Stonehell: Big Stinky Battle

Session 136 was played on 4/16


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


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

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

“Avon calling!”

“Room Service!”

None of these are effective.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Witches in Sensible Shoes (part 2)

So way back in March I showed the start of the 3 sensible shoes minis I was working on: Oathsworn's human witch, firbog druid, and tiefling mage. 

Here's what they looked like before.

And here's wat they look like now!

Unfortunately it's been so long that I don't really remember much about finishing them. Only that the primer kept chipping off. At this point, they've had 3 layers of clearcoat painted onto them to keep them from chipping. 

And while I was finishing these ladies off, I also finished the Oathsworn Human Rogue, who I'd started ages ago, but left on my shelf of shame for far too long. 

I've really got to get better at taking pictures... 

Sunday Inspirational Image: Castle Crasher

By TacoSauceNinja

Stonehell: Zesting the Lemon

Session 132 was played on 4/2

Joho, Mystic 6 (Chris)
Ool, Mystic 1 (NPC)
Karl, Dwarf 8 (Julia)
Hobart (dog)
Kili, dwarven cleric of Cthulhu 5 (Matt)
Alwin, Elf 2 (Robert)
Boris of St. Gregory the Great, Cleric 2 (Jeff)
Elwood, Cleric 2 (NPC)
Torchbearers -
Arms-people

With the mushroom folk and the dryad dead around the party, the party attempts to cut the heart of the dryad out, but finds her insides are more uniform than expected. Rather like the fibrous stem of a mushroom than the fleshy insides of a humanoid. Figuring that they were now safe to continue exploring the dorms, the party continued opening doors. Revealing the odd treasure, and a variety of vermin, aggressive plants, and unthinking slimes.

Continuing to explore they check out the big blasted room with the neon mushrooms growing in it. Focusing most of their attention on the big mushroom, they look for a way to get inside it.

---

Okay, I was not expecting this. I figured it was gonna be cut down, burned, or somehow destroyed, but they wanted to get into it, thinking the treasure was IN the mushroom. So… sure… I went with it.

---

Finding a spot on the stem that looked like a seam, Joho gently pushed into it, one arm, then one leg, then the rest of him. It was damp, musty, tight, and deep in the confining space, Joho discovered the jewelry that Urushiol had hidden. He emerged and reentered the mushroom multiple times collecting the treasure and catching his breath. Finally he plopped out onto the mossy ground covered in neon goo.

On their way out of the Hothouse, they paused at the warded door. Knowing that Eiric had been here before, they still opted to get in. Karl got zapped by the door, showing the ward was still active. Borumar managed to temporarily disable the trap, but couldn’t unlock the door. So they loudly bashed it in. They were rewarded for their efforts with a hidden scroll that Eiric had missed.

Deciding they’d been lucky enough, they head out and back to town.

In town, Alwin, Elwood, and Karl throw a bash that would long be remembered, by people other than them. And horror of horrors, Karl regains consciousness and finds his hammer missing!!

Gains: Jewelry and a scroll
Kills: Various vermin
Losses: Karl’s Hammer!

Black Lives Matter!

And while we're on the subject: 

Trump is a criminal conman 

ACAB/1312 

Black Lives Matter 

People > Property 

You can't be neutral in the face of racism. Pick a side. 

Stonehell: The Death of Urushiol

Session 131 was played on 3/29

Joho, Mystic 6 (Chris)
Karl, Dwarf 8 (Julia)
Hobart (dog)
Kili, dwarven cleric of Cthulhu 5 (Matt)
Alwin, Elf 2 (Robert)
Boris of St. Gregory the Great, Cleric 2 (Jeff)
Elwood, Cleric 2 (NPC)
Torchbearers - Rolestad, Colbix
Arms-people - Ool, Hilrix

On the way to the dungeon, a bull and three cows off in the distance catch the party’s eyes, mostly because they sparkle in the sunlight. Gogons!?! Giving them a wide berth, they make it to Stonehell, and down to the Korners. It’s oddly quiet, and the kobolds tell them that it isn’t market day. A lone kobold quietly plays the harmonica in the smoky dim space.

The party chats with Nolti the well dressed Keeper of the Korners with a slight hunch to his back, then head on back into the dungeon proper, then off to visit Rocky.

Rocky is as excited as he can be to see Karl (and everyone else) but Karl’s scratches especially. After catching up, the party asks their questions.

Q: Where can we find the acolyte rooms?
A: Near where the gods punish the heretic and he burns for his sins

Q: What Gods?
A: All

Q: What level can we find it in?
A: Between here and the dragon’s lair

They thank Rocky, and head off… but quickly stop and pause to consider where. Finding Rocky’s answers unhelpful, they decide to head back to the hothouse.

The party reenters the Hothouse from the Monster Dorm, and are quickly spotted by some mushroom folk. They kill 1, but one runs away to the south. The party continues west, away from the fleeing mushroom. In the next chamber they’re attacked by a sharp fern that injures Karl before it’s cut down.

Heading to the south, around to the dorms, they begin exploring the middle set of rooms. In the first they find hungry giant ticks. As they approach the next dorm door, they hear movement coming from the east. A mass of mushroom folk and a spiky dryad are charging toward the party. A few pots of sleep dust are tossed toward the party.

The heavy hitters charge into melee, focusing on the dryad. Kili and Karl shrug off her beauty, and Joho’s mystical training allows him to ignore his more primal urges, at least initially. Her barbed claws rake and slash, but have difficulty cutting through the dwarves’ armor, and their hammers smash her down, but not before she lets out a scream that injures all, and drops all the hirelings. Meanwhile the rest of the party is keeping the mushroom folk busy.

With the death of the dryad, the mushroom folk’s morale collapses, and they’re quickly overcome. Ool and Hobart are saved.

Gains:
Kills: 12 mushroom folk, Urushiol the Dryad, Sword Fern, giant ticks
Losses: Rolestad, Colbix, Hilrix

May in Review

Yet again, work kicked my butt most of the month, but toward the end things started to wind down a bit, and I got the chance to work on some fun projects.

Gaming

Stonehell is cruising along, and I’m only 14 session reports behind in my writing. Catching up though, it was 18 just a few days ago…

Miniatures

I said I was gonna work on some undead ogres, but instead I worked on some more BFG ships and pulled out dark elves. At some point I really need to stop and take some pictures to show off before I completely forget what it is I’ve worked on. I’ve not been keeping a good enough track of it, and at this point I’m not sure how many I’ve painted this year...



Media

Movies/TV Watched

Star Wars Revenge of the Sith
Star Wars Solo
Star Wars: Rogue One
Star Wars: A New Hope
Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back
A whole bunch of Parks & Rec
Avatar the Last Airbender (couple of episodes so far)
Star Trek Generations
Love in a Puff
The Lovebirds

Books Read
Sixteenth Watch by Myke Cole
Shadow of the Torturer by Gene Wolfe
Lies Sleeping by Ben Aaronovitch

Goals
Catch up on Stonehell session reports
Survive the pandemic