November ‘25 In Review

Busy month. But then when was the last time I didn’t have a busy month? Probably early-mid 2020…

Anyway, this month included the following highlights: Voted, came down with a nasty cold in the middle of the month, got better, gave blood, Thanksgiving.


Gaming
Again with the holidays, work only managed a pair of session, and I lost one of my players to a job change, so that sucks. They’re currently in the middle of the Pilgrimage of Yaldabythos from The Painted Wastelands.

Stonehell has the B team dealing with the Fey who’ve taken over the Kobold Korners, and the vampire who took up residence in the Quiet Halls.

Over Thanksgiving I got to try out Horrible Therapist, a very Cards Against Humanity style game. We stayed up way too late playing it, and laughed oh so much. Definitely NSFW or for kids.


Miniatures
While it wasn’t super productive on the miniatures side of things. On the terrain side, I got a lot done. The hamsterling had a couple days off this month, and as one of the activities I used to keep him entertained, we worked on a bunch of my 3D printed terrain, mostly using paint pens (come back tomorrow for a review). One of the cool things with this is that there’s a lot less mess, but also because of his help, they ended up more colorful than I’d have probably gone myself. It’ll make for a more interesting looking table, for sure.  Oh and I went ahead and got a few more things printed up, so this is going to be a very cool terrain set…

And since I need somewhere to put it and play with it, I finally cleared off the piece of plywood that had been sitting on top of the dog crate in my office gathering junk and painted it up. One side is green (using the leftover from the spider) with swirls of darker green, grey, and brown while the other is black. It took an entire 8oz bottle of craft black paint to do it too… 

Not perfect, but better than bare plywood, and certainly good enough to play some Rangers of Shadowdeep on! 

Media
Nightmare Before Christmas (yes, again)
Ghosts
K-Pop Demon Hunters
Superman
Farscape
Hacks

Loot
Dolmenwood kickstarter... these are some big books in the slipcase. They're just tall enough that they will only fit on one shelf of my current bookshelves. Specifically on the bottom, behind the doors... 

Rules Cyclopedia for scale

I also got a walking pad for under my standing desk. 

Goals for December
Finish painting Valfuryx the green dragon (and a handful of other minis)
Finish the session reports from August
Play one mission for Rangers of Shadowdeep or Stargrave 

Stonehell B Team Big Trouble in the Kobold Korners

This was the start of our long gaming weekend! I’ll be breaking the events into appropriately sized chunks for the session reports.

Session 292 was played on 8/16/25

Sonara, Wizard 3 (Rob)
Adorellen, Elf 2 (Me)
Glimmer, Kobold 3 (Lanse)
Kessaren, Cleric 3 (Cindy)
Loahn, Halfling 3 (Josh)
6 Kobold meatshields

The dead rise! It’s been a long time since anyone forced their way through the halls of the dead, and wave after wave of skeletons and zombies poured forth, smashing their undead forms against the might of the B Team. Weirdly, the tombs treasures also seem to have respawned in the darkness… Strange how things work in the underdark. The grave goods found in the once again emptied tombs was a welcome boon for the party, but their objective remained, and they pressed on toward the back door of the Korners.

Just outside the Korners, they were jumped by a pair of crab spiders who should have thought better of it.

The kobold guards at the back door were surprised to have to do anything, and more surprised that it wasn’t Morgana and company. A bit put out to have to do work, the escorted the party through the Korners to meet with Keeper Nolti. The main hall of the Korners was busy, and teeming with fairy-kind. Wasp nest-like structures spiraled around the eves and tucked up against the support pillars full of pixies and other small flying things. Various animal headed fey worked the stalls and shopped, while the kobolds themselves seemed relegated to the more menial tasks.

Nolti arrived quickly to greet the party, and they were surprised to meet a hunchbacked kobold. Morgana hadn’t mentioned that. Nolti took the party to meet with the bookkeeper Roi. They passed by the fighting pit and the slave pens. Nolti tells the party that they reopened the slave market somewhat recently, and that it has been doing good business for the Korners. The guards include Kobolds, Bugbears, and some pixies, though if the pixies were actually guards, or just harassing the enslaved folk, it was hard to tell.

Roi the accountant seemed put off to be forced to make a report on the books. Nervous even. Sonra drops a sleep spell on the lot, but Nolti remains awake! Glimmer doesn’t wait, and backstabs Nolti before he can yell for help. There’s a weird noise from his hump as he falls, and pulling aside the kobold’s robe they find a massive 7 legged starfish on Nolti’s back and shoulder. They remove the starfish, stuff it and Nolti’s body into their bag of holding (it’s good kobolds have such narrow shoulders) and then go across to the slave pens. All the guards dropped from the sleep spells so releasing the slaves was easy enough. The party and their freed slaves make a break for the surface and back to the manor, passing a 10 headed hydra eating… something in the swamp on the way.


Gains: 500ep, 100gp gem, scroll of protection from undead, potion of speed, potion of invisibility
Kills: 14 skeletons, 11 zombies, 1 ghoul, 2 crab spiders, Keeper Nolti
Losses:

Stonehell B Team Into the Quiet Halls

Session 291 was played on 8/3/25

Sonara, Wizard 3 (Rob)
Adorellen, Elf 2 (Me)
Glimmer, Kobold 3 (Lanse)
Kessaren, Cleric 3 (Cindy)
Loahn, Halfling 3 (Josh)
6 Kobold meatshields

It was a short session as a good chunk of time was spent on confirming logistics for our upcoming weekend of gaming...

The party holed up with Rocky for a day in order to be sure to be able to ask another round of questions. Barricading the door from the inside, they hung out and got to know the big stone head.

The following day they asked “How to get to where Sabrine is?”
A: South of the Korners
“What species is Sabrine?”
A: Elf
“Is there anything else you want?”
A: Tasty rocks

With this new info, they thank Rocky, and head out to the Quiet Halls. As ever, the dead do not rest as quietly as the name suggests, and almost as soon as they begin to pass by the crypt doors, the dead begin to rise.

Classic 80's Horror Quick Reviews

Over the course of October I watched a handful of classic 80's horror movies. Some silly, some serious, and some that surprised me. 

Phantasm - Okay, technically this was 1979, but close enough... As for the movie itself, I don't even know... I think the best way to watch this one is after being up 2 days straight, and watching it at like midnight. It's so messy. I get what they were going for... mostly... kinda? Of all the movies on the list, it's the one that has most stuck in my brain. Apparently it stuck in the writer/director's brain too, cause they made 4 sequels, the last of which came out in 2016... Is it crazy I'm considering watching them?

Killer Klowns from Outer Space - Campy, silly, and shockingly restrained on the gore. They were really keeping to the PG-13 rating on this one. Aside from making it somewhat kid friendly, it was pretty much exactly what they promised. 

Chopping Mall - Teens locked in a mall at night with killer security robots. When you think of 80's horror/slasher type films, this is exactly the type of movie you're thinking of, with all the expected levels of questionable writing & acting, nudity, and gore. 

From Beyond - An HP Lovecraft story updated with 80's tech. Better than it deserved to be, but I'm also a big fan of Jeffry Combs from his days on Star Trek DS9, so I'm sure that influences things a little. I want to go read the original story and see how much it diverges from it. There's definitely a lot to talk about in the framing of BDSM in the movie, but it's really too much for this quick review, not really in the theme of the blog, and I'm sure others have already written on it. 

Re-Animator - Also an HP Lovecraft story adaptation, made the year before From Beyond, with many of the same actors, but not as good. It just didn't hold my attention the same way, but then I think things from other dimensions make more interesting antagonists than zombies.

Lifeforce - Sexy Space Vampires who spend most of the movie naked. Mathilda May is stunning and otherworldly, and make watching the movie worth it all by herself. It was a wildly ambitious movie in scope, storytelling, and special effects (which hold up remarkably well). Unfortunately it ends up a bit of a mess reaching has far as it did, but it's still impressive. 

October '25 in Review

What a month! I'm honestly not entirely sure how I managed it all! Between all the various things the kid had going on, getting ready for Halloween, watching a bunch of horror movies, and getting all the minis painted that I did? It is important to note the lack of blog posts in October, so that should tell you something.

Gaming

Sadly the work game has missed far more sessions than we've played recently. I'm hoping things ease up a bit for November.

Stonehell continues. The B team is still doing their best to resolve the fairy situation, having now encountered the Witch of the Deep and the ‘fairy’ king. I'm really looking forward to seeing what's going to happen next.

I also had the pleasure of running 2 totally new players and their family in a far too short game. It was a steampunk train robbery, and I wish I had a little more time with them. 2 hours was just too little... 

 

Miniatures

Okay, I’m super impressed with myself. I got so much more done this month than I was expecting. For the month:

5 imps

1 barkeeper

1 heroquest barbarian

2 spiders

1 skeletal pirate

6 Tau Defender Class Escorts

Baba Yaga’s Hut’s chicken legs and base

3 vampire daughters

1 small 3D print kiosk/shop

1 ork runtherd

1 tiefling warlock

1 bollard & gas can

1 sign post

 

15 Reaper minis, and 11 non-reaper minis. 

I also made a big start on 8 Tau Orca class escorts, and a big green dragon! 

Oh yeah, and I finished the GIANT spider for the yard. 

Media 

Killer Klowns from Outer Space

Farscape 

Fisk

Chopping Mall

From Beyond

Reanimator

Nightmare Before Christmas

Ghosts

Lifeforce

Loot

Reaper October Order!

Goals for November

Get through the session reports from the gaming weekend

Finish the dragon

Stonehell: B-Team Meets the Chosen of Zunbar & Rocky

Session 290 was played on 7/27/25

Sonara, Wizard 3 (Rob)
Adorellen, Elf 2 (Me)
Glimmer, Kobold 3 (Lanse)
Kessaren, Cleric 3 (Cindy)
Loahn, Halfling 3 (Josh)
6 Kobold meatshields

Wary of the ogre mouth hallway, they cautiously inch forward, following the map toward Rocky. As they near the next intersection they hear some voices speaking goblin, and spot them to the east… at least they’re sort of goblins? Extra lumpy and oddly proportioned, they identify themselves as the Chosen of Zunbar! The Great! The Undying! The Moist! They aren’t hostile, and each group is happy to let the other go on its way unmolested.

Once the Chosen pass by, the party all agrees they need to get better background from their mentors.

Heading north, they go to the room marked as “Cold” on the map, and find… a cold room with a bunch of freezer-burned frozen rats stuck to the floor. They poke around at the mostly empty room, and then continue on their way.

Arriving at the door to Rocky’s room, Glimmer accidentally sets off a oil trap installed over the door. The rest of the party quickly helps to douse the flames and Rocky makes some sad comments about bothersome people coming to trap the door.

Sonra gives Rocky some quartz from Morgana and everyone introduces themselves.

Q1: How are you?
A1: Good

Q2: Any good treasure on this level?
A2: Yes

Q3: Where can we find it?
A3: Sabrine has it.

Q4: Who’s Sabrine?
A4: Sorry, you asked all your questions…

Again the party laments the lack of info from their mentors.

September ‘25 In Review

Labor Day, and then the start of school. The kid is in kindergarten now, and the autumn schedule is in full swing. My blog reached its sweet 16, which is utterly bonkers. The weather has been doing that swing between too hot for autumn and feels like late October thing. Not my favorite, and given how dry it’s been I don’t think we’re gonna get a good foliage season this year. All in all a good but busy month. When was the last time I didn’t have a busy month??

Gaming
I try very hard to avoid online gaming, especially mobile gaming, as it’s such a time sink, but… but I’ve found myself drawn into Fallen London. I’ve been vaguely aware of it for a long time, and played the Sunless Sea game, and that was enough to get me to back the Fallen London RPG kickstarter. The setting is just that cool, and I finally decided to play the actual game.

Stonehell has the B team dealing with the winter court fae that have taken over the Kobold Korners, and a good chunk of level 2. In talking to my kid the other night, telling him about the game, he had a deviously brilliant idea about what’s going on, and now I’m rethinking some things…

Work game has been canceled more often than not unfortunately. Hopefully things will settle down a bit and we can get some more consistent gaming in soon.

Miniatures
I started a 1:1 scale giant spider monster for my Halloween decorations. I definitely didn’t comprehend just how big it was going to end up being!! I’m not disappointed, but it does rather dominate the yard. I am using a lot more spray foam than I was expecting, and all told the material costs are up there with some of the smaller large yard decorations you’d get at Lowe’s. At this point I think I need at least 3 more cans of spray insulation… I’m probably gonna get 6 just to be on the safe side.

Keeping in the Halloween theme, I also painted up Baba Yaga (to go with the hut I already painted) and the Overgourd (pumpkin beholder) which is a delightful silly monster. I wish I could claim the candy corn teeth were my idea, but someone came up with it almost immediately after the mini was released. Still, I'm not above stealing a good idea.

The King of Ashes (lich on throne) was another one of those minis that I was hanging onto until I was “good enough” to do it justice. Honestly I’m kinda glad I did, because trying to get the lich assembled so that it would properly sit on the throne was a pain in the ass. I again took a fair bit of inspiration from the official art, but overall I’m pleased with it, in spite of its flaws, including the terrible mold line along the throne’s bottom edge.

 

Honestly, I’m kinda shocked by how productive this month was. Hoping to keep that momentum going into the final quarter of the year.


Media
Game Changer season 7
Star Trek Strange New Worlds
Farscape
The Studio
Fisk

Loot

Yoon-Suin 

Goals for October

Finish the giant spider for the yard

Knock out a bunch of minis

Finish writing up the game sessions from the big gaming trip

Stonehell: The B Team Begins

Session 289 was played on 7/24/25

Sonara, Wizard 3 (Rob)
Adorellen, Elf 2 (Me)
Glimmer, Kobold 3 (Lanse)
Kessaren, Cleric 3 (Cindy)
Loahn, Halfling 3 (Josh)

The PC’s were generally all vaguely aware of each other. Sonara and Adorellen both being apprentices of Morgana, Glimmer being one of the winged kobolds from Nick’s keep, and Loahn being a local working with the thieves guild in the town and acquainted with Borumar. Kessaren only arrived recently, having had the caravan she was traveling with hit by monsters, and her making it to Nick’s castle for sanctuary. Morgana is sending her apprentices out to go deal with things in Stonehell. The others are told about the mission and are those who volunteer to join up. An additional 6 kobolds are incentivized to join in on a promise of 5sp each per day.

The party departs Morgana manse and takes the old king’s road north out of town, crossing over the causeway through the swamp and then up into the foothills where the box canyon rests. They bypass the Gatehouse Inn, and head for the main entrance of Stonehell, reading the inscription above the doorway for the first time. Beyond the doorway they see the names inscribed on the walls, and each adds their own.

They take the stairs down, and follow their map into the kitchen and banquet room off the entry room. Giving it a thorough search, they discover a map scratched onto the underside of the table. In the kitchen area, they work the stuck pump over the sink until they pop out a stone and release a green slime that was blocked behind it. Glimmer gets splashed by a tiny bit of the green slime and ends up with some burns to show for it.

Gains: 60gp gem
Kills: Green Slime
Losses:

Rappan: Immarassrath, the aftermath

Session 288 was played on 07/07/25

Morgana, wizard 10 (Rob)
Borumar, Triton Thief 11 (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter 8 (Lanse)
Nick, Fighter 8 (Me)
Koltic, Cleric 9 (Cindy)
Aroon, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 8 (NPC)

This session ended up being entirely logistical and no adventuring was done.

After the slaying of Immarassrath, the party spent weeks recovering from their wounds and being raised from the dead… again. Morgana spent the time focused on identifying the various items recovered. Immarassrath had slain well equipped dragon hunters before, and the loot was hard won, but worth it.

The group also discussed what the future direction of the group would be, and it was settled on that we would roll up some B Team characters to play for a bit, and give our high level characters some in-game down time but still moving some of the storylines forward.

Rappan: The Death of Immarassrath

Session 287 was played on 07/03/25

Morgana, wizard 10 (Rob)
Borumar, Triton Thief 11 (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter 8 (Lanse)
Nick, Fighter 8 (Me)
Koltic, Cleric 9 (Cindy)
Aroon, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 8 (NPC)

The party pauses, and Koltic returns to the surface to raise a few zombies to act as distractions/meat shields while the party again paused to bind wounds and catch their breath, and make sure Aroon’s body was safely stashed to the side.

Up on the surface Koltic encountered a little problem with some of the bodies he was trying to animate being hijacked by some overly mobile vines. Koltic has to use his brawn as the vines don’t turn as undead. This takes a bit, but he eventually gets there, and finally can raise the bodies as zombies for his own use. They begin to slowly make their way back to the stairs.

Meanwhile the party hears a lot of jingling and the movement of a LOT of metal, and then the dragon’s voice “Oh, I found it”

Sure, that could have been a trick, but the party pressed on, and hoped Koltic would be able to deal with the aftermath. Down a long tunnel the party came upon another broken vial, and then beyond a large throneroom. Blotto and Borumar were in the lead, and took a fireball to the face, followed by another a few seconds later. Borumar dropped, and Blotto wasn’t far behind. The remaining meatsticks charge in. Nick again throwing his spear, Jameth shooting his crossbow, while Morgana drops an ice storm on the dragon.

Koltic and his zombies continue down the stairs.

Immarassrath smiles and says “my turn.” and throws yet another fireball from its necklace on the party dropping Lor’Koth and Jameth. Nick, and Blotto charge in, both cutting into the dragon’s thick hide. The dragon lashes out with his claws and fangs, while Morgana drops another ice storm on the dragon.

Koltic and the zombies near the bottom of the stairs, and begin to hear the rumbling of fireballs and the roar of a pissed off dragon.

The dragon tosses the bodies of Nick and Blotto to the side, and throws another fireball bead at Morgana. She takes it full on, but still stands, and blasts it in return with yet another ice storm from her staff. The dragon’s rime covered body falters and fails under the onslaught.

Morgana checks the bodies of her fallen companions and quickly realizes that they are beyond her help. Thankfully Koltic, zombies in tow, finally arrives. They collect Aroon’s corpse from further back and prepare the bodies for resurrection and recuperation. Over the next week, everyone is returned to life, and Morgana and the zombies sort through the treasure. Eventually Morgana is able to teleport the party back to the manor to complete their recovery.

Gains: A literal dragon’s horde.
Kills: Immarassrath
Losses:

Rappan: Assaulting Immarassrath, 2nd try pt. 3

Session 286 was played on 06/22/25


Morgana, wizard 10 (Rob)
Borumar, Triton Thief 11 (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter 8 (Lanse)
Nick, Fighter 9 (Me)
Koltic, Cleric 9 (Cindy)
Aroon, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 8 (NPC)


Returning to the pit, the pile of money is checked. It’s mostly lead and copper with a layer of gold coins for appearances. Morgana uses her Scroll of Slug Summoning and has it appear at the bottom of the hole the dragon went down. Watching from above, the rock slug makes its way after the dragon. There’s a couple of flashes of light, the breaking of glass, some roaring, and “oh god, it won’t come off!” screamed in draconic. While this is going on the party is sharing around healing magics, and making use of Morgana’s ring of regeneration.

The party cautiously descends the 350 steps to the bottom of the hole, finding the tunnel the dragon and the slug went down, and see the remains of the slug just a bit down the tunnel in a wider chamber. The large space beyond is largely empty, but for the glint of glass at the far side. Super cautiously the party investigates, worried about the dragon having become invisible. The glinting class is an empty potion bottle…

Out of the chamber is an open passage that slopes around and up. Blotto and Aroon manage to get caught in a rockfall trap. Beyond it is the dragon, and it breathes down the passage at the party, and Nick and Aroon drop from the choking gas. Morgana, just out of the range of the gas attack, drops an ice storm on the dragon, and Borumar summons his triton heritage and spits out a stream of high power water. Even a dragon finds getting hit with a power washer a bit painful. Blotto shoots the dragon with his crossbow, scratching it… Again, the dragon flees deeper into the tunnels, giving Koltic the chance to heal Nick. Aroon took too much damage and will need to be Raised.

Sweet 16

 Happy Blogiversary to me! 

Somehow I'm still going strong. Go me! I expect more of the same over the next year, and looking forward to it. I hope you are too! 

Star Trek Day 2025

Yet another lackluster Star Trek Day. Yet another youtube video. One episode left of SNW for this season, and Starfleet Academy in 2026 and the as yet unnamed Tawney Newsome Trek comedy sometime after that... All this, coupled with the way CBS was willing to pay off the Orange Shit Gibbon it just feels like a bit of a low after the Trek heights we hit at the beginning of the decade. 

But Star Trek is about Hope, and I'm desperately hoping that we see how bad things are, and we come together to make that glorious future that Trek shows us a reality. 

Live Long and Prosper! 

Goblin soldiers

I built these minis a long while ago, and they were part of that batch that I printed with white spray primer that got super chalky and hard to work with. It was some years ago, and because it was so miserable to work with I put basically all the minis away, and didn't do anything else with them for years. 

It finally got to the point that they were taking up space in my figure cases that I needed for actually painted minis, so I pulled them all out and looked up what to do with them last summer. The answer was a wash with alcohol. 

It mostly worked. The primer still wasn't the best to work with, but at least the paint would stick and not rub off. I started with the frostgrave barbarians, then the gnolls & cultists, and now the goblins are the last batch of white primed minis I have to work with. THANK GOODNESS!

They were painted with reaper paint colors: 
Wilderness green for the skin
Leather brown
Purple for the hair
Linen white for the teeth, horns, and shield freehand, and adding to the other colors for highlights
Brown liner for lining
Dwarven bronze 
Gunmetal (vallejo paint)

The bases were covered with a rough blend of gravel and coffee grounds (dried) that I covered with gesso and then dry brushed with various shades of grey.

While not my best work I'm happy to have completed them, and can finally be done with that awful batch of white primed minis. 

Also, while working on them, I was pretty sure they were orcs, but when I finally found them online, they're listed as goblin soldiers. Pretty beefy for goblins, so should I ever get the chance, I'll probably use them as orcs. And yes, one is a frostgrave gnoll body with an orc head. I'll use him as the boss. 

Rappan: Assaulting Immarassrath, 2nd try pt. 2

Session 285  was played on 06/19/25

Morgana, wizard 10 (Rob)
Borumar, Triton Thief 11 (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter 8 (Lanse)
Nick, Fighter 9 (Me)
Koltic, Cleric 9 (Cindy)
Aroon, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 8 (NPC)

The party stands invisible, largely silent, and very bored for a good 3 hours waiting for the patrol shift change and the doors of the fortress to open. When they finally do, they shuffle in, and bank to the side out of the way of the lizardmen about to march in and out of the fort. There is a table with a gnome sitting at it right by the doors, and he scribbles into the book as the party passes by, but also doesn’t seem to notice them? He has a chain locked to his ankle, but the short length of the chain isn’t attached to anything. Weird. 

Within the fort are a variety of tents, some bigger than others, a fire with a large boar roasting away, and in the middle a massive stump with a large gap at the base. Around the doorway-like gap are runes. Sitting in front of it is another table with another gnome. 

The party avoids distractions, and heads for the stump, drinking their potions of poison resistance, as Morgana checks the runes. A number of lizardfolk females and young come and go, and the gnome makes an entry in his book as they do. Morgana whispers that as best as she can tell the runes are gibberish. The party passes the gnome and he makes a mark in his book without looking at them. 

Within the stump is a carved stairway heading in and down. It comes to a large open area within the stump, open to the sky. From the stairs are a series of seats like bleachers or pews looking down to the main area that contains a massive green dragon lounging upon an even more massive pile of gold. Off to one side is a large opening in the ground.

 “You might as well come in” the dragon rumbles. 

“Fuck” Nick says, striding forward, while Morgana and Koltic duck back around. Blotto and the Amigos (all still invisible) follow Nick and start to spread out so that any breath weapon attacks can’t hit everyone. Before they could fully spread out, Immarassrath flicks a glowing bead into the middle of the party, and a fireball explodes out of it, engulfing almost everyone in flames. Morgana and Koltic in the back both take the hit but keep on standing. Morgana tries to polymorph the dragon, but the spell is reflected back. Thankfully Morgana makes her save. The fighters charge in, Nick throwing his spear while Koltic casts Cureall on Morgana. The dragon breathes on the rapidly approaching fighters, and is put out that most of them keep coming. It bites Nick, who chops into the dragon’s neck with his ax. Aroon and Blotto get smacked, and both drop. 

Spitting Nick out, the dragon decides to make a strategic retreat, and jumps down the large hole in the side of the room. Morgana summons a water elemental and sends it down the shaft to keep the dragon busy while the party regroups. From below there’s a flash and a bang and some roaring as the dragon kills the elemental. 

Strategies are discussed, and flooding is out, and also impractical… Hoping the dragon will lick it’s wounds and exhibit some patience, the party returns to the surface, and checks on the halfling accountants. They’re magically controlled via the chains, and don't know what it is they're writing in the books. The party tells them to keep their heads down for now. 

August ‘25 In Review

Starting the month with a thunderstorm and a cold front making the temperature much more bearable, and ending it with a long weekend was definitely the way to go. Temps remained largely pleasant through the month, and even got to feeling autumnal in this last week. While Summer is generally my least favorite season, this feels a little too early. And hearing the geese overhead? Definitely too early. 

In between were a couple of long weekends upstate with friends. One of which was a gaming weekend! For the first time in as long as I can remember, I spent an entire weekend playing D&D, staying up way too late, and loving every minute of it. Even the 6+ hours in the car each way wasn’t much of a struggle as I got to listen to 3 different audiobooks.  

I am missing ReaperCon this year, and definitely feeling like I’m missing out on it. I don’t recall if I felt this strongly last year, but I’m really missing my friends this year. 

Gaming
As I mentioned above, we got in a full weekend of gaming, with the B team getting a fair bit of playtime on Saturday, switching over to the A team for a delve in Rappan followed by time in Stonehell. It was all suitably epic, and I can’t wait to write up the session reports. Sadly with everything going on I haven’t spent any time writing this month, and am getting behind on my session reports again. 

Work has been busy, and we’ve missed 3 out of 4 sessions this month. I’m hoping with the end of summer, and vacations, and wrapping up the initial FY26 budget we’ll have better luck with Sept. 
 
Miniatures
Given everything going on, this was a really productive month! I finished off the minotaur, painted up 6 orcs, 4 troglodytes, a pirate, a druid, and another bone pile. 

On top of all that, I’ve got a solid start on the next batch of minis. I think September may have fewer overall minis, but there are some bigger ones that are gonna take more time.

  

Media 
Game Changer season 7
Star Trek Strange New Worlds 
Love Death & Robots
Farscape 
The Studio

Noir by Christopher Moore
What Moves The Dead by T. Kingfisher
System Collapse by Martha Wells
The Wind in the Willows
Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells

Loot
Ashes Without Number
Hull Breach 

Goals for September
Finish the Q3 quarterlies for the RCL
Build a GIANT spider for the front yard

July ‘25 In Review

Only one month of summer to go, but I'm so ready for fall. We've had multiple sets of near 100 degrees days, and I'm over it. Even with my cool basement to hide out in, it's still been far too miserable. Thankfully the month ended with a nice storm and a break from the heat. 

Gaming
 My work game continues to explore the hobgoblin caves, and while they've taken some losses (mostly meat shields) they've also gotten some treasure, and they're feeling pretty good about themselves. Of course in the final session of the month, they decided to head back to the weird dream town.... 

My Stonehell game has seen the debut of the B team going in and seeing what changes have happened in the upper levels. 

Miniatures
I can't say I made my goal of knocking out most of the quarterlies for Q3, but I put a dent in them. I managed to get the RCL categories I'd planned on for the month done, and added another half dozen non-reaper minis to my total this month. 

Some of the minis I finished this month

I'm starting August with 6 Osprey Games orc infantry figures half done, and I've got plans for the rest of the month that hopefully will see major progress made on a number of different figures... 


Media 
Game Changer seasons 6 and into 7
Star Trek Strange New Worlds 
Love Death & Robots
Farscape 

Loot
Ashes Without Number

Goals 
Paint and write more than I did in July 

Rappan: Assaulting Immarassrath, 2nd try

Session 284 was played on 06/08/25

Morgana, wizard 10 (Rob)
Borumar, Triton Thief 11 (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter 8 (Lanse)
Nick, Fighter 9 (Me)
Koltic, Cleric 9 (Cindy)
Aroon, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 8 (NPC)


Fearful that Immarassrath could make an appearance at any time at the castle, it was decided that the original plan was a solid one, and that the encounter with Berlan the Warlock was a fluke, the party got themselves invisible, and headed back out.

Approaching the funnel, there’s no sign of the ward having been reestablished, and the party manages to avoid drawing the attention of any nasty frogs. Reaching the more watery bit of the area, they slowly wade in, doing their best to cause ripples, and keeping connected by a thin thread to make sure that everyone stays together (the whole invisible thing makes coordination difficult). There are several deeper spots full of roots, but the party takes its time, freeing themselves slowly and carefully to maintain the invisibility. There’s a group of lizardmen making a circuit of the area, and at one point they come uncomfortably close…

At one point, while Nick is freeing himself, the guards head into the gates, and a new group comes out to patrol. In whispered conversation they agree to go to the gates and wait for the next time they open to make their way into the fortress.


Gains:
Kills:
Losses:

Rappan: Dragon Hunting Prep... again...

Session 283 was played on 06/01/25

Morgana, wizard 10 (Rob)
Borumar, Triton Thief 11 (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter 8 (Lanse)
Nick, Fighter 9 (Me)
Koltic, Cleric 9 (NPC)
Aroon, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 8 (NPC)


Most of the party is bedridden in Morgana’s manor to recover from being raised from the dead. Nick is transported to his castle to make an appearance so that panic doesn’t send everyone scattering.

While Koltic tends to the recovering, Morgana researches a Protection from Poison spell. Once that’s accomplished, she and her apprentices get to potion brewing.

***

Short on action, as we spent the time deciding what to do about the dragon, having had our asses handed to us.


Gains:
Kills:
Losses:

Rappan: Assaulting Immarassrath the Green Dragon

 Session 282  was played on 05/25/25

Morgana, wizard 10 (Rob)
Borumar, Triton Thief 11 (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter 8 (Lanse)
Nick, Fighter 9 (Me)
Koltic, Cleric 9 (Cindy)
Aroon, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 8 (NPC)

In preparation for facing off against Immarassrath the green dragon, the spellcasters continue their preparations. Koltic brews 11 potions of healing (and spoils the 12th, accidentally brewing a poison!)

The party plans their assault, using the knowledge they have from Drusilla and the scry spell. Morgana spends several days casting invisibility on the party, needing to recast it a couple of times on Blotto once it’s discovered that peeing on someone breaks the spell. THe party rides out with a small group of kobold volunteers. A few hours march from the dragon’s lair they make camp. In the middle of the second watch, a fireball explodes in the middle of camp, and a poison dagger is thrown at the watchers. Most of the horses survive, as well as most of the kobolds, being at the edge of the explosion. The amigos and Nick all take the fireball hard. A man in black robes steps forward and demands the party’s surrender. 

Morgana flicks off a magic missile spell, and the mystic bolts slam into the robed figure, dropping him. The 16 brigands with him begin to run. The party chased them down. None escaped. In the morning, the party follows the tracks to the bandit’s camp, and rounds up the people there. Mostly women and children, and a few guards. They seem resigned to their fate, and maybe a little shocked then they aren’t slaughtered. Nick tells them they can head to the castle for a new life, something more stable and safe than a mercenary camp follower. 

While the camp followers pack up to leave, the party loots the wizard’s tent. ‘Berlan the Warlock’ supplies the party with some potions, scrolls, a couple of wands, a spellbook, and a magic letter to ‘Ibinock the Warlock’ from ‘Jonathan, Wizard of the Realm’ requesting the death of a certain adventuring party for a reward of 7,500gp. While it isn’t specified that Morgana, Nick, et al. are the party in question… ‘Jonathan, Wizard of the Realm’ is going to get a visit sometime in the future. That’s an insultingly low amount!

But it’ll be dealt with after the party deals with the dragon. 

With their plan already in shambles, the party rests another day, then heads toward the dragon’s lair. Might as well, right? The woods get thicker and thicker, until they find a path… or is it a funnel? 

Dense woods, filled with all sorts of stinging poisonous plants (Ivy, sumak, oak, etc.) lead up to a swampy area at the center of which is a large earthen mound topped with a wooden log wall, with lizardmen on watch. 

Morgana spots a magical ward across the path, and fails to safely disrupt it. The sound of war horns from the fortress, and frogs peeping from the undergrowth grows louder. Lizarmen in heavy armor march out as large frogs swarm the party. The frogs are dealt with as the lizardman champion comes forward to demand the party surrender. The party kills the champion and another before Immarassrath, her magical invisibility broken, breathes on the party, dropping everyone but Morgana, Borumar, and Koltic, before flying out of spell range. The 3 of them quickly use the magical elephant to grab the bodies, and Morgana uses the Ring of the Scintillating Orb to transport them to Stonehell. She then quickly conducts the ritual to teleport back to the manor, and Koltic begins the process of bringing them back from the dead, one body per day…

Gains: 2 wands, 3 scrolls 5 potions, spellbook, +6,000gp 
Kills: warlock, 16 bandits, giant poisonous frogs, lizardmen champions
Losses: dignity & 2.5 weeks to recover

June ‘25 In Review

Summer arrived, and did so with a stretch of disgustingly hot days. I can’t begin to express just how happy I am that I have the basement to work in. When the weather isn’t completely disgusting, I enjoyed an evening sitting by the fire pit, and spent part of a weekend building a workbench in the garage. I also got my hands on a good sewing machine so that I can fix up some of the kid’s clothing. He’s been wearing holes in the knees of his pants… all of his pants! And speaking of the kid, he finished up Pre-K and had his kindergarten orientation. 

Gaming
Because work is work, we only got 2 sessions in this month, and one of them ended up being entirely a down session where the players took care of shopping and other logistical concerns, but now they’re back in the Caves of Chaos, hunting for some magic armor in the Hobgoblin cave. 

The Rappan game has us facing a green dragon. We’ve got it on the run, and I think we have it cornered. We’ll find out if we can beat it this next session…


Miniatures
This was a productive month! I finished off 4 out of the 6 Stargrave guys I built back in January, along with 4 Infinity troops, a Rebel Grot Cutta, and an Emperor’s Champion. Probably the most non-Reaper I’ve finished in a month in a long time. Brings me up to 22/67 non-Reaper minis. Only 32%... But more in the pipeline! 

Media 
Ghosts
Game Changer seasons 5
Andor season 2
Murderbot
Scavengers Reign

Loot
Strange Tales of the Painted Wastelands and the Players Guide to the Painted Wastelands

Goals for June
Keep up with session reports
Knock out most of the Q3 quarterlies for the RCL

Rappan: Dealing with Druids

Session 281  was played on 05/04/25

Morgana, wizard 10 (Rob)
Borumar, Triton Thief 11 (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter 8 (Lanse)
Nick, Fighter 9 (Me)
Koltic, Cleric 9 (NPC)
Aroon, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 8 (NPC)

Needing as much info as possible Nick plans to reach out to Drusilla the Druid, but wants to bring an offering. Koltic communes with his goddess to see what might be acceptable…

Would she like alcohol as a gift?
No
Gems?
No
Something that can be provided by magic? 
Yes/No

Morgana collects a cutting of the vampire roses from her garden and the party heads to Drusilla’s grove. The ride through the woods is oddly empty… the grove is not. An oversized owlbear and a large wolf sit waiting. THe party calls out, and Nick cautiously approaches. The wolf morphs into Drusilla, and Nick gives her the plant. He asks about the dragon. She met it, and it decided that it wouldn’t intrude on her territory. Nick wants her help. She wants a spell cast from a scroll. Passing a box with the scroll and a small scrap of grey/brown fur Morgana inspects the scroll, says she’ll need some time to prepare. 

The party returns to the keep, and Morgana makes use of the library. Over the course of the next day she learns it’s a unique reincarnation spell, one designed to work on any living thing, not just humanoids. Rather than risking using it at the keep, or trying to copy it (a not insignificant chance of ruining the scroll and failing…) the party returns to the grove the next day. 

This time the grove is empty, and the party waits just outside it for half an hour before Brusilla arrives, wanting to know why they’ve returned. Morgana explains that she wanted to cast the spell here. The ritual doesn’t take long, and from the small scrap of fur comes a great white unicorn. Drusilla is thrilled to have her old rat companion back, and in such a magnificent form, and shares with the party the location of the dragon’s lair, a swamp to the southwest of the castle.  

Returning again to the keep, Morgana returns to her manor to research a Scry spell. Meanwhile Koltic starts brewing a batch of Protection from Poison potions. 

Morgana finishes her research and casts the spell, seeing through the eyes of a lizardman. It can see its companions are digging a tunnel, and then it turns to see a great green dragon on a massive tree stump. The dragon wears at least 2 rings, a circlet, and a necklace. 

Gains: 
Kills: 
Losses

Rappan: Black Monastery is haunted!

Session 280 was played on 04/27/25

Morgana, wizard 10 (Rob)
Borumar, Triton Thief 11 (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter 8 (Lanse)
Nick, Fighter 9 (Me)
Koltic, Cleric 9 (NPC)
Aroon, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 8 (NPC)

Continuing through the monastery the party comes to a room with a table set with a gold plate and silverware, and a voice begging “a crumb for the poor? Please give some? Please give?”

Blotto goes into the room and drops a coin onto the plate and the voice goes quiet. He then takes the plate and suddenly 2 black floating figures materialize and attack! The party is a little surprised, but recovers and handles the 2 apparitions quickly.

Further on, a ghost girl appears in a hallway, screaming and running through the party. Aside from a chill and some goosebumps, there doesn't appear to be a lingering effect. Just beyond is a framed picture on the wall of the girl, but as a vampire! It's a good likeness and high quality, and Nick tried to take it down, but it was solidly secured to the wall, and he broke it. Upside is that it revealed a hidden space behind the painting containing 4 healing portions!

Next the party comes upon the skeleton of a minotaur. Leathery bits of flesh and hair still cling to the body. Beyond is a door through which infernal chanting can be heard. As no one speaks infernal, no one knows what was being changed, but the fact that it was internal signaled it wasn't good.

The party prepared for a flight, and opened the door. The volume blasted up, and half the party was deafened before the door could be closed. Borumar got a quick look, seeing a dozen 1’ holes in the floor. Blotto tossed in a troll larynx.

Deciding that they'd had enough, they start to back track, and at one point the lights all go out. Moving along, waiting to be ambushed, they (the non-deaf ones) hear the changing getting louder, then a bell, and then a moaning…. But they emerge from the magical darkness and make their way to the stables to get their horses, leaving the Black Monastery for another time.

Arriving the next day back at the keep, the kobolds report that a green dragon visited, poisoning the fields and giving them a month to leave before it would be back.


Gains:
Kills: 2 ghost things
Losses

Rappan: Black Monastery Orcs and Spiders

Session 279 was played on 04/20/25

Morgana, wizard 10 (Rob)
Borumar, Triton Thief 11 (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter 8 (Lanse)
Nick, Fighter 9 (Me)
Koltic, Cleric 9 (NPC)
Aroon, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 8 (NPC)

Continuing through the Black Monastery’s weirdly shaped rooms and corridors the party next comes to a barricaded door. Forcing their way through, a dozen orcs take issue with having their space invaded, but a dozen orcs are no real threat to the party, and their corpses are looted for a decent amount of treasure, including 2 dozen gems and a dozen silver daggers…

In another room the party encounters a full plate clad knight with a pair of glowing swords. Blotto and Esmerelda charge the knight, who disappears as Esmerelda’s feathery feelers are about to touch the knight’s armor. Its disappearance reveals a 3’ hole in the floor, out of which emerges a trio of giant spiders. 2 are killed and the 3rd flees back down the hole. They pour some burning oil down after it.

Finding a quiet barracks, the party bunks down for some food and rest.

Gains: various coinage and a dozen silver daggers
Kills: orcs, spiders
Losses

Rappan: Black Monastery Yellow Lightning

Session 278 was played on 04/13/25

Morgana, wizard 10 (Rob)
Borumar, Triton Thief 11 (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter 8 (Lanse)
Nick, Fighter 9 (Me)
Koltic, Cleric 9 (NPC)
Aroon, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 8 (NPC)

Finding another secret door, the party checks it out, while the orcs slowly shuffled off the mortal coil. Opening the door, they see only darkness. Blotto chucks a troll larynx in, and no one hears anything. They close the door and backtrack to the last branching hallway.

They come to a door that has a lot of noise coming from behind it. In a somewhat regular pattern, an oscillating screaming, crackling, and popping. Waiting for the sound to dull down to its lowest point, they open the door, and see a yellow humanoid running toward them made of bound lightning! Nick sets his spear, but gets hit instead. The rest of the party, with help from Morgana, take it out.

Searching the room they find a small secret door on the floor, and under it, a pouch with some cold and a ring set with 8 diamonds.

Exploring further, they come to a violet door, within which are 5 columns, and irregular rainbow lightning. Blotto steps in and pees on the nearest column, and gets zapped, instantly sprouting bat-like wings. Borumar steps in and gets zapped, and his eyes glow red as he gains dark vision. They find a satchel in the room, and blotto feeds it a troll larynx. The bag eats it, or more accurately, the ferret in the bag does.

Gains: 200gp, diamond ring, ferret
Kills: lightning elemental
Losses:

Rappan: Jam session in the Black Monastery

Session 277 was played on 04/06/25

Morgana, wizard 10 (Rob)
Borumar, Triton Thief 11 (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter 8 (Lanse)
Nick, Fighter 9 (Me)
Koltic, Cleric 9 (NPC)
Aroon, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 8 (NPC)

Returning to the Black Monastery, the party finds the back gate down, and magically repaired. Following the same process as last time, Esmerelda eats a hole in it, and Blotto and Borumar use the crank to open it for the party to get through.

Heading in and to the east they come across a group (growth?) of troglins, which are quickly cut down, looted, and burned. They find a secret door that opens to a corridor that opens into a chamber with an iron maiden in the middle of it, surrounded by musical instruments. A pair of orcs are playing along with the music emanating from the torture device. Blotto starts grabbing at the unclaimed instruments and joins in on the noise.

The party briefly puts up with the concert before knocking the iron maiden over. The music stops and the orcs collapse. A quick check shows they’re hovering at death’s door. Under the iron maiden was am ornate skeleton key with the number 42 incorporated into the handle, and a note:  

“This is the key to everything”

Gains: ~350gp in assorted denominations, a ring, a key
Kills: troglins
Losses:

Rappan: Black Monastery & Beasts

 Session 276 was played on 03/30/25

Morgana, wizard 10 (Rob)
Borumar, Triton Thief 11 (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter 8 (Lanse)
Nick, Fighter 9 (Me)
Koltic, Cleric 9 (NPC)
Aroon, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 8 (NPC)

Heading north the party comes to a chamber with a large 6 limbed beast, the unholy result of some wizard's experiments. The body and horns of a rhino, the face of a fish, with ogre or giant arms welding swords. Blotto charges in and with a swing of his mighty (fishing) pole arm, drops the monstrosity with a single hit. Morgana harvests some choice bits for her own experiments.

Among the treasures found in the chamber is a locket with miniature portraits of a young man and women. The young man has a tattoo on his arm. The beasts arm has the same tattoo…

Heading east they come to a large stable, with 14 stalls, each containing a misty/ghostly looking horse. They aren't aggressive, so the party explored the room. Boronir found a loose floor board, underneath which are jars of glitterfull lotion. Nick finds a secret door, behind which is a tack closet (why was this hidden!?!).

Morgana rubs a little lotion on her hand, and it becomes misty, just like the horses. They share out the lotion and use it to get 8 of the horses and bring them out of the ethereal plane, and conveniently there's enough tack in the closet for all the horses.

Harnessing up the horses, the party brings them home to the keep. On the ride, Morgana and Boromir blip ethereal for about 200 feet. Morgana is looking forward to investigating this more thoroughly!

Gains: 8 ethereal horses
Kills: cursed fish-rhino thing
Losses:

May ‘25 In Review

Yet another busy month with work. The audit wrapped up, and there was a work retreat, which flowed directly into a short vacation in the woods of New Hampshire. It was all great, but exhausting. I always want a vacation for myself, a day or 3 to recover after a trip like that.

Gaming
Because of the travel, and the work, several sessions of both the Stonehell/Rappan and my work game  got canceled, but on the upside, I got to play with my coworkers in person again! We played a long, late session of the Painted Wastelands. I’d hoped to run a couple nights, but it didn’t work out.

In the home game, we’re facing off with a green dragon, and the first battle didn’t go so well for the party. Thankfully the cleric knows how to bring the dead back. Next time, we’ll be better prepared.

Miniatures
Again because of the travel, I didn’t get to finish as much this month as I wanted. I did start a lot of minis, and I’m sure next month will see a whole lot of them finished, but for this month, I managed to finish off a few things, including the last of the pepto Norkers. Pink was an unexpected choice, since I’d planned on making them yellow, but I’m happy I went this way. 

Media
Ghosts
Game Changer seasons 4-5
Resident Alien season 3
The Wild Robot
Orion and the Dark
Her story

Loot
On my way to the retreat I stopped at a game store and snagged some great minis.

I also had the Box of Goodwill from the Reaper forum pass through, and I managed to add more to it than I took. But this is what I snagged:

Goals for June
Catch back up with session reports

Rappan: Black Monastery & Mint Julips

Session 276 was played on 03/23/25

Morgana, wizard 10 (Rob)
Borumar, Triton Thief 11 (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter 8 (Lanse)
Nick, Fighter 9 (Me)
Koltic, Cleric 9 (NPC)
Aroon, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 8 (NPC)

The monastery is mostly empty. A series of connected smaller rooms eventually lead to a larger work room, full of dummies… in the middle of the work area were 8 dummies that stood out from the rest. A little more finished, and far more detailed looking than the rest. A female wizard, a short halfling sized  warrior, a dwarf sized warrior… the party quickly realizes that they’re looking at copies of themselves! All investigation seems to show that they’re just dummies, but it’s disturbing.

While looking things over, a voice calls out from an open doorway. Within the chamber beyond are a pair of large trees growing up through the roof, and strung between them a hammock. Against one wall is a liquor cabinet, well stocked, and alone in the room is a cadaverous figure in black robes. Yet another friendly ghoul. The party chats, shares some drinks (he makes a mean mint julep). He provides some background on the story of the Black Monastery. A good order, fallen to chaos. This brother, Dr. Brutus, was working on attaining Lichdom, but messed up somehow, and has been trapped in this room for… he’s not clear how long. The monastery seems to jump around in time. To the amazement of all, in spite of the drinking, the liquor cabinet remained full. When the end came, it came with a blazing green flame that swept the halls. It unanchored the monastery from time, and Dr. Brutus has seen visitors from all ages come through.

This not being the first gentle ghoul that the party has encountered, investigate a little further. Morgana thinks it’s impossible to kill him, or maybe anyone trapped in the monastery? There’s a stone, somewhere in the monastery that fell from the sky, part of what brought about the end. If they can find it, break the hold it has on them, then maybe Dr Brutus could be freed, either from life (undeath) or from the prison of this well stocked room.

Dr. Brutus gives 2 final warnings. Watch out for the frogs, they have tongues of green flame. And if you find the theater, leave quickly, and count your shadows.

Leaving Dr. Brutus, the party explores on, soon finding the scene of a relatively recent fight between 18 spiders, 4 orcs, and 6 humans. The limbs of the various combatants had been severed and built up into a gory teepee. Within was a bloody cloak.

Gains:
Kills:
Losses:

Rappan: The black monastery appears

Session 275 was played on 03/16/25

Morgana, wizard 10 (Rob)

Borumar, Triton Thief 11 (Josh)

Blotto, Goblin Fighter 8 (Lanse)

Nick, Fighter 9 (Me)

Koltic, Cleric 9 (NPC)

Aroon, Fighter 8 (NPC)

Jameth, Fighter 8 (NPC)

Lor’Koth, Dwarf 8 (NPC)

The party decided to take the winter off, and prep, train, and relax. Morgana takes several commissions from the party and outsiders. Koltic make Nick a ring of fire resistance, a wand of remove curse and dispel magic, and a boatload of healing potions. Nick finally trained up in spear fighting, while Jameth and Aroon became sword masters. Blotto finally manages to make it relatively safe for everyone for him to ride his semi-domesticated rust monster….

As the spring thaw arrived, so did news of trouble. Failing plantings, stillborn and deformed births, the usual. Along with it came reports of a monastery appearing near the ancient ruins of an old town. The party gears up, and heads out.

On the way they pass a small abandoned kobold hamlet… kinda creepy how empty it is. Pressing on they quickly come to the monastery. It’s a massive building with towers on the front corners. The party circles the outside of the building. Aside from the big gate at the front, there’s a back door. They opt to take that. Esmerelda the rust monster eats a big enough hole for Blotto to climb through. Once he’s inside, Borumar follows, and the 2 of them manage to force the gate mechanism to open allowing everyone in. 

Beyond is a large area to exercise horses in. The party pokes around, and heads deeper into the structure, taking the smaller of the northern doors out of the exercise area. 

Gains: 

Kills:

Losses:

April ‘25 In Review

It was bound to happen, I came down with a scratchy throat early in the month. We all did. Between the cold and the pollen, it’s been a month. On the upside, the weather has finally warmed up, and everything is green and bright and colorful. I’m trying my hand at gardening, with mixed results so far. Some things are growing… the grass doesn’t seem to be. Plus I managed to grow some mold on some of the seeds I was starting. Yeah, it's a mixed bag.

I did get a promotion at work, so there's that. Celebrated with a nice lunch and getting more 3D prints done at the library. Aside from that, I'm full on in audit prep, so super busy.


Gaming
My work game was a little limited this month due to… well… work. Stupid audit.

Sunday we've been exploring the Black Monastery, a Frog God Games adventure with a hellish map. It’s a giant structure, with a couple of dungeon levels under it, and it’s one of those buildings with pencil thin walls, and zero unused space, and the weirdest shaped room… Seriously, check out the map that I’ve got so far. We’ve abandoned it, and are now going dragon hunting.


Miniatures
This was a productive month, especially on the terrain front! Not only did I finish the Noodle Bar, and a random bit of scatter, but I also got another bunch of Flatline City buildings printed up at the library. On top of that was the assortment of random things that I decided to work on. My ratio of Reaper to non-Reaper is now 12/39, but I’ve got 5 more non-reaper minis in progress actively. 

Media
Daredevil Born Again
Star Wars Skeleton Crew
Ghosts
Game Changer seasons 1-3
Resident Alien season 3

Loot
My Downcrawl RPG book and deck arrived. I've started to read it, and plan on writing more about it after I finish.

Goals for May
Catch back up with session reports
Play a game of Stargrave or Rangers of Shadowdeep

Noodle Bar & Industrial Scatter Terrain

This past weekend I got a couple of solid hours to paint when I wasn’t dead tired, and decided to spend it on the 3D printed Flatline City Noodle Bar that was gifted to me, and I have to say that I’m really very happy with how it came out. 

It's almost entirely painted with cheap craft paints. I used Antique White for the walls, Terracotta for the roof, and the inside was painted with Red, mixed with a tiny bit of Black to darken the shade a bit. Details were picked out with various Reaper colors, including Punk Rock Pink for the signs. Everything was then washed with my usual grimy mix to help it blend in more with my industrial terrain. 

I also learned that one of the local libraries has several 3D FDM printers available for use, for the low low cost of $0.05/gram of filament. I grabbed some industrial scatter terrain STLs and $8.60 later I had these 4 pieces! 

And because I couldn't get them and not paint one of them, I took the smallest, and tried out the Amamao paint pens I got for christmas on it. 

Gotta say it was worth the price. This is a great quality print, and the pens were easy to use. I think I'll probably basecoat the other 3 before using the pens, if only so that the main colors match with my other industrial terrain.  

April 5, 2063, a mere 38 years from now. I'll probably live to see the date, but doubt I'll be around when we make first contact. Honestly, I'll be thrilled if we can find evidence of life on another planet by then.

 

But because that's what Star Trek is about, here's to hope! For us, for the future.

Sauron

The Dark Lord himself, an imposing figure of shadow and death wrapped in armor with the One Ring blazing away on his finger, reaching down to slay Isildur at the height of his power, the moment before his defeat.  

I've owned this mini for literally decades. I bought it when it was originally released. Last year I decided I was finally going to paint it, and added it to my "to do" shelf. Then I didn't get around to it. This year, I finally did. It's honestly such a beautiful sculpt that it practically paints itself... but first, assembly. 

Sauron is a solid metal mini, and the connection points for the head and arms are both flat. Not ideal for such a heavy mini, and just asking to be knocked over and have an arm or 2 snap off. So out with the pin vice and wire, and make sure that The Dark Lord is solidly assembled. 

I primed Sauron with Stynalrez Metal Tone primer, a favorite of mine when the weather is too cold to spray prime, and also a great base layer for the armor. 

The cape I painted first with Reaper's Red Liner paint mixed with Brown Liner. I washed it with black wash, then did pure Red Liner, followed up with some highlights using Asmodeus Red, washed that with black wash, and then more Asmodeus Red mixed with some Cloudy Grey... followed by yet another black wash. Are you seeing a theme? 

For the armor, I highlighted the armor tone primer with Shadowed Steel, followed by yet more Black Wash. I repeated the highlight and then used a Numinara Rust wash splotched on to add a little more color. 

Finally the One Ring I painted first with Asmodeus Red, and then with Dwarven Gold, and teeny tiny highlights of Dragon Gold. I then went back and added just a bit of the Asmodeus Red to the shadows of the helm.

As seems to be a theme this year, I haven't done anything with his base. He deserves more than just some sand, but I haven't decided what yet. So here he is, finished, but not based.

March '25 In Review

This month went way too quickly. It started with the 25+ year old oil furnace/boiler breaking, sprinkling a big leak, and a few days without hot water. Thankfully it happened after we got back from China.Also got the taxes done, and had my dental check-up, so all sorts of fun activities!

I wrapped the month starting my veggie garden journey. I have a notoriously black thumb, so I'm limiting myself to just a few “crops” tomatoes (in containers) lettuce (in a palette), sunchokes, and some squash. I have no idea how this is going to go, but I’m giving it a shot.

Gaming
My Sunday night game wrapped up our Call of Cthulhu game, and got back to the Rappan/Stonehell game after a 3 month break. We're currently exploring a large haunted monastery, and when I say large, I mean HUGE. Well over 100 rooms. If we can wrap it up by the end of April, I’ll be shocked.

The Thursday work game shocked me again, and headed off with the Castellain when he was summoned away to a meeting in the nearest big town. Problem is, I hadn’t actually planned anything for that… I expected them to stick around and deal with the events at the keep… instead they're heading into the feywild to deal with a lord of the winter court who has laid claim on the adjoining land on the prime plane.


Miniatures
I really buckled down to get things done this month, and finished off a bunch of minis. I do need to refocus on painting more non-Reaper minis though.

A pretty productive month!

Media
Hidden Figures
Daredevil Born Again
Star Wars Skeleton Crew (1st episode)
What we do in the shadows (final season)
The remarkable life of Ibelin
Wallace and Gromit Vengeance Most Foul

Loot
I finally got my hand in Gods of the Forbidden North volume 1 & 2, and almost immediately started reading it. Massive volumes, and I was really looking forward to seeing that they had in store for me.

"biological sex" come on.... 

Turns out, a lot of conservative Christian ideas.

You aren't even trying to hide it... 

Needless to say, I was disappointed. When vol 3 arrives, I'm putting them on eBay.


Goals for April
Catch back up with session reports

Get my garden growing! 

Mini-Reviews: Polite Society Chang'an, Fast Times! The Surprises!

This set of reviews were the movies that exceeded my expectations. 

Polite Society

I absolutely love a good bonkers bollywood movie, and Polite Society delivers exactly that. Priya Kansara as the younger sister trying to stop the wedding of her older sister (played by wonderfully by Ritu Arya) was a blast to watch. It was over the top, action packed, and fun. It also wasn't too long, it did what it was going to do, made it fun and pretty, and then wrapped itself up.  

Fast Times At Ridgemont High

Okay, the only reason I really wanted to watch this movie was because of the Jimmy Buffett doing Spicoli's Theme. Being an early 80's coming of age high school movie there was the expected nudity and sex. What I didn't expect was how well developed the characters were, and how frankly it addressed abortion. I can only imagine the negative press that it would have gotten if it was released today. 

Chang'an

I saw a clip from this movie at one of the museums we visited in China, and I was thrilled to see it was available on the flight home. It's a historical drama that "follows the story of the decades-long friendship of poets Li Bai and Gao Shi amid the Tang dynasty's transition from peak prosperity to the turmoil of the rebellion led by An Lushan, one of Emperor Xuanzong's most favored generals." (from Wiki) It was beautiful and moving. I wish that I spoke Mandarin well enough to understand it without subtitles, because the poets are some of the most revered in China. 

Purple People Eater

One of the Reaper Challenge League challenges for this month was "one eyed one horned flying purple people eater" with the caveat that to meet the challenge for this category is that you only needed to hit one of the parts of the challenge... but what's the fun of that?

Of course I don't have a mini in my collection that fulflls all the requirements, so I went digging. I do have a large cyclops, but didn't feel like painting a giant. So I kept digging and came across my bag of early Bones Kickstarter demons, and the ape demon felt perfect. Well, aside from the 2 eyes and no horn. 

I can fix that. I just cut off his face, and grabbed the greenstuff. The hardest part was the teeth. I wasn't originally going for big flat mollar type teeth, but I liked how it turned it.

Once the greenstuff had cured, it was time to paint. I primed/base coated with Kraken Ink (purple liner) and the eye with linen white. 

I then used a mix of Kraken Ink, Clear Purple, Ruddy Flesh, Dragon Red, and Aged Bone to do the rest of the mini. The final step, aside from basing, was to apply a gloss varnish on the eye and the tongue. 

 

Not sure when I'll get to the base, so here's the finished but the base pic.