TTRPG

Those who whisper to the dark

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Tuesday is here and although its a late one tonight we look at those who whisper to the dark. In particular the one who calls upon the great blood hunt. So without any more delays let’s settle in, grab a coffee roll into the adventure!

Those who whisper to the dark

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Toby Loreain

Toby Loreain – Created in Artbreeder

Toby has always been a bit different. Instead of helping in the shop, or with dinner or cleaning he would be outside cutting open rats and birds. Blood and visceral gore always intrigued Toby and eventually one day he was attacked by other kids in the village. He wasn’t the same after when the village elders protected the bullies. He shrunk into himself and started to grow more and more distant. Having nightmares of uncontained violence that eventually he used to seek out instead of dread.

Now he mutters to things that no one else can see in the dark. Communicating with the shadows and the things no one else can see.

Salis Loreain

Salis Loreain- Created in Artbreeder

Now Salis is the older sister to Toby and has always looked out for her little brother. However she has grown increasingly worried about her brother as his dreams and nature becomes darker. She sought out the adventurers who ventured into her village to help her brother, convinced that some dark power had corrupted him. Little did she know how close she was to the truth.

She studies to be a priestess of Selune and has sworn to protect the innocent who dwell under the Moonmaiden’s light. But her studies were cut short when her mother asked her to come back to tend to her brother. However, she has a fellow priestess in a village a few days’ ride away and there she hopes to seek answers.

Thoughts

Now we don’t have the mother visible tonight, the viewpoint from yesterdays blog. That’s for tomorrow where we investigate what happened and what will happen. This week is a bit of a different format as we have a long lasting chase scene with a lot of flexibility on the party. This may be a bit different and challenging but I hope it will be rewarding.

Thanks for joining and looking at the brother and sister at the centre of this weeks adventure. Join me tomorrow to meet the mother some more and also learn about the sickness of Toby. Also don’t forget to come back each day this week a we expand the adventure. And as we pass into the midway point of the week a reminder to not forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

In service to Yeenoghu

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This week’s Monday see’s the scene of one of my favourite books come to life as we witness those in service to Yeenoghu. Now the demon lord known as Yeenoghu isn’t exactly pleasant. A father to beasts, a bringer of pure destruction Yeenoghu only wants destruction and the fall of civilisation. That and a nice hot blood-red tea… Those that follow him are granted power beyond their dreams as long as they too bring destruction to the civilised world. So to understand what’s at stake this week let’s roll on with the adventure.

In service to Yeenoghu

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In pursuit – Created in Nightcafe.

“I never imagined such rage, such unbridled bloodshed. We were lucky to escape when we did” the old woman said as she looked backwards at the fires. Clutching at the bundles of belongings she managed to rescue from the village before fleeing she felt a pang of guilt. It was the right decision to leave those outsiders without a wagon, they would slow down the raiders, the beasts from the forest. When they were done with those adventurers they wouldn’t be able to catch up with them.

“I am sure they are fine.” she smiled, lying, as she patted her daughter’s hand who sat next to her. “They were strong. The beast-men would not be able to kill them. I told them we would meet them at the next village.” she reassured. She had no qualms about lying to those around her, it had become a talent over the years.

“The first gift is hunger… It is His blessing.” her son muttered next to her. A dim boy who had never really accomplished much.

“What was that dear?” she asked, wrapping a blanket around him.

“It is our call to bring death…” he muttered as he stared at the fires in fascination. “The second gift is death. Death proves our strength. Death purges our fear.” he muttered as he began to rock.

“Mother, Toby’s not well is he…” Salis asked, her worry for her brother mingled with fear and disgust. Nothing infuriated her more.

“Have some compassion, Salis. Your brother watched his friends be slaughtered at the gate. It’s a miracle that he survived and thought to warn us.” she snarled, clutching her son tightly.

“The third gift is fear… We fear that we will fail him. We fear the onset of hunger.” Toby continued, staring into the fires unable to look away as the towering beast-men pillaged, killed and destroyed the village he had grown up in.

Thoughts

A bit of a darker one this week but I promise it will be fun. Abandoned by the people they sought to help the party must fight their way out, grab the first transport out of the village and escape the ravaging hordes that worship and are in service to Yeenoghu. Now the lord of gnolls himself may not be present this adventure but his servants are varied and those who worship destruction and the uncontained blood lust are aplenty.

Thanks for coming to visit for another weeks adventure. As I gear up for the first tournament of the year for me I also have a committed fortnightly D&D adventure now. Hopefully the normal pace at Brazen Wolfe Tabletop doesn’t slow down as I still have plenty more adventures in me for the year. So don’t forget to keep coming back each day and don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

The Dreamless

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Tonight and I have created another zine for this weeks adventure, The Dreamless. Can the party solve who is behind this and burn the disease of impurity from a once devout city or will they let chaos and corruption reign on the streets. 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 Dreamless. If you like this format please let me know and I hope you enjoy.

The Dreamless

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Hildebek

Hildebek Town – Created in nightcafe.

The town of Hildebek is a quaint and small town, built upon ancient ruins with the only stone buildings being remade from the remnants of the ancient battlements. The people are peaceful folk who look to make a living from the land as farmers and carers of animals. Despite the town’s current peaceful settlement the previous buildings that resided within this walled land were not so. Lore speaks of a time where the fort that used to reside in Hildebek fell to corruption as the lord was driven mad.

Some say that his madness attracted a fiend, some say that he summoned it himself, both could be true, or untrue. However, whatever the rumours of what summoned the creature from the hells to this fort, its rage and the battle to contain it destroyed the fort. Only a single tower and the walls remained amongst the once imposing compound, the rest was levelled.

Centuries later the town of Hildebek was built upon its ruins. The chunks of stone are the only indicator that there was something more once here. In an effort to protect themselves and maintain history they repaired the walls and tower and the rest was cleared. However, evil never truly sleeps when it is born from such darkness.

Entering Hildebek

Hildebek South Entrance – Created in nightcafe.

As the party enters the city they are greeted by nearly clear streets. The vast quietness and lack of people made it appear like something was wrong – and the moment they approached someone it was evident that something was. 

The residents of this town were a bunch of half asleep, exhausted people. Several people dozed off mid sentence only to wake up looking terrified. Finally one of the guards, an elf, pointed them towards the Lonely Buck Inn if they wanted to stay the night and noted a few key places in the town if they needed something. The elven man appeared to be fine, although his face was lined with worry instead of exhaustion.

PDF adventure – The Dreamless

The-DreamlessDownload

Thanks for joining me tonight for another 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

The City of Temptation

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Tonight and I have created another zine for… an adventure that was written a few weeks ago. The City of Temptation, Brightkeep, was once a devout city to Helm, now it has fallen into depravity. Can the party solve who is behind this and burn the disease of impurity from a once devout city or will they let chaos and corruption reign on the streets. 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 City of Temptation. If you like this format please let me know and I hope you enjoy.

The City of Temptation

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Brightkeep was once the toast of cities for its order, the way its nobility acted in a chivalrous manner as well as its knights. Over the years the knights, the Helms Watchers of Brightkeep have been instrumental in resolving all major conflicts in the region and even, with the aid of their secret order of warrior-spies the Shadows, some conflicts in more distant lands. However there has been a growing rot in the city that once was known for its pious and pristine reputation. Gone are the knights of shining order and justice and the nobles have fallen into a sickening depravity. In fact the city is known now to be a place where people can go to get whatever their dark desires are. 

The days in Brightkeep aren’t bright anymore, and the nights are even darker.

Brightkeep

Brightkeep City – Created in nightcafe.

PDF adventure – The City of Temptation

The-City-of-TemptationDownload

Thanks for joining me tonight for another 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

The Devil in your dreams

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Friday has come and with it brings another weekend where we can indulge in some tabletop time. Tonight we investigate The Devil in your dreams and what it looks like when it brings the fight to us. This is a bit of a stronger encounter but the creature itself isn’t overly powerful if engaged in an outright fight. So before I give away all the details let’s roll into tonight’s adventure!

The Devil in your dreams

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The Devil in your dreams

The Dream Devil is a simple creature. Not as powerful in magic or combat as some of its larger more imposing brethren it seeks to wear out its prey over days and weeks instead of moments of intense combat. Using its abilities to get its opponents to sleep it then targets them with more lethal attacks, believing that its able to win through its cunning rather than power.

It will try and disguise itself and have the party confused as to what they are dealing with. Utilising both its illusion magic and legendary actions it will begin to look like its opponents, or innocent creatures, before changing something subtle about the environment. If it can’t create an opening with illusion it will blanket the area in darkness, calm emotions or simply put many creatures to sleep in order to make its escape, set up its next attack or go in for the kill.

The Dream devil is a lethal combatant and even its touch has a potent magic on it. The most stalwart of warriors having to fight against the magical compulsion else they fall asleep.

Dream Devil – Created in Tetra-cube.

Another weekend has arrived and this week I don’t have anything planned for my tabletop, yet. I plan to make some more progress in the painting of my slaanesh army and hopefully finally catching up on some of the adventures I need to complete. But, don’t let this discourage you from your own weekend tabletop as you rally forth to adventure and beyond!

Don’t forget to come back this weekend as we explore more of this glorious hobby and as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

Hildebek Town

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Well another Thursday night is here and its brought with it a regional map featuring Hildebek Town! Tonight I was inspired by the community on Inkarnate to try out the regional Map style and I had a fair bit of fun working in the near-Isometric map. The one thing I would want is a way to get hills, cliffs and the like more easily accessible. But I will have to dig deeper. So sit back, grab a coffee and enjoy the map below.!

Hildebek Town

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Hildebek town is quite small having under a hundred people living there. Two inns populate this town and a variety of shops and merchants that call this place home. Built around the watchtower that used to be a military the tower and walls were mostly repaired. The ruins and rubble from the previous buildings were replaced by houses and people began to move here as a town between two major cities.

Hildebek Town map – created in Inkarnate

Thanks for joining me for a rather short one tonight. I wanted to keep it brief to enable flexibility and to not build much into this map as I plan to use it in the near future. In fact with D&D occurring for me fortnightly now I plan to use this map in the near future for my own party. However whether I throw a devil at them and a sleeping sickness is another question that I will have to wait and answer later.

Tomorrow night the statistics of the devil is revealed and I hope its a worthy adversary for the party. However feel free to adjust the encounter to fit your party. So make sure you come back tomorrow and I hope that you will enjoy this weeks adventure. Lastly, make sure you set aside some time for your own tabletop as the weekend approaches quickly. And as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

The Devil in our wake

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As we get closer to uncovering the devil in our wake we have one more reveal to truly show its face. Tonight is all about the creature at the centre of our adventure this week and the blight that is taking over Hildebek. So without further delay let’s sit back, grab a coffee and let’s roll into tonight’s adventure!

The Devil in our wake

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As night fell more people gave into the need to sleep promising themselves it was a short nap. However as the creature spread out its influence, a song of rest and respite from the nightmares of the day more townsfolk fell into a deep sleep. Although not as powerful as the others the creature was smart and patient.

Each night more and more humans, dwarves and halflings drifted into his realm. Slowly they succumbed to the soft whispers and songs he sang. The creature couldn’t help but admire its plan. With exhaustion the minds of mortals were weaker, more frail and by sending them nightmarish visions and interrupting their dreams they never fully rested. This made their minds more susceptible to the song. In fact their deprived state of mind is the only reason his song worked. His power was so low even lowly undead could best him. He needed to employ all his tricks.

But now the elf was a problem. Using herbs and tinctures she was preventing people from sleeping. What’s worse was that those who were nearly ripe for harvesting were now not exhausted at all!

She and the man lacing the normally sleep inducing food and drink needed to be dealt with. Before the heroes the Mayor sent to show up that is. Stronger willed humans with real strength would force him to work for his meals. And where was the fun in that?

Thoughts

So I have done undead a few times, I’ve done bad humans and cults but fiends only once… maybe twice. However this week it changes as a Devil has come to prey upon the town of Hildebek and it uses sleep as it’s weapon. This should be a mixture mystery and a traditional encounter and I’m excited to see what the party think of it.

Thanks for visiting once again. Tonight the culprit behind the sleeping sickness was revealed, at least partially. Tomorrow we plan to look at a map for our encounter with the devil that will be revealed on Friday. With a week full of adventure ahead don’t forget to come back daily and, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

The Restless and Resourceful

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Tuesday is here and we get a further glimpse into the restless and resourceful people of Hildebek. This week we get a look at two of many types of people in Hildebek. Those who are fighting against the sleeping sickness with their training and knowledge and those who are trying to stay alive and their business afloat. Gareth and Tilly are the ones taking centre stage tonight so let’s settle in, grab a coffee roll into the adventure!

The Restless and Resourceful

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Gareth Loray

Gareth Loray – Created in Artbreeder

Born and raised in Hildebek Gareth has known most of the people in this town since he was a young lad. His parents were proprietors of the Lonely Buck, a drinking establishment turned gambling hall periodically during the years and now it falls on him to carry on the business. Single but not exactly mingling Gareth spends his time at The Lonely Buck. However, on the odd occasions that he isn’t working the tavern by himself he is looking after his elderly parents.

Since the sleeping sickness started to appear the tavern became less frequently populated. Looking for a way to keep his parents business afloat he turned to Tilly, the herbalist-come-alchemist. Gareth knew that she had a special potion that would give people the same energy as if they had slept for a full night. If he could mix this in with his food and beer he could continue to sell his wares and provide something that the town needed. Rest.

Tilandra Mossleaf

Tilandra Mossleaf – Created in Artbreeder

Tilly wasn’t born in Hildebek. In fact Tilly doesn’t remember where she was born. She remembers that she was part of a moving hut, a magical contraption that sold potions and salves to travellers on the road. As she grew in age she learnt from the woman who looked after her and found she had a natural talent for identifying herbs and fungi that could heal and help. 

When the woman died Tilly took over the herbalists wagon and eventually, tired of travelling, the moving hut stopped moving in the town of Hildebek. She has served as the Towns herbalist and healer for many years now and has watched many of the children come to adult-hood. One such Child is Gareth. Despite being one of the only elves in Hildebek she found friendship in the young tavern-owner’s son. Whilst not a romantic relationship they looked out for one another and with her knowledge of herbs his food and drinks always had an edge over the competition. 

When the sleeping sickness began to plague the town the people turned against her. As an Elf she does not need sleep and so they were seen as the cause of the illness. But Gareth and a few others stood up for Tilly and the other Elves.

Thoughts

Not much can be said in addition. Two primary contacts that I have in mid for this weeks adventure and they, the restless and resourceful, will be invaluable allies when finding the cause. In fact, they may already be able to find the cure!

Thanks for joining me to get a glimpse at out NPCs tonight. Tilly’s portrait was made by my daughter which goes to show how easily these things can be churned out. While not being half as detailed, customisable or unique as something created fit-for-purpose they help inspire the adventure and give a face to the NPC the party interact with. Now, tomorrow we have a big night ahead of us and I want to encourage you to come back for it. But, with the weekend approaching we need to also be focus on our own tabletop. So set aside some time for your own campaign, your miniatures or some terrain and don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

The City of unrest

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Another Monday night has come and for most we are finishing the day with well deserved rest. However in Hildebek it is beginning to be known as the city of unrest. Whilst I have a full story planned for this that I could talk for hours about, I too need rest, but… The City of unrest does not get such luxury. So let’s waste no time in getting into the adventure and roll on with the adventure.

The City of unrest

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The innkeeper looked at the full flasks of ale, the bottles of wine and spirits and his heart sank. It had been weeks since someone bought any of his wares and because no one came for his drink, his kitchen lay dormant. A sullen knock at the door may change this and keep his business alive though and with as much energy as he could muster he opened the door to a bright eyed woman. Tilly the herbalist and Alchemist.

“Ah Tilly. You’re here at just the right moment. I’d almost considered selling up and moving to Newhaven.” The innkeeper said with a half-hearted smile. “Please come in. You brought the goods didn’t you?”

Tilly was an elf just short of 5 feet in height. Long blond hair was braided down her sides and every day she had different flowers or plants woven into it. “I sure did. Are you sure that you want to be associating with elves at the moment with everything that’s going on?” she asked as she closed the door behind her to the early morning light. “I know business is business but I don’t want you to get hurt. It’s not right this dream sickness that has you non-elven folk in its clutches. It’s not natural. I heard the mayor sent for aid just yesterday. But he hasn’t been seen since…” she mused as she began to unpack vials of a dark brown liquid. “Now, a large spoonful no more. Over use of this can cause a few nasty side effects.” Tilly warned. “I mean it Gareth”

The City of Unrest

Gareth smiled and uncorked a bottle and had a small sip. Instantly he felt energy course through his veins, the exhaustion he had been suffering elated in just a moment. “Wow Tilly. This is incredible! I could sell this stuff by itself!” he mused, grinning for the first time in weeks.

Hildebek had become the epicentre of an illness. It affected any humanoid that didn’t have elven blood and would cause people to have extreme nightmares while they slept. The people of the city had worked out that if they snuck one or two hours of sleep a day they could get by, but there were reports of these people dying. The illness caused phantoms to appear in the mind, shadows haunting those afflicted. Peeking from behind walls, through windows and even appearing inside their houses. In the depth of sleep those who were haunted by these shadows would wake up screaming. In fact those who had been haunted for long enough simply didn’t wake. The Sleeping Curse is what people called it. However the people did not know what caused it.

While the number of casualties has shrunk dramatically since its effect was known or understood, those who didn’t wake were still living. They were just unable to be roused.

Thoughts

Now not to be confused with a different dream based adventure that I created, Crelion manor, this week is different. I have, well we all probably have seen shadows whilst tired. In fact we may have had our minds tell us that something wasn’t right – I have experienced this before. However, this got me thinking. What happens if it wasn’t all right? What if those shadows were real and I wasn’t just sleep deprived?

In this weeks adventure I bring forth a plague of nightmares, and a plague of blissful sleep. To push past the horrors of waking life and fitful sleep I bring this city peaceful rest. However, its not all well and good and I can guarantee that the party have their work cut out for them this week.

Thanks for visiting me for another start of the week. I hope that you don’t forget to visit each night this week as I have much more in store. However, as I still recover from some nasty chest-cold I need to ask for patience. I will finish the Zines as fast as I can but its a bit difficult at the moment. But that wont stop us from carrying on! So don’t forget to continue to visit here each day and I hope, as always that you don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe

2023 Campaign Adventure 1

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Good evening all and welcome to the night of my first adventure and the brief summary I want to provide for it. Whilst not giving away the campaign, adventure or mystery I will attempt to write up each adventure this year starting with my 2023 campaign adventure 1.

2023 Campaign Adventure 1

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Plot:

As the party, Mordakai and Tater, begin to form they are all survivors of a new horror that is spreading across the land of Faerun. To herald this new era of darkness that has spread across the land strange, feral creatures have been stalking the plains, roads and forests. The roads are no longer safe to travel and so the cities have banded together to create the great Caravans. Several companies have banded together to form caravans of wagons that are guarded by mercenaries as a, some what lucrative, way to travel safely.

Several major Towns and cities have had strange heralds appear in dark purple robes who proclaim to be searching for people who have seen odd creatures around, willing to pay people gold pieces for their stories and tales of such creatures if found to be convincing. Furthermore those who provide a truly convincing recount or have fought these creatures and survived may gain employment from the party they represent.

Those who are interested in sharing their tails can come to Wyrrondeep, a small but bustling city. Our party find themselves as hired mercenaries guarding one of the caravans on their way to Wyrrondeep, each having fought one of these creatures and survived.

Sam’s Wagon- created in Nightbreeder

Trouble Brewing –

However, as they reached the next rest spot after travelling together for a day or so they encountered the lone Guard of another wagon, distressed and obviously hiding something. In charge of guarding a wagon with four paying guests he was attacked during the night by wolves, beasties that set fire to the wagon and dragged his companion into the forest.

Upon investigating the wagon they found the patrons who Westley had claimed was safe were in fact dead, murdered and robbed whilst their wagon has been broken into and one of the bodies taken. After some probing and clever questioning it was apparent that the guard was the cause of this and as night set they discovered more. While they waited at a fork in the road for another wagon to join the caravan train they set up camp. Food was plentiful and after some strong, bad, wine was procured and shared it was revealed that Westley’s father owed a large sum of money to the very people he had apparently murdered.

Camp by the woods – created in nightcafe

Revelation

But as they lay in wait for Westley to emerge from his drunken stupor they were attacked by Twig blights and a wolf. Each of them felled easily but not all was well. The wolf as unnaturally vicious. It was covered in wounds that would not heal and one of its eyes had its pupil split into two. As the wolf fell to the ground, succumbing to its wounds, Westley appeared and attacked Kai viciously. Tater rushed to defend his comrade and after delivering a blow that would cause any lesser man to fall he was nearly fatally wounded himself. After another deft blow from Taters great axe Westley fell only to have strange, tentacle like work creatures flee his body and burrow into the ground.

Main NPC:

Sam Gustave – created in artbreeder

Not being a warrior or scholar Sam finds himself a single parent to Will. Sam is the owner of the first Wagon that creates this particular Caravan and as such as is deemed to be the Caravan Master. In fact he and his guard, the Head Guard, run the caravan and ensure its safe arrival at its destination. Sam also owns his Wagon, a mobile Tavern that provides food and drink to the passengers. But despite his kind nature he is a business man and is not easily fooled or swindled.

Creatures for combat:

Having the twig blights initiate combat by moving into range removed some of the lethality of having only two party members. However, Westley and potentially the wolf, who died very quickly, posed a much larger threat.

Created in tetra-cube

Thanks for joining me tonight and to look at the adventure that initiated the campaign. I have a lot more in store for the party as we travel through Faerun and investigate what is happening across the land. So, do join me as we continue this adventure fortnightly!

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