Monster Stat block

Siege of the Ice queen

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Welcome to the last weekly write-up for October where we look at the siege of the Ice queen. This week finds the party at the mercy from the Yuki-onna as she commands a frontal assault on the wall. Perhaps the Ice Queens rage and fear of defeat will make her vulnerable it’s not the same little humans that fought her last time.

As always portraits are created in Artbreeder and the normal wonderful tools like Kobold-fight-Club, Inkarnate and D&D Beyond are used frequently.

Siege of the Ice queen

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As the Onikage snorted with barely contained violence and hunger, Yukri watched the humans from its back. The yuki-onna knew that the Shadow, the one who had given her powers to rule as the Ice Queen, wanted these humans dead. But killing these humans had proven difficult, even the enlisted help from the Laelóng but the vain beast failed.

“Queen. The humans have escaped back on top of the wall. They have powerful weapons and we have to retreat…” a hesitant voice spoke from her side. The Oni looked down at its feet and braced for the worst but it didn’t come. A second voice spoke, much older, darker and more influential than the lowly Oni.

“You must stop them. Those weapons are cursed by the dragons and elves of old. Their magic has the power to bring down your kingdom. You must kill the wielders and stop them from taking everything you have fought for” The Shadow whispered in her ear. The sound of its voice so filled with power and malice that all other noises, thoughts and reason drifted from her mind. Eventually the sounds of screams, pleading and The Shadows intent washed her thoughts away until there was nothing left but overwhelming rage.

All she had worked for. All she had sacrificed and for what? A group of humans and magic swords to take it from her. Not likely. She watched her warriors and the creatures she commanded flee from the wall, all except the mindless undead, and her frustration grew. The frustration and rage boiled up within the Yuki-onna and it overflowed. Screaming her hatred and rage across the battlefield her intensity of her thoughts mixed with her magical abilities and a wall of frost formed over the fleeing warriors.

“Cowards…” she muttered as she looked upon her frozen troops. “Tomorrow they will take the wall. I don’t care how many it takes I will not have everything I worked for taken from me.”

Call of the Dragon

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As Kit sat down at the table with her hands crossed in front of her face she met the uneasy stare that her father was giving her. “So before you begin I want to explain why first…” she said as she accepted a hot cup of tea. “I had a vision…”

“A vision of your death?” her father, Captain Hou interrupted bluntly. His displeasure mixed with concern evident on his face and in his voice.

“No. If you’d let me continue, I had a vision of a golden dragon asking me to find out why there was a demon at the wall. It asked me to have faith and stay on the outside of the wall and watch the enemy as they went by with their attack. And I did.” she stopped to blow on her tea before sipping it slowly.

“They were studding the wall with these.” she aid as she reached into a torn pocket and deposited what appeared to be a shard of obsidian like material that had been carved into a thin stud. “I wasn’t sure at first but I watched them firing arrows towards the wall and us. I almost gave up when suddenly an arrow hit one of the fragments and this cloud of shadow sped across the ground and attacked all who stood above where the arrow hit. The next wave of attackers did the same thing. Ran up, those that got to the wall embedded another shard and then they would launch a few volleys of arrows. Each time the Shadow demon, the Wrath Wraith, would appear.”

She paused for a moment and let it sink in. “I though that if the creature just did as it was told and attacked where the shard was broken then we may be able to use it as a weapon. So I tried it out and it worked. The wrath wraith appeared and attacked the oni when they appeared over the ridge. They must have worked it out because I was retrieving one of the shards when they attacked. Lucky these adventurers appeared in time and saved me as during the commotion the shard I had scavenged broke in my pocket.” she paused to sip from her tea.

“I grabbed a few more shards on the way here so we can analyse them but if the wrath wraith is dead then there is no ability to summon it again.” she added. “But I think I did what the dragon ancestor had asked as I could see the glow of the ancestors on these adventurers. I decided that my task was complete so I didn’t need to stay out there any more.”

As if to punctuate the closure of her story the room dropped in temperature suddenly and a horrible scream broke through the night air outside. Racing up the steps the party looked over the edge of the wall to see walls of ice littering the battlefield. As they trace the direction the walls seemed to point in the Yuki-onna, Yukir Toshio and a huge Onikage stalked away from the battlefield.

The first flakes of snow began to drift down from the darkened clouds.

Tides of Shadow

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As the snow began to settle on the wall the movement of hundreds of feet broke the eerie silence. The drone of stampeding feet rose to a thunderous roar as spirit folk, oni, demons and undead rushed towards the wall.

As the humans manned the defences and shot arrows into the oncoming horde the oni and spirit folk that fell quickly rose again as undead. The tell-tale signs of the Yuki-onna’s magic appearing as steam, frostbite and ice clinging to the freshly raised bodies.

As the bodies hit the wall the undead began to pile up the oni and spirit folk used their bodies to climb towards the top of the wall. But, the bodies concealed the real threat. Dark tendrils of Shadow crept along the ground under and around the feet of the humanoids. As they touched the wall they began to feel for cracks, gaps or holes in the wall in which they quickly filled the crack with their shadowy mass.

All across the wall the masses of bodies rose and fell as they were expertly cut down as the shadowy tendrils pierced the walls. The shadows weaved from the wall across the battlefield and back to the Yuki-onna.

With a surge of magic she gathered the shadow energy and merged her own power within it. Forcing the shadowy tendrils to freeze as if dark permafrost the ground erupted and cracked as the shadow expanded. As the ice rushed forward beams of light shot from the sky and the weapons and items of the heroes which banished the shadow, shattering the ice as it formed.

Where the shadow and ice wasn’t banished it cracked the wall and created walls of ice that protected the shadows minions while creating a ladder for them to climb up.

Appearance of a hero near the tendrils sent the ice and shadow into splinters to the ground and the invaders crashing down behind them. But more bodies brought more tendrils of shadow, their bodies leeching it across the ground where they ran, shuffled, fell and died.

The constant flow of shadow magic and the influx of dark ice came from the Yuki-onna who commanded the battlefield from a raised perch surrounded on all sides but one by jagged ice. One clear path to confront the source of dark magic and end the siege before it brought the wall down.

NPCs – 237TuWiotDa

Wall Captain Hou

Captain Hou commands the wall troops to push back the attacking creatures but starts to struggle as the Yuki-onna’s attacks begin to bring down the wall.

Kyoko Harimasu

Kyoko fights with Captain Hou as she sends Takeo to the capital to warn them that the wall may fall and to provide the current status to her father.

Miss Hou

Captain Hou’s daughter reveals the reason she was hiding and scavenging amongst the battlefield. She joins Kyoko and her father in defending the wall and the Harimasu princess.

Wall Guard Gin Seng

Gin Seng simply defends the wall.

Environment and running the adventure

Tonight the encounter was balanced assuming that our party would have levelled up after reaching the wall and the fights along the way. This sets us at around 30000 xp for a daily encounter budget and around 6400 for an encounter.

Map – Encounter over the wall (Surveying the Battlefield)

Made with Inkarnate.com

Encounter – Warriors and Wrath

The first waves is straight forward for us.

The Shadow Tendrils move as fast as they can towards the wall and then take the dodge action until the Yuki-onnas turn. They always act on initiative 10 and wont attack creatures. They also always stealth up using the creatures above them as cover.

Our first lot of encounters is the wall – Oni (hobgoblins), a captain and some lesser creatures (gnats or zombies.. something that is CR1/4) can flesh this part of the encounter out. If we treat them as coming in waves with the waves being 5 rounds apart it can make it feel like the tides are endless – just need to describe the creatures taking some time making it across the fields.

The second encounter is when the party realise that the walls are being torn apart by the Yuki-onna and so they leave the wall to take the fight to her. Now if the party has ranged weapons, abilities or spells it makes this part of the fight easier so I would enforce that the spikes summoned (see last nights map Sieged under snow) provide 3/4 cover for the ice queen from range where there is spikes between her and the attacking party.

Apart from fighting through the waves of Oni, the captains and zombies or lesser Gnats once they reach the ice queen she is quite formidable. I would have the waves still come, our party is level 9 after all, but maybe have supportive arrow fire dwindle the horde a bit from the wall.

For the Onikage as this one is meant to be huge, a more impressive specimen, change the size to huge and HP to 60 and that will just about do it for us.

Thanks again for joining me for another end of week writeup. Next week I will work on some bonus content as we work our way up to the end of the month. Next month is the end of the road for us so don’t forget every day between now December 1st. And as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Enemy At The Wall

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Fight night is here and we find ourselves with enemies at the wall. Tonight we look at the multi-staged (potentially) encounter for the week which we highlighted on Wednesday. While the rain continues to fall in Australia and much of our Southern and eastern states prepare for flooding I wanted to take a moment to wish those bracing for another wet weekend the best of luck. If I had a lucky dice, or inspiration I would send it out to all of them so that they may use an extra dice when they need it most. Take care Australians.

Enemy At The Wall

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Tonight the encounter was balanced assuming that our party would have levelled up after reaching the wall and the fights along the way. This sets us at around 30000 xp for a daily encounter budget and around 6400 for an encounter.

Our first lot of encounters is the wall – Oni (hobgoblins), a captain and some lesser creatures (gnats or zombies.. something that is CR1/4) can flesh this part of the encounter out. If we treat them as coming in waves with the waves being 5 rounds apart it can make it feel like the tides are endless – just need to describe the creatures taking some time making it across the fields.

Made with Inkarnate.com
Stat blocks created in Tetra-cube

The second encounter is when the party realise that they are being torn apart by the Yuki-onna and so they leave the wall to take the fight to her. Now if the party has ranged weapons, abilities or spells it makes this part of the fight easier so I would enforce that the spikes summoned (see last nights map Sieged under snow) provide 3/4 cover for the ice queen from range where there is spikes between her and the attacking party.

Apart from fighting through the waves of Oni, the captains and zombies or lesser Gnats once they reach the ice queen she is quite formidable. I would have the waves still come, our party is level 9 after all, but maybe have supportive arrow fire dwindle the horde a bit from the wall.

For the Onikage as this one is meant to be huge, a more impressive specimen, change the size to huge and HP to 60 and that will just about do it for us.

As for the other parts of this encounter treat the shadow as something that can be spotted and targeted as a creature.

This creatures sole purpose is to find holes in the wall and act as a way of channelling ice magic from the Yuki-onna to damage, bring down the wall and act as a bridge and ladder for the warriors on the ground. Or those on the wall to go down to the ground.

Well that’s it for us tonight in Ryokughan. Don’t forget to come back this weekend for more content and as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Warriors and Wrath

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Welcome to the 7th last (I believe) end of week writeup!. This week we followed the party along the road to the wall as they were attacked by creatures after the dragons tears items. Despite the ferocity and unrelenting creatures they came out on top and perhaps learned a thing or two about the items they carry.

As always portraits are created in Artbreeder and the normal wonderful tools like Kobold-fight-Club, Inkarnate and D&D Beyond are used frequently.

Warriors and Wrath

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As the party arrived at the wall the first thing that they noticed was the sheer lack of people. For such a crucial point in the defence of Ryokughan it was shockingly unmanned. A head appeared at the edge of the wall twenty feet above the ground before calling out. “Princess Kyoko is here! Reinforcements have arrived!” the voice was overcome with emotion before several others echoed with joyous cries of relief.

“Kyoko. I don’t think our message hawk arrived here safely. They believe we have more reinforcements for the wall” Takeo spoke in a hushed whisper to Kyoko and the party. “How did you want to handle this?” he added looking from Kyoko to the party who were in fact the reinforcements.

After a few moments a platform was lowered over the side and the party, the princess and the spy were lifted atop the wall. Despite the low numbers of people on the wall they all were veterans. Heavily armed, armoured and trained they carried themselves with a martial poise that was lacking in many. As they rushed towards Kyoko they greeted Takeo and the party, the exhaustion on their faces replaced by joy and relief.

“Before we continue the pleasantries I believe I need to have a word with you lady Kyoko” a particularly grizzled and hard man said from a nearby door to a small tower. “There is something that is of great urg…” he began as he held up a fist and listened to the quiet that his signal instilled. “It comes!” the wall captain roared as every single soldier drew their weapons and surrounded the party and princess.

In a moment of chaos clouds of shadow-smoke appeared around the wall in sporadic bursts. Soon the sound of steel clashing, grunts and combat rang out around the party as the unknown adversary launched itself at the walls defenders. After a few moments the creature disappeared and the shadow-smoke dissipated soon after.

“To your posts. Prepare for combat!” roared the captain who eyed his men and women closely, inspecting for wounds. Finding one he pulled them aside “to the infirmary,” he said with a sigh as the realisation set into the face of the woman in front of him. “you’ve been stung. You won’t be seeing battle again until you’ve recovered” he added as he clasped the soldiers shoulder.

“yes sir!” the soldier barked obediently as with a great deal of sadness she handed over her weapons in resignation to the captain before retreating down a nearby set of stairs. As she disappeared into the bowels of carved and fortified stone.

“We are hounded by a creature that does not kill, it barely wounds but what it touches quickly dies. Normally at the hands of the victims allies.” the captain said as he grabbed a helmet and moved to the wall. “Those unfortunately enough to get injured by it recover after some time. Normally after heavy sedation. Some don’t and they choose to live on the outside of the wall so that in their condition they can still benefit their brothers and sisters.”

“What do you mean wall captain Hou?” Kyoko asked as she moved over to the wall before clasping a hand to her mouth.

“They go mad. Their blood boils and they cant detect friend from foe. They will kill anything in sight. Lethally trained warriors who can’t tell friend from foe and who have a lust for blood that a demon would envy. I haven’t seen it before. Our healers can only sedate and hope that their spirit is strong enough to fight the affliction. If they can’t resist then they spend their final days ripping into our enemies and serving us in their death.” the captain said with great reverence as he saluted a human who stopped pacing by the base of the wall, bloody froth covering its mouth.

After a moment the human, one a warrior that defended the wall turned and charged away from the wall, picking up a crude looking sword as it charged headlong into a mass of charging Spirit folk. The brutality in which the warrior cleaved into the fey creatures was outstanding and hard to watch. But that wasn’t only sight on the other side of the wall. Dozens of injured and dying lay strewn about the battlefield on both sides. Humans, those afflicted as well as the minions of The Shadow, all of them calling for help or crying out in pain or fear.

“We have tried to recover our wounded or dead and we started to lose more men than we saved…” a wall guard said from next to the party. Nodding towards the captain who pulled on a helmet and drew a magnificent longbow as he climbed a nearby watch tower. “He lost his daughter. She was a fine warrior and led the last recovery mission. She was cut down by a Oni.” The guardsman nodded towards a banner that stood high amongst the bodies, rocks and toppled trees. “She lies somewhere over there. Some men swear they have seen her moving about the battlefield but I think they are just seeing things.” he sighed. After a moment he ran off down the wall to continue to guard as creatures started to reach the wall.

The edge of torchlight 241WeThEdOfTo

As the party stood atop the wall they thought of the day that they had witnessed. Twice more the shadow creature had struck but by luck, skill or divine grace they had not been inflicted with the affliction. The woman in the infirmary howled with rage and even while heavily sedated it only eased the peaks of her fury.

They also had to witness the dead rise from their broken and battered forms and assault the wall, beaten back and slain by either the warriors on the wall or those afflicted driven mad by rage who hunted the no-mans land between the wall and the rocky mountains where the attacks came from. Even while the party watched from the wall and aided in driving back the dead or the twisted spirit-folk there was little joy in the tasks they did.

It was at this point, at the edge of torchlight that the party saw movement. To precise and too careful for undead or afflicted. Too subtle and tactical to be spirit-folk or beast. As the party watched the shadow approached the edge of the light cast by the braziers and torches that lined the wall and it quickly darted forward and grabbed a pack from a fallen oni warrior. The distinct human colour skin flashed from under layers of tattered and ripped cloth as a sudden gust of wind caused the light cast by the fire to flash across the face of the creature and a human Ryokughan female looked up at the party startled.

The figure pressed a finger to her lips before skulking off towards a crest in the battlefield.

Bonus – Over the wall

“That’s her! That’s the captains daughter!” The wall guard from earlier that day announced. Gin Seng pointed at the captains daughter as she hurried across the battlefield towards a rocky outcrop. Moments later several shapes started to move towards her and the rock rise in the battlefield, she appeared unaware.

“we have to do something” Gin said as he hurried towards the crane. His voice causing a commotion amongst the other guards.

“What’s going on here?” barked Captain Hou.

“Kit is out there Sir. We saw her” Gin said, the party confirming with him.

“It’s probably a trick of the Shadow…” The captain said, his own voice betraying the hope he held deep inside. “Kit is gone…”

A scream erupted from the battlefield. The shadowy-Kit had been ambushed and the sound of combat could be heard. “KIT!” her father screamed as he threw the platform over the side of the wall. “Man the defences. Ballista and arrows trained on the battlefield. Nothing comes up whilst I go down.”

“Captain Hou, the plan can’t succeed without you. The adventurers are veterans at combat and have surprised me more than once. Besides it will be a test to see if the simple presence of the Dragons Tears artefacts can draw forth the shadows minions…” Kyoko said as she stepped out in full armour.

“I hate to ask this of you my friends. But are you willing to rescue the captains daughters and see what happens when the dragons light erupts forth from you?” she asked with a tinge of guilt and regret.

NPCs – 237TuWiotDa

Wall Captain Hou

Captain Hou is a rugged veteran commander of the wall guard for decades he has led the elite troops in defending the land from the Shadows Influence and was so honoured that his own daughter joined him. This was his biggest regret as his daughter was just as head strong as he was in his youth and led a foolish mission to retrieve the wounded from the battlefield only to be struck down herself.

Kyoko Harimasu

Kyoko keeps herself hidden and defended by many guards. Captain Hou and Takeo spend most of their time talking tactics into how to lure the Ice queen towards the wall and a trap.

Miss Hou

Captain Hou’s daughter…

Wall Guard Gin Seng

Gin Seng is one of the warriors in the Wall Guard. He is well trained and a natural in combat but perhaps a bit too emotional for the captains liking.

Leading with emotion rather than discipline Gin Seng is sure that the captains daughter still lives and swears that he has seen her at night.

Environment and running the adventure

Night time shouldn’t be a hassle for the party with their level, abilities and gear by now so it’s another night time encounter.

Map – Encounter over the wall (Surveying the Battlefield)

Made with Inkarnate.com

Encounter – Warriors and Wrath

Any creature from our vaults can be used here. I would suggest some Oni and perhaps an afflicted human warrior (see gladiator stat block with affliction template added). The Wrath Wraith also comes forth and attacks the party as they reach Kit Hou – she seems to be untargeted by the creature but the party are less fortunate.

Aftermath…

As the party defeat the wrath Wraith the all too familiar haunting call of the Onikage echoes through the battlefield and Yukri Toshio – the Yuki-onna appears on the back of a huge Onikage. She points towards the party as the crest of the hill she is standing on erupts into dozens of shadowy shapes running toward the party. Kit pleads for the party to retreat as the guard on the wall start to call for them to run back as well.

Thanks for joining me again for another end of week writeup. The second last week and of the second last month see’s us drawing things to a close. Next week we go over the wall and further into enemy territory as we try and draw forth the Yuki-onna and her dreadful mount. Don’t forget to come back each day this coming week and as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

The Wrath Wraith

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Hello all and welcome to another FightNight! I can’t believe its Friday already and after we surveyed the lands battlefield night tonight is stat blocks! I bring to you a template, made in the wonderful Homebrewery who have gone through a bit of a glow-up of late and as always, Kobold Plus Flight Club and Tetra-cube.

The Wrath Wraith

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The Wrath Wraith is another interesting creature. On its own it isn’t that terrifying but when you implement how it fights, its tactics behind the encounter it becomes quite terrifying.

This week the Wrath Wraith is under the influence of the Shadow. Like many fiends it will barter its way out of where it lives into the material plane in order to sew chaos. This creature has been tasked with breaking the wall and by using hit and run tactics and wearing out the defenders it is slowly doing so. But, it still loves to sew chaos and by afflicting creatures it hurts with an unquenchable rage.

The affliction enables the Wrath Wraith to to see chaos on top of the wall as well as on the battlefield below when the humans decide to send their allies away. This also creates glorious chaos within the humans hearts and mind as they watch their friends and family turn into feral creatures.

A win for the Wrath Wraith.

The Affliction is more of a curse than a disease or poison. Remove curse will abolish it but also those who are strong of body can resist it as it attempts to wrestle control from their mind.

Those also afflicted by it can attempt to force the curse out of their body by will power alone. It is more difficult but one who can reign in the wrath curse is also immune to it.

Made with The Homebrewery

That’s it for tonight. Don’t forget to come back tomorrow for a bonus twist night and, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Road to the Wall

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Welcome to the 7th last (I believe) end of week writeup!. This week we followed the party along the road to the wall as they were attacked by creatures after the dragons tears items. Despite the ferocity and unrelenting creatures they came out on top and perhaps learned a thing or two about the items they carry.

As always portraits are created in Artbreeder and the normal wonderful tools like Kobold-fight-Club, Inkarnate and D&D Beyond are used frequently.

Road to the Wall

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Black feathers caught the wind currents under the dark ominous clouds and caused the large winged creature to soar above the ground far below. Beating its wings it looked down below at the group travelling along the road. It’s keen eyes picked out everything. From the colours of their clothes to the wear and tear on their cloaks not a detail was missed. That was until the hilt of a blade, the tip of a staff and the glimmer of an amulet glimmered from under cloth.

The resulting burst of radiance in the creatures view caused it to reel with pain. It wasn’t just its pain it was feeling but also its masters and its desires were simple. Don’t let them reach the wall.

Tucking its wings in the creature dove down the wind now aiding in its rapid descent as it plunged. Noticing movement from its left and right two of its brethren also had been urged downwards. However, their descent was halted as a bolt of radiance shot up from the travellers, connecting with the torso of the creature next to it. The tangled mess of skin, flailing limbs and gore tumbled down towards the earth as the creatures dove onwards.

Too late did the creature realise as the blades, limbs and bolts piece and shred their flesh that these motes of radiance were too much for them. Even as they began to flee shredded wings flapping in a panic they were cut down no far from where they made their foolish attack.

As the radiant light burnt through its flesh and it lay in a pool of blood and gore the power the Shadow had leant it all those years ago evaporated with the last beat of its heart.

240WeDaFo

The Dragons Tears items were phenomenal. With a single command word they shed bright light as if a miniature sun had been captured and forged into a item. The sun is something that the party had not seen in days and the further they travelled in this direction the more certain they were that they wouldn’t see the sun for quite some time.

“It wasn’t always like this” Kyoko said from beside them as she walked, the unseasonal browning leaves crunching underfoot. “These parts of the Harimasu lands were always green and rich with life. Now with the Shadow spreading its influence further east it looks like the life is being stripped from the earth.” Kyoko’s voice was melancholy but the bright light from the items the party carries seemed to bring mirth back to her face.

“Legend has it that the weapons were so powerful that the Shadow couldn’t stand to be in their presence. Alone it fled to the mountains to get far enough away from them that it wouldn’t feel their light upon its dark skin.”

The party looked at the items in thought. Surely they were stories told to make the people of these lands feel brave enough to face the horrors that crept in the dark. As a shower of sparks signalled that Takeo had finished building the fire as what they believed to be night descended upon them. Once he had finished with the fire he produced a pot and some rations and foodstuffs to get a meal going.

Nightfall…

As the fire flickered and licked at the empty pot the shadows cast from the creatures that gathered around it for warmth. The smell of stewed meat and vegetables caused the creatures to salivate but that wasn’t reason that they were here. The driving pressure, the urge and the desire to appease their master had lead them here and here they waited until they were sure. Their master was a strong one, clever, fast and wise. But his master was even more so and it was he who was giving the orders.

“Wait until we are sure they carry the light. Then we attack and make sure none find the light ever again” their master had instructed them. The largest creature crooned as she received scritches under its massive jaw.

A brief flash of light, then a pulse. A bigger burst of light that seared the eyes of the nocturnal creatures gave them all the information they needed. As a group they charged, whooping, cheering and howling with excitement as they closed into their prey. They just hoped that they would last long enough to be fun for the pack.

NPCs – 237TuWiotDa

Kyoko Harimasu

Kyoko has come with the party to aid them in drawing the Ice queen out and coordinating the troops on the wall as the others head to the south to meet the Toshio-family head on and prevent the wall from being attacked on two fronts.

Environment and running the adventure

Dragons Tears Items – 240TuDrTeIt

Map – Encounter with Shadowlands Mastiff

Made with Inkarnate.com

Creatures

Now the giant vulture in this instance of it looks like its not that strong but having a few ambush the party could be an interesting way to start us off. It will hint to the party that they are being watched or at least searched for.

The mastiff is part of the night time encounter, a few of these could be quite the challenge for the party. In fact this is especially so if they attack a party member who is isolated and drag them off into the darkness to be… well… eaten.

The Quasit is a funny one. I use these critters are comic relief normally but they can be quite dangerous in groups. The shape change will play havoc with the party (especially with the Paladins divine sense only picking up a fiend nearby where there is clearly a toad, centipede or a roosting bat. Could be a way to harass the party without causing them any real danger by having a few of these creatures playing tricks on the party.

Aftermath…

The party move on for another day of walking before the wall is seen on the horizon. Although they have bested all that has been thrown at them so far they fear the worst still lies ahead of them.

Thanks for joining me once again. As we draw closer to the end of our long trek along the Road to the wall we find our parties on the precipice of danger at every turn. Next week we find ourselves at the wall and perhaps its not as dire as it seems, perhaps its worse. Don’t forget to come back each day this coming week and as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

The trouble with beacons

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Welcome to a Friday #fight-night where tonight we are looking at some of the stat blocks that we can use for this weeks encounter. Now the trouble with beacons is simple, they literally signal to anyone who is looking for it (or not) that something is there. Now these magic items, the Dragons Tears, all have very strong beacon like abilities and especially since the minions of The Shadow are looking for them too. This week we have two planned encounters and another stat block that could be bit of fun.

As always the stat blocks are created in Tetra-cube (can’t leave the game table without it) but the rest is up to me (or from DND core books).

The trouble with beacons

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Now the giant vulture in this instance of it looks like its not that strong but having a few ambush the party could be an interesting way to start us off. It will hint to the party that they are being watched or at least searched for.

The mastiff is part of the night time encounter, a few of these could be quite the challenge for the party. In fact this is especially so if they attack a party member who is isolated and drag them off into the darkness to be… well… eaten.

The Quasit is a funny one. I use these critters are comic relief normally but they can be quite dangerous in groups. The shape change will play havoc with the party (especially with the Paladins divine sense only picking up a fiend nearby where there is clearly a toad, centipede or a roosting bat. Could be a way to harass the party without causing them any real danger by having a few of these creatures playing tricks on the party.

Made with Inkarnate.com

Thanks it for tonight. Don’t forget to come back this weekend for the end of week writeup, and, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Lómipilu – Master of Illusion

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Welcome to a Friday Fightnight! Tonight we look at the Lómipilu – Master of illusion and bringer of fear as it welcomes the party into its trap. Tonight we look at Lair actions and what what means for our games so sit back and let’s read on.

Lómipilu – Master of Illusion

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Created in tetra-cube

Lómipilu Lair

The Lómipilu lair is in reality a large (60ft x 60ft) pocket dimension where it the Lómipilu has brought in elements of the shadowlands (Shadowfell / Shadowplane) into the dimension. The dimension swallows dim light completely, bright light is reduced to a quarter of its normal range (torches are now only 5ft bright and a further 5ft dim) and only daylight seems to piece the veil.

Generally the Lómipilu creates illusionary structures from condensed shadow that are so real that they are physical to touch and only those who can convince their own minds that its not an illusion can see the room for what it really is.

Lair Actions

The nature of the Dimension and thus the Lómipilu’s lair is of unbridled chaotic illusion and the creature that calls this liar home is its embodiment. On initiative 20 the Lómipilu takes a lair action to cause one of the following effects. The Lómipilu can’t take the same action 2 rounds in a row.

  • The rooms shift, doors that used to lead to halls or other rooms change to a new position and the lair reforms around its central core.
  • Creatures made of shadow shift in and out of existence and throw themselves at invaders of their territory at the behest of the Lómipilu. These creatures are called Lómipilu Shades (Shadowless Shades). They take the form that the Lómipilu desires, have 7ac and 1 hp and cause no damage on an attack. They also die after 1d4 rounds.
  • The Shadow energy of the pocket dimension erupts forth and causes all exposed flames and non-permanent magical lights to go out.

Thoughts

The Lómipilu would rather try an convince the party to attack each other by using the shades and its ability to create illusions seemingly at will to convince each other that what they are seeing is or isnt real.

When the Lómipilu feels threatened it will fade into darkness (hide action) and will attack isolated or vulnerable creatures savagely as it will always try and fight with an upper hand.

Thanks for visiting tonight and for looking at the stat block tonight for the Lómipilu. I have a few writeups for tomorrow so make sure to come back to keep up to date with Brazen Wolfe Tabletop. Oh, and as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Laelóng – Multi staged Encounter

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Welcome to a Friday Fight-night! where tonight we look at the Laelóng in our Multi staged Encounter. Tonight the Stat block is made in tetra-cube as my preferred stat-block creating tool. However I am trying something a bit different tonight as I try and work out an easy way to balance custom creatures. So while I try and work out the maths, let’s see how it works out.

Kunagi Ranges Encounter

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The Laelóng is a large bird like wyvern which in rare cases, when they grow to a old age, develop the ability to summon and control ice. The sages in the lands believe it is a boon given to them by their dragon cousins out of pity but there is some debate on the origins of their powers. Some newer scholars believe that their powers come from The Shadow who gifted the control over ice to the Laelóng as payment for fighting against the ancestral dragons of men. What ever the reason and cause of their powers they retained their vanity of their cousins, and their strength.

Generally social in nature when young their disposition changes dramatically when they reach maturity and old age. Becoming distant, antisocial and paranoid they hide away and only re-join their large flocks to mate – which is more violent than romantic.

Laelóng - Multi staged Encounter stat block for D&D 5e
Created in Tetra-Cube

The Laelóng is a terrifying opponent, preferring to attack from the air rather than join its prey on the ground. The first encounter where its fighting with Ester clutched in its claws it wont be able to use its legendary actions, One of its claw attacks and will fight as if its everfrost claws are broken.

The second phase it will make one claw attack and attempt to push (prone) a target then fly away.

The third phase it fights uninhibited and will use its breath weapon when possible. Focusing on hitting as many targets without provoking attacks of opportunity as possible. When this is impossible the Laelóng will heal its claws or move and launch its breath weapon.

Thanks for joining me tonight for more Brazen Wolfe Tabletop for the final weeks content. Don’t forget that this weekend is the monthly finale and that means one big adventure write-up. So make sure you come back for that and, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

A Legacy of Hunger

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Tonight we begin our 11 month long campaign with the party entering the seaside town of Daye. This month we investigated a legacy of hunger and the darkness that trade can bring into a family.

As with usual Pages 1, 2 and 3 are content pages, the description, flow, random tables, etc. and such that you’ve previously seen.
Page 4 contains all NPCs and portraits to help the DM describe them and a bit about them to help play them out.
Page 5 will be stat blocks and map(s) – all that D&D encounter goodness that you want.

Now I will assume you have read the entire post which has had some bits modified over the months content. Now including the original content, and some bits added this is a smaller than normal length, only just making 8052! words long. I really do appreciate the time you take to read through these end of month adventures.

All Maps were made in Inkarnate using their Pro license, Art was created in Artbreeder and the statblocks were created in Tetra-cube AND the balancing of encounters is a mixture of experience and the guides found at Kobold Fight Club.

Don’t forget to come back next week and, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Part 1 – Crimson flags on a pale shore. 201MoCrFl

As the rising sun touches the sails over the docks a shimmering sea of red greets those who rise with the sun. Long masts on beautiful ships sail into port with strange and terrifying creatures carved into the richly coloured wood.

The people seemed to flow across the decks as they tended to great rippling red sails, silken rope and barrels of good. Yet only the captain of a ship had their face not covered by a white mask. As they dock great planks were lowered to the piers below and crates, barrels and cages were taken off the shift and lowered to the docks as the masked sailors moved surefooted across the wooden planks to take their cargo into warehouses and storage.

As the people move across the streets their presence, odd mannerisms and appearance start to cause a commotion across the port town of Daye and soon enough word travels of the animals, items, goods and strange foods that the new ship has brought in. The people are welcoming of the excitement and the traders are accommodating despite never removing their masks or gloves.

After a few days reports of strange occurrences of things being moved in houses and shops as well as shadows drifting over roofs and walls. As more of these sightings occurred the people started look for something or someone to blame and curfews were places upon the masked traders to both protect them and rarely their movements through the night.

201TuKyHa & 201TuHu

Kyoko sighed as she looked across the table as the two men from the Daye city watch left her cabin through the ornamentally carved door. She had anticipated some resistance at first but being openly welcomed then having the proverbial doors slammed in her face was not expected.

“what do we do captain?” Hurane asked, his masked face distorting his normally smooth voice. “We came here to trade and establish new trade routes for the betterment of our people. If we can’t do that then we must find somewhere else.” He said with genuine concern.

Pressing her index fingers to her temples she pondered her next action. The city guard had come just after noon and placed restrictions and curfews on her people leaving the ships within an hour of dusk and dawn which is when many people are out and about on the streets wanting to experience new sights and delights. The curfew would not just make it hard to do business it would nearly make them staying here impossible. Looking over the papers that were left here, reports of sightings of figures in the night and items being moved or disappeared it sounded like the guards were accusing one of her people of being the culprit.

“find out what you can from our troupe. If we are responsible we will deal with it and clear our name. If we can’t handle this we will be left with no choice but to leave and I don’t think we can afford another endeavour like this again” Kyoko said looking through the papers again. Hurane saluted to her and went to leave the cabin to begin his questioning. “And Hurane, if no one talks, let’s get the Lotus involved, we can’t fail here.”

As Hurane left Kyoko sat back on her chair and had a look over the occurrences. It wasn’t just reports of a thief, it looked to be searching for something specific based on the reports. Maybe it wasn’t a person but a thing. She looked at the book her father had left her that contained stories of warriors from this continent that visited her home land years ago. Warriors that defied the Oni and fought against the spirits in the swamp to free entire villages. Perhaps she could find such warriors in their home land, maybe a party of adventurers is what she needs.

201WeDaMiFa

Dark tendrils of mist crawled down the wall as the lantern light left the room and ascended the stairs of the two story house. As the tendrils touched the floor it rose to take the shape of a hunched humanoid. Glowing pits for eyes snapped up on a neck that twitched and  shook erratically as it watched the last of the light disappear up stairs.

Skitter-slinking across the floor it moved through the room picking up items, raising them to its face where it inhales their smell in deeply before putting them back not quite in the same space. The mist that clung to its form obscured its face and most of its details but it seemed unhindered by the dark cloak that clung to it.

As it picked up a trinket from a mantle place it inhaled deeply causing wafts of blue light to float from it. The creatures body shook uncontrollably in what could only be described as ecstasy  as the blue energy touched its face. Cupping the anchor medallion in both hands it inhaled deeply and grain by grain the talisman disintegrated in a trail of blue light and disappeared into the mouth of the creature.

“what in bloomin heck!” A loud voice said as the click of flint and tinder sounded from the stairs. As the spark of flame moved towards the lantern the creature whirled around and spotted the interloper. Jumping to the wall of the house it skittered up the wall at freakish speed. The sound of a man shrieking, a dropping lantern and shattering glass was the only sound as the creature climbed into the shadows of the the room. Slowly as it stared down at the man with its glowing pits for eyes it could smell the fear from the human as it stared at its eyes. Slowly its body turned to the same dark mist that surrounded its body and it drifted through the wall, two faint embers of its eyes the last thing to disappear.

201ThSeBr

Kyoko watched as the hawk soared above the boat and and head out towards the city, she wondered what it would be like to be born with the gift of flight. Sighing she turned away and strolled down the plank to go check on the stalls where her peoples wares were being sold, regrettably a lot slower now that they had restrictions put upon them, she only could hope that the creature, or person that was the source of their restrictions.

Hurane walked up to her, clasping his forearms behind his back as he looked over ships and the people discussing price on food, craft and other items. “The morning Lotus has bloomed. If one of ours is responsible they will find out” he said leaning closer to her to ensure that the message was hard to intercept. The masks her people wore helped to also protect the words Hurane spoke to her. But also protect their identities, the people of this city were not ready yet to see who they were behind the masks.

“I noticed. Let us hope they can find what is causing the distress of the good people of Daye and we can begin to rebuild the relationship needed to establish this trade route. “Have you any leads yet?” Kyoko asked as she looked towards the masked man she had grown up with.

“Sadly no Kyoko, we don’t have a lead. Every trader, sailor and officer has been questioned and they all swear their loyalty and deny any involvement in the disturbance. Apologies Kyoko” Hurane spoke with a tinge of regret in his voice.

“Well let’s hope the lotus blooms and we find what’s causing our grief”

The wind filled the wings of the bird as it flew high in the sky its keen eyesight gazing down upon the blue waters, the red railed ships and the thatch covered houses that covered the ground like a maze. The houses were built as needed without much foresight into where the next would be built. This evidently caused the alleys and pathways between houses to be erratic and suddenly end, a maze of mudbrick walls and thatch covered roofs. Very different from where she is from.

Noticing something different from the sea of thatch, mudbrick and rough stone street she flew down in broad circles looking around her as he descended for any signs of danger. Seeing no danger she landed on the roof and picked up the object that was shining on the roof and held it in one claw so she could look at it closer. It appeared to be a medallion or talisman made from metal, or so what was left of it gave that appearance. Noticing the faint taint of magic from it and the way that it was damaged concerned her, in her experience magic items were very difficult to break and finding one damaged as such concerned her. Deciding that it was worth notifying Kyoko she flew off with the hook shaped metal trinket.

Environment and running the adventure

As the party enter the city they are greeted by the salty and fishy smelling docks that flank the single road into the town. The houses are made from sandstone and wooden roofs with thatching to weatherproof them or mud brick and a rough patchwork of straw for their thatching. The roads are erratically built and designed with no uniform height, width or length between one house, the next and ab dead end at the ends of the street. Only by following the crowd so they make it to where the street vendors and trade ships sell their wares.

The party would notice that a large number of elegantly dressed people wearing masks walk the streets and man stalls in front of large red sailed ships that are moored at the docks. Some city guard appear to be arguing with one such man who complies with their demands until they got to remove his mask. The man pleads loudly and sobs for the guard to not do so.

If the party step forward the guard would question their motives aggressively but a friendly unmasked woman quickly approaches and helps the masked person back to their feet and stall. She introduces herself as Kyoko Harimasu, the captain of the red fleet and she thanks then for stepping in explaining that her people wear masks based oaths they took before they survived in this land. She mentions the hungry gull is likely the best and most affordable tavern-come-inn around.

If the party doesn’t help the masked man Kyoko will intervene and then loudly introduce herself to passer-by

That night regardless of where the party stay they may (DC12 perception check or passive perception) to notice some one watching them closely from outside. If they investigate they find someone quickly disappearing into the roof and darting up into the roof. If they choose to chase then use the chase rules from Fridays encounter.

Encounter – The Chase

I want to entertain the feature of the dungeon master guide again, the chase.

When the chase begins you establish a few things. The distance between the pursued (quarry) and the pursuers, the position of them and the lead pursuer and any immediate hazards or obstacles

The lead pursuer is who ever is closest and may change per round depending on who is closest.

The position will be important for this adventure as we will have vertical distance as well as horizontal distance which affects sight amongst other things.

The actual encounter is simply the discovery of a suspicious person on a roof, a chase and then either questioning them or trying to work out who they were based on some queues given during the chase.

If the chase continues on the rooftops then a dexterity check(dc10) would need to be made per movement action taken, dash or otherwise, if failed then the roof collapses and the creature has their leg stuck (prone) until they can pull themselves free (dc10 strengths check).

Guards will be alerted if the party or their quarry is loud. They may try and intercept the party on the roof of they are discovered. On the roads the party will be encountered with intersections where every round roll a dice.

On a 1 there is an intersection where the path to the left is a dead end after 15 ft and the right continues 15ft to the right then turns forward again (left turn to head in the same direction of their quarry) 2-3 the path continues forward with no blockage and on a 4 the path to the right is blocked after 15ft but the left path is unblocks and after 15 ft the path turns right to follow the quarry.

On the road they may find drunken citizens, thugs/thieves, startled citizens who shriek for the guard when they see the party or a group of guards who try and stop the party.

The idea here is the classic Street chase to find information on a lead to the creature and the missing items.

After the encounter:

If /Or when captured the person is revealed to be a robed boy with a mask identical to the Red Fleet merchants. When questioned he will take them to Kyoko who will explain that the boy was one of her people who wanted to confirm that the adventures weren’t the cause of the mysterious sightings of ghostly figures in the town. She explains the situation with the town, how to the guards and their towns people have started to distrust the masked people and who they are. She explains that she believes it’s a creature to that seeks trinkets or things of little magical power and takes them. Kyoko and the party to help locate the culprit and stop further attacks and robberies, she would offer them something of their choosing from the traders private stash, gold or a trip with them when the party and the fleet is ready back to her home continent.

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