adventure

New Kids on the Block

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Tonight we find our party meeting the new kids on the block, a plucky group of merchants who have the gold and the ambition to try to overthrow the Trusted Axe Cartel. They also stole from the dwarves, swapped out their high quality wares for their own inferior quality goods and orchestrated the closure of the contract between the dwarves and the Five Spokes.

So grab a coffee, take a seat as we get to the bottom of this broken transaction in tonight’s adventure!

New Kids on the Block

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New Kids on the Block – created in WordPress.

The party had found the dwarven wares quite easily really. The men selling the dwarven shields, axes, chain and other goods were looking for members of the cartel to appear. So when the party appeared and asked about it while flashing some coin the young merchant asked if they’d be interested in getting a lot more of it.

‘So you’re adventurers looking to get into the trading business. Well I have a supplier who has a whole wagon load of this stuff. Real quality Dwarven steel.’ the man said with a knowing grin. ‘Tell ya what. Meet me back here when the sun sets and I’ll show ya so you can make the call yourselves.’

The party came back as the sun was setting and found the man packing up. This time he had a bunch of lower quality wares on display but recognised the party and waved them over. ‘Some other merchants got a bit jealous so we had to hide the good stuff.’ he said as he packed up the last of his wares onto a cart and beckoned the party to follow. There was a few other merchants heading back and packing up this time of night but as they packed up others moved in and started to set up their own wares and tables.

Following the man back he explained a bit more. They were a newer smaller group that had seen an opportunity to get some high quality wares from out dated fools while also opening up opportunities. As they arrived at the large double doors of a large warehouse the man knocked a short pattern before the party heard bolts, beams and even a lock be removed.

As the doors opened the party were greeted by a group of a dozen well equipped men and women with what sounded like many more elsewhere in the warehouse. One man stopped and looked at them before calling out. ‘Wait. They were at the Silver Ring Tavern the other night when the Cartel came snooping about. Why’d you bring them here you idiot!’ It was a matter of moments, a few blinks of the mans eyes before he realised what had been said.

Thanks for dropping by for another night at my tabletop. Don’t forget as we passed the midway point we have maps and monsters, well creature stat blocks left for this week. So make sure you don’t forget to come back the last few remaining days this week to stay up to date with what’s happening at my tabletop. And lastly, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Trusted Axe’s Daughter

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Tonight we learn more about the Trusted Axe’s Daughter – the ward of the cartels leader, Garmanel, Gondanel is considered the rose of the cartel, the soft hand at hard business. But that’s what she specialises in, hard business.

So fill up a tankard of coffee as we kick off into tonight’s adventure!

Trusted Axe’s Daughter

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Trusted Axe’s Daughter – Created in WordPress.

The party had a long chat with Garmanel and Gondanel and learnt a what the current problem was. Their long term contract with two well renown merchants had fallen through but the causation appeared to be something that was not their doing. The Trusted Axe Cartel was made up from a group of what was once struggling smiths who were banded together to forge dwarven goods inside the city of Armele.

The cartel had made a good name for themselves and they were exceedingly proud in the quality of their armour, weapons and other goods that they sold to larger merchants who would take it from there. They claimed they kept their investments secure and always paid their debts and left nothing outstanding with client or supplier but this time it was different.

Jeb and Tarnius had taken over the Armele branch of the Five Spokes which was the largest merchant company on the continent. The early engagements and contract negotiations had gone well with nothing changing so the same trust and set up had applied to the already established contract. Goods first with a deposit then the rest of the gold upon final shipment.

Yet they had broken the deal, the goods that they claimed they had been given to them were not what the Trusted Axe Cartel had sent them and had obviously been made by human hands, inexperienced hands at that. The party looked at the information that had been given to them but something stood out. They’d have to find where the dwarven goods had truly gone to if they were to help the Cartel. The gold offered for finding information was good but being friends or even partners the Trusted Axe Cartel would last them a long time as the only thing that outlasted their grudges was their loyalty.

Gondanel finished asking them for help and Garmanel had mentioned the reward, including the long term standings with the Cartel, and as the party thought it over they seemed to relax. The Tavern had attempted to get back to normality and after the old dwarf bought a round of dinks for the tavern it seemed to kick off more. The hothead Garabek left following the trail that he believed would take him to the suspicious humans who were spending big in the tavern just before which also helped the mood of the tavern substantially.

The young female dwarf Gondanel had a short high ponytail of dark black hair that made her skin look a bit darker than it was. Tanned from the heat of a forge she had a lean muscular build but a friendly face. Garmanel on the other hand showed his age and despite still having a broad build of a dwarf their was almost no hair that wasn’t white or grey either on his short cropped head or is long braided beard.

Giving them the night to think on it the dwarves let them know where they could find them in the morning once they made a decision and they left. The party now had a tough decision to make. Potential financial stability for as long as a dwarfs memory is came with a price. Finding those who had besmirched their honour and bringing them to the Cartel for justice instead of to the local guard.

Thanks for visiting tonight for another update for this weeks adventure. Don’t forget to come back the last few nights this week to make sure that you don’t miss anything that happens with this adventure. And, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

The Streets of Felkirk’s Environments

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Tonight I give a sneak peak of what I am working on as part of this three week adventure where tonight we look at the streets of Felkirk’s environments. Now if that’s confusing don’t fear as I will go through it momentarily as I cover some of the GMing mechanics for Daggerheart.

So sit back, grab a coffee or other hot beverage and let’s roll into tonight’s adventure!

The Streets of Felkirk’s Environments

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Creating Environments – Created in WordPress.

The streets of Felkirk’s Environments can be varied depending on the time of the day. For my adventure that takes place over three larger scenes I wanted the setting to be a dark, tense and anxiety charged atmosphere to help fuel the feeling of an invasion going on. But before I get too far into that let’s take a step back.

In Daggerheart its not just Adversaries; the critters, creatures, monsters and hostile humanoids, that the Game Master, GM, can use to create tense atmospheric moments for the PCs its also the Environments that can change, evolve or manipulate the flow of the adventure. For the sake of this quick post tonight let’s treat an Environment as an Adversary as they have a tier, a type, something akin to Motives & Tactics in the form of Impulses as well as a Difficulty and Features.

Like Adversaries some Environments will have passives which alter the area in which the party are in. Examples might be Oppressive Heat where parties who travel through their Traversal environment mark an additional stress on all failed rolls due to the oppressive heat. Or like in my examples it gives a set of actions that he party may be able to take, or impede certain actions that the party may want to take.

The other type of feature that the Environment shares with Adversaries is actions (many do actually) which is an action. Whether this is a spout of burning hot lava erupting from the ground at the Fire-marsh where the Oppressive heat sometimes erupts form the ground causing PCs to make an Agility reaction roll or suffer burns from the boiling water and steam. Or where the GM can activate the Environments natural residence to make an appearance – summoning fire toads to leap from the boiling water to attack with blistering tongues – triggering an encounter. This may or may not cost a Fear, the GMs resource that they get from around 40% of dice rolls, but if it does then it may be a more powerful creature, or set of creatures, that are being summoned.

So treating Environments like Adversaries also comes down to how they look. Environments also have stat blocks and that is precisely what I wanted to show off tonight! So have a look below at some of the Environments for the scene of Felkirk’s Foot Traffic.

The above Environment Stat blocks were created by me. Rules were adapted and inspired by adversaries and environments from the Daggerheart System Reference Document 1.0 and any likeness is the copyright of DRP, Darrington Press, who are the creators of the material (Environment Stat Blocks). This content was modified/created is licensed under the DRP Community Gaming License which can be found here: Darrington Press CGL.

Now while these Environments aren’t going to be game changing they add a bit of depth and structure onto what the adventure will do. If you read The Night of Silent Feet the scene plays out pretty closely. The Party are at the Lost Anchor Inn and they can perform some actions there while a timer ticks down – 1 action per player with the Countdown being the number of players. Once the countdown reaches 0 then the door opens and a guard falls in. The party leave the Inn to immediately get ambushed – the Ambush Encounter event. This is a small easy encounter to ease people in and once its over then they run through the streets.

This may trigger another encounter but it will get the party used to the mechanics of rolling dice to try and get a few successes before failure – and it shows consequence. Afterwards we move onto other smaller scenes (Social encounter at the Makeshift Barracks for scene two. Followed by another Felkirk Streets that moves to Market Street and then Forward Base.) By treating the travel like an adversary then it becomes less prone to becoming dull and the least favourite part of the journey. Many DMs / GMs have covered this type of travel before so I won’t go into it – but I do recommend that you look into it!

Thanks for joining me tonight for a little introduction into Environments for the Daggerheart RPG system. Don’t forget to come back tomorrow for the start of a new week and new adventure and, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Battle for Merchants Way

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The Battle for Merchants way is a bloody one, one filled with old and new dead rising to join the party on the battlefield. However what is an undead army without a leader and boy do we have an iconic one tonight.

So get your spells ready, prepare your prayers as we face the undead en masse in tonight’s encounter!

Battle for Merchants Way

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For D&D Systems

D&D Statblocks for Swarm of lesser zombies, swarm of zombies and Arch Necromancer – created in Tetra-cube.

The undead swarms can be joined with regular zombies to flesh out the battlefield but I think the swarms do a really good job at highlighting just how many zombies there really is on the battlefield. The Arch Necromancer can bring back a few zombies at at time or a swarm to really highlight the power that these dark mages bring to the battlefield.

For Daggerheart Systems

The above Adversary Stat blocks were sourced from the Daggerheart System Reference Document 1.0 and are the copyright of DRP, Darrington Press, who are the creators of the material (Adversary Stat Blocks). This content was not modified is licensed under the DRP Community Gaming License which can be found here: Darrington Press CGL.

Based on the balancing section of the Daggerheart books we can have four of the Zombie Packs, three Zombie Legions and one Arch-Necromancer calling the shots and really driving the combat forward. This is set up for a series of T4 party members but if its lower tiers then it can be adjusted to make it work by reducing the thresholds and difficulty on the zombie legion and arch-necromancer as well as adjusting the damage and attack bonuses to lower levels.

Thanks for visiting tonight for another set of updates for this weeks adventure featuring some additional Daggerheart content. Don’t forget to come back over the weekend for more updates and lastly, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Merchants Way

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This week the fighting takes place on Merchants way where several buildings lie in ruins, rubble is piled up and fires are spreading. But that’s the real problem as undead flood the streets – but that’s a problem for tomorrow night.

So grab a coffee, maybe a torch as we shamble into tonight’s adventure map!

Merchants Way

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Felkirk Merchants Way – Gridded – Created in Inkarnate.

The flickering firelight that had sprung up where the fire laden arrows had missed their undead-marks and landed amongst the wooden debris of the building around the street illuminated the desperate scene that lay before them. Broken buildings, rubble and the evidence at what once was a bustling area for commerce and mercantile now lay in ruins.

Undead patrolled the street and the damage that was being done by the undead to the area around them was met and sometimes exceeded by the damage done by those defending the walls just up the street. The party had stumbled into a battleground where they were caught staring destruction straight into its eyes.

Multiple layers to get the desired effect this week. A layer of dirt with a 70~% opacity for cobblestone was then muted by a soot-like layer and then darker dirt to represent the foot traffic, or undead traffic, that moved through the streets. Multiple layered art assets built up texture around the building to create depth. A night filter cause, its my favourite, and the use of fire assets and light to create visual pinpoints of light and maybe some strategic spots for the players.

Felkirk Merchants Way – created in Inkarnate.

Thanks for joining for another map night this week. Don’t forget that we have a few more nights left this week so make sure to come back each day to see what I add to this adventure. And lastly, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Body Broker

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Welcome to another night at my tabletop where tonight we are meeting the body broker that is currently causing a little bit of chaos down Merchants Way.

So grab a coffee to stay awake was we meet our sorcerous foe in tonight’s adventure!

Body Broker

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Body Broker – Created in Copilot.

Clack, clack, clack was the sound of the boots of the party and their group as they rushed up Merchants way towards where the sounds of combat could be heard. The ground still remained sticky and grimy with blood and the evidence of the brutal slaughter that took place along this street. But the closer that the party drew towards the castle the less devastation there was and the more fallen undead bodies there were.

Broken, dismembered and shattered were some of the ways that the bodies that lay strewn across the rough stone of the street. Up ahead the party could see the volleys of fire arrows that dashed into the heaving mass of undead bodies that pushed at the gates and walls that surrounded the castle and the houses that surrounded it.

But standing further back and weaving spells that were hurled towards the defenders at the wall or outside it regardless of the damage it did to their own troops was a mage. Long dark robes that looked tattered like feathers broke up their form against the wall of undead that consistently moved in front of the magic user as volleys of arrows pelted down upon the dead. For not it looked like the mage had not seen them until the scratching of claws on claw drew the parties attention to the roof near by.

Ravens, dozens of them with various degrees of damage, broken bones or wounds watched them from the streets edge. Undead by the looks of them and by how quickly they were wilting it appeared as if they had been scouting for their mage master for quite some time. So a stealth approach was ruined and even now as they looked between the birds and the mage a gathering of zombies had started to form to create a wall of bodies between them and the mage.

However, as they watched several fireballs littered the ranked undead troops causing large gaps to form amongst their numbers. As the mage tried to reorganise his undead troops before him at the wall the zombies who were massing to form a secondary wall in front of the party started to shamble about creating gaps in their unending masses.

It appeared as if they would have an opportunity to make it to the mage if they timed it well enough.

Thanks for dropping by for another night at my tabletop. Don’t forget as we passed the midway point we have maps and monsters, well creature stat blocks left for this week. So make sure you don’t forget to come back the last few remaining days this week to stay up to date with what’s happening at my tabletop. And lastly, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Ghoul Patrol

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Tonight we have Cinella and Bunker, although reluctantly, join the party on something that would come to be known as the Ghoul Patrol. As undead are found filling Merchants Way the party and their allies race against time to push through the undead in an attempt to save the king.

So grab a coffee as we get ready to re-fill some graves in tonight’s adventure!

Ghoul Patrol

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Cinella and Bunker – Created in Copilot from WordPress generated images.

Each step they took closer to the long road named Merchants Way was filled with dread as the signs of carnage and bloody combat were everywhere. But blood didn’t disturb the party as much as the lack of bodies. Not a single fallen soldier, guard, mercenary or citizen could be found and despite the large amount of blood spilt everywhere the evidence that the bodies were moved was clear as day.

Drag marks, trails of blood and further carnage travelled up Merchants Way towards the castle where cries of alarm and screams of terror could be heard. Being careful to avoid the debris from broken carts, doors and the occasional wall the party pushed on. Soon enough they found where the bodies had been moved to.

The shambling horde of bodies came from the alleys showing unusual intelligence for the undead as they moved to cut off a retreat from the party, Cinella and Bunker who were joined by a few good soldiers. As the undead rushed in the party braced and cut, battered and blasted them down to a true death. However, as the party fought to keep the cracked fingernails, and rotting teeth from sinking into them a strange realisation came over them.

Half of the undead were the populace of this city but the other half were weakened, older corpses that looked like they had already sustained some heavy wounds previously. These had been dead for much much longer than the others and the markings and aging wounds on their body told the party everything they needed to know. They had been prepared for this attack on Felkirk, these were the shock troops that the invading force had planned all along, an army of zombies.

The freshly risen dead told them that there was a powerful mage with them, a necromancer of considerable power and even as the last of the zombies fell as the magic that animated their broken bodies winked out of existence a raven cawed loudly above them before turning to fly off up Merchants way.

It appears as though their company was expected and it was more than just soldiers and street thugs that had been sent to Felkirk to take the city. Taking a moment to staunch their own and their allies wounds they hurried off up the street towards the castle.

Thanks for visiting tonight for another update for this weeks adventure. Don’t forget to come back the last few nights this week to make sure that you don’t miss anything that happens with this adventure. And, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Ever Watchful Eye

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Tonight I wanted to expand the current adventure and take it one step forward with the ever watchful eye of a mage keeping an eye on things.

So catch your breath, keep an ear out for danger and and eye on the skies as not all is over yet.

Ever Watchful Eye

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Ever Watchful Eye – Created in WordPress.

As the crackling flames spread across the deck of the ship from the braziers that spilled during the fight. The party moved to the boat that was attached to the ship and climbed down into the relative safety of the small rowboat. As they cast off the flames flickering on the waters surface and the bubbling and hissing of falling alight debris seemed calm and soothing compared to the intensity of the battle that saw the damage to the galley – causing its demise.

But as they moved across the water their eyes were drawn to a dark shape that stood on the top of the large masts. A bird, possibly a large raven, watches them as they push off from the galley. As the flames get higher on the galley itself the bird does not move, not even as the flames start to lick at its feet and feathers before it takes off and flies overhead above the party and off towards the district where many merchants call their home.

As the bird flew off the party lost sight of it crossing over the warehouses where the trail of smoke from its cindered feathers blended with smoke from the burning ships and buildings. Beyond the smoke the party did not see the pale flesh underneath the patchy features, nor the broken beak, rotting claws or the open wound on the raven. The bird circled downwards towards a large figure amongst a gathered crowd. The tangy smell of open wounds, and the rank pungency of the freshly made dead rose here.

The gathered undead swarmed around a man in long grey robes in a breastplate. Holding out his hand the raven landed upon it and after moment the unholy life from the bird was whisked away causing the unanimated corpse to fall to the floor – the magic no long sustaining it.

‘It seems like we need to pick up the pace.’ the man mused as he urged the freshly risen dead to push forward.

Thanks for joining me tonight for a bit of the setup for the next weeks adventure as we move onto the last part of this three part adventure. So don’t forget to come back tomorrow for the Zine and lastly, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Ballistae, Warriors and Bullies

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Tonight we have the Ballistae, warriors and bullies revealed for this weeks adventure as we spice things up a bit with the next tier of adventure.

So get ready to dodge ballista bolts, parry swords and watch your back with tonight’s encounter!

Ballistae, Warriors and Bullies

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For D&D Systems

D&D Statblocks for Red Oni Mercenary, Blue Oni Mercenary and Ballista Operator – created in Tetra-cube.

The soldiers that dressed heavily in red were swift and aggressive as they threw themselves at the party with hungry eyes. Their blades were quick and left the party reeling easily as their blades hammered hard against armour and flesh alike. But the noise that brought the greatest amounts of fear was the creaking and the sudden twang that resonated across the turbulent air.

Several large ballistae were mounted on the ship and as they turned their massive arms towards the party it was only a matter of time until they loosed their deadly cargo. But the warrior dressed in blue commanded the troops, sending them rushing in, commanding the ballista to swivel and pivot and with a well trained eye even helped pick out the perfect time for a volley to be let loose at the party. However there were several soldiers dressed in red between the party and the warrior in blue.

For Daggerheart Systems

The above Adversary Stat blocks were created by me in Canva. Rules were adapted and inspired by adversaries from the Daggerheart System Reference Document 1.0 and are the copyright of DRP, Darrington Press, who are the creators of the material (Adversary Stat Blocks). This content was modified/created is licensed under the DRP Community Gaming License which can be found here: Darrington Press CGL.

Trying something new tonight as I have spent a fair bit of time the last few days watching and reading up on the Daggerheart system. The horned soldiers fill out a bit of the roster tonight and learning how to balance a daggerheart encounter isn’t as had as I thought it would be. Several Red horned soldiers, a single blue one and at least four ballistae operators makes for a challenging but rewarding encounter.

Thanks for visiting tonight for another set of updates for this weeks adventure featuring some additional Daggerheart content. Don’t forget to come back over the weekend for more updates and lastly, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Felkirk Docks

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The Felkirk Docks are the scene of the bloodiest battle so far. As the Streets have been cleared the waves of men and women attacking people on the street have dwindled – but all is not clear yet as the docks are still taken over.

So grab a coffee, sink down into your comfortable chairs as we row off into tonight’s adventure map!

Felkirk Docks

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Felkirk Docks – Gridded – Created in Inkarnate.

The steady waves that rolled in from the bay against the shore betrayed the chaos and bloodbath that had taken place here over the last few hours. As the flames from the burning ships spread to the docks the light flickered across the water and the armour that the soldiers wore as they moved about the docks and aboard the ship.

A single working pier stood while soldiers moved on and off it as they transported what they had looted from buildings or taken from the bodies of those that now burned in piles. However the boats they had commandeered to run the ill-sourced goods had closed off roofs that hid much of the cargo from view.

A relatively easy one tonight with only a few textures used with a few art assets. By controlling light and the placement of items around the battlefield to provide either cover, depth of the narrative or as inspiration for what the party could do to accomplish their objective.

Felkirk Docks – created in Inkarnate.

Thanks for joining for another map night this week. Don’t forget that we have a few more nights left this week so make sure to come back each day to see what I add to this adventure. And lastly, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe