Welcome to Tuesday where we are looking at the NPCs that we may encounter in this weeks adventure, well normally.
Tonight I want to create a few different NPCs that we can draw from in the coming days in addition to the ones we are already introduced to.
Family Portraits
Mother
Father
Aunt Patrica
Uncle Bernard
Katya
The resemblance of the family is what drives people in the nearby village, well few houses, to distrust them. The father is always found with a near-manic smile on his face while the Uncle, Bernard, and Aunt, Patrica, can be found staring from the windows in the not-quite right building.
The most normal one out of the family is the mother who rarely can be seen by outsiders unless they greet the door. She is pleasant enough but never lets people inside the front door. When they do glimpse her through windows she is always standing near or around Katya, whom the family seen drawn to, many have speculated whether out of protection or control but the discussions always end up with sympathy and pity put upon the young woman who has not set a foot outside in years.
Chatty Villagers
The Village folk and those who could potentially be on the road are generally helpful townsfolk who are trusting enough, but not too much, and will seek to aid the party in their adventures. They speak well enough of the family at first, not being ones to spread rumours but there are a few rumour mills in the village.
Helpful Villager (Brother to the older brother Naïve Kid)
Naïve Kid
The Brothers who work on one of the farms in the town are polar opposites. The older one is cautious but helpful, always waiting to get a read on someone before helping them. His younger brother, inspired by his brothers helpfulness is overly kind and generous which has cost them before in the past. Despite their kindness and drive to help they both speak openly about their thoughts of what happens at the Manor on the hill, how they contemplate how they could break Katya out and let her live life in the village away from her controlling and, frankly, weird family.
Tavern Bard -Carline
Carline is perhaps the one person who has taken down “Fathers” smile, her quick tongue, brash manners and lack of tolerance for what she deems to be injustice has created many brawls and has even had the Katya’s father broil with rage. She knows when to back off from something she cant win and, she only spoke ill once to Katya’s father until she saw something that rattled her in his rage. She still speaks openly about her distrust and dislike for the family, overall, and perhaps will reveal more to people when she can trust their intentions.
Well that’s it for tonight! A longer one than a few in the past due to the amount of portraits I merged from existing ones I have created before in the past and, also, ones that I created newly tonight. A range of people to meet, perhaps more, will give the town and the family a bit more of a living feel and should immerse our players just that bit more.
Don’t forget that if you like what you see, the images that is, up above feel free to check out the created collection I have growing at Artbreeder (not a sponsor) where you can find all the NPC portraits I have created to date (and some I have saved to be used as a base image) under my profile, feel free to check it out here artbreeder.com/thebrazenwolfe.
Also if you like the direction this adventure is going, or don’t for that matter, feel free to leave a comment! And, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
Welcome to Tuesday where the common theme is NPC and interactions with the party.
Tonight I want to touch on something that may have happened ‘off screen’ after the night where the party assisted the priestess of Chauntea escape the Gaki.
Of the cloth
204TuOTC
As the sun rose and Lizbet returned to her chambers at the temple she carried a large wooden box covered in foreign silver runes that meet to form a complex pattern at the seams where box meet lid.
Placing the box down she took off the charming necklace that she had been presented with and placed it in the box as instructed. She longingly touched the beautiful object which she could sense granted her additional power to help those who were stuck or needed help. With a sigh she closed the lid and strode off to the washing chambers to try and relax after her night turned into a nightmare.
As the warm water ran down her shoulders she remembered the kind adventures that had risked their life to get her to safety. Perhaps they could help this town once more.
Pondering the other predicament she was facing, she walked back to her chambers she didn’t notice skittering of claws on stone as something watched her move across the wooden flood and through the stone archway to her chambers. Closing the door behind her she didn’t care to check when it didn’t latch properly as she was that tired. Sitting down at the end of her bed she closed her eyes and began the mental exercises to pray to Chauntea to ask for guidance and replenish her allocation of divine spells.
The aura she gave off was enticing and the creature knew that she had some power but the locked silver box intrigued it more. Perhaps it could persuade the human to trade, perhaps not as the asking price would need to be much more. Thinking on what this human could possibly want it sat down in the corner of the wall and watched as a channel of energy flower between the weave and the girl. Humans of this continent were interesting things, he may grow to like it here afterall.
Thats it for tonight, a bit of a NPC write-up a bit of a plot write-up fot a future session. Needless to say there is content there for us to explore and expand upon while I work in the background to collate the Red Fleet and Gaki Adventure.
Don’t forget to come back tomorrow and as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
Welcome to NPC Tuesday where I hope we can meet a new NPC that I wasn’t exactly sure how I wanted to approach when I can up with the concept for this adventure, and you will see why soon.
Today we meet Lee Ping, the Red fleets resident priest and wise man who works with Kyoko to make sure the people of the Red fleet are successful and safe. He is older than what he appears and more than what he lets be revealed but he is a genuine soul who cares immensely for life and the spirits that guide and help us. So let’s look into his little cabin and introduce him properly with, what I can do for now, a placeholder image (created in the ever-useful heroforge!)
Lee Ping
203TuLePi
Lee moved through the murky, dim lit room as if he had lived here all his life. His quick and nimble limbs allowed him to effortlessly swing from beam to beam on the low ceiling to avoid some of the piles of books, papers, scrolls and ingredients for his alchemy as if he was walking on the ground. Stepping down in front of a large cauldron he began to sprinkle in powdered silver, wormwood, wolfs bane and several mushrooms as he began to rhythmically chant which causes a blue flame to bubble into life under the cauldron.
“Oh I must not forget the Maelroot leaf.” He said to himself as he whirled around to go to a pile of boxes that contained the foul smelling herb. As he turned though his long furred tail knocking off a vial of liquid from the bench. His quick reflexes kicked in and his right foot shot out and grabbed onto the bottle. The tail he had considered removing many times, ever since he lost the use of it in his youth from a disease that only now he fully understood – but it was too late for it. His feet though were a completely different story, the opposable big toe able to grip onto items, walls, rope or in this case, bottles as if they were a second set of hands. Grinning he passed the bottle to his right hand and placed it back on the bench before heading towards the box labelled Maelroot.
A knock at the door and a burst of light from the outside broke him out of his merry tune and he practically jumped onto the roof – his hands and feet gripping onto the worn wood held him close to the recesses in the ceiling.
A voice, several voices called out for him, the smell of fish, soot and a sour scent that only came from the people of Daye meant that he was caught out without his mask. As the people moved into the room he quietly crept along the ceiling to where heft his mask and red robe, the items that his people must wear at all times until it was deemed safe to reveal their true form. His simian features evident in the morning light he tried to keep to the shadows, his large nose proved useful in detecting small traces of what kind of people had visited his tent; adventurers, warriors and the sort of people that would only seek him out if they had been told to do so, or they thought his skills could be useful which meant either Hurane or Kyoko had sent them his way. Dropping to the floor quietly using his hands and feet to buffer this drop he quickly placed his head on and pulled his robe over the rest of his body to hide the abundant fur that grew thickly in patches on his arms, torso and face.
Standing straight he walked across the floor behind the party just as they reached his cauldron that was bubbling with the reagents within. Noticing the silvery bubbles and slightly green smoke coming from the pot he hobbled forward and grabbed the leaf that was missing. “Excuse me you lot, I must get this leaf in there so it doesn’t explode and cover you all with a green soot that taints your skin” he said as he pushed through the party – shorter than the people on average but about the same height of the dwarf and built like an elf, his kind were a folk of varied size depending on what part of the content they came from.
Now the monkey-folk, ape-folk and the like are a homebrew race that many people have done already but I must admit I enjoy creating new things rather than using someone else’s pre-existing template. Lee Ping and many of the masked traders, sailors and merchants are all from this beast-folk that have traits and aspects of monkeys. A long dexterous tail that has saved many of their kind from falling (and functions like a belt when needed!), strong feet with opposable toes that function like hands and keen senses that has come through form their bestial features which has kept them safe from the horrors that wander their homeland.
I picture these people as nimble and wise, not the most common of folk but found in most towns in small family units that pride themselves on their generosity and keen mind for trade and business. Not being shy from combat if required they tend to be more calculating than aggressive and know when to strike to best affect where the safety of themselves and those around them comes first.
Lee Ping in this case (yeah it’s not the best of the names I have given an NPC, but not the worst!) is a shaman or wise man – aging a bit slower than normal humans he has spent a long time understanding the world through the eyes of an alchemist so that he can better protect and aid people who are found deserving. Lee in this adventure will be able to use the freshly concocted brew to bless the weapons, for some time, so that they can prevent them from the creatures that are found on his homeland and now stalking the streets of Daye. Yeah, creatures.. But more on that later.
Tonight’s writeup was bit longer than last night but it flowed a bit more, I think that because the last few days, weeks…, that I have been writing the Red Fleet adventures I have been working up to this moment where I introduce some of the aspects that truly hooked me as an.. eleven year old boy staying in a hotel in Melbourne one Christmas. Back then the race was called the Vanara (or maybe the Hengeyokai monkey-hybrid) and for me that book was a font of inspiration but sadly, despite owning the book and adoring it I never actually got to play a campaign with it… But by creating one here on Brazen Wolfe Tabletop maybe other people can fulfil that long regret I have by playing through the adventure I create and letting me know how it goes. Let’s see if anyone manages to play this campaign setting that I am creating at the moment.
As with last nights post, let me know if you like this format, a bit of a story, a bit of a technical breakdown (where applicable) and the few smaller parts of an adventure that should take people through a few hours of play time, depending on the group of course, that work to build up to an adventure a month – or so. This is I believe the sustainable pace for me and what I have seen similar content creators doing so it should relieve a bit of time pressures on my end as work picks up as the year continues.
Don’t forget to let me know if you play through any of this content and as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage! The Brazen Wolfe
Welcome to the second day of the week, Tuesday and with it brings some revelations, insights and a general meet and greet with NPCs that are inhabiting the world that our party finds themselves within.
Tonight we will explore the mysterious boy that has been tasked with watching the party, part of the Lotus branch of the red fleet and reports to Kyoko, amongst others but that’s for a different time. I also want to touch on something that I truly struggle with, NPC names and especially ones that haven’t been used before repeatedly. So let’s kick it off and dive right in!
Swift feet, steady hands
202TuTaMe
Climbing was easy for Takeo due to his ability to twist use his toes and grip onto objects and surfaces in the same manner his hands could. As he hung from a tree just outside of town he used some of the magic he was taught as part of his training to join the Lotus and altered how his eyes perceived the world. Blinking a few times to acclimatise his eyes he looked across the town at the market place where the group of adventurers he had been tailing to firstly confirm that they were not responsible for their current predicament and then to monitor them since the magic talisman had been slipped into their belongings. So far his suspicions had been confirmed, there is a creature that is responsible for the appearances in the people of Daye’s houses and the loss of their items. He was waiting for word to come back from his teacher about what the the creature could be, what was the best method to deal with it and its connection to magic items.
What puzzles Takeo was that the creature had not visited any of the Red Fleet ships which added to the cause of concern and suspicion from the guard and the people of the town. As he watched the adventurers moving, sluggishly after several nights of no sleep it seems, he couldn’t notice anyone following them, watching them or acting suspicious at all. Even some of the guards seemed cheerful and happy to have them in the town which surely meant that they had revealed the true nature of the thefts of items. Surely…
Releasing his grip on the wood he summersaulted and landed on is hands and feet crouching down as he continued to watch the group move bout the stalls and buildings as they made their way towards the Red Fleet ships moored at the pier. Slipping on his shoes once again and adjusting his mask back on to hide his face he surged the altering magic through his body again and sprung into the air as he took on the shape of a hawk – flying towards the ships and to report back to Kyoko on his findings. Who knows, maybe his teacher had sent word already and he could begin to devise a plan to confront this creature.
Names
So I struggle with names and the reason is that my players generally ask the name of people I didn’t have a plan for them to meet, a burden of running near-sandbox adventures. To counter this for this particular adventure, and the curiosity of moving into the Red Fleets ships and their stalls I will provide a few names for both male and females who could be merchants, sailors of potentially even other members of the Lotus organisation.
Male
Kakoto
Osamu
Ryota
Toru
Yasuo
Shin
Shen
Tadao
Ichigo
Toshio
Daiki
Eiji
Kei
Jun
Kenta
Hideo
Hiro
Isamu
Female
Aika
Rei
Ren
Yuriko
Ume
Mi
Chiyo
Chia
Hotaru
Maiko
Naoki
Shinju
Asami
Emiko
Hana
Saki
Sakura
Orihime
A few of those you may recognise from Anime (kudos to you for fine tastes in anime) but they do suit the genre and feel I want for this part of the adventure and since these, for me, are uncommon names to encounter in my day to day life (except a few mind you…) I find that I struggle with coming up with these names in a pinch. Also, full disclosure, these names (most of them) can be found on page 187 of Xanathar’s guide to everything, certainly a useful book to have.
Bonus – Character portrait of Kyoko
Well that’s it for me tonight, I hope you enjoyed the content and can make use of what was put up. Don’t forget to let me know if you have any feedback or suggestions and I hope to see Brazen Wolfe Tabletop expand this year into something bigger and better!
And, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
Tuesday has come yoo quickly and like a few Australians the return to work has not been an easy transition from holiday mode to work mode. But I can say that the return to a normal rhythm is definitely appreciated and has helped refocus my attention on what I need it to focus on. Building and exploring my craft.
Now today being Tuesday we are here to look at NPCs so lets kick off with two that I hope you will find interesting enough to weave into your own adventure’s.
Kyoko Harimasu & Hurane
201TuKyHa & 201TuHu
Kyoko sighed as she looked across the table as the two men from the Daye city watch left her cabin through the ornamently carved door. She had anticipated some resistance at first but being openly welcomed then having the proverbial doors slammed in her face was not expected.
“what do we do captain?” Hurane asked, his masked face distorting his normally smooth voice. “We came here to trade and establish new trade routes for the betterment of our people. If we can’t do that then we must find somewhere else.” He said with genuine concern.
Pressing her index fingers to her temples she pondered her next action. The city guard had come just after noon and placed restrictions and curfews on her people leaving the ships within an hour of dusk and dawn which is when many people are out and about on the streets wanting to experience new sights and delights. The curfew would not just make it hard to do business it would nearly make them staying herr impossible. Looking over the papers that were left here, reports of sightings of figures in the night and items being moved or disappeared it sounded like the guards were accusing one of her people of being the culprit.
“find out what you can from our troupe. If we are responsible we will deal with it and clear our name. If we can’t handle this we will be left with no choice but to leave and I dont think we can afford another endeavour like this again” Kyoko said looking through the papers again. Hurane saluted to her and went to leave the cabin to begin his questioning. “And Hurane, if no one talks, let’s get the Lotus involved, we can’t fail here.”
As Hurane left Kyoko sat back on her chair and had a look over the occurances. It wasn’t just reports of a thief, it looked to be searching for something specific based on the reports. Maybe it wasn’t a person but a thing. She looked at the book her father had left her that contained stories of warriors from this continent that visited her home land years ago. Warriors that defied the Oni and fought against the spirits in the swamp to free entire villages. Perhaps she could find such warriors in their home land, maybe a party of adventurers is what she needs.
Ok so starting off a bit slow this week but so far I’m liking the direction that we are going with so far.
Come back tomorrow to look at secondary hooks and twists as well as to get more insight in whats happening at Daye. Don’t forget to let me know if you like what you read and as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
Tuesdays and here at Brazen Wolfe Tabletop we look at NPCs to use in adventures, or what I have found myself doing, character inspiration for a PC. Now that NPC day is here let me introduce you to another NPC or two for us interact with in the city next to the waves, Arciryas.
The warriors dance
13TuAV / 13TuGF
Astrid Volcanius vaulted across the balcony tucking her shoulders and head forward as she turned her jump into a roll landing behind one of the pirates that had boarded her ship, The Gallant Swallow. Flicking her wrist out the barbed whip lashed out, wrapping the weighted end around the wrist of one the assailants as they prepared to strike one of her passengers who refused to pay the price demanded.
“Get to the galley, you will be safe there” She called as she ripped the cord back causing the wrist of the man to snap painfully into his face. Darting forward in the same motion she gripped the mans other hand, hauling with her momentum and weight, although not heavy she was of stocky build, she hurled the pirate against the railing of her ship causing him to wobble, disorientated as his boots slid on the water logged boards. Whipping out her weighted whip she snapped the man between the eyes causing his head to snap back from the force of the blow which saw him tumble over the edge of the rail and into the foamy sea below.
“One down” Astrid murmured as she wound the corded leather around her hand again and darted forward, picking up a discarded scimitar as she didn’t dare unsheathe the blade she wore at her hip. Darting across the deck she interrupted two pirates who were coming from her quarters, bags stuffed to the brim with her personal affects and the goods she held in safekeeping for her passengers.
“Looks like I need a new chest, can I help you with that boys?” she asked coyly as she leant in the doorframe.
A look of dumb confusion passed their eyes for a moment before the pommel of the borrowed blade smashed one of their nose, her offhand elbow catching the other in the neck causing the brigand to drop the booty to the floor and clutch as his windpipe as his breath was taken from his body. Grabbing one of the rings from her finger and speaking a command word as she threw it at the two of them the ring expanded and wrapped around both of them, growing, expanding and lengthening until a giant octopus tentacle wrapped around both of the men. “Anchor” she called out, the slimy word echoing out an arcane command to her trinket as more tentacles sprang from the original one and gripped onto the wall, floor and ceiling of the entrance to her quarters locking the two men in place as the squirmy slippery mass bound tighter around the looters.
“Neat trick, do you bring it out for all the boys?” a confidence voice spoke from behind her, turning Astrid looked upon the pale green skin of a half-orc, his tusks smaller than other half-orcs she had met. His piercing eyes, one blue the other brown, spoke of a calculating man who had seen his share of combat.
“Thanks, a girls got to have her secrets” Astrid said, sizing up the man in front of him. By the looks of his scarce armour the harpoon and blade at his hip and the way he leant against the mast of her ship he sure of his place in this world. “Now may I ask what you are doing on my ship?” she said as she began to unwind her whip around her wrist, as subtly as she could muster.
“Heard that there was a ship, unguarded mind you, transporting a range of goods across the sea with foreign dignitaries who are looking to sell their goods in Arciryas. I am here to see if the rumours are true” the half-orc said, plucking something from his between an exposed tusk with the edge of a small knife that she didn’t notice he had drawn. “I can see that for one, it appears the captain of this ship can handle herself, and when I poked around your cargo the goods look mostly harmless.”
A snarl came to Astrid’s face unbidden, “Return what you took brigand and get off my ship” She snapped at the half-orc.
“you have me mistaken..” The half-orc began before flicking his wrist, the blade moving forward with such speed and precision that Astrid could only flip backwards to avoid the blade hitting her, but the blade went wide and as she landed on her feet and looked to see where the blade went she saw the blade buried hilt deep into the palm of a woman, the blade somehow impaling the mans hand into the wood of her door frame, a knife coated in a black inky substance clattered to the floor as the man began to scream.
“It seems your writhing friends let that one go.” The half-orc said coolly, looking between Astrid and the man with the knife impaling his hand to the wall of the cabin. “Sea urchin venom, a nasty way to spend your last hours outside of the embrace of Umberlee”
“I only counted four pirates as they attacked this ship, one is overboard, one is in the slimy embrace of your ring and one is now the proud owner of my toothpick. That leaves one left..” a scream cut off the half-orc musings as a man stumbled up from the stairs to the galley below with a knife held to the throat of one of Astrid’s passengers, the merchants wife if she wasn’t mistaken.
“Let me through! I swear I’ll do it. I’ll bleed her like a marlin” the man shouted emphasising his point by pushing the blades slender tip against the neck against the wailing woman, a bead of blood forming and trickling down her neck.
“Easy now lad, no one needs to die here today” the half-orc stepped forward the palms of his hands facing outwards, he shuffled over so that Astrid couldn’t see the man any more.
“Can you distract him for a moment?” the voice of the half-orc rumbled into existence in her mind, “I can get to him but I need his knife away from her neck“. Smiling Astrid thought how full of tricks this man was before responding back verbally, being familiar with the message spell.
“Just watch me magic man“. As Astrid crept to the right, the mast and the half-orc blocking her progress from the man holding the knife the half-orc reached some arbitrary distance.
“That’s enough, stop there! I swear she will get it. Her blood will be on her hands!” the man said, Astrids keen eye noticing how he held himself, this pirate was in a different league compared to the others. “The price of her freedom has gone up. I need your weapons, all of them. And gold, a lot of gold!. Give me everything this ship has and throw your weapons down there” the pirate gestured down the steps to the galley.
“Sure thing,” The half-orc began as he drew his harpoon and tossed it down the stairs, slowly drawing his scimitar before dropping it to the ground and dropping it down the stairs too. “Now would be a good time” his voice echoed in Astrid’s mind.
“Where is the girl!” The pirate practically shrieked, his voice sounding much like a parrot.
“Right here!” Astrid called as she whipped her rope forward, the weight smashing into the pirates nose causing a splatter of blood to shoot over his face as the nose was pressed against his cheer. The knife dropped as he was startled.
With a snarl, the half-orc whipped his hand forward, a rope made from lightning reaching out to ensnare the pirate and rip him forward, knocking the woman over but away from the pirate as he was wrenched ten feet towards the hulking half-orc. As the man was wrenched forward it appeared as though he was about to stumble, snarling the half-orc exploded forward covering the distance between them in the blink of an eye, his meaty fist coming up to hammer into the mans ribcage.
The moment the fist was about to connect with the man his stumble turned into a roll and he dodged the attack, the hand holding the knife daring forward and scoring a deep wound on the half-orcs arm before whipping back to a defensive position along the forearm of the man who was now smirking.
“Right, the hard way then.” the pirate snarled as he jumped forward, his dagger lashing out at the exposed ribs of the half-orc who managed to bat them away with the back of his one gloved hand. Astrid watched as the offhand of the pirate produced a short sword and whipped out her whip again, the sudden motion causing the pirate to deviate his attack from the half-orcs now undefended side to prevent the weighed coil from wrapping around one of his limbs.
Dashing forward Astrid threw the scimitar from her right hand as she moved to draw the blade at her hip. “Hey magic-man” Astrid called as the blade sailed through the air, the half-orc catching it just in time to parry another thrust from the dirk. As Astrid drew the long sword at her hip she gritted her teeth, sending a silent prayer to any power that would listen to make sure that today wasn’t the day that the blade took its price.
As Astrid moved to engage the pirate a sudden kick and a trust from the short sword caught her off-guard, the blade being deflected by her own but the kick landing heavily on her knee, causing it to buckle and her to stumble backwards. Standing back up and starting to move through the motions her father had taught her to use with the blade the mans movements became more complex as he began to weave between attacking, defending and moving to try and position in such a way that the half-orcs attacks would interrupt the attacks of Astrid. A score of cuts could be seen on the green skin of the half-orc and Astrid was rewarded with a failed attack with a cut across her cheek under her right eye. As the fight wove on the two warriors, the half-orc and Astrid began to move in unison. Scoring a hit or two on the pirate before his defences could keep up.
“You two are good, enough for me to know how this fight ends” the pirate said, jumping and rolling out of an attack that would have removed his right arm. “But I fear I do not lose here today. The smiling lady has other plans for me” the man calmly said as he stood up next the mast, Astrid and the half-orc already rushing towards him. Faster than a viper the man blade cut one of the ropes next to he mast, the rush of air the only indication of the beam that was now falling towards Astrid and the half-orc.
Astrid realised to late as the secondary mast smashed into her stomach, carrying her towards the rail of the ship. The Half-orc was less lucky, his wounded arm taking the full brunt of the impact with a sickening crunch. As the mask smashed them into the railing the pirate flicked his wrist, one of his blades darting up to the helm and no sooner than he had done so the ship started to turn harshly to the port side, the momentum carrying both Astrid and the half-orc over the edge of the railing to dangle over the waves. Astrid using arms to wrap around the mast and try and get a grip the canvas to hold onto the mast as it limply moved above the water below. The half-orc, wrapped one arm around the mast, the scimitar he held dropping into the rolling waves beneat.
“Well, you two gave better than most I will admit. And as I promised no one needs to lose their life today. But I will be taking my men and all the treasure we can carry.” The man smiled in a sickly sweet manner. “You will do well to remember this day as the day you were spared by the dread pirate Gustave Firelock. “
And with that the man turned, returning his short sword in a hidden sheath before dashing off to make good on his promise.
By the time that Astrid and the half-orc made it back onto the deck of the boat the pirates were long gone and so was a lot of the valuable goods they were hoping to trade at port.
“Well that could have gone better” Astrid said, examining the arm of the muscular half-orc. “But if it wasn’t for you I dare say I would be in worse shape with urchin venom coursing in my veins so thank you I guess.” she said, brushing a strand of hair out of her eyes that had come loose from her plat, “This looks to be dislocated so could down from 3.” She said tapping her lower lip.
“3..” The half-orc began with a sigh that turned into a snarl as Astrid pushed his shoulder back into place.
“What is your name any way. I haven’t seen someone fight like you do in a very long time.” Astrid asked, suddenly aware how close to the shirtless half-orc she was.
“Rafnir, Rafnir Coral-tusk is what people call me, but Rafnir is fine” he said, shrugging his tunic back on.
“Astrid, Astrid Volcanius, Well met Rafnir” She said, extending a hand to the half-orc.
Well that’s it for today. The origin story of two friends meeting. It turned into a much longer writeup than I intended but when the current takes you sometimes you just got to see where your end up.
Don’t forget to come back tomorrow where we look at what twists we can wriggle into this weeks adventure and, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
Tuesday is here and we are taking a bit of a different viewpoint of today with us looking at another faction that is at play in this adventure. Today we look at Crown Prince Sellis Cerlium and the hard decisions he has to make to save his people, save those who caused the calamity that caused pandemic amongst his kind or to go against his father.
There is only one NPC for today as this is expanding upon the cast of NPCs we have already here. I plan to throw in a bonus NPC on the weekend write up to explore one of the characters we have already met but explored none of upon her introduction so make sure you come back for that.
The monarch
12TuSC
As Sellis moved through his garden the bright colours almost convinced him that his people were content with the current situation that he had brought to the kingdom. Almost.
His people had lived under the constant threat of invaders for many decades now, the remnants of wars fought on and around their kingdom had left a scattering of the broken and dead to taint their waters and the littering the farms and forests within his borders with their shattered machines of war.
‘Sire!’, he sighed as a bothersome voice rang to him from across the garden, “Sire, I really do insist that you return to the residence at once! It is quite unsafe out here” the nervous shrimp of a man chattered as he practicaly flew across the grounds.
“My people do not have the luxury of my thick walls or clean water. Why should I be one to cower amongst the walls of that palace when my people grow sick and ill with the pollution that dwells amongst us?” He spat, anger close to the surface.
Glancing across the rest of his garden, the different that each contained a different assortment of life that breathed colour into what would otherwise be a dreary landscape The garden went on for some two hundred feet before meeting what remained of the great palace wall, a large section of the last war machines to fall rested upon the south side of it, sending sandstone spilling onto what used to be his favourite patch of grass. Moving to the side of his aide, Illias, he looked over the wall, having climbed a few levels of his garden as he moved amongst the grass and the little animals and invertebrates that lives in his garden.
“Thank you sire, I know I must be tiresome but I promised you father as he succumbed of the sickness that I would look after you” Illias spoke looking upon the young prince in the way an uncle would a nephew.
“I know Illias. I just can’t let my people suffer any more,” he gestured to the the cracking wall as the weight of the rotting wood and metal. “This is just one of many that litter the kingdom and each one of them spreads this sickness that took my father. I will not have them meet the same fate.” He looked upon the houses on the other side of the wall, many crushed by the sheer size of the war machine that landed upon them. Even now a crackle of energy shot out causing the water to bubble and a eerie green tinge to tint the water.
Sighing he turned his back on the coral garden, the fish, sea horses, jellies and crabs that called his garden home. As he swum through the last of the colourful garden he moved through two great doors, the tingle of magic washed over his scaled skin as the efforts of his mages and priests was evident. stepping down onto the marbled floor of his palace the doors to the outside closed shut.
“Sire, your highness!” A sudden shout of urgency rang out from the corridor to his right. Rushing forward he found a young soldier, gripping a spear wound to his side.
“what has happened, get the the healers this man must be tended to at once!” he bellowed, instantly sea elves swam in all directions to complete the order of their prince.
“A healer is on the way sire, but there is no time. The others, they have attacked the land people, the great army of the under king has marched forth from their exile and has begun their great hunt as the priestess foretold” the young soldier, only some three hundred years old, stammered, the corrupted blade having taken its toll on his life force.
“What is your name Soldier” the prince asked, grasping the man and holding him to his chest.
“Mathias Sijern, sire” the soldier looked proud as he carefully pronounced his name.
“Mathias, you have made your family proud. I will need men of your quality soon. Illias, I must warn the surface dwellers. The time has come where we no longer dwell in the deep. Prepare my Leviathan and honour guard. When Mathias is well we will set off.” Prince Sellis Cerlium said as the healers rushed towards the injured soldier and began using their magic to stitch together what remained of his soul and bind it to his body.
“But sire, preparations alone would take days if not weeks, there is just no time to prepare” Illias said as he started analysing the request of his prince.
“I fear you are correct, there is no time. The full force of my fathers hunt will be upon the surface world and with the sickness taking what is left of his sanity and the people he commands in their afterlife,” he paused biting his thumb, a habit he had taken up since he was a child, “There is no time spare to waste if we wish to prevent full our war.”
“But sire, you can’t be serious. It’s their war machines, their war-boats that have left this dark magic that spreads this sickness, this corruption of the mind and soul. Surely you can’t mean to help those who have cursed our people?” One of the mages began nearby before realising what he had said and more-so who he had said it to.
“Yuil, none feels the affect of this corruption more keenly than I. My father has gone mad, his soul and mind ripped apart by those vessels and any attempted to shift them only leads to the corruption spreading faster and a great cost of lives. But the people of that city, the wives, daughters, sons, villagers. None of them deserve what is going to happen to them, that fate is beyond torture.” Sellis began, helping Mathias up off the ground, his colour returning some with the healing magics.
“I desire not war, not further blood shed, I wish to be a bridge between our two peoples where we can work together to write the wrongs of the past and perhaps even find a cure for this sickness.” Sellis spoke with conviction despite a sliver of doubt forming in his mind.
Could he really bring the surface and the deep together to fix the corruption spreading in the waters below. He smiled, ‘well, I guess there is only one way to find out’ he thought to himself as he strode off, Yuil bowing low apologising humbly to a chorus of applause from the subjects in the corridor and adjacent rooms.
Thanks for joining me today and looking into the deep waters with me. Sellis I want to have as a white knight as opposed to the dark that Rafnir brings to this adventure. Having someone who puts the others first is a cliché that comes in all adventures, books and movies but the importance of them and that pureness that they bring to the story can’t be denied.
The white-knight paladins who some of our players will surely play may resonate with the prince, when they meet him, which forms a hook for our players to want to get further invested into the plot and the story behind it with these NPCS. Remember NPCs bring the world to life and in doing so bring the PCs to life.
Those who don’t may find similarities or bonds with the crazy wizard, Petrel, soldier turned noble, Blake or the roguish archetype of Rafnir and that is the hook we need for them to be onboard for fighting their soul rending raiders from the deep. Or, hopefully, pledging to right he wrongs of a past generation in working out a way to remove the corrupting war-ships from beneath the waves.
Don’t forget to feel free to let me know if you like what you read, I enjoy writing in this format but if you want to see it go to a more RPG Zine heavy format do let me know.
And as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
Tuesday is here and that means we are looking at NPCs for our adventure this week and as we are in a city by the sea let’s explore the stereotypical people you would expect to meet in a sea-side city.
As to change up the pace a bit I used more of the Fantasy-Faces that I have previously generated as well as looking for a generic sea-faring half-orc image to suit what I had in mind for Rafnir. I think this will do and looking at pngwing.com they are open for non-commercial use which is great news for us.
Rafnir Coral-Tusk
11TuRCt
Image sourced from pngwing.com, all rights go to original artist.
As the water lapped at the side of the boat the muscle bound half-orc dipped his hand in the water as he turned the rudder towards the shore. The water was cold, uncharacteristically cold for this time of year and the tide, and normally he would be able to see the seafloor considering that the sky was clear however today it was dark and murky – a bad omen.
Unfolding the held sail he whizzed towards one of his nets. As his boat, the Seabreeze, skimmed next to his net he reached down and snared the net with his worn fingers and hooked it to the side of the boat so it wouldn’t come loose as he towed it closer to shore.
As he neared the shore he slackened the sails and slowed the boat so he could bring in his haul. Unlike the other predominately human sailors Rafnir was born with the strength of his orc father, this helped him with his particular style of netting.
Pulling up the thick coarse net he untangled the fish as he came across them which were fewer in numbers than normal which boded poorly for him. About half way through pulling up his net he came across something he didn’t think he would see, a severed hand. Examining the hand briefly he noticed that the skin was pale and covered in a very fine layer of iridescent scales. Looking at the cut that separates hand from limb he noted the irregular tears in flesh which looked like shark tooth, but when he looked at his netting he could see that it looks like what ever separated the hand from owner also appeared to have tried to cut through his net to free the hand. A futile attempt as the net was woven with a strand of admantine through the cord and enchanted by mages to be nearly unbreakable.
Putting the hand aside he pulled in the rest of the haul, not even a quarter the number of fish he was used to, and came in to dock his boat – that’s when he noticed the wailing from the houses at the base of Arciryas.
As he tied the last of the knots to keep his boat moored he hauled his find, the hand included, back to his home – finding his neighbour ashen faced sitting on the step outside of Rafnirs house
“Good morning Astrid, what’s happened?” He said, dumping the net and bucket next to his door as he squatted down next to the woman.
“Raf, something came into my house. They took my mother, well, took something from her. She is dead,” Astrid nodded towards the slightly open door, a beam of light from a window that pointed towards the sea revealed the still form of Ingrid, Astrid’s mother laying peacefully in her bed. “It wasn’t just my mother, others lost their husbands, wives, daughters, sons. I don’t know of a family who didn’t lose someone from their house early this morning.” Hugging Astrid, Rafnir just let his old friend weep. Looking into his house through the hole in the wall (where a window used to be) he saw his harpoon mounted on the wall. His cutlass and leathers from a lifetime ago glinting in the box at the end of his bed.
“Does anyone know who or what did this?” Rafnir asked, his hand looking back the strange hand in the bucket.
“No one seems to know. I did see only Jake talking to some adventurers who came through town just before you returned. I think they went to the keep to talk to Lord Blake” Astrid said, sniffing and drying her eyes on her sleeve.
“I guess I have to go talk to Lord Blake then.” Rafnir said as he released Astrid from his embrace and standing “Guess I better get dressed then, cant see the lord without my good leathers on”. Rafnirs mind was already on the ritual of putting on his armour and weapons. He would likely be giving honour to Umberlee in the days to come so he may as well look the part.
Lord Blake Trevally
11TuBTr
The adventurers, if they can be called that, were the first people to have supposedly encountered the seaborne invaders and to not only survive the endeavour but to also kill one of their assailants. He didn’t believe the old hermit would still be living but the crazy wizard was the only one who, he believes, could manifest a way to find and combat the growing threat of these raiders from somewhere off the coast and if the adventurers could bring back anything that the wizard had been working on then that would be a boon for him.
“Sir, Rafnir is here to see you” Shelford, his page.
“Send him in” Blake called back, Raf was an old sailor in the city, amongst other things, and as much as Blake hated to admit it, the half-orc had been instrumental in his rise to lordship and the sailor knew it.
“Blake, good to see you old friend” Rafnir called as he strode into the hall clad in layers of cloth and leather, a long curved sword as hit hip and a harpoon strapped to his back. To Blake it looked like his old friend was gearing up to be a warrior again.
“Raf, what brings you here, I take it that you aren’t dressed like this just for old memories sake. I take it you have heard what has happened in the city early this morning then.” Blake said as he strode towards his friend, clasping his forearm as Raf exchanged the same greeting, the half-orc had lost none of his strength despite his growing years.
“I have just come from bringing in one of my nets and I found this” Raf said, reaching into his trench coat and bringing forth a severed hand “I don’t know what it belongs to, merfolk perhaps, but I did notice that the fingers have a very fine webbing between them” the half-orc explained as he demonstrated the webbing by moving the index finger and middle finger apart slightly.
“Ah, those adventurers were telling the truth. This looks to belong to one of the invaders that attacked last night, a party of adventurers that just left for old Petrel’s hut described seeing several figures come out of the sea and attack their camp last night. They managed to kill one of the assailants before they fled but before they could bring the body into town it disappeared seemingly with the tide.” Blake said, musing as he examined the hand. “Raf, could you do me another fa..”
“Favour and go after the adventurers to make sure they aren’t yanking your chain?” Rafnir completed for Lord Blake “I was going to take the hand to see old Pestrel next any way to get him to tell me what this was from.” Rafnir said as he waved the hand to emphasise his point before stuffing it into his pocket and walking towards the door. “Oh and Blake, one last thing. The waters are dark and cold – I know you don’t believe in bad omens or anything like that but just be careful. There is a strong undercurrent at play here that I believe is bigger than we can see from the surface”
Blake just nodded to his friend as he left. After a moment he beckoned Shelford over “Get word to the patrols. We need them off the roads and back into the city. I won’t lose a battle on my own turf, we will defend the sea. Also, see if we can get word to our fleet – we will want them back to help defend the shore and waters.
Shelford saluted before running out the door.
Blake returned to his desk and chair and looked over the papers scattered over the table before his fingers touched a book he had been avoiding for days now The world which dwells below.
That’s it for tonight, a brief glimpse at two NPCs who live in the city of Arciryas which will help flesh out a bit on how they interact with the players and their characters. Remember that NPCs are what bring our game worlds to life, they are the ones who hand out quests, give rewards and provide insight and motivation for players to do the things they do so spending a bit of time to investigate who they are, who they were and who they aspire to be can be a good quick win for us in increasing the immersion for our games.
Don’t forget to come back tomorrow where we investigate what twist we can introduce here, the more I think about this adventure the more sure I am that this will span over a few weeks worth of writeups, so after this week if we want to see more of the adventures around Arciryas let me know and I will explore a bit deeper, pun intended. Otherwise I will look at what other adventures we have in store for our party and see where we go from there.
As always, don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
True to my word I have 4 NPCs currently (rolled a D10 and D6 each time) and have this far had chance choose 03TuRLH – Rose Longhammer, 05TuBaHe Baxter Henderson and rolling two 10s I have to write two new NPCs tonight…
The tools today are as always Artbreeder but also re-using Fantasy-Faces for the free images there.
So without much more flaff and waffle let’s get into it and walk up to that Dwarf at the bar.
Brinker Fuzzwallop
10TuBiFu
Clank clank clank, the jarring noise of metal striking metal resonates from the darkness of the short corridor in front of them. ‘I’m surprised that this,’ Zander paused for a moment trying to remember the name of the innkeeper, and failing, ‘err.. Wandering Tavern has a cellar. It has arcane magic literally infused everywhere, have you noticed how the walls periodically pulse with a green glow? I think that’s the tavern itself drawing from the weave. It’s a wonder’.
‘Is that you Mer? I need more time, the resonance is playing up with my tools and I am not able to get a lock on where we are. I again suggest going outside and finding out instead of asking me. Now with all respect I can muster for you, pike off” A almost comical high pitched voice trilled from somewhere near the back of the wall.
Mike put his hand on the hilt, having had quite enough of mysterious people in basements, temples or dungeons he wanted to be prepared to draw his magical blade if the time called for it. Dusk on the other hand could not care less, he had already managed to talk a second free tankard of ale (good stuff by his standards) from Mer. Pushing forward from the rest of the party he wiped a bit of froth from his beard ‘Aye, who be you talking to matey, that’s no way to speak to the heroes of Sparrows Rest’
A moment later, muttering some expletives in gnomish a 3 foot tall bald gnome with a dishevelled grey beard stormed around the corner bumping into Ray who had taken up position next to Dusk. ‘I thought I told you to.. oh.. You’re not Mer..’ the gnome stutters slightly looking at the imposing figure of Ray, Dusk, Mike and Zander. ‘Sorry lords, sorry, I didn’t realise it was visitors. Tea! you must have some tea!’ the now flustered gnome stuttered out having realised that he had been cussing someone other than his impatient, lazy boss.
Being shown to a small table, and it would be small for a gnome let alone two humans, a half elf, and a dwarf. Several moments past as the gnome introduced himself. ‘ The names Brinker, Brinker Fuzzwallop – you can call me Brink if you’d like. I’ve been working here for Mer for a good three years yet and I am not any closer to understanding how this Tavern does what it does. Only that it appears to be sentient, knows what it wants and knows exactly what it is doing. It sounds crazy but my instruments,’ the gnome, currently fussing over a tea pot that would make barely enough for a few mouthfuls, points haphazardly over to his right, against the wall where two large gemstones glowed with green light and a bunch of arcane, or at least artificers tools littered the floor around it, ‘all tell me that it’s sentient.’
Zander, noticing the patterns on the panel where the gens are embedded noted that there appeared to be a recession where the veins of light stretched too but didn’t quite reach’
As the party are offered some tea with rather potent floral notes. Zander raises his finger and gestures to the dark spot ‘It looks like you’re missing a conduit’ he says as he swallows the contents of his entire tiny tea cup in a single gulp.
Brink turns around and follows Zanders finger before hastily placing the other teacups in front of the others, almost flying to the panel ‘no, no, no… This isn’t right – there needs to be.. where is Timmy!’ With that Brink runs up the stairs ‘I must tell Mer that we have been robbed. Timmy is missing!’
Mellany Whitfan
10TuMeWh
Rose Longhammer
03TuRLH/10TuRLH
As Dusk snuck up from the cellar to grab himself another tankard of ale he went up to the same bar he got his first, and second tankard from. Sitting in between two patrons already he made himself comfortable on the stool and looked over at the people around him.
On his left sat a human girl with extraordinary white flowing hair, her skin was unsettlingly pale, at least to him, and she seemed to have quite a few tankards of ale in front of her, most of them untouched.
‘Hey you, half-man, that was my spot ay, you best be shoving off.’ Dusk turned around to look at a man who was remarkably handsome, except for the look in his eyes.
‘Be careful of this one Dusk, he has the scent of death upon him’ A cold woman’s voice, like the caw of a raven seemed to move down his spine like a cold shiver.
‘Laddie, I have travelled long and hard and just need a few moments to rest and have an ale. Why don’t you grab an ale and do the same eh?’ Dusk said, reaching for a ale in front of him, his trained nose instantly telling him it had been tampered with. The pale woman looked up at him alarmed and went to say something but a wink and sideways glance from Dusk silenced her.
‘Ere’s one, on me lad.’ he said as he passed the drink to the man and turned around.
‘I don’t want yer ale old man – I was busy being acquainted with the ladies here’ the mans voice snuck in like a serpent as Dusk felt the still cold ale poor down his neck.
The woman to his right, Dusk noting a red haired dwarf woman who had been silently staring at a tankard of ale until now, stood up ‘Now you can’t be doing that, I’m going to have to ask ye to leave now and take your friends’ she said, squeezing Dusks arm to warn him of the odds being stacked against the old dwarf in this instance.
Smoke rose from his breastplate, enchanted to tell him when there was malcontent directed towards him in the local vicinity. The room went quiet as the sound of four chairs could be heard as they scraped across the wooden floorboards.
Dusk laughed. ‘Now,’ his voice grumbled like granite tumbling down a cliff edge, ‘that’s no way to treat yer elders’ as Dusk slowly stood his hand gripped the haft of his axe, the metal on the broad head of the axe shifting, splitting apart as fame flickered to life within revealing a snarling demon that had been carved into the head of the battle axe, ‘My Lady bitch, I’ll be needing your help on this one’ he said turning around – his other hand gripping the emblem of the Raven queen.
As he turned, a bottle came crashing down, aimed for his head, it shattered above his head as golden raven feathers seemed to manifest above him, the remaining liquid within hissing as it evaporated on his divine shield. ‘You lads will wish you hadn’t been tinkering with dark magic now ay. You see’, crunch, Dusk stepped forward splintering a floor board as his divine presence flowed from his emblem causing a visible energy to spread across his frame, causing the axe’s flames to flicker with black magic (a parlour trick for those clerics who know how), ‘my lady told me you had the stench of rot upon ye soul. I can see it now’, he pointed with the axe the very movement of the blade through the air around him sounding like a raven cawing.
One of the ‘friends’ of the man lunged at him, out of bravery or fear only he knew, the blade he had drawn from his coat hitting the same golden barrier, the scrape of metal on magic sounding like a raven mockingly calling out as it sent another few golden feathers of energy floating to the ground. The man realising his folly shrieked and stumbled backwards, hitting a wall of muscle and metal. ‘You’re lucky that my friends are here or you would be meeting my lady soon’ Dusk stated as he placed the head of his axe on the ground, having slowly walked the men into the wall of muscle that Mike and Raynor bodies created.
‘Dusk, what’s going on here. These boys causing trouble?’ Ray said, rolling a shoulder as the five men turned to look up at the two paladins.
‘Aye, the middle one’, Dusk nodded towards the man who started it all, ‘been dabbling in necromancy or so my lady says. She never wrong in this regard, the bitch’ Dusk said, spitting at the floor beneath his feet.
Mike’s face turned into a snarl of rage. ‘You had to say the N word didn’t you..’ Ray said, sighing as a Mikes mailed fist connected with the mans forehead, the limp body tumbling to the ground.
‘Easy now boys, let me deal with it’ Zandar said, floating above the paladins, his hands extended as electricity pulsed between them. An bolt of lightning passed between his hands, arcing out and passing through the heads of the remaining four men. All of them convulsed for a moment before falling to the ground, unconscious or paralysed the party cared not. Landing on the ground Zander dusted his hands, realising that the ground he was on was in fact the first man that Mike took out.
Hopping down he went to stand next to Dusk as Raynor and Mike walked the men outside, rope coming out to bind the hands and arms of the men until they decided what to do with them.
‘We figured when the noise stopped you were causing trouble, not too far from being right were we Dusk hmm?’ Zander said, clasping the old dwarf on the shoulder – his divine magic seeping into the talisman he still clasped in his hand. After a few tense heart beats the occupants of the tavern released a collective breath they had been holding and conversation and song began again.
‘I guess I should be thankful sir Dusk’, a quiet, tentative voice sang from behind him, ‘ that man and his friends had been trying to ply me with drinks for the past few days. Mer didn’t want to do anything with them since they were paying customers and all’ the white haired woman said, having turned around. ‘I am Mel and this is Rose, we had come to Lothgar looking for help before the Tavern went crazy and we ended up here. We are originally from Sparrows Rest, Rose has lost her kid you see and…’
‘Enough Mel, let’s not burden the travellers, as capable as they are, with our little villages problems. Come sit, let us buy you a round’ Rose, the red haired dwarf spoke dragging over a few chairs. ‘Mer is an ol’ friend of mine – we were rivals for a bit there when his tavern accidently ended up in sparrows rest for a few weeks there. So what brings you to this cursed tavern?’
Baxter Henderson
05TuBaHe / 10TuBaHe
As the dwarf, half-elf and two humans sat down Baxter kept his head down and moved the chicken around the white sauce and potatoes on his plate. He didn’t know what he had been thinking, being here was a bad idea, moving from Sebluff to Lothgar had also been a bad idea. He sighed, he barely had enough money for his room and the chicken in front of him. He needed to get back to Lothgar and pay his debts so he could his life anew.
Bax had never been good with staying clean and taking up this last job had really caused him to slip further. ‘One last job’, ‘quick in and out’, ‘don’t worry – you will be gone before they realise’. He scoffed loudly, Mr Pondt, the father of crime in Lothgar had been wrong. Oh god his side was soo itchy, he scratched it as nonchalantly as he could but the clear crystal in his pocked was starting to send sparks of energy into his side, and his jacket occasionally sparked. It was getting out of hand but if he could get this stone back to Mr P. then he was good, his debts paid and then some.
Then he could stop once and for all and make something out of his life. Maybe then Sebluff would see him for what he truly is, how Sarah had seen him.
Well that’s it for today, thanks for joining in.
Now tomorrow is Twist day and as I am all week if you particularly like a twist or shakeup from a previous week let me know in a comment either call it out or the Tag/Slug (07WeCo for example) or roll the dice, d10, d6 and let me know and I will include it in the selection!
I think I have written enough for tonight, hope you enjoyed the return of Mike, Ray, Dusk and Zandar. Don’t forget to come back tomorrow to look at how we can shake it up, and how I will do that (it may be a bit difficult but I will work on it..) and as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
Tuesday is here and it has brought with it inspiration for three NPCs that we have to look at this week. Now there will be many more NPCs here in this mining town but the idea behind this series of weekly blogs is to build a portfolio of NPCs in which we can draw down from to fill in the towns, cities, mines or marshes with life and vibrancy, if it warrants it. Without too much more chatter let’s have a look at the NPCs that were created.
Art for the NPCs this week was created in art breeder. I have started to acquire quite an extensive list of character portraits in there so feel free to have a look at my Artbreeder profile which you can find here: artbreeder.com/thebrazenwolfe.
Henrietta Lummet
09TuHL
Henrietta (preferring Henry in most settings) is a tallish, slim woman of around 32 years of age and for the last 7 years she has been the owner of Henry’s emporium – a general store with a strong focus on supplies for mining and exploring the marshes nearby. Henry is a pseudo savvy business woman with more of a mind for business than for the actual sale of things. As such many of the goods she has in store are poorly organised, displayed and most of it appears to be of over priced, despite being high quality and fit for use for their intended applications.
Henry used to be part of a magic guild in Toluka where she was learning the fundamentals of magic where she was thrown from the grounds for trying to turn a guildmates spellbook into gold. Giving up her ongoing study of magic, more or less, she went in search of her fortune elsewhere, eventually stumbling into the mining town of Newtbranch.
Before studying and practicing magic Henry was the only daughter of a driven business man who never quite became successful and eventually died from a disease that was curable, but outside of the families means.
Ash Tressle
09TuAT
Ash is one of the unluckiest men in Newtbranch. He owned the rights to what was the least prosperous mines within a section of the marsh he sold them to a pair of dwarf brothers who, after a week of toiling in the same mine that he has spend 5 years mining, stuck the richest gold deposit in the area. After pleading to work back in the same mine the two brothers made him buy back a third of the mines share after a year of his pleading. After a few more weeks of dwindling returns the dwarf brothers sold their shares in the mine and left Newtbramch. The brothers must have known something because since Ash rebought his mine for double what he sold it for the gold seemed to dry up.
Ash is now in his early 40s but has the appearance of someone well into his 50s if not older. His wild hair is normally a nest for dirt and grime found in the marsh and when he he isn’t in his mine still looking for the gold that he believes is still in there he can be found squandering his meagre coins at the tavern of Newtbranch.
Sally Pondt
09TuSP
Sally is a woman in hear early 40s. She is the proprietor of Jolly Fandangles, Newtbranches Tavern and she happens to own most of the land around the town. Because of this she happens to be one of the wealthiest people in the town as she also sells rights for prospectors to mine on the land she owns, regardless if it has shown any sign of having rich veins of gold.
Sally came into the town 20 years ago with a full purse of gold and purchased most of the towns land from the prospectors before her. She then brought in a team of miners lead by a few dwarves who found where the riches mines were and she began to sell the rights to dig in the mines where gold or other rich deposits of mineral or metal were found. Within a week she owned the town.
Not much is known about her history but she appears to have backing from wealthy individuals external to the town that enabled her to get such a substantive foothold in the town.
Thanks for joining me today to continue the journey into exploring the process of coming up with an adventure a week. As I have said before the NPCs that we have in our sessions are what bring our players really into the adventure.
One such adventure that I ran for my players had Mary-Sue and her Father, Lamberge, who were survivors from a zombie attack on a temple of Torm in a small village called Renhaven. The NPCs were there to provide a story, a journal was left in the temple to explain what happened there. But the character and feelings that was portrayed in the journal entry led the players to follow the tracks the NPCs (who I had no intention of being found alive) away from the mountain peak temple that I had planed for them. They found Mary-Sue, her father (who was dying from an injury) and Smith, the town smith. The conversation then broke out between the three NPCs which, much to my chagrin, my players loved hearing my put on three different voices to talk to myself.
These three NPCs then distracted the Party long enough that the adventure that I had planned for them had shifted slightly (see Dungeon World – Fronts). Rolling several dice to determine the outcome of a massive battle that I had planned the party to be caught in the middle of between the raiding Gnolls (who worshiped the god Malar) and a necromancer searching for power within a temple (to the Gnolls deity). But the party wanted to ensure that the NPCs were safe and sound.
The key message to take away here is to make sure you put effort into NPCs. Give them at minimum 4 thigs.
Who they were
Who they are now
Who they want to be and lastly, and most importantly.
A name that doesn’t always start with the letter B.
That’s it for tonight, don’t forget to come back tomorrow to look for the twists and turns we have in stall for this week and as always don’t forget to roll with advantage! The Brazen Wolfe
Brazen Wolfe Tabletop 
