Drifters and Shifters

325MoDrASh

“I can’t tell you how relieved I am to have you with us in this carriage. With the roaming pack of lycanthrope bandits on the road no where is safe!” the cooing merchants wife practically fell out of the chair to get closer to the party member in the carriage with her. The other carriage patron, a relatively well off looking human shared a glance with the party member before shaking his head as he turned towards the window, smiling.

“So you some kind of hunter huh? Much experience in hunting packs of werewolves? It makes me feel so safe having you and your men with me, us! with us.” she stammered. “I take my wares to my husbands shop in Foresithe once a month from our warehouse. But his wagon got hit bad once by these bandits and ever since we take smaller quantities and have slowly began the move.” she continued to explain her situation to the party member.

“I am sure our companion is also of similar feelings, er… Mr?” she asked looking expectantly at the other passenger.

“Harry, Harry Panscythe” he politely spoke. He looked from the window to the inhabitants of the carriage. “I fear that I don’t have worry of the stories of lycanthropes on the road. Most of these stories end up being exaggerated by those too embarrassed to admit they were stolen from.” he said with a smile. “But I don’t doubt the prowess in these warriors, these hunters in routing out the beasts if there are any.”

Tracks

“Halt! I said Halt!” a voice called from up ahead. The carriage stopping before the doors opened and the adventurer jumped out. Striding across the snow, winter setting in, they made way to one of the foreriders. Tracks, large bestial tracks by the looks of it. But these ones changed and distorted mid-stride to something different, something more human.

“Interesting,” Harry said from behind him. A look of genuine interest and worry appeared on his face. “I dare say your hunting skills will come into use then.” He said with a smile towards the party member.

Thoughts

Now mix of a carriage escort, an investigation and something more this week. I don’t want to spoil it or how it relates to the weekends content. But it will be a good adventure I hope.

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Trouble at Durkenstaff

324MoTrADu

She looked at the mountains with the worry of what tomorrow might bring. It had been a day since the hunters had left to investigate the mine. Being the best at tracking and moving over the rough terrain of the mountains they volunteered to head out first to at least investigate what had happened. Many of the villagers husbands, wives and children worked in the mines nearby, digging for iron primarily. However, since they had left at the start of last week they hadn’t returned yet and they were long past due.

Concerned that something had happened they had organised a search party to go and investigate. However they were now overdue.

The Scouts Return

“They’re here!” a voice called from a nearby watch tower and those that remained in the village rushed to the entrance. However the sight of the hunters returning without those that worked in the mind caused the village to let out a collective sob. But not for Jandice. Her son, Randal, ran up to her with his bow on his back, tired but still alive.

“We didn’t find them. Anything really. All of them just gone. All their carts empty, their tools laying there in the mud. Nothing. Not even a sign of them in their tents. Everything was intact. But there was something I did notice. I slipped off when the others looked up the path towards the top of the mountain. They’ve found a new tunnel. a whole new part of the mine to dig in. But its weird, it doesn’t look like it was created properly. Half opened without the normal supports like what father used to talk about.” He opened his mouth to continue but a roar broke across the village. One that curdled blood and caused every hair to stand on end. A roar that came from up the mountain.

It looks like there was Trouble at Durkenstaff mine.

Thoughts

Now a good old classic adventure. Missing miners from a mine. I am excited to look at how I can get the maps to work. Large maps that involve a lot of twists and turns are generally hard to do. But I will look for ways to organise one.

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Visitor From Chult

323MoViFrCh

As the party downed another tankard of ale they eagerly watched as a platter of food came their way. Breads, meats, roasted vegetables and more. A feast fit for the heroes that they were and they were enjoying the attention that they received. A bard started to sing of a fight between noble heroes in a distant city and the other tavern goers instantly believed that the party was the focus of the story. Drinks were bought, tales were told and merriment was the main course of the menu.

After several hours of merry making the party left the tavern to go to their lodgings, a home that was offered to them from the lord of the city to be used any time they stayed here. A token of appreciation from the last time the party were here. However as they started to head towards the building a knight of some manner stepped up towards them, holding a lantern that cast shadows across her face.

The request

“Greetings. I was told that I might find some heroes here that may be willing to aid someone for the right price? I’m a visitor from Chult, a knight in training. I am in need of assistance in protecting an ally of mine. She has bitten off more than she can chew so to speak. Currently she is hiding in the woods near by but I fear that she will be found sooner rather than later and she gets a bit jumpy when I am not around to help her.” she paused for a moment. “My name is Rebeka and I have gold and gems that could see you feasting for many weeks if you’d be willing to help.”

After a pause she continued. “I just need help in proving her innocence from a misunderstanding. Are you able to help?”

Thoughts

Now we have a few things on this week. Her ally is an animal companion. In this case a Scary looking herbivorous dinosaur. Wednesday we will cover the next part of it, the middle of the adventure, but the start is quite simple. The knight walked beside her dinosaur up to some people who were looking like they were in need of help. They had suffered a large loss of stock the night before and the sight of the monstrously large reptile caused them to blame the foreign creature. Sensing danger the creature moved to protect Rebeka and in doing so it was mistaken as aggression.

I believe that this should have some elements of combat, perhaps some non-lethal fights with local hot blooded aspiring heroes. I also want it to be tracking the creature, the dinosaur, as well as the creature that killed the stock from the farmers. That this is probably the best of a few worlds and should make for an entertaining adventure.

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The Stone Garden

322MoTStGa

The job was quite simple when the city of Drell reached out to the party. If they can return the flowers that grow in the stone garden deep within Deepgrove Forest they will be rewarded. Now the reward was quite the pretty thing.

But as the party cursed their luck for agreeing to this endeavour they remembered the prize. A wing of wishes with two wishes remaining. The sheer potential of this reward was enough to send many adventurers into the woods and the remains of some had already been found. However the woods were deep and despite having a map, a transcribed one from an original, they had managed to get turned around a few times now.

The party sat for a short rest, having encountered some creatures native to this forest earlier in the day they were exhausted. As they sat down at what looked like a perfect spot to set up camp an uneasy feeling began to set in.

The Camp

A chill, a momentary drop in temperature or increase in wind caused the fire to splutter. Reaching for some nearby wood, a lucky break that the perfect logs for a fire would be in this sheltered area the adventurers hand came back with something else. A long thin shaft of perfectly smooth stone. About five inches in diameter which looked like a smooth stone branch. However as they looked towards the smooth stone club-like figure another creature watched them back from the brush. One that looked onwards at what it saw in the firelight with hunger.

Thoughts

Now this week I have planned something a bit special. A many encounter ‘open dungeon delve’ where there are multiple parts to the adventure I have planned. In fact you could run this over a few weeks and not just a single weekend oneshot. Now this isn’t an uncommon encounter for party to encounter during their adventuring career. But hopefully this weeks adventure offers something unique.

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Festival fever at Finchford

321MoFeFeAFi

The Game

With all these people around it was easy to move around unhindered. The joyous shouts of victory, the laughter, the sadness of a crowd favourite falling at the last hurdle. All of it was covered for the biggest score of their life. However despite the ease of how it was going this was not the first time that they had worked together. In fact working together brought the most out of them and they each knew how to play the game.

Keep one hand open for the players to see, a few cards for your allies to see but keep just as many cards hidden from all. That’s the way to win the game and they both knew this. The Wolf and the Doe – an effective team of thieves, con artists and if the job called for it they could handle even dirtier work. But today, this blessed week of games and merriment, there were competitions to rig, pockets to dip into and purses to steal.

The Keep

After the business at Thrall keep had died down, festival fever at Finchford was in full swing. Merchants were sporting new wares both exotic and local craftsmanship. The city was the busiest it had been in years and everyone was going to make the most of it. For adventurers such as the party there were tests of skill, power, strength, cunning and dexterity a-plenty with hefty rewards and prizes for those who rose above the rest.

It was a time of relaxation and celebration and for those who had uncovered the secrets of Thrall keep it was a time of expectation of their abilities. In fact, they had set the benchmark high, people and other adventurers looked at them like either worthy opponents or threats to their claim of the prize. Maybe it wouldn’t be a relaxing week after all.

Thoughts

A good old fashioned tournament week! One of the earliest adventures I remember was where we had to work our way up from nothing. Dad had just con’d out PCs with some illusion magic, janky illusion magic mind you, and we had lost all of our gear, gold and equipment. Participating in a tournament of skill with a little bit of underhandedness thrown in was a great way to learn other aspects of the game. So this week as the festival fever at Finchford reaches an escalation point the party have two adventures in one.

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Dark Thrall Keep

320MoDaThKe

Carrying out the large pot, nearly a cauldron she thought to herself with a laugh as she upended the dirty water into the back alley. The Pot had contained a stew that contained mostly Lamb, well lamb-like meat, and fed the Five Fat Ravens tavern patrons. As she scrubbed out the last stubborn burnt-on morsels of food she glanced up towards the old ruins that lay on the cliffs above the City of Finchford.

“The Dark Thrall ruins…” She muttered to herself. The old keep was rumoured to have held the most holy of warriors during the age of King Parn the just. Marie had wanted to explore those ruins when she was a little girl many  years ago. She got close before her parents had found her and her childhood friend Rhyan. She still remembers how mad they were, but also the fear in her parents eyes. That was the day she learnt the other half of the tales of the keep.

After King Parn was murdered his knights pursued the killers and encountered a fearsome enemy, a dragon. They retreated to the keep to hope its walls, towers and weapons would save them but they were wrong. The Dragon managed to kill all the knights and destroy much of the keep but it also disappeared. As the Knights never finished their vengeance it’s rumoured that their ghostly figures haunt the ruins. But the other rumour is that the dragon sleeps below the rubble, waiting for hundreds of years as it heals.

The Keep

As she remembered the old stories, a moment of movement, a flicker of light from the keep brought her to focus. The distant rhythmic low rumbling sound seemed to flow down from the keep across the valley below. There, against the moon-lit clouds there was a shadow, a shape. Something dropped in her stomach as she watched a massive figure land against the keep, wrapping its large wings around the towering spire of stone as a growth resonated through the town like thunder. The remaining patrons inside the Five Fat Ravens Tavern went dead silent as they slowly wandered out of the tavern.

As the last patron walked into the back of another that had stopped just outside the building they all watched in amazement and terror. A dragon, as large as the keep crawled down the keep, another reverberating growl hit them like a shock wave as they watched the incarnate of death disappear into the ruins.

Only then did the panic hit the patrons of the Five Ravens Tavern and soon the surrounding buildings were awake and alarmed. But by the morning only the patrons of the Tavern had seen the Dragon. The City officials had ruled it too a night too full of grog and the patrons had all accepted it. For many more nights the dragon hadn’t appeared again, but Marie had seen it. She doesn’t drink or eat anything from the Tavern so those excuses didn’t work on her.

She had seen the Dragon and no one would believe her.

Thoughts

A great week inspired by another on-the-spot adventure prompt from my daughter. This weekend is about the once thought long-dead Dragon in the keep that rises at night to ‘eat people in the towns’. She is a bit of fascinated by zombies and large lizards considering the last prompt she gave me was the Cult of the Forgotten. But I will try to do this one justice, but there is a twist this time.

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In service to Yeenoghu

319MoThCiOUn

“I never imagined such rage, such unbridled bloodshed. We were lucky to escape when we did” the old woman said as she looked backwards at the fires. Clutching at the bundles of belongings she managed to rescue from the village before fleeing she felt a pang of guilt. It was the right decision to leave those outsiders without a wagon, they would slow down the raiders, the beasts from the forest. When they were done with those adventurers they wouldn’t be able to catch up with them.

“I am sure they are fine.” she smiled, lying, as she patted her daughter’s hand who sat next to her. “They were strong. The beast-men would not be able to kill them. I told them we would meet them at the next village.” she reassured. She had no qualms about lying to those around her, it had become a talent over the years.

“The first gift is hunger… It is His blessing.” her son muttered next to her. A dim boy who had never really accomplished much.

“What was that dear?” she asked, wrapping a blanket around him.

“It is our call to bring death…” he muttered as he stared at the fires in fascination. “The second gift is death. Death proves our strength. Death purges our fear.” he muttered as he began to rock.

“Mother, Toby’s not well is he…” Salis asked, her worry for her brother mingled with fear and disgust. Nothing infuriated her more.

“Have some compassion, Salis. Your brother watched his friends be slaughtered at the gate. It’s a miracle that he survived and thought to warn us.” she snarled, clutching her son tightly.

“The third gift is fear… We fear that we will fail him. We fear the onset of hunger.” Toby continued, staring into the fires unable to look away as the towering beast-men pillaged, killed and destroyed the village he had grown up in.

Thoughts

A bit of a darker one this week but I promise it will be fun. Abandoned by the people they sought to help the party must fight their way out, grab the first transport out of the village and escape the ravaging hordes that worship and are in service to Yeenoghu. Now the lord of gnolls himself may not be present this adventure but his servants are varied and those who worship destruction and the uncontained blood lust are aplenty.

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The City of unrest

318MoThCiOUn

The innkeeper looked at the full flasks of ale, the bottles of wine and spirits and his heart sank. It had been weeks since someone bought any of his wares and because no one came for his drink, his kitchen lay dormant. A sullen knock at the door may change this and keep his business alive though and with as much energy as he could muster he opened the door to a bright eyed woman. Tilly the herbalist and Alchemist.

“Ah Tilly. You’re here at just the right moment. I’d almost considered selling up and moving to Newhaven.” The innkeeper said with a half-hearted smile. “Please come in. You brought the goods didn’t you?”

Tilly was an elf just short of 5 feet in height. Long blond hair was braided down her sides and every day she had different flowers or plants woven into it. “I sure did. Are you sure that you want to be associating with elves at the moment with everything that’s going on?” she asked as she closed the door behind her to the early morning light. “I know business is business but I don’t want you to get hurt. It’s not right this dream sickness that has you non-elven folk in its clutches. It’s not natural. I heard the mayor sent for aid just yesterday. But he hasn’t been seen since…” she mused as she began to unpack vials of a dark brown liquid. “Now, a large spoonful no more. Over use of this can cause a few nasty side effects.” Tilly warned. “I mean it Gareth”

The City of Unrest

Gareth smiled and uncorked a bottle and had a small sip. Instantly he felt energy course through his veins, the exhaustion he had been suffering elated in just a moment. “Wow Tilly. This is incredible! I could sell this stuff by itself!” he mused, grinning for the first time in weeks.

Hildebek had become the epicentre of an illness. It affected any humanoid that didn’t have elven blood and would cause people to have extreme nightmares while they slept. The people of the city had worked out that if they snuck one or two hours of sleep a day they could get by, but there were reports of these people dying. The illness caused phantoms to appear in the mind, shadows haunting those afflicted. Peeking from behind walls, through windows and even appearing inside their houses. In the depth of sleep those who were haunted by these shadows would wake up screaming. In fact those who had been haunted for long enough simply didn’t wake. The Sleeping Curse is what people called it. However the people did not know what caused it.

While the number of casualties has shrunk dramatically since its effect was known or understood, those who didn’t wake were still living. They were just unable to be roused.

Thoughts

Now not to be confused with a different dream based adventure that I created, Crelion manor, this week is different. I have, well we all probably have seen shadows whilst tired. In fact we may have had our minds tell us that something wasn’t right – I have experienced this before. However, this got me thinking. What happens if it wasn’t all right? What if those shadows were real and I wasn’t just sleep deprived?

In this weeks adventure I bring forth a plague of nightmares, and a plague of blissful sleep. To push past the horrors of waking life and fitful sleep I bring this city peaceful rest. However, its not all well and good and I can guarantee that the party have their work cut out for them this week.

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Dresmandae’s Tower

317MoDrTo

All wizards will not know of the wizard called Dresmandae. The elders, teachers and books that contained mention of the mad wizard have been removed. The knowledge that this wizard had possessed, the spells he had created and the creation, his tower, have been the focus of many doomed expeditions. However, the tower he created is very real and many oracles see a tower as chaos, change, death and disaster. Most of these outcomes can be traced back to Dresmandae’s creation.

The party moved across the even, well worn land as quickly and as well as they could expect. The animals transporting them had a good time, the weather was good and the animals and other hostile creatures were not around, or ignored them. In fact the day was too perfect. A sudden charge thrummed through the air like a pulse of the primal forces themselves. Birds for miles took to the sky and scattered and a sudden dark cloud began to form overhead as if the dark vapours rose from the ground itself.

Suddenly the animals the party rode with stopped and nervously stepped backwards just before the first lightning bolt struck the earth a mile ahead of them. The sound and power was so immense that the ground quaked. Before the party could string a sentence together a second bolt struck nearly the same place from a different part of the cloud. The arcane weavers in the party could sense, nearly taste the arcane magic in the air a moment before another bolt of lightning struck. This display of arcane chaos continued one hundred twenty seven times, each bolt of lightning strike hitting the same place. However as they bore witness to the chaotic energy they realised that each bolt of lightning was striking faster until the last two dozen times didn’t pause before the next bolt, some occurring at the same time.

The Storms Aftermath

With the last bolt of lightning, a hush descended the world. The birds did not return and nearby a fox twitched from having fainted from the chaotic display. As the sun pierced through the clouds a monolithic tower rose above the trees above. Half its stone was both pristine, freshly carved and placed and worn and overrun by vines the other half of the vertical climb. The Tower was both terrifying and mesmerising to behold. However, the air was dense with arcane magic which seemed to cause strange phenomena to occur around them. Leaves fell upwards into the trees above, birds would briefly pause flight, before disappearing in a blur as time caught up with them.
The tower beckoned to them just as they had called the tower…

Thoughts

Now have I got something special for you all this week. A while back I had the concept of a disappearing tavern that would appear randomly. This is, well its not the same but I like to think this is the more advanced version of that adventure. Dresmandae’s Tower is an arcane wonder, something that I hope will never exist for reasons we will discover this week. The very presence of this arcane monolith is to bring chaos into the world. I planned this adventure, tonight about forty minutes ago, to be a test to the party for problem solving – like our Crelion Manor adventure – where the party have to work out what to do. But there is no death at the end of this after a certain number of days.

Oh no. They have all the time in the world to complete this adventure…

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Complete Acquiescence

316MoCoAc

The city of Brightkeep was magnificent. A city that was built around the temple to Helm, the deity of protection, is a many layered city that has enjoyed being protected by the knights of Helm known as the Watchers. The people appeared to be a wealthy lot as they strode around the markets in fine clothes. Many bought richly coloured vibrant fabrics, jewellery or even exotic foods.

The party headed towards the centre of the town, the market place was too chaotic and busy and there was quite a lot to see in this city. Many of the guards laughed, drank and indulged in the delights of the city as much as the rich patrons. In fact on multiple occasions the party witnessed a theft, pickpockets or something more dire where the guards look almost displeased to give chase of the thieves.

After a few minutes of walking the party noticed that a single, tall robed man had been walking behind them for quite some time. His boots and long white tabard were dirty, filthy with mud and other stains, some of which looked like blood. The clink of mail could be heard over the din from the other inhabitants from this city as the man strode with purpose towards the party.

Friend or foe

They could feel the power radiating from this man, a holy knight, one of the Watchers. To bring upon the gaze of the watchers was to incite the judgement and potential wrath of Helm and this man embodied the feeling of judgement. As they hastened their pace, not wanting to tangle with the man, their twists and turns down alleys only seemed to increase the speed of which the man continued his pursuit. But there was something more. Two shadows, men and women in darkened robes that had the same markings of the watcher, flanked him. The three of them gained ground on the party.

Turning a last corner they came across a large, old door. The stones were worn, besmirched with grime and dirt and the door looked as if there had once been a lock. Now removed forcefully the door provided the party a way out and away from the watchers who were gaining ground quickly. The pink of mail and hurried, yet softened footfalls of the shadows were moments away. Pushing through the door they closed it behind them and let their eyes adjust to the gloom.

The ruined Temple

They were in a large, magnificent building. Large columns of smooth stone held the roof up. The floor was littered with pews and tables, all of which were pushed over, broken or otherwise defiled. Suddenly the door behind them creaked before it was ripped from its hinges. The water and shadows trickled into the room and stood there in shock.

“What has happened to the temple of Helm…” one of the shadows, a woman, asked. “Brother Amed, this would explain the presence we felt. The order of Helm, the watchers. They have gone. the city lies unprotected…”

The large warrior just stood there looking around, his eyes glancing over the party before he strode to a beheaded statue to Helm and knelt. The murmur of prayer echoed dimly from the walls.

Thoughts

Now I haven’t touched on the creature that has triggered this adventure but the fall of a major, the major power in a city is never good. In fact that is what this week is about. I wanted to run the party through the investigation of the issues in the city. I believe that finding the root cause and silencing it will make this adventure something to remember and I cant wait for the party to experience it.

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