Tonight’s a big one – a lot of little images went into it and for the most part, I am happy with how the Fester Chasm Cliffs turned out. It’s a rather large encounter map but this week we are running away from a blue dragon – well maybe just moving to a better place where we aren’t just easy target practice for the creature.
So sit back, grab a coffee, and let’s explore tonight’s Map!
A much wider part of the Fester plains looms ahead where a dragon will have better visibility on you, but also you on it. Not able to fly over the chasm walls and blast breath weapons down into the plain below the open field may prove to be better than the more narrow and sight-obstructed winding path through the plains.
A small stream provides some welcome water and happens to be where the party camped on the way past here last, their camp fire still intact but evidence of it being used since is everywhere. Some grass is here if the party dare to rest and allow their animals to eat and drink but, its not advised if there is indeed a dragon around.
So many rocks. Many of the rocky cliffs are comprised of anywhere between three and more than twenty segments of rocky cliffs. A campfire, some hills and about seven texture paints for the background made up this map which was, a bit more time intensive than I first wanted it to be. But I think I am mostly happy with the effect with the many layers to the Fester Chasm.
Thanks for joining me for another map making night. Don’t forget to come back tomorrow to finish off the week strong with the encounter stat-blocks and, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
The party make good progress to return with the the goods from their supply run but they are stopped by would-be bandits and beating wings. A big week for a near-end of year adventure this week!
So let’s sit down, grab a coffee and try to avoid more than just the head and desert insects!
The heat was tinged with the promise of a different type of storm as thunderheads could be seen above the rocky spine that lined the Fester Chasm. They had been warned to keep an eye out for bandits from the Ochre Company, the three warriors they had met in the tavern and they had been given good advice. The evidence was everywhere in the sand.
Hoof and foot prints, led around the rocky walls of the chasm that they were walking through and even people could be seen attempting to hide. When the convoy stopped and the armed guard of the convoy rocked up and formed a wall between the potential bandits and the convoy.
“Well, I guess the game is up. I don’t suppose your lining up to surrender peacefully now, Ay are ya?” a large tanned man declared, nervously, as he eyed the party and the guard. “I’ll warn you – we have a wyvern. Yeah, you heard me. A wyvern. We caught it and it follows our orders now. If you don’t back off we’ll summon it!”
A few seconds later and the other men on the side of the road emerged and started to taunt the party and their crew. “Yeah, you heard him. Drop ya weapons and on ya knees dogs.” “Better do as he says or we’ll feed ya to ol’ bitey!” another called.
“They are bluffing… obviously…” one of the mercenaries said, hesitantly though.
“What’s your choice!” roared the would-be warlord.
A voice in the Fester Plains roared back. The reverberating bellow bouncing off the stone cliffs to make it sound even more menacing. A pause shuddered through all those assembled.
“Good one boss. That’s right our Wyverns coming to get ya! Surrender now!” screamed out a younger gap-toothed woman who brandished a large curved sword.
“Shut it!” the leader hissed, terror crossing his face as another roar burst forward, closer now.
The beats of wings echoed through the rocky walls now and the unease grew in the animals first, then the would-be bandits. The bandits broke first trying to run away from the sound of beating wings. “There are no wyverns in these parts.” another mercenary said. “But that sounds bigger. Meaner.” she added.
Blue scaled wings were the first things that the party saw soaring through the wind currents created by the Fester Chasm. A adult blue dragon, young or otherwise it was hard to tell from this distance, had come to investigate who would declare themselves rulers of these lands and, it was here to challenge that rule.
The Horses were the first to start the process of fleeing as they tore forward, the party and their guard able to barely get onboard the wagons as they raced passed. The sound of screaming, terrified men and women could be heard as they thundered past the men and women that just tried to rob them at wyvern point. Now they fled from something much worse.
Thanks for joining me for a big step in challenge this week. I don’t tend to do high challenge rating adventures on here due to the complexity and the nuance between each DM and their table. But tonight with this adventure I felt it fitting to up the ante on a traditional fetch quest to be more life-and-death. Don’t forget that we will continue to expand the adventure each remaining night this week so don’t forget to come back each day. And lastly, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
Tonight’s a fun one where I got back to experimenting with the watercolour maps when I created the Silver bucket Inn maps. A complete night time and day time one to reflect the light sources on the streets and interior as, well you know me, I love night time encounters.
So sit back, grab a coffee, and let’s explore tonight’s Maps!
Tables litter the room making some parts feel really cramped. A large bar bench and stools provides the ample room for people to just sit and drink while having a casual meal. Chauntea’s favour can see with the amount of grass and trees present in the village and things being more natural feel to it. A quaint kitchen with a more-modern gnomish invented stove for a halflings passion to cook delicious meals.
Shelving for plenty of vegetable access as well as stairs under ground for a larder that is a bit more protected from the heat – where dairy and meats can keep a bit longer. Before you reach the kitchen and behind the bar is the stairs up to the second story where the bedrooms would be located – one having a balcony to the outside world.
Night time shows where the light would be concentrated – lanterns hung from the posts and some key spaces provide limited light as well as the soft glow from the stove itself.
Four terrain paints for tonight to create the scene with blending of stone, dirt, grass and even wood to make sure that it looks as natural as possible. Many stamps were used (especially the walls of the Inn as well as the kitchen where each vegetable, plate and utensil is a unique item). The roofs look more natural than the non-water colour ones which I appreciate, a small win for this art style which I am liking.
Thanks for joining me for a quick-ish map making night. Don’t forget to come back tomorrow to finish off the week strong with the encounter stat-blocks and, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
This week I continued with the creating a shortened Zine, something that fits on a single A4 sheet of paper with just enough information to set the scene, plot and hook with some NPCs sprinkled through that it could be used in any system.
I think its still working well so without any further waiting I present A Guild Masters Guilt, in the short format, as a fun one-shot to assist GMs when they need a night out of the books whether you run Pathfinder, Open Legends RPG, D&D or any other RPG System.
There is references to the blog nights which are D&D centric (regarding Friday night’s Stat-blocks) but this adventure can be used system agnostic more so than my regular Zines. As always Kobold fight club can be used to quickly balance an encounter for Dungeons and Dragons and Tetra-cube provides the stat-blocks for many of my D&D creatures.
So I hope you enjoy this weeks adventure, A Guild Masters Guilt, and that your rolls are made with advantage.
A Guild Masters Guilt
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Silver Sparrows Messenger Guild – Created in Nightcafe.
As well known adventurers the party had been given rooms at guilds whenever they asked and it happened that the Silver Sparrows had organised for them to rest. The Guild master, Bastion Sparrow had a reputation for clean, organised business endeavours that had benefited many up and coming adventurers with work. The adventurers sat amongst the employees of the messenger guild as they sat and feasted in the large hall that was made available to the message runners, their guards and distinguished guests, like the party. A bell rang which caused the room to look up at the ledge where the guild master normally addressed his people and this time they were not disappointed. Bastion stood, smiled faintly before clearing his voice that caused the last chatters to die out.
With the change in guild masters from Bastion to Kilt the offer that was extended to the party was quickly removed. Advised that they were unable to stay in the Silver Sparrows guild hall for the night they were advised that a comfortable room had been organised for them at The Crispy Basilisk, an Inn thats reputation for strong drink was almost as well known as its reputation for pickpockets, thugs and thieves. As they sat down and considered their options a disturbance near the door interrupted them.
“Bastion, well well fancy that. We’re just on the way to the Sparrows Hall to be welcomed back by Kilt. So much for you kicking us out you stupid bastard. Looks like the new guild leader recognises the need for muscle and not just manners.” a large bald man sneered as he pushed past the old guildmaster. Bastion caught himself on a bench and after apologising to the patrons sitting there he walked to the bar spotting the party on the way. After retrieving a tankard of strong ale he sat next to the party and apologised.
“I would’ve hoped that the new guild master would continue with common sense but it seems that they do not want to keep adventurers on friendly terms. I am terribly sorry that you were kicked out of the room you had occupied. I am not sure if Kilt was the right decision here, perhaps I should have fought harder…” he began.
Thanks for joining me today for another Zine this year. This is a condensed version of the Zine, but I hope the format works and is good to look at! Please feel free to leave comments if this format is appealing – so make sure to grab a copy of the PDF.
Next time you get a party together consider running this adventure and I hope that you enjoy it. I hope you don’t miss a thing so come back daily in the coming week and year. This is so you can experience the creation of the next adventure as it evolves and shapes out. And as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
Good evening all and welcome to the fifteenth day of adventuring for my party. While I will endeavour to not give away the campaign, adventure or plot moving forward (in case my party read these updates!) I will attempt to write up each adventure this year continuing with my 2024 Campaign Adventure 16 – continuing on from the 2023 adventure.
This is a continuation from Campaign adventure 15 as the party continues on their first mission as members of the investigation of the strange creatures in these lands.
2024 Campaign Adventure 16
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Plot:
Suspicions
The party regrouped to watch the entrance to Toms manor with the suspicion that any accomplish of Tom would try and break into the manor at night. However with the only visible way in, the front door, the party then tried some trickery with Kai sending messages (via the spell) to one of the guards to try and sew confusion. However a lucky streak of unnatural savvy for Kurt and his fellow guard Dave saw them unperturbed by the voice in his head.
Meanwhile John, the newly elected new mayor of Fustmach watched as they hauled Tom’s body out of the manor and took it out of town to be burned, along with any other bodies or meat they found in the manor. The party managed to get some information out of Kurt, that he lived next to the blacksmith which was their first stop on the way back to the Fat Sow where Kai used divine sense to check for any more fiendish presence in the building – but alas, there was none and his excuse to burgle the mans house evaporated with it.
However as they entered the Fat Sow, were offered food and a place to rest (which Armaeth and Groku were already deeply keen for) they ascended the stairs. That’s when Kais divine sense picked up on something small. A fiend at the edge skirts of town. Calling for Tater the goblin rushed out of the Fat sow and gave chase of the divine sense, not able to see what it was but knowing where it is due to his divine connection.
Eventually he found his way to the wagon where to was resting and to his and taters surprise, and one of the villager’s horror, the tentacle of Mayor Tom was still moving. With a deft chop with Taters new axe he severed the limb but, more importantly, revealed that there was an invisible fiend that scurried off from the large corpse of the mayor.
Fiendish Foray
In hot pursuit of the creature Kai cast Entangle, which to his credit bound the creature. This enabled Tater to get a hit in with the crossbow bolt which broke the imp out of its invisibility. Kai, a bit rattled from the adventures of the last few days, strode forward with the intention of capturing and interrogating the imp, however the creature screeched forward and large winged shapes descended from the mountains nearby.
As the creatures descended Tater called out and got one of the villagers to run off and get Groku and Armaeth from the Fat Sow while a final crossbow bolt put an end to the Imp. As the Imp died Kai released his concentration on the entanglement spell, cast Shillelagh and hold person on one of the large-winged small spiny creatures. The spell failed to hold.
The first creature flew buy and stabbed Tater with a trident-like fork while barely missing with its razor sharp teeth as it continued to fly past the stout dwarf. Kai dodged the stabbing fork but was bitten instead, his armour meaning nothing without his arm to hold his shield.
Tater lashed out at the creatures with this halberd – the extra reach coming in handy while Kai tried to pepper them with spells where his melee weapons could not hit. Seeing Taters success in reaching the creatures Kai imbued him with divine favour which made his strikes hit particularly hard. After seeing tater’s reach and lethal accuracy the creatures, spined devils, split up. The uninjured one swooped Kai hitting with his fork while the injured one flung spikes from its tail at Tater, which the psionic energy from his fathers forge protected Tater from some of the blow.
Tater then cut one of the creatures in half with two powerful strikes while Kai managed to paralyze the other, making it fall 30ft from the sky and crash into the earth. Tater then followed up with a large slash from the pole-arm before Kai tried to tie up the creature to question. Breaking the spells hold on it the spined devil was too feeble and confused to break free from the ropes that Kai tried to tie, one handed, around the creature. However Tater came and made short work of the knots.
Both Kai and Tater questioned the devil and at the end of it learnt little apart from the devils were here to check on the statue, the one that the party had destroyed just yesterday. However, as the party both tried to free and murder the spined devil it attempted to flee – Kai dragging it backwards with a risky use of the Iron Thorn bracers before a psionically empowered bolt from Tater shot it down. More bodies to be burnt with Mayor Tom.
Farewell to new friends, and old foes
The party stumbled back into the village and returned back to The Fat Sow to rest. In the morning they ate breakfast while Kai learnt more about the origins of the creatures, they were from Malbolge – the prison layer of hell for the most disobedient of devils. Tater however received a raven from Gwen, the leader of their order.
Good work over there. Come back for full report. New mission ready when you are – Gwen
After this, some farewells and checking on Batrick, the albino bloodhunter pup, the party left the village and began the trek back to Warrensdeep.
Main NPCs:
Sidekicks
Armaeth
Groku
Thanks for joining me tonight for a hybrid of the continuation of my campaign as well as the seasonal adventure for my group, the final part of last-last years Dice-ember one-shot!. Don’t forget to come back again tomorrow for more content. And, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
Tonight’s a pretty easy one but there is nothing easy about exploring the clouded astral plane. Whole not all astral planes will be clouded and fraught with danger this one just so happens to be!
So sit back, grab a coffee, and let’s explore tonight’s Map!
The large chunks of debris from what appears to be an imploded mountain scatter the skies in this area that is blanketed by thick clouds. This is the perfect place for predators to be lurking amongst the clouds or the rocks themselves. While movement is always tricky in the astral plane fighting is even worse as the mental fatigue of righting yourself and moving a physical form in a place that defies physics proves challenging.
Only two layers for the background today with a mixture of texture, brightness and opacity for the clouds gives it a bit more depth. Rocks give us something more than just clouds to interact with an can add to a layer of depth and complexity when it comes to a battle – but they look good and that’s why they are there.
A filter over the top to bring in some more depth and change the tone a little bit in the warmer direction brings the rest of it home.
Thanks for joining me for a really short map making night. Don’t forget to come back tomorrow to finish off the week strong and, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
This week I continued with the creating a shortened Zine, something that fits on a single A4 sheet of paper with just enough information to set the scene, plot and hook with some NPCs sprinkled through that it could be used in any system.
I think its still working well so without any further waiting I present Sins of the Subconscious, in the short format, as a fun one-shot to assist GMs when they need a night out of the books whether you run Pathfinder, Open Legends RPG, D&D or any other RPG System.
There is references to the blog nights which are D&D centric (regarding Friday night’s Stat-blocks) but this adventure can be used system agnostic more so than my regular Zines. As always Kobold fight club can be used to quickly balance an encounter for Dungeons and Dragons and Tetra-cube provides the stat-blocks for many of my D&D creatures.
So I hope you enjoy this weeks adventure, Sins of the Subconscious, and that your rolls are made with advantage.
The party had been travelling to a large city and were a few hours past the last village that they had seen for hours when the storm hit. Violent winds, rain and even hail struck at them and they were forced to seek shelter, an abandoned cottage nearby with a dried up well. Taking turns to watch as there had been signs of a large creature about they waited out the storm. However when the person on watch turned to wake up the next person to take watch a creature darted at them from outside, slamming open its door in its haste and dug a mouthful of fangs into the adventurer.
The party roused and attacked the beast hoping to kill it but they only managed to scare it off. However the damage was already done and the party member fell unconscious.
The nearest place they could take their ally was the village a few hours back and since no magic or potions seemed to be healing the wound they would need powerful magic, the magic of the gods.
The party made it to the village and into the church where they were disappointed to be rejected for healing, the doctrine of this clergy to Kelemvor forbade the prevention of a natural death. However room and protection from the storm was available and they were fed, the wounds were cleaned and they sat into a long night.
Thanks for joining me today for another Zine this year. This is a condensed version of the Zine, but I hope the format works and is good to look at! Please feel free to leave comments if this format is appealing – so make sure to grab a copy of the PDF.
Next time you get a party together consider running this adventure and I hope that you enjoy it. I hope you don’t miss a thing so come back daily in the coming week and year. This is so you can experience the creation of the next adventure as it evolves and shapes out. And as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
This week has two main encounters but only really one map, the Walking Forest Shrine, as the other one should be easy enough to describe. Although the map is coming tonight the description that ties in this this part, well that will be something a bit more and will come in the next few days.
So sit back, grab a coffee, and let’s explore tonight’s Map!
Dozens of ways to approach the series of raised stone blocks and steps before reaching the statue. The statue rests on a small stone ziggurat that is twenty feet tall with nine bundles wrapped in cloth on specially crafted sections. A large bat-winged creature sits at the centre of the raise platform with large emeralds for eyes which catch and reflect the light from the braziers that burn nearby.
The trees that surround the platform are large, ancient and twisted. Several types of trees call this forest home and it makes for a relatively sheltered approach towards the statue, if the trees can be trusted that is.
About five layers were used for the background today with a two new jungle-grass tones, a moss-green for highlights, two different shades of dirt blended in different ratios to give a worn effect. Three types of trees adds a depth to the map that I can appreciate as a forest typically wont consist of just one tree species.
The ziggurat is several wall sections combined and scaled down together to give variety of shape and purpose. The statue is purposefully larger for a reason, to be revealed later and other than that its the same technique with other asset stamps with colour modification, size and position tweaking a well as a night time filter to be put over the top.
Thanks for joining me for another map making night. Don’t forget to come back tomorrow to finish off the week strong and, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
Brazen Wolfe Tabletop 