Hi all and welcome to the last week of the month where this week we compile the previous three weeks writeups into one post to be looked at as a single adventure.
Tonight I want to look at the easiest choice for the party to make and the easiest way forward – making a run to the town.
Jade Point
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The Run down to the town wasn’t the be difficult part nor was the exhaustion setting in from days of poor rest. Dodging arrows and the ever encroaching mist hiding Oni or worse within was. As the party ran past a line of barely noticeable white stones in the grass arrows and bolts whizzed passed them to meet a rushing Oni as if two opposite poles of a magnet finally able to be united.
“supportive fire, lose when ready” a gruff voice bellowed up ahead as the party had to jump abruptly as a few logs came into view causing them to slow down or jump if they wished to avoid being stuck behind a 3ft high log. As they cleared a few logs they saw hastily repaired walls, well scaffolding, where a handful of archers stood and shot into the mist as the Oni slowly ceased their pursuit. As the party neared the wall several armed but tired looking soldiers rushed out from behind a door that was pulled open quickly and escorted in the party.
The moment they crossed the threshold behind the barricades they were surrounded by soldiers who had their weapons trained on them. “Take them to the inn. I’ll be there shortly once we know if the Oni are dealt with” said the voice before.
Three party didn’t have to wait long in a large, cold storage room at the inn before a haggard man stepped through, a fresh bandage covering the left side of his face. “Well, you best get talking before I send you out with the Oni. Where is captain Jake and private Yu?” The man began by sitting and clicking this fingers which caused a fire place to bloom to life in the room.
After a run of questions from the man in In front of them they find out he is Lieutenant Mattyias, second in command to Captain Jake who went missing sometime today. “Well, if what you say is true it sounds like we are both working for the same side. We came to the defence of this city on our way back to White fort and have been at a loss how to get the town’s folk our of here. If we could mend your ship and get the townsfolk, well those who remain, onboard we could save the rest of these people. But the Oni won’t let us leave or escape. Lost a few of my men and brothers in arms to that plan.” He mused out loud.
“What we need is a distraction, one that would keep them away from the town long enough that we can get these people out of here. I also want to find Captain Hart. He is one of the best captains we have and he cant be left in enemy hands. His knowledge alone is worth his survival and the Oni probably know that too. My guess is he and Yu are behind enemy lines.” Mattyias continued. “Perhaps you were sent here for a reason? Got any ideas?”
Thanks for joining me tonight for the wind-down before the wrap-up this weekend coming. Don’t forget to come back each day this week so that we can look into the tweaks, extra detail and additional things for this adventure and see what it creates at the end of the week. This week marks the end of my short break and with only a unit, and friends, painted alas I was unable to get through 80 miniatures in such a short timeframe but I will endeavour and push on! Don’t forget to keep an eye out for my extra content and as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
Welcome to another end of week writeup where this week we have the party travel through the jungle at night, get ambushed (surprise!), find Jade Point and meet the Oni.
This is a bit of a bigger week so I better get a move on it without spending too much time discussing the week.
Defence of Jade Point
True to her word Varda’s charms saw the party standing on solid ground soon at the base of tangled grove of trees, the now talking Kiri and little feathered bird fetish proving invaluable in their bid to leave the Marsh. Now standing at the edge of the mass of trees which could only be described as a jungle due to the hot, dense mass of trees, roots, bushes and other vegetation it appeared as though they would have a hard time traversing the jungle floor whilst constant drops of warm water dripped down upon them from the heavy canopy above.
The creatures in the jungle were smaller than the marsh, skittish even which meant there was always a noise, a growl, a call or a watching shadow nearby the party as they moved through the dense vegetation and avoided being trapped in the vines, roots and leaves. As night fell the party set up camp whilst Kiri warned them of the many dangers, a list that went on for quite some time. The noises increased in tempo and volume the party began to believe some of the stories the toad-kin told over the flickering embers of the fire and as creatures of the jungle wandered into camp either curious of the light and noise or hungry for what they believed was an easy meal.
After a day walking after one of the worst nights sleep that anyone could remember for some time, including the storm at sea, they stumbled through the edge of the Jungle turned forest and looked down upon the port town which sat at a large cove in the river about a further mile away.
Thick black smoke billowed forth from buildings on the outskirts of the town and evidence of battle could be seen from this distance, fallen bodies and a small camp settled in from the north of where the party had come from the jungle, could be seen cloaked by an constant cloud of mist that defied the wind and cast a massive shadow over the ram shackle camp.
The Toad-kin seemed spooked, jittery even, and when the party finally spoke they jumped in fear. “That’s no brigand or ramshackle force there, that’s an Oni camp – blessed by the shadow. It seems they, the shadow, had a backup plan in case my people could not stop you in the marsh.” he began, fear causing his voice to tremble. “I will go and warn my people, and the ship, there must be another way to where you need to go. To face the Oni is death.”
Looking forward at the town and the ramparts the party discussed on their course of action, tired and low on reserves after the marsh and the jungle they were unsure of what their next move was but knew that they could not stay at the edge of a jungle and that the port was their next stop and best hope at returning back to the ship to re-unit with Kyoko, Siu and Lizbet to reach the Captains home city and lend aid where they could.
Some time later…
The party watched a dark mist flooded the lower recesses around the gap between the rampart and the dock town with morbid interest – memories of the mist and the creatures it bore from Daye still fresh in their minds. As they looked towards the town they noticed two people stride from the town, from this distance they were just two small figures like ants but it was very evident that something that wrong when the one in the back moved suddenly and the front figure collapsed onto the ground. The mist approached the two hungrily and soon it engulfed them, the vapour collapsing around the wall before alarm bells tolled and figures buzzed around the towns crudely constructed barricade like ants defending their nest.
The mist retreated and bodies clad in a grey clothing – or armour, the distance was really doing a disservice to those watching this unfold, were left in its wake – but the two figures that left the safety of the walls were gone.
Taking that as a sign the party made haste down the slight hill from where the jungle grew and head towards the town but they were stopped by the clack of crossbows and the whistling of bolts as projectiles rained down upon them. Tall, vicious grey armour clad humanoids rushed at them as another volley of bolts whizzed around them and landed at their feet. The humanoids had red skin, pointed ears and large flat features that reminded them of goblins and some orcs from their home continent and as the warriors got closer they snarled, revealing their sharpened short tusks and murderous intent in their eyes.
Areas of note
The Marsh– Using the Fetish of the Kookastem the party was able to move across the marsh with relative ease – avoiding the other dangers lurking above and below the water.
The Jungle – The dense trees, roots and vegetation makes travel and visibility of approaching dangers difficult to notice until its too late. Luckily, or maybe unluckily, the thick canopy of trees
Jade Point – A small town of a few hundred people at most who work the docks or provide for those that do. A few smaller farms lay on the outskirts of the town that produce vegetables and grain for the people of the town and their animals but most of the people work on the docks or on the river.
Build with a few 15ft tall walls that protect it from the forest and surrounding areas from wandering brigands – but not a well trained force like the Oni. The outer walls that faced the West have sustained sever damage without the use of siege weapons but large lumbering shadows have been seen over the walls in the ramparts built where the Oni have encamped.
The Oni encampment – Surprisingly well built for something that seemingly sprung up overnight – the 20ft walls are made from trees not native to this area and even watch towers seemed to have been created without the people of Jade Point noticing, well too much.
NPCs
Kiri – a small toad-kin of young years who believes in the old ways. Spirited and savvy he volunteered to help guide the adventures through the marsh and jungle despite thinking thinking their plan foolish. Since receiving the Longsnout talisman he has been able to speak common and is eager to talk to the party and help there where ever he can.
Captain Jake Hart
Young but ambitious Jake happened to near the town of Jade point as they were being besieged by the Oni and him and his small returning regiment of soldiers have defended it for four days – however their numbers decrease every day and Jake has gone missing.
Environment and running the adventure
The Jungle – The party would have some creature visit their camp every few hours during the night whether it is just one leopard (panther) looking for an opportunistic meal, a pack of hyenas (3-5 of them), a hunting pack of lizardfolk (5-8 of them by themselves or 1 shaman and 4 lizardfolk). The Party would not be able to benefit from a good nights rest unless they are able to deal with the visitors by them selves or keep the entire party hidden somehow.
The Field – To the south of the town is where the party appear from the Jungle – about a mile away and slightly up hill. The mist spreads from the Oni Encampment (which is a bit higher from where the party look out from the trees) into the fields below towards the walls of Jade Point and even up to the trees where they are now – raising up to the trees edge when the mist is particularly thick. When the mist is thick any Oni has advantage on stealth checks made while they are within the mist and all other races consider the mist being a heavily obscured area which blocks vision entirely. (A creature effectively suffers from the blinded condition when trying to see something in that area.)
In this encounters let’s assume that our party of 4 have all reached level 5, I think that would be fitting for being this far in the adventure-year.
Ambush in the jungle: for each 2 hours interval roll on the below table (or choose!)
d6 Result
Encounter
1
1 Leopard (panther) approaches the party – if all are asleep it will attack the one furthest from the group – if one is awake then opposed stealth vs perception check is required or the leopard gets a surprise round on the party.
2
4-5 Hyena’s attack the campsite suddenly, any exposed food or rations is lost as the hyenas eat that first before attempting to grab a PC.
3
5-8 Lizardfolk attack, shooting the party first before engaging in melee.
4
4 Lizardfolk attack with a shaman, if there is a member of the party awake and the shaman is detected (stealth vs perception) and if the party is successful the shaman will hold off on attacking immediately and will talk to the party member that is awake. They can sense Lizbet on the party but want to seize her power to protect themselves from the Oni (but will deceive to get it)
5
A friendly spirit wanders into the camp and begins to ask questions of them, waking up people if need be, curious about everything and everyone it upturns bags, rummages through sacks but stays away from iron and magical items.
6
A sudden close growl or shriek happens – Anyone with passive perception 13+ is woken immediately.
Second part.
The Oni attack the party just outside the Jungle with a rain of arrows first off while being hidden in the fog. 1 Oni captain and 7 Oni attack them, 3 at range and 4 in melee. The captain stands back and issues commands to the melee until 1 drops then she will engage. Whilst not engaged in combat the Captain takes the dodge action. The Oni look to knock out the party not kill them so they only use non-lethal attacks.
Third part– Path a.
If the party parley or get captured by the Oni they end up in the main tent atop a hill where they find Captain Jake tied up – just a they soon are. Then the Oni Shadow Blessed appears and starts to try and get information out of them about Lizbet and Kyoko – and any plans they have. In the tent there are no other Oni’s. The Party can try and subtly escape their bindings (DC14+ depending on what they want to do) but the Oni Shadow Blessed will leave and come back again if she doesn’t get what she wants out of them the first time around. She isn’t above casting charm person on a PC if it gets her information.
Third part– Path b.
If the party don’t get captured by the Oni they could sneak into the ramparts to fight through many Oni, (a few encounters of similar numbers mentioned above) until they reach the tent where they find Captain Jake being tortured by a large female Oni (Oni Shadow Blessed) who will try and capture them by calling out for guards (if any survived) or will try and charm and bewitch many of them to get information from them (see path a)
Third part– Path C.
If the party don’t get captured by the Oni they could make there way to the city where they are captured quickly by friendly but scared troops who take them to a leader, for now, who releases them from their binds and tells them about the Oni and Captain Jake going missing. The leader then advises them of the plan to leave the harbour and save the villagers if they can get a ship into port as they only have a single boat ready to sail but its not enough to save them all but the Dancing Drake would be big enough for those who remain) – but they would also need a diversion to make sure that the people can board a big enough ship and continue up river. Up to the party now if they want to create a diversion, attack the encampment to search for Jake or do something else.
Aftermath
This one is tricky – ideally the Dancing drake makes it into port and people board it and head to the capital. If Captain Jake is rescued or the Oni Shadow blessed is hurt (enough that she turns gaseous form and leaves the tent) then the following morning the fog and most of the encampment is gone. If they don’t go then the city is attacked by double the number of the scouting Oni and survivors (party included) are captured and taken to the Oni Shadow Blessed (play out Path A)
Well that’s it for tonight – the ending was a bit hard this week with a few options – the Oni Shadow blessed is quite cunning and wont risk their life for no amount of information and should flee where possible (unless killed so quickly that they simply can’t flee). The following week (and in the end of month writeup) I will decide on an option but as the DM we should encourage flexibility in how we structure our sessions and there are clear defined paths here which lead in different directions.
Don’t forget to come back next week as we look to finish this months adventure and as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
Hi all, a short soulbound update using the pro features from Inkarnate (not a sponsor – maybe one day it will mean something to say that!).
I asked a few veterans to RPG systems over the last week to help me explore how to run Soulbound campaigns in the future so I whipped up a few encounters each increasing in difficulty to see what the limit is with the number of creatures I throw at them.
So lets look at the encounters planned so far.
Encounter 1 – Ambush at Traders pass
For this encounter I have a 10 creature swarm of grots, 4 squig hoppers, 10 creature swarm of squigs (squig herd) and a fungoid cave shaman. The creatures ambush the party on the road as they are moving from where they underwent the soulbinding to Anvilguard (or maybe Brightspear – this is meant to drive out some connections between the party and let new players explore the system without too much risk to permanent death.) The squigs charge at what ever they find after a comical entrance (one falling down into the middle of the road then the rest of the swarm rushing forward to attack what ever they see) then the bounders attacking cackling madly as the 10 grots rain down arrow fire upon the wagon (Causing it to flee) from behind the logs and in the dense trees.
The Shaman stands atop the hill and throws spells and insults at the party screaming “Get them, feed my squiggies, get them get them!”
The zones are easy. Zone -1 (Zone 6 I guess) is the tress to the bottom left of the map, Zone 1 is the road, zone 2 is the trees to the top of the map, zone 3 is the clearing before the hill, zone 4 is the hill, zone 5 is the bottom right trees.
Made with Inkarnate.com
The encounter was easy for the party, Spread on ranged weapons and a pretty strong melee fighter that can dish out enough damage to kill a swarm by themselves made it a cake walk. The squig herd died down to 3 creatures from the first shot (stand and shoot talent) the squig hoppers died in melee but did some damage – which the branchwych managed to heal back very quickly. The Range on the rifle got a few damage on the shaman (who fled leaving a bloody trail to the next area), the grots didn’t do much apart from the plot hook but the volume of dice rolled meant that a few damage got through good defence. The Shaman did the most damage but failed two spells! (out of three being cast with his once per battle, and mettle being spent).
The Squig Pit – Here we had three units of 10 creature squig herds, four squig herders and a loonboss on giant cave squig. This was 3 swarms of 10 minions, four warriors and one chosen. The chosen was super strong here and the minion swarms hurt a lot – despite the group being able to demolish all of them.
Called shot meant that the loonboss spent most of his time on his back AND stunned – both are very powerful but when he did finally get to attack (from hiding) he managed to inflict deadly wounds on two different characters – this was quite the surprise to the party. The squigs did a lot of damage this time with the herders and the loonboss buffing their attack profiles up a rank on the ladder (to a total of two rungs!).
The layout was confusing here. Top of the fallen tree and the road and the trees was zone 1 upto the rocks above the cave, below the fallen tree and upto the rocks was zone 2, the rocks were zone 3, the pit and walkway was zone 4, the northern ledges were zone 5m the bottom ledges were zone 6 and the cave was zone 7. This is another ambush IF the party cant sneak up (stealth(body) checks) – if they succeed on stealth they ambush the grots, if they dont the get ambushed by squigs in the forest and one in the pit.
Made with Inkarnate.com
This encounter saw two characters get deadly wounds and only through the branchwych healing and casting Thorn shield every round did we see the party not take more wounds. The note here is to decrease difficulty (or number of creatures/units.. things) if there is extreme synergy.
Thanks for looking into my madness a bit, I anticipate that future sessions will see more updates and hopefully more maps as I see the different in details with the pro version of Inkarnate makes these maps look much better as both of these maps were made by hand – well mouse and keyboard by myself.
Don’t forget to look out for my end of week write-up also coming out later tonight and as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
Hi all and welcome to Friday (fight night!) where I want to have a bit of a look at the Oni, the warrior race of people who have inhabited the northern mountain ranges and who formed pacts with the Shadow, a dark entity who only wants to see the world turn to darkness and chaos.
Not to be confused with the Oni from the Monster Manual (although its relatively close to the Oni Shadow Blessed) theses creatures resemble and act like a highly disciplined, brutal version of the hobgoblin – driven by the pacts made with the shadow to do unspeakable acts to the other humanoids of the continent.
Face of the Shadow
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A martial race known for otherwise being brutal and calculating warlords and raiders who capture the more civilised races of Ryokughan for their brutal shadow overlord.
Oni – warrior caste
The Oni warriors are brutal warriors that take advantage of the generally weaker humanoid races of the Ryokughan continent and to ensure their success each young Oni undergoes extreme and violent training and battle drills to make sure they work as an effective army when the time comes to raid the weaker races.
Leaders of the warrior race.
Oni warriors that excel at battle drills and display extraordinary leadership qualities are granted the title of captain, if they survive their first dose of power from the Shadow – a process that claims more lives than it blesses.
Those that survive the rituals are driven to do harvest bodies, information, wealth or anything else the shadow desires but they are seen as chosen warriors – creatures which the other Oni follow blindly into battle and follow what ever orders are given to them.
Born blessed
Oni that are born blessed by the shadow grow incredibly fast, strong and large but despite their large size they are smarter than most Oni, sometimes put together, and capable of some magical abilities.
Able to turn invisible and summon unnatural darkness they live to ensure their knowledge continues to aid their kind, and the demands that the Shadow makes of them are completed.
Inherently magical these creatures hunt mages, wizards and young dragons to drain them of their magical essence and knowledge so that the shadow not only loses a potent enemy but that the Oni Shadow Blessed can gain in power and strength. The oldest and most powerful of these Oni tower over all, bigger than even some giants.
Thanks for joining tonight to look at the Oni, ever since seeing both the Oni and the Hobgoblin in the monster manual I always thought that they belonged in an oriental setting and this was a great opportunity to adjust them slightly to fit how I see them in this continent and world.
Don’t forget to come back for the end of week writeup and the hobby update this weekend, or perhaps a writing challenge (I am not quite sure which it will be yet). Don’t forget that next week is the end of the month and so a end of month writeup is on its way so look out for that. As my brief pause of normal work ends and I look to going back to my office job I wanted to thank you all for following me on this journey, exploring this endeavour with me as I really appreciate it and always get a jolt of excitement when I notice people read and like what I put out there. I won’t forget that feeling which my first few posts brought me and I hope that you will continue to join me.
Finally, let’s not forget, don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
Hi all and welcome to Thursday where today I spent a bit of time looking over Inkarnate again to have a look at what is available in their town maps. After some tinkering and not being quite sold on what there is to offer we have a map that will do for now.
Jade Point
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The once lightly fortified port town of Jade Point features a large ship yard, without any boats within; the existing ones have been burned and sunk of disappeared during the night, a multi-roomed inn in the centre of the low walled town, several guard towers positioned on the walls – many damaged beyond repair and vacated as well as a still functioning Mill that currently holds many of the soldiers that defend the city.
Outside the walls and rough barricade of tall cut down jungle trees stacked into a rough palisade there are a few farmers houses that have been burnt, raided and are left hauntingly deserted before the hill several hundred feet to the West. The hill is constantly covered under a cloud and shrouded in a dark mist but there can be seen a rough rampart being built seemingly over night with local materials scavenged from the destroyed farms, fences and walls as well as more foreign materials.
Oni stalk the mists and launch raids upon the denizens of Jade Point and until recently there was a sizeable force there to defend the people from the attackers.
Thanks for joining me tonight and looking at the map I created for this weeks part of the adventure, for a raw copy which you can modify feel free to check out the link above where you can modify and download your own copy of the map to modify as you see fit.
Don’t forget to come back for the last days of this week for the last pieces of this adventure, where we meet the mysterious Oni as well as see how the full adventure plays out. Don’t forget to check out this blog on Saturday for a random update, perhaps more Soulbound or a hobby update and as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
Hi all, I wanted to put up a quick post to touch base on Soulbound! Yup, the TTRPG created by Cubicle 7 as I finally had a, admittedly quick, chance to have a few players run through the system with me today.
So below you will find copies of the characters I am using for the test playthrough I am running so I can get my head around the DM aspects of this RPG as, unlike D&D and other systems, the encounter balancing is an art, not a defined science.
So in order for me to try and balance encounters I came up with three characters of my own (as one of the players I had working with me today brought their own character based off Irondrakes/Thunderers from Age of Sigmar) each with a specific role in mind. Ranged, Melee, Hybrid and spell casting support.
The early verdict is that spell casting feels strong, especially the supporting magic (Shield of Thorns is very strong) and that in order to balance out encounters you need to really understand your parties output potential as I had each character utterly destroy what ever they fought against.
The melee Kharadron, Teegahn was exceptional in melee, perhaps too much so, and as a converted Endrin rigger (lost their endrin and replaced it with a Endrin-harness) they were a one person demolition crew when it comes to melee combat. The custom character modelled after a Thunderer or Irondrake, Drek, managed to kill seven Squigs in one shot, which was all the squigs in that swarm.
Both the Black Ark Corsair, Krylla, and Branchwych, Kalera, held their own, suffered some wounds but with the healing magic as well as supporting magic they were in no real danger even when a 10-man squig herd, 4 Squig Hoppers, 10 Grots (with bows) and a fungoid cave shaman attacked them they suffered maybe 17 damage in total whilst they dished out around 85 in the same amount of time.
Further playtesting should see how the same characters fair with stronger enemies, not just grots (goblins) and their pets, but more warriors and tougher foes to fight and potentially even something that I am sure they wont be able to best easily.
Thanks, that’s all I have for now! Hopefully I can convince the others to come and join me for the second half of the adventure where they may find that they are not the gods amongst mortals that they feel like they are now.
Hi all and welcome to Wednesday here where today I’ll be looking at the twists and turns that we have planned for the week.
Last night we saw captain Jake Hart get captured by a betrayer, or was it Oni in disguise, who knows – it could have been Kiri in the end. Regardless let’s look at tonight’s twists and turns and see what comes to the surface.
Broken Omen
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Click, Click, Click. Flint and Steel clicked as momentary bursts of light burst forth in the dark room. Jake stirred slowly, his head throbbing as he became increasingly aware of the gooey warm mess of matted hair and drying blood forming on the back of his skull.
“Ah, so he is finally awake” a voice, definitely Oni, said from behind the flash of sparks and smell of burning tinder. “We didn’t think we would come up with a way to get you, but our pawn made good on his bargain.” The Tinder took and a fire started to spread just in time for Jake to gaze upon the broken and beaten body of Yu, the man who had struck him and who had single handed led to his capture.
Jake went to talk but his face hurt and a groan came out. “Tsk tsk, don’t push yourself Captain.” the Oni said as he stepped into the light, her short sharp tusks, pointed ears and red skin only seemed to highlight the broad flat but sharp nose that was the defining feature on her face. “Yu pushed himself too much and disappointed us. We have a long night ahead captain and I hope that you can last longer than the body you are replacing”
Jake watched with horror and mild panic as Yu opened one eye slightly, the other swollen shut, and looked at him, a single tear swelled and trickled down his face as two burly looking Oni; or half Oni – it was hard to tell in the dim light from the one fire, cut Yu down and carried him out of the area he was kept in.
“Now, let’s start with the easy stuff. Why do you defend the port, what are you expecting?”
The party watched a dark mist flooded the lower recesses around the gap between the rampart and the dock town with morbid interest – memories of the mist and the creatures it bore from Daye still fresh in their minds. As they looked towards the town they noticed two people stride from the town, from this distance they were just two small figures like ants but it was very evident that something that wrong when the one in the back moved suddenly and the front figure collapsed onto the ground. The mist approached the two hungrily and soon it engulfed them, the vapour collapsing around the wall before alarm bells tolled and figures buzzed around the towns crudely constructed barricade like ants defending their nest.
The mist retreated and bodies clad in a grey clothing – or armour, the distance was really doing a disservice to those watching this unfold, were left in its wake – but the two figures that left the safety of the walls were gone.
Taking that as a sign the party made haste down the slight hill from where the jungle grew and head towards the town but they were stopped by the clack of crossbows and the whistling of bolts as projectiles rained down upon them. Tall, vicious grey armour clad humanoids rushed at them as another volley of bolts whizzed around them and landed at their feet. The humanoids had red skin, pointed ears and large flat features that reminded them of goblins and some orcs from their home continent and as the warriors got closer they snarled, revealing their sharpened short tusks and murderous intent in their eyes.
Well that was a rather lengthy and long winded write-up but I am glad I finally get to introduce the Oni to you all. I will describe them in more detail and reveal which Faerun creature they take similarities from in the coming days as it shouldn’t be too much of a stretch.
Don’t forget to come back the next few days for more content here at Brazen Wolfe Tabletop and, as always don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
Hi all and welcome to an Tuesday for what feels like a very short April. This week, the last week of the content for this month (has it really been that many weeks already?) we are covering two things in one, the arrival at Jade Point – the now named Port Town where the Dancing Drake was on its way to – and the.. well, you’ll see.
So without getting all mysterious and broody let’s kick off with the content!.
Foreign Blessing
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Jake Hart stood on top of the obscured lookout that had once been landing platform for ships coming into the docks and stared out towards the ramshackle ramparts that the Oni had constructed on top of a hill to the west.
Four days ago the first attack came under the cover of a storm and the darkness that the thick clouds had provided the marauders attacked the outskirts of the town, burning pillaging and capturing people of Jade Point. Jack, Captain Hart to most, had heard the screams and seen the fire and with forty of his men had come to the towns defence.
Now after four nights and the dawning of the fifth day Jake’s men, all soldiers for the Harimasu family, had suffered casualties and were now numbering in the twenties, twenty three according to the last count. “Captain Hart!” A voice bellow from below him, turning he looked down the ladder at the private who stood there, shielding his eyes from the light that beamed from the open hatch to the lookout. Jake noticed the urgency in the eyes of the young man but couldn’t place a name to his face which caused him to frown as he made an effort to remember the names of all the men he served with and those who served under him especially – you never knew when you would have to talk to a soon-to-be grieving family.
One last glance across the no-mans land between the town of Jade Point and the ramparts confirmed that there was no attacks at this moment and with a sigh, and a crack of his back from a potentially over-zealous stretch he turned to go down the ladder to greet the private – who had since climbed the ladder and was slowly standing up in front of him. Something wasn’t right, he could feel it but as he noticed the regalia, family crest and the manner in which he held himself Jake couldn’t be sure what he was uncertain about.
“Sir,” the private began as he waited for Jake to acknowledge him.
“Go on Private, what news do you bring?” Jake said, clasping his hands behind his back, where they were close to the hilts of his daggers just in case his feeling proved to be correct.
“Sir, we have spotted movement at the jungle to the South.” the man said, he gestured towards the trees that had formed a barrier of sorts for the town. Jake slowly turned towards the trees and turned his spyglass from the Ramparts to the jungle. After a moment and some directions from the man standing a respectful few feet away from him he noticed a group of 4 or so people resting and eating at the base of a few of the jungle trees. From the looks of it they were foreigners, perhaps from across the great sea – perhaps Lady Kyoko had brought back more than just knowledge and wealth to assist their war he thought to himself.
“Sir there is something else you should see. The Ramparts are stirring, it looks like we aren’t the only ones to notice these visitors.” he said and as Jake whirled around to look at the ramparts a chill crept down his spine, causing him to shudder even before his spyglass could look across the ramshackle wooden palisade and walls. Indeed, the walls were abuzz with movement, Oni spears visible behind the walls moving backwards and forwards.
“How did you notice this, forgive me private I am having a momentarily lapse in your name?” Jake said as he looked back towards the man in front of him.
“Yu, I go by Yu.” the man responded as he saluted Jake – a strange non-regulation club swinging from his hips back and forwards from the gesture of the salute. When Yu noticed Jakes Gaze he responded with a grin “Took it from an Oni that I defeated and cost me my blade. It’s a bit hefty to swing with our normal elegance but it packs a punch” he said looking at his feet.
Nodding Jake looked back through the spyglass and noticed a shadow creeping across the open fields and ruined buildings heading to the foreigners. Jumping to action he whirled around and grabbed private Yu. “We can not let the Oni get to those foreigners, they may have news of Lady Kyoko or bring news that would win us the war” he said as he jumped onto the ladder and slid to the ground, his thick boots causing a plume of dust to rise up which was joined by a second plume a moment later with Yu running on his heels.
“What makes you say that Sir?” Yu asked, sticking close to the captains flank as he ran towards the barricades they had put up to slow the tide of Oni into the city.
“Why else would foreigners come here? They are clearing experienced, they are dressed as adventurers, warriors and such and we were expecting Kyoko and her crew to pass through here yesterday. Their appearance can mean two things. One, they need help or two, they are the help.” he said as he pushed through the choke point, the lack of sentinels or guards around for some reason didn’t disturb him as much as the though of the Oni getting their hands on the new comers.
“So they are the key to us winning Sir?” Yu asked from just behind him.
“If I was a betting man I would go all in” Captain Hart responded just before the a sharp pain in the back of his head burst forth with a Crack – the sound of a Oni club smacking into his head.
“That will do nicely Captain Hart.” He man said, Yu, as he grinned and knelt next to the captain has his vision blurred and everything faded to black.
Well I hope that helps paint a picture for what I have planned for this week, for now. Don’t forget to come back tomorrow for a double-whammy – Two twists in one so I can keep on track with my planned schedule for this months adventure. It was good to use artbreeder again, after failing to find portraits or images, created, self drawn (not my strong suit at all!) or otherwise sourced for the Toad-kin (I picture them as short, robust ugly creatures who look upon the world as I would expect most druids would) it was good to have a quick rummage through the site and create something that is similar to the vision I had for the NPC.
I would expect that this isn’t the last we see of Captain Jake Hart so don’t forget to come back to check what we post here and, as I have made a habit of saying it here, as always don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
Hi all and welcome to a new week and a new weekly session where we just saw our party seek the aid of an ancient Toad-kin shaman who calls the marsh home, and during the endeavour they had to go and complete the Shaman, Varda’s, shopping list.
This week we will be looking towards the journey to the Docks and what lies past the Marsh. Now this month as come and gone very quickly and next week is the last week of the month which means I have to accelerate my plans for this months adventure – which means more content for you all!
Port Side
216MoPS
True to her word Varda’s two charms, the Longsnout talisman that enabled the Toad-kin know as Kiri to speak not just understand Common as well as the Kookastem fetish that allowed the party to scout the dangers of the marsh from a birds eye view and through navigating the marsh, the mud banks and deep patches of water (and avoiding the dangers they now knew lurked in the murky water) it saw them standing on solid ground soon at the base of tangled grove of trees.
The Jungle, which is the only thing that could describe the hot, dense mass of trees and plants was hard to traverse and the fetish as of little use due to the heavy canopy above them. The creatures in the jungle were smaller than the marsh, skittish even and there was always a noise, a growl, a call or a shadow near by watching the party as they moved through the dense vegetation. As night fell and the party set up camp Kiri warned them of the many dangers, a list that went on for quite some time, and as the noises increased the party began to believe some of the stories the toad-kin told over the flickering embers of the fire.
After a day walking after one of the worst nights sleep that anyone could remember for some time they stumbled through the edge of the forest and looked down upon the port town which sat at a large cove in the river about a mile away. Thick black smoke billowed forth from buildings on the outskirts of the town and evidence of battle could be seen from this distance, fallen bodies and a small camp settled in from the North West, to the north of where the party had come from the jungle, could be seen cloaked by an cloud that defied the wind and cast a massive shadow over the ram shackle camp. The Toad-kin seemed spooked, jittery even, and when the party finally spoke they jumped in fear.
“That’s no brigand or ramshackle force there, that’s an Oni camp – blessed by the shadow. It seems they, the shadow, had a backup plan in case my people could not stop you in the marsh.” he began, fear causing his voice to tremble. “I will go and warn my people, and the ship, there must be another way to where you need to go. To face the Oni is death.”
Looking forward at the town and the ramparts the party discussed on their course of action, tired and low on reserves after the marsh and the jungle they were unsure of what their next move was but knew that they could not stay at the edge of a jungle and that the port was their next stop and best hope at returning back to the ship to re-unit with Kyoko, Siu and Lizbet to complete their quest.
This month has gone very fast and after a day hobby-ing (painting a doom wheel and taking to the field with my Skaven against Orruk warclans) I am very quickly running out of time to paint as much of my Skaven army as possible and line up this weeks adventure.
So don’t forget to come back each day this coming week so that we can continue on this adventure and see where it takes us. Don’t forget to ask about my hobby table too – without being reminded I may be prone to forgetting about the challenge I set myself and, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
Welcome to another writeup that looks at the past week where this time our party found their ship, the Dancing Drake, in need for repairs after being attacked by toad-kin at the control of their Chieftains and war chief. They set off across the marsh to find help but run into some problem’s.
So instead of re-writing the past week let’s jump into the end of week write-up and the adventure..
Shaman’s request
The Dancing Drake having suffered a wound to its hull and becoming stuck between marsh banks looked to be in some difficulties. While wondering how to fix it two unarmed and unarmoured toad-kin approached the crew and were eventually lead to Lizbet and the party. Whilst able to understand common communication seemed hard, body language and communication with hand gestures revealed that these two toad-kin (Kiri and Trip) wished to help those who walked amongst the walking star and could show them the way through the marsh, they think.
The crew and Kyoko both agreed that travelling the marsh would cut days off their travel, considering their ship was grounded until repairs could be made, and it would take a savvy survivalist to lead them through unscathed, particularly the darker deeper parts of the marsh and jungle that lay between them and the port they were travelling to.
The issue is that the Toad-kin could not communicate traditionally but they wanted to take them to someone who commanded the spirits and magic of the swamp to create a charm that would lead them through the worst of the marsh and perhaps find a way to enable the two Toad-kin to communicate with those they wished to serve and assist.
Reluctant to agree they considered their other options, sure that they could find a spell or charm to speak and communicate with the diminutive humanoids they set off on their own, heading in the direction with a compass borrowed from Choi to seek help at the port to retrieve supplies and a crew to repair the dancing drake and get it sailing again.
Kiri and Trip not wanting them to fail followed them but not being able to communicate effectively started to wear down the party and their guides nerves as the marsh got thicker and the sun got lower as the day went on..
Area of note
The boat – The Red Fleets Dancing Drake is where the party find themselves calling the ship home, for the time being at least. But having suffered damage to the hull they are need of repair and its currently stuck between two mud banks and taken on water.
The Marsh – The marsh is small islands of mud and root systems of the bushes and reeds that grow in this otherwise deep waterway. Those who fall overboard are treated with deep water, slippery mud banks and thick four feet tall reeds that make traversing these waterways dangerous during the day and lethal at night.
The Marsh hut – A small hut in the marsh which is home to Varda, the toad-kin who needs some reagents for a charm to assist the party.
NPCs
Kiri – a small toad-kin of young years who believes in the old ways. Spirited and savvy he volunteered to help guide the adventures through the swamp despite thinking their plan foolish.
Trip – a larger toad-kin of more advanced years. He is good with his spear and quite experienced at moving about the marsh safely. It’s a rare occurrence that he is taken by surprise.
Varda – a old one footed toad-kin shaman who is fond of cooking and who is rumoured to be so old that she walked amongst the fallen stars. Her name is also rumoured to be a gift from those people who taught her how to speak (elves and draconic).
Environment and running the adventure
The Marsh banks – If someone was to fall overboard a DC10 Dexterity check would be required to stand up safely on the river bank (or they fall prone), made with disadvantage if the person on the bank is wearing heavy armour. The islands are 5ft by 10ft on average with some longer but skinnier, and some 10ft by 10ft banks of mid and reeds sporadically spread out either side of the deep river.
The marsh – See Map
Made with Inkarnate.com
Encounter
In this encounters let’s assume that our party of 4 have all reached level 5, I think that would be fitting for being this far in the adventure-year. (disclaimer – forgotten from Fridays writeup – the Goblin and whale are placeholders for the CR..)
The first encounter is more to shock the party into action and drive them to seek aid in crossing the marsh. One, or two (dealers choice) giant marsh newts ambush the toad-kin once they have revealed that they are mostly harmless to anything they they cant fit in their mouth. The newts should swallow one toad-kin and lumber off with the aim being the party to fight it and kill it near the waters edge.
Once it’s (they) are dead a Longsnout Sharptooth will lunge out of the water, not revealing its fleshy flower looking appendages at all, and attack the corpse. Anyone who fails a perception check (vs its stealth) will get hit by the creatures tail as it dives up onto the bank with a successful str saving throw preventing them from being knocked down as it then drags the newt into the water, only once the toad-kin escapes.
Second half.
The walk to Varda’s hut is easy, the toads know the way. She then requests the petals of the Longsnout Sharptooth and feathers of a Mirestrider Kookastem (a four legged fast bird).
The encounter for this can be straight forward where the party hunt the birds and the Longsnout sharptooth or have the Longsnout attack the party during fighting/hunting the Mirestrider as an ambush for the party.
I would picture it as the mire strider fleeing from the party, they almost going to capture it and the Longsnout lunging at the party, first one to come into Range. Jaws closing on both Mirestrider, killing it in a plume of feathers.
The alternative is spotting two bright flowers unlike the others in the marsh growing from a log thats floating in the marsh near the shore. This of course isn’t a log but the Longsnout. There are a lot of ways to run the encounter and the most thematic and challenging for the party would be my preference.
Aftermath
Once the ingredients are given to Varda she produces a talisman for the Toad-kin Kiri which gifts him the ability to speak common and the party a fetish which is a stuffed bird that enables them to see through its eyes gor a hour as it flies above the party at around 100ft off the ground. After its done so it falls to the ground and lays inert until the following dawn.
Well that’s it for tonight, thanks for joining me as we wrapped up this weeks adventure.
Don’t forget to come back next week as we look to continue with this months adventure and don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
Brazen Wolfe Tabletop 