DnD Game night

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2023 Campaign Adventure 8

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Good evening all and welcome to a short Eighth day of adventuring for my party. While I will endeavour to not give away the campaign, adventure or plot moving forward (in case my party read these updates) I will attempt to write up each adventure this year continuing with my 2023 campaign adventure 8.

This is a continuation from 2023 Campaign adventure 7 as the party continues on their first mission as members of the investigation of the strange creatures in these lands.

2023 Campaign Adventure 8

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Plot:

Suncrest continued

The party continued to search through local area and particularly the farmstead as both Henry and ‘Lucky’ Barry could remember that there were additional treasures stored within. After some time and a joint effort, with the threat of imminent attacks from a hostile bandit force over, they discovered a hidden cellar with a chest within. Inside they found 20 gold pieces, a 6inch onyx statue of a deva and two smaller caved statues in marble and granite. (see Ruined Farmhouse – Created in Inkarnate for rest of map)

Ruined Farmstead Cellar – created in Inkarnate.

Deciding that they needed to rest they set up a grisly warning; the bandit captains head on spike, and set up a camp away from the bodies for the evening to recover and prepare for the journey tomorrow. The bandits that remained, Henrey and ‘Lucky’ Barry, decided that the grisly sight of their old bosses head on a spike wasn’t what they wanted to sleep near and set up camp within shouting distance of the party. However, they should have disposed of the bodies first.

Goodbye Henrey and ‘Lucky’ Barry.

Organising a watch order they prepared for the night. Tater took first watch and luckily despite his fatigue from the fight he was able to complete his watch without falling asleep without any issues. Tater then woke Kai and, with some prompting, and went to get some rest himself. Kai focused on his blade, Frost thorn, for some time and during this time he became aware of the sounds of the nocturnal predators that were closing in on the camps. Kai first heard the howling which was coming from the core of Suncrest. Soon Henrey and Barry had joined him and Kai decided to wake everyone except Tater, letting him rest with a cast of sanctuary over the sleeping Dwarf.

Soon the creatures revealed themselves, large canid-like creatures with enlarged lower jaws that suggested an incredible bite force. These creatures prowled around the party at the edge of the camp-fire light and despite Kais attempt to disperse some light to expand the viewing range of the humans in the party they realised they were in danger. Attempting to scare the creatures with torches one of the bandits, Barry, got to close and was pounced on by one of the creatures – its massive, powerful jaws nearly shearing his leg clean off.

Then it was joined by a second who in its bloodlust narrowly missed Barry. Soon the party engaged attempting to keep the creatures at bay while not fully committing to the fight. That was until the giant creature, a Large Hyenadon, attacked Henrey who was left stranded alone. Soon the Henrey was fleeing to the safety of the party only to be chased down and bitten clean in half by the jaws of the massive beast.

Barry fled, Tater cleaned up one smaller Hyendadon while working with Groku and Kai he separated legs from body on the other. With a powerful lunge and bite the now blinded (thanks to Armaeth) Giant Hyenadon had seized Taters thigh in his mouth and with a single bite had nearly silenced the warriors cries – but not before Tater had mortally wounded the creature with a strike that was empowered by the strength of his fathers forge.

With a running leap Kai felled the beast and ended its rampage but not before Barry had fled in fear and the scent of despair was heavy in the area. They decided to bury Henrey – someone they had promised to take away from his life of banditry and they burnt the remaining bodies in the field to try and dissuade the other predators on the road from tempting fate. This encounter was a stark reminder of how dangerous the roads in this land were and that no where is truly safe.

The Road out of Suncrest – to Fustmach!

The party then left Suncrest and the Farmstead two mouths fewer to feed and with a dampened mood. The snow had rolled in during the night and had thickened during the course of the day of travel. As they climbed the steep road towards Fustmach, and their mission, the wind carried a thicker blanket of snow that turned the upwards road to mush and prevented them from reaching the town by nightfall. But as lady Tymora, goddess of luck smiled upon them a second option appeared. Taking refuge from the storm in the town of Snowtown, down the road at the base of the mountains where the natural landscape created a barrier from hostile creatures and the Goliath huntsmen in the woods dealt with the rest.

Entering Snowtown at dusk the party noticed that a curious number of snowmen were around town. Each the size of a small human, perhaps a dwarf’s height and so numerous you’d swear that the city was filled with them. The party also noticed that all the doors were shut and windows had their shutters closed firmly with evidence of light beyond the meagre barricade. As they found their way to the inn, and a courtyard, Groku rushed to put the animals away in a stables as the innkeeper took a mighty long time trying to unstuck a broken latch on the door. However the party had bigger things to worry about than stuck latches as the snowmen attacked.

Suddenly and with a sickening jerky reaction the snowmen attacked the party after some of them had appeared nearby. Not able to tell the difference between the animated snowmen and the normal ones the party were left guessing until the creatures attacked. With a few bludgeoning blows taken Kai and Groku began to look worse for wear before Tater gave the innkeeper, and someone assisting him, a helping hand-err-axe which sheared the broken bolt. Rushing inside they barricaded the door and watched for signs of more of the snow creatures.

Closure

The innkeeper, and a few members of the town within, explained that they had been seeing these creatures appear during the night over the past few weeks, which felt like days according to some. At first they were worried to venture outdoors at all but they realised that they only appeared at night and disappeared when the sun rose. They also explained that the creatures never entered or attacked their houses or buildings and that there had been only a few casualties of the elderly or frail who were too slow to make it indoors after dusk.

After pledging to help the town the party brokered a room and got their first good night sleep in three nights, however the snowmen of snowtown watched, waited and gathered outside the inn only to disappear without a trace by the first morning light.

With the only leads being an old witches hut on the outskirts of the town and the lateness of the Goliath tribe’s visit from the north the party wondered what the next few days would bring.

Main NPCs:

Armaeth
Groku

Thanks for joining me tonight for a hybrid of the continuation of my campaign as well as the seasonal adventure for my group! (last years Dice-ember one-shot). Don’t forget to come back again for the last day of the year, tomorrow, and for continuing on this campaign with me. Don’t forget to celebrate and reflect on this past year and to look forward, make plans and commit to adventure in the next. And, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

2023 Campaign Adventure 7

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Good evening all and welcome to a short Seventh day of adventuring. Whilst not giving away the campaign, adventure or plot moving forward I will attempt to write up each adventure this year continuing with my 2023 campaign adventure 7. Today was a bit longer than the last session we had and we progressed further.

This is a continuation from 2023 Campaign adventure 6 as the party continues on their first mission as members of the investigation of the strange creatures in these lands.

2023 Campaign Adventure 7

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Plot:

Suncrest

Having decided to leave the crossroads to make for Suncrest before darkness fell the party made good time. Having unburdened animals to take them across the roads was a lot easier than moving with the wagons by foot from a few days ago. However the signs of what they encountered all to recently were still visible.

The deep ruts where the wagon got stuck which revealed a kobold-fashioned scimitar, the camp site where they were attacked by the lizards in the middle of the night. All was familiar yet different from their last foray through this part of the countryside.

However something else new was waiting for them as they rose over the crest and looked at the village of Suncrest. A plume of smoke was visible from above the towns and sending Armaeth to scout it was revealed to belong to a single man who was frantically looking through the ruins of the town. The Fairy also reported that there were several gaping holes in the ground in Suncrest. Cave ins to tunnels below which looked like it was somewhat recently made.

Making the decision to approach the town they made for the town and found a suitable barn to keep their, rather expensive, horses safe. However as they were leaving the barn they were spotted by the man walking through the town.

Enter Henrey.

After, somehow, Kai had convinced the man to come into the barn (and that he was someone called Lucky Barry) they quickly disarmed him and began questioning him. It turns out his life was worth more than his loyalty to his boss, Boss Barry, who had threatened to kill him if he didn’t find something of value in the town.

After a brief discussion it turned out that Henrey was part of a bandit gang who had stumbled across Suncrest and was subsequently attacked by kobolds who spilled out of their tunnels. Many bandits died but they killed twice as many Kobolds who then fled from the tunnels. Henrey then explained that the boss, Barry, had taken Lucky… Barry (two Barry’s was a bad idea) and the other bandits to investigate a manor near by whilst Henrey continued to look for a ‘hidden treasure’ that Lucky Barry could feel was in the town. The party promised Henrey that he would be safe if they left town. But Henrey mentioned a farmhouse on the way out of the town where they had stashed some plunder – this drew the attention of the party.

The Farmstead

Ruined Farmhouse Roof – Created in Inkarnate (see base below)
Ruined Farmhouse – Created in Inkarnate (see above for roof)

The farmhouse was small and in ruins. But they managed to find a sack of swords (about 20 useable blades within), some passable vegetables (maybe for animals that is) and some tools that could fetch a few gold.

They also found a locked wardrobe that had some fine clothes, a hunting longbow and some arrows stashed in there. But they failed to notice the bandits approaching.

Closure

Fleeing wasn’t an option but bluffing was. Convincing half the bandits that they had reinforcements meant they only had to deal with half of them now, the others ran off towards town. However the first five bandits were just the beginning as another five returned with Boss Barry.

After a long and tense fight the party succeeded and managed to wrest a worn looking short sword from the death grip of Barry. However upon closer inspection the blade had a name in dwarvern, Frost Thorn. The blade was not made by a dwarvern hand but it had a lot of characteristics as if it was constructed in the dwarvern ways. But there was a something odd about the blade. A permanent chill could be felt from it and they felt lucky that the blade had not caressed their skin when wielded by the bandit leader.

Main NPCs:

Armaeth
Groku

Thanks for joining me tonight and for continuing on this campaign with me. We just managed to get through what I wanted to today but there is always the sense of wanting more. But the party were excited to play and are looking forward to the next session – which is always the goal.

Don’t forget to come back tomorrow as we catch up on this weeks adventure. And, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

2023 Campaign Adventure 6

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Good evening all and welcome to a very short sixth day of adventuring. Whilst not giving away the campaign, adventure or plot moving forward I will attempt to write up each adventure this year continuing with my 2023 campaign adventure 6. Today was a mere 1 and a bit hours so there wasn’t much that was progressed however there were some key moments that would set up the campaign moments in the future.

This is a continuation from 2023 Campaign adventure 5 as that session was cut short and, it was a while ago.

2023 Campaign Adventure 6

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Plot:

The Road back to Suncrest

After a brief breakfast the party collected their items, bagged up and had a meagre breakfast. Deciding to stay the night at the Inn before leaving the party had the full day ahead of them. A few moments were taken to enquire onto their new party member, Armaeth, and before long they were heading back to the stables to get their horses. Fiona the stable-hand saw the party coming and quickly organised for their animals; a fine riding horse, two mules and a ornery draft horse, to get ready.

By time the party walked through the doors the two mules were tac-and harnessed up with saddle bags ready. However as she was moving the draft horse out of its stall it started to give her some grief. Kai rushed forward and helped her get the animal under control. With some luck and a bit of self-guidance from the goblin paladin the horse was quickly calmed and they were able to get it out of the stable with well wishes from Fiona.

As they left the city they asked the guards stationed at the gate if there was any news of the roads being dangerous of late, the guard mentioned that the last caravan that came in from those roads was Sams and that they had a good run. Kai and Tater were shocked that the large loss of life was considered a good run from the guard, but perhaps that’s a sign of how bad the roads are right now.

Chance encounter

As they were getting ready to leave the guard exclaimed loudly and was shocked at what was coming down the road. A large, ornate and dark coloured wagon was being pulled by two large lizards. The Drow riding on top had the air of someone who knew what they are doing at all times. Dressed in fine silks, and some leather, the guard was about to sound the alarm when he was stopped by his captain.

“Don’t worry about her. That wagon belongs to the Melarn family. They sell silk from the underdark on the surface. As long as you don’t get in the way of them or cause them trouble then you won’t know that the family is there.

The wagon passed by with the only drama being that the parties draft horse wanted to attack the lizards. The party thought this was a good sign of a strong survival instinct in the beast. Saying farewell to the guard they stopped to decide which way to go. Judging by the fine weather the party decided to pass through the valley which should be faster to get to both Suncrest as well as their destinations in the mountains beyond.

Closure

Following the road through the valley the party came across signs of trouble. A series of campfires revealed an old camp by the side of the road but the state of the tents and the smell told a tale of disaster. Getting Armaeth to scout the site it was revealed that a large wolf or similar beast attacked a family of trappers here. They found a small pouch filled with some gold pieces and a topaz but that was all of use.

Making a break through the valley, and talking more as they moved on through, they came to the cross roads. Forwards lay the site where they were attacked by Westly and the wolf and to the west lay Suncrest and the site where they were attacked by the stonehide Gobblers.

Main NPCs:

Thanks for joining me tonight and for continuing on this campaign with me. We didn’t get to go through all I wanted but we managed to have a bit of an adventure which set the foundation for the next few sessions.

Don’t forget to come back tomorrow as we continue from last weeks adventure. And, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

2023 Campaign Adventure Update Sidekicks

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Good evening all and I hope that you are finding the adventure intriguing as we continue following on the party (and real players) as they trek through the scene I set before them. This update is really to capture the sidekicks, Armaeth and Groku as statblocks to help the players keep track and records of these key NPCs*. So this follows on from 2023 Campaign adventure 5 update on the weekend so make sure you have looked at that.

2023 Campaign Adventure Update Sidekicks

The creation of the sidekick block was two fold, and not that hard as it used free resources. Tetra-cube, Nightcafe, Artbreeder and what ever image software you want to.

Referring to sidekicks in dnd5e.wikidot I picked the warrior for Groku and expert for Armaeth as the classes. looking at the guidance in the source books I based Groku of a Guard and Armaeth of a modified imp/sprite.

Using the Sidekick abilities gained at levels 1, 2 and 3 I created “abilities” and actions for the two sidekicks to help flesh out them to feel a bit more unique. I gave each of them something unique; Groku the variant human feat and langue proficiency, Armaeth the lore behind her poisoned weapons (and tweaked racial traits to make it more balanced than permanent invisibility).

Fleshing this out into “two columns” gave me the freedom and space to add in their portraits to help the players refer to their sidekicks easier and the rest is numbers.

The two end-state (for now) sidekick cards are below. I can also provide the tetra-cube data files for anyone who wishes to download the file and use it for their own sidekicks.

Hope this little project of mine to create sidekick cards has inspired you in some way! Don’t forget to stay tuned for the next part of this adventure and, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

2023 Campaign Adventure 5

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Good evening all and welcome to the fifth day of adventuring that the party experienced today. Whilst not giving away the campaign, adventure or plot moving forward I will attempt to write up each adventure this year continuing with my 2023 campaign adventure 5.

This is a continuation from 2023 Campaign adventure 4 as that session was cut short and, it was a while ago.

2023 Campaign Adventure 5

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Plot:

Warrendeep – Part 2.5

After the rocky start of day one the adventurers, Kai and Tater, woke to find a still disgruntled tavern owner, Marie, cleaning a tankard. Approaching her she rolled her eyes at their request for breakfast but still got something cooking for them. “Steffani left earlier today, she was in a bit of a foul mood so it’s probably for the best that you don’t run into her today.” Marie offered that advice. “Gwen was looking for you though, you can find her in the back room.”

Gwen went on to explain that Frederick, a halfling scout from Team neldë, had not checked in for two weeks in a row and so was considered missing. But the last reports had the halfling heading towards Fustmach as there were rumours of people going missing for days before turning up again. The concerning part is that these people don’t remember going missing and are convinced that someone is playing a joke on them.

Gwen believes that Steffani’s interest and insistence on this mission being picked up quickly is something more than just investigating the reports. But she doesn’t know anything more and the party believed what she said. Gwen also mentioned that they would be joined by Groku who appears to have some bond with both Tater and Kai. She handed them sealed letters that detailed the information so they could refer back to them but also it contained a map where to find the town of Fustmach. Their mission was to find the missing scout if possible and to capture and return any abnormal creatures, dead or alive, if possible.

Fustmach was a small town that was originally a dwarven mining down high up in the mountains to the east. Whilst it doesn’t product what it used to it still does a decent trade with a few cities in the lower lands. Because of this the roads are better kept and better patrolled than others however, there is rumours of gnolls and such that stalk these roads.

Gwen also mentioned that Fredrick was an experienced military scout with a decorated history. He was referred to as extremely skilled and if he so desired it he would not be found. Before heading back to Marie to get breakfast Kai showed her the compass and explained what it was. She was interested and advised that a member of the atta team could probably create copies of the work. But she offered the advice of keeping it with them until they return in case they need it in their mission.

Returning to the main room of the tavern they were greeted to salted porridge, low quality but edible sausages, old toast and grilled mushrooms which were nearly ‘good’. After requesting breakfast ale, and disappointed to find out it was more water than ale, they met up with Groku who received her orders from Gwen and confirmed some information about Fustmach. They then were told it was about three days ride one way by horse and so they would need something to travel on.

The problem with merchants

Tater and Kai, with Groku in tow, head off towards the marketplace in search of someone who could sell them horses. After finding a nice vegetable saleswoman who gave them information and a sack of fresh, good vegetables. The older woman informed the that the stables sometimes sold beasts that had been dumped at their stables, abandoned for to long and well past the owners fee for keeping and maintaining them.

With information and vegetables in hand they head towards the stable to find Sam who was preparing to leave with his son and the urchin from yesterday. After discussing quickly what they would need Sam also mentioned the caravan that they had stashed in the abandoned village of Suncrest. He offered twice its value if they could return it to him and provided some advice on what types of animals would be required to haul it and how much weight they could carry.

As Sam left they noticed a girl looking at them from the window of the stables, where people store their animals and where they may find potential beasts to carry them on their journey. Entering they were greeted by many animals on two levels as well as a young stable hand, Fiona, who admitted to having a crush on Sam. After a brief discussion a deal was nearly struck for a excellent quality young grey riding stallion, a good quality Mule and a foul tempered mistreated Draft horse, at slightly below market value.

Fiona’s father entered and instantly tried to swindle the party. But with some quick thinking and bartering the party ended up turning the tables and leaving the stables with not only the grey stallion but two mules, the ornery draft horse and kit and saddles for all. This all for the handsome price of 130 gold pieces which was a fair trade. However due to Kai talking to Fiona earlier and promising to give the good word to Sam about her they paid a sum of 120 gold pieces for the abandoned animals before heading back to the tavern.

Closure

The trek back was uneventful but they had one last job to do before they could begin their journey. They had to meet with two prospective party members and see if either of the would be a good fit. Those who were not a good fit would join the team Atta and cleaning up incidence at a a village nearby. They first met with Tobias who instantly rubbed both Kai and Tater the wrong way with his pretentious attitude. Despite being somewhat of a capable mage and specialising in both support and offensive magic he believed that working for his gold was beneath him and that he shouldn’t have to.

The next introduction was when a little fairy was caught trying to pick-pocket Tater after pinching items from Tobias, Groku and Kai. She introduced herself as Armaeth and she was handy with a bow but more-so her small size and natural sneakiness was handy at finding things, people and places without being detected. She was also here for adventure and was happy to simply be involved. But she definitely had an issue with taking things that didn’t belong to her.

With barely any other doubts in their mind the party decided that Armaeth would be a better fit than the arrogant Tobias and she was welcomed her to their group.

Main NPCs:

Gwen
Sam Gustave
Marie Turnburke
Fiona
Tobias Arnu-Swathay
Armaeth Nightcap

Thanks for joining me tonight and for continuing on this campaign with me. I finished what I wanted to last session in this one wand managed to get through a bit more as well. I hope you enjoyed catching up on another overdue episode of my 2023 adventure!

Don’t forget to come back tomorrow as we continue from last weeks adventure. And, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

The missing scout

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The Missing Scout

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Steffani looked across the paperwork in front of her as she chewed on a unlit cigar. The pint that Marie had brought in with the meal from earlier grew warmer on the desk as she looked across the reports. The Lord of Warrensdeep had promised her enough gold to fund thirteen teams but had delivered just enough for four.

One team were off investigating the confirmed sightings for Abnormal creatures up north and weren’t due back for a few weeks based on the latest info. She didn’t believe in favourites but if she had a team that sprang to mind for the difficult jobs it was this one. A half-dragon, Elf, Dwarf and two humans made this this crew and they were the first ones she convinced to join forces with her. The proof they brought back was also enough to make the king force the lord of Warrensdeep into helping the cause.

The second team were currently cleaning up. Not a glamorous job the people in this team were not fighters nor skilled enough yet to see field work. Besides they all had a talent for magic and utilising that to clean, repair, mend and even dispose of evidence that would make the public uneasy. The disposal of body parts, creatures or even victims of the attacks was one of the conditions the lord of Warrensdeep had put upon her. “Do not let these things disturb the peace. The public can not know about what lies in the dark around their homes and this city.” So she assigned the promising mages this task and they did a good enough job with it.

The third team were a combination of ex military and renown hunters. These were her scouts and they submitted a report daily on rumours and sightings of the creatures. Anything that seemed amiss was what they reported back on and she left them on their own really. She had five people in this team and for the last month she had received nineteen reports. She was one short and she was anxiously waiting for the latest reports to come in.

Like clockwork Gwen walked in and placed a few small scrolls on her desk, four of them. Quickly opening them Steffani confirmed her suspicions. One of her scouts hadn’t reported in twice in a row. She sat back in her chair and mused on what to do. Team minë, were too far away to investigate in time, team atta were not fit for this type of work, the scouts, team neldë were all over the continent which left team canta. Team Canta consisted of the new recruits that she had sworn in today and out of all of the people under her command these were the most untested. But they had shown promise.

Writing up an order she scratched the names of the team down, Groku – a foolish but determined girl that showed grit and tenacity.

Tater was a dwarf – made of stronger tuff than most and showed a surprising resilience to the rumoured mind control ability of these creatures – perhaps the head injury had rendered him immune. Lastly she smiled at the duplicated name on the signed sheets in front of her.

That Goblin, Mordekai, may be a trouble maker but she had learnt a long time ago to not doubt someone determined to prove someone wrong.

These three will need a fourth member in their crew. She looked over the paper work in front of her and sighed. It may be best if she had them pick out their final member of the party themselves. After all these will be the people who they trust their lift and very survival to.

With that she quickly sealed the wax on the letter. Was she really sending the newcomers to Fustmach where one of her scouts was heading? She sighed and reached for the ale before clenching her fist. She nearly broke her oath as old habits started to take over. No, she will remain strong and sure headed. One wrong foot out of place from her and the dozens of people that relied on her would surely fail.

Now more on this tomorrow but it’s finally here! Another adventure weekend! So don’t forget to come back tomorrow for a double event and as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage.
The Brazen Wolfe