Stonehell: The Trouble with Troglodytes

Session 136 was played on 4/16

Eiric, Mage 8 (Kat)
Big Red (dog)
Karl, Dwarf 8 (Julia)
Hobart (dog)
Kili, Cleric 6 (Matt)
Boris, Cleric 3 (Jeff)
Daton, Fighter 2 (Jay)
Morgana, Mage 2 (Robert)
Borumar, Thief 7 (Josh)
Koltic, NPC Cleric 6
Darryl, NPC Cleric 6


Stepping away from the stairs, and down onto the beach, the party can see to the south that the beach narrows to nothing as the stone wall of the cave continues into darkness. To the north the beach opens up, and the cave deepens. Moving carefully, they can see tracks of various creatures in the muddy ground away from the beach… and a stout door on the north wall, and another on the south wall, even deeper into the cave. Starting with the door closer to the beach, they head north.

An unpleasant smell lingers outside the door, but no one can identify it. Something looks at the party through the keyhole. Karl tries to stab whatever it is that’s looking at them, but the dagger gets stuck. The party then tries a few more diplomatic options:

“Avon calling!”
“Room Service!”
"Have you accepted the lord and destroyer Cthulhu into your nightmares?"

None of these are effective.

While the party is debating what to do, the doors burst open, and a blast of the most noxious air washes over the whole party. Just behind the smell are ugly crested lizardmen, some riding large 6 legged reptilian mounts. The mounted lizardmen plow through the party, knocking them aside and allowing the ones on foot to engage.

The battle is tense, as the party is outnumbered nearly 1.5:1, and even the wizards are forced into hand to hand combat. Lady Eiric manages to get far enough away from the danger to unleash a lightning bolt that takes out a few of the lizardmen, and crisps a wave of elite warriors who were charging toward the party. Only the biggest and meanest and stinkyest of them survive, and he charges into Daton.

One of the mounted lizardmen clubs Lady Eiric to the ground, and he then uses his mount to step on her. Karl and Boris charge in, taking down the best, and pouring healing magic into the broken wizard.

Daton and the trog king trade blows, but Daton’s blade sinks deep into the king’s charred chest, and he drops to the ground. Soon after the last of the trogs are dead, and the party spends a few moments catching their breath and downing some healing potions. The stink of the bodies, and the smell coming from the lair keeps most of the party out, but Daton, Borumar, Boris, Kili, and Karl master their gag reflexes and explore the lair.

While they're looting the trog halls, the water near the beach begins to splash, and emerging from the dark depths comes a massive crab, easily 12’ across, and standing nearly 8’ tall. The party keeps out of reach of it’s claws, and Eiric casts Snowden’s Icy Sphere under the crab. It recoils from the magical cold and runs back to the water. The sphere follows, turning the water at the beach into an icy slush.

In the Trog King’s throne room, the looters pull the plate armor off the wall. Daton, standing on the throne to reach the helmet off the wall, breaks open the back of the throne revealing a quiver of arrows and a fancy sword. Grabbing the (magical?) loot, and a small amount of coinage, they head back to the main cave.

Gains: Magical sword, arrows, and armor. Small haul of coins.
Kills: troglodytes
Losses:

Kornovik the Outcast

And here he is...

I am excessively pleased with how well he turned out. At some point I'd love to put him next to the real thing and see how they compare side to side.

Stonehell: Dead Dragons and Dark Tunnels

Session 135 was played on 4/12

Eiric, Mage 8 (Kat)
Big Red (dog)
Karl, Dwarf 8 (Julia)
Hobart (dog)
Joho, Mystic (Chris)
Boris, Cleric 3 (Jeff)
Daton, Fighter 2 (Jay)
Morgana, Mage 2 (Robert)
Borumar, Thief 7 (Josh)
Captain Morgan (dog)
Koltic, NPC Cleric 6
Darryl, NPC Cleric 6


Knowing the dragon could speak and cast spells, Koltic used Speak With Dead on the corpse, and asked the following questions:


Is your lair in the swamp?
An entrance to the lair is in the swamp


North or South side of the swamp?
North


Closer to the river or the Old King’s Way?
The river


Darryl then used his Speak with Dead on the dragon.

East, west, or middle of the swamp?
West


What’s the most identifiable landmark near the entrance?
Grossly misshapen tree next to the hidden depths


What defends your lair?
Tentacle monster of the dark depths
Ogre Queen
Lizard-kind
Troglodytes


The party left Lady Eiric’s estate and went directly to the town market looking to hire meatshields. They buy a dog, Big Red, and hire some men at arms

Knowing hat the news of the dragon had spread all over town, the party decides to get a move on, in spite of the late hour. Heading out from town, the party arrives at the entrance to St. Uther’s Crypt at just after sunset. Rather than attempt to navigate the swamp at night, they camp in the entryway to the crypt.

The next morning they begin their search. Miserable hours of wet boots, itchy bug bites, and thick mud reveal little of interest. Well into the afternoon, the party stumbles on a nest of giant water termites. Not long after slaying the bugs, the party notices a large misshapen tree, and next to it, an area where the water seems deeper than the surrounding area. Daton uses the lenses of seeing to explore the water. In the murky depths, he sees an underwater tunnel. It drops down nearly a hundred feet before turning to the south-west. The party moves parallel to the tunnel on the surface, allowing Daton to continue using the arcane eye of the lenses.

As the party stomps their way through the swamp, Daton sees an undead spirit nearby. He passes the lenses to Borumar, who uses them to shoot the spirit. It flees. As the party continues on, following the tunnel (which has continued to slope further and further down stretching to near the edge of the lens’ range… until the tunnel opens up into a much larger space. Moving the arcane eye upward, it breaks the surface of the water inside a colossal cave.

On the surface, the party realizes they’re near the Crypt of St. Uther. With some bitter complaining of bug bites and wet feet the party descends into the crypt, following the path as deep as they’ve ever gone. They’re briefly slowed by a giant scorpion, before arriving on the 11th level…

The stone stairway opens out onto a crescent beach. The water stretches out from the beach far beyond what their light sources can reveal. But far out there is a light… dim, but distinct. The sounds of water gently moving against the rocks of the beach are amplified by the cave, drowning out any other softer sounds, and even muffling the clanking of the party.

Gains: 2 vials of scorpion venom
Kills: giant water termites, giant scorpion
Losses:

Kornovik the Outcast (pt 8)

That moment when you're painting and realize you forgot to give one boot the cuff you gave the other one, and also forgot to attach the strap across Kornovik's chest to anything...

And while I was at it, I have the saddle a little more detail. 

June in Review

The pandemic continues. I’ve been trying to enjoy my time as much as possible. It isn’t easy, given everything going on. With the increased temperatures I haven’t been going outside much, except to walk the dogs.

Gaming
I’ve introduced the Lost Level to my players, and they’re excited! I went and redrew the whole thing, and rewrote big chunks of it to better fit in with my version of Stonehell. I’ll post it once they’re finished with it.


Miniatures

After finishing up the Dark Elves, I moved on to more underdark creatures and painted up Reaper’s versions of the Umber Hulk and Hooked Horror, then the Maggotcrown Ogres, Maggotcrown guards, some ice toads, and am currently working on a couple Dreadmere minis, as well as the WizKids Spectator and Gazers. All in all a very productive mini painting month.

Media
Movies/TV Watched
The IT Crowd (finished series)
Avatar the Last Airbender (all 3 seasons)
Dungeons and Dragons
7 Days in Hell
Tour de Pharmacy

Books Read
Claw of the Conciliator
A Shadow of All Night Falling


Goals
Catch up on Stonehell session reports
Survive the pandemic
Get back into gear with my CPA studies.

Stonehell: The Hidden Stash

Session 134 was played on 4/9

Karl, Dwarf 8 (Julia)
Hobart (dog)
Joho, Mystic (Chris)
Alwin, Elf 2 (Robert)
Boris of St. Gregory the Great, Cleric 2 (Jeff)
Elwood, Cleric 2 (NPC)
Torchbearers -
Arms-people -

The party finally makes its way into a section of caves they recognize, and starts heading up to level 2 to find the acolytes' cells. They face some zombies, find a glowing light on the ceiling of one chamber, find some glowing runes in another, face some wights guarding silver bars, kill some rats and other vermin, before arriving at the chamber spoken of in the note, complete with the hive of giant bees. Alwin uses his sleep spell on the hive, and the bees all settle down for a nice nap. Then the party sets them on fire.

After the flames die out and the smoke clears, the party begins digging under the flagstones. Karl finds the stashed treasure!

Heading for the exit, they wipe out some zombies before reaching the surface.

On the road back to town, a great shadow passes overhead. A black dragon! The beast swoops down, casting sleep on the party, sending Elwood and the torch bearer to sleep. On the next pass, as the party spreads out, it spits acid, catching Alwin. His flesh bubbles and burns, and he drops to the burned ground in a wet mess. On the next pass it drops down clawing and biting Elwood, tearing him apart. Boris charges in hammering the scaled beast, while Joho circles around to the other side.

The dragon tries to charm Boris, but he shakes off the enchantment, lashing out with his hammer. Joho slams his whole body into the neck of the dragon, flipping over and then under it, feet planted firmly into the ground. He launches a final blow up into the dragon’s jaw. The dragon’s head snaps up, and the crunch of bone can be clearly heard as his spine cracks.

Neither Alwin nor Elwood can be saved. What’s left of the injured party returns to town, hires a big wagon, and then retrieves the dragon’s body, bringing it first to Lady Eiric’s estate.


Gains: silver bars, gems, jewelry
Kills: Various vermin, skeletons, zombies, wights, and a BLACK DRAGON!
Losses: Alwin, Elwood

Kornovik the Outcast (pt 7)

Paint has been applied! 

 

 

Then round 2...