Happy Halloween!

I hope your Halloween is full of fun spooks, yummy treats, and a dash of unnerving horror!

Undead of October part 5

To round out the skeletons that I finished last post, I painted the belts and boots of the skeletons Earth Brown, and decided that they were done.

I do want to point out that the greatsword skeleton’s left arm was glued onto his ribcage, rather than into the shoulder socket were it was supposed to be. I noticed this the other night and fixed it, but forgot to say anything about it.

Since these 9 are done, time to move onto… Well, I guess the elf, dwarf, and halfling are closest to done? Certainly it'll be some of these skeletons.



Sadly these guys are still mostly being ignored.





First up are the elf, dwarf, and halfling. I used Earth Brown, Succubus Kiss, Fresh Blood, Goblin Skin, and Nightmare Black, as well as some Yellowed Bone. It was washed with sepia wash. The blades and armor were Scorched Metal, Aged Pewter, and Blade Steel. I think they're really close to done.



DEATH's robes got another coat of Nightmare Black. The Sepia wash made it extra glossy. It's hard to see, but I used Succubus Kiss on the cloth wrapping on the scythe. Gonna see what I can do to highlight the robes while still making them look black.



Really liking Succubus Kiss, with Fresh Blood to bring it up. When Bones 4 arrives, I'm thinking the wraiths are going to get the same basic color scheme. Looks a little more interesting than just ringwraith black.



Styx got a Goblin Skin colored shirt, and Pine Green hat, while Heckelmyer's motley was again Nightmare Black and Succubus Kiss with Fresh Blood. I'm debating adding some checkered pattern to the clothing... where it isn't ruined anyway!

Okay, I was feeling a little bad that I'd been ignoring the mummies, so with a watered down Earth Brown, I washed the wrapped mummies to make them look dirtier.



I also continued my love affair with Succubus Kiss.





Never got around to working on the Minotaur or the dragonborn skeletons. Next time probably, though I'm rapidly running out of October...

5e: Thorin's Hangover, Fulhoff's Headache

From: Sir Fulhoff of Clan Balderk, Knight of Hawk’s Nest, Battle Mage
To: Helja and Adrik of Clan Balderk

Mother and Father:

Once aboard the skyship and moving away from the Eye at best speed, we had to settle on where to go next. Hilde wanted to swing by the Wyrm tribe and make sure they knew what had happened. Since it was close by, we sailed by, spotting their fortress easily. Not wanting to give them the impression they were under attack, we came in slowly, and Hilde went to speak with them along with Aramil and apparently the tribe was thrilled. Turned out that both the chief and the shaman were intensely disliked. There was a party, which most of us remained on the ship for. Once done, we were on our way back to Mirabar.

Again, wanting to avoid upsetting anyone, I flew down to check in with the city guard. Once they saw who was arriving in a sky ship, they were surprised, but not shocked. We were directed to land in a specific park, at which point we were all but mobbed. Apparently we’ve managed to become minor celebrities.

This is sadly where our tale goes off the rails. Our dear Thorin decided that while we were in town among all of the adoring fans, that he should gracefully accept every drink, offer, and attention that was sent his way. In addition to dropping a small fortune buying other people drinks, clothing, and gods know what else, he managed to lose his sword, his armor, and even his clothing. He was also involved in some sort of fertility ritual. He turned up wrapped in a fresh lambskin stinking of blood, sex, and drink with little memory of what happened.

I have to give credit to our celebrity for one thing - it made the finding and retrieval of Thorin’s arms and armor easier. People seemed disinclined to immediately try to sell them off to the highest bidder. Still cost many a pretty platinum piece to get it all back. It might have been mean of me, but I made him come collect all his things wearing only the lambskin… I’m not sure that was as effective as it might have been. He seems to have no shame. I'm going to refrain from sharing some of the details.

Trust me, you don't want to know.

We collectively decided that we needed to get back to it, and so we took off shortly there after, heading south toward the hill giant village. Or at least where we think it is. We’ll find out soon.

---

Outstanding Rumors/Plot Points:
Fire Giants attacked Tribor and took a rod from the center of town.
Gua - Hill Giant Matriarch - Grug-Hug Village location generally described
Eraglass the Sage - Missing?

Loose Threads:
Iymrith the Ancient
Jeff the guard, abandoned in Everland
Yartar - Lady Italia, Bat-weirdos (Kella & Zopin), Paw-Ming, Lord Dryland
Old Gnawbone - wishes she could transform into an elf

Completed Quests:
Eye of the Allfather in the Valley of Kadroon
Find Harshnag
Highdale/Westfelds necromatic curse - Mountaintop Crypt
The Silver Hook adventuring party
Mt. Black
HawksNest Payroll
Zymorvan Giantslayer
Aboleth of Yartar
Defended Goldenfields
Well of Victory
Orcs of the Ardeep Forest
Nightstone (again)
Tomb of Darshin Hammerheart
Grey Hand
Zathros Zethros, Cloud Giant
Nightstone

Sunday Inspirational Image: Fat Witch

Fat Witch
by JonasJensenArt

Undead of October part 4

Sitting down to paint, I thought about what needs doing, and I decided that I really just want to finish the skeletons off. I thought about focusing on one of the character minis, but the tray is too crowded. And one thing I know about me is that I can’t focus if my workspace is cluttered. So, onto the skeletons!





The easy ones are the ones that are pretty much just skeletons. Since I base coated the minis with Dirty Bone, and then washed with sepia wash, it was time to do a highlight. Using Yellowed Bone, I went over them, focusing a lot of attention (relatively) on the skulls. I then moved onto the armored skeletons and did their bones too.

Then I tackled their armor and weapons. I used Blade Steel, but fairly sparingly. I wanted everything to look old and worn and a bit rusty. I then painted the shields Nightmare Black, and used Blade Steel to paint on a stylized version of the Dust King’s crown. It’ll need a little cleaning up.



For the cloth bits I used Reaper’s new Succubus Kiss, a kind of purplish crimson. And since I can’t actually focus like I’d like to, I used the Nightmare Black and Succubus Kiss on various bits of the character minis. Then I pulled out a couple of other new colors to paint the dwarf and halfling skeletons, namely Goblin Skin and Kobold Scale. There’s a lot going on in the space between the dwarf’s beard and arms, but I was getting tired so didn’t deal with it.



I also glued the Bone Fiend to a new base, and then started flocking the skeletons.Im using the same mix of Woodland Scenics Earth Blend turf along with a bit of other stuff mixed in that I used for the tombstones.

Aside from a bit of detail work (which has since been completed, these guys are done!

Total number of minis painted: 58!

5e: Eye of the Alfather and a Big Blue Dragon (take 2)

Okay, here's Joda the Monk's write up!

****

What's your favorite color dragon? Dead.


An excerpt from the tales of Joda the Monk.

Know O traveller that after the Rhemorazs were killed, Joda and her companions did valiantly try to open the arcane gate of Giants. They succeeded after some mishaps that resulted in deafness and pain. But, once across the threshold, they entered a brobdingnagian chamber. Many giant statues, each holding a lit lamp, surrounded an arcane circle, and within it, lay the body of a giant.

Reader, know that Joda, in her service to the goddess Tymora, entered the circle. The giant's ghost awakened. A friendly sort of shade, he talked about how this was the chamber of the oracle, and how his father betrayed him to the Blue Dragon, and how they were in search for a mythical weapon.

Joda wept at the evil sacrifice that a father would perform on his son! The ghost wanted Vengeance, as would we all if betrayed by our fathers! And Joda swore that all in her power would be done to bring justice to the ghost!

Fear not reader, for her companions did not forget about the oracle, and spoke with her. From her, they determined that the Blue Dragon held the key, where the King of Giants could be found, and more. As each question was answered, another lamp extinguished. Time was running out and the gate was closing. It was time to leave.

Upon the companion's return to the mortal world, (remember reader, that they were in a Giant's fortress high in the Sword Mountains), the earth started to shake and tremble. Something large was entering the fortress. A Blue Dragon. an elder, massive and dangerous, entered. It seemed that Joda, and her companions' adventures would end soon. But, Lady Tymora rewards those who risk all, and so it was that Harshnag stepped forward and battled the Blue Dragon, yelling at all to run. And so they did and escape the fortress, alive, and mostly hale.

And in the sky there came a floating ship flying the flag of a Red Dragon! The crew approached the companions and offered them the use of the ship. "We are at your service" they crowed "at the behest of our lord the Red Dragon!".

Red Dragons are evil, of course, but Joda knew, that sometimes, the best way to battle evil was with evil. And so, the companions boarded the air ship and ....

Thus ends the fragment found from the codex titled The Tales of Joda the Monk.

5e: Eye of the Alfather and a Big Blue Dragon!!

I had to miss the session of game, so this is the write up by our bard.

***

We picked up where we left off after fighting the Rhemoraz (and discovered a mysterious guest Warlock friend for the week). The party returned to the main room where they attempted to finally solve the puzzle of the magic archway. After some experimentation, it appeared we needed to touch the associated giant weapons to their runes in the right order. Using what we had already deduced, we managed to clear the first four or so runes without issue, but as we closed in on the final runes, we accidentally guessed the wrong order, triggering a nasty trap. The doors to the chamber sealed and a mighty thunderstorm deafened the party. Despite the fact that no one could hear each other speak, with the use of some creative utility magic and good old fashioned hand gestures, we managed to guide Harshnag to the correct solution before the acid rain and lightning strikes decimated the party.

With the puzzle solved, the trap faded away and the archway turned into a magical portal. Our more magically inclined members deduced that the portal would only stay open for an hour, so without any rest, we ventured forth... to discover a large vaulted chamber. Along the walls at equidistant spaces were six statues representing each of the various giant races holding a glowing lantern aloft. In the center of the room was a runic circle, and at the center of the circle was the corpse of a cloud giant on top of the 'King' rune. The runic circle contained mundane giant language inviting us to ask questions, and seeing no obvious traps, Joda approached the center of the circle, whereupon the spirit of the spirit of the slain cloud giant materialized before us.

Fortunately, the spirit was the friendly sort, and after some conversation, we discovered that the poor soul was betrayed by his own father and a Blue Dragon. The giant's time of death appeared to be from relatively recently, but before the troubles surrounding the giants started (the slain cloud giant said the currently missing giant king was the ruler when he was slain). His father had come to this room to ask the oracle questions, and the oracle revealed that there would be trouble among the giants, but that the father was not destined to claim the throne, but suggested that the son should 'step out of his father's shadow'. Enraged, the father turned on his son and then a blue dragon appeared and slew the son. The spirit of the son desired vengeance, and entrusted us with his valuables (a magic breastplate that adjusts in size to the wearer and an opal inscribed with the fire giant rune) as well as offering advice about how the oracle worked (we got six questions).

Then we asked the oracle some questions (some others have detailed notes of this):

--The blue dragon is named Irmith and has a lair in the desert.
--We should seek out the Storm King's daughter at Maelstrom.
--To get to the Maelstrom we need a Giant King's Conch, which are possessed by the leaders of each giant race.

The spirit suggested that if we had an artifact with a giant rune, we could use it to determine the location of one of the leaders. Although Bran suggested we already knew where the Hill Giant leader was, the party decided to try one of the items to see what happens. We offered up the newly discovered fire opal and discovered the location of the Fire Giant Duke, but it seems to have drained a portion of the artifact's power, so we decided not to offer any more just yet.

As the archway was starting to become unstable and we had used our six questions, the party decided to leave (since we could come back the next day for more questions), but as we left the oracle room, we were greeted by a massive blue dragon. Harshnag ordered the party to flee, as he smashed the statue of Aman, causing the entire mountain to begin to collapse on our heads. Hilde bravely tried to save the giant by throwing herself into battle but was forced back by the collapsing caverns, and the party ended up escaping just as the mountains caved in upon us.

Making our way down towards our base camp, we were greeted by a curious sight--a ship flying in the air suspended by a giant balloon. The ship's human crew greeted us and welcomed us on board. It turns out they were sent to help us by an ancient red dragon named Clout, who wants to meet us (although he said he was in no hurry and we could finish any business we had first). After retrieving our companions and hippogryphs from our base camp, we had a party with our new friends (and then ended the session).

Sunday Inspirational Image: Vampire

Vampire
by VarLa-art

Undead of October part 3

I still need to put the Bone Fiend onto a new base, but I got all the metal base coated. It was a simple process, basically just Scorched Metal on everything, followed by an Armor Wash, then dry brushed with aged pewter.



It’s an effective look, and with a bit of highlighting should be great for my needs. I’m debating what to do with the shields. Flaking paint? THankfully there are only a couple I need to worry about.

I did basically the same thing for the mummies, skipping the pewter. I then went to the internet and spent a while looking up how people had painted them, because I was really at a loss. The Egyptian aesthetic isn’t one that’s managed to lodge into my head.

I’m not sure how much that helped. We’ll see the next time I sit down. Also still need to rebase the Bone Fiend.

Stonehell: Traps and Ogrevation

Session 80 was played on 10/6

Eiric, wizard 7 (Kat)
- men at arms (Mulligan, Borik, Verman)
- linkman (Dungforth)
- Ghost (dog)
Brie, wizard 4 (Apprentice to Eiric)
A-A-Ron, Thief 6 (Henchman)
Daryll, Cleric 6 (Henchman)
Orpheus, Human Fighter 6 (Henchman)
Karl, Dwarf 7 (Julia)
- Hobart (dog)
- men at arms (Maax, Dar)
- linkman (Gilcox)
Lex the Cheeseman, Fighter 4 (Henchman)
Koltic, Cleric 3 (Chris)
- Grishnaz, Goblin
- Elwyn, Lady at Arms
- Caldwell the gravedigger/linkman
Kili, Dwarf Cleric 3 (Matt)

The mostly boring hanging out in the elevator machinery rooms was loudly interrupted by the ringing of a loud bell from deep inside the machinery. At first the reaction was simply shock, and then annoyance as it kept ringing. After listening to the bell, and beginning to worry about what attention it might get, Eiric had Karl reinstall the missing gear, and almost instantly the bell ceased, and the machinery started to rumble. The elevator room dropped out of sight, and about 10 minutes later stopped briefly, and then the machinery rumbled back to life.

Eiric was standing ready to blast the room with a fireball the instant an enemy was in sight, with everyone else in the doorways, ready to rush in after the spellfire. Luckily it was Orpheus and Koltic who emerged. They spread out the various supplies, and introduced the new hirelings to the rest of the party.

After another day waiting for the time to meet with the vampire lord of Stonehell, the party was restless, and decided to explore the area around the meeting cave, especially since they’d never been there before. While they had a map, no one currently in the party had explored this section.

In the cave of quartz, they collected several stones to bring to Rocky. Deeper on they encountered a half dozen ogres in a cave. They didn’t immediately attack, and neither did the party. The ogers motioned that they were wanting to go in the direction of the party, and the party wanted to pass the ogres. The ogres shifted to the northern side of the room, while the party moved to the south.

It was a trap!

The ceiling rumbled and collapsed down onto the party!! Ghost, Vermin, Elwyn, Caldwell, Max, and Golcox are all instantly buried under a ton of rock, while Lex, Koltic, and Grishnaz are injured by the rockfall. Then the ogres charged! The battle was bloody, mostly for the ogres. Even Eiric got into it, swinging her snake staff, and getting it to wrap (only somewhat effectively) around the neck of an ogre. The assorted coins and goods didn’t seem worth the death toll.

Collecting the bodies they could, the party returned to the meeting room to rest.

Gains: 600gp
Kills: 6 ogres, 1 mummy warden
Losses: Ghost, Vermin, Elwyn, Caldwell, Max, and Golcox

Sunday Inspirational Image: Spider Demon

by Joe-Roberts

Undead in October part 2

The wonderful thing about skeletal undead (and mummies) is that they look so good even with just a drybrush of Dirty Bone!



I used... I don't remember which brown on the weapon shafts.



The demi-lich got Nightmare Black and Pine Green on the smoke. I lightened the green with Linen White. Debating whether to paint the bones up, or hide them...



I also used the green on the archer's cloaks, and the black on the robes of Death and the Lich-Lord (way in the back).

More to come!!

5e: In the Eye of the Alfather

From: Sir Fulhoff of Clan Balderk, Knight of Hawk’s Nest, Battle Mage
To: Helja and Adrik of Clan Balderk

Mother and Father:

The Great Digger has been more obvious in her signals. Perhaps it is that we are in a holy place? Or it could be that she wants to make sure we stay focused on our mission. Whatever the reason, she quite literally lead the way…

Leaving the magical gate, we decided to explore the rest of the temple complex. One wing turned out to be cells for those giants who were just visiting the temple for a spell, or possibly monks who used to take care of the complex. There were two notable features of the hall, the first being a large crack in the wall of one of the cells, the other being the rounded shape of the floor, like a gutter. The magical statue at the end of the slightly sloped hall was another clue.

Before heading into the crevice ourselves, Bran used his bag of tricks to summon a creature to send into the hole. And this, dear family, is where the Great Digger made herself very clear, as the summoned creature was a giant badger! With Bran’s crow perched on it’s back, they went in. Bran reported that there were 2 main chambers, one was creepy, and the badger didn’t want to go there, the other was full of icy webs, and had several cocooned things. Thorin and Bran were pretty sure it was mountain goats, but Joda and I felt that this was important.



Heading in, we had to move slowly because of the icy uneven ground, and we soon found ourselves fighting ice spiders in the cramped confines of the tunnel. Their web attack was chilling, but we snapped out of it, and squashed the spiders. Following the tunnels to where Bran saw the cocoons, we hacked our way through the webbing and found an old corpse of a dwarven prospector, a mountain goat, and a seer of the Wyrmblood tribe. The seer was the only one of the three still alive. She told of a vision that brought her to the Eye: a blue dragon, a wyrmskull throne, and a scepter…

I said final rights for the prospector, and then piled rocks over his corpse to send him to his rest.

Deeper into the tunnels we came to the creepy chamber, and spied a mound of eggs topped by a bloated spider. She was so focused on turning her eggs, she didn’t notice us until we were on her, and because of our surprise and the intensity of our attack, she was blasted off the pile of eggs, her body crushed! But the eggs… They ALL hatched! There was much flailing and stomping, but the swarm of baby spiders were… well if not all killed, enough so that it will be years before they’re a real threat again.

Among the debris and crushed bits of spiders we came across a fancy hammer, which I haven’t had the chance to spend any time with, but I suspect it’s magical.

Back in the hall, we continued to explore the different cells, and triggered a giant boulder trap! Seeing the massive rock coming toward us, I told everyone to run for Harshnag, and as I reached him I completed the enchantment of flight on him. We were clinging on for dear life, while he hovered up and over the boulder! And then the magic statue at the end of the hall pushed the boulder back, resetting the trap, and opening the doors to the cells which had magically sealed.

In the upper section of cells, the back half had collapsed, but we discovered a satchel containing a magical ice shard!

Going back to the main room, we opened the far doors, and in a chamber that the word massive is inadequate to describe, a trio of remorhaz were basking by a (magical) fire pit. The door opening was enough to get their attention, and they charged toward us. Joda got her flame on, while Thorin hacked away at them. Aramel turned one into a goat, but that didn’t do anything to change it’s mood. I called on my lightning magics, and aside from the splatter of their fiery blood (which really did burn) we slaughtered the oversized vermin.

Tombstones

In addition to the walls and crypt I painted, I also painted up the gravestones from the Bones 3 Graveyard set. These were fairly simply done, starting with Grey Liner, mixing in some Stone Grey and a drop of Jade Green to give them a bit of color, and Linen White to lighten it even more.



Because they’re so wobbly I decided to base them so that they wouldn’t immediately tip over. I was thinking of basing them in sets, or a mix of individually and in sets, but ultimately decided that they looked better individually based. Basing was simple, just a bit of flock stuck on with wood glue. The flock itself is a mix of Woodland Scenics Earth Blend turf plus a little used dried coffee grounds. Usually I use the coffee grounds for rocky texture, but some got mixed in and I didn’t want to bother dumping the batch.





The two tombs were painted the same way, but given Bronze accents.

While they’re really simple, they’re tracked on my spreadsheet, and so count toward my total.

Total number of minis painted: 49

Sunday Inspirational Image: Cold of the Dead

Deadly embrace of a cold, gloomy grave
by NataliaDrepina

Stonehell: Getting Lost

Session 79 was played on 9/23

Koltic, Cleric 3 (Chris)
Orpheus, Human Fighter 6 (Henchman)

Koltic awoke bleary eyed an unfamiliar doorway. Darryl’s boot was unforgivingly harsh, and his voice piercingly loud. “The goddess’s blessing is also a curse you bloody fool! WAKE UP!”

A short time later, over a bowl of porridge and a pint of small beer. Darryl filled Koltic in on what had happened. “And to make matters worse, that damned stick-in-the-mud seven-pointed-dwarf cleric Kili is back from his retreat… and Eiric seems to trust him more than she trusts me. Me! Who was there when the heartless repeatedly threatened? Was it Kili? Nooo… It was me. ME!” Darryl slammed his mug down on the table. Here’s what you’re going to do. I can’t stand the runty holier-than-thou number-worshiper, but I want you to keep an I on him. Go back into the dungeon with Orpheus. He’s shopping right now for more supplies. They’re planning on spending the week in there, gods preserve them… Find him, and get down there! Prove that a number is no real god!”

Koltic took this overly-loud lecture to heart, and decided that he needed to do some shopping himself. He stopped by the orphanage, taking inventory of his goods, and collected the goblin Grishnaz, who had been taking in by the orphans as a playmate, much to the nuns’ distaste.

“Be sure to tell the Lady Eiric that we’re looking forward to seeing her take up residence in her new estate… With her entire entourage.” The mother superior’s smile was… disconcerting.

The first thing Koltic needed was a few meatshields. The tracker Elwyn signed on as a woman at arms, and Caldwell the gravedigger signed on as a torchbearer. A few extra bits of armor and equipment are purchased. Finding Orpheus (who is quick to offload some of the supplies to the hired hands), they head to the dungeon. On the way, they discuss their lives, and Orpheus tells Koltic about the job offer, and how he’s thinking about retiring after the business with KaNefar is finished. Koltic shares his life's motto “All major decisions require a night of heavy drinking before being decided. And one after.”

Awaiting them at the bottom of the stairs was Esmalia. “Eiric sent me to tell you they had to move from the elevator, and that you can meet them down in the robing room before the maze down on the third level.” She doesn’t know why they moved, and doesn’t seem to care.

Grishnaz wants to go visit his clan, but Orpheus wants to get back to Eiric. He gives in since the caves are just right there. The goblins excitedly swarm the party, expressing how impressed they are with Grishnaz’ new armor. Pressing them deep into the caves to the watery chamber of Zunbar, the old troll grabs Koltic and draws him near. “We will all perish under the Black Sun if you don’t fix this.” The monster’s black eyes look deep into Koltic’s eyes holding the look for an uncomfortable time before releasing him. Orpheus sighs deeply, relaxing his grip on the hilt of his sword. The goblins wave them out of the caves and send the party on their way.

Down and around they go passing by the well known landmarks, down into the Asylum. Avoiding the corner of left shoes, Orpheus forgets the spear trap, and again breaks it after triggering it. His cry of pain startled… a group of something, which ran away before the party could catch sight of it.

Taking the stairs down to the Dorm, Orpheus looks around at the hallway… and can’t remember how to get to the maze from here. Picking a direction they come to the Oliphant room, and Orpheus warns Koltic about it. Taking hallways at random, Koltic manages to trigger a dart trap which hits both him and Grishnaz. Then pass through an unnaturally cold spot that sends shivers down everyone’s back. Orpheus remembers that, but still can’t figure out how to get to the robing room.

Passing by the boulder that blocks the wererat den, they continue on reaching a section of hallway that gets warmer and more humid, smelling of earthy rot and flowers. Spying the weirdly lit hall, Orpheus is pretty sure this isn’t the way, so they backtrack, and take the next passage. It opens into a hexagonal room where half a dozen gnolls are bundling large leaves and other plants. They bark at the party, and 2 grab bows and open fire, hitting Orpheus in the shoulder (a crit!). 2 grab their axes and charge. Koltic and Grishnaz injure one, while Orpheus chops his in half, sending the torso tumbling toward her mates. The 2 that weren’t engaged charge in, and one cracks Orpheus’ armor with his blade (Another critical!) and then slams the flat of the ax into his helmet (THIRD critical hit!) Koltic calls for a retreat!

Running, they round the corner back toward the weirdly lit plant corridor. Koltic heals Orpheus’ wounds (a little), and they continue down the hall onto the spongy loam, coming quickly to an intersection choked with plant life. To one side was a pile of broken wood and some chain half covered in plantlife, and to the other stairs going down into the dark. Wanting to be away from the gnolls, they head down…

At the bottom of the stairs they hear several large things coming toward them. Giant beetles being ridden by kobolds! They’re snarky about “cowardly sniveling Sniv” and fairly insulting to the party. They push past, heading back up to level 3. Taking a peek at the cavern at the bottom of the stairs, they remember that they’re supposed to meet the party on level 3. They head back up. Back at the boulder, they take the side passage, pick a hall at random, and end up in another set of rooms that Orpheus doesn’t recognize. Backtracking again, they find themselves at an intersection near the elevator. The button to summon the elevator is lit! With a shrug, Koltic presses it. Rather than the rumble of the machinery, there’s a distant bell that rings.

Gains:
Kills: 2 Gnolls
Losses:

Graveyard part 2

Back in August I took an evening and did a little more work on my graveyard fences and the crypt. Due to the awful texturing I encountered with the spray paint, I decided that I wasn't going to worry about the interior of the crypt, and decided to focus my attention on the more important exterior.



I liked the plaques on the outside, and decided they should be the same bronze as the roof. I also added bronze accents to the gates and fences.









And this was how it all looked in the middle of August. Early in September I decided to finish it up, finally...



I assembled the crypt, cleaning up a few details that needed it.



I also added a bronze sword to the central panel.



And here it all is!

Total Minis for 2018: 64 (Fence Gate (x2), Fence Ruin A (x3), Fence Ruin B (x3), Short Fence (x5), Fence Post (x12), Long Fence (x6), Obsidian Crypt)

The Undead of October

The painting theme of the month has been chosen! The Undead of October will emerge from their (freshly painted) graves The miniatures have been selected… Here’s what's on the painting table:



9 Bones Skeletons (from Bones 2)
6 Undying (Death, minotaur, lizardman, elf, halfling, & dwarf skeletons from Bones 3)
Bone Fiend (Bones 2)
4 mummies (Bones 2)
Hecklemeyer & Styx (25th Anniversary mini)
Dust King & Tomb (Bones 3)
Demi-Lich (Bones 2)
3 Nefsokar mummies (Bones 1)

26 (or 28 if you count the broken tomb and the tiny puppet) minis, in 31 days? Less if you count the vacation in the middle of the month… Plus one day since I started on the last day of September. Granted, the skeletons should all go really quickly, but even still, it’ll be a push to get it done, but this would push me over 100 minis for 2018…



Since everything is already lined with brown liner, the plan is:
Dirty Bone on all the bone and mummy wrapping!
Scorched Metal all the armor and weapons
Heavy Sepia Wash pretty much everything
Highlights

Special Minis:
Demi-Lich - Thinking green/purple flames?
Hecklemeyer - Black & White costume? Black, White, & Red?
Nefsokar mummies - Lots of gold and bronze.
Dust King - Seriously tempted to paint it up like the ice lich from Warcraft…

As for their bases? That’s a little more work. The skeletons, bone fiend, and maybe the dust king will get bases to match the flocking on the tombstones. The demi-lich and hecklemeyer will probably get some sort of sculpted flagstone base. The mummies? Haven’t decided. Seriously tempted to give them dungeon flagstone bases too…

Okay, so it’s really unlikely I’ll finish all of these in October, but maybe by November?

5e: Mote in the Eye of Alfather

From: Sir Fulhoff of Clan Balderk, Knight of Hawk’s Nest, Battle Mage
To: Helja and Adrik of Clan Balderk

Mother and Father:

The path to the Eye of the Alfather continued up the mountain, its scale and the thin air making distances harder to determine. The cavern walls fell away step by step until only open air flanked the icy path. The light of the sun sparkled off the crystals of ice suspended in the breeze. Ahead, the flickering of firelight emanated from behind the pillars of the temple.

Hilde went forward after Bran told her they looked like barbarians. There were 2, and a small white dragon. When Hilde approached, the dragon went into the temple, and the barbarians called for her to halt. They yelled back and forth for a while, basically telling us to go away. Thorin and I got tired of waiting, so I pulled out a scroll, and started yelling about how long we’ve traveled trying to find this place, and that we weren’t just going to wander away. Pointing at the scroll, I walked forward, Thorin at my side, repeating that we’d come a long way, and weren’t leaving without seeing the oracle. Eventually they decided to check with their chief, Wyrmblood.

Getting the okay, we all slowly made our way forward, but it was a trap. Once Bran, Hilde, and Aramel were in the tunnel, 2 massive stone blocks dropped down, sealing them in with one barbarian, and locking Thorin, Harshnag, and I out with one barbarian. They had better luck with theirs, and talked him into being peaceful, while ours made a more fatal choice. He hit Thorin hard a couple of times, and then Thorin hit back harder.



Meanwhile Harshnag had managed to deadlift the first block a few feet off the ground, and Thorin and I scampered under. We saw one barbarian watching another attacking the dragon with Hilde, while Aramel was strumming away, and deeper in the passage a shaman was casting a spell. I got the barbarian with his back to me, the dragon, and the shaman in a line, and let loose a Lightning Bolt! Thorin charged the dragon, but Hilde chopped it down before he reached it. I then used the wand of Magic Missiles to finish off the shaman.

The chief, Wyrmblood looked very worried, more so as Aramel mocked the last standing barbarian to death. Who says words don’t hurt? Thorin charges Wyrmblood, but Hilde gets there first, cutting through his defenses like they weren’t there. I shot him with a ray of frost, and Aramel mocked him. All that combined meant that Thorin, again, didn’t even get the chance to land a blow.

Bran found the switches that controlled the trap, and eventually got the block up, allowing Harshnag in. Up a massive set of stairs, and through a rhine covered door, we entered into a chamber of cyclopean dimensions, with statues of the 7 gods of giants, the 6 representing the major types of giants kneeling around the central Alfather giant. The Alfather faced a magical portal, with 6 runes inscribed on it. Above the portal read:

“Children Mine, Enter In Order, If You Wish To Cross This Border, Start With Low And End With High, Start With Hills And End With Sky”

Harshnag assures us that it sounds better in the original Giant. Interesting that the translation happens to rhyme a little…

We recognized a few of the runes, but decided that we’d explore some of the side chambers before tackling the gate.

September in Review

This was a busy and eventful month! Good news is that I passed the courses I was taking, and can now move on to studying for the CPA again. On top of that I got to spend time with family, see an old friend, saw a great broadway show, and played some D&D.

Onto the update!

Gaming

Still no miniature gaming, but Stonehell and Storm King’s Thunder are both a lot of fun in their own ways. It’s interesting being a player, and getting to see my DM in action. It’s even better that she is working to improve her game, and we’ve had some really good discussions about DMing.

Stonehell got interesting, as the party ended up split, and one group is lost, hurt, and doesn’t know how to find the other group, while the main group doesn’t even know they’re missing yet! It’s glorious!!

I also ran D&D for my nieces and nephews again. They burned down a goblin fortress! Gonna have to add some more debate to the games I think.

Miniatures
Because of my classes, there wasn’t a lot of quality painting going on, but I did finish the crypt and fences, as well as managing to knock out a dozen tombstones & grave markers. They’re even based! (post on those later this week). I also speed painted a trio of giants. They aren’t done, but are table ready. I also poked a bit at my Dancing Girl/Genie, and at this point I think I’m going to have to wrap her up. I’m not sure how to improve her without seriously risking ruining what I’ve done. It might be time to take my lessons learned and move on.

Media
Books
The Armored Saint Book 2 SO GOOD!

Movies/TV Watched
Crazy Rich Asians - Fun RomCom, great ensemble of actors.
Porko Rosso
Pom Poko - sweet, depressing…
Whisper of the Heart - I really enjoy the slice of live movies from Miyazaki.
Iron Fist Season 2 (episodes 1-4)
Supernatural - finished Season 10, started 11

Broadway
The Band’s Visit - incredibly sweet and touching

Goals
Finish the Dancing Girl/Genie
Paint some undead (skeletons, zombies. and mummies)