Homebrew

Silencing Spooks

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The hand is revealed as the party begin in silencing spooks, specifically the spectral creature that has appeared in front of them. But there is more to what meets the eye here as the creatures are not just mindless undead creatures – they are messengers to a war that is ongoing and yet to begin.

So let’s sit down, grab a coffee and try to avoid the tavern brawl!

Silencing Spooks

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The party watched as the creature drifted in space, casting its faceless vision across the party they could feel it coiling like a snake. The purple moth eaten robes it wore was only broken by the thinnest circlet of silver that wrapped around the brow of the faceless head.

As it rushed forward the movement causing the robes to whip about in the air as it darted above the ground. Its speed and aggression surprising the party as all they could do was avoid being torn to shreds in its opening enraged attack. But the creatures presence and its touch had a different effect, silence.

The noises of the world drifted away from them the crash of furniture, the scrape of weapons on scabbards and even the cries of battle became muffled as if the battle was under water. A second effect crept over them and as their blades and spells tore shreds from the creature a numbness swept over those with connections external to the material plane. A severed connection to their deities and their patrons.

As their weapons and spells connected to the creature another voice, another presence entered their mind. One that was darker and hungrier. “Strip down their walls, pull down their offerings of false worship, bring destruction and undeath across the lands”. The voice, the call to fight for a higher power was withered yet commanding and it came with the vision, a momentary flicker, of a sunken face sitting in a throne of bones dressed in a purple robe.

The creature fell after a few dozen heartbeats and as the form disappeared the clink of the silver circlet hitting the wooden floor of the tavern was the first indication that the oppressive silence was lifting. A moment passed where the party spoke amongst themselves of what they believed had happened but their moment was interrupted with the crack of thunder.

Outside a large thunderhead had formed. As lightning arced amongst the clouds the party could see a dark silhouette of a towering, broad shouldered man at the heart of the cloud and if not all for the same image being seen from all present it may have been mistaken as just a shape in the cloud. When a bolt of lightning lashed out and struck the bell tower of Chauntea; a small slither of golden light thrumming into existence as the bolt hit, the party knew that they were in the middle of something much greater.

The next flash of lightning revealed more of the purple-robed spectres as they descended towards the village. A battleground of the gods, nothing more than a gesture in their divine minds but a fight for life and death for those caught between the deities throwing fists.

Thanks for joining me for a rather big one tonight. Not really inspired by any one thing or another tonight but rather the complex relations between a few different deities in a greater contest of might at a divine level. Don’t forget that the adventure still continues here for the next few days and, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Silent Treatment

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When your significant other, or just anyone in your life for that matter, gives you the silent treatment you know something has really gone wrong for you. But what happens when its your deity and where that treatment has spread across the whole village you live in and for everyone within its boundaries.

So let’s slow down, grab a coffee maybe some flowers and try to make amends with higher powers!

Quiet is a word that none would have expected to describe Chauntea let alone the devout followers within Sunleaf Village. However, a silence has washed over the village and the clerics have had to save their remaining blessings, healings and divine spells as they are unable to replenish them each night as their pleas to their goddess have fallen on deaf ears.

Although that’s what they think. Darker powers are at play and a spectral figure has been seen amongst the thatched and tiled roofs of Sunleaf village. What they need is not just help, nor the divine intervention that they are hoping for but the kind of miracles that come with strangers looking to stay the night in the village on their way through.

Silent Treatment

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Sunleaf Village – Created in Nightcafe.

As the party encouraged their horses to plod along the last few minutes to the inn they gazed at the village at night. Neat and tidy houses of farmers greeted them amongst the dark silhouette of the village in its entirety. A large steeple, likely a church to a deity that looked over the village could be seen towering above the houses and in the distance warehouses for storing farm produce.

Sunleaf village was, as the houses and buildings indicated, a farming village that provided a significant amount of produce for the capital. Its beasts were regarded as being some of the best in the land when it came to its draft horses, oxen and sheep.

As the party saw their destination, the Silver bucket, they led their horses to the adjoined stables and ensured that their horses were secured with feed and water. As they entered the cosy inn they were greeted by a smiling halfling with halfmoon glasses. “Good evening travellers. I’m sorry we’ve just finished with much of the hot meals but we still have food available. Rooms are 1 gold piece a head but it includes meals and we’ve got a stable hand that can see to any beasts needs if you’ve got them in the stable.” the man said as he leaned across the desk at them.

“The names Harry, Harry Hastebee. What brings you to Sunleaf viallge?” Harry asked as he placed a plate of warm roast vegetables and some mutton in gravy in front of them. “I best warn ye though. Try not to get hurt unless you’ve got your own healer. The clerics of Chauntea’s church have run dry.” he said as he poured the party a drink of wine of ale, all locally made.

“They say the goddess has gone mute, or gone deaf to our pleas. One of them, I can’t keep up with what they are saying. Any way, look after yourself and try not to go outdoors too late – rumour is that there’s something spooking the village folk in the city at the moment.” Harry continued as he moved about the room. “Lucky we have a songstress in the church, some of her magic isn’t given by the gods so we aren’t defenceless, but its not looking good. The parent church in the capital said they would send some clerics to come and help but they are yet to arrive. Strange and scary times I tell ya.”

Harry excused himself as another visitor walked in, a young man who was carrying a box of vegetables with him. “If you lot need anything I’ll be in the larder. Give a holler and I’ll be with you in a moment. Young Jason just brought some fresh vegetables for tomorrow and I best look after him first.” Harry called out as he led the way for the man, Jason, into the kitchens.

Thanks for visiting tonight for another quiet week of adventure. Don’t forget that each day this week we will expand this adventure further with tomorrow exploring what’s going on a bit more and meeting some notable NPCs. So don’t forget to come back each day this week until its conclusion on the weekend and, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

A Guild Masters Guilt

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

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

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

So I hope you enjoy this weeks adventure, A Guild Masters Guilt, and that your rolls are made with advantage.

A Guild Masters Guilt

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Silver Sparrows Messenger Guild – Created in Nightcafe.

As well known adventurers the party had been given rooms at guilds whenever they asked and it happened that the Silver Sparrows had organised for them to rest. The Guild master, Bastion Sparrow had a reputation for clean, organised business endeavours that had benefited many up and coming adventurers with work. The adventurers sat amongst the employees of the messenger guild as they sat and feasted in the large hall that was made available to the message runners, their guards and distinguished guests, like the party.
A bell rang which caused the room to look up at the ledge where the guild master normally addressed his people and this time they were not disappointed. Bastion stood, smiled faintly before clearing his voice that caused the last chatters to die out.

With the change in guild masters from Bastion to Kilt the offer that was extended to the party was quickly removed. Advised that they were unable to stay in the Silver Sparrows guild hall for the night they were advised that a comfortable room had been organised for them at The Crispy Basilisk, an Inn thats reputation for strong drink was almost as well known as its reputation for pickpockets, thugs and thieves. As they sat down and considered their options a disturbance near the door interrupted them.

“Bastion, well well fancy that. We’re just on the way to the Sparrows Hall to be welcomed back by Kilt. So much for you kicking us out you stupid bastard. Looks like the new guild leader recognises the need for muscle and not just manners.” a large bald man sneered as he pushed past the old guildmaster. Bastion caught himself on a bench and after apologising to the patrons sitting there he walked to the bar spotting the party on the way. After retrieving a tankard of strong ale he sat next to the party and apologised.

“I would’ve hoped that the new guild master would continue with common sense but it seems that they do not want to keep adventurers on friendly terms. I am terribly sorry that you were kicked out of the room you had occupied. I am not sure if Kilt was the right decision here, perhaps I should have fought harder…” he began.

PDF adventure – A Guild Masters Guilt

A Guild Masters GuiltDownload

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

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

2024 Campaign Adventure 16

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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

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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

Clouded Astral Plane

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Tonight’s a pretty easy one but there is nothing easy about exploring the clouded astral plane. Whole not all astral planes will be clouded and fraught with danger this one just so happens to be!

So sit back, grab a coffee, and let’s explore tonight’s Map!

Clouded Astral Plane

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The Clouded Astral Plane – Created in Inkarnate.

The large chunks of debris from what appears to be an imploded mountain scatter the skies in this area that is blanketed by thick clouds. This is the perfect place for predators to be lurking amongst the clouds or the rocks themselves. While movement is always tricky in the astral plane fighting is even worse as the mental fatigue of righting yourself and moving a physical form in a place that defies physics proves challenging.

Only two layers for the background today with a mixture of texture, brightness and opacity for the clouds gives it a bit more depth. Rocks give us something more than just clouds to interact with an can add to a layer of depth and complexity when it comes to a battle – but they look good and that’s why they are there.

A filter over the top to bring in some more depth and change the tone a little bit in the warmer direction brings the rest of it home.

Thanks for joining me for a really short map making night. Don’t forget to come back tomorrow to finish off the week strong and, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Astral Acquiescence

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While the queen and her guard give in to their, astral acquiescence, the people that were hired to protect them must sally forth quickly to ensure that they are not too late. There are many ways to cross into another plane of existence but to get to a specific place required a bit more knack.

So let’s sit down, grab a coffee and drift into the Astral plane!

Astral Acquiescence

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The party watched the witch, Freja, as she cast her divination ritual in an attempt to locate where the queen had go. Luckily they had found a means to getting to the astral plane amongst the belongings of Roderick including scrolls, rings and even, reluctantly, the bags of holding her used while adventuring in his youth.

“Now when you’re in there to return back to this plane you need to find a puddle, it may take some time to locate one at all but a puddle that matches the same colour of the one you enter in. Something that’s a different colour, even slightly so may take you to somewhere you don’t want to be. Remember that limbo, the nine hells and even the demi-planes between all have links to the astral plane. Don’t just jump into the first puddle you see.” Roderick recited it like he had said it many times before. In fact he had recited the same information, to them, many times since Freja had arrived and had began the several rituals to locate the queen.

“There are many creatures that are in those plans. Plane-walkers, the creatures that drift between planes for o one but the astral plane houses warring creatures that don’t look kindly upon those who enter into their territory .” he said as he walked off to check on Freja.

The moment had come for the party to cross over via their chosen method. Freja stood before them and commenced a rhythmic chanting as she manipulated the weave around them. Small fetishes, statues made from bone and semi-precious stones glowed as she channelled the magic she harnessed into them to stabilise a point.

She gave the signal for the party to create the portal and Roderick stepped forward. “Freja said that she can get you to close enough to the queen but not her exact location. You’ll have to locate her but be aware, she has been in there for a while now and there may be predators coming to investigate what’s lingered so far from the material plane. Once you have her get moving – after a few hours you should find something like a puddle, a portal back to this plane. If you find the wrong one then keep searching. You’ll get there.” he added as he handed them a bag. “Supplies in case it takes a while. For yourself and the queen.”

And with that the party stepped away from the knight and his witch and prepared to enter the astral plane.

Thanks for joining me for another night of adventure. I find adventures like this where its not, super heavily scripted or controlled hard to write for as any DM can tell you a Party of adventurers will do what they please, when they please and they rarely allow you to stick to your planned adventure. Regardless don’t forget that the adventure still continues here for the next few days and, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

The Queens Palanquin

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Once a year on the queens birthday she opens the doors to the castle to receive gifts from her nobles and well wishers alike. However she never keeps them and instead she uses the gifts to bolster the coffers of the kingdom so that she can alleviate taxes for her people and provide support to them. She is a popular queen because of this but not everyone agrees with her methods.

So let’s sit down, grab a coffee watch the procession of well-wishers!

Queen Maribeth has always been beloved by her people and its not just the way that she rules the kingdom or her beauty but by how she supports them out of the kingdoms coffers. She never asks for taxes or tithes but instead uses what she receives from other kingdoms, nobles and well wishers on her birthday to fund the coffers for the next year.

However, not everyone thinks well of the queen and her methods in funding the kingdom. With her life in peril and the party hired to protect her will they rise to the occasion and protect a beloved monarch or will they fail and be held accountable for more than just failing a job, but failing a kingdom.

The Queens Palanquin

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The Queens Palanquin – Created in Nightcafe.

Queen Maribeth glanced over at the extra guards on the stairs to her palanquin and sighed. Her guard had received intel that this year there will be an attempt on her life, but none can say where, when or how just that it will happen. Despite her men warning her Maribeth still decided to go ahead with the normal festivities and opened the doors to her castle once again to receive donations and gifts from nobles vying for power, visiting royalty and dignitaries who come to pay respects and any well wisher who wants to give her a gift.

As for the majority of her reign she looked forward not just to this day but using the gifts, small or large, to support her people, the common folk, merchants and labourers of the Kiptaken kingdom instead of taking taxes she uses her own funds. A large portion of her funds comes from the sale or trading of gifts that are given to her and rarely does she keep anything.

As she looked and thanked the latest well wishers, nobles from her own kingdom who’s people would benefit from their generosity she smiled and allowed the mercenaries acting as her personal guards to allow them to approach her. Taking the hand woven bag that was filled with gems and jewels from their mines she thanked them for their generosity and handed it to her chief guard to confirm there to be nothing dangerous about the gifts.

This had been the norm for the day and it slowed the process down as each item was investigated before put into an open chest near by. The chest itself was enchanted to hold hundreds of times more space than what would normally fit. Her wizards had explained to her that it was much like a bag of holding, a traditional magical item that was sought after those who pursued adventuring.

“The bag itself was a gift from one of our vassals.” the lord said proudly. “Hand woven from across the sea using local materials. I believe its made from Lamia hair if I am not mistaken.” he said with a bow. Maribeth smiled and thanked the man, the mercenaries had already assessed no weapons were concealed on any of her well wishers so far and she the thanked them again as her head guard placed the bag in the chest.

“I am sure that it will continue to make your vassal proud as it assists the kingdom. I think you again Sir Roderick for your families continual support.” she said with a smile at the man and his wife. “Do come for a visit once this month has quietened d…” she was cut off as a sound like ripping fabric burst forth from the chest. Within a moment there was an explosion of energy and magic as a shimmering rift of green energy opened up before the queen and her procession of gift givers.

A force so powerful that the chest imploded sending the entire contents so far tumbling into the shimmering green curtain before it snatched at the resplendent palanquin and a heartbeat later, the queen. As the force took hold The queen, her guard, half the throne and the chest of gifts were snatched up and pulled through the shimmering curtain of energy before it disappeared showing a scene of destruction.

The panic that ensued as guards launched at Sir Roderick and his family to restrain them as the party, the mercenaries who were hired to protect the queen looked over the scene of the crime. An astral portal had materialised and ripped the queen through its shimmering curtain, taking her and her head guard into the beyond.

Their job had failed as without proper guidance or knowledge of the plane the queen would never find her way out. The party would find themselves held accountable for the loss of the kingdoms ruler and, likely, never find work in this land again as they would be known as the guards who failed the Queen.

Thanks for visiting tonight for another week of adventure. Tomorrow I will introduce the queen and a few other people in more details so you wont want to forget to come back tomorrow. Don’t forget that each day this week we will expand this adventure until its conclusion on the weekend and, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Sins of the Subconscious

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

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

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

So I hope you enjoy this weeks adventure, Sins of the Subconscious, and that your rolls are made with advantage.

Sins of the Subconscious

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Church of Kelemvor – Created in Nightcafe.

The party had been travelling to a large city and were a few hours past the last village that they had seen for hours when the storm hit. Violent winds, rain and even hail struck at them and they were forced to seek shelter, an abandoned cottage nearby with a dried up well. Taking turns to watch as there had been signs of a large creature about they waited out the storm. However when the person on watch turned to wake up the next person to take watch a creature darted at them from outside, slamming open its door in its haste and dug a mouthful of fangs into the adventurer. 

The party roused and attacked the beast hoping to kill it but they only managed to scare it off. However the damage was already done and the party member fell unconscious. 

The nearest place they could take their ally was the village a few hours back and since no magic or potions seemed to be healing the wound they would need powerful magic, the magic of the gods.

The party made it to the village and into the church where they were disappointed to be rejected for healing, the doctrine of this clergy to Kelemvor forbade the prevention of a natural death. However room and protection from the storm was available and they were fed, the wounds were cleaned and they sat into a long night. 

PDF adventure – Sins of the Subconscious

Sins of the SubconsciousDownload

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

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

30 Minute Challenge, Raiders Ravine

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So another Saturday has come and something that, after years writing adventures weekly on the blog and for my own Tabletop (which I don’t publish) it shouldn’t be surprising that I hit a creative block on occasion. That’s why I started the 30 minute challenges with tonight I focus once again on something randomly generated and expanding it to a one shot adventure within 30 minutes. Todays 30 minute challenge, Raiders Ravine is to looking the party find when they investigate a series of missing ships and disposed passengers.

As normal I have a few self-imposed restrictions are in place to keep it interesting for me.

Rules of the challenge for me

  • Single word or theme (an image tonight)
  • 30 minute timer
  • Must be a playable adventure
  • Must have at least one driver (Antagonist/protagonist)
  • Must be D&D or RPG centric and attempt to be of the fantasy variety.

Time started: 20:36 AEST

Overview: 

In the Crimson Fjord, an unprecedented number of ships had gone missing. Unlike past incidents involving pirates, storms, or even a white dragon, this time was different. Survivors—passengers, crew, merchants, and guards—were found on the shore, dazed and certain they had been robbed. They all recounted hearing a soft song and seeing a rainbow of colours before waking up in rowboats.

The city, frustrated by the losses, called for adventurers to investigate, claiming a sea monster was to blame. The adventurers set sail with an old, experienced captain. On the second day, after encountering whales, a mist appeared, accompanied by a hypnotic song and shimmering colours. It was a spell, and soon sleek vessels attempted to board their ship. The adventurers fought them off and chased them to a hidden fjord filled with pirate ships and stolen vessels. Now, they had to decide whether to confront the pirates or escape.

30 Minute Challenge, Raiders Ravine

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Raiders Ravine – created in nightcafe.

There had never been a time in the Crimson Fjords history where as many ships had gone missing. There had certainly been times where pirates, storms or even a large aggressive white dragon had taken it upon themselves to destroy the ships leaving or entering the port but lately it had been different.

The passengers, crew, merchants and even guards had all appeared on the shoreline dazed, confused and positive that they had been robbed. Their ships all disappeared and their stories all the same. That they had heard a soft song coming across the waves and then a rainbow of colour before being jostled awake by the waves rocking their row-boats against the shore of the Crimson Fjord.

The city had grown tired of this, let alone the dozens of merchants who had lost merchandise aboard the lost ships. What was more infuriating was that when the it didn’t matter if it was merchants, passenger or military ships they all disappeared with the survivors, of which there were nearly no casualties or missing people sure that they were all innocent and something was hunting them.

The call had gone out for adventurers to investigate with, certain detailed omitted from the report. The city claimed that a sea monster was terrorising the ships, as it was the likely explanation, and that the adventurers would leave on a small ship and investigate what they were dealing with. Not finish the beast off but to merely investigate.

The party had agreed as it appeared that nearly the entire cities worth of merchants had chipped into the reward for the quest. The water in the fjord was calm and soon the chilly sea breeze was carrying the salty sea air to the party as they sailed outwards. Their captain appeared to be too old to care but they had been assured that they were in great company. The old salty sea-dog of a captain drank liquor strong enough to knock a dwarf over but managed to handle the craft like an extension of his own two arms.

On the second day they had seen a pod of large black and white whales that had rubbed against their ship, testing it before heading off to hunt for less wooden prey. However, not an hour after the last signs of the large creatures had head off did a mist appear on the sea spreading out from the land towards them. A mournful song came wafting across the water and the mist began to shimmer with a myriad of colours.

It was a spell. An attempt to put the party under hypnosis, and for some it did albeit temporary, but soon several rough looking sleek vessels had approached the ship and the occupants had attempted to board. After a few moments it was clear that the hired adventurers were not a group to be trifled with and the crafts retreated through the fog towards land.

Giving chase the party came across a second Fjord, a large inlet gave way to sea-side stone buildings and fortifications that swarmed with pirates who started to sound the alarm the moment the adventurers ship was spotted. Within the fjord dozens of ships sat moored sporting colours from just as many different merchant, a naval and mercenary companies. The party had found the source of the missing ships, now they had to either deal with the problem of fight escape.

Objective

The objective with this example is really two choices. The party can attempt to fight through the pirates (either subtly or directly) or they can return to the port city of the Crimson Fjord and provide information, being chased by pirates the entire way of course.

Time finished: 20:56 AEST


Thanks for dropping by tonight for a quick adventure writeup. Let me know if you’d like to see more of these style quick-writeups in the future. Don’t forget that tomorrow is ZINE night so make sure you come back for that and, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

The Walking Forest Shrine

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This week has two main encounters but only really one map, the Walking Forest Shrine, as the other one should be easy enough to describe. Although the map is coming tonight the description that ties in this this part, well that will be something a bit more and will come in the next few days.

So sit back, grab a coffee, and let’s explore tonight’s Map!

The Walking Forest Shrine

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The Walking Forest Shrine – Created in Inkarnate.

Dozens of ways to approach the series of raised stone blocks and steps before reaching the statue. The statue rests on a small stone ziggurat that is twenty feet tall with nine bundles wrapped in cloth on specially crafted sections. A large bat-winged creature sits at the centre of the raise platform with large emeralds for eyes which catch and reflect the light from the braziers that burn nearby.

The trees that surround the platform are large, ancient and twisted. Several types of trees call this forest home and it makes for a relatively sheltered approach towards the statue, if the trees can be trusted that is.

About five layers were used for the background today with a two new jungle-grass tones, a moss-green for highlights, two different shades of dirt blended in different ratios to give a worn effect. Three types of trees adds a depth to the map that I can appreciate as a forest typically wont consist of just one tree species.

The ziggurat is several wall sections combined and scaled down together to give variety of shape and purpose. The statue is purposefully larger for a reason, to be revealed later and other than that its the same technique with other asset stamps with colour modification, size and position tweaking a well as a night time filter to be put over the top.

Thanks for joining me for another map making night. Don’t forget to come back tomorrow to finish off the week strong and, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe