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.

Mini-Reviews: Annihilation, Jupiter Ascending, 65

Annihilation

This was an interesting, kinda artsy movie, full of beautiful visuals, and characters that should have been more interesting than they were. I kept expecting the movie to pay off, but in the end it just didn't do it for me. 

I did appreciate that it was basically an all woman team, that they were all competent professionals (well, maybe not the team leader/psychologist. She needed her own therapist.) but I had a hard time caring about them, especially Natalie Portman's character. All in all it just fell flat. 

Jupiter Ascending

Yet another pretty movie with some really interesting ideas that the movie just barely touches on. There's so much interesting world building that is mentioned, hinted at, and... largely ignored. The story itself was bland, and yes Channing and Mila and Eddie are all very pretty and nice to look at, but man did it leave me wanting SO MUCH MORE. Someone give me a setting book for this universe and I'll happily run a sci-fi game set in it.

65

I... ok, crashed astronauts vs dinosaurs. But they're alien astronauts...  so the fact that it's on Earth, in spite of the fact they look human... Eh.

Mini-Reviews: Venom, Jurassic World, Indiana Jones, & Godzilla! The Sequels!

Another set of airplane movies for review, this time the direct sequel reviews!

Venom last dance 
Look, this was never going to be high cinema. The Venom movies are fucking goofy, and this one is that. If you aren't into this duo's homoerotic symbiosis, violence, and just over the top silliness, I don't know what you're even looking at the 3rd movie in this series for.

Indiana Jones dial of destiny
After The Crystal Skull, I did not go into this with high expectations, but... damn. They did it. They made old Indiana Jones work, they still made the Nazis the bad guys, and brought back other characters in a way that works. This was really good.

Jurassic World: Domination
This is another one that exceeded my expectations. I wasn't a big fan of the earlier installments of Jurassic World, but I actually like how they addressed the world building here. What does the reintroduction of dinosaurs into the modern world look like? Messy. Also, just like Indiana Jones above, and the Ghostbusters reboot, the return of the original trio of characters was great. Honestly this whole movie was a bunch of nostalgia bait, and callbacks. Do I wonder what the dinosaurs in the caves or the subway were eating? Sure. Do I really care? No.

Godzilla: King of the Monsters

While a sequel, I haven't actually seen any of the other movies in the monster universe series. Did I feel like I was missing out on anything? Not even a little. It's a giant monster movie, the plot is simple and clearly explained. It was fun, and good enough that I'm kinda interested in seeing the other movies in the series. 

Mini-Reviews: I ain't afraid of no ghost! The Reboots

While flying to and from China, I got to watch a lot of movies, and they were all new to me. I specifically picked things that I hadn't yet seen, and wanted to, but hadn't for various reasons. Some are just too new, others haven't hit a streaming service I have access too, others got skipped because it felt like there were other movies I wanted to see more. 

Ghostbusters Afterlife
Ghostbusters Frozen Empire

I've been waiting forever for Afterlife to hit a streaming service I have forever, and just before I left for China Frozen Empire hit Netflix... but not Afterlife! Thankfully the plane had both. I really enjoyed how they brought back the Ghostbusters in this reboot. While I liked the 2016 version this was a clearly much more connected to the original way to go, and brought back the original cast & characters in a much more organic way. By the time we get to Frozen Empire, things are a little busier, a little more serious. Still fun though, and I hope to see another installment in this series. 

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

I was really unsure how this was going to work... but it did. It isn't great, and not as good as the Ghostbusters movies, but still enjoyable.I will say the cast was great, but Monica Bellucci was wasted in the role, and her character, such as it was, felt so flat (a word that should never be used in a sentence with her).

All in all an enjoyable movie, solid followup to the wonderful original. I hope they skip making a third movie.

February ‘25 In Review

I spent most of the month in China! It was an amazing trip and we only just got back. There was so much to see and do… in the 3 weeks we were there, I think only a couple of days did i fail to hit 10,000 steps and most days it was closer to 20,000.

I hope one day my minis and terrain can be displayed in a museum...

This is a pile of hundreds of copper coins at a museum in Shenzen.

 

Overall the trip was amazing. I saw so many cool things, ate such good food, and am feeling so inspired for world building right now.

Gaming
None, for the above reasons. However I did get a chunk of time to do some world building. I brought some worksheets for the #Hex25 project I'd planned on starting, and then didn't. While in China I pulled them out, along with my #Dungeon25 notebook, and then mostly just ended up making a lot of world building notes in the notebook, rather than trying to use the sheets.

Miniatures
I wrapped up a couple of minis that I started in January, but mostly, again because of the trip, not much progress. I have been weirdly thinking about painting more Games Workshop minis. The Emperor's Champion has been calling out to me...

 

Fungus infected troll in progress

Frostgrave Wraith

Media - spending 36ish hours on a plane means getting to watch lots of movies. I'm going to be posting some mini-reviews of some of these over the month.
Letterkenny S7
Ghostbusters afterlife
Venom last dance
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
Indiana Jones dial of destiny
65
Ghostbusters Frozen Empire
Jurassic world: domination
Annihilation
Jupiter Ascending
Chang an
Fast times at ridgemont high
Polite society
Godzilla: King of the Monsters
Scavengers Reign eps 1 & 2

Loot
Aside from some souvenirs from China, nothing game related in February. I know I've got some stuff that'll be arriving in March though. 

Goals for March
Keep up with all session reports
Recover from international travel
 

Wolf In Sheep's Clothing

 A wolf-in-sheep's-clothing is a vegetable monster that lurks in undergrowth or grassy meadowlands, creeping from place to place by pulling with its root tentacles. The body of the creature resembles a tree trunk, with a vertical maw full of jagged teeth, and 10–15 feet long eyestalks. It can sprout a growth that resembles a small furry creature to attract prey. 

This monster was originally published in the Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, and then reprinted in the AD&D MM2. 

It is a ridiculously silly monster, as befitting the same module that introduced the gaming world to the Froghemoth. On the other hand, when Reaper made a mini for it, there was no way I was not going to get and paint it! 

I'm not entirely happy with the eyes, but overall, I had a ton of fun painting it!

Red Sorceress

"Go into the woods he says..." Irene says to herself, holding the torch aloft. "No magic, he says..." The forest was dark, and the torch illuminated just a small portion of it. Mostly though, it just showed the wisps of fog that hid the soft turf below her boots. "Find the purple mushrooms below the old oak tree" she droned in a mockery of her master's voice "and pluck the caps from the stems"

"Oh be nice Irene." Chelsea chattered up from the fog. "You like going off on these errands! I don't understand why you feel the need to complain about it."

"Because I also like my sleep."

"I do too, but this is more exciting."

A branch snapped off in the darkness. "What was that?" Irene whispers.

"A branch snapping" Chelsea whispers back.

"Funny."

"This is your master's estate. It's not like he'd let some nasty alpha predator-"

Another branch snapped.

"Do you know him at all?!? He'd do it just for this!"

"Good point"

Irene felt Chelsea's little rat claws climbing their way up her leg. Whatever it was, it was coming closer. Looking at her torch, she debated tossing it to the side

"I said no magic, I didn't say make as much noise as you could." His muddy boots clomped into the torchlight.

 Irene is a low level but gifted sorceress who her master delights in sending on errands that he knows she'll hate. Her preference would be to never leave the comfort of the manor house or school, but her master insists she get some "in the field" experience. She is always accompanied by her rat familiar named Chelsea. She is very attractive and not at all interested, thank you very much. Her bed is for sleeping. That said, she isn't above using her physical beauty to try to get what she wants.

Sci-Fi Terrain: Transfer Unit

 

Another of my trash bash terrain pieces, this one started back in April of last year, after making the Chemical Processors. The body of it was the cap for a set of sidewalk chalk. I added a pill bottle lid that I embellished with some thin plastic from a blister pack. 

 

On the top were several other bottle caps and small lengths of thin straw, and I used the same hair elastic from my other build to make a pipe running from the top down the side. Since I didn't want the pipe down the side to be the only thing on it, I used 2 more lengths of the thin straw and a bit of sprue to add more detail. 

 

On the back side I used another small length of the elastic, a bit of zip tie, and a couple of cut up pieces of leftover gun from the Reaper Black Star Corsairs that I converted a while back. (This is why I save all those bits of trash!)

The final side of the build I left blank, mostly cause I couldn't decide what to add to it.

One thing I quickly noticed was how unstable it was. The big bottle cap on the front was too heavy. That was an easy fix, I just glued in a wall fastener I had saved from some IKEA furniture.

Some time later, I primed it black, then in December I based it with the metal tone airbrush primer. As with the Chemical Processors, I painted it with the same green craft paint that seems to be the color bulk purchased by the owners/operators of the industrial zone I'm assembling. 

Feeling that the blank side was missing something, I decided to paint a number on it, and as I'd been gifted some paint pens, I decided to try them out.

 Gotta say, I think it looks good! And I've already started on my next one! 

I think its an incinerator. But more on that later!

(Not) What I'm Looking For

Lately I've found that I'm much less interested in backing new games, and much more interested in things that provide inspiration. 2 years ago I got myself the Star Trek RPG core book. A month ago I finally started reading it. I got about 80 pages in and barely got to the rules. I also backed a Kickstarter for /Dungeon., an OSR style game that plays as an old style RPG computer game. I didn't get very far into that either.

On the flip side I devoured Valley of the Flowers, an Arthurian setting, and Aquilius zine issue 1-3, and every issue of Delver that comes out. 

In a similar vein, I've been very enchanted by the Idea of playing Tonks! Miniature game with a single Tank (Tonk) on each side, with the rules on a single page? Sign me the fuck up!

I don't have any great thesis about this, and don't claim that my personal preferences at the moment are indicative of any wider trends. Just something I've noticed lately, and probably due in large part to having a 4 year old. There's only so many hours in the day and at the end of the day when I have one to spare, there's little mental energy left to devote to something new. 

Goblin Bottle

"Some say they bring good luck." Feris pointed out helpfully.

"It's disgusting." Allianora all but yelled.

Nimble frowned. "Who are we to judge?" It's not like we haven't taken trophies from some of our kills."

"Did it just blink?" Rathgar peered closer at the jar. "I swear, it just blinked."

"I wouldn't get too close, you'll get it upset." a craggy old voice called out from the dark interior of the cottage. "And then it'll be days before it's of any use." Tall and thin, the old man stooped to pass through the door

Alice Tochylovska Goblin Head Specimen

This necromatic device requires the head of a goblin shaman or wokan. The creation process imbues it with the spark of undeath, and preserves the goblin's knowledge, and also taps into the resonance of the plane of negative energy. Goblin bottles are excellent at sniffing out necromatic magics within 120' or other magic items within 60' for up to 30 minutes per day. It will always direct the user toward a necromatic object before directing toward a non-necromatic object. Otherwise, it will always go toward the most powerful object within range. 

Unfortunately for anyone wanting to use it, it only responds to commands spoken in goblin, and only with a successful reaction roll (7+) once per day. Failure will result in a -7 penalty to the roll that decreases by 1 every 24 hours.

January ‘25 In Review

It has been a very cold month. I’ve been wearing a shirt, flannel, and sweater to stay warm in the basement office. And that’s with a space heater. Thankfully no one was sick this month. Not sure how that happened. We took a quick trip to Atlanta so the kid would have a chance to experience a plane ride before we took our big one to China later this year.

Work has been stupid busy with all the end of year work, but I’m finally seeing some light at the end of the tunnel. We’ll see if it’s a train, or the exit.

Gaming

We finished our Mothership game with 1 surviving PC, and stopping at least one monster… not sure about the ship's AI… out at least felt like the less bad option. Then we started a quick game of Call of Cthulhu, a system I haven’t before gotten to try.

Work game has skipped a few session because of work taking priority, but the party made it back to the keep and made a very successful, if not super lucrative, excursion into the orc caves.  

I didn’t make it very far into my Hex25 project before I got overwhelmed with life, so it got set aside, but I’m going to be picking it back up for February.


Miniatures

I started the month strong, finishing off the not Willow and not Raven Hasslefree minis, and the duo and trio minis for the RCL, but then got VERY distracted with the urge to assemble… anything! So I picked 3 random sprues from my pile of 50 Frostgrave and Stargrave sprues, and built 2 minis from each, using parts from all 3.

I also assembled the Queen of Hell mini, cause I grabbed her to use a bunch of spilled red paint, as well as Games Workshop Sauron mini that I had set aside to work on last year, and an orc wizard.

Then I got worried about the Queen of Hell's wings drooping. They're really think and heavy so I decided to use some heavy duty copper wire and… well, I think it works. But it's ugly. So out with the greenstuff, and since I had it out I might as well add the mushrooms to the troll I have out…

It's been a very scattered month for minis, but I’ve made a lot of progress on a lot of different things. And there was one warm day, so I took advantage of it to prime all the minis I’d done prep on! I have enough to keep me busy for a little while now.

Media
Silo (season 2)
Ghosts
Letterkenny

Loot
The Shrike - Looking forward to reading this one. I still haven’t finished reading The Painted Wastelands from last month…

Goals for February
Keep up with all session reports
#Hex25
 

Mothership: Advent Dawn Session 4

 This was a doozy of a session, and I ended up with  pages of notes!

 

Ossie, wandering lost in the ship for a bit came around a corner to find Doc Stirling, Chl03, and a golden retriever exiting a reactor room. They quickly exchanged stories about what they'd seen, and pressed on. Noping past several suspicious looking rooms, they come to a massive chamber labeled Paradimensional Drive. 

Within the chamber, warning lights were flashing, and a weird sensation passed over everyone. Doc Stirling flashed back to when he tried to attach a liver to an elephant and it did not go well (and how he lost his funding). Ossie flashed back to his 3rd divorce when his now ex wife stabbed him. 

When they come back to themselves, they notice the droids in the room scrubbing only semi-effectively at the blood stained floor where "Corrupt Heart of the Ship" is written. Mostly they're just smearing it. Looking up at the drive itself, a tangled mess of wires and tubes and thrumming a pair of eyes that aren't there look down balefully. 

Ossie swallows the bile rising in his throat and rushes over to a terminal to stop the drive from engaging. He starts to hack it when nanites swarm out of Ossie and into the terminal!  He can't get past the system login. A thick black liquid (oil?) oozes out of the terminal connection. Ossie foolishly touches it and feels a stinging in his fingers where the liquid soaks into him. Stirling comes up to see what's going on. Chl03 uses one of the inactive androids to hook the extra Chl03 head up to, in hopes that she can provide some help.

Other-Chl03 almost immediately begins to scream and burn, the android skin blackening and the smoke  that surrounds her acts more like watery shadows that cling to the android body. Her eyes glow the same red as the eyes above that aren't there. The rest of the room warps and darkens too, the shadows thickening, despite the light levels remaining the same. Ossie and Stirling run for the door... or where they think the door is. 

"I told you to stay out of my fucking head" Chl03 yells. It is unclear which Chl03. The sound of her nailgun rings out. Ossie keeps trying to find the door, and avoiding the androids. He's hit by something, stumbles and keeps going, miraculously arriving at the door. Stirling appears there as well, with Kissygirl the golden retriever with him. Was he there first? Ossie isn't sure. They yank the door open and run for it while the Chl03s continue to battle. 

A short time later they find themselves in a much quieter section of the ship. The signs say Section 14, for what little that's worth. They come to a door to a crew lounge, and within is a skinless android doing some repair on itself, a pair of humans munching on a human arm. The bartender, Hank warns Ossie and Stirling that Hanks is a place of peace, and anyone who breaks that peace will know none. He offers them a drink. It's called "The Fuck" and is made with "anything that can ferment, and a lot of things that can't" Neither Ossie nor Stirling much care at this point and they drink it down. He asks Chl03 to change the music.

Chl03?!? This one, again, just a head, says she's been on the ship 37 days. And she warns that the drive will activate in just over 3 hours. Ossie and Stirling finish their drinks and make to leave. Hank gives them a growler to go, and wishes them luck finding a way off the ship. 

Continuing with little idea of where they are or where they're going, they come to some weird writing on the walls... maybe in blood? Kissygirl licks it. Just beyond it is the door to the waste processing facility. It is remarkably huge, with catwalks, conveyor belts, massive vats... the sort of place you'd expect in a major hive city, not on a spaceship. Nevertheless, hooch in hand (and bloodstream) they decide to check it out in hopes there might be an escape pod. 

Not long after entering, below the sound of running feet. A human boy(?) being chased by a slimy reptilian thing. Stirling takes a shot at it, but misses. It is enough to get the creature's attention, and the boy runs off. Kissygirl vomits up some 2" long purple worms at the creature, and it flees. Ossie is further freaked out, but at this point who can tell? Stirling says she's a good girl. 

Further into the facility they see large blob things moving along on another catwalk, and more of the slime reptile dog things. Kissygirl shows more of those purple worms and keeps Ossie and Stirling safe(ish). Down below they walk above a big 6 legged version of the slime dogs, with tentacles on its back. It SHOOTS them up toward the trio, and Ossie gets bit by one. It holds on, and starts emitting a high pitched noise, loud enough to travel over the sound of the facility. Ossie blows the worm off with his revolver, the last shot. Stirling slaps a quick bandage on it, and they press on as quickly as they can. 

Ahead, a flooded area but a hatch out of the facility. Something is clearly swimming in the flooded area, but Stirling things he can make it to the door... and he does, but gets bitten by something in the foot as he gets the door open and the gross sewage flows out into the hall, draining away. Ossie hobbles after Stirling and they close the door behind them, and Stirling patches himself up... or at least stops the bleeding.

Mothership: Advent Dawn session 2 + 3

In the embryo lab, with the screaming head of Alt-Chl03 on a shelf, and an android with skin issues and a shoulder mounted gun, Ossie pulls a gun on the mentally unstable android that's insisting on keeping "our" Chl03 and shoots him in the back. It's a solid, but not debilitating hit. The android turns to Ossie to shoot him, and Doc Stirling chucks in a grenade. Ossie dives behind the central tube of embryos just a fraction of a second before the grenade goes off, and after the first shots from the android miss. In a loud and confusing next few moments, Chl03 unloads her needle guns into the android, while it's attention can't focus on any of the 3 attackers who've hurt it. That lack of focus is probably the only thing that let them survive and take down the unnamed android. 

 Removing Alt-Chl03 from the shelf meant unplugging her from the ship's power, turning her off. Ossie carried her with him, and they progressed deeper into the shifting ship's corridors. 

---

At this point my notes are all but useless. It simply says "nope. nope. NOPE" I don't recall exactly what it was we saw, but it was a series of doors/rooms containing various horrors that didn't seem to be anything that would be worth interacting with.

---

I missed session 3, and my character got split off from the group, and ended up wandering aimlessly while they found a golden retriever they named Kissy Face who is the bestest dog ever, found the navigational data, and managed to avoid death.

Sci-fi Terrain: Chemical Processors

 The construction and painting of these 2 terrain pieces was amazingly simple, once I got around to actually doing it. I built them at the end of June in 2023, primed them sometime in the fall, and then didn't get around to painting them over a sessions until just a few weeks ago. 

They're based around a set of support structures for a 3D printed piece of terrain, something designed to be tossed away, but the shape was too cool to trash. Digging in my recycling/bits box I grabbed a pair of lids from peanut butter jars to give them a more solid structure. There were holes at the top of each of them, and I used a pair of heroclix base inserts to make lids for them. I thought about leaving the bases flat so that figures could stand on them, but I didn't think it looked very good, so back to the bits box, and I snagged a pair of arms from some Reaper CAV minis (The Dictator B) along with a few other random bits, and used an old stretched out hair elastic to make the tube. Zip ties added some necessary texture to the sides, and I drilled holes and threaded some garden wire through for more visual interest.

And because I wanted these to look pretty gnarly, and also cause my super glue wasn't holding great, I slathered it with baking soda. 

Then, like I said, it was a year before I painted them. 

I don't have any WIP pics, but I can tell you the process. On the one in front, I painted it with a quick coat of Stynylrez airbrush Metal Tone primer, and them splotched on craftsmart Lush Foliage. The tubes/hair elastic was painted with Reaper Cairn Stone, and the red was Reaper Seoni Scarlet. The rust effect was painted with Reaper Numeria Rust.

The one in back I forgot to use the metal tone primer, and just painted the lush green straight onto the black primer, but was otherwise painted exactly the same. I did go back and dab on some of the metal tone here and there where the green didn't completely cover the primer. All in all I like the front one better, but both look good on the tabletop.