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!