Stonehell: Bang a Gong

Session 27 was played on 2/19.


Wilhelm, drunk Dwarf 5 (Julia)
-Helmut, war dog
-Xerxis, Human Fighter 1 (Henchman)
-Yolanda, Human Fighter 1 (Henchman)
-2 torch bearers (Z, A.A.Ron)
-6 men at arms (O, Siri, T, U, V, W)
Karlaih, Human Thief 5 (Mollie)
Nilbog Dracon, human wizard 2 (Matt)
??? wizard 1 (Kat)
Baraball the priestess of Tarchanna 4 (NPC)

Stayed in town
Tink, a pretentious Elf (but I repeat myself) and former barkeep (Hanna)
Shelly, a vegetarian recovering alcoholic halfling Thief 3 (Nadia)
Frank, halfling 1 (Emily)
Yaqen, elf 1 (Shaun)
Leroy, human fighter 3 (Mike)
Sarin the Ugly, Human Fighter 1 (Josh)
Menchi, Cleric 1 (Laural)
Unnamed, Elf 1 (Nicole)

Departing the Korners, the party heads to visit Rocky. As they arrive, a troop of Berzerkers are shuffling out of Rocky's room. There's a moment of tension, but once they see Wilhelm, they're happy to see he's still roaming the halls. After a brief chat, they move on, and the party stops in to chat with Rocky. Unfortunately the Berzerkers used up Rocky's questions for the day.

Moving on, the party then backtracks their path into The Quiet Halls, passing by the crypts they'd emptied the previous day, through the junk room, and the desecrated temple. They check out the hallway off the pit room, skipping the secret room. Some of the other doors are crypts, but then something unexpected, a room full of robed men who don't take kindly to being barged in on! Kat puts an end to their objections with a well placed Sleep spell. The priests are all searched for treasure, tied up, and one is woken up for questioning.

Bob the Dark, priest of The Eternal Darkness that is Oblivion (The Petty God Drasheeng) is resigned to his fate, yet still pissed that the party just smashed their way into their holdout, and attacked them. Wilhelm feels slightly abashed that they didn't knock first. Bob reveals that he and his fellow Drasheengites are there to find Malfreces Nul so that they can get him to talk to one of their dead saints, the founder of their branch of the order. As Nilbog also wants to find Malfreces to complete a quest, he suggests that they team up. Wilhelm objects, but is overruled by the rest of the party. Bob is suspicious, but eventually agrees. Before heading out, the Drasheengites are untied, and they go over their respective maps of the Quiet Halls, filling in some of the sections that the party has yet to explore.

One place in particular grabs Wilhelm's attention, a great hall nearby that is noted to have a giant gong. On the way they poke into a few crypts, avoiding one full of giant rats.

The great hall is so large that the torchlight doesn't even reach halfway across... it does however light up a multitude of undead.... and a gong suspended between the pillars. Wilhelm rushes forward planning to use one of the zombies to strike the gong, but all he manages to grab is a small chunk of rotting flash. The zombie is more shocked than upset by being violently groped by a dwarf. His second attempt with a skeleton is much more successful, and the bones strike the gong with a satisfying "BONG!"

The Drasheengites and Baraball all call upon the power of their gods, and the skeletons all turn to dust while several zombies flee. A few remain, along with a couple of ghouls, but between the Wilhelm and crew, and Bob and the Drasheengites, the threat is quickly eliminated. Unfortunately, while everyone else searches the room for treasure and secret doors, Wilhelm uses a bunch of heads to bang the gong again and again and again before everyone else is yelling at him saying things like:
"It's called the Quiet Halls for a reason!"
"Why are you ringing the dinner bell?!?"
"Would you stop that?!?"

Unfortunately each bang of the gong summoned 2 ghouls that arrived moments after the 4th sounding.



The cowardly Drasheengites, after seeing 2 of their number struck down, fled. The fight was brutal! Characters were getting paralyzed left and right. Jars of flaming oil were being tossed around, and even the torch bearers had to get into the combat to save their own lives!

By the end one of the Drasheengites, Nilbog, Xerxes, U, Wilhelm, Yolanda, Eiric, and W were all paralyzed by the Ghouls claws, Baraball was badly maimed, and V, Siri, and one of the Drasheengites were killed outright.



While waiting for the paralysis to wear off, the corpses were piled together and burned. Then the survivors grabbed what they could, and headed out of the Quiet Halls and back to town.

Gains: 700gp from the crypts, handfull of ep from the Drasheengites
Kills: Whole bunch of Skeletons by Baraball, 10 Ghouls, 6 zombies
Losses: V and Siri

Stonehell: Pushing Deeper into the Quiet Halls

Session 26 was played on 2/10.

Wilhelm, drunk Dwarf 5 (Julia)
-Helmut, war dog
-Xerxis, Human Fighter 1 (Henchman)
-Yolanda, Human Fighter 1 (Henchman)
-2 torch bearers (Z, A.A.Ron)
-6 men at arms (O, Siri, T, U, V, W)
Nilbog Dracon, human wizard 2 (Matt)
??? wizard 1 (Kat)

Stayed in town
Tink, a pretentious Elf (but I repeat myself) and former barkeep (Hanna)
Shelly, a vegetarian recovering alcoholic halfling Thief 3 (Nadia)
Frank, halfling 1 (Emily)
Yaqen, elf 1 (Shaun)
Karlaih, Human Thief 5 (Mollie)
Leroy, human fighter 3 (Mike)
Sarin the Ugly, Human Fighter 1 (Josh)
Menchi, Cleric 1 (Laural)
Unnamed, Elf 1 (Nicole)

The session started by heading out of Stonehell, and back to town. The party wanted to follow up on the quest to find Malfreces Nul in the Quiet Halls, but wanted to see about hiring a priest to help out with the less than quiet dead. After spreading around a few donations, a pale woman in black robes named Baraball the priestess of Tarchanna (the petty goddess of death's infinite darkness) agreed to join them in Stonehell for 40gp/day (plus any costs incurred for spellcasting).

Back to Stonehell, they stop to visit Rocky and ask the following questions:
Q:"What do Stone Oliphants fear?"
A: Stone Mice

Q: Where are the Annals of Tacitus? (a book Nilbog is looking for)
A: In the Old Wizard's school

Q: Do you know where the old wizards school is?
A: Yes *GRIN*

Realizing they'd wasted a question, they thanked Rocky, and headed into the Quiet Halls. Baraball proved incredibly useful, calling on her goddess to return the unquiet dead to their rest again and again. Even the swirling bone thing faltered before her, and the party destroyed the skull at the center of the swirling mass, causing it to collapse. An impressive treasure stash was recovered, and moving on the party made it into a new section of the halls discovering both a stairway down, and some non-crypt rooms.

The first was a junk room, full of moldering linens, smashed urns, and rotting empty coffins. A big spider lurking on one of the coffins was quickly dispatched. Beyond was a large pillared temple, but the shredded hangings and smashed altar hid whatever divinity it was once dedicated to. A large papery nest hung in one alcove, and when Wilhelm reached the halfway point of the room, big bug-eyed heads popped out to look at him. Everyone froze for a moment, but the creatures emerged, and spread out to attack as many of the party as they could. Given that there were 10 bodies to choose from (the wizards and 2 bodyguards stayed back in the junk room for safety) the 7 stirges had lots to choose from. The hooked claws were remarkably adept at latching onto armor and allowing the piercing beaks to sink easily into soft flesh, but the numbers worked against the creatures. Once they were killed, Wilhelm burned their nest. As the room filled with smoke and the smell of burnt sugar, they finished searching and found a large chunk of amber.

As the air was getting bad in the old temple the party continued on through a broken door into a room divided by a pit. In the pit was a dark thick looking liquid that stank of rotting stagnant water. Spanning the pit was a rickety looking bridge. Thankfully there was a doorway that didn't require crossing the bridge leading out into a long hallway. Wilhelm noticed that just a little way down, the stonework looked wrong directly across from the first door they came to. He opened the secret door into... little more than an empty walk in closet. But then the torchlight fell upon a sigil on the far wall. Wilhelm poked it with his 10' pole, but nothing happened. V eventually agreed to touch it for extra pay. Everyone flanked the door as V announced he was touching it. Silence fell.... and peaking around the door, they found the room empty. While discussing what to do next, V reappeared and told of the chamber it teleported him to. Marking it down, the party closed the door, and checked out the door across the way. 12 hungry rats the size of corgis grinned as the room was lit by the torches, but Nilbog put them all to sleep, and they were all killed. Remembering that the tavern in the Korners would buy freshly killed rats, the carcasses were gathered up, and the party decided to head back for some food and rest.

Gains: 4280gp worth of treasure, 1 Potion of Heroism
Kills: Whole bunch of low level undead by Baraball, Bone Thing, 7 Stirges, 12 Rats
Losses:

Sunday Inspirational Image: Subway Eyes

Eye don't usually post pics on Sunday that Eye take, but last night Eye had an interesting encounter on the subway.

March Fo(u)rth for DM's Day!

March 4th, aka Dungeon/Game Master appreciation day is a little hard for me to celebrate, as I don't have a DM to appreciate. I do however have a host for the Frostgrave campaign I play in, so today, I'm writing in appreciation Chris of All Bones About It and One More Gaming Project. He has, over the last year plus, organized our monthly games, opened his home, and even provided snacks and drinks.

He even once lent me a warband when I idiotically forgot my figure case!

Thanks for being awesome Chris!

Remember to thank your DM's, not just today, but for every session they run, and try to show up prepared. Snacks are always welcome too!!

Kicking around in the Korners

Session 25 was played on 2/3.

Nilbog Dracon, human wizard 2 (Matt)
Sarin the Ugly, Human Fighter 1 (Josh)
??? (Laural)
Unnamed, Elf 1 (Nicole)

Stayed in the Kobold Korners
Wilhelm, drunk Dwarf 5 (Julia)
-Helmut, war dog
-Xerxis, Human Fighter 1 (Henchman)
-Yolanda, Human Fighter 1 (Henchman)
-2 torch bearers (Z, A.A.Ron)
-6 men at arms (O, Siri, T, U, V, W)

Stayed in town
Tink, a pretentious Elf (but I repeat myself) and former barkeep (Hanna)
Shelly, a vegetarian recovering alcoholic halfling Thief 3 (Nadia)
Frank, halfling 1 (Emily)
Yaqen, elf 1 (Shaun)
Karlaih, Human Thief 5 (Mollie)
Leroy, human fighter 3 (Mike)

The session started in the Kobold Korners with the unnamed elf spotting the party. She'd come to Stonehell to find her fortune with an adventuring party, but they were killed off, and she ended up at the Korners, and hooked up with (Laural).

Nilbog checked in with the tailor, who was unable to procure spider silk for the robes he wanted, but knew that the Hobgoblins might be able to get some. Introductions to some of the Hobgoblin troops in the Korners were made, and Nilbog was taken to their territory. It was a disorienting trip, as they blindfolded him, and repeatedly stopped to spin him around several times to keep him dizzy. The hobgoblin quartermaster agreed to sell him enough silk for the robes, and Nilbog put down a hefty deposit. He was returned safely to the Korners the same way he left it.

Meanwhile Sarin the ugly went to the kobold barber for healing, as his body was in the same condition as his dignity. While magical healing wasn't available, and he declined the application of the glowing green goo, a treatment of leeches at least made him feel a little light headed. The elf and Laural visited the fortune teller, an old crone of a kobold in a colorful shawl. First she read Laural's palm, told of a tall dark man who would... wait? You want to know about treasure? Oh, you'll find some of that too, but it'll be dangerous, and there will be death along the way. The elf wanted her fortune read, but instead of reaching for the elf's hand, she demanded the elf's foot. Examining it closely, she declared that she had found the source of the awful smell in the tent. She then glanced briefly at her palm mumbled a bit then shuffled them out of the tent. Standing outside the tent, they decided they still had questions and reentered, only to find it empty.

Sarin, Nilbog, (Luaral), and the elf hooked back up and decided to escort the elf out of Stonehell. They avoided a small group of orcs but ran into some rats, killing a couple and running from the rest.

Back in town, Sarin and Nilbog talked with the innkeeper about buying ale to sell in the Korners, and he replied that he'd been looking for someone to bring him the mushroom ale from the tavern in the Korners! Logistics were worked out, prices settled on, and some ale was bought. Nilbog also hired a couple of linkmen and hirelings, and everyone set back out for Stonehell, including the Elf, who had taken a fancy to the silly (Laural). They make their way safely back to the Korners...

Gains: Completed Kobold Ale Quest!
Kills: 2 Rats
Losses:

Chainmail Orc Druid

Over at the Reaper forum a group of us have been hanging out via Google Hangouts, and the idea popped up that we could all work on the same figure at the same time. We settled on an old Chainmail mini, the Orc Druid for our first Hangout Mini of the Month. While I have one, it's already painted... not that I can find it at the moment... so I found a really cheap on already painted on ebay, and a few days later it arrived, just in time for the start of the month.

After a bath in paint stripper, and a wash, he came out looking like this. Nearly new!

I used Reaper's brush on primer to start things off...

I decided that I'd paint him up to match my Reaper Bones Black (and blue) Orcs. Clearly, as their shaman he's allowed to have hair.

The skin is mostly void blue, with some purple mixed in at the darkest shadows.

The fur is mostly Ebony Flesh, while the hair is Redstone Shadow (to be brought up with Redstone, and then Redstone Highlight)

Bring up the highlights of the skin by adding linen white to the void blue.

Bringing up the fur by mixing in linen white and stone grey. The fetish stick on his back I've decided is a unicorn horn. I've got a pearly white that I've been looking to try on something...

Unfortunately I didn't quite manage to get him done in February...

This is about where he stands now... I'll just have to finish him up in March.

Oh, and if you're curious, the March hangout figure is the Goblin Shaman. That's him in the middle front there...

 

But I figure if I'm gonna paint one goblin, I might as well paint a bunch of them. You can never have too many goblins.

Read an RPG In Public week

It's that time of year again. Get out there and wave your geek flag! Go read an RPG book out in public!

Today I sat outside (before the rain came) and read DCC's Chaos Rising! It's a compilation of 7 short adventures published elsewhere that are now kind of hard to find.

Yummy sushi plus gonzo DCC? A perfect combo. Now if only the wind hadn't spent the whole time trying to blow everything away...

The rest of this years dates are:
February 26th - March 4th, 2017 (DM's Day 3/4)
July 23th - 29th, 2017 (Gygax's birthday 7/27)
October 1st - 7th, 2017 (Dave Arneson's birthday 10/1)