Tabletop

The Merchants of Kalehgrul

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This week we meet the merchants of Kalehgrul, a little settlement village who specialise in spider silk. More merchant than farmer the Melarn family have provided fine spider silk for generations to the point that they have quite the bond with the arachnids. But more on that in a little bit. So let’s sit down, grab a coffee and roll into tonight’s update!

The Merchants of Kalehgrul

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As the party got used to their surroundings they found some materials and soon those that couldn’t see in the dark could view their surroundings. Dozens of giant spiders moved across the cavern they were in and created vast net-like webs that were big enough to catch the giant bats the flew through the skies. Above them mushrooms and long plant-like tendrils shed a soft glow that confirmed they were far from a source of light.

The spiders moved calmly even when the party drew near and merle scurried out of the way instead of viewing the party as a snack. Content to feast upon the bats that they caught in their webs. As they moved around a squeak could be heard in short rhythmic patterns coming from a passage up ahead. As they approached the passage they were greeted by a Rothe, a large bull like creature, that was pulling a wagon with three drow onboard.

After a few moments of speaking quickly in drow and brandishing crossbows the male urged his two female companions to lower and he spoke in common. “Easy, we don’t want no trouble. I am Izzrysn and these are my daughters and we are merchants. I must ask though, what are you doing in this cavern?”

Izzrysn Melarn

Izzrysn Melarn – Created in Artbreeder

The drow named Izzrysn runs the merchant business for his family. Well versed in many languages he sees business opportunities instead of threats when something changes in his sphere. However despite his obvious business knowledge and intelligence he often finds himself being overruled by the female of his family – like most drow males.

Umnel Melarn

Umnel Melarn – Created in Artbreeder

Umnel is the younger sister of Qistra and tends to the spiders of the Melarn family. Whilst not blessed to be chosen by Lloth she is still able to understand and handle these creatures with ease. This helps the family collect their silk for their business but has one a few occasions protected the family when her abilities can come into use.

Qistra Melarn

Qistra Melarn – Created in Artbreeder

When business is poor Qistra, the oldest daughter of the head of the Melarn family, gets involved. She is rash and impulsive but will still listen to her mother, sister and father. She oversees production of the spider silk and inspects it for quality. Whilst her father has a business understanding and her sister can tend to the cluster of spiders she has a fine eye for quality when it comes to silk.

Whilst the party try and understand why they are here and what brought them to the underdark having some, somewhat understanding, people to help them make sense of what happened will help make plans to remedy the situation. However despite this they are still an unknown distance from home, without many supplies and in an unfamiliar land. So don’t forget to come back each day this week as we continue to expand upon this adventure and lastly, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Falling into Darkness

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This week kicks off immediately from the outcome of the last adventure in the Carrion Swamp and the party find themselves falling into darkness. I’ll save some of the mystery behind what happens but it makes a few big assumptions that I will cover tonight. It’s best if just we get stuck into it, so sit back grab a coffee and let’s roll into this weeks adventure!

Falling into Darkness

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Duraegis – Created in Artbreeder

In the final moments of the well of souls collapsing the tides of undead grey in intensity. Urged towards the well the shambling and crawling hordes faulted as an earthquake rumbled through the ground. A sickening cracking sound resonated through the air followed the rumble as the core of power for the well of souls shattered. Almost immediately the undead approaching the party fell to the ground as the necromantic energy that was commanding their broken forms fled their body. A moment of quiet broached the swamp before the tumbling of a piece of rubble hinted at a worse fate than being buried under undead.

Pieces of ruins, undead, water, earth and vegetation started moving across the ground and through the air towards the well of souls. A low howl began to rise in the ruins as a vortex of magical backlash ripped outwards and started to pull at the party. Then the unimaginable happened, one of the party members slipped and stumbled as a piece of ruins slammed into them and they fell backwards and into the shattered well of souls. As the power grew the other party members faced similar fates as the well devoured the bodies of the undead and began to pull down the ruins onto the vortex to seal it from the outside.

Falling was the first feeling for the adventurers before they landed heavily in a strand of sticky substance that immediately slowed and nearly stopped their descent. For those who didn’t pass out they were in near complete darkness except for a few sources of glowing light that moved around high above them. After a few moments they realised that they had crashed through a large spider’s web and landed on hard stone. Their eyes adjusted and a large cavern was revealed before them with spiders spinning webs amongst giant mushrooms and stalagmites that filled the cavern.

Waiting for the rest of their adventuring party to wake up they started to come to grips with what had happened. what had caused the magical vortex and, when was the last time they had seen Vikira. They were sure she had been with them next to the well of souls during the fight with the vampire and undead. As the rest of the party stirred, a single place came to mind that would fit the description of what they were seeing. They had found their way into the Underdark.

Thoughts

Now the assumptions that are made is that the party don’t flee from the fight with the vampire or undead and that they either fail to stop all the undead OR they destroy the Well of Souls themselves. The second is that one or more of the party fail saving throws to avoid falling AND being knocked into the vortex by flying rubble. And the last assumption is. If a party member does fall through that the others will try and save them before the ruins bury the well of souls.

If the party don’t the story takes a different turn. They either attempt to get to the final place, the deep dark, which is really another travel arc across the land to the entrance to the underdark closes to the deep dark. OR they get approached by a messenger of Lucile who is trying to find them with some urgent news. That she was able to decipher more of Andrasa’s notes and she was warning a that these points were dangerous seals that cant be broken…

But more on that a different time.

Thanks for joining me for another week of adventuring and the forty first adventure this year! Don’t forget to come back each day this week for more content and as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

The Hidden Shrine

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Tonight and I have created a zine for this weeks adventure. The Hidden Shrine. 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 Hidden Shrine. If you like this format please let me know and I hope you enjoy.

The Hidden Shrine

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The City of Hark – created in nightcafe.

Rumours have flitted around the city of Hark for many years of magic, sorcery and wealth hoarded by some of the noble families of the city. Some had been investigated but nothing had ever come from such rumours. 

Some investigators quickly rose through the ranks and were granted manors and a life of privilege of which they hadn’t been entitled to before as a result of their investigation. This only spurred the rumours on more. 

However, the city of Hark is a mercantile city where religion, wealth and politics blend into a miasma of discord and discontent. The Party find themselves in a busy chaotic city where your station seems to be judged by the size of your purse.

PDF adventure – The Hidden Shrine

the-hidden-shrineDownload

Thanks for joining me tonight for another Zine. This one had more content added to the Zine but… not so much that I could reveal in the blog update. So you will just have to trust me on that and grab a copy of the Zine. 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

Guardian of the Well

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Now leading into the weekend, in which I have another Age of Sigmar Tournament to go to, I have something that we can raise for this weeks encounter, a guardian of the well as it were. With a vested interest in keeping the well working, well malfunctioning in its current stage this guardian is also keeping the true purpose of the well barely holding on. But the darker forces at play work against the guardian and perhaps, so do the party… But enough on that, let’s sit down grab a coffee and roll into tonight’s adventure!

Guardian of the Well

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The Guardian of the well is a vampire who wishes to have an army to keep the swamps clean from the living, well most of the living. this one will be swampy themed, dressed in sodden mossy clothes, looks as if it drowned once or twice just to come back to life. Using the canopy and dense trees of the swamp the creature flitters between trees and ruins to strike at the party. since the water is stagnant it gets to use its full powers as well and use them it shall.

However, it simply wants to keep the well of souls as it is, churning out undead and malfunctioning. But we will see more of that in the Zine.

Vampire created in tetra-cube.

In addition to the normal minions of the Dark Prince giant frogs (zombie or otherwise, zombie in this case) would be also a good fit for the vampire to summon. These creatures would listen to the vampire in the same ay as the other minions summoned by children of the knight ability (same number as wolves).

Zombie Frog – created in tetra-cube.

In addition to the above two stat blocks all the other zombies from last weeks encounter (A variety of undead) would also be fitting. Such as, once again, the humble zombie.

Created in tetra-cube

As with the last few adventures there is a bit more to add to the final product of this. So you will have to hang out for the final Zines for this adventure. So don’t forget to come back this weekend for more D&D content and, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Heart of the Ruins

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The time has come to visit the heart of the ruins. How the party interact with the map is up to them but this little map has a bit of everything. Boggy water, plants and vines that could snare your feet as you travel through. Rocky terrain and oh, I don’t know… I giant glowing orb of power? So let’s roll up our pants legs and dive in to tonight’s map!

Heart of the Ruins

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The well of Souls – Created in Inkarnate

The areas around the building provide a good vantage point and a good place to hide from the undead that will be swarming around the well of souls (the big glowy thing). However the ground is unstable with rotting vegetation, vines, leaves and debris from the ruins themselves so whoever treads across them best be packing an ankle brace.

The trees are twisted with large thick roots that piece into the soil. small creatures can hide within them (undead or alive) and they are easy enough to climb as well. The bushes along the way are thorny but don’t impede movement as such – but if unlucky they may nick a coin purse or bag.

The area in the centre dips inwards towards the well. The level where the well is is five feet lower than where the edge up the top is. This makes it harder to see down into the pit and the well itself, but that doesn’t seem to stop anything.

The orb, the power source in the well, emits a force field that disintegrates what touches it – however it fails. The more undead (or attacks from magical items, spells or effects) that hit the shield the more the power wanes. But it’s impossible to tell whether the shield was to keep things away from the core OR to keep the magic from the core contained. Regardless it looks like it’s been here for centuries and the magic is both waning and flaring.

I enjoyed this swampy map tonight. I think the multiple layers of dirt, stone, grass and water help give it a swampy feel. The rubble was fun to work with but, not super convincing – I will have to look at how to improve that in the future. But that’s enough out of me on that tonight. So don’t forget to come back this weekend for more content and as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

To the Well of Souls

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Tonight we get a glimpse of the action before it happens as the party are driven to the well of souls. This will be the scene leading up to the final encounter in these swamps, well for not any way. So let’s sit back, grab a coffee and roll into tonight’s adventure!

To the Well of Souls

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The party didn’t have much time between the undead starting to move towards the city and when the first of them realised that there was easier prey nearby. As the first of the undead started to move towards the party a strange thrumming started to come from the centre of the ruins.

Fighting back the undead that came towards them they made their way towards the centre of the ruins where they were met by a confusing sight. A paved depression led towards a hole that pulsed with green energy. Undead shambled towards the hole before pausing at the edge. As they watched one of the undead screamed; as much as rotting lungs could allow, and threw itself in the hole. A sudden thrum of power pulsed through the air that made the undead twitch.

Slowly more undead started to throw themselves into the hole and as they did more creatures appeared from the swamps. A skeleton of a giant sloth that was missing an arm near one of the ruins suddenly reanimated after a lizardfolk zombie had launched itself into the pit before the skeleton joined the rotting humanoid a few moments later. With passing moments the undead were throwing themselves into the put and with each pulse of energy, each thrum of the bodies connecting with something below more undead started to show up and something was beginning to feel off.

The party knew two things to be true. The undead must not complete their task, whatever it was as it triggered the creation of more undead. And the second more horrifying fact was that they had found the well of souls.

Now this one is up to the players what they do. Fight back the undead, blow them up with magic or let them continue to vaporise themselves. The same with the crescendo from the ice spire the end result is kinda the same, some differences but it progresses the story. But this is where the parties choices can affect it. Whether they do something now or they don’t their presence has set in motion a chain of events.

So to see what I have in store for the rest of this week don’t forget to come back the last few days this week and as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

The Voice that Echoes

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Now after this week you may find a pattern in how I structure these remaining, 9 weeks and the pattern continues with the voice that echoes. This weeks NPC update touches on one of my favourite techniques which is giving a voice or a view of the situation and scenario to the bad-guy (or thing). So let’s not wait for them to come to us. So sit down with a coffee and roll into tonight’s update!

The Voice that Echoes

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The same creatures from the frozen lands appeared at the edge of the creatures growing conscious as they regained their power. The swamp had slowly eroded the physical barriers to the well of souls and as the waters and roots from the trees were exposed to the powerful energies from the well they were corrupted.

The undead were growing in number and those that the creature was able to influence were drawn to the well to expedite the task that time had started. But a new plan was forming in the cunning creature’s mind. Something that would bring its century of planning ever closer to becoming a reality.

Breathing deeply, if it could do such a thing, the creature marvelled at how much simpler it could be if the minions that it had could complete the task. But the mechanisms of fate were turning and the adventures, and the influential girl were so close and temptation was taking over. All it would take was a nudge.

Reaching its consciousness out it grabbed the attention of all the undead near the ruins. Fish, reptiles, beasts, humans and all other dead creatures responded to the mental nudge and as one they followed the direction. A great upheaval of dead flesh or mouldy bones moved across the swamp and towards the central thrumming of the well.

Now the creature prepared the final nudge. Reaching out to the humans it attempted a single compulsion. To eradicate the undead and its source.

Vikira muffled a shriek as not ten feet from the party a pile of bones moved. Slowly the skeleton pulled itself from the grasses, mud and rocks and with a sickening shuffle it shambled towards the ruins. Pointing Vikira looked across the swamp as dozens upon dozens of undead rose and shuffled towards the ruins.

“I think we found the source…” she whispered to the party as a strong thrum shook the loamy soil again. “There is no way that the town, Ferklend, would survive if all these undead attacked at once. And once they are done there they will seek out other towns and settlements nearby. We need to put an end to this.” she said as he face paled at the sheer volume of undead

She was right, of course, and the energy that they were feeling was surely one thing. The Well of souls. Andrasa’s next point of interest. A place of great power and potential wealth. But this place felt wrong as if the power was corrupted. They felt the need to finish what Andrasa’ had surely started and attempt to stop the chaotic undead energies that were flowing from the well. Only then will the people of this land be safe.

The final pieces are coming together. Join me for the other days of the week to see what else is revealed as the party find the well of souls and, unknowingly, act as puppets in a grand scheme. Maybe, we’ll see. As with all D&D adventures parties tend to have their own agenda, but we will have a plan for that. Don’t forget to dial back in this week for more content and lastly, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

2023 Campaign Adventure Update Sidekicks

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Good evening all and I hope that you are finding the adventure intriguing as we continue following on the party (and real players) as they trek through the scene I set before them. This update is really to capture the sidekicks, Armaeth and Groku as statblocks to help the players keep track and records of these key NPCs*. So this follows on from 2023 Campaign adventure 5 update on the weekend so make sure you have looked at that.

2023 Campaign Adventure Update Sidekicks

The creation of the sidekick block was two fold, and not that hard as it used free resources. Tetra-cube, Nightcafe, Artbreeder and what ever image software you want to.

Referring to sidekicks in dnd5e.wikidot I picked the warrior for Groku and expert for Armaeth as the classes. looking at the guidance in the source books I based Groku of a Guard and Armaeth of a modified imp/sprite.

Using the Sidekick abilities gained at levels 1, 2 and 3 I created “abilities” and actions for the two sidekicks to help flesh out them to feel a bit more unique. I gave each of them something unique; Groku the variant human feat and langue proficiency, Armaeth the lore behind her poisoned weapons (and tweaked racial traits to make it more balanced than permanent invisibility).

Fleshing this out into “two columns” gave me the freedom and space to add in their portraits to help the players refer to their sidekicks easier and the rest is numbers.

The two end-state (for now) sidekick cards are below. I can also provide the tetra-cube data files for anyone who wishes to download the file and use it for their own sidekicks.

Hope this little project of mine to create sidekick cards has inspired you in some way! Don’t forget to stay tuned for the next part of this adventure and, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

The Carrion Swamp Ruins

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This week finds the party trekking through the swamp trying to find the source the the undead attacks before its too late. Eventually, after some delays, they find their way to the Carrion Swamp Ruins. But let’s stop there before I get carried away. So sit back grab a coffee and let’s roll into this weeks adventure!

The Carrion Swamp Ruins

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The Carrion Swamp Ruins – Created in Nightcafe

Recovering from their encounter with some of the natives of the swamps the party push through some dense brush to reveal pillars and walls of stone. An age ago the scale and size of these buildings would have been a sight to have seen however whatever calamity befell here left the city in ruins.

Vikira stood nearby. Her clothes mostly ruined rags and the confidence she had earlier now gone she gazed upon the city that her parents had wasted their fortune in finding. Everywhere she looked it appeared as if the jungled was trying to erase history itself as vines, trees and stagnant water covered as far as her eyes could see. But that wasn’t what her eyes were locked on.

Up ahead the figures of undead were shambling across the clearing and some even pulling themselves out of the swampy water in their search for… whatever undead search for. A strange hum could be felt pulsing through the loamy soil and occasionally the thrum would build into a pulse that caused ripples to form in the waters service. Something nearby, in the city, was thrumming with power.

The party looked onwards, fatigued as the trek through the swamp had taken longer than anticipated. Several undead, large swamp creatures, lizardfolk and some ancient humans that were skeletons now, shuffled forwards and towards the centre of the ruins. There was no doubt that that is where they would find the source of the undead.

Now that we are in the final stages of this part of the adventure we have… skipped forward a little bit. But don’t worry as this will be covered, you will just have to download the Zine when it comes out. So don’t forget to come back each day this week for more content and as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

2023 Campaign Adventure 5

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Good evening all and welcome to the fifth day of adventuring that the party experienced today. 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 5.

This is a continuation from 2023 Campaign adventure 4 as that session was cut short and, it was a while ago.

2023 Campaign Adventure 5

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Plot:

Warrendeep – Part 2.5

After the rocky start of day one the adventurers, Kai and Tater, woke to find a still disgruntled tavern owner, Marie, cleaning a tankard. Approaching her she rolled her eyes at their request for breakfast but still got something cooking for them. “Steffani left earlier today, she was in a bit of a foul mood so it’s probably for the best that you don’t run into her today.” Marie offered that advice. “Gwen was looking for you though, you can find her in the back room.”

Gwen went on to explain that Frederick, a halfling scout from Team neldë, had not checked in for two weeks in a row and so was considered missing. But the last reports had the halfling heading towards Fustmach as there were rumours of people going missing for days before turning up again. The concerning part is that these people don’t remember going missing and are convinced that someone is playing a joke on them.

Gwen believes that Steffani’s interest and insistence on this mission being picked up quickly is something more than just investigating the reports. But she doesn’t know anything more and the party believed what she said. Gwen also mentioned that they would be joined by Groku who appears to have some bond with both Tater and Kai. She handed them sealed letters that detailed the information so they could refer back to them but also it contained a map where to find the town of Fustmach. Their mission was to find the missing scout if possible and to capture and return any abnormal creatures, dead or alive, if possible.

Fustmach was a small town that was originally a dwarven mining down high up in the mountains to the east. Whilst it doesn’t product what it used to it still does a decent trade with a few cities in the lower lands. Because of this the roads are better kept and better patrolled than others however, there is rumours of gnolls and such that stalk these roads.

Gwen also mentioned that Fredrick was an experienced military scout with a decorated history. He was referred to as extremely skilled and if he so desired it he would not be found. Before heading back to Marie to get breakfast Kai showed her the compass and explained what it was. She was interested and advised that a member of the atta team could probably create copies of the work. But she offered the advice of keeping it with them until they return in case they need it in their mission.

Returning to the main room of the tavern they were greeted to salted porridge, low quality but edible sausages, old toast and grilled mushrooms which were nearly ‘good’. After requesting breakfast ale, and disappointed to find out it was more water than ale, they met up with Groku who received her orders from Gwen and confirmed some information about Fustmach. They then were told it was about three days ride one way by horse and so they would need something to travel on.

The problem with merchants

Tater and Kai, with Groku in tow, head off towards the marketplace in search of someone who could sell them horses. After finding a nice vegetable saleswoman who gave them information and a sack of fresh, good vegetables. The older woman informed the that the stables sometimes sold beasts that had been dumped at their stables, abandoned for to long and well past the owners fee for keeping and maintaining them.

With information and vegetables in hand they head towards the stable to find Sam who was preparing to leave with his son and the urchin from yesterday. After discussing quickly what they would need Sam also mentioned the caravan that they had stashed in the abandoned village of Suncrest. He offered twice its value if they could return it to him and provided some advice on what types of animals would be required to haul it and how much weight they could carry.

As Sam left they noticed a girl looking at them from the window of the stables, where people store their animals and where they may find potential beasts to carry them on their journey. Entering they were greeted by many animals on two levels as well as a young stable hand, Fiona, who admitted to having a crush on Sam. After a brief discussion a deal was nearly struck for a excellent quality young grey riding stallion, a good quality Mule and a foul tempered mistreated Draft horse, at slightly below market value.

Fiona’s father entered and instantly tried to swindle the party. But with some quick thinking and bartering the party ended up turning the tables and leaving the stables with not only the grey stallion but two mules, the ornery draft horse and kit and saddles for all. This all for the handsome price of 130 gold pieces which was a fair trade. However due to Kai talking to Fiona earlier and promising to give the good word to Sam about her they paid a sum of 120 gold pieces for the abandoned animals before heading back to the tavern.

Closure

The trek back was uneventful but they had one last job to do before they could begin their journey. They had to meet with two prospective party members and see if either of the would be a good fit. Those who were not a good fit would join the team Atta and cleaning up incidence at a a village nearby. They first met with Tobias who instantly rubbed both Kai and Tater the wrong way with his pretentious attitude. Despite being somewhat of a capable mage and specialising in both support and offensive magic he believed that working for his gold was beneath him and that he shouldn’t have to.

The next introduction was when a little fairy was caught trying to pick-pocket Tater after pinching items from Tobias, Groku and Kai. She introduced herself as Armaeth and she was handy with a bow but more-so her small size and natural sneakiness was handy at finding things, people and places without being detected. She was also here for adventure and was happy to simply be involved. But she definitely had an issue with taking things that didn’t belong to her.

With barely any other doubts in their mind the party decided that Armaeth would be a better fit than the arrogant Tobias and she was welcomed her to their group.

Main NPCs:

Gwen
Sam Gustave
Marie Turnburke
Fiona
Tobias Arnu-Swathay
Armaeth Nightcap

Thanks for joining me tonight and for continuing on this campaign with me. I finished what I wanted to last session in this one wand managed to get through a bit more as well. I hope you enjoyed catching up on another overdue episode of my 2023 adventure!

Don’t forget to come back tomorrow as we continue from last weeks adventure. And, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe