Now for the next Zine of the year I present, in single page zine format, The Familiar’s Favour. I still believe that these provide DMs a lot more freedom to tinker with it how they want and open up the adventures to be more free formed and flowing than the larger booklet zines.
There is references to the blog nights which are D&D centric but it can easily use the adversary stat-blocks highlighted in Friday nights post if you’re running Daggerheart. 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, The Familiar’s Favour, and that all your rolls are made with advantage.
The Familiar’s Favour
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In the bustling market town of Ashford-on-Weir, where the arcane arts blend seamlessly with daily life, something has gone terribly wrong. Familiars and trained magical beasts; normally loyal and dependable, have begun to act strangely. Cats vanish only to return drenched in river water, owls deliver messages to the wrong people and stare at the moon in broad daylight, and draybeasts that haul goods refuse to move, lashing out at handlers before abruptly resuming their tasks. Whispers ripple through the streets as unease spreads, and soon the adventurers find themselves swept into a mystery far greater than they imagined.
Their first true encounter comes in the form of a raven named Sable. Burdened with a strange compulsion, it forces out broken words: “The Charm of Concord… stolen… trail fresh.” This talisman, they soon learn, binds master and familiar in harmony. Without it, the delicate magical balance between beast and mage begins to collapse. Drawn to the Eyeless Spire; the arcane heart of the city, the adventurers are brought before Aleris Quall, a half-elven clerk whose calm demeanour belies her deep worry. She confirms their suspicions: the Charm of Concord is gone, and her own apprentice, Yasil, vanished on his watch. Though suspicion falls squarely on him, Aleris admits something feels wrong. Yasil was no thief, yet the evidence points to betrayal.
Armed with a writ from the Spire, the adventurers begin their investigation. What they discover only deepens the mystery. Market beasts have run amok, their behaviour disturbingly purposeful rather than random. Entire flocks of ravens descend to snatch valuables in plain sight, while warding crystals, supposedly tamper-proof, lie shattered in courtyards where pawprints simply end as if the creatures disappeared into thin air. Rumours surface of Yasil walking calmly through the east gate with a fox at his side, one with three tails, its pale fur glowing faintly in the dawn light. Whatever has taken the Charm is no longer the work of a single apprentice. This is a theft carried out with precision, by creatures that should not be working together at all.
The trail leads to a forgotten courtyard, moss-clad and hushed, hidden between the looming Eyeless Spire and the old city wall. Here, among broken wards and a ruined reliquary, the truth is revealed. Familiars; creatures once thought bound to their masters’ wills, gather with uncanny coordination. A two-headed monkey clutches the Charm of Concord with delicate precision, while the pale fox and a murder of ravens guard its position with eerie purpose. Their eyes meet the adventurers’, not with animal instinct, but with intent. These creatures are no longer acting under human command; they are the orchestrators. The heist was theirs.
The implications are staggering. The magical bonds that have defined mage and familiar are breaking, or perhaps reshaping into something entirely new. Ashford-on-Weir teeters on the edge of chaos, for if familiars across the realm awaken to such independence, what role will their former masters play and who will hold the true power? The adventurers are faced not only with recovering the talisman but with confronting an unsettling truth: the creatures they once trusted as allies may no longer be willing to remain in that role.
What began as a simple theft is now a test of loyalty, a question of control, and a glimpse into a future where bonds of magic and trust may never be the same. The party must decide whether to reclaim the Charm, restore the old order, or risk allowing something altogether wilder and more dangerous to take root.
PDF adventure – The Familiar’s Favour
Thanks for joining me today for another adventure. Please feel free to leave comments if you like what you see when you grab a copy of the PDF. Next time you get a party together consider running this adventure and I hope that you enjoy it. Don’t forget to come back daily so you don’t miss a thing in the coming weeks adventures. And as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe
Brazen Wolfe Tabletop 