Author: thebrazenwolfe

Revelation of ones nature

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Hi all and welcome to the Monday writeup for Brazen Wolfe Tabletop!

Tonight we are expanding on what we ran with last week and continue to push the agenda of going on a sea based adventure. So without much intro today let’s crack into it.

Facing the truth

210MoFT

As the last of the healing magic coursed from her hands over the party, and Paul, Katya let go of the breath she didn’t realise she was holding thankful for Lizbet’s constant guidance on how to channel the innate connection she had with Chauntea and the divine magic that she granted her devout.

“Remember, you would have awakened to Chauntea’s blessings years earlier as she tends to pick maidens on the turn of their woman hood – something about being the goddess of fertility and bounty and selecting maidens that embody what she preaches.” Lizbet began, “She would have been granting you this power had you not had the connection clamped down upon by the dark magic those people who called themselves you family employed. All I do is teach you the word and show you the connection and you do the rest” she continued as she helped up a bewildered and amazed Katya.

Turning to the young man that called himself Siu they began to thank him but he shook his head and prostrated himself once more.

“Now I am convinced. I must be truthful to you both, I came to this land board one of the boards that sail with red flags,” Siu began.

“The Red fleet” Lizbet provided smiling and insisting the young man look upwards.

“The Red fleet, yes. I came here to save my people, my f-family.” he said, the word family being unfamiliar in his mouth – feeling like he was invoking their wrath by just speaking of them “We are in danger, a blight upon the land, a wave of darkness and rot spreads and weaves its way across the endless fields of grass and rice and along rolling hills where our livestock graze. I was sure that when I had seen you, Priestess Lizbet, that you could help me but now I am convinced that you and these heroes, warriors and mages,” he began nodding towards the party “can help if you would come back with me to my home land and help us push back the tide of darkness. We need a beacon of light to inspire the people, and the more I see your radiance the more I am convinced and so is my master.” Siu said, looking sheepishly at the last bold lie.

Confused Katya looked up at Lizbet who seemed to understand what was being asked. “You say a wave of darkness, how are you sure that I am this beacon?’ Lizbet asked lost in thought.

“I, can not say, it is a feeling. Something that I have learnt to listen to these past hundred years.” Siu said.

“You can not be more than twenty five at best!” Paul said, himself looking the same age as the man before him. “How can you be over a hundred if you aren’t an elf?”

Sighing Siu stood, feeling that their answer would come in a few hours time. “If you believe me, then you can seek me out nearest the largest of the Red fleets ships. Come at noon and I will reveal all to you – but I ask that you listen, truly listen to what I am asking before approaching further. You will have my families thanks if you can protect their northern and eastern lands. My family may not be as powerful as they were before a thief stole their source of power away, but I hope that with your aid we will stand a chance and keep our lands safe.” Siu bowed low and left, the murmurs of discussion and chatter reaching his back as he left the temple heading towards the next person he hoped to convince to assist him.

As Siu walked the streets he saw the faces of people he had watched these past weeks, and a few people that had caught a glimpse of him as he strode towards the ship with the largest sails, Captain Kyoko Harimasu’s ship and one of the last to depart to head back home. As he approached the gang plank he spotted her, and his very human heart sank in his chest. She looked like her great grandfather.

“She is a fine ship isn’t she?” Kyoko asked, looking up Siu could see that the question was directed at him.

“She is magnificent, a ship truly benefiting the Harimasu family.” he smiled, more than just a tinge of sadness crossing his face as he traced the wood with his fingers. Looking across the carving he noticed an all too familiar face carved into the bow of it – His master, Huangdi the Golden dragon.

“She is a fine ship and indeed a fitting one for my family. Maybe you can assist me young man, I know every sailor and merchant that came over with me and yet I am lost for words who you are.” She began.

“I am called Siu” Siu said factually, watching a wave of curiosity cross her face “A name that runs in my family and one that, to be honest, I am not worthy of” he concluded with a grim smile.

“Siu, an interesting name. Do you have a family name then Siu?” Kyoko asked as she walked down the plank towards him, her hand also resting on the wood of her ship as much as she could.

“Not one I am allowed to be part of, unfortunately my past discretions caused me to be disowned and exiled. But, I hope to amend that so I can join my family once more and right the wrongs I caused” he said looking up at Kyoko, the same blue eyes as her great grandfather.

“Who are you?” Kyoko asked, standing but a few feet from Siu, her hand on a short sword at her waist.

“I am just man unworthy to be standing in front of a daughter of the Harimasu family and about to ask for a favour.” he began, kneeling down before her and prostrating himself – it was his place to serve his family, dead or alive. “I have found people who can save your family, I ask that I be allowed to greet them at noon, with you, by your ship and request their aid. All will be revealed at noon if you have the patience to just let me sit near this ship and patiently wait for the decision I hope will benefit not just you or your family but also Huangdi.” He said staring at her feet as she shifted her weight.

“Noon. It is not two hours until noon. For one who utters the name of my families dragon, who knows of our plight and carries a familiar name of our family I have many questions that you will answer. Do I have your oath that you will answer all questions truthfully as the sun reaches its peak?” Kyoko asked, staring down at the man who had made her feel so uncertain and uneasy with just saying one name.

“You have my oath, for what that is worth.” Siu said fully intending on keeping his oath, this time. How could he betray his cousins great granddaughter.

Thanks for reading tonight! I hope you enjoyed a little nudge in the direction I hope to take this weeks adventure as its shaping out to be a rather insightful one. Don’t forget to come back tomorrow to read up on the NPCs that are present in this weeks adventure, maybe a bit more information on our exiled bestial companion as well as perhaps more…

Don’t forget to leave any feedback you have as I always like to hear where I can adjust, improve and grow with my craft, and, as always don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Daye and Knight

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Welcome to the end of week writeup! Tonight we look at the town of Daye and nightfall there where the party are called to defend the Priestess and Katya once again as mysterious dark spirits attack them whilst wearing the bodies of creatures they killed only hours ago!

But, what’s this, young Paul has visions of grandeur of him being some knight to protect Katya from what ever dangers lie ahead – can the party save him again before his quest to protect her becomes his last?

Let’s roll on and see what we can do this week when the Party return to Daye.

Return to Daye

209RTD

After returning to the road back to Daye and being ambushed on the road by a horde of undead which seemed to be drawn to the raw life energy that radiates from Katya it wasn’t long until the port city of Daye was seen. The large red sails had diminished since the party had last been here and only a few of the large elegant ships remained in the harbour, but there was many people wearing the red robes and white masks walking amongst the street opening which was a good indication for the relationship being built between the two peoples.

Soon Lizbet and Katya had met, the controlled divine magic of Lizbet seemed to harness and reel in the raw power of Katya and together they practically glowed, radiating warmth and life as they strode through the streets. As the priestess and the blessed walked through the streets the party kept a defensive distance from their quarry and their employer. The horde of undead still fresh in their minds as they walked down the street casting a wary eye amongst the crowd.

Movement amongst the crowd, lithe, sleek and deliberate caused the perceptive members to pause as cats and dogs pushed their way through the legs of those who had gathered to watch the procession – their eyes never leaving the two that glowed with the radiance of spring.

Areas and places of note

The Road to Daye – The road back to Daye is long but easy. Its general downhill slope makes travel easy and the road after the ambush site, where the undead attacked, cleared out to have a sight of all potential threats for miles. Random encounters could be possible but they would be wild beasts, more undead (or fiends) but not brigands and the like would have a rough job trying to get an ambush on the party and their wagon.

Daye Streets – The streets are no more than 30ft wide, enough for a wagon or two to pass comfortably with stalls either side of the road. The buildings that line the road are one or two story predominantly with the odd three story building here and there. Currently there are people from the city lining either side of the street paying respect (silent or otherwise) to the priestess and her procession. The raw energy that comes from Katya would also put people into a shocked state as they are used to the grace and touch from Chauntea (through the temple) but not in such a potent form.

The Temple– A large, 50ft x 90 ft building with a large alter and statue to Chauntea being the centre piece of the large prayer room with several rooms off to the sides and a wing for where the priests and priestesses would sleep.

People of Bracken Hollow (in this adventure)

Elizabeth “Lizbet” Scaulder

Lizbet having been aware of another powerful chosen of Chauntea for a while immediately starts to try and help Katya quell the divine power that floods her – having felt that presence and power before she quickly helps her sister reign in but not control Chauntea’s divine magic so that she wont burn herself out from over exposure.

Katya Poleski

Katya appears to be taking comfort and guidance from Lizbet, the moment they meet her rampart energy seems to calm and become more controlled around the priestess. As they walk through the streets Lizbet walks through some mental exercises to quell the energy and the connection to Chauntea in an attempt to help Katya stop the flow of divine through her.

Carline Winters (and villagers)

Having decided to follow Katya to not only see the world outside of the little village where she had been a prisoner behind a grand enchantment from the Family she also feels compelled to help Katya where possible and sticks by her to reassure her as one of the people that grew up in the same town – her memories returned to her revealing that they used to be good friends with the young heiress to the Poleski family cause her to be protective of the girl and want to be the company of her.

Paul Turp

Smitten with Katya Paul follows along and immediately looks as to how to stay in her life. Taking up the self imposed role of her protector he wears a chain vest, short sword and a shield and never strays too far from where Katya is.

Environment and running the adventure

Street –

No one would dare attack the party, not with the rumour spreading of what they fought in Bracken Hollow nor the spirit they fought in the city. Furthermore the presence of the city guard, the priestess and priests of Chauntea as well as the gathering of folk from the city would make it very difficult to get the drop on them. However once the party reach the Temple of Chauntea they would leave the priestess there and head into the streets.

On the streets they may become the target of the Shadow-mist creepers or the Shadow Stitched beasts – lunging at them n shadow in small violent bursts (up to 3 creatures at once, all mixed species). As night falls a dockworker would attack them – visible seems where the shadow-stuff that holds the flesh together glowing in the moonlight as it attacks them – the intelligence maliciousness would seek to attack the one who was last closest to Katya.

After the fight is over a bell would start ringing from the temple – the urgency and oddness of the hour should be alarming to the party and someone would likely step out from a building and state the obvious (a helpful nudge for the party).

Temple – The centre room once the party get to the temple is where the priests can be found praying to Chauntea, flooding the room around the alter with daylight. Katya, Lizbet, Carline and Paul with a young man who looks to be of the Red Fleets people are currently fighting back a few creatures that attacked the party. As the party fight their way through some of the shadow stitched creatures they notice a dog grab Katya’s robe and drag her from the room, rushing through the side door and into the outside beyond. Lizbet and the others rush after them and into the night beyond.

The dog carries Katya into the streets where the party who give chase encounter more creatures to come and push back at them – Lizbet, Paul, Carline and the young man (Sui) catch up to Katya and separate her from the dog but they are quickly surrounded.

Encounter area

As the party leave Katya if they move through a place with shadow that is too far from people (use DM discretion here) then its likely they will be attacked by the Shadow-stitched. The first attack would have one or two creatures attack but only as the party turn their back, an ambush as if carefully plotted. As one of the creatures dies the other would fall limp and the shadow-mist creeper would flee into the sky where it would dissipate (its energy spent). Examination of the body would reveal it being dead for hours and an arcana check would reveal that a dark magic (enchantment more so than necromancy but it has that tinge) held the corpse together as if possessed.

The second attack would be more feral – as if all control of their will power was gone – the astute party member would note that the creatures almost moved as if commanded or as if puppets to a greater powers will. These creatures would attack from the shadows but into the sunlight where they would flinch and a dark smoke would flow from their stitches – which glow black in the sunlight. As the creatures are killed (three, a cat, a dog and maybe a raven (use the owl block) then a dark mist would escape and bubble in the sunlight before dissipating.

The next encounter would be the temple after the bells start to ring (as the sun finally sets) – the temple would e filled with little creatures, cats, dogs, rats, birds who are in the shadows (away from the sunlight being produced by the priests) except for where Katya and Lizbet are – the creatures are braving the light to get to the princess.

1d4+1 creatures would actively block the path to Chauntea’s chosen and as the party slay the second last one then a large dog would grab a hold of Katya and quickly drag her from the safety of the temple.

In the streets every 60 feet another creature would appear, randomise what it is each time!

Once the party reach Katya and Lizbet + company they would start to get 3~5 creatures attack in waves (every 2 rounds) until an ogre wearing leathers of a dock worker (and looking like he works on the docks) steps forward to fight the party. Once the ogre falls then all of the creatures fall and the dark mist floats into the sky and disappears.

Thanks for joining me again here for the end of week writeup – most of this was new content (most of it) so it took me a bit longer to collate the weeks efforts into a single writeup. What that means is that you should go back to the previous weeks days to get extra info – what drives Lizbet (who is actually Elizabeth!), who is Siu, really, and what drives him to work for the dragon and what are the shadow-mist creepers and why do they create the Shadow stitched.

Don’t forget to come back this week for more content and if you like something you read here, or better yet, if you are playing through this adventure as I write it let me know! I am frim believer that feedback and critique is the best way to grow as a hobbyist and you are those best suited to provide that to me!

Oh, and as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage!,
The Brazen Wolfe

30 minute challenge – Caravan

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Hello all, welcome to Saturday nights writeup where this week we are looking at another 30 minute adventure with a randomly generated word.

Just like last week I will have the same except for one additional set of restrictions or rules to make it a challenge for me – well attempt to.

  • Single word randomly generated
  • 30 minute timer, start time recorded.
  • Must be a playable adventure
  • Must have at least one driver (antagonist/protagonist)
  • Must be D&D centric and attempt to be of the fantasy variety.
  • Can finish the sentence I am writing when timer goes off (I dislike half-written sentences)

And that’s the rules, deciding to remove the first two thoughts that came/come into my mind should make it a bit more challenging. So the clocks set, the word is Caravan provided by https://www.shortstoryideas.co.uk/random.htm

Right lets get on with it,.

Time: 9:32:13

Caravan – Precious Cargo

Initial thoughts – Caravan is an interesting one, relatively easy and not too hard to implement a three stage approach. You have departure, conflict (mid way) and then the Coast (what happens at the end – the coast into town). So this was probably an easy one to write through tonight so let’s see how we go!

Ok tonight is inspired by the one of the first novels I read when I was probably eight or nine (will touch on it in the closing thoughts). The party has been approached by a well respected caravan company to help beef up their protection of a caravan train that is leaving two days from now. The man seems to be skittish and paranoid as if reaching out to bigger mercenary companies or even posting the job at the normal job boards would draw too much attention and the party seems to be just the right mixture of unknown but capable.

What the caravan owner doesn’t reveal to the party is that the luggage is a princess who has been put under an enchanted sleep as a method of getting her out of her home city without drawing attention or raising suspicion. The other caravans in the train, the more impressive ones, are filled with spices, silks and goods that will fetch a good price regardless of where they are sold.

The princess, err, Claire, is the last heir to the throne for the kingdom of Wellhurst, once a prominent family which has had a string of bad lack with keeping their heirs alive whether it was illness, accidents or assassinations and despite the kings best efforts in hiring the caravan (people that he would never associate with normally – people smugglers, illicit traders etc.) and hiring a mage to sedate his daughter the caravan still has still been marked and those who would wish the princess ill are close behind.

The Caravan is currently settled in a small town called Hensroost, a small town that is normally known for its agriculture and the mines to the north which supply them with a supply of wealth its lately been seeing roaming bands of gnolls on the horizon which has kept the city on high alert and as made the caravan owner anxious to get going.

The Princesses family, the uncle in fact, made a pact with a devil to wrest power from his older brother allowing the devil to take what ever price it deemed equal. When the deal was done the price was called, the uncles children (Princess Claire’s cousins) were found dead within a day and the curse spread to make it so the uncle, although currently the ruler, would be the last of the line to rule the city. Despite his greed he couldn’t watch more of is family die due to his curse so he abjugated to his younger brother (Claire’s father) and revealed the curse.

The Devil itself cares not for the power of the kingdom but doesn’t like being cheated out of a deal and to make a statement he is sending some of those who also owe him a debt to retrieve the princess alive.

The gnoll’s are also drawn to the curse but because their demon lord – Yeenoghu – holds a special hatred for the devil who seeks the princess and wants to cause the devil as much grief and upset as possible without a direct confrontation.

The party will need to manage vehicle movement (caravans), travel by horses as well as fatigue on the animals if they are to get to the safer city where a Cleric of Tyr will look at breaking the deal by exploiting how it was written and signed.

Part 1 – Flight

As they leave the city on their four day journey all is well, the horses are pushed but not over worked. The party would notice though on the dawn of the second day that there are horses approaching quickly from the city. They can either stand and fight or flee.

If they stand and fight 7 ‘bandits’ and 1 ‘bandit captain’ attack them targeting the fancy caravans and managing to torch 2 of the 3 decoy caravans and ripping open the caravans to search them while they burn – announcing loudly that “SHES NOT HERE”. Any party member near by would hear this with ease, the Princesses caravan takes off as soon as the bandit attacks leaving the burning wreckage and the decoy takes off after them.

If they flee instead of fight then they have to try and outpace the bandits, which wont happen, and will end up fighting on horse back – at which point the bandits wont set the caravans on fire but will try and board overpower the driver and guards to get in.

Part 2 – Contact! Gnolls!

After escaping the raiders they may find out that the real purpose is the Princess – this would take the form of the main caravan wheel breaking and having to move the princess to a new caravan. The horses would have a level of exhaustion and would be getting fatigued by now.

Sounds like a great time for a dusk ambush by gnolls on day 3 – 1 day out from the city but the horses pulling the caravans may not make the ride in with how fatigued they are. Which means they would need to carry the unconscious princess on horseback!

A pack of gnolls and hyenas, maybe one giant one -a hyenadon) would be enough. Just enough to make it feel urgent to leave quickly but not enough to stop them there dead in their tracks.

Part 3 – Betrayal in the Caravan

So as they reach viewing distance of the walled city they would have what ever caravaners (not the main guy) turn on them – demanding the princess be handed to them so they can claim a bounty on her head. The party, since she will likely be on one of their horses, can take off for the city or stand and fight – I’d have about 8 “guards” as the statistics.

Once into the city the party make it to the cleric who removes the enchantment and begins to research into how to remove the curse. The Cleric produces a chest of gold (1000gp) as payment from the king and thanks them – the wards of the church to Tyr, and the sheer volume of knights and paladins in the vicinity should be enough to protect her until the deal can be broken.

Time: _10:03:30_

Closing Thoughts

Close! ran out of time and I finished the sentence I was writing when my alarm went off. A few moments I was pausing to make sure that I was happy with the direction I was going but overall I am happy with what was here. I even managed to get a few stat blocks called out in the adventure to hopefully help with the encounter.

Now higher level parties are easy to adjust – instead of hired thugs (bandits) chasing them you could have lower level devils such as imps or spined devils attacking the caravan, Volo’s guide to monsters and mordenkainans tome of foes both being excellent sources for alternative fiends as well as some great options for gnolls for that second encounter.

Really that’s about it – I tried to not follow the story line of Master Wolf (The third book in the Greyhawk series by Rose Estes but there are a are few elements through most of my campaign that are inspired by this series – being the first novels I read (then I went onto such books as Deltora quest etc.)

Thanks – I hope you enjoyed tonight’s writeup!

Come back tomorrow for the end of week write-up and don’t forget to let me know what you thought of tonight’s adventure challenge so I can keep creating more Brazen Wolfe Tabletop content that you want to read.

And finally, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

On borrowed time

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Hi all and welcome to Friday where we look at everything to do with the creatures, environment, obstacles and play through of the encounter for this week.

Tonight we use last nights creature template to create a few different stat blocks that we can use in this weekends adventure as well as the creature that starts it all, The Shadow Mist Creeper.

Mist that creeps through the shadows

209FrSCreeps

First on our list is the originating factor – the shadow Mist Creeper this creature is something that originates across the waves but has found its way over as only the incorporeal can.

The Shadow inside the puppet

The Shadow-mist creeper is a creature born from souls taken too early in life when was to young to make peace with what had happened to them. Commonly these are children who have not lived long enough and who truly believe that they have not had their due just yet. These spirits are generally playful and use their new undead misty form to create mischief and chaos rather than outright malevolence and death. However those who are created as a Shadow-mist creeper but who are old enough to understand the gravity of their situation but held on with their malice and hatred are truly terrifying when it comes to their anger and white hot hatred for life.

Regardless of the original creature that spawned a Shadow-mist creeper all of them share a few common features.

All shadow-mist creepers don’t have physical form or the power to interact with the physical world for long. Those who do so will need a dead body, or one close to death to inhabit until they can find a source of life energy to be able to leave the body they reside in.

Like Ghast’s they have a hierarchy, the most powerful malevolent spirits take take control of the actions of the others in the group and through force of will they can command the other generally mischievous spirits into a terrifying horde of malicious malevolent spiteful creatures.

This creature can inhabit the dead body and the creature functions as a zombie – however creatures killed by a Shadow-mist creeper become a Shadow Stitched skin – a body corrupted by the undead nature of the shadow-mist creeper and more suitable than just any other dead body. These creatures are faster, stronger but share the same aversion to the sun (despite not being as terrifying as they have a fresh new body suit to protect them!)

The Fell

Dead creatures killed then inhabited by a Shadow-mist creeper become known as the fell, but their true names are Shadow Stitched Skins.

These creatures are weak, relatively fast (when compared to a zombie) but highly intelligent as they seek out sources of life to restore their energy so they can continue to exist.

Occasionally many Shadow Stitched creatures act as one living organism to try and overpower any resistances they encounter. This phenomena is almost always as the behest of a particularly strong Shadow stitched and are seldom recorded by those who the heaving, twitching mass of shadow and recently killed flesh have targeted as their prey.

The encounter can take place any where and should be a mixture of Guards, Mastiffs and cats (more animals than not) who rush at the party from random directions, not enough to pose a real threat (1d4+1). Every two rounds (12 seconds) another wave should come and on the fourth wave replace one mastiff or cat with the ogre – the ogre being the particularly strong Shadow-mist creeper. Once the ogre is killed then any remaining creatures will have the mist escape and float into the sky slowly evaporating their energy and focus (being directed by the ogre) gone.

If the creatures are killed and the Ogre remains as the last creature then it will leave its big fleshy body (Roll 1d4 and pick a direction, if there is a character there they need to make a Dex saving throw DC14 or they end up under the ogre) and will try to escape in its Shadow-mist creeper form.

Thanks for joining me tonight to explore and test out the template. I think for me the biggest issue wasn’t using Tetra cube (which made it easy!) it was me remembering to update all the little details (I think I missed out on some of the penalties to damage.. apologies!)

Don’t forget to come back tomorrow and this post is the last one to nominate a word if you want to see a Random word 30 minute challenge this weekend!

Oh, and as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Shadow Stitched

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Hi all and welcome to Thursday where we look at the additional content such as maps, stats, plots, hooks, and generally anything in between that makes the adventure that little bit more adventure-y.

Tonight I wanted to make it a shorter night so I will post one half of tomorrows Fight-Night encounter as a sampler as this week is pretty straight forward. So lets roll into it!

Shadow Stitched Skin

209ThSSS

Shadow stitched skin (5e Template)

Shadow Stitched Skin

Shadow stitched Skins, or “The Fell ones” as they have been called are a terrifying sight to see. Generally taking the form of animals, children or sometimes humanoids these creatures appear to be normal at first but when they move in for the kill they move with a sickly fast puppetry that betrays the creature controlling the Fell ones body. Occasionally a particularly strong stitched one will appear where the process of their creation was orchestrated by a group, rather than the individual – these are generally a creature that was full of life or had a strong connection to the powers that governed, created and controlled life force. 

Prerequisite: Any aberration, beast, dragon, fey, giant, humanoid or monstrosity

Statistics:

  • AC. -2 from base creature, accounting for their modified Dexterity score.
  • HP. 1 Dice lower than base creature, accounting for their modified Constitution score.
  • Abilities.
    • The Shadow Stitched Skin’s Strength score is decreased by 6 (to a minimum of 6),
    • its Constitution and Dexterity score is decreased by 2 (to a Minimum of 8),
    • and its Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma scores become 13, 8, and 5, respectively (unless the base creature’s Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma scores are lower).

Senses. The Shadow Stitched Skin gains darkvision out to a range of 60 feet, unless the base creature had superior darkvision.

Damage Immunities. The Shadow Stitched Skin is immune to poison damage.

Damage Resistance. The Shadow Stitched Skin is resistant to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical weapons

Damage Vulnerability. The The Shadow Stitched Skin is vulnerable to Radiant damage 

Condition Immunities. The Shadow Stitched Skin is immune to the poisoned condition.

Saving Throws. The Shadow Stitched Skin loses all saving throw proficiencies. 

Speed. The Shadow Stitched Skin’s speed is decreased by 5 feet.

Languages. The Shadow Stitched Skin understands common, but can’t speak.

Skills. The Shadow Stitched Skin loses all its skill proficiencies.

Alignment. The Shadow Stitched Skin’s alignment changes to neutral evil.

Traits:

  • Hunger for life. While in dim light or darkness, the Shadow Stitched Skin can take the Dash action as a bonus action.
  • Sunlight Weakness: While in sunlight, the Shadow Stitched Skin has disadvantage on attack rolls. It also becomes vulnerable to non-magical weapons as if exposed to radiant energy. 

Other Traits. The Shadow Stitched Skin loses any trait, such as Amphibious, that assumes a living physiology. The Shadow Stitched Skin cannot cast spells and loses all spell slots. At the GM’s discretion, traits that would be harmful to undead no longer affect undead.

Undead Nature. A Shadow Stitched Skin doesn’t require air, food, drink, or sleep.

Thanks for joining tonight and taking some time out of your busy days, I hope the Shadow stitched skin gives a good prelude to what’s coming tomorrow.

Don’t forget to come back tomorrow for the next part of this write up and also don’t forget that if you’d like to submit a single word for the weekend challenge feel free to do so! Otherwise it may be a nice easy going weekend for me!

Oh, and as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

The maiden, the Oracle and the prophecy

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Hi all and welcome to Wednesday, its the day that we investigate secondary plot hooks, expansions the current plot of the weeks adventure and other things that can shimmy and shake its way around.

Tonight I want to have both a twist and a bit of a NPC focus, sorry I couldn’t fit it in yesterday as it was already a super long post. So, to save some time and typing energy lets kick off with tonight’s writeup!

Elizabeth

209WeLizbet

She stared up at the man in front of her who had stopped so suddenly, a steady flow of sweat beginning to flow from his brow like rains across the meadows of her farm.

“You,..” he breathily said, “you will be a guiding light, a beacon for life, fertility and growth. Chauntea walks with you and her hand guides you on the path that will lead you to the light of day.” he said, his head turned to look at her, eyes rolled back to look towards the back of his skull. “But… This is not your fate, you will be a beacon of light and warmth amongst the darkness in the shadows after flying on the red, wooden dragon. Chauntea smiles on you child as you are the one to bring her light to the dark”

The man shivered blinked a few times before looking around “Oh, is there something on my face?” he asked sheepishly as he dabbed his white collared robe on his face “No? Hmm. Well how do I look?” he said, his bulbous nose the perfect accessory for his wide grin. “I’ve been told that I have potential to be a great seer you see and today is my test.” he looked up from the girl at the girls parents who were looking at him as if he was a venomous insect. Realisation struck “Oh, Tyr bless me. Did I reveal when your pet would die? no worse, when you will die. I am so sorry young child. Tyr blesses me with the truth and I the visions he sends me are rarely directed or controllable when they flow like a giant water snake flying down the river and I’m trying to hold on with a rope.” the man made a dramatic show of being dragged behind this invisible beast – grinning to himself as he did so. Elizabeth thought he should have been a bard rather than a cleric of Tyr but she could not shake the feeling of a light on the back of her hand guiding her, moving her forward towards where she needed to go. When the man shrugged, apologised and walked off again she turned around to her parents who looked down at her with a look that was equal parts fear and reverence.

As Lizbet ran to the figure on the ground she looked at the young man who was spread out, naked, deep slashes on his ribs that seemed to sprout a river of black moving under his skin and up his neck. Looking over at Katya she gripped her hand “I will need your strength here Katya if we are to save him. Why he is here and who he is does not matter. He is living but on the cusp of death if we don’t save him. To breathe life and light into this world is our duty as daughters of Chauntea and our powers, our divine magic that she blesses us with are to be used in her name to heal the sick and wounded.

Katya nodded and squeezed Lizbets hand – a warmth spread between them as she had felt when they had first met – kindred souls meeting, two daughters of Chauntea both equally blessed and loved by the deity of fertility, life and bounty. “Now follow me and repeat what I say” Lizbet said as she began to pray to Chauntea for healing, life, and the removal of blight and poison.

As the final words of their combined prayer left their lips – which Katya realised only too late that she was no longer following but speaking along with Lizbet, a golden glow pulsed forth from their palms that were either side of the naked mans chest, having rolled him onto his back to better access his torso. The glow spread through the mans body pushing back the rivers of black and a dark mist oozed forth from the wounds and seemed to combust into a golden flame as it almost reached towards the priestesses as their magic surged forth. The man beneath their touch wept as his face contorted in pain, screaming words that had no sound or meaning as a sweat drenched his brow. As the magic left his body he wept more muttering a single drawn out word before falling unconscious, “Siu…”

Siu woke in a bed with a fresh white linen tunic on. Turning his head he looked out the window to see that the sun was setting and looking down he was still in his human form, his magic still held but for how long he needed to find who had healed him.

“Feeling better then?” a voice said from behind him – turning she noticed the raven haired girl that had radiated the same magic as the priestess from yesterday. “Lizbet will be back shortly with some more dressings for your wound, despite our prayers we couldn’t heal it all – can you remember what happened to you?”

“how long” Siu said as he looked around for a place to hide.

“Pardon?” Katya asked a bit confused as Lizbet entered the room with some more bandages.

“How long since you found and healed me?” Siu asked, relief showing on his face when Lizbet reached the side of his bed.

“We found you at noon, it is now dusk.” Lizbet responded as she grabbed a damp cloth and gestured for him to sit down.

He had a bit over half a day left, he signed in relief and sadness as he stood from the bed, his magic infused body being the epitome of strength, grace and fortitude. The ability to revert to his human for was a gift from his master when he had saved his family in war once. The ability to return to his human self for one full day once every ten years.

“forgive me in advance for any deceptions you realise but I have grave tidings” he said as he knelt and prostrated before them “I have a warning that I have to give to you” he spoke his voice stressing his urgency.

“Come now sir, you and we are safe here in this temple. If you could just stand..” she grunted as she tried to lift him “Katya I don’t believe we purged all the poison, or disease. What ever it was from last time – I will lead you in another prayer and we will try and cure his delirium” Lizbet said tugging on Siu’s arm trying to get him to stand.

“That was not poison but shadow from a fell beast – a beast of shadow that has possessed the body of a creature, in my instance a cat” Siu said as he knelt before the priestesses.

Katya laughed “A creature of shadow…” she began before seeing a look of genuine concern on Lizbet’s face.

“Logan!” she called out and a moment later a brother of their temple appeared next to them.,

“yes Lady Lizbet?” he asked, Logan was a warm hearted man and his smile spoke of compassion and years of service.

“Can you go and find the adventurers who saved this city from the Shadow-mist creature, and rescued Lady Katya.. I fear we are not able to let them rest just yet..” she sighed.

“Mr.. What did you say your name was?”

“Siu…” Siu began but he winced as the painful memories flooded his mind of his cousin. “My name is… Siu..” he said, a tear streaking down his face “I am a servant of the Dragon protector of my family and I need to warn you. The fell beasts are forming an army and I believe they are after your light – with it gone the darkness in my home land across the sea will be complete and the rot and discord will spread through that land and the next until all are consumed.” Siu winced, lying was not something he condoned but a half lie, such as this, only caused him moderate amounts of pain and guilt. It may add a year or dozen onto his sentence but if his plan worked then the years may not be relevant soon any way.

“A light.. amongst the darkness” Lizbet mumbled – her memory flashing back to the prophecy from the wondering cleric of Tyr. “Katya, we have much to prepare for. You will find mother matron in her room, ask her to bring the codex. I only hope that Siu, ” she paused staring into his golden irises “is wrong and we wont need the knowledge within but after this past month I am not sure what to expect any more.” she sighed as she finally convinced Siu to stand and sit on the bed again.

“Tell me what you know” she asked Siu as Katya ran off.

Siu sighed, here goes nothing “A dark mist on every street, creatures stalking in the shadows controlled by shadow and magic and you two,” he nodded towards the hastily departing Katya, “were their obvious prey”.

Well, that’s all we have for tonight. I hope you like what you read and that a bit more info and insight into both Lizbet, Siu and the next steps was gained for all. Don’t forget that if you like something, use something or simply have that creative spark ignited because of something you read here, let me know! I love to hear other peoples creative process, their thoughts and what they love most about this hobby.

If you’re enjoying the character I am building for Siu also call it out, I am expanding and growing him as the posts come through and so far I am happy with whats been produced.

Oh, and as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

A bestial warning

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Hi all and welcome to Tuesday where we look at NPCs for this weeks adventure and we have a few to cover.

This week we are focusing on the days after the party return with Katya to be introduced to the temple of Chauntea within the city of Daye and what occurs during those few days.

Tonight I want to explore a few characters we have had glimpses at before but I want to investigate them a bit more this week to flesh them out a bit more – so let’s get on with it starting with Siu.

The Rogue and the Flower

209TuRaF

Siu scrambled across the rooftops as his limbs began to weaken with the toxin that was creeping through his body as he scrambled to make it toward the temple of Chauntea where Lizbet an Katya had just entered.

Falling to the ground next to the temple he scrambled up the wall, his normal dexterous hands and feet that could find a claw hold instead failed to source any at all and his claws dug and clawed at the mudbrick that made up the temple – leaving deep furrows as he clawed his way up into the window into a hallway near one of the side entrances where he hoped that he would be noticed quickly. His vision blurring and the ability to focus coming in waves he called upon his most treasured of limited magical gifts, the one thing he cherished above all, and invoked it with a tear streaming down his face as he fell to the ground. A cry of shock and muffled footsteps welcomed him into the darkness of unconsciousness as the shadow creatures toxins pumped through his system.

Blinking Jung stretched and swung his legs over the edge of the temple guardian, grinning like a menace as he scratched his name on the back of its head as he waited for a single person – his cousin and closest friend. “What do you think you are doing!” the shriek of anger and shock called from a few steps behind him where one his aunts stepped out, the smell of incense wafting forward making him sneeze. “Get off the guardians now, you must show them respect and treat them with reverence or they wont do the same when you join the ancestors” she yelled as she grabbed his leg, her bony fingers surprisingly strong as she ripped him from the statue and pulled him to the temple steps.

Jung didn’t get the fascination with death and ancestors. He was alive now and who cares what happens when he is dead – he’ll be dead and there is nothing on the other side for him. Rolling away from his aunt – his mothers sister – he bounced to his feet before making a rude gesture to her and the temple guardians before running off laughing like a mad man. It was a good day, today his Cousin had promised to show him the families secret one that he had been forbidden to to learn until he reached adulthood which he was glad that he wasn’t considered one yet.

Taking the oaths, performing the ceremonies and training for combat were boring and meaningless for him. He lived like a prince with his family so why should he have to fight – that was for the other family members and the adults, despite his age being more than old enough he just didn’t want to conform.

Knocking over an urn on the steps of his cousins house he rushed forward to find his cousin, Suiten who was late to meet him by the temple steps. Pushing through the doors he stepped into the small room to find his cousin sitting cross-legged and writing on a large scroll. Not wanting to anger his cousin, as he took his family duties very strongly for some stupid reason, Jung waited just outside the room and leant against the door frame.

“Jung, you can come in. I am just about done here. I thought I was meeting you at the temple?” Siuten asked as he dipped his quill into the ink pot one last time as his hand flowed in careful motions scribbling out the last few words. Being satisfied he sprinkled some white sand across the parchment and shook off the excess before rolling the scroll and placing it in a tube made from a long limbed fast growing reed like tree that was native to these lands.

“That was over an hour ago Siuten,” Jung said with a mock sigh “you take your duties and studies too seriously cousin – you need to live your life before you actually decide to throw it away” he said with a little more seriousness in his tone.

‘Jung, you know that I take these things seriously. If you want to make your family and ancestors proud you should do the same. You know mother was trying to convince Aunty to force you to take the oaths?” Siuten questioned, a knowing look crossing his eyes. Jung groaned outwardly – his mother, Siuten’s aunt, had indeed asked him again about taking the oaths even going as far to give him an ultimatum, take the oaths or go into the military to fight at the bastion to the north.

Getting up he didn’t say another word to his cousin until they were walking out of the city “I won’t go to the bastion to die cousin – I am not like our families warriors. I am not blessed with speed, strength, fortitude or magic so I would not last a month its a death sentence. We both know that once you take the oaths it’s not long before you go into combat training and join the army any way, again… Death sentence” he emphasised his point by the universal signal for being killed. His cousin grinned.

“Well, maybe not. You’ll see, quickly to the pond.” his cousin said, looking to the sky as some large winged birds flew to the mountains as the sun set.

It wasn’t long until they were standing at the edge of the the pond, one that had been there for decades if not longer. As the sun set his cousin beckoned him over to a walkway that lead to a shrine in the middle of the pond. Squatting by the shrine his cousin looked around like someone who was paranoid. “This is it Jung, our families secret” he grinned, they both shared the same madman grin when excited.

“There’s nothing here Siuten – look you don’t have to make fun of me by promising some secret only those who take the oath know and then showing me some dirty pond. I’m out of here…” he paused as one of the nearby lotus flowers bloomed and a soft blue light shone forth, next to it another flower bloomed and a purple light shone forth and a third leaf opened with a red light radiating outwards, the walkway and shrine hiding this sight from all others unless you were to be in the shrine as it happened.

Jung looked at Siuten who was grinning from ear to ear. “These flowers are it. When you take the oaths and you start to under go combat training they bring you here and let you pick one flower. Once you eat that one flower you are blesse by the ancestors if they find your oath taking truthful and your commitment to the family pleasing they will grant you strength, speed, magic, what ever you wish for as you eat the flower. That’s why our family has the best warriors, this. These Lotus’s!” Siuten’s excitement almost caused him to yell.

“No way. So if I eat one of these then that’s it. I get stronger?” Jung licked his lips eagerly, he had wondered why his older brother had gotten so strong from a very short amount of time training. He began to reach out for a golden flower that opened as he gazed hungrily across it.

Siuten’s hand snapped forth and gripped his wrist. “you mustn’t. Only those who have taken the oath and have started down the path to train their body can consume the flower. The ancestors will punish the family if one who hasn’t taken the oaths and been found ready and worthy takes the flowers. It is forbidden. You must promise me Jung not to take a flower, not until you have taken the oath and have been found ready.” his cousin stared at him with the most serious expression Jung had ever seen.

Jung licked his lips before grinning broadly “I promise Cousin, you didn’t actually think that I would take one of the flowers! ha!” he laughed as he stood up and walked away from the shrine and the flowers.

Jogging to catch up Siuten walked net to him “Good, I’d get in trouble if you did take one.” he said as she shoved his cousin before jogging ahead to go toward his house as their paths separated.

Waving to his cousin he jogged back home to make sure he was home in time for dinner. Opening the door and stepping him he was greeted by his mother as she set dinner on the table for them both.

“Now Jung, have you decided? The Oath or the Bastion? ” his mother asked casually as she grabbed a bowl and started to eat.

“Mother, I haven’t had time to think. I was busy with my duties today” he lied.

Sighing his mother placed down her bowl of food. “My sister told me she caught you skipping your duties today, you carved your name into one of our guardian statues at the temple and then ran off. No more Jung. I need an answer now, your grandfather needs one by dawn.” she said firmly staring at her son.

Jung was mad, his Aunt was ruining everything again. If she could just keep her mouth shut and not rat him out for every little thing then all would be fine “Neither. I won’t go and die in some war for some family that doesn’t care if I come back or not.” he said, his appetite suddenly gone.

“Then the Bastion it is. Eat up son, I will inform Grandfather tomorrow and you will be leaving tomorrow.” his mother said, her lips quivering as she spoke. “You have shamed me and you family for the last time, maybe at the Bastion you can bring us honour and make your ancestors proud”

With that Jung stood up and left the house, his rage and sadness at his families betrayal was just too much. What was he meant to do, he didn’t want to swear the oaths to the ancestors – it didn’t matter, he didn’t even think they could influence his life, this or the next. Sending him to the bastion was a deaths sentence, everyone knew this, no one without years of training would make it more than a week. Not unless you were exceptionally gifted but that hadn’t happened in centuries and it seemed to be only those who were extremely lucky did. Or, maybe it wasn’t luck he needed but a bit of magic.

Jung ran across the grounds, the calls of his mother and soon rousing guards and other family members as he saw torches in the streets behind him as he ran towards the shrine. Nearing it he dashed up the pathway and ducked down into the circular shrine where the shining lotus flowers were hidden from all except those within the shrine. The faint light from all the flowers cast eerie shadows across the features of the stone statue at the heart of the shrine, a great dragon coiled around a pillar of stone.

“Well if the family doesn’t care if I live or die, then I may as well take what I am due and stack the odds in my favour” he muttered to himself as he grabbed a pale blue flower and plucked it. Bringing it to his nose he smelt the flower, no different than normal he determined, shrugging he stuffed it in his mouth and chewed with purpose as he reached for a light purple flower and quickly stuffed it in his mouth also.

As soon as the first flower touched his stomach a throbbing began, as the second and third joined it began to pulse – a pleasant warmth rather than a pain. Grinning and laughing he shovelled the colours of the rainbow in flowers into his mouth pausing only slightly at the last one from the shrine, the gold one that bloomed in front of him just an hour before but it quickly joined the others in his mouth and stomach.

As soon as the golden one touched his stomach a roaring filled his ears and the sound of cracking stone and cries of alarm rang forth. Looking up from his hands and knees, not sure when he had dropped this low or why his body felt like it was on fire he looked upon the body of a large golden dragon flying in front of him as slabs of stone fell from him – the circular enclosure of the shrine had been shattered outwards and her was exposed to the entire family who had come to the shrine after hearing his maddened laughter.

“You have broken the oaths of your family and betrayed your ancestors” the dragons voice rumbled out, not with anger but with sadness and malice. “the punishment is banishment.” it rumbled as Jung floated before its eyes and his body began to rip, tear and break before the dragons eyes.

“As for your family, those who have betrayed. So they do not forget their oaths for one hundred years no more sacred Lotus’s will flower as the undisciplined hand is not worthy to wield the sword. The source of your families power has been cast aside with this betrayal.” The dragon rumbled looking to all that had gathered.

Siuten stared at the dragon and at what used to be his cousin as bones cracked, creaked, grew and twisted beneath a darkening skin. Long limbs, claws, ears and a tail began to grow forth from the body of his cousin as the screams of pain rang out across the pond. He had let his family down, this betrayal was his fault… No.. Jung had promised him that he would not do this, if he had just grown up then none of this would have happened. He would still be Jung and the families secret would be safe and their source of strength would still be here.

Jung’s body stopped its transformation and through tears streaming down his face he looked down at his body. Long flexible fingers and toes ended in large retractable claws. His arms and legs were built powerfully, and there was a covering of soft brown fur across his body, but beneath that he could feel something there, scales, he was sure of it. Looking around he noticed the look of rage and hatred across his families face but none shone so bright in the dark as his cousins. Siuten’s look spoke of betrayal, hatred and bloodlust. Guilt and sorrow overwhelmed Jung as he felt the dragon lifting his body up.

“I will take the betrayer so that you remember the power of the ancestors. Cursed to live in this form until he makes his family proud of what he is and what he has accomplished. Until such a time he will remain a beast, a monster in a world where they are hunted and killed on sight.” the dragon rumbled forward.

“Siu…!” Jung cried down towards his cousin – begging for forgiveness and understanding as he was ripped from his family and taken to his ancestors for judgement.

Well, that was a long writeup. I had planned to write to NPCs tonight but got a bit carried away with the backstory for Siu – our little furry critter that has found himself passed out in the temple of Chauntea – but more on that tomorrow night.

Thanks for joining me tonight and don’t forget that if you like what you are reading let me know! I am always curious to know what people think about what I write here. And, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Start of a new Daye

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Welcome to Monday night where we are looking at the plot for the upcoming week and this week I want to introduce the party to someone who is itching to meet them.

A bit thanks and shout-out to those who have been reading along daily, Yep, I see and notice you, I really do appreciate your support and interest in this little adventure I have coming together in my head (I have the what I call wandering plot points – but more on that another time I think) but every week I try and use what we learnt or dealt with in the previous week or month to drive and shape how we get to these points.

So without any more waiting let’s get on with the nights writing.

Searching for Reason

209MoSfR

Before they even reached the gates Priestess Lizbet and her fellow devotees of Chauntea rushed to meet the group – Paul and Carline take up an instant defensive position but the party quickly make introductions.

Katya walks from the wagon and those around her part like reeds in the face of a tornado, her presence and radiance glowing around her causing, as expected by now, flowers to bloom and plants to grow, but that was probably just a trick of the eyes. As Katya and Lizbet meet the aura seems to shrink and in doing so both Katya and Lizbet glow in a way that only the divine could.

As they make their way into the city the village folk, the ‘free’ Red fleet sailors and merchants stop and show respect to the distinguished pair as they strolled through the streets with an retinue of guards, priests, priestesses, Paul and Carline and, just behind them the Party who had saved the city a week back.

Meanwhile on a rooftop not far away Siu lounged lazily in the sun and warmth watching the procession with interest, two priestesses of power – the newcomer gave off more of that divine energy than the priestess he had been gently nudging towards the boats and the promise abroad – maybe he had made the wrong call now that there was a stronger one here.

Sighing and turning his head back to the streets his eyes touched on a wisp of black mist as it crept under a door like a worm taking shelter from the hawk – he thought with a smug grin. He crept forward, his clawed limbs making the careful yet hasted descent easy – he will miss parts of this form when he is stripped from it and healed by the great dragon once he completes his mission he thought.

As he crept towards the door he looked around to make sure that his approach was undetected before climbing through a opened window. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the interior but when they did he was greeted by a creature of dark mist surrounding and lashing out at a house cat causing minor cuts and abrasions as the cat lashed back out in defence, its claws and teeth ineffective against the mist. Then as if sensing Siu the creature hissed, a low reptilian reverberation that chilled his nerves as the mist-creature rushed the cat entering its body through orifices and its cuts and in the blink of an eye the last trails of black mist disappeared and the cat was swinging its tail playfully – its golden eyes staring at Siu as a predator would its prey. In a flash the cat had closed the distance between them and large shadow-mist claws sprung from the creature and cut through the scaled hide under Siu’s mangy fur coat. The pain was exquisite, if pain could be defined as such, and he pulled on one of his limited spells he could cast and he disappeared as if made from mist, landing hidden on a rooftop just out of reach of the cat – he hoped.

As he watched the shadow-creature-mist-cat.. thing it smiled wickedly before jumping through the open window and started to head towards the priestesses. After a moment he noticed several other creatures were doing the same, malicious intelligence lining their eyes as they crept in the shadows closer to the procession and staying clear from the humans as much as possible.

This was not good, Siu needed help, he could feel his life force seeping from the wound in his torso and he had only one option.

He had to talk to those who he had admired and watched from afar, only their magic could save him and he had to warn them of the shadow creatures.

Thanks for joining me for this quick little introduction to this weeks coming adventure, As I began to write tonight I thought about tonight’s post and wondered where I was going to go with it in full. I knew I wanted Siu to reveal himself so I wanted a reason to do it – and to save himself, and the priestesses (maybe) was a good enough reason for me and the rest just flowed.

For the time being I am associating the dark mist as something that is a common theme in this current part of the adventure – it generally means the same thing when you describe it to anyone “Evil Spirit” and that can get the right reaction out of a party that you want to get involved, or take the plot dark-mist-bait, hook, line and sinker.

Don’t forget to come back tomorrow for more Brazen Wolfe Tabletop content and, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Bracken Hollow

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Hi all and welcome to the last instalment of our February adventure series.

Tonight we will look back at the parties visit to Bracken Hollow, their discovery of Katya and their efforts to free the village from the corruption that spreads from her family home – as well as how it’s not easy dealing with a undisciplined beacon of life magic.

So, first time trying this format (which coupled with the effort from the previous weeks should make it a lot easier – but let’s see about that).

Pages 1, 2 and 3 are content pages, the description, flow, random tables, etc. and such that you’ve previously seen.

Page 4 contains all NPCs and portraits to help the DM describe them and a bit about them to help play them out.

Page 5 will be stat blocks and map(s) – all that D&D encounter goodness that you want.

Now I will jump the gun and say thanks. Thanks for reading this – I have expanded, added and corrected a few things to make sure the adventure flew, well nice enough. If you do like this format do let me know, if you don’t also let me know so I can see what I can tweak for next time. this probably was just about as much effort as writing it all from scratch the first time around but this way I think it makes sense.


Don’t forget to come back next week and, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Part 1 – The road Bracken hollow – 205BrHo1

The high priestess of Chauntea in Daye, Sister Lizbet, impressed with the party and what they had accomplished, rumoured to or not, requested that they go to Bracken Hollow, a town a few days travel to the north east of Daye in Amn and to search for another priestess of Chauntea who was rumoured to be more powerful than she and to bring her to Daye. During the travels into Bracken Hollow the party met with a few travellers who warned them of Bracken Hollow and its general dislike to strangers – particularly from the family who lived in an old manor atop a hill towards the north of the village, and warned the party to not outstay their welcome how ever long it is.

Walking upwards into the sleepy village of Daye the party are greeted by farmsteads overlooking paddocks filled with crops or beasts, two the north east as dense forest could be seen in the distance as the road crept steadily upwards.

Entering the town there was very little. A small stable with may hitching posts lay at the centre of the village, a large water trough and nearby well the only visible water source for horses and people alike. To the left (west of the stable) lay a tavern, The Broken Tankard, which in the dwindling light provided by the setting sun looked like the only place of warmth and hospitality. To the north, about mile away on a hill was a pinpoint of light and smoke amongst a sea of tall, slender pines who had shed their needles already – unusual for the season.

Areas and places of note

The Stables – A small set of covered areas in the centre of the town. Big enough to house about eight horses if some are hitched just outside of the small roof that provides cover from the elements. There is no stable boy but there is clean fresh water at least if sans-food for the beasts that would be spending the night there.

The Broken Tavern – A brightly lit two room, double storied building that boasts three rooms for rent, two singles and a double room. The meals are hearty and of the land but cost a bit more than what the party is used to ranging from 1 silver for basics to 10 silver for something that is likely to fill you up for half a day or more. Despite the price the quality cant be doubted and the three dwarven owners, Milly, Billy and Ned are ferociously proud of the food and drink they serve in their tavern.

The Bracken Hollow woods – rumoured to be the gathering place for fey and other creatures from the fey wild the Bracken Hollow woods are relatively small in size but deep with a few cave systems within its twisted roots and sudden drops. Those who adventure within will need to be on their toes as its not just the environment within that could kill a man.

Environment and running the adventure

As the party enter the village an unusual cold change in weather has swept through the village, many blame the fey that reportedly live in the forest to the East but there is growing whispers, hushed or otherwise, that the family who live on top of the hill are responsible.

This cold snap brings about changes in the weather conditions. When the party arrive it is cold, but not extremely so and they are offered a change of clothes (for 5 gold pieces each) if they are wearing clothes not suited to the cold climates. The following morning you should determine the weather affect in place (d6 roll on the below random table) and for each 1d4+3 hours after that roll the dice again. On a 3-6 the weather gets worse and on a 1 or 2 the weather lessens.

The party should attend the Tavern, the only place to stay for the night. Upon entering the tavern they are treated poorly by the villagers within, looked upon as if they were bandits until Milly, the Matron of the tavern comes and pretends to rough them up a bit. Afterwards the villagers get back to their jovial nature. The party find themselves at a large table with Colin and Paul when the doors open again and this time a crazed man walks in. The music from Carline changes from a merry jig to something that is brash, abrasive and seems to openly mock the newcomer who asks Milly for a bottle of wine to go. The man then seems very interested in the party and tries to pry all information from them about their reasons for visiting Bracken Hollow. Paul steps in and fumbles, revealing what the party has told them that they are here for but Colin tries to cover for his brother and the party explaining that they are heading through the town and staying for a night or two. After the man leaves with his wine the party hear about the strange weather patterns that are happening and the two reason that they believe its occurring. The strange man called “Father” and his family or the fey in the woods are upset about something and have turned spiteful.

If the party go into the woods then the weather should be snowing (stage 5). They find a cave after some while which looks like it was lived in recently, there are some dead strange looking deer within that have a fey-like quality. The weather begins to get worse. If the party stay in the cave they find themselves unwelcome visitors to an half-ogre and his pet brown bear (stats below).

On the way out of the woods they are ambushed by giant snow owls (see stat blocks below) as the wind begins to pickup (blizzard begins). After the fight they travel for a few hours – the blizzard making it rough to move through and as the wind dies down (still extremely cold but no snow) they see a half-ogre and brown bear (If they didn’t encounter them in the cave that is) has followed them and then they are in combat.

After getting back to the village they find that Paul has gone missing when going to help “Father” with a problem with his fences.

Random table

Weather table.

ResultWeather affect
1Cold but not extremely so
1-2It’s begun to rain hard and its still cold, but nothing an additional coat can’t fix.
3-4It’s now dropped in temperature dangerously, its extremely cold and still raining.
5It’s now snowing and extremely cold.
6Blizzard (Extreme wind, snow and cold)
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A Candid approach

thebrazenwolfeLeave a comment

Hello all, welcome to the ‘Saturday special’ where this week we are looking at another 30 minute adventure challenge with the supplied word (thanks reader!).

Now true to word I haven’t started writing or thinking on what I could do with this adventure, well, thinking about it is hard to reign in but I will do my best to handicap myself by throwing away the instant thoughts I had on this – but more on that in a moment – you will just have to trust that I am telling the truth on this one.

Just like last week I will have the same, mostly, set of restrictions to make it a challenge for me – well attempt to.

  • Single word randomly provided
    • Initial first and second thoughts are to be ignored – To make my imagination actually work for it for a change.
  • 30 minute timer, start time recorded.
  • Must be a playable adventure
  • Must have at least one driver (antagonist/protagonist)
  • Must be D&D centric and attempt to be of the fantasy variety.

And that’s the rules, deciding to remove the first two thoughts that came/come into my mind should make it a bit more challenging. So the clocks set, the word Candour (Candor) provided last week – thanks for the suggestion!

Right lets get on with it,.

Time: 8:52:15

A Candid approach

Well the first idea that came into my head was a King who is normally open, honest and truthful with everyone he works with being cursed to only lie, but the enchantment makes other spells and attempts to work out his situation come back with the resounding truth. He believes what he is saying. The story would go on how he knows he is cursed and he is trying to cry for help by wearing a red leather glove and openly declaring that its blue.. But – that may be for another time, who knows.

The second thought was just a stone throw away really – A crime boss has suddenly started telling the truth and he abducts the players. Any spell or affect will determine he is 100% telling the truth on anything he says. He believes that some of his own subordinates has betrayed him (note the words used) and he implores the party to do their best to flush out the culprits so he can revert the enchantment. There are no spells cast upon him but he is candid to a fault including his multiple affairs (if questioned in front of his wife) – Well that ones gone too – this one was different – he is just simply telling the truth to flush out the rot in his crew. Its all a farce but because he speaks the truth and speaks with conviction (and is careful with his words) to all that know him or hear him speak he is 100% truthful – ah goodbye Liar Liar spin off.

Ok the real on, third off the rank is a no-name merchant who starts to advertise his truth potion – any one dose will make the consumer hear only truths for the next day. This obviously goes nuts in the small city that they are in (a fringe city that isn’t really known for much other than its large livestock market and export via its very small dock.

Soon accusations of unfaithful ness, business cheats, charlatans and all manor of wrong doers are being exposed and this small time merchant strikes liquid gold – his her truth potion. (changed to a female antagonist). The party are called upon, to help sort out what’s going on here.

So this leaves me with a question – is the potion real or a trickery and I think the only path I want to go down is its real! (makes it harder for me). Now, sorcery or alchemy – my first instinct was sorcery to be frank but with the late addition (as I was typing) of the large livestock market its feasible that something rare, exotic or unusual may have come through there so I will say that it’s Alchemical.

So, a lady alchemist who uses, err, liquid from a creature that was acquired from the local livestock trade to distil a potion that makes the consumer hear only truths.

So how did she know about it, lets make it easier for me as my mind went with squids. Yup. Tentacles, beaks and odd eyes. So a land squid. Yep. That’s weird. Found in a cave to the north that happens to lead down into the underdark. This gives us a few things.

  1. The merchant to sold the squid would be visiting the underdark or paying someone to to bring back the gross critter.
  2. The alchemist would need to know what it is. Either she is Duegar, Drow or spent time amongst them. I tend to stay away with slavery so lets go with.. half drow? – Mother was particularly thorough in her prayers to Lloth and fell pregnant which created a half-elf – she cant even remember the sire. (no hate here – spent a bit of time reading war of the spider queen and it only seems fair that they would partake in these displays of excess…)

So the half-drow, Amalica, was spared because of her gender (extreme matriarchy down in the dark) and spent some time with a lesser family – a relative (cousins)- before she went in search of what lies above the earth.

Ok – so squid’s tentacles and beak secrete a poison that allows the squid to take control over the bitten and use their body as an all terrain vehicle, nice. Because she is half-drow she knows of the squid from her family and her cousins taught her to complete alchemy and limited sorcery that comes with the elven blood.

The created potion when it’s distilled correctly and mixed with certain mushrooms doesn’t open the mind fully for invasion but gives a strong temporary psionic ability to the consumer which enables them to read minds, well surface thoughts and limited ability to manipulate those thoughts to reveal the truth – all subconsciously.

Since her endeavour has taken off she has been searching for another squid but her supplier has gone quiet. Currently she is just keeping up with demands but has made enough gold that her little cart is now upgraded to a large shop front and her neighbours don’t like it so much.

So the party, where… called upon by the businesses near by, a mercantile body of them in fact who govern the commerce in the city – yeah. They are worried about the legitimacy of the potion as well as, if questioned or poked, worried about their own business secrets, deals, plots and ploys being revealed to their competition. The board has all agreed upon pain of ostracisation from the city and all the benefits of working for, as part of and within the city offer.

Part 1 – Finding out.

The party would need to find out how Amalica does it – they could sample the potion, perform their own alchemical wonders, cast spells or such but they all come back with that its not really a spell or enchantment but a drug.

If they break in and look through the store they find only meagre supplies and too many orders for what is there – they find the underdark mushrooms though and if one of them has knowledge of either the underdark (Ranger, drow, duegar, or svirfneblin) or a high survival check they would be able to determine what it is.

Maybe they would notice the merchant dropping off the mushrooms and tail him?

Part 2 – Confrontation?

The party would confront Amalica, the merchant/s etc. to find more info.

Part 3 – Discovery

Either the merchant body, or better yet people who tracked the merchant selling mushrooms find where she is keeping the Squid and kill it – leaving behind a Drow dagger (a spider motif on the handle) – she talks openly with the party and ask about what’s next – she thinks her merchant had found another two of the squids but she worries he was ambushed at his place.

And time…. well being candid it was over by 1 minute over as I didn’t want to finish mid sentence (must add that to the rules for next time…)

Closing thoughts

Hmm – taking the time to get some notes out this time for part 1,2 and 3 helped this time so I could go into those sections and tidy them up. I probably spent too much time on the setting as opposed to the actual content and flow.

I would change part three to a either or. Kill the squid if the Drow, or, if the merchants she becomes a fugitive as the merchants and their guards go after her – accusing her of dark magic. The Towns guard are on her side but its a bit out numbered – the party has a choice to either help her and/or the guard or the merchants.

Part 2 is also, well, merely a thought here – Talking to her, the merchants or the mushroom man to get more info. If confronted directly and approached with empathy and genuine concern (she would drink her own potion and know if they were lying) she would explain to them her background – the abridged version – and then explain that she is an alchemist and found a non-lethal non-malicious way to distil her potion. This is what the party want to be aware of – the other merchants would merely point at her and say that she is behind it (and may reluctantly tell truths of double dealings, black books, illegal trade and the like)

I think next time if I do this again I wouldn’t write the two stricken out entries until after the time is up – as they were thought up and discarded quickly, could have saved around 5 minutes.

The conclusion would be the the half-Drow alive – sorry for those who didn’t want that! but she would be tried for a witch if captured by the merchants and then found innocent, but the merchants would then ostracise her from the merchants network which would make it nearly impossible to keep running her business here – she would then leave.

If the merchants don’t catch her then she would flee and pass a large sum of gold to the party if they were with her when she left – else the mushroom merchant would find them and bring them gold from her if they held back the merchants and guards but didn’t help her personally escape

Thanks – I hope you enjoyed tonight’s writeup! I, honestly, failed tonight – The clock bet me tonight but I will endeavour to try again if its a format that people like!

So – if you’ve got a word for next week feel free to comment below and I will select one that has been provided, if you have some reasonable restrictions, rules, or “at minimum you must have…” then please put them down – I am doing this to, really, train my brain to be better at planning adhoc one shots and be better and creating short adventures on the fly.

Don’t forget to come back tomorrow for more Brazen Wolfe Tabletop content and, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe