Stonehell: Wilderness Girls Calling!

Session 201 was played on 6/5

Morgana, Mage 8 (Rob)
Joho, Mystic, 7 (Chris)
Koltic, Cleric 6 (NPC)
Aroon, Fighter 4 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 4 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 5 (NPC)

The 3 amigos and Koltic build the polymorphed drunk (now rat) a habitrail. Meanwhile Joho orders a box of oversized brown and green “wildflower girls” outfits and boxes of cookies, along with some bad wigs and a clipboard full of order forms.

They get dressed, and head to the manor. Knocking loudly on the door, an imp answers and they chat. Unfortunately the Protection from Evil 10’ spell kinda tipped off the imp when he went for the order form. A blast of magic missiles cut it out of the air, and saved Morgana from having to magic the door open.

Exploring the first floor’s last remaining room turns out to be a game room with some fancy poker chips. Heading to the main stairs the upper half of them are covered in weird sparkly webs. Morgana chucks a Fireball up into them, to no effect. Joho tosses a paper airplane up into the webs, and it sticks. Then Joho gets a giant spider dropped onto him. A second spider tries to get Koltic, but it is turned. Demon Spiders! Joho downs some antivenom after the amigos kill the spider. Rather than chase after the turned spider, they head out of the main house and back to the ground keeper’s cottage.

With no dispel magic spell available, Morgana instead tries Detect Invisible. The red mist demon tries to possess her, but she resists, and it flees.

They pack it up for the day, dropping a box of cookies at the front door.

A merchant has a potion of elemental form (water) available for sale (700gp). Morgana buys it. Koltic and Darryl spend some time brewing “healing potions”


Gains:
Kills: demon spider, imp
Losses:

Stonehell: Hot time in the kitchen

Session 200 was played on 5/30


Morgana, Mage 8 (Rob)
Borumar, Thief 9 (Josh)
Joho, Mystic, 7 (Chris)
Gimble, Mage (Scott)
Koltic, Cleric 6 (NPC)
Aroon, Fighter 4 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 4 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 5 (NPC)


Darryl and Koltic work on brewing some “healing potions” before the party heads back to Stonehell. On the way they encounter a trading caravan of ogres, lead by Gustov the fancy hat maker.

Taking the main entrance, they swing by Rocky, and ask the following:

Q1 Do demons have a possession time limit?
Depends
Q2 Would it help to have demon’s name?
Yes
Q3 How do I protect myself from possession?
Tattoo from the Vrylia

They then make their way to the elevators, down to level 4. A troop of giant ants manage to drop Koltic before they’re all killed. He’s quickly given a healing potion and then another. However he’s not the only one badly injured in the fight, and so the party rapidly returns to the surface, and back to town to heal up.

The party recruits a drunk (one of Koltic’s followers) to hang out with them to provide a weak willed host should the demon decide to attempt to possess someone. The party otherwise bunks together.

Morgana researches what she can, Borumar checks in with his contacts. The ogre caravan had a couple of magic items for sale. Morgana buys a potion of freedom, and Jameth drops a LOT of cash for a magic sword.

Then it’s back to the manor. Going in through the back door they explore more of the first floor, including the smoking room, and a dusty shrine to a general assortment of household gods. Morgana drops a gold as offering.

Onto the kitchen, they face a pair of flame lizards that had taken up residence in the fireplace. The heat of them alone is painful, and twice they flare, burning everyone in combat with them. In the pantry a green slime gets the drop on Joho, but Koltic’s magic takes care of it.

The party’s drunk meanwhile gets possessed, and they all chat, briefly with the demon. It threatens them, they threaten it, it gets condescending, and then Morgana polymorphs the drunk into a rat. The demon flees from its now furry host. Borumar grabs the rat before it can escape.


Gains:
Kills: Giant ants, flame lizards, green slime
Losses:

February ‘23 In Review

Amazingly, I didn't get sick this month I came down with a stomach bug right at the end of the month. 

Damnit. 

In spite of that, I did a decent job of hitting my goals. I painted a bunch of minis, kept up with my Dungeon23, wrote session reports, and almost managed to squeeze in that game of Stargrave right at the end of the month, getting as far as setting up the board the night before I got sick. 

Gaming
A few skipped sessions this month due to various scheduling conflicts. Trooping around Rappan Athuk hasn’t proved particularly profitable. I find myself wondering if either we’re just missing the treasure, or if the treasure to be found is a little lite. I’ve been reading another of the books that’s set in the same universe as Rappan Athuk, and I find myself thinking the treasure in it is a little lite too, so maybe it’s a Swords and Wizardry thing? Or a Frog God Games thing... 

Miniatures
I find myself asking myself why I decided to paint yellow and black checkered cloth on my bandits. I know the reason (Stonehell) but I could have made myself an easier fabric to use to tie all my bandit types together. I had hoped to get to work on some Frostgrave barbarians, but somewhere in the middle of the month I ran out of energy in the evenings and went a full week without picking up a paintbrush.




For next month, I’ve got all my RCL minis picked out, and even have a start on a good number of them! Not as big a start as I’d hoped, but such is life




Media
Bad Batch
Ghosts
Doctor Who (NuWho Season 7)
Star Trek Discovery (season 1 rewatch)
Star Trek Picard
The Last of Us

Derry Girls 


Goals for March
Continue #Dungeon23
Keep up with the session reports
Play the next scenario for Stargrave
Finish (start) taxes

Stonehell: The Demon Strikes Back

Session 199 was played on 5/29

Morgana, Mage 8 (Rob)
Borumar, Thief 9 (Josh)
Joho, Mystic, 7 (Chris)
Gimble, Mage (Scott)
Koltic, Cleric 6 (NPC)
Aroon, Fighter 4 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 4 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 5 (NPC)

With half the party trapped in a mirror, Morgana, Gimble, Borumar, and Lor’Koth wisely decide to…. Continue exploring the manor.

Beyond the lounge is a large dining hall, where a pair of stuffed dire wolves attack the party. Lor’Koth, already hurting from his encounter with the mimic, gets grabbed, bitten, shaken like a rag doll, and dropped to the hardwood floor. Borumar gets a nasty bite, but crits the stuffed critter in return. Morgana summons a water elemental with her staff, and it finishes off the soggy dire wolves. Lor’Koth and Borumar take full advantage of the stash of healing potions they bring with them. From the dining hall, they open up the back door, and head out, bringing the covered mirror with them.

Back at Lady Eric’s manor, the mirror is safely stashed, and Morgana hires a sage to help her try to get info on the mirror. The sage is unable to discover the command word for the mirror, but confirms that a sufficiently powerful Dispel Magic will release a random imprisoned person.

The following day Morgana retrieves Jameth and Joho, and Koltic and Aroon follow the next day. The next morning, Borumar, possessed by the red mist demon, attempts to assassinate Morgana. She survives, barely (1hp) and teleports away. Darryll and Koltic turn the demon, forcing it out of Borumar. News soon reaches the manor that the groundskeeper was found dead in his cell.

Morgana and Koltic go to see the body. Koltic uses Speak with Dead on the body and they ask it the following:

What is the demon’s name?
    The answer given is in Infernal. Morgana writes it down phonetically.

Where’s the book used to summon the demon?
    In the summoning chamber

Where’s the summoning chamber? 

    In the second floor of the cottage. (The cottage doesn’t have a second floor)


Gains: Koltic, Jameth, Aroon, and Joho (freed from mirror)
Kills:
Losses: Groundskeeper

Stonehell: Bad Reflection

Session 198 was played on 5/23

Morgana, Mage 8 (Rob)
Borumar, Thief 9 (Josh)
Joho, Mystic, 7 (Chris)
Gimble, Mage (Scott)
Koltic, Cleric 6 (NPC)
Aroon, Fighter 4 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 4 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 5 (NPC)

After a little break, the party returns to the manor, heading directly to the groundskeeper’s cottage, and explores it. First up was a tool room, and then the bedroom with a weird mirror that reflected wrong. Joho tossed a rag at it.

While everyone was poking around, Morgana made a grilled cheese sandwich on the tiny stove. A detect magic spell showed the entire cottage glowing (no real help there). Going outside, Morgana casts levitate on Joho, and ties a rope to him, and Borumar drags him around like a balloon. He checks out the roof of the cottage and manor, and then they head to the garden maze.

It’s a simple and small enough maze that there’s no danger of getting lost. However the animated (demonic?) plants don’t make exploring it easy. A pair of blood rose bushes snag most of the party. One is chopped down, the other gets turned into a mouse by Morgana. In the center of the maze is an ornate fountain.A water weird attempts to drown Joho, but he floats out of its reach.

Circling around the rest of the property, they make their way to the front door of the main house. It’s unlocked, and they enter. A mirror of life trapping snags Koltic, Jameth, Aroon, and Joho. In spite of this they continue on through the entry hall and into the lounge. There a mimic grabs and slams Lor’Koth twice, and starts to gnaw on him. Borumar, Morgana, and Gimble quickly slay the beast.

Gains:
Kills: Mimic, Blood Rose Bushes
Losses: Koltic, Jameth, Aroon, and Joho (all trapped in mirror)

Stonehell: What's the manor?

Session 197 was played on 5/15

Morgana, Mage 8 (Rob)
Borumar, Thief 9 (Josh)
Gimble, Mage (Scott)
Koltic, Cleric 6 (NPC)
Aroon, Fighter 4 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 4 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 5 (NPC)

Borumar checks in with the wererats about the mountain trolls. They’ve firmly dug into the mines and are working the kobolds hard. He asks if they can be bribed? Of course, but now that they have a gold mine, it’ll be expensive. 

Morgana is offered her own manor. The current owner wants to be rid of it, as her cousin who was taking care of it was convicted of demonology and burned at the stake, and since then 2 other caretakers have gone missing. The price is cheap at a mere 5,000gp, but it has to be moved in to within a reasonable amount of time or the gold is forfeit. 

As they’re on a deadline, the head to the manor to see what’s up. (the kobolds were gonna be working the mines either way, right?) The manor has a wall around it, with a couple of basically decorative towers. Pushing through the main gate, they check the larger of the two gate towers. Borumar can’t get it open, so Morgana Knocks it open. Borumar checks for traps and narrowly avoids getting dropped on by a patch of green slime. It’s torched. In the next room Borumar is less lucky and is caught by a deadfall trap. Thankfully it wasn’t well constructed and it hurts his ego more than his body. He finds a stashed bag of gold. The smaller tower is empty. 

Following the wall, and holding off on the manor, they move on to the stables. They’re attacked by 6 monkey-faced bat demons. Once they’re cleared out, they press on to the groundskeeper’s cottage. There they find the the last of the caretakers waiting for them. It doesn’t take long to realize that he’s been possessed by a demon, and when they realize this some imps start making themselves a nuisance. Koltic manages to turn a few, others turn invisible and flee. The caretaker is freed of the demon, who flees in a red mist out of the cottage. 

The party takes the caretaker to Boris’ temple for safe keeping.

Gains: 20gp
Kills: monkey-faced bat demons
Losses:  

 

Stonehell: Teleporting Errors

Session 196 was played on 5/8

Morgana, Mage 8 (Rob)
Joho, Mystic, 7 (Chris)
Koltic, Cleric 6 (NPC)
Aroon, Fighter 4 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 4 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 5 (NPC)

Deciding that things in the Asylum are just a little too nuts to deal with, the party decides to use the teleporter and figure out if that will help them get around without having to deal with the Vrilya. Heading up to the Quiet Halls, they take the teleporter to the junction room. Rather than try one of the other teleporters, they opt for the other door which leads out into a corridor. Joho goes first, and quickly encounters 3 Vrilya and a basilisk! The party retreats back to the teleporter room doorway, and Morgana drops a fireball on them. The bodies are quickly looted, but a second group of Vrylia show up. Morgana Lightning Bolts them, but 3/5 of them are still standing. The party launches an attack on the remaining ones, killing 2 more. The last of them turns invisible and runs (probably?). The second batch of bodies is looted, and then they all again retreat into the teleporter room, and Morgana Mage-Locks it.

Teleporting back to the Quiet Halls, they’re attacked by a large group of Skeletons, but Koltic destroys most of them, and Jojo cleans up what’s left. Quickly exiting Stonehell, they make their way safely home.

Gains: 291gp
Kills: 7 Vrylia, 1 basilisk, 8 skeletons
Losses:  

Comprehending Comprehend Language

In (almost?) every edition of D&D is some version of a spell that will easily translate any non-magical writing or even speech. It's usually trivially easy for a wizard, and in some editions even for high level thieves. It's a bypass that lets those who memorized that utility spell avoid having to run back to town to consult a sage, if there even is one available. 

On one hand, as a DM, it I can see why this can be annoying, especially if the spell has a long duration. On the other hand, it is a choice the player took to have their character take that spell. It's a slot that could have been a magic missile or sleep. It's a choice the DM should reward, or at least not punish the player for making it. 

That's not to say that the spell is going to hand everything to the PC's on a silver platter. An important consideration for the DM to keep in mind that the spell translates the words literally, and that not all languages are constructed the same way. For anyone who's studied a language other than their native one, this probably does not come as a shock. Most people I know from the US took a romance language in school, French or Spanish mostly. Either that or German. Because English shares a lot with these languages there's a familiarity to them, and a lot of other languages follow different rules. 

For example, I'm learning Mandarin. You know how in English (and the romance languages) there are different tenses? Past tense, present tense, future tense, etc... Mandarin doesn't. There's context clues, but a literal translation could potentially be any. 

Also there's nothing that says that the words have to be in an order we're used to. Maybe they write like Yoda? Or the subject might not come first in the sentence. 

    We're going to the restaurant that's next to his school with your cousin. 

    Next to his school the restaurant your cousin is going with us. 

To go further with the idea, what if there's no word in the language for restaurant or school?

    Next to his reading place the cooking shop your cousin is going with us

That doesn't take into account proper nouns. 

    We're going to the restaurant that's next to Wang's school with your cousin Zhang. 

    Next to king's reading place the cooking shop your cousin open bow is going with the people. 

Clearly that would be a little more comprehensible with some punctuation, but maybe the language doesn't use any? 

Another trick is to have a word have more than one meaning, or to be used as a slang term. 

What does it mean if the person is described as square? Bad? A herbert? A literal translation isn't going to help much there.

Do I even need to go into memes? 

One last thought. Don't make it rhyme unless it's in a language the PCs speak. I always hated in movies and TV when that happens. 

All of this does require some prep work from the DM, a little more than what would be required if the PCs were using a sage who was familiar with the language and help navigate it for them, but used properly, it can be a fun way to make an ancient civilization (or current but not native civilization) more flavorful.  

Stonehell: All Fae'd Up

Session 195 was played on 4/3

Morgana, Mage 8 (Rob)
Borumar, Thief 9 (Josh)
Koltic, Cleric 6 (NPC)
Aroon, Fighter 4 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 4 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 5 (NPC)

Briefly returning to town for more supplies the party again heads for Stonehell, and is targeted by 4 hill giant teens who toss rocks at the party. The party runs for it. Past the Gatehouse in, a group of Troglins is taking a toll of 5sp per person. The party pays, and continues to Rocky.

After the usual pleasantries, they get to the questions:
1. How to close the gate the fae are using to get into Stonehell?
Oberon and Titania must rule
2. How many fae are in the asylum
Many and varied
3. Is there a path from the 5th level to the 6th that bypasses the Vrilya?
Yes

From Rocky, they head back to the other side of the quadrant, and take the stairs down to the Asylum. Entering the Asylum, they encounter an ugly little fairy who tries to shake the party down. Borumar turns the tables and tries to get him to give up his treasure. The fairy goes invisible, and kicks Borumar in the shin, and then gives Joho a wet willy.

Checking the map, they decide to return to the room full of writing. Lady Eric only noted the room, but never spent any time investigating it. Morgana spends an hour examining the writing and concludes they’re the ravings of a madman. While this is going on a fairy patrol on giant beetles spots the rest of the party. Boumar again is aggressive with them, and combat is quickly joined. Sadly for the fairies, they’re overmatched, and soon dead. The party hides the bodies in a nearby empty room.

Moving on, they find a room with some ogre sized fae (with tiny glossimer wings) singing silly songs. Morgana tries to Sleep them, which fails and upsets them. A fog quickly begins to fill the area. Aroon slams the door shut before anything worse can happen. They then backtrack and go the other way past the stairs, popping into the room with the giant stone statue head. Since the last visit the head has acquired a framework of small porches, walkways, doors and windows all over it. Tiny sprites flit about, and are sent into a tizzy with the party’s arrival.

Gains:
Kills: 4 fay guards, 4 beetle mounts
Losses:  35sp

Stonehell: Interlude Talking to Allies

 Session 194 was played on 3/29 (rare Tuesday game)

Morgana, Mage 8 (Rob)
Borumar, Thief 9 (Josh)
Koltic, Cleric 6 (NPC)
Aroon, Fighter 4 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 4 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 5 (NPC)

Upon returning to town, the party pulled together funds to pay for Biffin to be raised from the dead. Sadly Biffin’s spirit wanted none of it, and the ritual failed.

Morgana spends time in her workshop making scrolls, knocking out Invisibility 10’, Knock, Wizard Lock, and 2 fireball scrolls.

A wererat comes to Borumar and tells him that the trolls have taken the gold mine, and have enslaved the kobolds that were working there to keep working.

Gathering the party together, they head to the Gatehouse Inn and meet with the Kobolds there to discuss the situation. The kobolds are obviously upset about both the trolls, and the situation in the Korners. The encroachment of the fae is making a good portion of them uncomfortable. Keeper Nolti is increasingly making judgements that favor the fairy population more than the kobolds, and has even taken on a number of pumpkin-headed bugbears as enforcers.

Gains:
Kills:
Losses:

Stonehell: Lighting up the Hall of the Mountain Trolls

Session 193 was played on 3/20.

Morgana, Mage 8 (Rob)
Joho, Mystic, 7 (Chris)
Lada, Thief
Koltic, Cleric 6 (NPC)
Biffin, Fighter 7 (NPC)
Aroon, Fighter 4 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 4 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 5 (NPC)

Joho, still invisible, sneaks in the back door of the Hall of the Mountain Trolls and into a large corridor. Heading to the nearest door, he listens, and hears voices talking on the other side. He unlocks the door, and carefully opens it a crack. Within are 5 mountain trolls spinning and combing wool. He decides to lob a vial of oil at one of the laps near the trolls, starting a big fire. The trolls scream, which causes another group of 5 bigger trolls to come investigate. Morgana, watching from the doorway, chucks a fireball at the collected group, then summons a water elemental to handle the smaller trolls. A somewhat protracted battle occurs while Joho tries to make it back to the doorway, and everyone else tries to clear the way for him. Biffin charges through the trolls to get to Joho, who’d gotten himself surrounded. The two of them manage to finish off the 5 bigger trolls, but not before Biffin drops. Joho grabs a few jewels from the trolls that he can easily see, and then Biffin’s body and runs for the door.

At the same time the biggest mountain troll yet, along with a few other beefy friends rounds the corner and starts charging toward the party. Morgana casts Invisibility on the party, and they all cluster quietly together as the trolls begin to search for them. The trolls spend quite a while looking, and among them is an old hag of a troll who carries her head under her arm, the nose dragging on the floor.

Once the trolls give up the search, and the way is clear, the party makes for the surface.

Gains: 400gp in jewelry
Kills: Mountain trolls
Losses:  Biffin

January ‘23 In Review

One of these months I’ll get through it without getting sick. This was not that month. While I’m hesitant to say “long COVID” the fact that I had a cold (or maybe 2 colds) for 4 weeks starting before Christmas gives me pause. 

Please, I beg of you all, if you aren’t up on all your vaccines, get them. If you stopped wearing a mask in public, especially indoors, reconsider. 

Aside from that unpleasantness it was a decent month. Got the basement leaks fixed, now I just need to get the mold in the walls taken care of, then I get my office back 

Gaming 

Getting to play in Rappan Athuk is a nice break from DMing. In our last session we decided not to face off against 8 gargoyles and instead went down the well. Maybe not the best choice, but… We’ll see how it goes. 

My #Dungeon23 project is continuing along. I haven’t posted about it here, but I’m keeping up on it, and have February’s map drawn and ready to go. 

Miniatures 

Decent month. I painted an interesting assortment of minis. I've got some fun ones on the tray for next month too... 

Media 

Bullet Train 

Lost City 

Bad Batch 

Ghosts 

Doctor Who (NuWho Season 7) 

Star Trek Discovery (season 1 rewatch) 

The Last of Us 

Goals for February 

Continue #Dungeon23 

Keep up with the session reports 

Play the next scenario for Stargrave

Stonehell: Mountain Trolls Trolled

 Session 192 was played on 3/13.

Morgana, Mage 8 (Rob)
Joho, Mystic, 7 (Chris)
Lada, Thief
Koltic, Cleric 6 (NPC)
Biffin, Fighter 7 (NPC)
Aroon, Fighter 4 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 4 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 5 (NPC)

In town, Koltic brews some healing potions, Morgana crafts scrolls of Knock and Summon Slug, and everyone buys at least 2 vials of oil.

On the way to the dungeon a bask of crocodiles is spotted in the swamp. Joho chats with them briefly. They don’t have a lot to say. Passing by the gatehouse, the repairs are almost complete and the Kobolds are looking forward to opening up for business.

Making their way down to level 5 the long way, they find that a large section of stairs in the great stairwell have been destroyed by acid and claw.  They secure some spikes and ropes and repel down, and work their way around to the troll paddock. The party sneaks up on them with Invisibility 10’ radius, and jumps the trolls, cutting them down quickly.

The animals are roped up, and Joho gets invisibility cast on him to explore. 2 doors are found, a big double door, and a smaller side door. Both doors are troll sized. Picking the smaller door, Lada fails to unlock it. Morgana Knocks it, but that doesn’t undo the bar that’s also holding it shut. Using her Knock scroll, she clears the way for Lada to explore within.

Gains:
Kills: Mountain trolls
Losses:  

Stonehell: One thing after another in level 5

Session 191 was played on 3/6.

Morgana, Mage 8 (Rob)
Lada, Thief
Koltic, Cleric 6 (NPC)
Biffin, Fighter 7 (NPC)
Aroon, Fighter 4 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 4 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 5 (NPC)

Returning to the 5th level of the dungeon, they poke around south of the Temple of Yg, finding a shrine to St. Kanatius with a small slot under it. Morgana gives it 1gp, 1sp, 1cp. Further on they find a crate with a couple hundred lightly rusted arrowheads. Pushing west, they come to a larger cavernous space with a paddock with some sheep and goats in it, being looked after by a pair of mountain trolls. Lada backs off without being spotted. Returning to the east, they head south, and come to a Vrilya guard room, the northern edge of the upper reach of their territory. Backing away, they press on to the east. Where Lada finds a hidden stash of 10gp.

With nowhere else to go, they turn north exploring the region just south of the Temple of Yg, where they disturb a Grey Worm! That swallows Jameth! Luckily for the party it was a young one, and they dispatched it, and cut Jameth free before he asphyxiated. Morgana takes 6 of its teeth, and the party claims the 6 games found in its belly.

In a deeper chamber with water pooling at one end, Morgana gets bitten, twice, by a water snake! Thankfully the party has some antivenom. Pressing on, they follow a long dark and exceptionally cold tunnel to a small chamber where the frost covered corpse of a human in plate armor lies frozen to the wall. The specter of this unfortunate soul is so terrifying that Jameth and Koltic flee back toward the watering hole. Biffin charges in, and Morgana magic missiles it. Lorkoth follows up and sets the spirit to rest with his magic hammer. Beneath the body they find a small treasure of coins.

Collecting the frightened members, they head back to the temple of Yg, and investigate the doors with the crystals behind them. Morgana wants a sample, so they begin to break off some, when a shadow moves and a black dragon’s snout spits acid down the opening through the crystals and along into the hallway where most of the party had gathered to watch the work on the crystals. Aroon drops from the damage and is pulled away, while Morgana blasts an ice storm at the dragon. They run back toward the gate, only to be ambushed by minotaurs on the way. Morgana summons a water elemental to tie them up, and they all make it through the gate.

On the way back to town they’re ambushed again, this time by bandits. The heavily damaged party suffers under the rain of arrows, but Morgana’s spells kill a good third of them, and injure the invisible magic user that then drops a fireball on the party. Aroon, Lorkoth, and Biffin all drop. Tense negotiations between the wizards commence while the remaining party members administer what little healing magics they have left. Morgana agrees to hand over some of the treasure they found under the dead fighter, and each group goes on their way.

Gains: 1,000ep, 10gp
Kills: Bandits, water snake, specter
Losses:  4,000sp

Stonehell: Scouting beyond the mines

Session 190 was played on 2/27.


Morgana, Mage 8 (Rob)
Joho, Mystic, 7 (Chris)
Koltic, Cleric 6 (NPC)
Biffin, Fighter 7 (NPC)
Aroon, Fighter 4 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 4 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 5 (NPC)

The party swings by Kobold corners to arrange continuation of operations in the old gold mine. An amicable split is agreed to, and the party continues on their way to the lower Temple of Yg. A swarm of giant rats is quickly obliterated by a lightning bolt on the way to the gate. Anything that hears it decides to stay far away.

Once in the lower temple, the party heads from the gate toward the main service room, which they find barricaded by 4 minotaurs. Morgana fireballs the room, dropping 2 instantly. The 3rd falls to a blast of magic missiles. The 4th surrenders, and reveals he was hired to protect the room and not let anyone pass by some elf who paid well. Letting the minotaur go, they leave the temple and head back into the mines.

In the mines, they find a gang of kobolds has already found the magic rainbow blade left behind when Barcox fell. Not wanting to fight over it, they leave the kobolds and continue on their way down to the edge of what they’ve mapped. There Joho triggers the magic map, filling in a whole chunk they haven’t explored. Deciding it’s been productive enough, the party heads back to the temple gate. In the upper temple they’re set upon by 4 draco-lizards, which are quickly killed, and then dragged back to Kobold Korners where Nolti gifts the rainbow blade back to the party.

Leaving Stonehell, they quiet a mob of zombies and return safely home

Gains: Rainbow Blade
Kills: Minotaurs, Draco Lizards, Zombies,
Losses:

#Dungeon23 DoomGate Introduction

During the weeks leading up to 2023 I spent a lot of time thinking about what I wanted to include in my dungeon, how I wanted  to go about building it, what the background was. Initially I was thinking that it would be a basic fantasy megadungeon, that I would roll things up randomly and work with what I got. Back when I wrote my first post about it I said it would be "largely unplanned" 

HA!!

That didn't last long. By the time I started my dry run with The Poisonous Vaults, I was already scheming. 

So here's the elevator pitch for my new megadungeon: DoomGate

The world was at, or just slightly beyond our current tech level when an ancient crashed alien space ship is found buried in a mountain. The military takes control of it, builds a sprawling underground base around it, and begins experimenting. This causes an apocalypse that includes opening a literal rift into hell. Fast forward an indeterminate amount of time. Society has rebuilt to a late medieval stage, magic is now real, but relics of the modern age are still around...

Couple hundred years ago a wizard finds The Core, the underground nuclear power plant (built to power the military instillation) and takes it over, using it to fuel his mutagenic experiments. Things obviously get out of his control. His victims lock him up. The settlement on the surface locks them all in. 

Very recently the well/water source the settlement above The Core uses stopped working, because they stopped wishing into it. The spirit (elemental? fae?) diverted the water, which breached the power plant. It also caused the reactor water supply to drop, as the pipe which supplied The Core got blocked. This upset the reactor AI, which upsets the roach kin.The mutated descendants of the wizard's experiments are always upset. 

After exploring The Core, my Dungeon23 will expand to include The Silos, Aux Control, HQ, The Ship, The Caves, and finally Hell on Earth (names subject to change). The upper areas will all be connected by miles long underground rails. Some working, some not.

#Dungeon23 Dry Run Week 2

I just realized I never posted the second week of my dry run for #Dungeon23! 

Here's the link to Week 1 of the Poisonous Vaults

8. This statue filled hall hung with shields and banners taken from the Medusa's victims. Most statues are damaged. Every time the room is entered, the statues will have shifted position within the room. None are wearing shoes. 

8a. The Medusa store their collected loot in this chamber. 17,000sp, 5,000gp is all stashed in the various footwear taken from their victims. There are more shoes than victims. 

9. Empty plinth in west alcove. Small chamber to the north is a dusty guard room. Levers in guard room unlock the gates, but only one gate can be unlocked and opened at a time. 

10. White marble pillars veined in blood garnet with rings of brass spikes radiating out of them are set at every 3' the length of each pillar. Walls are covered in mosaics of chaos warriors marauding. Hidden behind the mosaic on the north wall is a chest with 4,000sp & 600gp.

11. The well from Room 2 continues through a collapsed corner of the floor. Anyone over 100lbs who steps within 10' of the collapsed section will cause the floor beneath them to fall on a roll of 1 or 2 on a d6. 

12. A large circular table dominates the room with 12 ornate chairs around it. The table is set with fine china and silverware (200gp total value, fragile). The door to the north is locked, the key is in the lock. 

13. Lounge. Large hookah (1,000gp, fragile) sits in the middle of the room. The floor is piled high with pillows with 3 Medusa relaxing on them. The air is thick with pungent and poisonous (to mammals) smoke (-4 to rolls if save vs poison is failed). 

14 Laboratory of Sthedo (Medusa, MU6). Among the various equipment, bottles, jars, cages, etc. is a small locked chest with The Heart Of Stone. A vial of poisonous gas (10' diameter cloud, save or incapacitated). Her spell book is covered in a contact poison (save or die). 

 

Heart of Stone - Magical anatomically correct heart shaped uncut garnet, can summon a 12HD earth elemental. 4 charges remain.

Editorial: Hey #BrOSR! Grow the fuck up!

 My Old School Brothers* in Dice,

Do you want our corner of the hobby to die? Is that your goal? Because shit like this? 

 

And that's not even going into the classic assholes like Venger, Zak, and Pundit. (if you don't know who they are count yourself lucky!)

This is how you drive people away. This is how you make your tables unwelcoming. The RPG hobby has seen spectacular growth recently with 5E, and that's allowed a lot of very cool OSR and OSR adjacent projects to flourish. I have a shelf full of cool zines and boxed sets and rule books because people have been excited and able to make quality content for classic D&D type games. 

Assuming WotC doesn't ruin that first, your behavior will. That dumb PBS article that you're so up in arms about? They're talking about you. And I don't give a damn about your claims that "there's no politics at my table" and "everyone has always been welcome" because that's bullshit. 

How do I know it's bullshit? Because I've seen the other shit you talk about, the things you post with #brOSR and #SparkleTroll. I've seen the things you've liked and retweeted. You aren't subtle, and you aren't fooling anyone. 

And yeah, I can just block you and happily play my games, but I'd like to be able to get people interested in the hobby without getting a side eye when they find out the corner of it I generally play in. 

It's 2023, and time to stop acting like it's still 1979 (it wasn't good then, FYI). Your racist, misogynistic, homophobic bullshit needs to go. Your gatekeeping isn't helpful or wanted. Your puritanical zeal for a game written before most RPG players were even born is going to increasingly see you relegated to the same dank dark corners of musty old basements that hold the embarrassing collection of Nazi & MAGA paraphernalia that your kids or grand-kids will be embarrassed to have to deal with when you die.   

Kicking in the door, killing horrible monsters, and taking their treasure is a fun way to play. Get your heads out of your asses, grow up, and for fuck sake stop being colossal dicks so I can focus on making cool stuff for my game.

*Yes, brothers, because it's always a bunch of guys, usually older, and usually white.

2022 in Miniatures

2022 was a productive year, largely because of the Reaper Challenge League. It really spurred me to keep painting, even when there were a whole lot of good reasons to not pick up a paint brush. The league probably wouldn't be as motivating if it wasn't for the group categories that I always signed up for, even in the busiest of months. 

117 minis in total in these pics (but there are at least 2 that I can't put my hands on right this second), including terrain pieces and some small terrain accessories Here's a group shot of all the fantasy minis.

 

And some close ups...

I'm still really pleased with these cultists.

And here's the sci-fi contingent.

A very productive year. I haven't finished any minis yet this year, but I've got several that are close to done, and a couple others that I just started. Ideally I'll paint at least the same number of minis... I have a couple of big things I'd like to get done this year too, including getting back to my cardboard spaceships.

Demon Idol

You know what’s really cool? Having a fellow player in your game who say “Hey, I’ve got a 3D printer. Anyone want anything printed out?”

And yes, yes I do…

One of the things I’ve really wanted was the demon idol from the 1e player’s handbook. Now I have one!

The green plastic was a little weird, and the print quality was pretty decent for something this size. The smaller PC sized minis were unfortunately too small for the details to come out, so I’m glad I went with something a little more substantial.

After cleaning up the support bits from the printer, I primed it with black craft paint. I was generous with the application, and the paint is thick to begin with, and for the most part it did a good job filling in most of the print lines.

I thought about carving out the fire and replacing it with the head of the medium fire elemental, but decided to just go with the printed flames, as the head wasn’t quite big enough, but the fireballs were too big.

Wanting to keep it fairly simple, I built up a couple of layers of dark, medium, and then lighter grey, but the more I worked on it, the more the lines stood out.  So I smeared the whole thing with wood glue and coated it in fine grained sand, and then painted it black again.

 

I still wasn't super thrilled, and so in frustration I put it away... for a long time. Way back in the summer of 2018.

Pulling it out recently I decided to wrap it up. I repainted it, added some OSL from the flames, and a pair of gems were glued in for eyes. 

I think that's looking just fine! And I'm glad to have it finished. 

December ‘22 In Review

Well, there was another long few days of rain, and my basement office flooded again. The bookshelves were moved out to the main (not flooded) room, and shopping for the shelves for the other books was put on hold. Repairs have yet to be done, but probably will be taken care of early in the new year.

Christmas break was a quiet one, except for the near constant sounds that come from a toddler. Add to that a cold that knocked us all down a few pegs, and kept me from finishing all the minis I’d planned on finishing.

Gaming
Stonehell has reached a pause point as Lady Morgana hit level 9, and immediately retired to her manor to do some research and magic item making that will keep her busy for months. In the meantime I’m getting to play Nick in Rappan Athuk.

I also started #Dungeon23, completing a 2 week dry run before the start of the new year.

Miniatures
Like I said above, didn’t get everything finished that I wanted to, but still managed to wrap up a few minis that I’m pretty proud of. I’ll be doing a minis of 2022 wrap up later this week.

Media
Star Trek Prodigy
Bad Batch
Ghosts
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
Spirited
Guardians of the Galaxy Christmas Special
White Christmas
The Lost City
Daredevil season 1

Goals for January
Continue Dungeon23
Write up 1 session report/week
Play scenario 2 of the Stargrave Solo Campaign