dnd

The Bleak

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Tonight it’s the build up for something I hope to run one day with my own party and The Bleak is where we start, continue and end this short adventure hook. Inspired by an image generated weeks ago in Nightcafe and since, its broiled in the back of my mind and with the DMG coming out in the imminent future – a player run keep could be cool no?

In an interesting turn of events the party are made the custodians of a lone citadel at the edge of the known civilised world known as The Bleak. Taking a job to deliver a message turned into something much larger, much more imposing than what they could have anticipated. But not all is lost and not all seems as wild outside the fortified walls of The Bleak.

But it’s never that simple, there is always something more, just a little bit that gives adventure its name.

The Bleak

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The Bleak – created in nightcafe.

The job was a simple one, beyond simple. Deliver a letter to the warden of some old keep called ‘The Bleak’. When the party had asked about the keep from their employer, messenger’s from the king and queen, they were only too happy to tell them about the local area, the environment, natural resources and rumours around the local area. The pay, goods worth thousands of gold pieces – enough that you could retire on if you wanted and live a comfortable life for a number of years.

The one condition, don’t open the letter. The messenger demonstrated with a duplicate what would happen if they opened it – a pile of ash.

The trek was even easier. The horses were fine steeds gifted to them by the court, well fed and ready for the trek with enough feed to get them by for the week of travel. The roads were, relatively quiet with the first people to try and stop them disappearing quickly one they saw the horses. Game was plentiful, a run in with a pack of wolves was quickly dealt with and a large wyvern flew above them heading in the direction they were.

They should have consulted the seers. This wasn’t the first omen they had seen and anyone in the business knows that there is no amount of easy money that is, in fact, easy. As they climbed the mountain where the keep was positioned they could see through gaps in the rocky surface that beyond the mountains was a rough rocky and barren land. A few shafts of smoke were the only tell-tale sign that there was life out there and they remarked that the land behind them was a fertile paradise compared to what lay beyond.

But they had known this, the kings messenger had described the lands of the keep in great detail. The first few miles into the desert, the mountain range and then up to and including a village they had stayed at last night. It was a large land and there was no sign that this was at the detriment to the keeps success.

The Clause

The party reached the keep at sun down as it cast half the fortress in a glow that made it look like it was made from gold. The gates were closed and they could see a few people standing watch in towers, who, quickly scurried inside when they saw the party.

“Hold!” a voice called from the keep. “A few questions to make sure you’re the ones we’re expecting. It’s not often, if ever, we get visitors so well equipped so please excuse our apprehension.” the man who spoke was old, well mannered and had an air of nobility about him. Satisfied by the response the party heard an loud, audible crack of a ballista that must have been concealed as it undid the tension in its bow.

The man, Cornelius, was a wonderful host and once he had the letter in his possession a whisk of blue rose from the wax seal. He ushered them into the keep and organised for their steeds to go to the stables where they would be housed and well fed. He showed them to the hall where they happily waited for a a little amount of time to get just enough food to fill their bellies. When it was time to retire he showed them to the bed chambers, a large one designed for guards with many bunk beds or rooms that would fit in with inns of good renown.

In the morning they found Cornelius waiting for them with a broad grin. “I hope you’ve found that the keep is to your liking? That’s good as its yours to run now. The letter was proof that you had been chosen to inherit the governance of The Bleak and its lands. I will leave tomorrow morning to give me enough time to fill you in on what you may want to know and the servants and all but two guards will stay here with you. With owning this prestigious piece of land it grands you the titles of Lords and Ladies, so, what would you wish for breakfast my lords and ladies?” he asked with no hostility or malice was to be found in the old mans face.


Thanks for dropping by tonight for a quick length campaign hook. Something tells me that this wont be the last we see of The Bleak. 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

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

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

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