A nice simply one since its been a few adventure-sessions without a long rest as the party set up camp in the pit. If you want to interrupt the beauty sleep, or, depending on how the party decides to move the adventure forward we can use this as a basis. So let’s sit down with a coffee and explore tonight’s quick map!
Camp in the Pit
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The map is quite simple. A raised ledge within the pit itself which is big enough that the party can rest. It’s also close enough to the ritual circle that they can keep an eye on the Deep Dark in case something comes out, or goes in.
Not much of a description for this weeks map – and this weeks adventure will likely roll into the previous conclusion as we prepare for the final confrontation in two weeks time. Don’t forget to come back tomorrow for some stat-blocks (on the off-chance we need to give a bigger nudge to the party) and as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
The Culmination of Acquaintances is what is in store for us this week as we move forward with the last few weeks of this adventure. Tonight we have a visit from an old acquaintance who may be just the person to convince the party of their next step, or maybe not. So let’s sit back, grab a coffee and roll into tonight’s adventure!
The Culmination of Acquaintances
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The party looked into the small fire they had made and the many, many pyres that they had to burn some of the corpses that had remained after the fight. The survivors of the cocoons had nearly all left now as some had stayed behind to help move some of the bodies out of the calcified web and towards one of the cities.
Talking to Qistra and Morali the city of Duraegis was directly above them and a few tunnels lead up and out of this room. They had been told from some of the survivors that they had been taken directly from the city and down into the Deep Dark. But as the party listened to the sisters and the young Lolth priestess they couldn’t help but notice another set of figures moving through the droves of people leaving. A bright torch moving into the pit itself, crossing the web-bridges and making their way to themselves.
The Drow with them, and Viktira noticed and started to watch with interest as two cloaked humans appeared next to them. “When we first met I couldn’t imagine what you have been through,” a familiar voice said as Lucille Bendercuff and Alex Portand pulled back their hoods. “We visited the Ice Spire, well what little remains of it. There wasn’t much apart from the remains of a dead giant in a ruined building. But my scout let us know that you had been seen moving towards Ferklend and the well of souls.” she paused as she sat down and pulled out a map.
“We found a man named Rike who told us all about you. He said that you had saved the town from the undead and then headed off into the swamp to stop a catastrophe. And we found a bunch of rotting corpses and ruins.” Lucile paused as she revealed the parchment she held. “We deciphered the runes and each of these places form some kind of seal. Two of them have failed completely but this one,” she nodded towards the Dark pit at the centre of the ritual circles, “looks to be fine. The issue we have now is that it’s now just a matter of when, not if the creature can come through this ‘Deep Dark‘ as it acts like a portal. I theorise it may be able to be sealed from the inside permanently based on some other books and scrolls I read from Andrasa.”
The party looked between the scribbles in common, the still slightly thrumming portal to another dimension where some fiendish master was contained and the notes around the ritual’s failure and how to prevent it. Other notes theorised what the creature could be but most of them settled on a greater fiend or some nature. Something that was powerful enough to warrant the greatest sorcerer of these lands and a group of heroes from a bygone age’s combined strength to best.
More questions came up unbidden but conclusive answers were few. The matter of the Portal, the ritual and how to deal with the creature remained a decision for the party.
And that brings tonight’s update to a wrap. Thanks as always for visiting but don’t forget that tonight is just the beginning. There is two more nights, tomorrow may hold something different for a change, and Friday – where we may not have an encounter as such but there will be some moments that the party will need to intervene. So I will see you again this week and, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
Today we once again look beyond the veil to see what is occurring beyond the scene of the players and with the creature once imprisoned. Despite what they have been through the past few days (weeks worth of adventure) the evil rest for no man, or woman and so we see them carrying onwards. So let’s get back to the adventure!
The Creature Once Imprisoned
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Larituron had been defeated and the flow of energy had ceased. What’s worse is that the fiend had borrowed some energy from the creature to corrupt and use the ritual the witch Andrasa had used to bind it in the pocket dimension. Upon the fiends death that energy was lost forever and as the ritual to siphon souls to it was ceased, permanently now, the creature was nowhere near strong enough to emerge itself, yet.
However the adventurers who had defeated Larituron still stayed close to the Deep Dark. They had proven themselves capable enough and their essence, if consumed, would be enough to break out of the pocket it was contained within. But, the creature hesitated on that thought, that would mean confronting these adventurers and that was something it didn’t like the odds of. Well, perhaps a fair fight would be one sided in their favour but it was rare when there was a fair fight.
The creature had one or two more agents at play and eventually it would find a way out, but it needed these adventurers dead. Calling in a deal the creature expended some of its precious energy to reach out to the mind of one that had been foolish enough to barter with it. Soon the mortal would find out what it truly means to sign a deal with a devil.
As the party watched the slow exodus of the cavern they noticed a few stayed back and watched the party nervously. The Melarn sisters, Morali and Viktira had survived through it all and were walking over to the party.
Their faces were rife with nerves but that was probably due to the battle with the giant fiend, the capture and then life-draining that they had just witnessed and gone through. “So, you never mentioned that you were this powerful before. Do you mind if we stick near you for a bit? I figure it’s probably safer by your side for the time being.” Morali asked, with the Melarn sisters nodding in agreement, somewhat reluctantly.
Thanks for stopping by tonight. Now the guessing games can begin as we have a bit of a social encounter for this week and maybe a brief pause in combat. I feel like the last few weeks haven’t had any downtime which may cause issues for the party. Regardless, don’t forget to come back each day this week to follow along and try and see if we can identify a pawn and, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
Tonight and I have created a zine for a long over due adventure, The House of Spider Silk. This adventure can be used system agnostic as we explore other RPGs out there other than D&D. So please adjust to what ever creatures you are using in your adventure! However as always Kobold fight club can be used to quickly balance an encounter for Dungeons and Dragons and Tetra-cube currently provides the stat-blocks for creatures in this adventure.
So I hope you enjoy this weeks adventure, The House of Spider Silk. There is a lot more content within the Zine, again, this week so if you want to get the full experience then download the pdf!
If you like this format please let me know and I hope you enjoy.
Disorientated and tired from the fight with the vampire in the Carrion Swamp at the well of souls the party find themselves whisked away as the magical backlash of the Well of Souls collapse attempts to link itself with one of the other places of power that form the tri-seal.
However as the well of souls was failing the magic wasn’t quite accurate and the teleportation led them in the right direction, but not far enough.
Thanks for joining me tonight for another Zine. This one had more content added to the Zine but like a few of my other ones I kept that in the Zine, not the blog. So you will just have to trust me on that and grab a copy of the Zine to check it out.
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. 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
Welcome to another Musings Saturday where tonight I want to look at two Alternative traditional Magic Weapons that use a underappreciated resource – the hit dice. A quick search revealed that this has been done before and at least several people have come to the “same” conclusions but I have a specific thing I am wanting to explore.
Alternative traditional Magic Weapons
The gap identified
The gap I have that really started me thinking about other alternative traditional magic weapons is the old roleplay story. Your player may have been gifted the bow from their teacher and asked to look after it just before they went to fight a dragon – of which they never returned. Since then the character has always used this bow and felt a strong connection to their mentor when they use it.
This roleplay aspect that drives elements of the story forward, and a times drives many decisions the PC would make is what has me focused tonight. This concept is similar to ancestral weapons where a weapon grows while you wield it and unlock its secret but the emphasis is on player grown and it fuelling the weapon.
For this purpose I have a ‘Parasitic’ and ‘Symbiotic’ alternative to an ancestral blade.
Parasitic
The parasitic alternative traditional magic weapons is as the name suggests. Probably found in weapons that consume ammo or ‘charges’ these items consume a hit dice from who its attuned to to return or generate either a random or a pre-determined number of charges for an item. This means that at level one the item may be quite weak and able to be used once per long rest (depending on the charge mechanic) but at higher levels it could be truly spectacular.
Take the Emberborn wand for example – created by a wizard that spend most of their time studying in volcanic lands.
The wand has three spell effects, Burning hands (1st level) , Scorching Ray (2nd level) and Stinking Cloud (3rd level). To cast Burning hands at 1st level its a single Charge, and then its 2 additional for 2nd level and a further 3 for 3rd level (and so forth.) the cost to increase the level of spell slot available it accumulative.
1st level spell slot – 1 charge
2nd level spell slot – 3 charges
3rd level spell slot – 6 charges
4th level spell slot – 10 charges
etc.
As an action you can spend 1 hit dice to generate d6 charges. (or 3 charges flat) which expire after a long rest. This means that a magical item like this will scale with player level and may find more use as the party progress onwards. The alternative is that it always starts with 7 charges but to ‘feed’ into it to keep it stated and charged it takes 1 hit dice from your pool and rolls that to regain spent charges.
Symbiotic
Now the symbiotic alternative to traditional magic weapons is a bit different but the same principle. Instead of fuelling charges you push the hit-dice into the weapon (or item) to ‘level it up’ for the day. The item then is powered at the level it absorbed hit dice from its attuned wielder which may get better every ‘rank up’ or, they will get better every odd number (which aligns with class features, normally…)
These effects would stack to ensure that there is a sense of worthwhile investment in the blade but they reset on dawn (end of long rest-esque period).
As an example the same wizard created the Emberborn Blade (a short sword).
Level 1 (Power: 1) – +1 to attack rolls
Level 2 (Power: 3) – Attacks deal an extra 1d6 fire damage, the blade also sheds light in the same manner as a torch
Level 3 (Power: 5) – +1 to attack
Level 4 (Power: 7) – Upon landing a successful hit the wielder can cause an eruption of ash and cinders in a 15ft cone starting at the point of impact. Creatures in this must make a DC 15 constitution saving throw or take an additional 2d6 fire damage and are blinded until the end of their next turn.
This blade was designed to be balanced, mostly, from 1 Hit dice = 1 charge and gives a strong advantage to the wielder if they are willing to live life a bit riskier by not having any hit-dice to heal during a short rest… Or fuel other magic items that is.
That’s it for me tonight. I will look at what this system could look like as it has promise and if I can work our how to balance it I may create a few items to share. Don’t forget to come back tomorrow for more D&D content and as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
Larituron – lord of the pit has finally been revealed and she may be a bit too strong… But we must soldier on and count on our parties, also being quite strong by this point, and their abilities and ideas to get them through this adventure. So don’t take my word for it and check out the stat blocks below!
Larituron – Lord of the Pit
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The fiend known as Larituron is the mistress of the deep dark. She serves the creature that the mage Andrasa bound using three points and has grown to some considerable strength since escaping the purge of the mage and the heroes that aided her in the final conflict that bound her master. Working diligently to build up her own strength and to siphon energy to her master she has claimed the deep dark, and some of its denizens, her own.
She fights in hit-and-run tactics (comical for a creature as big as this) and looks like a huge, fiendish drider. Thick chitinous plates cover her body and she uses her sharp legs to impale prey if they get too close.
She has called the cavern where she lives in home for centuries and knows how to read its latent magical properties as well as use what she has constructed here to her advantage.
Now while the last ones were illusionary these ones are more physical manifestation of Larituron’s on magic. As each spider dies they disappear however, they can’t be ignored like the previous ones.
Thanks for dropping by tonight and checking out our big-baddie, well the second in command. This weekend will hopefully see a continuation of catch up on some of the lost adventures and maybe some work on the final one, but that maybe done behind the scenes. Don’t forget to come back and check out the blog daily and as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
Tonight we look at the source of the webs, the epicentre of where the webs are based and oh boy do we have a big one tonight. As the second last major encounter of the year, before December that is I wanted to make a massive encounter, something I hadn’t done in a while. So let’s sit down with a coffee and explore into tonight’s map!
Source of the Webs
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The map itself is 300 by 15- feet with the plan to have most of the map utilised. But more on that tomorrow. The edge of the formations have many hand and foot holds so falling over has a last ditch attempt to stop from themselves from falling. But it’s a very long way to fall if they don’t make those crucial rolls.
The web bridges aren’t the only way across the platforms with the distance being, in some cases, jumpable and others having a lower calcified web ledge that will enable the party to climb down and across.
This map is meant to be fully explorable with the encounter going across all of it and with no where to go, and the Deep dark portal at the centre of it there is some options for the party to fight with a tactical advantage.
That’s it for us tonight with the party finding the source of the webs, both in place and creature. Tomorrow we have a look at the lord of the pit and what she brings to the table. So don’t forget to come back tomorrow and as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
This week the creature trapped by Andrasa has ordered its servant to kill the adventurers or will they best the creature despite the echoes of fury it screams out. Now Acknowledging that the party will be tired from a few encounters in the last day (of in-game time) the party may be in a bit of a hard fight. But there is a bit of a gimmicky option for that which we could explore if needed. So let’s sit back, grab a coffee and roll into tonight’s adventure!
Echoes of Fury
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The party had moved on from where they first stepped foot onto the monolithic cocoons to explore further and handle more captives, very aware of the thing that lurked in the shadows. Moving silently and quickly as possible they were abruptly stopped by a shriek of unbridled rage. The echoes of fury resounded around the cavern and caused several cocoons with listless captives, and some not-so listless, to become dislodged and roll over the edge and into the darkness of the pit below.
The sound of something large moving through the cavern is the only thing more terrifying than the cries of fury and rage, that and the sound of a thousand legs on the move below them. While the party watched for the skulking foe they moved from cocoon to cocoon completing the task at hand. As they freed one of the captives that were too far gone they felt a spark of power cross down their arms as the captive died at their feet. The spark of power, the energy that came from the contact of these ritual-bound souls revitalised them, making them feel as if they had been at rest for hours.
The magic user in the party felt a greater surge of power and they gained a greater control over the weave around them. The power surging from the cocoons and downwards into a pit of complete darkness was becoming to be visible with the more people they touched and the further they were in the process of the ritual the greater the surge of energy and power the party encountered. Silver strands of energy, of life force flowed into the pit and when the party came into contact with it they felt their own powers restored.
However, it was with a sickening realisation that they were absorbing the spiritual energy of those who were being treated like a power-food source. Like vessels for energy and every time they came in contact with this thread of power they were now supping from the cup – the same way that the creature in the cavern was.
The cocoon that they were standing on shuddered as something large moved across it. The sound of frantic breathing and rage came from all around them as a giant shape reared up in front of them.
“Found you little insects. The Master has bid that I end your life instead of feeding your power to him. I was going to make it quick but you have undone so much of my work. Those captives were mine to feed from and so now your death will be anything but quick. You will wish you never stumbled into my webs”.
And that’s it this weeks plot twist. A confrontation with the lord of the pit and revelation into what they have been achieving. Don’t forget to come back tomorrow for a battlemap and as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
Catching up from yesterday where I had the opportunity to continue on with the D&D campaign, today I bring to you a glimpse beyond the veil. Now this is the 3rd major adventure that looks into the creature beyond the veil and with what’s been going on with the places of power that Andrasa had mentioned… I think its fair to say that we may be in a bit of a predicament at the moment. So let’s get our second last glimpse that what this is and get back to the adventure!
Beyond the veil
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The creature marvelled at its minions ability to siphon souls to it through the binding that the witch Andrasa had placed upon it. The energy that was coming through was enough to sate its appetite and help regain its strength. Being tracked in a pocket dimension wasn’t such a big deal for a being of kind. But the binding, the three separate places of power that were guarded by champion, civilization and location had bound its power.
But with the fall of the giant, the betrayer, the gradual destruction of the well of souls (aided by a vampire that was foolish enough to believe it could control the necromantic energies) and now, its servant siphoning energies through the deep dark… The time of the creature’s emergence was nearly here. However, these adventurers have proven difficult to manipulate and they keep showing up. The first instance they helped with the frozen seal, in a way. At the jungle they nearly stopped its plan, but it was too far gone. But here they may actually stop it.
It was not powerful enough to push through and be in a state to fight. No he needed more time and more souls. His servant had better kill these adventurers before it was too late, or they could ruin everything.
The creature in the darkness stirred as thoughts, projections from beyond the veil came to her. As she hung from the webs and ceiling she looked over the cocoons that she had provided to the deep dark as an offering. Satisfied that her servants had captured the intruders and had dealt with them she had left them alone for some time now.
But the voice, her master, came crashing like a cacophony of sound through her mind as the urgency in killing them turned from a suggestion to a demand. It was useless arguing with her master, it was too powerful and despite her own strength she learnt a millennia ago that to go against the one that watches was something not done, or possible.
Moving slowly through the cavern she measured the souls she had provided, a talent she had and she lamented. The interlopers were strong enough to count for several souls and their death would not feet through to the deep dark and onto where her master was. She would need to raid another town to get enough energy to sate her master’s demands and needs. Whatever… The hunt and the planning was exciting to her and watching her brood do her bidding was fine. Her master would have to wait longer but that was something she was fine with.
Besides, she needed to get more servants after these adventurers had killed so many.
Thanks for stopping by to catch up on our normal Tuesday blog update. Tonight I will update it with our regular scheduled content so make sure to come back for that. We are getting closer to the final confrontation and I have to make a decision on where it will take place. The realm beyond, or the deep dark. So stick around and come back daily to make sure you follow along. And, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
Good evening all and welcome to a short Seventh day of adventuring. Whilst not giving away the campaign, adventure or plot moving forward I will attempt to write up each adventure this year continuing with my 2023 campaign adventure 7. Today was a bit longer than the last session we had and we progressed further.
This is a continuation from 2023 Campaign adventure 6 as the party continues on their first mission as members of the investigation of the strange creatures in these lands.
2023 Campaign Adventure 7
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Plot:
Suncrest
Having decided to leave the crossroads to make for Suncrest before darkness fell the party made good time. Having unburdened animals to take them across the roads was a lot easier than moving with the wagons by foot from a few days ago. However the signs of what they encountered all to recently were still visible.
The deep ruts where the wagon got stuck which revealed a kobold-fashioned scimitar, the camp site where they were attacked by the lizards in the middle of the night. All was familiar yet different from their last foray through this part of the countryside.
However something else new was waiting for them as they rose over the crest and looked at the village of Suncrest. A plume of smoke was visible from above the towns and sending Armaeth to scout it was revealed to belong to a single man who was frantically looking through the ruins of the town. The Fairy also reported that there were several gaping holes in the ground in Suncrest. Cave ins to tunnels below which looked like it was somewhat recently made.
Making the decision to approach the town they made for the town and found a suitable barn to keep their, rather expensive, horses safe. However as they were leaving the barn they were spotted by the man walking through the town.
Enter Henrey.
After, somehow, Kai had convinced the man to come into the barn (and that he was someone called Lucky Barry) they quickly disarmed him and began questioning him. It turns out his life was worth more than his loyalty to his boss, Boss Barry, who had threatened to kill him if he didn’t find something of value in the town.
After a brief discussion it turned out that Henrey was part of a bandit gang who had stumbled across Suncrest and was subsequently attacked by kobolds who spilled out of their tunnels. Many bandits died but they killed twice as many Kobolds who then fled from the tunnels. Henrey then explained that the boss, Barry, had taken Lucky… Barry (two Barry’s was a bad idea) and the other bandits to investigate a manor near by whilst Henrey continued to look for a ‘hidden treasure’ that Lucky Barry could feel was in the town. The party promised Henrey that he would be safe if they left town. But Henrey mentioned a farmhouse on the way out of the town where they had stashed some plunder – this drew the attention of the party.
The Farmstead
Ruined Farmhouse Roof – Created in Inkarnate (see base below)
Ruined Farmhouse – Created in Inkarnate (see above for roof)
The farmhouse was small and in ruins. But they managed to find a sack of swords (about 20 useable blades within), some passable vegetables (maybe for animals that is) and some tools that could fetch a few gold.
They also found a locked wardrobe that had some fine clothes, a hunting longbow and some arrows stashed in there. But they failed to notice the bandits approaching.
Closure
Fleeing wasn’t an option but bluffing was. Convincing half the bandits that they had reinforcements meant they only had to deal with half of them now, the others ran off towards town. However the first five bandits were just the beginning as another five returned with Boss Barry.
After a long and tense fight the party succeeded and managed to wrest a worn looking short sword from the death grip of Barry. However upon closer inspection the blade had a name in dwarvern, Frost Thorn. The blade was not made by a dwarvern hand but it had a lot of characteristics as if it was constructed in the dwarvern ways. But there was a something odd about the blade. A permanent chill could be felt from it and they felt lucky that the blade had not caressed their skin when wielded by the bandit leader.
Main NPCs:
Armaeth
Groku
Thanks for joining me tonight and for continuing on this campaign with me. We just managed to get through what I wanted to today but there is always the sense of wanting more. But the party were excited to play and are looking forward to the next session – which is always the goal.
Don’t forget to come back tomorrow as we catch up on this weeks adventure. And, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
Brazen Wolfe Tabletop 