments of the images were present at times and the fight was brief and sporadic.

The winged creature appeared most broken as if the magic wouldn’t dare to capture its form except for the vague human appearance and the great set of wings that sprouted from its shoulders. Other creatures appeared in the fight occasionally, mostly lesser fiends, as they rushed at the man, dwarf, elf and human before being obliterated by hammer, axe, arrow or magic.

Continuing further into the dimension the images began to tell a more frantic tale. The Elf was no longer appearing in the replaying battles and the dwarf appeared to be gravely injured. The man fought with a ferocity that seemed to tell of its wounds not slowing it down but the hammer was cracked, the armour was shredded and they witnessed as claw, blade and beak tore into him. The mage continued to occasionally blast creatures with spells but was otherwise standing still and channelling a spell.

Following the fragmented images they came to a stone shrine which was bathed in a calming warm glow. A broken Hammer, a holy symbol to the god Tyr and a jagged dagger lay on the altar along with their names “Bjorne, Grumbar, Carasedrieth” under each item. The fallen combatants that they had seen in the images had been laid to rest here and a shrine erected to commemorate their sacrifice.

“Hello. I was certain this day would come but I was hoping it wouldn’t have occurred for centuries more,” a voice said from nearby, distorted as if talking through a door or pane of glass. “But it appears that my seals have eroded away and the final stages of the fiends release are here. I believe that there was another from the material plane that has assisted the fiend, consciously or otherwise I am not sure but that matters not now. I am Andrasa, well a shade of what I was. In order to keep the creature here I poured my magic, my knowledge, latent power and connection to the weave into a ritual that was self-sustaining for a while. But it appears that the Giant Oskarg and the tribe that guarded the well of souls have fallen and so the seals were broken. A Pity”

The speaker of the voice was another mirage, but this one clearer, stronger and more defined. The magic that saturated this image was clear and still strong, yet fragments of the image floated away from the main body – as if the source of its power was failing. “The creature, a fiend of considerable power, will be free soon and it will raise its legions once again. I have kept it bound here, well my arcane essence – my astral form has powered the seal here for as long as I can. But the creature has overpowered my wards. I have a failsafe that when the ritual would completely fail that I would collapse this dimension and all that it contains. But it would only work if the magic within the ritual was stronger than the creature. Currently the creature is more powerful, a byproduct of consuming souls from the material plane I would imagine.” a thoughtful look appeared on the image of Andrasa’s face.

“If we could weaken the creature, defeat it so it’s on death’s door I could collapse the dimension and take it with me. But we would need luck on our side. I can complete the final components of the ritual if you can deal a killing blow to the creature.” Andrasa’s form stopped and looked towards a crater not far from where she and the shrine was. “We don’t have much time as it calls the shades of its legions to its side as we speak. What say you, do you want to save the world?”

What a big night for this yearlong trek. The final showdown between good and evil and the final push after months of adventuring to get to this point. Thanks for stopping by tonight but we are not quite done yet. Tomorrow will reveal the other half of this story and then we have two more nights of content before the end. So don’t forget to come back each day this week and, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe