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- I Cast...Brainstorm issue 14!
I Cast...Brainstorm issue 14!
A weekly newsletter of ideas and advice for D&D Dungeon Masters, players, and fans
Dave Palmer
July 11th, 2025
In partnership with
This week — Delving Deeper into The Hamlet of Turysryme, and A Weapon of Destiny
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In this issue...
The Hamlet of Turysryme, continued
Delving deeper into the hamlet Turysryme from issue 13. You can set the following NPCs and events there, or the another location in your game world.
NPCs
Salomé Oztrant
Elderly Neutral druid — dry humor, nurturing, expects her advice to be followed
Salomé runs a small apothecary shop, Petals and Powders, out of her residence along the river. She’s lived in Turysryme for as long as anyone can remember, and acts as the hamlet’s doctor and midwife. She also has a permanent seat on the town council, due to her history with the town, and her even-handed, down-to-earth wisdom. Salomé loves Turysryme and its residents, and has recently begun searching for an apprentice she can train before her inevitable end comes, and not just to take care of the hamlet’s midwifery needs — while out eradicating an infestation of twilight blooms in the village green, recently, she heard a sound from the Ryme. She followed the ghostly voices and heard them whispering dark things. She could not find the source of the whispers, but she suspects that some evil has taken root in the old ruin.
Jesper Freem
Young adult LN scout — highly intelligent, secretive, fidgety
Jesper is a son of one of the farming families in Turysryme, but lacks the interest or patience for farming. Instead, he spends his days as a hunter and scout, ranging for miles around the hamlet, exploring and tracking wild game. Recently, Jesper made an incredible discovery while hunting in a thick forest a half day’s march north — a living statue (warforged warrior) laying in a clearing, hideously injured. The obviously intelligent creature of metal and stone had no memory of it’s name or how it got to the forest. It could only remember that someone or something was chasing it. Jesper staunched the creature’s worst wounds, (which were leaking some sort of black, viscous liquid), helped it limp back to Turysryme after nightfall, and hid it in the loft of the family barn while it recuperates.
y’Va Pleck
Adult LG knight — serious, contemplative, focused
Unbeknownst to her friends and neighbors in Turysrume, y’Va Pleck is an infamous figure in her homeland — a king’s knight who, a decade ago, dropped her sword in the middle of a tournament, denounced her service to her liege, and rode off, never to be seen again. For the past four years she’s lived a simple life as a fisher in Turysryme, and now has her own boat and small crew who tend nets about a mile upriver, where the river is wider and slower. Pleck would like nothing better than to run her business and be left alone, but she knows one day her past will catch up to her.
Events and Situations
Middle Harvest Festival
Every year, when the moon is full during the autumnal equinox, a group of devout followers of a local god of the harvest organize and host the Middle Harvest Festival — a celebration of food, family and tradition that begins at noon before the full moon, and ends at noon the following day. This year, as the sun sets, the festival gets off to an startling and unprecedented start when the leader of the organizers announces she has just communed with the harvest god, and proclaims the god now demands a human sacrifice at midnight to ensure a good harvest this year.
The Blade in the Dark
When the people of the sleepy hamlet hear a scream coming from the Hightower Inn, a crowd rushes over to see what happened. At the inn, they hear that one of the guests was found slain in his room by one of the Hightower boys — a horrible, bloody scene that frightened the innkeeper’s son terribly. Some of the folks milling about declare the murder as “visitor’s business”, and assume the victim had enemies who followed him to the inn, but Keska Hightower is not so sure. He says he had a discussion with the man the night before, and he had asked Keska if he’d ever heard of Jaan Cyrent Drex, the assassin who went by the name “The Blade in the Dark”. Keska said he indeed had, and the man warned him to stay vigilant — he was a bounty hunter who had tracked the Blade right to Turysryme.
Smoke on the Horizon
As the sun rises, an alarm is sounded throughout the hamlet. Sleepy townsfolk gather in the village green, and can immediately see what triggered the alarm — a long line of smoke on the horizon. Concerned townsfolk wonder if its a brush fire, but when scouts ride out to investigate, they return with dire news. Camped a few miles away is an army of a thousand bugbears. Cooler heads want to set up some defenses, and wait to see if the army moves toward them or in a different direction — but panic sets in as some folks start to pack up, meaning to flee before the army becomes aware if the hamlet…and every soul that leaves takes another potential defender.
A Weapon of Destiny
Plot devices are magic items, spells, NPCs, events and other thing in your game world that have the potential to have a significant impact on the story you’re telling with your players, and a Weapon of Destiny is a plot device in weapon form, like the weapon below.
If you use the Thing in the Ruin hook for Turysryme from issue 13, you can make the monster as dangerous and powerful as you’d like, and add the God’s Eye to your world to counter the creature. The PCs could encounter the Thing, and realize its strength far surpasses their own. Then, when all seems lost, you can have the PCs hear a story about a weapon, long thought lost, known to be protected in some dangerous place, that may hold the only magic powerful enough to destroy the Thing.
Below is a description and some ideas for the weapon. If you wish to give it to one of your players, it will need stats, and in D&D 5e, could be built as a legendary artifact.
The God’s Eye
The God’s Eye appears like a heavy mace, crafted from unusual, shiny stone. The head is spherical and barbed, and sculpted tendrils extend from the head of the weapon and wrap around the top part of the handle. The weapon acts like a magical +1 mace, unless the user attunes to the weapon or some story event triggers the weapon to change into it’s true form, at which point the head transforms into a huge eyeball which retains its metallic hardness, but rotates as if looking around. If anything dangerous to the wielder is within 120’ and in the weapon’s line of sight, the eye looks straight at it.
The weapon is crafted from the actual eye of a god, which was plucked from its skull while battling another deity in ages past. As DM, you decide if the eye belonged to a deity aligned to good, neutral or evil, and if the gods involved int he war still exist and/or still have followers. The deities could be from the pantheon in your game, or you could make up new (long lost) gods for both the maimed god and its attacker.
Whatever the case, once the weapon transforms into its true form, it becomes a +3 weapon, and the wielder gains additional benefits that are appropriate to the power level and story in your game. The God’s Eye could bestow vision-based boons like bonuses to Perception, adding or extending Darkvision, giving the wielder the ability to cast Truesight once per day, and other improvements. It can also improve the wielder’s Strength, or give additional attacks, as the spirit of the maimed god infuses the wielder with a fraction of its power.
Create a story about how the eye became a weapon, and how it got into the hands of the character. Perhaps the maimed god, with its last vestige of power, infused the weapon with its remaining strength, and set upon it the quest to find a champion to wield it. The followers of the mutilator god could still be wreaking havoc across your world, and seem unstoppable, until they face the power of the God’s Eye. If the weapon is truly and artifact, a detrimental property could be that the weapon consumes the wielder with the desire to wreak vengeance on behalf of the maimed god — compelled to hunt and destroy the followers of the mutilator god, and perhaps, hunt down the god itself.
If your players face the mutilator god for a final showdown, the God’s Eye could do extra damage to the god, or bypass its immunities and resistances, or possibly stun the deity when it connects. The effects should be significant, and just enough to tip the battle to give the heroes a chance at victory.
In terms of Turysryme, you can make the Thing in the Ruin the being that plucked the god’s eye from its skull. The Thing is actually the weakened remains of the mutilator god, hiding for centuries from the only thing that could unmake it — a weapon made from the eye of its enemy!
Brainstorming Links
If you love D&D and other RPGs as much as I do, you probably already know about the folks below, who are real inspirations to me. If you haven’t already, please check ‘em out!
The Arcane Library — masterpiece adventures, and Shadowdark, too!
https://www.thearcanelibrary.com
The Angry DM — so angry….so many great ideas….
https://theangrygm.com/
DMDave — on point analysis of D&D rules, and a ton of fun ideas
https://bsky.app/profile/dmdave.bsky.social
RPGBot — whip smart critique and explanations of 5e rules
https://rpgbot.net/
Sly Flourish — a DM’s best friend who is also a better DM
https://www.slyflourish.com/
Treantmonk — years of helpful advice and clever ideas
https://www.youtube.com/@TreantmonksTemple
If you like I Cast…Brainstorm!, you might also like TTRPG Insider — a terrific newsletter with the latest in news about the RPG industry.
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What I’m DM-ing
A weekly Curse of Strahd campaign via Roll20 using 2014 5th edition rules
A weekly Rime of the Frostmaiden campaign, in-person, with 2024 5th edition rules
A series of one-shots in a bi-weekly game at a bar in LA. If you’re interested in joining in, invites are sent via Partiful. Or you can sign up at Ye Rustic Inn — 1831 Hillhurst Ave, Los Angeles, California.
Two different campaigns with my kids, (Rime and Storm Kings Thunder) when schedules align
What I’m Playing
A 5th ed. Dragonlance campaign as a 9th level Tinker Gnome Gadgeteer Rogue, named Professor Flondersnoot
About to start playing Vecna: Eve of Ruin as Clybb Thistlebridge, a 9th level Halfling great-weapon Fighter
And in all my free time, I play a LOT of Hearthstone! I’m currently stuck at mid-gold in Standard, but if you want to play, find me at BigKahuna (#1802)
Gifts for Gamers
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www.totalpartykits.etsy.com
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