Wednesday is here and we have a twist to write up. Tonight my wife rolled up the second twist from week 2 which is looking at another party testing the party to see if they are fit for the job.
Applying this twist was easier than anticipated, I guess luck was on my side this week. But as with yesterday if there is a particular twist that you want to see in this weeks mix-up I will add it in later. So with that in mind let’s get into it.
Final exam
02WeTest1/10WeTest1
The cold ale was a mystery to her, how did the ale remain so cold when the tavern had permanent Infrastructure or visible cooling mechanism? Regardless, it wasn’t half bad ale, better that swill she was used to.
Looking up she noticed a rather odd dwarf have one such cold ale poured down his neck, what surprised her was the sheer magical force that seemed to radiate from the dwarf, centralised on his clenched fist that held a talisman or some kind. Or so her glass eye told him. The three humans, no one was a half-elf, stood behind the men causing a scene and they had a similar aura about them. One of them reminded him of someone she met a long long time ago. She itched the scar around her left socket, a single blow took everything from her but also gave her so much, this was the result when mortals clashed with forged demigods. Picking apart the selection of meats, vegetables and cheeses before her, she settled on a chunk of crumbly soft cheese, a portion of salted ham and a picked purple vegetable she hadn’t had before. ‘the elves can it dragon root, it’s really some kind of soft sweet tuber’ a friendly voice said to her left, glancing that way she noticed a reasonably plain man with large tan overalls. ‘the names Willid, friends call me Will’ She extended her hand and clasped the human’s hand tightly, still getting used to this form of strength ‘Chad, Chad Fyresteel. Smith by trade. Pleased to meet you Will’ she said, her voice sounding exactly like the Smith she shadowed briefly in Lothgar.
‘what do you make of them huh? That Dwarf looks to be quite the fighter, look at that Axe.’ Willid mentioned, inviting himself over to her table. Recognition. She looked more closely at the party of adventurers, she had met them before in the temple of Malar so long ago, well it was mere months, but that feels like a long time for someone in her business. When they didn’t seek her out in the walled city she assumed they hadn’t made it out, especially considering that he was there too. ‘The two paladins are also lethal in their own right, the half-elf also had some tricks he is yet to reveal’ she mused, Willid looked perplexed for a moment. Pointing to the adventures, she quickly tried to regain the persona of Chad. ‘the swords look enchanted and the half-elf looks to be capable of magic’ to punctuate her hypothesis the half-elf pulsed electricity through the temples of the four men.
Willid drank deep from his tankard before standing up. ‘Well, didn’t expect that. But you can’t really expect anything in this tavern anyway. See you around Chad’ he mumbled as he walked to the bar.
She didn’t give recognition to the men walking off as her glass eye detected another source of magic. A crystal the size of a chunk of cheese was in the pocket of a young man across the room, and it looked like it was pulsing in the same manner as the room was. Interesting, Baxter had actually gone through with it. Now, with these adventurers and a room full of people in the middle of nowhere how was he going to get out to hand it over. Stretching in her chair she felt her skin shift slightly, an involuntary shift that occasionally happened when her concentration waned, glancing around she made sure no one saw her guise shift before eating the food in front of her. It was going to be an interesting task for the young thief but if he could pull it off she may have found herself an apprentice.
That’s it for tonight, short and sweet but enough to really add a bit more depth and mystery into our adventure. Having versatile twists sure does make reusing them easier but identifying the cause or key element of even non generic twists can help to diversify your portfolio of ad-hoc, or impromptu twists that can help mix up your adventure if things derail slightly.
Tomorrow is maps, so if there is a certain map you like from a previous week then you know the drill, let me know which week and which map (D10 +D6) or the slug (09ThMa1 for example) and I’ll add it in, easy as that.
Don’t forget to come back tomorrow and as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
True to my word I have 4 NPCs currently (rolled a D10 and D6 each time) and have this far had chance choose 03TuRLH – Rose Longhammer, 05TuBaHe Baxter Henderson and rolling two 10s I have to write two new NPCs tonight…
The tools today are as always Artbreeder but also re-using Fantasy-Faces for the free images there.
So without much more flaff and waffle let’s get into it and walk up to that Dwarf at the bar.
Brinker Fuzzwallop
10TuBiFu
Clank clank clank, the jarring noise of metal striking metal resonates from the darkness of the short corridor in front of them. ‘I’m surprised that this,’ Zander paused for a moment trying to remember the name of the innkeeper, and failing, ‘err.. Wandering Tavern has a cellar. It has arcane magic literally infused everywhere, have you noticed how the walls periodically pulse with a green glow? I think that’s the tavern itself drawing from the weave. It’s a wonder’.
‘Is that you Mer? I need more time, the resonance is playing up with my tools and I am not able to get a lock on where we are. I again suggest going outside and finding out instead of asking me. Now with all respect I can muster for you, pike off” A almost comical high pitched voice trilled from somewhere near the back of the wall.
Mike put his hand on the hilt, having had quite enough of mysterious people in basements, temples or dungeons he wanted to be prepared to draw his magical blade if the time called for it. Dusk on the other hand could not care less, he had already managed to talk a second free tankard of ale (good stuff by his standards) from Mer. Pushing forward from the rest of the party he wiped a bit of froth from his beard ‘Aye, who be you talking to matey, that’s no way to speak to the heroes of Sparrows Rest’
A moment later, muttering some expletives in gnomish a 3 foot tall bald gnome with a dishevelled grey beard stormed around the corner bumping into Ray who had taken up position next to Dusk. ‘I thought I told you to.. oh.. You’re not Mer..’ the gnome stutters slightly looking at the imposing figure of Ray, Dusk, Mike and Zander. ‘Sorry lords, sorry, I didn’t realise it was visitors. Tea! you must have some tea!’ the now flustered gnome stuttered out having realised that he had been cussing someone other than his impatient, lazy boss.
Being shown to a small table, and it would be small for a gnome let alone two humans, a half elf, and a dwarf. Several moments past as the gnome introduced himself. ‘ The names Brinker, Brinker Fuzzwallop – you can call me Brink if you’d like. I’ve been working here for Mer for a good three years yet and I am not any closer to understanding how this Tavern does what it does. Only that it appears to be sentient, knows what it wants and knows exactly what it is doing. It sounds crazy but my instruments,’ the gnome, currently fussing over a tea pot that would make barely enough for a few mouthfuls, points haphazardly over to his right, against the wall where two large gemstones glowed with green light and a bunch of arcane, or at least artificers tools littered the floor around it, ‘all tell me that it’s sentient.’
Zander, noticing the patterns on the panel where the gens are embedded noted that there appeared to be a recession where the veins of light stretched too but didn’t quite reach’
As the party are offered some tea with rather potent floral notes. Zander raises his finger and gestures to the dark spot ‘It looks like you’re missing a conduit’ he says as he swallows the contents of his entire tiny tea cup in a single gulp.
Brink turns around and follows Zanders finger before hastily placing the other teacups in front of the others, almost flying to the panel ‘no, no, no… This isn’t right – there needs to be.. where is Timmy!’ With that Brink runs up the stairs ‘I must tell Mer that we have been robbed. Timmy is missing!’
Mellany Whitfan
10TuMeWh
Rose Longhammer
03TuRLH/10TuRLH
As Dusk snuck up from the cellar to grab himself another tankard of ale he went up to the same bar he got his first, and second tankard from. Sitting in between two patrons already he made himself comfortable on the stool and looked over at the people around him.
On his left sat a human girl with extraordinary white flowing hair, her skin was unsettlingly pale, at least to him, and she seemed to have quite a few tankards of ale in front of her, most of them untouched.
‘Hey you, half-man, that was my spot ay, you best be shoving off.’ Dusk turned around to look at a man who was remarkably handsome, except for the look in his eyes.
‘Be careful of this one Dusk, he has the scent of death upon him’ A cold woman’s voice, like the caw of a raven seemed to move down his spine like a cold shiver.
‘Laddie, I have travelled long and hard and just need a few moments to rest and have an ale. Why don’t you grab an ale and do the same eh?’ Dusk said, reaching for a ale in front of him, his trained nose instantly telling him it had been tampered with. The pale woman looked up at him alarmed and went to say something but a wink and sideways glance from Dusk silenced her.
‘Ere’s one, on me lad.’ he said as he passed the drink to the man and turned around.
‘I don’t want yer ale old man – I was busy being acquainted with the ladies here’ the mans voice snuck in like a serpent as Dusk felt the still cold ale poor down his neck.
The woman to his right, Dusk noting a red haired dwarf woman who had been silently staring at a tankard of ale until now, stood up ‘Now you can’t be doing that, I’m going to have to ask ye to leave now and take your friends’ she said, squeezing Dusks arm to warn him of the odds being stacked against the old dwarf in this instance.
Smoke rose from his breastplate, enchanted to tell him when there was malcontent directed towards him in the local vicinity. The room went quiet as the sound of four chairs could be heard as they scraped across the wooden floorboards.
Dusk laughed. ‘Now,’ his voice grumbled like granite tumbling down a cliff edge, ‘that’s no way to treat yer elders’ as Dusk slowly stood his hand gripped the haft of his axe, the metal on the broad head of the axe shifting, splitting apart as fame flickered to life within revealing a snarling demon that had been carved into the head of the battle axe, ‘My Lady bitch, I’ll be needing your help on this one’ he said turning around – his other hand gripping the emblem of the Raven queen.
As he turned, a bottle came crashing down, aimed for his head, it shattered above his head as golden raven feathers seemed to manifest above him, the remaining liquid within hissing as it evaporated on his divine shield. ‘You lads will wish you hadn’t been tinkering with dark magic now ay. You see’, crunch, Dusk stepped forward splintering a floor board as his divine presence flowed from his emblem causing a visible energy to spread across his frame, causing the axe’s flames to flicker with black magic (a parlour trick for those clerics who know how), ‘my lady told me you had the stench of rot upon ye soul. I can see it now’, he pointed with the axe the very movement of the blade through the air around him sounding like a raven cawing.
One of the ‘friends’ of the man lunged at him, out of bravery or fear only he knew, the blade he had drawn from his coat hitting the same golden barrier, the scrape of metal on magic sounding like a raven mockingly calling out as it sent another few golden feathers of energy floating to the ground. The man realising his folly shrieked and stumbled backwards, hitting a wall of muscle and metal. ‘You’re lucky that my friends are here or you would be meeting my lady soon’ Dusk stated as he placed the head of his axe on the ground, having slowly walked the men into the wall of muscle that Mike and Raynor bodies created.
‘Dusk, what’s going on here. These boys causing trouble?’ Ray said, rolling a shoulder as the five men turned to look up at the two paladins.
‘Aye, the middle one’, Dusk nodded towards the man who started it all, ‘been dabbling in necromancy or so my lady says. She never wrong in this regard, the bitch’ Dusk said, spitting at the floor beneath his feet.
Mike’s face turned into a snarl of rage. ‘You had to say the N word didn’t you..’ Ray said, sighing as a Mikes mailed fist connected with the mans forehead, the limp body tumbling to the ground.
‘Easy now boys, let me deal with it’ Zandar said, floating above the paladins, his hands extended as electricity pulsed between them. An bolt of lightning passed between his hands, arcing out and passing through the heads of the remaining four men. All of them convulsed for a moment before falling to the ground, unconscious or paralysed the party cared not. Landing on the ground Zander dusted his hands, realising that the ground he was on was in fact the first man that Mike took out.
Hopping down he went to stand next to Dusk as Raynor and Mike walked the men outside, rope coming out to bind the hands and arms of the men until they decided what to do with them.
‘We figured when the noise stopped you were causing trouble, not too far from being right were we Dusk hmm?’ Zander said, clasping the old dwarf on the shoulder – his divine magic seeping into the talisman he still clasped in his hand. After a few tense heart beats the occupants of the tavern released a collective breath they had been holding and conversation and song began again.
‘I guess I should be thankful sir Dusk’, a quiet, tentative voice sang from behind him, ‘ that man and his friends had been trying to ply me with drinks for the past few days. Mer didn’t want to do anything with them since they were paying customers and all’ the white haired woman said, having turned around. ‘I am Mel and this is Rose, we had come to Lothgar looking for help before the Tavern went crazy and we ended up here. We are originally from Sparrows Rest, Rose has lost her kid you see and…’
‘Enough Mel, let’s not burden the travellers, as capable as they are, with our little villages problems. Come sit, let us buy you a round’ Rose, the red haired dwarf spoke dragging over a few chairs. ‘Mer is an ol’ friend of mine – we were rivals for a bit there when his tavern accidently ended up in sparrows rest for a few weeks there. So what brings you to this cursed tavern?’
Baxter Henderson
05TuBaHe / 10TuBaHe
As the dwarf, half-elf and two humans sat down Baxter kept his head down and moved the chicken around the white sauce and potatoes on his plate. He didn’t know what he had been thinking, being here was a bad idea, moving from Sebluff to Lothgar had also been a bad idea. He sighed, he barely had enough money for his room and the chicken in front of him. He needed to get back to Lothgar and pay his debts so he could his life anew.
Bax had never been good with staying clean and taking up this last job had really caused him to slip further. ‘One last job’, ‘quick in and out’, ‘don’t worry – you will be gone before they realise’. He scoffed loudly, Mr Pondt, the father of crime in Lothgar had been wrong. Oh god his side was soo itchy, he scratched it as nonchalantly as he could but the clear crystal in his pocked was starting to send sparks of energy into his side, and his jacket occasionally sparked. It was getting out of hand but if he could get this stone back to Mr P. then he was good, his debts paid and then some.
Then he could stop once and for all and make something out of his life. Maybe then Sebluff would see him for what he truly is, how Sarah had seen him.
Well that’s it for today, thanks for joining in.
Now tomorrow is Twist day and as I am all week if you particularly like a twist or shakeup from a previous week let me know in a comment either call it out or the Tag/Slug (07WeCo for example) or roll the dice, d10, d6 and let me know and I will include it in the selection!
I think I have written enough for tonight, hope you enjoyed the return of Mike, Ray, Dusk and Zandar. Don’t forget to come back tomorrow to look at how we can shake it up, and how I will do that (it may be a bit difficult but I will work on it..) and as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
Monday is here and what’s more is that it’s the 10th week of me writing this series of “An Adventure a week”. Even just before when finishing up dinner I was thinking of next weeks adventure, well, one of the possibilities.
But for this week I want to test out something that I envisioned when I first started this journey. Modular adventures. So to explore that a little bit, modular being the ability to construct with standardized units or dimensions for flexibility and variety, in this case each adventure, NPC, Twist (this one may be difficult, but will make it work), Map and encounter will be made up from one or two of the ones previously created in past weeks.
So without further waffle, I had some help from my wife this week – she rolled the dice and left the selection of the adventure up to chance. Rolling a 6 on a d10 (6th week) and 5 from a d6 (second non-used adventure hook).
Mer’s Magical Tavern
06MoWt/10MoWt
As the party travels along the road moving from one city full of problems to a town with even more problems a sudden gust of wind pushes dust into their face, their horses stopping, pacing backwards nervously. After a few heartbeats, lightning splits the sky driving bolts of electricity into the earth just off the road ahead. The growing maelstrom forces their steeds to spook, sending them off the road and bolting away. The party, unable to hold reign in such panicked beasts, fall off and land hard on the ground just as the maelstrom reaches a crescendo where the very air shuddered with the force of an element of nature being born.
As the dust thrown up by the sudden phenomenon disappears the party are left staring at a building, not unlike many they have frequented before, a tavern now stood where the bolts of lightning had struck, any trees, bushes or things in general look to have been disintegrated without a trace remaining.
A moment later a small portly man walks through the front door ‘What in the nine hells is going on. This isn’t right’ the man noticing the party runs over to talk to them, he looks as uncomfortable with running as he is with the situation he finds himself in.
‘you, travellers, where are we? My name is Mer and I am the proud, well most of the time, owner of this tavern. We were not due to snap away from Lothgar for another week by my calculations and now I honestly don’t know where we are’
It takes a few moments of repeating answers to Mer before he seems to calm down. The party were travelling from Lothgar after having spent some time in Newtbranch and were on their way to Sparrows Rest as they had received a call to aid from the mayor of the town. Mer looked perplexed.
‘So you’re telling me that there isn’t a town, city or village, hell not even a shanty town for days in any direction?’ with that he turns back to the tavern. ‘What are you doing? We are not meant to be here, we still had customers, deliveries.. You could have ki… Wait’ Mer whirled back to the party ‘Was anyone or thing there, where the tavern is right now?’
The party confirmed that they hadn’t seen any one or anything there. Mer was relieved – all he needed now was some family complaining that his magical teleporting tavern had squished someone.
‘Say, you lot look to be capable, are you able to help me with something. The Tavern has been doing some weird things of late some of the.. err.. Lenses have gone dark and I am due to be moving to one of them next. Would you mind coming and helping me work out what’s going on with my tavern and fix it if possible?
The party, after a few moments of discussion, eventually decide to help the poor short man and with that they follow him into the well lit, well furnished Tavern simply known as “Mer’s Wandering Tavern”
This week we will be trusting luck, fate, chance, the dice, what ever you want to call it as we randomly generate the contents of this weeks adventures from upcycling what was passed over in previous weeks. Each day I will get someone to roll a dice, well a few dice, to determine which week and which set of content that I should incorporate into this weeks adventure.
If you wish to get involved, either let me know which week, or specific part you want me to include in this weeks adventure and I will do so. Tomorrow is NPCs – so I will be looking for between 1 and 5 NPCs (as they are the beating hearts of what draws our players into these crazy situations) so if I get any comments on this post indicating which NPC to include I will put them in first before rolling for additional. Sounds fun right?
Also this week I will be planning on continuing with the expanded write ups, a more story driven narrative with a shortened version on the weekend. I don’t quite have enough time on the weekends to write a short story.
So that’s it for tonight, a visit from the wandering tavern in a place it wasn’t meant to be for some unknown reason. Lets see where the rest of the week takes us.
Don’t forget to comment if you want to be involved this week either roll the dice (a D10 (if you roll a 10 I will have to make up an NPC..) and then a d6 as I normally have between 2 and 3 things to select from) and let me know what is rolled. Or post the Slug (eg. 09TuSP for Sally Pondt) to identify what you want and I will add it (if I can).
Don’t forget to come back tomorrow for NPCs and as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
Well a weekend write up is due and oh boy do I have a big day ahead of me. I enjoyed writing up the encounters and could see the logical flow and, more importantly, the valid reasons for all of them to be around the town of Newtbranch.
So I have tried to write up this week in the same approach as the week prior – it’s not quite as story driven as the other days buy by using all the days of the week to expand the narrative of the day
Adventure hook
The town of Newtbranch is built amongst the branches of massive marsh trees. The entrance of the cities is an engineering gem, designed by the first caretakers of the Town. The Elves who could sing to the trees to mould them to a shape more fitting or suitable. Many of the oldest buildings in the town are elven in design being built within the living trees to grow and change as nature does. The Gnomes who tinkered and brought artifice to the Town designed the large winch that lifts a platform into the trees as a way of creating a secure method of entering the town. The dwarves built under the roots of the trees and with the help of the elves they reinforced the roots of the trees. Bringing in rock and soil from the mines that litter the marsh they were able to ensure that the roots of the trees could run deem and secure and guarantee the tree town was secure.
The marsh that the town is located in is riddled with history. A civilisation that disappeared long ago has left its traces. Sunken temples litter the marsh, tempting would-be treasure seekers into their dank, wet walls – many of whom do not return.
The other thing that the marsh holds is gold and precious materials. Mines have been sunk all through the marsh, the land itself is either owned by families who have been around or the rich who have come to Newtbranch at the promises of riches, or an escape from a complex life in the large cities.
As of late however the quiet town of Newtbranch has been seeing masked figures skittering across the rope-bridges or sneaking under window sills. As soon as the alarm is called, whether silently or loudly no trace of these masked figures can be found.
The party
The party has received a non-marked call for aid. The letter is as follows. On the back of the scroll is a map and the advice on how to enter the town (where to call out to enter the town)
As the party approaches the town, known only by the location marked at the end of a road on a map. They call out to the guardsmen hidden in the branches “We seek entrance into the town of Newtbranch”. A few moments later they hear a rustling in the branches above them and a large platform, 20 ft long by 10 feet wide descends slowly from the branches.
The keen-sensed party members (DC13) would notice rustling in the bushes nearby. If they are successful in noticing the rustling they avoid being surprised as 5 goblins rush forward and try to storm the platform. If the party gets in the way they attack with a savagery that is strange to anyone who knows the nature of goblins. On the second round of combat a Were-bat will leap on the closest party member and will fight to the death.
After the fight the party are welcomed into the village where they meet ‘Squeak’ a halfling boy of 9 years of age. Squeak offers the party to show them around the town and explain some things that are overlooked by newcomers, but he requests a gold coin. If they do take up his offer then he would take them around the town and would note where the party could stay – mentioning facts or rumours about the townsfolk and showing them where to keep their animals (which they would have passed if they entered the town), showing them Henry’s Emporium – noting that he thinks Henrietta is a witch because he has seen her casting spells and a ghostly hand moving stuff around in the shop. He also mentions that the best miners only buy from Henrietta – she has the best stuff.
He also points out the home tree – a great tree that has a winding staircase that looks like homes that look like they were built in the tree, noting that a few homes are vacant due to people mining late into the afternoon/night. He then finishes up in front of Jolly Fandangles. He mentions that Sal, the owner also owns most if not all of the land below the trees and that they sell miners permits to mine their land, most people can’t afford the permits so Sal takes a share of what they mine from the land.
If the party paid Squeak more than the asked price (1gp) then he would also thank them profusely and offer the advice, don’t get on the wrong side of Sal – rumour has it she is backed by some very powerful people from the outside. Those who go against Sal have bad luck or simply disappear – but she isn’t a bad person – she just owns the town.
Squeak then turns to run off as a dirt covered man stumbles in and bumps into the party, mumbling an apology (that doesn’t make it to his eyes) he stumbles into the Jolly Fandangles. ‘That’s Ash,’ Squeak says, ‘looks like he had another bad day in the mine, well, a bad few years. He really needs to give up and go home.’
The Jolly Fandangle
The Jolly fandangle is a largish tavern that has a large tree trunk that the tavern is supported by and built around going through the middle of the tavern. The tavern is warm, despite there being no obvious fire or hearth and there is a band playing a merry jig in the corner. An amazingly beautiful young woman commands the bar, and she gives off a presence of authority but not in a cold way.
There are a handful of meals available to purchase. A “Rabbit Surprise stew”, Roasted vegetable bowl and “Miners Platter” which is an assortment of cold cured meat, bread, cheese and berries.
The woman is Sally, the owner of Jolly Fandangles, she has an assistant, Jess, that spends a lot of time in the back of the kitchen but she seems to be an energetic young woman who watches everything Sally does in the way of a student watching a teacher.
If asked Sally explains that some of the villagers have seen strange figures are night that appear to have white masks, or skulls like the undead, but they have not been seen in the city.
She also explains that there have been sightings of dark figures in the marsh – but can’t give out a name for who has seen them, only that they have been seen.
The party find themselves seated at a table next to a man dressed in layers of black cloth, he talkative, asking about the party and their business here, the party is cut off in their answer by Sally who places food in front of them loudly and offers them a round of beers on the house.
The Marsh
If the party goes exploring the marsh they will find a set of tracks heading towards a worked stone outcrop. Those who are good with stonework (Dwarves for example) would be able to identify ancient stone carvings, almost like legs of a dying insect jutting from the solid ground (after walking through a bog for the past hour or so), the work is incredible yet aged but the crafters race is unable to be deduced. Following the footprints they find Esmereld who had fallen into the ruins of a sunken temple through a 3ft hole in the roof where the stone had given way when she walked on top of it. She says she was searching for her friend – Ash, who had left the Tavern late at night but had not been seen since.
In the temple any movement near the walls will trigger the guardians to attack silently – triggering another surprise encounter.
The room is 40ft long by 20ft wide, the only light is from the hole in the roof which grants bright light 10ft under the hole, then dim light for a further 5ft, after that it’s darkness.
The animated armor will not pursue the party out of the temple as they just want to keep invaders out.
Upon returning, if Esmereld survives, she will offer them to stay at her place free of charge.
Back the the Treetop Town
By the time they get back it is dark. No goblins attack this time. That night if the party stays with Esmereld they are woken up by Ash knocking on the door – he comes in hurriedly saying that on his way back into the Town he saw masked figures climbing the tree trunks near Henry’s shop.
If the party went to investigate they would notice 7 hulking figures jumping from a tree trunk. Two have long feathered bows (longbows), 5 have wicked looking swords and axes (Long sword or battleaxe).
If they stay in the Tavern one (Dm Picks) of the party is woken by the sound of a bottle rolling along the walkway outside the room they were staying in. If they investigate they see a brief glimpse of a white mask (looks like a skull of some large animal) and muddied skin.
If the party went to investigate they would notice 5 hulking figures moving silently along the ramps and rope bridges in the town. Two have long feathered bows (longbows), 3 have wicked looking swords and axes (Long sword or battleaxe).
After the battle the party finds one of the orks, an archer still alive – as it dies it curses the party for aligning with the dark one that stalks the land and hopes that the party’s dark master will use their corpses in his army of the dead. (if the party can question it further – see Speak with dead)
One of the guardsmen then comes forward to discard the bodies, saying he doesn’t want to leave the bodies around to scare or cause panic in the townsfolk. **A perception check, passive perception 15 or DC13) would note that the guardsman has his uniform over a few layers of dark cloth, and the first foot of cloth, under his guards boots are covered in mud.**
The party returns back to where they were staying and starts drifting off to sleep. An hour into their rest they are woken up to the town’s alarm bell ringing.
As they rush out to find out what’s going on they are led to a few weight balanced ropes and platforms of wood they were advised that several of the guard were already fighting off a large zombie horde, and rumors’ of a dark wizard hidden in the mists were coming through from the guardsmen that made it back to the town – but they were missing a unit of men and women who went into the strange mists.
As they descend to the base of the tree they find themselves surrounded by the dead, zombies were in states of breaking apart, their magic spent, and several more were walking at the base of the trees – pulling and clawing at the wood, as if trying to bring the town down from the roots. Given enough time and not opposition they would be successful.
After fighting the 8 zombies at the base of the trees they notice that another 4 number of zombies (the dead orcs that they killed before – all of them are still wearing the white skull-masks) approaching them from behind the wall of mist, which parts momentarily thanks to Henrietta casting a spell (gust) to reveal a figure in the mists.
The party has about a minute to do whatever they want before the zombies are revealed as all the zombies are revealed, Henrietta appears and casts a gust spell – the mists briefly parts revealing the black cloaked stranger raising another zombie from the body of a guarsemen.
The necromancer keeps the zombie guardsman in front of him at all times, using him as a human shield (reaction to pull the body in the way) the other orc zombies will attack the party.
After the battle the necromancer will have a letter – saying to attack the town but to leave Sally alive.
Concluding the adventure
If the party confront Sally (by herself) and don’t show the note to anyone else she will reveal that her father runs a cartel and is trying to bring her away from the town so he can have free access to the mine. She is sick of being a part of the family and wants out.
If they do reveal it to others they dismiss it as a blackmail attempt upon Sal – and Sally won’t open up.
Sal will also reveal that she wrote the letter to the party – and that she had written several – they were the only heroes to arrive to save the town that she had come to care about. She will give them a bag of gold that would be worth 2000gp if sold to the right people. She also would provide the party with a map showing the known locations of the sunken temples in the area (plot hook for a future adventure) as a way of saying thanks.
Thanks for joining me today to look at the conclusion to this weeks adventure. I hope you enjoyed the different formatting this week (I think its a lot cleaner and perhaps a bit easier to follow..) and I also hope you liked the narrative approach I used for some of these writeups. I think I will keep doing this in the future so that these micro stories could inspire you, my awesome readers, to write your own stories or better yet, have a go at dungeon mastering your very own TTRPG session,
Don’t forget to to tune in for next week, where I reveal my method to the madness of writing multiple hooks, NPCS, encounters ETC, and hopefully it works! As I mentioned very early on I am experimenting with writing down and noting down what normally takes me a few hours (to completion, a few minutes to conception) and I hope it pays off.
Oh, and don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
Fight night is here and what a day it has been. We lost power here (most of the city actually) from about 4am until 4:30pm, which means that my work day was really out of whack and the amount of time that I can spend on writing up todays Friday-night writeup is.. limited to say the least. But let’s not let that distract me any more and lets get the dice rolling.
As normal Kobold Plus Fight club and Tetra-cube is my weapon choice – I will eventually get around to looking for stat-block generators (using either home-brew or publicly available content so the Wizards don’t bring down their judgement) but maybe this weekend I will write up a bit about the other products they offer.
Ambush at the platform
As the introduction to the village, in first person version (tangent – let me know how that was!), as the party approach the pulley operated platform they are to be ambushed by a bunch of goblins.
As a cop-out I will say that the writeup from yesterday describes them adequately enough but lets talk about mechanics.
According to kobold fight club we can have 1 CR 2 and 5 CR1/4 creatures before this gets a bit too strong for our party of adventurers. Speaking of which, for this I am assuming our group is level 4. Or we could mix it up and just have a horde (12-13) of goblins (keeping to my hard encounter mantra) or if we want something to just break the narrative of travelling through marshland let’s do 8 Goblins – just on the entry-point side of Medium.
Forgotten Gods, Lost Guardians
09FrLG
“I wish Sid was still with us,” Ray said as he stepped into another hole of muck and filth, “he would’ve had us through this bog in moments, not hours”.
“Yeah, pity about what happened to him in the ghoul nest. Hope that bloody tome was worth it” mused Dusk, holding his beard above his head so it wouldn’t drag in the muck.
Mike and Zander beckoned the other, dare I say heavier, party members over to a set of tracks.
“These aren’t orcs.. I have tracked orcs before – these are human, or were human. It seems to drag its right leg. Maybe undead?” Zander explained to the others, noting a set of tracks in the mud heading towards some stone ruins about 300ft from where they are.
At the mention of Undead, Mike stood straight – gripped his swords hilt and strode off.
“Mike! My lady hasn’t mentioned anything dead this way. It’s not goi..” Dusk began, half hopping to get his enchanted boots out of the mud.
“IF there are dead in this bog they will burn.” Mike squeezed through his teeth. His allies sighed, still not used to his righteous vendetta against the dead.
As the party stepped onto the first solid stone of the day they sighed a breath of relief, Zander taking a moment and a wisp of magic to clean the parties garments from the filth of the bog.
Ray closed his eyes and channeled his divine might outwards – searching for those who would stand against his march. “I sense something old and dark, but not dead. Perhaps fiendish in nature” he began, pointing over the edge of a hole in the stone paving – where the tacky-muck footprints led.
“HELP!” a voice called from down the hole. “I think I broke my ankle when I fell. The statues, they wont stop staring!” A woman’s voice seemed to reverberate from the stone chamber.
Without a moment to waste the party moved to the edge of the hole and jumped, Zander reaching out and touching his allies he shot off a blast of air towards the ground – slowing their fall to something manageable.
Landing with a small impact, less than what it would have been if not for Zander, the party quickly sought the owner of a the voice.
A lantern, low on oil by the looks of it, burned not 10ft from where the hole led and a young woman lay there, part of her dress wrapped around her leg.
“One moment lass,” Dusk said, bringing forward his shield which proudly sported the symbol of the Raven queen, “will have you up in a moment” he said as divine magics washed over her broken limb.
Sighing Mike sheathed his sword and walked around the room. “Interesting, these statues. They look like they could leap right off the wall. Dusk you must see this stone work, its similar to some of the carvings we saw in the temple of Malar” Mike said turning around and looking back to the party, his musing taking him 30 or so feet from his allies.
“Mike!” Ray called, rust covered vines seemingly springing from his wrist to wrap around Mike – biting into his flesh and wrenching him towards his allies. Half the distance he had walk covered in a mere moment. The stone where he was standing seemed to explode as a shield sized hammer head pulverised the stone work where Mike was standing.
“Thanks for the help Ray,” Mike said, his hands glowing causing the multiple lacerations to close on his torso, the magical blade of Vex that Ray wielded still an amazing weapon and tool. “Zander, light them up will you” Mike said as he brought out his great sword, the guard of it magically shifting to represent two outstretched wings as Mike pulsed energy through the hilt as lightning crackled through the room. The harsh blue-white light of the magic revealing several large animated statues with various weapons striding towards the party. Lightning seemingly bouncing off their enchanted stone forms.
“Well they aren’t undead, but they will soon join their creator” Mike stated, cracking his neck to the side as he felt the magic in his three other allies surging.
Animated amour, easy enough to balance out with this party. One suit per party member of 4th level should make it a challenging fight, the darkness of the room, the helpless woman they have encountered as well as the magical resistance (whether imagined by the party or tacked onto the stat-block) will make it a fun fight.
Not all green things in trees are leaves
09FrOr
As the party retire from the tavern for the night, having secured accommodation with one of the villagers after helping them out of one of the forgotten jungle temples and saving them from the guardians of the ruins, Mike, the human paladin, adjusts his armour and great sword strung between his shoulder blades; never quite feeling safe without the enchanted blade and battle tested plate.
“Well, I can safely say that was not rabbit,” barked the Dwarf, Dusk, a Cleric of the raven queen and reliable ally, “but it went well with the ale, pity she didn’t have any of those mushrooms that make your tongue go numb though.” the dwarf mused as he ferreted for his pipe, finding it next to his axe that even now thirsted for battle.
“Sir Dusk, I don’t believe that partaking in those contraband substances is fitting of the noble heroes such as us” said Zandar, a man of powerful magics who could literally summon a storm in a teacup. “Besides that was definitely rabbit”.
“Rabbit or not, we have a busy day ahead of us. If it wasn’t for saving lady Esmereld we would have found the hideout of these green-skins that are causing a ruckus in this town and persuaded them to leave” Said Ray, a paladin who believed that total conquest was the only way to truly find peace.
“I agree,” Mike declared, stifling a yawn, “Let us go rest, I am sure that we are all short on magical reserve after that battle with the animated guardians of that temple. Let us not dishonor Lady Esmereld with our tardiness to take up her kind and generous offer” he stuttered the last part, a blush covering his cheeks.
Dusk, his head tilted to the side slightly, his lips moving and eyes staring at vacant space slowly raised his hand and pointed across the rope bridges that allowed travel from one side of the town to the other.
“My lady says that the search is over, that the quarry we seek stalk us now with death and menace coating their blades. Pity I didn’t get any of that mushroom. It would have made this fight a bit fairer.” Dusk said shrugging his axe from his shoulder, the head seeming to burn with a menace that would fill a lesser being with dread.
“Your patron seems to have taken a stronger interest in our activities since we freed her from her prison, Dusk. Can she give us more advanced warning in the future. I would have insisted we have a more substantial rest before fighting again” Zandar stated stormily, electricity arcing across his outstretched fingers and a sudden breeze ruffled his hair.
As the Orcs slunk from the trunks of the tree, the light from the crescent moon above making their ivory coloured masks seem to glow amongst the gloom.
For a moment the orcs sized up the party, their movement semi-erratic as they seemed to bounce from foot to foot waiting for some arbitrary sign to be given that announced a fight.
“Well, let’s get this sorted so we can get to bed then.” Mike said, gripping the hilt of his sword, Sky Chariot, as Raynor called upon his Patron and his blade – Vines made of rust spreading from his longsword to bridge the gap between the two parties and commence the bloodshed.
I hope my party won’t mind me using their characters as inspiration for the write up (names changed as it didn’t feel right to use their characters names without forewarning). But let’s break it down. Our encounter balance book says that we can have up to 7 Orcs for this size and level party, but feel free to adjust. Given the location any ranged attacker will have an advantage as the bridges are narrow and you could easily block movement of one or another of the forces by just sitting in the middle of a bridge. So if your party has a lot of ranged capability (like mine….) then throwing another 1-3 Orcs wont matter..
The bog drowned dead
09FrBDD
After the last Orc had fallen and the party had finally been able to make it to Esmereld’s house the party had no trouble almost instantly falling asleep.
Through scattered dreams from Zander, fitful nightmares riddled with undead from Mike and the vision ridden thoughts (as if Dusk could sleep with the raven queen invading his thoughts constantly) Ray was the only one to really get any form of sleep. So when the town guard knocked on their door and Esmereld ran around waking the party they had barely managed to get any sleep. But instantly they could all feel the dead were nearby, and en masse.
Led to a few weight balanced ropes and platforms of wood they were advised that several of the guard were already fighting off a large zombie horde, and rumors’ of a dark wizard hidden in the mists were coming through from the guardsmen that made it back to the town – but they were missing a unit of men and women who went into the mists.
The party each went to one of the strange rope contraptions before leaping down – feet on the wooden beams and the rope zipping them all the way down to the ground, all except Zander who had a thing with flare, who jumped through an opening – the guardsmen gasping and rushing to watch him fall only to see a spark of magic cross his body moments before he hit the ground, summoning a gust of wind to gentle place him on the ground. The party, boots on ground found themselves surrounded by the dead, zombies were in states of breaking apart, their magic spent, and several more were walking at the base of the trees – pulling and clawing at the wood, as if trying to bring the town down from the roots. Given enough time and not opposition they would be successful. Drawing weapons and magic the party strode forward, separating heads from the dead as they defended the trees. Mike, stopping for a moment to let his divine senses stretch outwards found a particularly foul energy as the party defeated the last of the zombies assaulting the trees.
“This way, I think I found the dark magics. I think its some form of lesser necromancer. Remember that Ghoul king we fought. Cake walk compared to this thing.” Mike wheezed, swinging his massive enchanted blade around still gave him a workout.
“Aye, my lady also confirms that’s what is waiting for us, and she wants us to kill it. For once I agree with the raven bitch” Dusk muttered darkly, spitting on the last zombie to feel his axe. He did not have a good relationship with his deity.
“Well, lets get to it then” Ray said, lifting his shield higher and flicking some dark ichor of Vexing thorns, ready to send the rusting blade through some more undead.
“Should I just blast them with magic? If we know where they are we don’t even need to get into the mists” Zander said – already charging up a spell.
“No, there may be injured guardsmen in there. Their safety is just as important as the death of the dead and their master.” Ray said. Mike and Dusk nodding their agreements.
“Fine – well let’s see if I can’t shift this mist then” Zander whispered – his breath now directed to muttering the incantation to a spell to blow the mist away.
A shorter one, got to leave some surprises for the weekend now don’t I.
As for stats the below can do – but if you want a more imposing fight I would consider really pumping up the necromancers abilities. Something like the Goblin-Bosses reaction (where a zombie can take the attack for him as a ‘willing’ living shield would make the fight something to remember.
Well that’s all I have for tonight. Thanks for joining me for fight night and if you are enjoying this current style and write-up do let me know.
Don’t forget to join me for this weekend’s final write-up. Not sure if it will be in the same story format as that may take me a week and turn into a novella but I will make sure to do something to make it a good read.
And as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
Ahh Thursday is here and as predicted I had little time to fully draw a map. But I had time to sketch what I thought part of the town of Newtbranch would look like. This is enough, in my view, for a DM/GM to orientate themselves and use that to describe what the players see, to give enough detail to temp players to explore and explore and look at the town through their theatre of the mind.
So exploring more on that story telling aspect let’s give that a shot whilst looking through the eyes of a NPC Corben, the merchant that occasions visits the town, and his run in with Alza.
Newtbranch
09WeMa1
Inspiration for todays writeup.. Sometimes a rough sketch is all you need if you are the only one who will see it.
Corben entered the outskirts of Newtbranch just before dusk, the cold autumn light causing the fallen leaves to glow like embers at the base of the ancient swamp trees.
Nodding to the men and women he knew were hidden in the leaf covered branches mid way up one of these massive evergreen trees it took a few tense moments before he heard the telltale crank of a massive dwarven leaver hidden out of sight. Corben being a regular merchant to Newtbranch tied his single ox light cart to a nearby stump, worn with the use of rope over many years, and unsheathed his scimitar and a small buckler was taken from the tack and harness from his beast of burden. A few minutes passed and a large platform was lowered to past the treeline. It was large enough for a few carts and the beasts that pulled them but only a fool would assume it safe to bring that much cargo on these roads with that amount of livestock carrying it into this Marsh. As the platform touched the loamy ground a few fitful shrieks rang forth as mud and leaf covered goblins rushed towards their ticket into the hidden tree town. Corben, without hesitation, strode forward to meet the handful of goblins and separated one unwary curr from its body as it rushed past the large man. Several other goblins rushed past him but were met by the flashing blades of eleven Guardsman that were defending the platform as Corben’s ox, Rugfurt, was coaxed onto the platform. Corben, noting the dead Goblins and one or two who fled back into the shrub, turned and walked back towards the platform. He was an old hand at this. The Goblins never make it to the platform. As he took a third step towards the hardwood and rope bound lift he noticed a sudden shift in the guards, turning and raising a shield he caught the bite or a large goblinoid creature as the launched itself through the air, gliding on leathery membranes towards him. Pushed onto his back he felt the mud and ooze instantly penetrate his cloak and fur vest. Pushing back with his strength he realised he was quickly losing the contest of might as a blast of inky smoke struck the beast in the side. A high pitched yelping burst forth from the beast as it whirled towards its attacker, bristly fur located along the.. ridge?.. of its arm standing on end as it launched itself skyward beating small green tinged leathering wings gaining vertical feet with every heartbeat. The sane inky smoke struck it again, this time the tails of smoke wove back to the ground as the magical force wrapped and engulfed the goblinoid-thing and pulled it into the muck. The cracking of bone and wheezing of air could be heard from where Corben lay as the mass seemed to heave and shudder as it shrank. As it shrank the tendrils of dark energy slithered into the mud revealing a goblin with leathery membranes receding into its arms and the remnants of fur and hair falling off over its body revealing green skin.
“A were-bat if I am not misstaken” a voice akin to a snake stated next to him, a hand outstretched belonging to a man in a long dark coat, “Alza, pleased to meet you. Buy me an ale and we will call the bat even” the tall slender man said as he helped Corben up. “got yerself a deal. Thanks for the assist” Corben replied, checking himself quickly for any bites or scratches that would need investigation. After giving himself a quick once over himself, his cart and the newcomer, Alza, jumped onto the platform and it was slowly winched through the tree canopy and into Newtbranch.
The platform was gradually winched adjacent to the trunk of the tree where little blue tree newts, the town’s namesake, chased flies and midges across the bark. As the platform came to rest Corben took in the sight of tree trunks cut short to form anchor points for walkways that weaved from tree to tree where buildings were built into the tree or surrounding the living behemoths of the forest. As his Ox was taken into a hollow in the tree which managed as stables for the very limited amount of large livestock that was allowed in the town Corben led his cart and a few willing townsfolk up a gradual sloping ramp that would take him and his wares to the town hub. Taking a moment to admire the Autumn colours among the trees he looked across the town in true. To the left against two trees that were wider than he was tall was two houses. People were walking along the rope bridges between the trunk he was standing on and the two houses that were at the end. Across and ahead of him was his destination, Henry’s emporium, where he was to deliver some wares. The building was propped up by several branches that had grown outwards from the wooden beams that formed a platform for the general store. The tree continued up through the natural roof of the building and he could see Henry absent mindedly cleaning dirt and grime from the shop. Opposite it was the Jolly Fandangle. The largest and newest building in the town. This building was a masterwork. Rumour was that Sally had bought wizards and Dwarven and Elven builders in to ensure the Tavern would last for many generations and would be able to support and maintain the towns people within. At the other end of the rope bridges and walkways was the largest tree in this part of the forest. A large set of stairs wrapped around this tree and houses are built onto the branches all the way up the tree. Some rope lifts were bringing down men and women of the town, most of whom were moving towards the tavern to celebrate, or commiserate a long day in the mines. Smiling as his cart was taken to Henry’s Emporium he clasped Alza on the shoulder.
“How bout’ that Ale?” Corben asked as he started leading the tall man across a rope bridge “Yess, what can you tell me about this town..?” Alza said. “Well.. the people aren’t where the riches are. That lies beneath. The town…” Corben started, opening the door to Jolly Fandangles; he didn’t see the blood chilling grin that the newcomer had on his face as he walked towards a booth, casting glances at Sally from behind the collar of his coat.
Well that’s it for the night. Do come back for some stat blocks for what we know of already and some in others that we should keep in mind just in case the party explore the marshes and get lost.
Thanks for those who have been reading for the past 9 weeks and to those joining recently I have many more adventures to come so keep coming back if you like what I’m putting out there.
If you like anything you see feel free to use it but do let me know how it goes, I’d love to hear stories from my readers!
And as always don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
Wednesday is here and with it brings a day of blue skies, crispy sunlight and the promise of change on the breeze. Today we are looking at the twists and turns that could alter or impact the little mining town of Newtbranch and how that can enrich the adventure for our players or completely shake it up. So let’s roll into it.
Trained in the dark arts
Whispers in the dark
09WeDa
Ash on one of the the many long lonely days in his mine shaft was chipping away at a wall, they had all started to look the same to him but he was employing what he had learnt from the dwarven brothers that had sold him the cursed mine. Following a vein of quarts deep through the muddy walls laden with basalt and when mining deeper in the mine, granite, Ash had had very little luck – picking up just enough gold to pay for his supplies and his tab at the tavern. As he struck again with his pickaxe the stone cracked and a section of the wall gave way revealing a small hollow pocket amongst the stone and dirt. The light from his lamp danced through the settling dust and stumbling rocks and in front of him lay a vein of gold set into the wall that would pay for the purchase of the mine, supplies for a year and then hiring help. Blinded by glee he pushed through the muddy wall and didn’t notice as the basalt boulder that was above the hole he made begin to give way.
As he broke through the wall the boulder fell, pushing him forward, his lamp tumbling out of his hands to lay on its side at the base of the wall – the basalt rock pinning his leg to the floor as dirt and smaller rocks assaulted him. As the dust cleared and his leg, although not broken as by some cursed good luck the fall of boulder had pinned his leg next to the rocks he had pushed through, he was left unable to move and his axe, torch and the gold a mere few feet out of reach.
As the lamp flickered and threatened to go out Ash cursed his luck, cursed the world that bore his misery and pleaded with the dark. And the dark answered. A shadow leapt upon the wall from his overturned lamp and whispered in his ear.
“I can free you, for a price. Give you what you so desire but for a favour. Give you power and fame for just the cost of a scribble on a parchment.” The shadow whispered to him.
Sorrow, greed and surprising to even him, Hate, welled inside him. He had suffered and gone without for too long. He nodded his head as the lamp stuttered threatening to go out and a quill was placed in his hand. In the terminal light he could see where he was intended to sign his name and he did with just a moment of hesitation. No one would look upon him now with pity and barely contained contempt any more. He would rule them all.
“good, first things first, let’s free you,” the shadow said as the pressure from the boulder was lifted from his leg, “and second let’s set you right.” and after a moment there was a rumble in the mine. Turning around support beams, light and new safe tunnels had been set up throughout the area he was in. He would be able to mine safely, in peace and in near luxury now.
“And lastly,” the shadow whispered, inhumanly large fingers on unnaturally broad arms gentle clasped his shoulders as the presence whispered in his ear. “I can give you power, but you first must go and help some friends of mine. You can find them in the cemetery. You will know what to do” the shadow said as power and understanding rushed through Ash’s strong and powerful body.
A daughters drive
09WeMa
The act of transmutation was relatively simple. For Henry it was like keeping a balanced ledger – all she had to do was make sure that the matter transforming from the original substance to the new substance would balance out. Turning Rock or mud to gold required a lot of mud. Changing bones to gold, also required a lot of bones as they are nearly worthless so what she could access in the marsh was not going to cut it.
She looked upon the dust covered shelves, despite cleaning them this morning the trudge of miners in and out of her store for pick axes, rope, lantern fuel, rations and the like meant that there was a constant stream of dirt being brought in. But Henry didn’t mind. With a flick of her wrist a incorporeal hand was summoned and the dusting began again. Sighing and looking over her book in front of her she was doing ok, she was making profits daily but she needed something more to really push her to where she wanted to be. It wasn’t that hard to make a profit here as all the older miners knew she was honest and her wares were second to none in this town. But that kind of reputation wasn’t seeing her earn enough to buy back her fathers shop.
Closing the ledger before her and placing it back in the lockbox she opened the door with the same cantrip and a gust of wind took the dust out the door. Being able to handle a few different cantrips at once was Childs-play for Henry but she wanted to make sure that she had the shop ready to go for the next day as tonight she was meeting a merchant at the Tavern.
A giddy energy swelled in Henry as she closed the shop, putting the lockbox away where it wouldn’t be found easily and locking the front door she almost skipped to Jolly Fandangles. Upon entering she saw that the merchant was at the bar eating a plate of what one would hope was rabbit and drinking from what seemed to be a bottomless tankard of ale. Giving a polite smile and greeting to Sally as she walked in she went straight up to the bulky man in a tattered coat.
“Corben, good to see you again. How was the road in?” Henry chirped as she ordered a glass of mulberry wine.
“Good Henry, except for the damn marsh, the flies and the mud. Almost got bogged a few times on the way in.” Corben replied as he chewed on what definitely wasn’t Rabbit.
“Did you bring the book?” Henry asked as she absentmindedly stared at the lustrous red liquid in the glass as she swirled it.
“Yeah, hard to find this one but I take it our ledger is even now?,” Corben said as he reached a bear like paw into his coat and pulled out a paper wrapped book, “the guy I bought it from gave some pretty weird instructions on what I could and couldn’t do with that book. You sure you know what you are getting into Henry?”
“The future Corben, the future.” Henry said as she could practically feel the tendrils of energy resonating within what she knew to be a book bound with the skin of the sacrificed.
It’s just business
09WeDe
It was just another night at the tavern. Ash was neck deep into his third tankard of hard ale, his last based on the amount of gold he had given Sally.
The familiar jingle of the bell strung above the door alerted Sally to a new arrival, turning her head to spot who came in she noticed the tall, broad imposing figures of her fathers men.
“Jess, I’m going to mingle for a bit. Mind the bar” she called out as her assistant Jess came from out back with a platter of rabbit-surprise stew.
“No worries boss” Jess said as she placed one of the two plates of food in front of James and another in front of Ash.
“Ash, that’s your last round until you bring in more gold. Let’s not get too deep into your tab today hey” Sally said more-so to Jess than Ash. Jess had a soft spot for the downtrodden, Sally had a soft spot for gold.
“Matt, Jaeden, what can I do for ye?” Sally said placing a tankard of ale in front of each of the men, one of them definitely had more than a little ogre or something in him.
“Sally, boss says that he has a specialist coming in to help ye. Be ‘ere on dusk tomorrow I reckon’,” said the half-ogre (or something),
“Jae, tell your boss I got it covered. He can shove off with his meddling. Look what happened to those nice dwarf boys. They drank more than the rest of these townsfolk combined and paid fairly for what they got,” Sally half-spat as she swiped a tankard from Jess as she moved on past to serve other patrons, ” I don’t need the help, all is going to be right and set soon, you wait and see.”
“The boss ain’ waiting no more Sal,” Matt spoke this time. Matt was like an uncle to Sally, one of her fathers longest ’employees’ and definitely someone you want to have on side, “Once the hired help comes in, you will know when it’s time to wrap up your affairs and come home.”
As Sally swigged the last of the ale from her tankard a feeling of dread welled up in her gut. She wasn’t done yet, she had more to do, more plans to see through and more gold to get.
“Well lads, Jae, Matt, good to see you both. I guess I better take care of loose ends.” Sally said as she stood up, chewing her bottom hip.
Matts hand shot out like a bolt from a cross bow. “Sal, don’t be thinking what you are. It won’t do you no good. You’ve been down that road before and we both know that its not best for ya’,” Matt said, genuine concern on his face.
“Oh, me. I was thinking of ordering some more Rabbit for the rabbit-surprise stew. You boys should get some before it’s all gone. I promise I won’t do anything I won’t regret”
Sally sauntered off from the table, talking to a few of the patrons as she went back behind the bar. Tapping Ash on the back to let him know his time and gold was up.
She couldn’t go against her father, she couldn’t not go against him. What she needed was a hero, or a few of them, for what ever scheme her father had cooked up this time.
Well that was a bunch of fun to write up. Please do let me know if you prefer the written up story approach to adventure components as I am considering moving more towards them in the future.
With any of the above there could be slight tweaks, or leave them as they are, to have either or both of the plot hooks from Mondays write up (The Marsh of Masks…) come to life. Either turning one, two or all three of the NPCs into key components of the story through the twists we weave can make it feel more alive, give a depth and a greater glimmer of character to the stories we lay before the players to tell.
Well that’s it for this Wednesday, if you like what you have read don’t hesitate and let us know. Don’t forget to come back tomorrow for Maps (Not going to lie – this is the day I dread the most as it takes the most time (and I work full time and have two kids..) but there is some special about maps, terrain and the like that I just can’t shy away from.
And as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
Tuesday is here and it has brought with it inspiration for three NPCs that we have to look at this week. Now there will be many more NPCs here in this mining town but the idea behind this series of weekly blogs is to build a portfolio of NPCs in which we can draw down from to fill in the towns, cities, mines or marshes with life and vibrancy, if it warrants it. Without too much more chatter let’s have a look at the NPCs that were created.
Art for the NPCs this week was created in art breeder. I have started to acquire quite an extensive list of character portraits in there so feel free to have a look at my Artbreeder profile which you can find here: artbreeder.com/thebrazenwolfe.
Henrietta Lummet
09TuHL
Henrietta (preferring Henry in most settings) is a tallish, slim woman of around 32 years of age and for the last 7 years she has been the owner of Henry’s emporium – a general store with a strong focus on supplies for mining and exploring the marshes nearby. Henry is a pseudo savvy business woman with more of a mind for business than for the actual sale of things. As such many of the goods she has in store are poorly organised, displayed and most of it appears to be of over priced, despite being high quality and fit for use for their intended applications.
Henry used to be part of a magic guild in Toluka where she was learning the fundamentals of magic where she was thrown from the grounds for trying to turn a guildmates spellbook into gold. Giving up her ongoing study of magic, more or less, she went in search of her fortune elsewhere, eventually stumbling into the mining town of Newtbranch.
Before studying and practicing magic Henry was the only daughter of a driven business man who never quite became successful and eventually died from a disease that was curable, but outside of the families means.
Ash Tressle
09TuAT
Ash is one of the unluckiest men in Newtbranch. He owned the rights to what was the least prosperous mines within a section of the marsh he sold them to a pair of dwarf brothers who, after a week of toiling in the same mine that he has spend 5 years mining, stuck the richest gold deposit in the area. After pleading to work back in the same mine the two brothers made him buy back a third of the mines share after a year of his pleading. After a few more weeks of dwindling returns the dwarf brothers sold their shares in the mine and left Newtbramch. The brothers must have known something because since Ash rebought his mine for double what he sold it for the gold seemed to dry up.
Ash is now in his early 40s but has the appearance of someone well into his 50s if not older. His wild hair is normally a nest for dirt and grime found in the marsh and when he he isn’t in his mine still looking for the gold that he believes is still in there he can be found squandering his meagre coins at the tavern of Newtbranch.
Sally Pondt
09TuSP
Sally is a woman in hear early 40s. She is the proprietor of Jolly Fandangles, Newtbranches Tavern and she happens to own most of the land around the town. Because of this she happens to be one of the wealthiest people in the town as she also sells rights for prospectors to mine on the land she owns, regardless if it has shown any sign of having rich veins of gold.
Sally came into the town 20 years ago with a full purse of gold and purchased most of the towns land from the prospectors before her. She then brought in a team of miners lead by a few dwarves who found where the riches mines were and she began to sell the rights to dig in the mines where gold or other rich deposits of mineral or metal were found. Within a week she owned the town.
Not much is known about her history but she appears to have backing from wealthy individuals external to the town that enabled her to get such a substantive foothold in the town.
Thanks for joining me today to continue the journey into exploring the process of coming up with an adventure a week. As I have said before the NPCs that we have in our sessions are what bring our players really into the adventure.
One such adventure that I ran for my players had Mary-Sue and her Father, Lamberge, who were survivors from a zombie attack on a temple of Torm in a small village called Renhaven. The NPCs were there to provide a story, a journal was left in the temple to explain what happened there. But the character and feelings that was portrayed in the journal entry led the players to follow the tracks the NPCs (who I had no intention of being found alive) away from the mountain peak temple that I had planed for them. They found Mary-Sue, her father (who was dying from an injury) and Smith, the town smith. The conversation then broke out between the three NPCs which, much to my chagrin, my players loved hearing my put on three different voices to talk to myself.
These three NPCs then distracted the Party long enough that the adventure that I had planned for them had shifted slightly (see Dungeon World – Fronts). Rolling several dice to determine the outcome of a massive battle that I had planned the party to be caught in the middle of between the raiding Gnolls (who worshiped the god Malar) and a necromancer searching for power within a temple (to the Gnolls deity). But the party wanted to ensure that the NPCs were safe and sound.
The key message to take away here is to make sure you put effort into NPCs. Give them at minimum 4 thigs.
Who they were
Who they are now
Who they want to be and lastly, and most importantly.
A name that doesn’t always start with the letter B.
That’s it for tonight, don’t forget to come back tomorrow to look for the twists and turns we have in stall for this week and as always don’t forget to roll with advantage! The Brazen Wolfe
Monday has come again and as I hinted in the weekends writeup we are exploring the Marsh of Masks this week. This week I am experimenting slightly with the format this week finding that the variations of colours (tying in with the colours I use for the post-its I have on my board here) were maybe a bit to much. So this week I am looking at toning it down a bit and potentially updaing the previous posts to a more neutral colour format.
Without further waffle let’s have a look at this weeks adventure hooks!
The town of Newtbranch is situated about a days travel into the largest marshlands on the continent. The path to the city is frequently submerged by a black, brackish water that leaves a stench amongst travelers clothes and the creatures that call the marsh home are even less appealing to the average trader. But the town of Newtbranch is situated next to what used to be the most bountiful gold mine in the known land.
Due to that the marsh is known for three things, it’s mine that still pulls up gold (although not as bountiful as it used to be), the ruins of an ancient civilisation that used to live amongst the bogs and the trees and its cemetery, one of the largest cemeteries due to the number of deaths that happen in the mind, around the marsh and within the town.
Despite the high fatality rate, prospectors, miners, archaeologists and adventurers find themselves drawn to Newtbranch, a city build above the bogs among the branches of the ancient branches that call the marsh home but the wispers amongst the falling leaves and twisted branches speak of a new concern for the town. Masked creatures stalk the bog beneath the suspended tree village, some townsfolk even have whispered of masked figures amongst the houses in the town.
Orcs in the mists
09MoOIM
The strange noises, shadows that pass the windows and amongst the bog are caused by a tribe of orcs that wear masks constructed of the skulls of beasts of the swamps. The reason for them being amongst the city, but not outright ransacking them seem to be unknown and they appear to attempting to be carefully hide their tracks.
The death masks
09MoDM
A necromancer in the marsh has begun raising the dead from the graves near the town and has ordered them to search the bogs. The zombies and other undead creatures have managed to avoid being outright spotted but the necromancer who controls them grows impatient with their brainless servants lack of results.
Thanks to joining me on your Monday and I hope to see you in the following days. Don’t forget to come back tomorrow where we look at some of the colourful characters that our players may encounter in this weeks adventure, some may help, many may hinder the players in their quest to unravel what stalks the streets and the bogs.
Thanks for joining me for 9 weeks of me writing up these adventures, if you haven’t already consider subscribing so you don’t miss out on anything and if you like what read don’t forget to let us know!
And as always don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
Sunday has come and the adventure has been started. This week we were looking to keep things simple with reduced variations or options in this week’s adventure. So to wrap it all up I will see how in depth I can go.
Hope you liked this adventure and are looking forward to next weeks!
To hunt the cockatrice takes the characters into The Hollow Desert, a place where rain comes but once a year and those who travel, let alone live there, have to be made of stronger stuff.
The denizens of the desert are hardy, resourceful and cunning, they have to be in order to survive.
The characters find themselves entering Apituk, part of the Khizdumese Theocracy, after travelling for quite a few weeks to get to the city. Unlike the grasslands around the city the streets are paved with stone and the buildings are crudely made from sandstone and people from all races are flittering around haggling with street vendors trying to get cheaper prices for food, goods and trinkets.
The plot
After an hour the party finds themselves approached by a man dressed in a long black flowing cloak. He Introduces himself just as ‘Y’ greets them praising them for their reputation and singing praises of the party which are almost all true the and requests that they follow him as his patron has a request for them that will pay them handsomely for their involvement in the successful outcome for his patron.
The man ushers the party into a carriage that looks to be extremely well made with plush fabric covered seats and exotic furs to add that little bit more lushness to the experience. The carriage is large enough to seat 8, impeccably clean and feels overall quite expensive. A little basin with little dish of water is placed before the party by the carriage footman. The mysterious man, who calls himself Y, quite confusing really, produces a small palm sized crystal that glows with a purple light and places it in the basin.
A ladies voice, muffled by magic or something mundane, speaks from the crystal and from the tone and language used they party can tell that she owns the carriage and probably much much more.
The owner of the voice offers the party a job, go to a gypsy camp in the Hollow desert and retrieve an artefact called the Shruiabe Coin and bring it back to Y. The party as compensation would receive 1,000 gp each for their discretion and the artefact and a bonus will be provided to them if the artefact is the genuine thing and does what it is rumoured to do so. The party is to wait at the Mulberry and Cake inn within the city for their full compensation upon their return. If the party accept then Y would produce a map that indicates the known reported locations of the gypsy camp and a sum of 350gp to get provisions for the journey as the Hollow desert is not a forgiving place.
Once in The Hollow Desert if the party had hired help (a guide) or purchased/hired camels or other animals/vehicles that could travel across the sands in a desert then that would make the journey easier. For each day that the party travel they would suffer a level of exhaustion unless travelling via animal vehicle, guided by someone knowledgeable or travelling at night (when it’s cold, not hot).
The people
Kelsei Whisper song
Kelsei Wispersong is a moonelf (tanned now) who travels with the various traders and gypsies in the Hollow Desert. She is just over 5 feet tall, a little chubby but sharp as a tack. Nothing escapes her notice and thats how she has survived so long in the desert with the gypsies that seem to travel with the change in the sands.
Kelsei knows what it takes to survive and if you ask around about her she does just that. Knowing a good thing when she sees it she is quick to make them best of good situations and she always seems to make it out on top. However she has just as quickly to know a bad thing and when to cut her losses (or avoid them altogether) and walk away.
When the party enquire about the Shruiabe Coin Kelsei gets defensive and would enquire as to how they know about the coin, why they want it and who is it for. To prove their worth for the coin Kelsei would request that they retrieve for the gyspie camp 4 cockatrices or the same number of cockatrice eggs as this particular troop of survivors has learnt how to domesticate them and use them for guardians of the camp, as currency and when times get rough, food. She would describe where they are poorly (if they have a guide they should know but wouldn’t be pleased about it) but if she notices the party have a map she would offer to mark it on there – surprised that it’s already marked on the map as the third possible location of the gyspie camp. She would explain that they had to leave when a group of marauders attacked them one night and caused many losses to the people of this camp.
The Encounters
There are three stages to the fights this week. 2 road side encounters,1 at night when they camp and 1 when they go to retrieve the cockactrices or their eggs. Let’s have a look at them
Tricks of the sands.
On the first time of travelling they would see an oasis off in the distance with what looks like a plume of smoke coming from it (if travelling at night time they would see a pinprick of flickering light). If they were to roll investigation (DC14) they would determine it to be an illusion. But not quite a mirage. If they continue on their path towards the one of the three last known encampments of the gypsies they would then be buffeted by sands and would have their wills tested (wisdom saving throw) – if they fail they would find a cave not far off the track which they would try and shelter in from the sand storm. If they pass they realise that there is no sandstorm or no cave and would be confused if anything else were to move to the bottom of a large sand dune and appear to take shelter.
If the party does try to shelter in the illusionary cave they would suffer a level of exhaustion after an hour as the sun would continue to shine down on them and would dehydrate them. If they pass again they would be ambushed by a Blue dragon wyrmling who would fly over them and throw blasts of lightning at the party trying to scare them off. If they beat the wyrming who would plead for its life, or if it has a chance to escape the party would find out (by the wyrmling informing them, or the party stumbling at the base of cliffs where several adult blue dragons would swoop down to confront them. If the Wyrming lives he would be there and would try and persuade the party to leave (whilst asking the adults to leave them alone) as the party has stumbled upon the nesting grounds of the blue dragons which was the cause of the gypsies abandoning this rather good position to camp long term.
The party would find shelter not far away (or could ask for shelter from the dragons) and could rest for the night. If they do rest here the dragons would fly and warn them to not go towards the cliffs but to stay in the oasis.
Blue Dragon wyrmling
Stingers come from beneath the sands.
At night if the party eats food or lights a fire they would be attacked by the human sized Sand scorpions of the hollow desert who are either drawn towards their food and the heat from the fire. 2-3 scorpions would attack them and would try and take the party members (furthest from the fire) one by one back into a nearby shallow sand burrow.
In the morning the party head towards the next known campsite and find that it is the correct one and it’s inhabited by the gypsy camp.
Blue Dragon wyrmling
Iron Tooth clan
On the way to the next camp, the following day or that night – depending on players and if they need to recover any exhaustion, the party would be ambushed by a group of these ‘marauders’ which are a mix of Tabaxi and Half-orcs. They declare that they are part of the Iron Tooth clan and that they will let the party go without bloodshed if they can take them to the gypsies of the desert so they can finish the job and kill them and their witch – who slew their last boss when they attacked them last time.
If the party fights then it would be 1 bandit Captain and 6 bandits.
If the Party lead the bandits to the gypsies then the camp and Kelsei would fight. Kelsie would cast a powerful sleep spell that would put all the bandits to sleep except for the captain who would run away. The camp would be hostile towards the party now, not attack on sight but they would not be welcome back into the camp and Kelsei would be disappointed and request that instead of 4 creatures or 4 eggs she would require both creatures and eggs. If they can retrieve more of either that may sooth things over with the camp.
Bandits
A nest of stone.
After the encounter with the bandits they would make it to the old camp and look for the place Kelsie would have described. Finding it they would find 6 cockatrice in there and 5 eggs. The cockatrice would attack the moment they realise that the party is there. If the fight breaks out amongst the nest roll a d20 for each action taken within the same 5ft area of the nest and on 1-7 the egg is destroyed, once the fight is over if any eggs were trampled then the party is unable to recover them. The party then can bring back any cockatrice that is knocked out and bring them to the Gypsies. If any party member is petrified then they will return to flesh 24 hours after being turned to stone (but the parties may not already know this – only if they have encountered a cockatrice before or recall them with a DC14 nature check will they be aware of the petrification conditions. If the party are petrified they would wake to find the cockatrices have moved their nest and only a successful DC12 survival check would reveal where they are now. Any party member left behind whilst petrified would wake to find they are where they were and would need to decide what to do now.
Cockatrice
Credit to Dan Scott (no active links to his work could be found…)
The outcome
Upon retrieving them for the camp they would have a much more welcome return – even if the bandits were led from the camp – if they bring back the bandit captain (or proof that the captain is deasd) then they would forgive the party as long as they have the required amount of creatures and eggs.
Kelsei would request the party to be careful with the coin as it has caused bad luck – but isn’t inherently magical – the though that it is is what has given the legend its status and many bad people want to use the coin for their own nefarious purposes. Kelsei would also explain the history of the coin and her people as an attempt to return without the coin to the city but she offers it over as a way of keeping her end of the deal.
Upon reaching the city after leaving the desert the party must make a decision on what to do with the coin – If they hand it over then the collector (not a priest) is happy with the coin and will give them their reward. If they do not provide the coin then they miss out on the exchange, are thanked for their efforts and another party would be requested to go go find the coin at a later time.
Thanks for joining this week. I think that’s enough for this adventure so I can say that it’s a wrap.
Don’t forget to come back next week for another round of adventures were we explore the Marsh of masks and what adventures would lie within its murky waters. Oh, and as always don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
Brazen Wolfe Tabletop 