The Dread Brigade

The Dread Brigade

The origins of the organization known as 'The Dread Brigade' are unknown, but what is known is that over the centuries many separate, unaffiliated, criminal organizations have taken up the moniker.

Historically, groups who have taken up the mantle are led by a singularly powerful individual who commands those in their orbit with an iron fist, or, in most cases, terrifyingly powerful magicks.

Some former members, when an iteration of The Dread Brigade is put down, have claimed to have been 'dominated' magically by the previous leader, but no investigation has ever confirmed those claims. Membership in any form in The Dread Brigade, or any affiliated group, carries a death sentence in many nations.

The most recent incarnation of the brigade was led by a female elf wizard whose name was never discovered. Members of the brigade generally wear some sort of ‘self-destruct’ device. Most recently, a necklace, when the wearer expired the necklace would activate, exploding. Preventing all attempts to communicate with the corpse, and generally destroy any identifiable evidence while occasionally also killing their killer.

Led by this powerful female mage, The Dread Brigade built their sphere of influence again in the shadows. Biding their time and making sure the alarm of their existence wasn’t rung too early, they became a silent force to be reckoned with.

They made their presence known as they started to move more brazenly, assaulting locations known for keeping powerful artifacts sequestered from society.

Their presence grew. And grew. Their power was not to be questioned. Then, all actions of the ‘guild’ ceased, vanishing from the public eye completely. Investigations began to quickly attempt to prepare for their inevitable move.

Months later: Their base was raided. All that was found was dozens of dead bodies. Each body’s head had exploded from the inside out. Hallways were filled with the rotting splatter of brains throughout the underground base.

Near the front, one of the explosions of flesh left a vague outline of a humanoid shape, roughly halfling-size.

Further back, behind unlocked metal doors, and behind a vault door sat: an open, empty chest. An opened and dented tin can.

The elven mage who led them remains at large.