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Thren Den

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

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

Thren Den

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Sarkret Forest – Thren Den – Created in Inkarnate

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

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

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

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

The Thren Plant

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

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

The Thren Plant

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Thren Revealed – Created in Nightcafe.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Herbalist and the Hunter

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

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

Herbalist and the Hunter

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Tyreal Paleleaf – Created in Nightcafe.

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

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

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

Thren – Created in Nightcafe.

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

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

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

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

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

Sarkret Forest

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

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

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

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

Sarkret Forest

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Sarkret Forest – created in Nightcafe.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Garthunks Amber

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

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

There is references to the blog nights which are D&D centric (regarding Friday night’s Stat-blocks) but this adventure can be used system agnostic more so than my regular Zines. As always Kobold fight club can be used to quickly balance an encounter for Dungeons and Dragons and Tetra-cube provides the stat-blocks for many of my D&D creatures.

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

Garkthunks Amber

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Garthunks Amber – Created in Nightcafe.

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

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

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

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

PDF adventure – Garthunks Amber

Garthunks AmberDownload

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

Next time you get a party together consider running this adventure and I hope that you enjoy it.
I hope you don’t miss a thing so come back daily in the coming week and year. This is so you can experience the creation of the next adventure as it evolves and shapes out. And as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Loyal to Queen V

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

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

Loyal to Queen V.

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

Von Shchnaps Bandit- created in Tetra-cube

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

Von Shchnaps Bandit Captain – created in Tetra-cube

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

Vanessa Von Shchnaps

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

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

Vanessa Von Shchnaps

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

Vanessa Von Shchnaps- created in Tetra-cube

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

City Slum Park

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Tonight’s a bit of an experimentation night where I had a look at crafting a city slump park using the watercolour assets from Inkarnate this week. Although not necessarily the place for combat this week it could be depending on where the party move to.

So without waiting any longer let’s sit back, grab a coffee and roll into tonight’s map!

City Slum Park

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City Slum Park – Created in Inkarnate

The few houses that are present are falling apart and not looked after. Holes in the roof provide access to the interior and many people live in the cavities between roof and ceiling. These also provide great places to plan ambushes and to lay a trap for people. There are a few tents in the small ‘park’ where people have set up a small community of homeless near a small animal pen. A pile of wood, likely from houses, fuels a camp fire that burns defiantly against the dingy backdrop.

A few layers here blended together create the muddy-grass of the park. Layering the tree art assets creates the feel of a taller tree than the others whilst not overtaking the field. The watercolours instead of more distinct art assets add a softness and more whimsical nature to the battlefield which surprised me in how much I liked it. Many of the assets blend well with the texture brushes and overall my time using the watercolour map was rewarding and I will experiment with my other normal preferred battlemaps to see how they look in watercolour.

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

The Stained Cup

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There are few magical items that are as sought after in criminal organisations as the Stained Cup. This artefact is fiendishly good at bringing about the goals of would be crime-bosses and lords of the underground movements within cities. Able to bend the will of any who take a sip after the owner of the goblet this quickly can create an army of willing martyrs or thugs to do ones bidding. So it’s easy to see who so many people are after it this week.

So let’s grab a coffee, just not from this cup though, and roll into tonight’s adventure!

The Stained Cup

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The Stained Cup – Created in Nightcafe.

As Alistare got back to the barracks he unstrapped the pauldrons that they wore when on patrol and went to the mess hall. Passing one of the cells he could see one of the officers asking some questions of an elf that had been caught last night trying to sneak into the barracks, likely also after the Stained Cup, he thought to himself as he went to go grab a drink and some food.

The hall was nearly empty apart from some of the members of his patrol as they ate and spoked in hushed tones. There had a been a series of attempted break-ins and robberies as word got out that they had taken custody of the Stained Cup. Alistare had been informed by the high cleric of Tyr that the artefact was magical in nature and that they would be sending over member of their order to collect it to be destroyed, if possible, or stored away where it wont see the light of day again.

Frankly Alistare could not wait until it was taken and buried somewhere deep. From what he had heard it had the power to enslave an entire city to be under the control over its owner. He shuddered at the thought of one of the crime bosses in the city, these Kings and Queens of the slums, who would have the power, influence and man-power to overthrow the nobility.

“Alistare, there you are,” a voice said from his left. Turning he was greeted by the bright eyes of Sylvana, one of the other captains. “The church sent over their priest and they picked up the package that you had organised.” she smiled as she sat next to him and clanked his cup against hers.

Alistare sighed with relief. “Praise Tyr. It’s been nothing but trouble since it got here. Glad to see the last of it.” he raised his cup and finished it off. After the news that his little problem was gone he could relax a bit more. After he was done he went to the front of the guard barracks where he saw the high cleric standing there with one of his clergy.

“Welcome Brother Pyrius. I bet you are pleased to have the package in your custody.” Alistare asked smiling.

“I will be Captain. Myself and Brother Mikale are here to retrieve it…” Pyrius replied with a smile.

“Retrieve it. I was told it was picked up this morning.” Alistare replied, his brain whirring. As he watched the face of the priest his heart dropped into his stomach. “If you did not recover it earlier today then.. who did…” he asked more to himself as he watched the high cleric quickly converse with the other member of his order before they both left in haste. It looked like Alistare had some questions to ask and a cup to find.

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

Guardian and Guttersnipe

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This week we have a trinket that the party need to get for their old colleague, Mims, and the guardian and guttersnipe standing in their way. One will prevent the party from getting the item because it is wrong to do so and the other wants to prevent the party because they want to be the one that acquires the item.

So let’s sit down, grab a coffee and roll into tonight’s adventure!

Guardian and Guttersnipe

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Alistare Guzo – Created in Nightcafe.

Alistare strode through the streets and nodded politely at those he passed. He had worked his way up the guards from being a merchants boy and had made a reputation for himself as being a hard worker who looked out for the people as well as the crown. He waved off a lady as she offered him a loaf of bread and smiled politely as he refused the offering. It wasn’t that he considered it a bribery or that he wasn’t hungry it was that he wanted to earn his way in life and receiving something for free normally meant someone went without.

As he turned down the final street he caught sight of his fellow guards of the quarter on their own patrol. Meeting up with them he caught the end of the last of the conversation. “So I caught him red handed, this mud covered urchin trying to slip past me into the locked room. You’ve never seen someone squeal as loudly a this lad when he realised he was sprung. Of course he had an excuse but he opened up once we fed him. Poor bastards are starved when they join the crews in the city.” the guardsman, Harlo, smiled as Alistare appeared.

“Alistare, captain, I was just telling the lads that we had someone try and break into the storage room. Slip in when we were moving some more seized goods in. You’ll never guess what he was after though.” Harlo began.

“The Stained cup.” Alistare finished for him.

“Yeah. You sure you don’t have magic in your blood boss?” Harlo smiled and the other guard chuckled in response as they moved through the streets towards the barracks.

“Very sure. I just came from the Pale Rose Inn where I heard that there was a new group in town who may be trying to make a move on it. You’d best believe that the original owner won’t be too pleased if its taken before she can get it back.” Alistare replied.

Peter Horngrave – Created in Nightcafe.

Peter wasn’t one for honest means of work and this one was about as dishonourable as they come. As the guards moved on talking about the news they had received he stumbled upright and in a half-performance-half-real stumble he drunkenly moved down the road so he could overheard the last part of the news the guards were bringing him.

He had been employed to get to The Stained Cup for his boss before anyone else and had foolishly agreed to do it. But the urchins he had persuaded to get it for him had failed and through threats of bribery they had sewn misinformation about who he was working for. So he had to get the item himself before the owner, that blasted merchant who owed a great deal of money to the wrong people and now a new group. He signed as he leaned against a wall, half-pretending reeling from a hangover as he overheard the last bits of the guards before they would become aware of him trailing them.

“… So we’re going to move the item.” was all he managed to glean as they were talking softly and they turned down the final street towards the barracks. “So they are moving it eh?” he asked himself as he leant upwards reaching for his water skin. “I guess that gives me what I need…”

Thanks for visiting tonight to meet Alistare and Peter, our Guardian and Guttersnipe for this weeks adventure. Don’t forget that we will be expanding this adventure daily as we continue towards the weekend. And lastly, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe