Witches of Kilderken

This week I continued with the creating a shortened Zine, something that fits on a single A4 sheet of paper with just enough information to set the scene, plot and hook with some NPCs sprinkled through that it could be used in any system.

I think its still working well so without any further waiting I present Witches of Kilderken, in the short format, as a fun one-shot to assist GMs when they need a night out of the books whether you run Pathfinder, Open Legends RPG, D&D or any other RPG System.

There is references to the blog nights which are D&D centric (regarding Friday night’s Stat-blocks) but this adventure can be used system agnostic more so than my regular Zines. 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 many of my D&D creatures.

So I hope you enjoy this weeks adventure, Witches of Kilderken, and that your rolls are made with advantage.


Witches of Kilderken

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Kilderken Forest – Created in Nightcafe.

The party moved alongside the Kilderken forest on the way to the port city of Palau. As they marvelled at how the sun was defying the darkness of the woods nearby they heard a woman crying nearby. Locating the distressed forager they quickly learnt that the woman’s daughters had been taken recently by a group of men who lived in the woods. Jaeden, the woman, had tried to find her daughters, Cassandra and Taylor but her searches had been unfruitful as the men had prevented her from reaching where they had kept her daughters chained.

She requests for the party to free her and offers not much in the way of a reward except for anything within her power to grant them if they are able to help her.


The party finds that the woods are filled with signs of dark magic with runes carved into trees. Feathers, bones of forest creatures and even organs were tied together with twine in ghastly fetishes that caused the adventurers skin to crawl. 

Several times they felt as if they were being watched however, they could not see any cause for such a feeling except for a whisper of a voice in the breeze or the sound of a distant calling animal. The few animals they did see looked deranged and feral. Several of them attacked the party after a few moments of encountering them and with slavering jaws the bit ferociously at the party and only the release of death stopped their madness.


The party could see lights ahead through the dimness of post-dusk and the forest here was more alive than the part they had trekked through. Birds roosting in trees and small creatures moved through the woods and fled from the party instead of attacking on sight like the animals they had encountered earlier that day.

The lights turned out to be a camp or sorts with some patchwork tents grouped together around a large campfire where a few small game animals were already roasting. A stream ran nearby which the party saw a few men and women patrolling near as they gathered buckets of water and refilled water skins. A tent stood apart from the others and it looked in worse repair with great rips, cuts and slashes upon the canvas surface. However, the party could see glinting in the light a post had been erected inside the tent with two figures chained to it with dark metals. Their hands bound together and their mouths gagged they watched as the armed men and woman moved around the camp.


PDF adventure – Witches of Kilderken



Thanks for joining me today for another Zine this year. This is a condensed version of the Zine, but I hope the format works and is good to look at! Please feel free to leave comments if this format is appealing – so make sure to grab a copy of the PDF.

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 and year. 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

Ci’ara Stormbringer

Tonight I wanted to test a work flow of creating Ci’ara Stormbringer, a character in OpenLegend RPG without getting bogged down in the overwhelming options that are available in this system. So tonight I give you the, nearly finished results of Ci’ara, a bit about her and how I envision her being played as well as her character sheet!

So let’s grab a coffee, sit back and meet Ci’ara Stormbringer, the natures wrath.

Ci’ara Stormbringer

Ci’ara Stormbringer – Created in Nightcafe.

Background

Ci’ara is an elf from the Syphare Forest tribe and was brought up like most elven children. She had a love for nature that would not be contained and would often be found talking to animals and amongst the woods, lakes and mountains near her home as opposed to being indoors. Although she spent most of her time out doors she quickly found her calling when studying basic magic.

Taken in by the local sorceress she learnt to harness the weave around her by tapping into natures might and she gradually became more powerful. However, when she was still young in her study the gods of nature put forth a test to her village, or so the elders called it, and a massive storm threatened to destroy the village. But Ci’ara harnessed the storms power and controlled the fury of nature to redirect it to where it would cause no harm.

Ci’ara was then given the name Stormbringer and has since harnessed the fury and power of the storms that she can summon.


Abilities

Ci’ara specialises in Lightning attacks and can summon gusts and gales to hamper her enemies movements and assist her allies in battle. Specialising in Barriers made from whirling wind and lightning she can also lash out to stun, slow and even deafen her enemies when they get to close.

She can launch out a single jolt of electricity towards a foe or she can call down an entire storm of lightning bolts to everything within an area if she so chooses. Anything that feels the full strength of her lightnings touch is left stunned and wishing they never threatened the woods where she calls home.

Banes

  • Stunned
  • Forced Move
  • Deafened
  • Slowed
  • Immobile

Boons

  • Haste
  • Barrier
  • Light
  • Flight* (Future boon – needs a higher Movement attribute score)

Feats:

Her specialisation in lightning magic has left a lasting mark on those who have stood against her, and there has been many. These foes of nature and the elves find themselves left stunned on the battlefield as a bolt of lightning has arced through their ranks, leaving them breathless and their armour smouldering.

  • Attack specialisation 1 (Lightning)
  • Bane Focus (Stunned)

Perks and Flaws:

She sometimes does still talk to animals to get a feeling of what is on their mind. Although she isn’t as talented as other druids or rangers she still has an affinity for nature and can communicate with them when needed.

Perks:

  • Natures Ally
  • Whisper of the wild

However she does not know much of the real world and is hot tempered when defending nature, her people or animals. This has landed her in hot water more than once where her party; commonly dwarves, humans and halflings, have a strong need to hunt for their food when adventuring and she perceives this as a threat and disrespect to nature itself.

Flaws:

  • Naive
  • Zealous (when dealing with nature and animals)

Attributes:

Highly willed and a force to be reckoned with due to her sense of self she is a powerful ally when she is in her element. Her elven graces and natural perception make her a useful ally when on the move and not just in combat when she needs to bring the storms wrath upon her foes.

  • Agility 2
  • Perception 2
  • Presence 2
  • Movement 3
  • Will 4
  • Energy 5

You may notice that I have structured these a bit differently to normal. This is due to how I went through what I wanted in Ci’ara, before knowing she was an elven maiden, with the concept of a storm-mage. Focusing on the Boons; benefits she can bestow onto others, the Banes; the debuffs she could inflict upon enemies, and her fighting style; her feats – what potentially separated her from other mages, it left me with a strong sense of who she was.

I then chose Perks that looked at who she was as a child due to her race (whisper of the wild) and then due to her calling or achievements as an adventurer (natures ally) and I was able to fill in the missing gaps.

By knowing what I wanted her to do and how I wanted her to fight; battlefield control and lightning damage, I identified what attributes I needed, what was most important and what scores I needed for her to be effective. I think this worked out well and I didn’t feel overwhelmed by choice, which is a feeling I get when looking at Openlegend RPG.

Ci’ara Stormbringer

Thanks for dropping by tonight. Ci’ara Stormbringer is the first in a party of 5 that I wish to take through this process to really solidify my ideas. If I can remove some of the potential apprehension in character creation I feel like OLRPG may become the dominant RPG I use moving forward. But we will see. Don’t forget to come back tomorrow for another end-of-week Zine and, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

The Thren

The Thren are a creature born from the spores of the Thren Plant and they have one purpose, to create more of their kind. But these plants aren’t the most difficult think to destroy and so they have several of their Thren guard their grove so that their survival is nearly guaranteed.

So let’s sit down, grab a coffee as we roll into tonight’s encounter!


The Thren

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Small plants that look to be a mixture between a large leafed bulbous plant and a fungi grow in darker, low-light areas. Although not a fungi itself these plants emit spores that will grow on dead matter into the Thren itself – an organism that uses the nutrients in a creature to form a body for itself.

It does this to either lure prey into its grove or to spread forth and create more groves elsewhere by using the Thren to find or create a suitable area for the plants to be created. Once old enough to create spores then dead animal (or people) will form the basis of the new creature.

Thren Plant – created in Tetra-cube

The ‘Legs and arms’ of the plant, the Thren are organised and highly intelligent beings who grew from where spores harvested and converted flesh into plant-based materials. The Thren, as they all share the same name, are masters of stealth and their only duty is to spread the colony to create more of their kind.

While not evil, they are driven to thrive and survive which normally results in humanoids becoming food for the spores.

Thren – Created in tetra-cube.

Thanks for visiting again tonight for more content. I still have a few more days this week so don’t forget to come back for the next few days. Also don’t forget to come back this weekend for the end of week Zine and as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Thren Den

Tonight’s I get back to what I love to create, atmospheric natural scenes and the Thren den in Sarkret forest brings me all those fuzzy warm feelings… Despite it being a nightmare hole of death and fungi-creatures.

So let’s sit back, grab a coffee (not a mushroom one though…) and roll through tonight’s map!


Thren Den

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Sarkret Forest – Thren Den – Created in Inkarnate

The clearing where the Thren live has knee high grass that grows darker and more compact than grass found elsewhere. A thick canopy of giant trees means that only a few shafts of light pierce down to the forest floor and this is where the Thren plan, and other medicinal plants thrive on the biological scraps of the Threns food. Skeletons can be found throughout the clearing but many are burried under the thick grass.

Trees can be found everywhere around the clearing and make for perfect blockers of line of sight for anything wanted to find the Thren Den. Or those who want to stay out of sight of what lies within.


Seven texture layers created the forest floor ranging from dirt to stone, three types of grass textures and even a smidge of water to add contrast to the ground itself. There are three types of trees in the clearing and a plant that has a heart shaped leaf which can be seen growing in the pillars of light. The forest floor filter was applied over the top to darken it, but no all of it to give a depth to the visual appeal and my go-to breaker of zones was used, the craggy hills which provides the evidence for a recession into the Thren den itself.


Thanks for joining me tonight while I got back to what I enjoy the most in map making. Don’t forget to come back the last few days of the week to keep on top of what’s happening here and, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

The Thren Plant

Now this weeks twist is a bit different and it involves the discovery of the Thren Plant, well more accurately it discovered them entering its forest. The Thren plant is a shape changer, a symbiotic relationship between fungi and plant that was given life by the fey. It lures clueless prey to its grove where it kills them with ruthless determination before their corpse acts like a host for its spores and more Thren are born. But, let’s not get ahead our ourselves just yet…

So let’s grab a coffee, take a deep breath and stroll into tonight’s adventure!


The Thren Plant

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Thren Revealed – Created in Nightcafe.

“It’s not much further. You will see the Thren soon.” the elf called Thren; a namesake of the plant she had explained when asked, called back. The party had been walking for the better part of a day and into dusk and they were searching for a place to set up camp. Thren often disappeared nearly into thin air before appearing again to guide them deeper into the woods.

The party had once or twice marvelled at how stealthily she moved, leaving not a single trace of her passing, taking nothing and weaving through the woods like they were an extension of her being. She had led them to water, fruits and berries and even stopped them from encountering a pack of monsters from selecting the party as the target of their hunt.

But as the sun set Thren had looked for a small clearing and with the parties help had selected space for them to set up camps. She shied away from the flame as the fire was lit and instead chose to climb into the branches of a tall nearby tree. “There are many things that stalk the woods at night and the smell of food, the light of the fire and the heat from it will attract things that you wish you hadn’t. Do as you wish but I want to see the Thren in the morning.” she had called down as she unslung her bow and her form all but disappeared into the trees.

She was right of course, the night was filled with creatures appearing at the edge of the firelight, a few arrows darting from a nearby tree saw the creatures fleeing into the night, limping, crawling of stampeding away. Dawn saw that where ever blood was spilt from these brief encounters small sprouts of plants were pushing through the dirt. “The forest feeds on itself, the balance is maintained and we can continue on in peace” Thren would comment when ever another sprout was found.

The parties supplies had also suffered and so they relied on Threns’ knowledge of the forest and its paths to find food that morning, but it was a limited affair of bitter berries that left their tongue numb and small seeds that did nothing to sustain those with larger appetites.

After a few hours Thren gestured forwards, “The Thren are through there, in the grove amongst the dark trees. I will be there shortly but there is something I must prepare for.” she announced as she took out a small blade and knelt nearby. As the party entered the edges of the grove the few shafts of direct sunlight revealed a low grassy clearing with several large plants near by. A heart-shaped leaf stood out near the light shaft which matched the description Tyreal provided them.

As they moved towards the leaf something bright white caught the suns beam next to the leaf. A human skull. Looking around the clearing several more bleached white skeletons were scattered amongst the grass and near each of them another tall plant grew near by. Looking back towards Tyren the elf was gone but it wasn’t long until an arrow was fired at the adventurers. A figure stepped out of the woods, Tyrens form was now made from bark, moss and vines and her skin had a mushroom-like texture.

“The Thren need to feed and need a place for their spores to burrow into. You will feed the Thren for weeks and we are tired of waiting.” she said as several more figures lurched into the clearing.


Thanks for joining me tonight for another addition to this weeks adventure. Don’t forget that we still have some nights remaining for this one. So don’t forget to come back each day this week and, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Herbalist and the Hunter

As for NPCs this week is all about the Herbalist and the Hunter. We have already met our Herbalist, Tyreal but tonight we meet the Hunter, someone who is deeper in the woods than they have reason to be and perhaps, its for a good reason.

So let’s sit down, string our bows and lets travel deeper into the forest!


Herbalist and the Hunter

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Tyreal Paleleaf – Created in Nightcafe.

As the party left the Alchemists shop Tyreal continued to give them a wish list of a dozen or so other ingredients. “If you see the Lilly-heart plant a dozen or so leaves should do it. You should find plenty as there are are no elves that would dare to go that deep into woods these days!” he calls as the party walk out, for their own safety.

As they walk through the desolate streets they find their way to the north gate where the path splits to curve to the west to continue onto the next city along. However the road that they need to go travels further north into the Sarkred forest. The path gets rougher as they travel and the trees begin to grow older, more twisted and gnarled and darker. Several creatures that they would not normally expect to see become a commonplace as they travel deeper into the woods.

However the signs of civilisation all but disappear as the road ceases and only a path, ancient and worn remains. The rough ground and stone looks like it could have been sung out of the earth before being twisted and reclaimed by the ancient trees and their massive roots that breached the surface. The curious sound of a whistling bird, reached their ears as the travelled along the path and following the sound they were greeted by something out of place.

Thren – Created in Nightcafe.

A woman knelt as she dug in the soil a dozen or so feet from the road. Her hair was wild and she had a strong but crudely made bow and quiver of arrows on her back. As the party watched her she turned her head to reveal she was an elf, more wild than the ones they had met in Wellspring. “Well I wasn’t expecting to have an audience. I assume you don’t wish me harm or you would have done so already like the others have in the past.” she called as she slowly turned revealing her dirt covered tunic and hands.

“If you haven’t come hunting for the woods for me then I suspect you are here to hunt something else. The animals in these woods are protected, sacred to my kind so I would suggest that you refrain from defiling the balance of nature if you wish to leave the woods in one piece.” she warned. After a brief discussion she seemed to understand what they were after, but her response was cold and abrupt.

“You wont find the Thren plant without help. It hides from those who seek it and only those who know where to find it will realise what it is. Something that I admire of these woods is the resilience of all its living things.” she smiled. “My name is Thren, and much like what you seek I am normally quite elusive. I can take you to where the plants grow if you promise to leave after you find them and do not upset the balance of these woods. Everything is carefully measured and checked, the plants, creatures and elements all working to protect the woods.”

After receiving their agreement she dusted her hands off on her tunic and walked away from the path. “you won’t find the Thren at the end of a path, you find it by looking where no one will find it.” she called back as she unslung her bow from her back as she silently moved deeper into the forest. It was a matter of moments before the party lost sight of the elf and only when she called out to them did they realise where she was.


A busy night, a large part of the adventure discovered and a path to the Thren revealed. I will continue to broaden this adventure progressively each day this week. So don’t forget to come back daily to stay up to date and lastly, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Sarkret Forest

The Sarkret Forest is home to the elves of Wellspring who have lived in harmony with the plants and creatures of the woods. But the forest is ancient and the deeper you go the further from civilisation and the watchful guarding gaze of the shepherds of the forest.

So let’s grab a coffee, pull on our hiking boots and let’s stroll into tonight’s adventure!


When a disease starts to spread through the small city of Wellspring the party are tasked with the impossible task. Replenish the alchemical supplies that the herbalist needs to create a cure for the Elves of Wellspring. The catch, the master herbalist is afflicted by the disease and the apprentice thinks that they know what the missing ingredient is. What is clear is that it lies in the deeper, older parts of the forest and that it will be a dangerous trek to reach the plant that is required for the cure.

But the apprentice does not have the full information as part of pages that contained the cure was missing. A warning of the dangers of the cure, was missing and only half the story was told, a sketch of a plant and indications that the root was the key to the cure.


Sarkret Forest

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Sarkret Forest – created in Nightcafe.

The party walked through the beautiful elven streets of Wellspring city and marvelled at the architecture. They had heard that the cities herbalist was the best in the land for days in any direction and that they would have the supplies that would be needed on their next quest. However despite the marvellous the city looked the party still could not believe this was the city that they had heard of.

In all the tales they had been told artist, musicians, mages and street performers would demonstrate the skills that they had spent centuries mastering on the streets. Roaming merchants would sell you food and drink, jewels and gems, swords and bows. But as they walked down the street towards where they were told they could find the herbalists shop they found the streets devoid of life. The elves that did move about the street seemed fearful of the party and avoided them, some crossing the street to be away from them as they hurried along.

‘Moonbow Herbalist & Alchemical supplies’, the sign said it all as they approached a two story elegant building. A dozen herbs that were known as alchemical reagents grew from the very walls of the building and jumbled messily along the ground. As the entered the building a single silver bell chimed and within moments a young elf came running to the front of the shop. He had a messy apron on, carried a small clay jar and a pestle as if he had been caught mid brew.

“Welcome to Moonbow Herbalist and Alchemical Supplies. My name is Tyreal, How may I be of assistance?” the young elf said nervously as he juggled the three things between his two hands. Upon hearing the request he looked pained. “I wish I could help, I truly do but the head alchemist is not in at the moment and I frankly don’t have the skill to help you with that. I am also quite shocked that you would come to Wellspring at this time with the plague and all.” he said looking concerned at the party.

“Are you seeking the cure? I am trying to create one now but my masters recipe book, uh, got damaged somehow. I think I am missing an ingredient for it. If only Mistress Moonbow was conscious enough to tell me what was on the missing page. I believe what I need is called Thren Root, I have a picture of what it looks like and know where it grows but I cant leave the shop to get it. Say, would you be able to help me out? You don’t appear to be afflicted with the sickness and are able to leave the village freely. If you can return with two root bulbs from the Thren plant I know the king and queen will reward you handsomely.” Tyreal smiled with more than just a glint of hope in his eyes


A rather straight forward one tonight. A retrieval type adventure where we need to find and return with the missing ingredient to the cure. But things are never as easy as they sound and just like other adventures of mine there will be twists and turns that we need to watch out for. So don’t forget to come back daily as we expand this adventure and, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Garthunks Amber

This week I continued with the creating a shortened Zine, something that fits on a single A4 sheet of paper with just enough information to set the scene, plot and hook with some NPCs sprinkled through that it could be used in any system.

I think its still working well so without any further waiting I present Garthunks Amber, in the short format, as a fun one-shot to assist GMs when they need a night out of the books whether you run Pathfinder, Open Legends RPG, D&D or any other RPG System.

There is references to the blog nights which are D&D centric (regarding Friday night’s Stat-blocks) but this adventure can be used system agnostic more so than my regular Zines. 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 many of my D&D creatures.

So I hope you enjoy this weeks adventure, Garthunks Amber, and that your rolls are made with advantage.


Garkthunks Amber

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Garthunks Amber – Created in Nightcafe.

Borfook organised speedy transport to the ruins of a human village a few days out of the city. On the way he explains his plans, why he knows that the village is important and while gloating he managed to insult just about everyone including the driver of the wagon he had organised to carry them this far. The driver takes the comments on the chin well and discusses how there must be a lot of sight-seers heading towards the old ruins. “There’s at least a dozen sets of horse tracks heading up towards the ruins.”

“Bah, no one would come here. I’m surprised humans are the dominant species considering specimens like this exist” the gnome scholar laughed at his own malicious joke. However when the wagon stopped and the gnome was thrown out with his hirelings the outcome was clear. They would have to walk the rest of the way to the ruins.


As they move from one rock to the next the party notices occasional ripples in the water as if large fish are breaching the surface. However as they get closer to the vault they begin to see that it’s not a school of fish but in fact a rather large singular creature. The closer they get to the vault the quicker it swims with Borfook calling out from dozens of feet behind them “That would be the Guardian. Once you defeat it we can claim our rewards and return home legends!”. 

The water is very deep with the lake floor unable to be seen through the water, but it could be twenty feet deep at points. As they near the vault the guardian emerges from the water, placing itself between the party and the vault door. A six legged lizard constructed in dark black, glistening stone and bright orange amber watches them with intelligent eyes. A construct, a golem that was likely created by Garthunk to ensure that his powerful artefact was never used again. It rushes towards them, bounding across the stone platforms before diving under the water to attack them in much as a beast that was constructed to guard a water-bound vault would.


PDF adventure – Garthunks Amber



Thanks for joining me today for another Zine this year. This is a condensed version of the Zine, but I hope the format works and is good to look at! Please feel free to leave comments if this format is appealing – so make sure to grab a copy of the PDF.

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 and year. 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

Loyal to Queen V

Those Loyal to Queen V are particularly hard to charm. She believes this is because they would do anything for her but as we have investigated already the Stained Cup is likely the cause of such devotion. However this does not make those enthralled by her any less dangerous in their pursuit to make her happy or obey her every command.

So let’s take a knee and grab a coffee as we roll into another encounter!


Loyal to Queen V.

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The bandits loyal to Queen V, Vanessa Von Shchnaps, are near-zealous in the way they fight for the bandit queen and in their never ending attempt to meet her demands. These bandits are naturally harder to charm, as they are already charmed, but are not really anything more dangerous than the random highwayman or street thug.

Von Shchnaps Bandit- created in Tetra-cube

Vanessa has risen to a point, thanks to the Stained Cup, to a station where she can have many groups of followers undertaking her orders. Those that show a particular nastiness or those who demonstrate that they are more loyal to Queen V are made captains of these little brigands.

Von Shchnaps Bandit Captain – created in Tetra-cube

And the other re-skin for this week. The underlings who are truly loyal to Queen V, thanks to a certain cup. Don’t forget to come back tomorrow to complete this weekend and, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Vanessa Von Shchnaps

Vanessa Von Schnaps is a particularly mean woman and she will do anything to get her hand on the missing artefact again. The minions she commands fight with a particular brand of fervour that people would mistake for loyalty however, the stained cup is likely at play.

So let’s sit down, grab a coffee (but check the cup…) as we roll into tonight’s encounter!


Vanessa Von Shchnaps

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Vanessa is a particularly ruthless bandit lord who prides herself in the unwavering loyalty of her minions. Acting like a queen she strides through the battlefield using her staff as a cudgel to beat people into submission.

Vanessa Von Shchnaps- created in Tetra-cube

Thanks for dropping by for a short night tonight. Reskinning an existing stat block can be all that it takes to turn a good encounter into something truly memorably. Come back tomorrow for some more stat-blocks as I continue to wrap-up this adventure. Don’t forget to come back this weekend for the end of week Zine and as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe