Good evening all and welcome to the fifteenth 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 2024 Campaign Adventure 16 – continuing on from the 2023 adventure.
This is a continuation from Campaign adventure 15 as the party continues on their first mission as members of the investigation of the strange creatures in these lands.
2024 Campaign Adventure 16
Sa440CaE16
Plot:
Suspicions
The party regrouped to watch the entrance to Toms manor with the suspicion that any accomplish of Tom would try and break into the manor at night. However with the only visible way in, the front door, the party then tried some trickery with Kai sending messages (via the spell) to one of the guards to try and sew confusion. However a lucky streak of unnatural savvy for Kurt and his fellow guard Dave saw them unperturbed by the voice in his head.
Meanwhile John, the newly elected new mayor of Fustmach watched as they hauled Tom’s body out of the manor and took it out of town to be burned, along with any other bodies or meat they found in the manor. The party managed to get some information out of Kurt, that he lived next to the blacksmith which was their first stop on the way back to the Fat Sow where Kai used divine sense to check for any more fiendish presence in the building – but alas, there was none and his excuse to burgle the mans house evaporated with it.
However as they entered the Fat Sow, were offered food and a place to rest (which Armaeth and Groku were already deeply keen for) they ascended the stairs. That’s when Kais divine sense picked up on something small. A fiend at the edge skirts of town. Calling for Tater the goblin rushed out of the Fat sow and gave chase of the divine sense, not able to see what it was but knowing where it is due to his divine connection.
Eventually he found his way to the wagon where to was resting and to his and taters surprise, and one of the villager’s horror, the tentacle of Mayor Tom was still moving. With a deft chop with Taters new axe he severed the limb but, more importantly, revealed that there was an invisible fiend that scurried off from the large corpse of the mayor.
Fiendish Foray
In hot pursuit of the creature Kai cast Entangle, which to his credit bound the creature. This enabled Tater to get a hit in with the crossbow bolt which broke the imp out of its invisibility. Kai, a bit rattled from the adventures of the last few days, strode forward with the intention of capturing and interrogating the imp, however the creature screeched forward and large winged shapes descended from the mountains nearby.
As the creatures descended Tater called out and got one of the villagers to run off and get Groku and Armaeth from the Fat Sow while a final crossbow bolt put an end to the Imp. As the Imp died Kai released his concentration on the entanglement spell, cast Shillelagh and hold person on one of the large-winged small spiny creatures. The spell failed to hold.
The first creature flew buy and stabbed Tater with a trident-like fork while barely missing with its razor sharp teeth as it continued to fly past the stout dwarf. Kai dodged the stabbing fork but was bitten instead, his armour meaning nothing without his arm to hold his shield.
Tater lashed out at the creatures with this halberd – the extra reach coming in handy while Kai tried to pepper them with spells where his melee weapons could not hit. Seeing Taters success in reaching the creatures Kai imbued him with divine favour which made his strikes hit particularly hard. After seeing tater’s reach and lethal accuracy the creatures, spined devils, split up. The uninjured one swooped Kai hitting with his fork while the injured one flung spikes from its tail at Tater, which the psionic energy from his fathers forge protected Tater from some of the blow.
Tater then cut one of the creatures in half with two powerful strikes while Kai managed to paralyze the other, making it fall 30ft from the sky and crash into the earth. Tater then followed up with a large slash from the pole-arm before Kai tried to tie up the creature to question. Breaking the spells hold on it the spined devil was too feeble and confused to break free from the ropes that Kai tried to tie, one handed, around the creature. However Tater came and made short work of the knots.
Both Kai and Tater questioned the devil and at the end of it learnt little apart from the devils were here to check on the statue, the one that the party had destroyed just yesterday. However, as the party both tried to free and murder the spined devil it attempted to flee – Kai dragging it backwards with a risky use of the Iron Thorn bracers before a psionically empowered bolt from Tater shot it down. More bodies to be burnt with Mayor Tom.
Farewell to new friends, and old foes
The party stumbled back into the village and returned back to The Fat Sow to rest. In the morning they ate breakfast while Kai learnt more about the origins of the creatures, they were from Malbolge – the prison layer of hell for the most disobedient of devils. Tater however received a raven from Gwen, the leader of their order.
Good work over there. Come back for full report. New mission ready when you are – Gwen
After this, some farewells and checking on Batrick, the albino bloodhunter pup, the party left the village and began the trek back to Warrensdeep.
Main NPCs:
Sidekicks
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, the final part of last-last years Dice-ember one-shot!. Don’t forget to come back again tomorrow for more content. And, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
Good evening all and welcome to the fifteenth 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 2024 Campaign Adventure 15 – continuing on from the 2023 adventure.
This is a continuation from Campaign adventure 14 as the party continues on their first mission as members of the investigation of the strange creatures in these lands.
2024 Campaign Adventure 15
Sa438CaE15
Plot:
Prisoners
The cages surrounding the party had several dead bodies laying within of various more monstrous or considered to be uncivil humanoids. Several gnolls watched the party nervously in a separate cage, a few kobolds a lone Goblin and three orcs, a small family including a youngling huddled together. A single goblin was suspicious of Kai and his party and offered a blessing to Grummish to Kai, the one eye’d god being a common deity for the green skin races of this world.
After a quick conversation the party believed that the creatures within the cage were captured by Mayor Tom and some of his men. The Orc family recounted how they were simply passing by the village with their clan when they were attacked and captured by the Fustmach soldiers. Once captured they were taken into a cage within the mines and there they were knocked out, eventually waking up in the cages below. Every week more of their kind were taken to the surface and they never returned.
Convinced of their innocence Kai picked the locks to the cage and set the captives free. Tater and Groku escorted the captives to the surface through the lift system they descended through. Armaeth began to search the refuse pile while the captives raised to the surface and uncovered something familiar. The same sigil that they had received from Gwen when they joined the cause; Fredrickson’s sigil.
However, one of the Gnolls thought that they deserved more room on the escape platform and tried to shove off the other races, but quick thinking saw Tater save the Kobold and goblin. However the gnoll fell to his death, splattering like a pancake beneath the cage.
Kai fearing the worst summoned a cushion of vines through the entangle spell to try and provide a slower descent if another creature was to fall. But while Tater and Groku convinced the rattled and shaken villagers of Fustmach to let the monstrous humanoids, the prisoners of Mayor Tom, flee the city without attacking them and, due to the gnolls savagery, it was best if they hid indoors for a period of time.
The lost one
While Tater and Groku handled with the release of the captives another creature caught Kais attention. Hiding both him and Armaeth hid and watched as a large, juvenile of the large bat they fought less than forty eight hours ago crept towards the corpse of the gnoll. However the stunted limbs and white fur labelled this as an albino, likely rejected by its family – but due to failed rolls it was not evident.
Kai’s wild goblin instincts kicked in and he, once more, stripped off with his one arm and slathered himself in gnoll guts and gore. The bat however was hungry and started to attempt to eat Kai, its fangs unable to piece the bracers that had melded with the goblins flesh. Kai sprung and failed to grapple the infant bat and it fled to hide amongst the brambles he had created earlier.
But Tater and Groku were on their way down and the light from the torches, as Groku definitely needed light in a place this dark. The bat startled by the light and blindly fled into Kai’s range. Tater took this as a threat to the goblin who was unresponsive to his warning cries and shot a bolt from his crossbow. Kai threw himself in the path of the missile and in his grapple of the bat managed to protect it from the crossbow bolt. Armaeth then flew up and exchanged frustrated words with Tater and Groku who understood that Kai was just trying to tame another wild creature.
After feeding the bat and calming both it, and the now-less-feral goblin down they discussed what was best for the bat. Returning it to its parents was the best plan and so they set forth deeper into the cavern, through the maze of stalagmites and their mirrored stalactites. Finding another creature, a larger juvenile bat they followed it into a passageway, a bore mark from something much larger much longer ago and they went deeper into the cave.
That was until Tater revealed that they hadn’t killed the mother bat, that it was assumed it died of its wounds and they had not seen it actually become deceased. Soon the path of the cave expanded and they could sense large tremors as the young bat they were following climbed the wall into a larger space beyond the passage. As Kai released the albino runt they watched with horror as the parent, a massive injured bat, rejected its young in front of them. As Kai darted forward a second presence, another adult bat was located as it watched the runt struggle to move on the ground.
As Kai reached the runt the large bat, much larger than the other one they had fought, watched him scoop up the young and waited for him to attack it, its partner or the other young. As the Goblin carried the rejected offspring the large bat retreated. But now the party had another, much more voracious mouth to feed and a long, long process of trying to domesticate a wild, feral creature. Perhaps the half-feral goblin was the best fit for the job.
Unexpected message
Entering into the village once more they retraced their steps back to The Fat Sow where John, the halfling establishment owner told Kai firmly that the bat was not to stay in in the inn and that he was to try the stables. After a brief and fruitless deception the party took the bat to the stables and ran into Dinkleberg, Greta and Hans who thanked them for saving Hans, and them, from the monsters and from Tom, who was the most monstrous of all.
After a brief discussion including a lecture about monstrous humanoids being just a person as any human or dwarf they left Batrick, the albino bat, with them to be healed and fed with some milk. In the mean time the bat would roost in the wagon until they could work out what to do with it. They then returned to The Fat Sow, ate, drank and rested before there was going to be a town meeting the next morning.
With sun rise they explored the town a bit more, Kai sending a raven to Gwen in Warrensdeep to provide an update on the mission progress. Once they returned to the inn they partook in the meeting and suggested that there may be others who are as guilty as Tom and that it couldn’t be him alone. After another lecture they went their separate ways, Kai on his inquisition to find the co-conspirators of mayor Tom while Tater went and used the Local Smiths forge to re-forge his fathers axe, which he broke, into a halberd. In exchange Tater was to work the forge and help with the other blacksmithing requests of Fustmach.
In Kais exploration he checked on Batrick and satisfied that it was doing as well as could be expected he continued his exploration. Deciding with Tater, Armaeth and Groku that they would keep vigil over Mayor Toms house that night to try and trap any other collaborators in the cannibalistic processes. However before he could prepare for this further Kai discovered a raven waiting for him at the wagon.
The raven had a message tied to its leg and as Kai took it and read he uncovered something shocking.
You found my message. I am safe but do not trust the order. There is a corruption within that needs to be cut out. Be in touch in the future, watch for the ravens.
Fredrickson appeared to not be dead but was in hiding.
Main NPCs:
Sidekicks
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, the final part of last-last years Dice-ember one-shot!. Don’t forget to come back again tomorrow for more content. And, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
Sharing some thoughts on the current Age of Sigmar battle tactics. Note this has been replaced by the new Generals Handbook 2025-2026 which can be found here.
Note: Updated this posts title as a new Generals Handbook season has started which has made all of these obsolete!
A very short one this week as I have a few things in the air at the moment but I wanted to share something that I have heard a few people are struggling with. Tonight I have the Warhammer Age of Sigmar Battle tactics on a single page that are, for most armies, a bit difficult to achieve in the current state of the game in the first turn, let alone later in the game depending on how the first round goes.
For those who don’t know Age of Sigmar recently updated to 4.0 and while I haven’t had many posts about it I have been trying to at least have one match a week since its release, and doing poorly at it. But some observations can be made from my own experience and the battle reports I have watched.
Turn one most people struggle to pick at tactic unless they had designed it into their list. This is something that when I am constructing my list I look for something I can do – either something that has pre-game movement, something fast like cavalry or ranged outputs that can remove a unit from the game. But many tactics require you to partake in the fight ability (the melee variety) which makes some of them simply difficult.
But having cavalry or a way to buff your foot troops to try Seize the Centre, or Take the Flanks is a common first move that I have seen. Take their land is also great as any army that can teleport or deepstrike can take this turn 1 as you don’t have the stipulation of “not set up this turn” that will hamper your ability to achieve that tactic.
The overall grand alliance battle tactics, as seen above, seems to be hit and miss. But there is, generally, a “that’s doable” one and a “that is hard to do”, or at best a very situational tactic to achieve – unless you’re destruction as they both appear to be quite difficult, or at best very situational.
Thanks for dropping in tonight, not really a content-rich one but something that I was creating for my own reference and thought it may be useful to share! Don’t forget that tomorrow night I will be aiming to get this weeks Zine published. So don’t forget to come back for that and, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
Good evening all and welcome to the thirteenth 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 2024 Campaign Adventure 14 – continuing on from the 2023 adventure.
This is a continuation from Campaign adventure 13 as the party continues on their first mission as members of the investigation of the strange creatures in these lands.
2024 Campaign Adventure 14
Sa424CaE14
Plot:
Recovery
Taking stock of what they had and their injuries the party decided that they needed to rest until the banquet. Getting ready Kai prepared several spells in case they would come into use at the feast – the anticipation in that the meat was poisoned or tainted. However with rest came the realisation of what he had lost – his arm hung limp by his side and broken in several places with the splints that Hilder had used on his destroyed arm. The realisation that Frost thorn was also gone came hard as he had no other weapon except for a few daggers.
This made the first stop they went to being the Local Smith. Anne was there and after a short moment she produced a short sword that would serve the goblin well. After a plan was discussed they left for Tom, the Mayors, house where the feast was about to be on the way. They were met with a large line where all the villagers of Fustmach were excitedly wondering which of their favourite meals would be present. At the door the guards asked the party to surrender their weapons but, after some persuading and Tom vouching for them they were let in with their weapons on the condition that they don’t cause a fuss.
The Feast Hall
The hall was adorned with Dwarven memorabilia. Shields, dwarven axes, statues and the like adorned the walls and made the once-dwarven barracks feel very homely. The room was buzzing with voices and merriment as nearly the entire village crammed together into the large room to partake in the weekly feast, a way of giving thanks to the townsmen.
The food was piled high on plates across the tables with steaming heaps of cut meat, roast, boiled and grilled vegetables and as much ale as anyone could drink. Tom sat up the end of the table and watched with satisfaction at the attendance and the joy that everyone was succumbing to. However the party, Kai in question, noticed that the life sized dwarven statue at the end of the room behind Tom looked identical to the statue of King Boralis the 3rd they found in the mines.
Kai snuck under the table, pretending to drop a spoon, and cast purify food and drink on the food able them before crawling back out. Tom opened the feast with a speech, paying homage to the dwarves who once tended this land, the people who made the village as successful as it is now and to those that they had lost along the way. He then lit some incense and asked everyone to begin the feast.
Hungry Work
The party immediately watched as the village filled their hands with food and ate voraciously. The party followed suit and found out that the food was well cooked and delicious, however all was not what it seemed. As they ate Kai, Groku and Armaeth shrugged off an oily, hungry presence that reached out to their minds and they watched with horror as Tater became more voracious in how he ate and drank.
The entire room grabbed fistfuls of food and mugful’s of ale and consumed them at a horrendous pace. Something wasn’t right and the magic that was cast upon them had taken tater completely over. As the panic of the situation set in and the feasting became more depraved and voracious the party turned to physically attacking their ally, Tater, in an attempt to get him to snap out of the magical influence. However this drew the attention of Tom.
“My friends, let’s continue to feast!” he called out once realising that some were not under the magical influence and in doing so a vibrant lightshow appeared in the centre of the room. Immediately everyone, except for Kai due to his fey heritage, became enthralled. Thinking quickly the Goblin stamped on the injured foot (due to Kai stabbing it with a dagger) and broke him out of the spell, which in doing so caused Tom to become aware that his plan had failed.
“It seems that some people here do not like to feast or show gratitude to their host.” he chided as his body began to swell and shift into a large, bloated ogre-esque form.
The food fight
Kai began bolting to the door hitting the hypnotised Groku with a hypnotised Armaeth to wake them both up. As they stirred Tater, noticing the shifting of form of Tom, roared a battle cry and rushed at Tom. This changed Kais plan to flee instantly.
First up Kai rushed at Tom and threw a dagger, hitting true and embedding the dagger into his body. He then watched as Tater tried to bring the large man down, but his swing was wide (not surprising for someone who nearly ate and drank his own body weight a few moments ago). Groku called her axe to her hand from the front door – the ring of magnetism coming very handy as it managed to cut one of the guards that was rushing to apprehend the party. Armaeth tried to blind Tom with one of her poisoned arrows but it failed to take hold.
The enlarged Tom scooped up his villagers and carefully placed them on a table before picking up the bench with his right hand before bringing it down towards tater, narrowly missing the dwarf. Kai took this as an opportunity and rushed up the bench, retrieving a vial of light from his pack before smashing into the eyes of Tom hoping to blind him. The goblin finishing his ploy jumped backward expecting a three point land, but slipped on the table of potatoes, gravy and meat and thudded down on the wood. The light that radiated from the monstrosities face was blinding in close proximity and after a moment of staggering around while Tater dealt a massive blow from psionic-infused axe.
Groku was stabbed by one of the guards before she started to make short work of her assailants, deciding to render them unconscious instead of killing them outright. Kai and Tater had no such dilemma’s as they Kai darted outwards and slashed at the large figures legs before hiding under a table. That’s when he noticed Tom sniffing loudly, his head turning to track the goblins movement. It appears that not all his senses were hindered.
This is why we can’t go nice places…
In preparation after noticing his sense of smell was unhindered Kai used his one remaining hand to stow his dagger and prepare to go primitive. Preparing his hand to be a vessel for goblin filth that would produce a smell so foul that it would render the sense of smell of the large man useless. That was until he felt the tentacle like appendage of the man reach out and wrap around him, pinning Kais hand to his body and down the rear of his trousers.
Hearing his friends cries as the tentacle wrapped around him, Tater created a forcefield around the goblin preventing most of the crushing damage. However he should have saved it for himself as the entire wooden bench crashed down upon him – the axe taking most of the blow but it staggered the might dwarf. Taking a moment to breath and bolster his second wind he noticed that Groku was nearly done with her assailants so he struck another massive force-infused blow from his axe.
Tom staggered before raising the helpless Kai into the air and bashing him into the floor and ceiling. Groku knocked out another assailant with a skilled shield bash before Tater, enraged, swung a little too wild and missed the abomination. Growing tired of the dwarf and goblin Tom threw his captive across the room, crashing into Groku before trying to beat in the dwarves head with the bench again. However he had now freed his prisoner. Bolstering his reserve the, admittedly, filthy goblin threw his foul ordinance at the face of the hulking figure and struck true. The smell being so rank from a nearly-carnivorous goblins diet that he lost his greatest sense – the sense of smell.
Tom flailed around trying to see his assailants but now blind and unable to smell he ended up grabbing his own villagers, his treasured people and began pulverising them thinking them his assailants. The rest of the conscious guards ceased to fight and began to waiver as they watched, in their mid their kindly mayor kill their friends.
Soon the entire party was cutting, hacking or stabbing into Tom and several more villagers fell to their blind and enraged mayor. But the spell holding them hypnotised was over and they began to flee in panic. Groku rushed in and with a brutal horizontal slashed she opened the chest of the monstrous Mayor and he fell, defeated at last.
While Tater tried to calm the villagers, Kai rushed off to loot… Classic goblin… He pocketed anything that his one arm and one pouch could carry including a few well made blades (two long swords, a scimitar and four daggers) as well as several golden rings and various gold coins.
Tater investigated the golden statue and confirmed, with a touch and re-possession, that it was the source of the voracious hunger. After Kai returned from scouting the rather clean looking kitchen, despite the slabs of questionable meat, the party exposed the mayor to the people of Fustmach, revealing his true form to them all who once interacting with his bloated form broke the illusion.
Tater then decided to try and pry off a bit of the gold statue and in doing so, broke his axe – the one his father had helped him forge. After Hilder was requested to leave and return to remove the curse on the statue John, the Halfling that ran the Fat Sow Inn returned and identified the meat in the kitchen to be humanoid in origin. This revelation the party deemed not urgent to reveal to the people of Fustmach. They then explored the last remaining door out of the kitchen and revealed a tunnel that had been bored into the mountain. Following it along the air became colder and frigid and eventually they came to a large, vertical, circular hole through the stone. A hoist and platform had been created here and John and the party descended into the cavern.
The source of the meat was revealed. At the bottom of the lift was cages filled with deceased humanoids, orcs, gnolls and kobolds primarily who were preserved in the cold of the cavern. In one corner a pile of possessions and belongings had been piled up and at the end of the cavernous space was a thin passage that was lined with stalagmites and stalactites.
Main NPCs:
Sidekicks
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, the final part of last-last years Dice-ember one-shot!. Don’t forget to come back again tomorrow for more content. And, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
Good evening all and welcome to the thirteenth 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 2024 Campaign Adventure 13 – continuing on from the 2023 adventure.
This is a continuation from 2023 Campaign adventure 11 & 12 as the party continues on their first mission as members of the investigation of the strange creatures in these lands.
2024 Campaign Adventure 13
Sa415CaE13
Plot:
Morning
Taking precautions after the run in with John – the halfling who ran the Fat Sow Inn and after checking for secret doors or ways into their room that they had been provided at the Inn they settled in for the night. Groku and Kai took the bed after Kai tried to sell the fact that they were all a married couple. It was not that convincing.
In the morning Kai was provided a different breakfast to straight pork and both Tater and Kai made their way to the mines to fill in the day before the feast that night. Meeting with Tom at the entrance of the mines, he was examining the ore production very closely, they proceeded to travel down the mines – but they were warned that some of the mine tunnels had pockets of dangerous holes so they had to be careful. Still suspicious of the Mayor they insisted on going alone and they were encouraged to do so. A dwarfs desire to explore his ancestors mining halls after all is something that they wanted.
The main entrance to the mine had three main tunnels. A old dwarven one that was not used at all on the far left of the entrance, the furthest right one was very active with miners and the one in the middle was not active, but it had some footprints that led into the depths which was a bit suspicious. But to explore Taters heritage they went down the old dwarven tunnels. For a few hundred feet they gradually descended until they came to flatter and less twisty tunnel. The air was danker and more stale down here but they continued along until they came to another three tunnels.
The Tunnels
The first tunnel was caved in but the other two seemed to go on some distance, branching out further into the darkness. The torchlight dimmed somewhat from the stale air but it wasn’t concerning. Examining the cave in Tater determined that it wasn’t naturally done, it was deliberate or, at least, blocked off on purpose. Feeling around two of the larger stones shifted with very little effort, a weighted mechanism that allowed two rocks to shift and then re join with the rest of the barricade to appear as if it was always closed.
On the other side of the secret door/ false cave in was a consecrated room dedicated to King Boralis the 3rd. A large stone slab that was positioned in front of the statue of the king. The room had four large shelf-like recesses in the walls with a few dwarven items laying in dust. A dwarven hand-axe, a few vases and pots that appeared as though they were placed, rather than left here. Another oddity was that the tunnel in which they came from appeared to have been dug into this room rather than from this room. This meant that who ever dug into here wasn’t the people who dug out.
After a while searching around they found that the table could be pushed towards the statue which unlocked a seamless door behind the statue. What was revealed on the other side left them confused and daunted.
A epically large cavern greeted them with large carved pillars that looked like they supported the roof (which was far enough that their torch light and darkvision could not detect) greeted them, as did the fact that nearly the entire cavern floor was gone. A grand chasm spread in all directions which, after investigating appeared to be related to ancient acid-pox markings on the rock as well as a 10ft hole that was bored in the roof.
The Bat
Using the magical but not yet defined bracers Kai climbed to the ceiling, in a way that spider man would, and made it to the hole clutching a torch in between his legs just in time for a huge bat with 30ft wings to fly out of the darkness to attack him. Kai instinctively used his bracer to launch himself into the hole and Tater launched an arrow that grazed the mammoth mammal but it was too late, the bat had found his prey. Latching to the cavern roof the creature used its clawed hand to grapple onto the goblin and only the bracer, and a series of three ropes tied to the goblin (as the ceiling was 150ft in the air) prevented it from taking off with him. However the true nature of the gauntlet was about to be revealed as it was being used past its limit.
After heated back-and-forth between bat, dwarf, human and goblin Kai was released and plummeted. Tater readied his psionic powers to catch and pull the goblin toe safety but not before the bat attacked again, attempting to grapple and bite the goblin mid flight. Several panicked moments later, and after Kai plummeted onto the bat to stab at it with his sword and his bracer’s metal vines, he fell within reach of Taters magic.
Groku making good use of her Ring of Magnetism when she threw her battle axe to lash at the bat, only for the weapon to fly back into her hands. Armaeth was clinging onto Kai after bathing her, the bat and the goblin in faerie fire and Tater caught the falling goblin and he managed to barely land him on solid ground. Kai was not in a well shape but there was another problem. The bat was tangled in the 150ft of rope that connected all three of them.
After another frantic moment of cutting ropes and Kai expending all his lay on hands charges, they watched the bat fall into the darkness. Except they didn’t just watch.
Kai used his bracers again and, without knowing how they truly work, expected the bat to be pulled to him. Instead he was flung onto the back of the bat. Who in its panic to untangle itself from the rope was not aware of the hitch hiker. Tater and Groku watched on with exasperation as the Bat flew off with the goblin on its back after they had expended nearly everything to get him safely back onto ground. But there was more.
Kai experienced the magical backlash of the gauntlets as they were pushed beyond their limit – causing him to sacrifice his life essence, a single hit dice, to sustain the bracers grip on the bat. However he didn’t release the bat or hide amongst its thick fur. Oh no he decided to try and tame the bat much like the wolf from just a night ago. Aware of the goblin the bat flew high into caver to allow it to use its clawed wings to untangle itself from the snack. Tater, Groku and Armaeth watched in horror as their ally was too far for them to do anything other than shoot with heavy crossbow.
As the fight continued the goblin landed a few small attacks on the bat, enough to make it weary of the fight. However it was all over when the magical backlash of the bracers occurred again and Kai had a terrifying realisation when his life force was ripped out of him, another 2 hit dice…, he was going to die. The bat pulled the goblin off its back before Kai released the bracer, not wanting to find out what happens when the bracer pulls the last of his energy out. The bat swooped and narrowly missed the goblin before in a moment of luck the goblin grappled with the furred creature again. But there was only soo much that could be done as the bat grabbed Kai, Kai impaled the bat with Frost Thorn before, having enough and valuing its own life, the bat flung the goblin at the far cavern wall.
In a moment of instinct Kai used the bracer to attempt to slow his fall to the bottom of the cavern wall on a ledge before the chasm, but the magical backlash was too much and a price was paid as he was pulled unconscious. The other party members watched horrified a the glowing bat (from faerie fire) flew off to his home to lick its wounds while the goblin was thrown against the wall and disappeared into the darkness. As Tater rushed to try and find a way to his ally he attempted to climb for the first time, and the properties of the magical belt he wore was realised. He could climb as easily as walking. After a frantic dash across the cavern wall he found Kai, the goblin… breathing but broken. One arm hung limp and mangled but he was stable. Forcing a healing potion into the goblin Tater managed to rouse him enough to tie him to his back before carrying him back to Groku and Armaeth who had been instructed to wait behind.
After they had made it across the chasm the realisation of Kai’s arm, limp and unresponsive, as well as that in the unconscious state, the impact from the wall and the fall to the ledge Kai had lost Frost Thorn somewhere in the darkness of the yawning cavern.
Fustmach again
Making their way back they met with a miner who was sent to find them as well as the mayor, Tom, who was worried. They told them about the giant bat which both miner and mayor seemed excited for as they had lost some miners down a few of these tunnels – them and all rescue parties were never seen again.
Tom took the party to see Hilder, the towns healer who quickly patched and cleaned up Kai, the only one to suffer damage, who also was shocked when Kai didn’t realise his left arm was shattered and broken in many places. The limpness seemed toe be a new feature for the Goblin. After provided with clothes that hadn’t been ripped apart from a huge bat the party considered their options. They had to go to the feast tonight to try and work out what happened to the other agent of their order, Fredrickson. However, they were in no state to be doing such a thing.
What ever would they do?
Main NPCs:
Sidekicks
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, the final part of last-last years Dice-ember one-shot!. Don’t forget to come back again tomorrow for more content. And, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
Good evening all and welcome to the Eleventh and Twelfth days 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 2024 Campaign Adventure 11 & 12 – continuing on from the 2023 adventure.
This is a continuation from 2023 Campaign adventure 10 as the party continues on their first mission as members of the investigation of the strange creatures in these lands.
2024 Campaign Adventure 11 & 12
Sa415CaE1112
Plot:
Noon
The party having rested from fighting the Snowcraft Guardians, the creatures with a sturdier and rougher exterior than the creatures seen before. As the party recovered from the encounter they pondered what the cavern below the frozen waterfall held for them. Approaching the edge of the cavern they discovered a work rope ladder that had become rigid with ice. Below a cavern was revealed studded with both Stalagmites and Stalactites – but the party knew something was up. There was a stairway that had been carved into the stone which descended deeper into the quarry cavern. Frozen ice and compacted snow surrounded the path where there were several standing torches that studded the edge of the path for the length of the stairs
Armaeth scouted up ahead and checked for loose, crumbling or rigged stalactites however she was not anticipating creatures to be lurking in the cavern ceiling. A moment later and several stalactites fell towards the party, several missing the mark and crashing into the ground but one connected with Tater, grievously wounding him. The stalactites were revealed to be creatures that took the form of the stone formations on the roof of the ceiling, Piercers, and hunted they prey but impaling them and hoping the drop killed them.
After a brief fight Tater was left to bandage and try and recover from his wound before they carefully headed deeper, but not before searching the stomach of the creatures and finding a mysterious pouch – one that was bigger on the inside than the outside. While not a bag of holding the Pouch of Holding acted in a similar manner but with a greater limit on how much could be kept within.
Now knowing what to look for Armaeth used a flaming torch to prod the rocks and revealed several more creatures that scuttled off without attacking the party. Eventually they found their way to the bottom of the stairs where a giant reptilian fossilised skull marked the end of the stairs and the beginning of the hall and chamber beyond.
The Discovery
Walking down the hall and promising themselves that they would try and take some teeth on the way out afterwards. All light disappeared as they went deeper into the cavern below and beyond, but testing the depth of the room beyond (by launching a crossbow beyond and listening for an impact) they found it was a rather large room.
Throwing torches into the room they created a few pinpoints of light that helped Groku – the only human in the party, and which produced the mediocre amount of light that enabled Tater and Kai to see better in the dark. What was revealed was a smooth icebound room with several pillars of ice that may have been stalagmites and stalactites that met in the middle for their formation. These were somewhat evenly spread across the room with piles of snow under them which would provide welcome grip as opposed to the smooth ice that was everywhere else.
In the centre of the room was an altar, something that was foreboding and dark – and the party had a good idea what it was. As they approached the altar, not being able to find out what was on there from across the room, they were approached by a hulking figure. Smooth slabs of ice had been sculpted or created to form an armour-like-carapace for the core. A large shield made from hard, jagged ice complimented the large sharpened great-club like appendage that was formed onto the man-figures body. The core however drew everyone’s attention.
Mark Kenderson lay definitely dead but woven within the construct made of ice. Grievous old wounds were cased in ice which formed a protective suit to the small amounts of broke, bruised and cut flesh beneath. The construct spoke to them “Leave now so the creator can complete her ritual” before, taking Tater advancing as a sign of aggression, it strode forwards and attacked.
The fight was intense and while Tater and Groku attempted to (and succeeded!) in keeping the construct busy Kai looked for the creator. After a few rounds of combat Tater was at deaths door while Kai had discovered Aster, the young enchantress lay dead, broken and bloodied as if killed by her own creation. Soon the unrelenting construct had beaten Groku unconscious and was about to end both Tater and Kai before one of Kai’s spells took hold and the construct fell silent.
Recovering and stabilising Groku they searched the room for answers and found a box that had a handful of gold and platinum pieces as well as bracers, a ring, a cruddy looking key and a belt. Searching Aster, and finding her journal that confirmed her to be Aster, they rested and experimented with the items they found – revealing them to be magical to some degree. After much experimentation they determined that the Ring that they gifted to Groku was able to push and pull metallic weapons from the user.
After resting they piled snow on top of Aster and Mark before leaving, carefully extracting nine teeth from the ancient reptilian fossilised skull and carefully avoiding the piercers in the cavern – of which they were successful. Carefully moving about the dwindling afternoon they made their way back to the Goliath’s hut and rested for the night.
Departure
Morning came with no additional sign of snowmen and the descent to Snowtown was only broken by the realisation that a large white and grey wolf was following them. When Tater approached the wolf it ran off but followed from a safe distance – even eating some of the rations that Kai left behind for it. The other thing that dawned on them as they walked back to the town was that the snowmen were gone and piles of snow, clothing and sticks remained where the constructs once stood.
Entering the town they were met with the sight of children playing and people celebrating in the afternoon sunlight. Going to the Snowtown Inn to see Daryll he called Penny to come and listen to the adventurers tale. The revelation of Marks death was not unexpected but his parents took it poorly (as can be expected). They were also offered lodging and meals for life in the Inn if they wanted and they ate and rested well that night.
In the morning they were gifted with a large collection of gold from the town, several healing potions and trade material as well as two potions that were sent by mistake – ones that produce a lot of light once exposed to air. Packing the wagon and hitching up the mules, draft horse and riding horse again they left to continue onto Fustmach.
Followers
The road to Fustmatch was relatively easy now that the weather had passed. They had been in Snowtown for around six days and nights and in the time the roads had hardned up and the party was able to make good time. Kai noticed that the wolf was still following them and so decided to embrace his inner wild Goblin. Strapping bits of meat to himself he lay down still in the middle of the road for about and hour before the wolf became curious and came to check on him. It snaffled the bits of meat that he had draped on himself before disappearing up the mountain once more.
As they continued to travel upwards they came across a mid-way point where they decided that staying put over night would be wise. Setting up camp they scouted the area around them and found a cave with fresh water, and fish. Catching a fish, gutting it and then cooking the meat Kai and the party ate well – but Kai decided to try the age old Goblin proverb, “You catch more wolves with a goblin covered in fish guts than you do dried meat and jerky.”
Into the first watch of the night Kai went a bit feral. He removed all his clothing and donned the fish guts and went in search of the large wolf that had been following them. Eventually finding the wolf he was so set on finding the creature that he did not notice the other eight wolves that had been following the smell of mule. When he finally realised the wolves were close by he had to quickly scramble up the hill – but it was steep and had little in the way of hand or foot holds. As he was naked, without weapons (or even the magical bracers that launch veins of metal from his finger tips) he was quickly dragged to the ground and attacked savagely. He beat into the wolves with bare fists but it wasn’t long until he was fighting for his life.
The screams and disturbance alerted the mules which woke Groku and soon Tater and Armaeth joined her in charging to the aid of a non unconscious Kai. After a quick battle, involving the large white wolf attacking one of the other little wolves, they stabilised Kai and defeated the others. Upon gaining consciousness Kai witnessed the following wolf take one of the slain wolves as its prize and Kai attempted to follow – his mind in a feral and manic state.
Giving up after he lost sight of the wolf he returned to sleep in a bed roll made of slit-open wolf by the fire and he lay like that until the morning. In the morning Tater forced Kai to have a bath (by deception) which led to Kai attempting to remove one of Taters fingers and then regaining more of his civilised senses. The half day of travel to Fustmach was an easy one but the party were relieved at the promise of not being on the backs of animals while moving up-hill.
Fustmach
The Town of Fustmach was largely made from stone and had more than the majority of buildings being predominantly dwarven. Most buildings however, had extensions or modifications in wood which was human in architecture. The people of Fustmach (with thick warm German/Bavarian accents) were welcoming and happy to help. They revealed that The Fat Sow was the best place to get food in the city apart from the feasts that the Mayor, an avid collector, hosts once a week at his hall up near the entrance to the mine.
Opposite that was the Fustmach Stables ran by Dinkleburg – a warm man with his wife Greta and son Hans – a towering strong but incredibly friendly man. Leaving the horses and wagon there they went to the Fat Sow following a lead that this may be the missing halfling – Fredrickson. It was not. The Halfling cook and owner, Jonh, was brutal, rough and a ‘Gordon Ramsey’ of the halfling cooking world where his wait staff were simply disenchanted with being there – a stark contrast to the rest of the village that were extremely welcoming and friendly.
After a heated discussion where Jonh was revealed to have been in a war with Goblins in his past and Kai insulting the proud mans food they were advised that the Mayor kept a stranglehold on who stayed in the village – but he would be likely to welcome the party. While Jonh organised a room for them to stay, on the sly, they were advised that his food hall was ‘all you can eat and drink’ for 1gp. Many of the locals seemed to be taking this seriously but they were tipping the establishment and wait-staff handsomely.
While waiting for Jonh they made their way to the Mayors house – a converted dwarven fort next to the mine. Talking to the guards they were revealed to be bored but friendly and not overly cautious of the party. Entering they found a feasting hall, converted from a dwarven barracks/room and the Mayor, a large jolly fellow, sitting down in a parlour room.
Talking to the Mayor he revealed some information about the dragon teeth – being not really his ideal item to collect but he offered 5gp a piece, he also provided some insight into the belt that Tater found revealing it to be made from phase spider silk and crafted by the elves of the Astral plane. He also revealed that they followed the dwarven mining customs and were trying to do it was the dwarves once did. Understanding that they knew best and wanting to honour the missing founders of Fustmach – the dwarves who once lived here.
Question’s about a halfling that visited didn’t reveal much – the Mayor, Tom, remembered him and expressed his disappointment that he left without as much as a goodbye or thank you. Afterwards the party were certain something was wrong with the town and much to Kai’s regret they believe that Jonh was innocent while the Mayor was behind the evil taint. Heading back to The Fat Sow they retired for the night with an invitation to the banquet tomorrow night at the Mayors hall.
The Frostkeeper Construct, Mark Kenderson was able to cause tremors in the cavern which caused the party to slip over many times if they failed a dexterity saving throw. He also was able to shield bash a single target, dealing a small amount of damage but sending them flying and prone when he connected. The theme of this fight was really area control and significant melee overwhelming dominance while he was extremely susceptible to things that affected wisdom saves and fire damage – if the party had realised.
Main NPCs:
Sidekicks
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, the final part of last-last years Dice-ember one-shot!. Don’t forget to come back again tomorrow for more content. And, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
Good evening all and welcome to the Tenth 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 2024 campaign adventure 10 – continuing on from the 2023 adventure.
This is a continuation from 2023 Campaign adventure 9 as the party continues on their first mission as members of the investigation of the strange creatures in these lands.
2024 Campaign Adventure 10
Sa406CaE10
Plot:
Daybreak
The party started with a humble meal of cured pork, bacon, and bread as they geared up to face the cold outside of the Inn. As they bid farewell to Daryll at the Snowtown Inn, and its newly fixed door they head towards the witches hut again to see if their assumption was correct. Crunching through the snow the new day held promise of snow, funnily enough for Snowtown, but it was still sunny enough that the hoard of snowmen that waited in the shade of the trees for them to be foolish enough to enter the tree line.
However Kai began to cast Toll the Dead and as the snowmen began to drop as the party moved on the snowmen crept deeper into the wood outside of the range of the spell. Reaching the old witches hut they asked Armaeth to scout out the old Willow tree in the forest and to look for a path towards it where they didn’t have to wade through the snowmen. While the fairy was gone they confirmed, as best to their knowledge, that the willow wood they burnt and turned to charcoal yesterday was the same as the ones they found in the hut which they believed was used for rituals for creating snowmen.
When they waited long enough a shriek for help sounded from outside. Rushing out they saw that Armaeth was being chased by a giant snowy owl. Quickly thinking they dispatched it with a crossbow bolt and a well placed hand-axe. After retrieving what they could, the axe and a single bolt, they found out from Armaeth’s scouting that there was a way to the tree that had been cleared from the forest.
The Willow Tree, The Bear and the Fight
Walking to the tree wasn’t a difficult task but it was made more tiresome from the thick snow and increasing slope to the hill. Eventually making it to where a path was cleared to the Willow tree they investigated the area – looking for clues to Aster or the source of the snowmen. After much investigation, and Kai talking to the woods, Tater discovered large booted footprints, much larger than a normal humans, as well as large beast pawprints. Following these from the Willow tree, where it looked like several straight limbs were removed carefully, they found that the tracks lead upwards towards the Goliaths sacred hill, the hut and the quarry.
Walking in the path of the two monstrously large tracks that head up the path they eventually spotted the hut. Approaching it carefully, with a sanctuary spell ready to be cast, they were shocked to see a very obedient large polar bear sitting next to the hut with a small covering in snow. A booming voice called for Kirilla – the bear responded, and a nine foot Goliath exited the hut to talk to the party.
The Goliath discussed the odd occurrences that were happening and that their tribe was currently recovering from a heated encounter with the snow-abominations at the ancient Quarry. Asking if they could get assistance from the Large man, Gordak, he deferred to Felicia – the Chiefs daughter and his current hunt-leader. Felicia then appeared, as if summoned, to dissuade and reinforce that the party was not allowed in their village – as it was sacred to their kind.
Instead they brokered for two things – an escort and guide to the quarry (where they suspect they will find Astra and the source of the snowmen) and, more importantly, Tater won a brawl with the Goliath. After only two rounds of beating the Goliath – and dealing a few good blows himself, Tater was knocked unconscious by his towering foe. With some healing they sat down to a meagre stew that was made from venison the goliaths hunted as well as vegetables that Tater offering as a barter for the guide to the quarry.
The Quarry
Moving from here, and discussing landmarks and history of the area the party eventually came across the Ancient Snowtown Quarry. The goliaths let them wander in but stood watchful to see if they could best what a hunting party could manage. As Kai, Groku, Armaeth (hiding in Taters beard) and Tater stalked through the quarry around the trees, rocks and mounds of snow a ill-timed slip from Groku caused human sized constructs to rise from the snow and attack ferociously.
The battle was ferocious as four Snowcraft Guardians attacked the party. Tater managed to down them by sacrificing accuracy for power, but he was quickly surrounded by three of these constructs. Eventually their club like fists slammed and razor sharp ice-claws cut Tater until he was within an inch of his life. However Kai, who was heroically casting Toll the Dead from a ‘tactical’ range engaged in the melee and healed Tater – saving his life. But the battle was not over and Groku also suffered several wounds.
As the last guardian fell one of the now dying cores began to inch its way towards the cavern – the cave in below the cavern where a now-frozen waterfall had cut its way through the stone and snow and revealed a cavern below. After receiving a salute from the Goliaths the party collapsed from exhaustion and prepared for the next step in their adventure.
Creatures:
Terrain / Maps
The below have been created to be printed on an A4 sheet of paper. This creates a cheap and effective way to give depth and scale to players while not taking away from the tactical view of the game.
Snowtown Quarry – created in Inkarnate.Snowtown Quarry Cavern – created in Inkarnate.Snowtown Quarry, old tracks – Created in Inkarnate.Snowy Trees and rocks – created in Inkarnate.
Main NPCs:
Gordak – Goliath Warrior
Felicia Stonefist
Sidekicks
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-last years Dice-ember one-shot). Don’t forget to come back again tomorrow for more content. And, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
Good evening all and welcome to the Ninth 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 2024 campaign adventure 9 – continuing on from the 2023 adventure.
This is a continuation from 2023 Campaign adventure 8 as the party continues on their first mission as members of the investigation of the strange creatures in these lands.
2024 Campaign Adventure 9
Sa406CaE9
Plot:
Dawn at Snowtown
The dawn started on a different note. Tater finally having fallen asleep with his armour off spent 30 minutes checking the armour and donning it after a long time of wearing it on the road. Kai having wrapped himself up in blankets and forming a little nest in the rented room in which to keep warm and to block out the light.
Downstairs breakfast of nearly-stale bread and salted pork greeted them as Snowtown was a little short on supplies. After a short discussion about where to begin the party, Tater, promised to help fix the door he destroyed last night and they decided to go investigate the old witches hut as it wasn’t that far away. Pushing forward they were warned to stay out of the forest that borders the Gritch mountains.
Leaving the Tavern they ran into an older woman who told them the history of the snowmen. They were left as an offering, a recognition of the bargain and agreement that the town had made with the Goliaths that lived to the North. The deal was for the people to not trespass, not hunt the creatures in the mountains and in doing so the Goliaths will barter with them and protect the valley from threats to it and thus Snowtown. Due to this the town has experienced a mostly peaceful existence.
Approaching the crest of the hill that lay east of the town the party saw the forest that they were warned about. Hundreds of snowmen stood under the tress in different forms, appearances and dresses. But approaching them the sheer volume of them causes Kai to bring Tater back to the non-shadowed area and towards the witches cabin.
The cabin itself was ruined. A large hole in the roof let the weather through that had appeared to ruin most of the insides. The door out front lay off its hinges and old herbs, plants and even an long-dead creatures hunt from hooks and ropes attached to the roof. Inside a table had bowls of materials, an open book and a small cauldron of highly dense coal. A bed to the right of the cabin had more herbs hanging from the roof but the rest of the room lay in ruin.
Investigating the room, Tater found the coal and realised it was charcoal – but much harder and denser. Kai with Armaeth’s help read the page the book was open to and understood it to be guiding the reader to binding a recently lost spirit to an object. Meant as a way to preserve someone from dying the spell was a very advanced one at that.
Reading further into the book the coal was identified as a means to bind a small ritual to, a spell to create. Taking this info (the small cauldron of charcoal and the book), and the stocktake of crushed quarts and gypsum (that Kai threw away) they began to move back home after Tater set fire to some Willow they found by the fire. Preparing it to try and create charcoal to compare it with the one found in the cauldron.
Avalanche
As they waded through the knee high snow they, Kai and Groku, noticed a rumbling. Looking towards the mountain they spotted to large figures standing at the crest of the ridge – goliaths. However the snow between them was moving at a quick pace and the surface of the snow was rolling towards them in little balls.
As the party tried to flee to the town to avoid the avalanche of snowballs it became evident something wasn’t right. Tater and Kai were knocked down from the snow, Armaeth flew high above it all and Groku braced and weathered the avalanche. But, the snowballs began to race towards them and started to encompass them with icy psuedopods.
The battle was intense with each member in the group, except Armaeth, being grappled, restrained and then smothered by dozens of animated snowballs. But eventually the numbers dwindled and a lucky sleep spell (that removed a few from play) they made their escape.
Upon reaching the town they found out that a familiar name now, Penny Cartwright, was the last to see the Goliaths and would be the best person to talk to regarding their actions. They also learnt about another girl who had gone missing, Aster, who had moved in from Warrendeep a year or so ago. When they got to Cartwrights they purchased the required iron to mend the tavern door and enquired about the book, the hut and Aster.
Aster had been in love with Mark Kenderson, a handsome hunter who had been missing the last two weeks (the same amount of time as Aster). The two had been brief lovers with Aster preaching to the town that she had a way to make their lives easier, saving them time and making them more gold from their sales. However Mark and his friends had tricked Aster and she had been left heart broken and enraged. Penny also told the party how Aster had bought a great many books, and some materials from her regarding the casting of magic.
It was later revealed as they went to investigate Aster’s house that Marks friends had been assaulted by Aster when they had antagonised her and threaten her to leave Mark alone. She had bludgeoned them with, later revealed, a pestle which had left them bruised a month later. Since then she had withdrew and no one knew where she or Mark were now.
Investigating the house they found a ripped up dress or skirt with a few lengths of fabric torn off it and a secret compartment in the bedroom floor boards that once held a journal or notebook. After that they returned back to the tavern to prepare for the coming days.
Main NPCs:
Daryll Sootbrow
Penny Cartright
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 tomorrow for more content. And, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
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
Sa352CaE8
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)
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
So the past few weeks I have spent some time learning 3d modelling, primarily in tinkercad, with the aim to create some useful tools and widgets for both my TTRPGS and my wargaming. A while back I used some spare foam-core board and created a way to store 20 dice in rows so I could easily access the right number of dice quickly without spending ages counting dice.
I, well I call it this regardless, “dicelexia” – I struggle to count dice as they lay on a table. So I try and limit myself to only having 20 dice available at my hands at any one time. When I am not rolling dice actively I would put my dice back in the holder, a “DiceMag” which stored 4 columns of 5 dice for 20 dice in total.
To ensure that it transported well I also sculpted from epoxy-putty a ‘lid’ that encased the entire DiceMag and was secured, quite well, with magnets. However I found out the hard way what happens if you dropped it. Picking up 20 dice in a gaming hall was not ideal.
So a year and a bit later, I think, I got myself a 3d printer and created the second version. Tonight see’s the first prototype (another improved version is ready to print) that improves on getting the DiceMag out of the lid and the strength of the magnets to bind it all together more securely – because, well… Magnets are great.
Version 1
Current Version
The circle, painted to represent my logo’s Brazen Moon is hand painted and something that I might experiment with. It’s designed to be a flat surface to paint on, apply decals or something else to give a creative freedom to who ever has such a DiceMag.
I am sure that I will have other versions of this – but for me this is something fun, useful and perhaps something valuable to the broader community.
Thanks for your interest in my side project! The Brazen Wolfe
Brazen Wolfe Tabletop 
