Rappan: Worm Hunting and a new quest

Session 294 was played on 08/17/25

Morgana, wizard 10 (Rob)
Borumar, Triton Thief 11 (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter 8 (Lanse)
Nick, Fighter 8 (Me)
Koltic, Cleric 9 (Cindy)
Aroon, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 8 (NPC)

After spending some time back at the keep recovering from the fight with Sarek the Fallen, and getting the ratfolk settled in with the kobolds, the party discusses what to do next, and settles on returning to Rappan for some worm hunting. Morgana seems especially into the idea, in spite of the many powerful dangers.

The trip back down river from the keep to Zelkor’s Ferry to Sanctuary to Rappan was uneventful. Entering the dungeon was simple, as the gargoyles hadn’t returned or reformed yet. The party entered Rappan proper and made their way to the steps down to level 2 when they were stopped by a dozen plus angry giant rats. They weren’t immediately aggressive, and eventually it was figured out that they were upset that their wererat friends had been taken away, and they’d been left alone. Morgana solved this by using her teleport ritual to send them back to the manor to reunite with their friends. 

Down to the worm caves was otherwise uneventful, and it wasn’t long before a great big purple worm showed up and swallowed Aroon! The resulting battle wasn’t pretty, but it got the job done, and the worm was killed, and Aroon was cut out of its belly. Within its gullet the party finds 5 large egg shaped turquoise nodules, and a 32 point star shaped glowing stone. 

Deeper into the worm caverns was a large rocky outcrop.Exploring around it, they found a secret door carved into the mountain, one Morgana was looking for, but didn’t want to tell the party about in case we couldn’t find it. Through it is a set of shimmering steps. Climbing them, Jameth discovers a rune that drives him insane. He thinks he’s Lor’Koth… Honestly, it could be worse. Lor’Koth is both a good guy to have around and kinda dumb and agreeable. The Lor’Koths find it weird, but not too worrying that there seems to be 2 of them. 

Beyond the secret door and the shimmering stairs is a glowing white chamber with an oversized sarcophagus. Within is a robed figure well preserved though clearly long dead. On his brow, a magical circlet, and on his arms are bracers bearing the symbol of the law. Upon a tablet attached to the sarcophagus reads:

Here lies Spiegel, Hidden in Darkness
Take up my Mantle, Take up my Legacy 
Purge the Chaos in yourself

Morgana hesitates a moment before checking over the rest of the sarcophagus, and finding a secret compartment. Within is a staff, a tome, and a ring, and 4 large gems. Knowing the choice she’s making, she takes them all. She then tells the rest of the party of a temple to Orcus to the south of the mountain… 

Down the magic stairs, through the secret door back out to the worm cave, and then to the far southern wall where Morgana directed the party straight to a door. On the far side Borumar could hear chanting in orcish. He opened the door, and in the brief moment before Morgana engulfed the room in a fireball 4 heavily armored orc warriors were worshiping an idol or Orcus. Through a series of hexagonal rooms beyond the now flame scarred idol room they finally come to the final room in the complex, with a pentagram inscribed on the floor, and a talking skull sitting in the middle of it. 

“I am the oracle. Ask what you will”

Morgana asks the skull for the path to the temple of Orcus within Rappan, for a wish to restore Jameth’s mind, or another path to sanity.

The skull informed Morgana the price to answer her questions. 10,000gp for the temple, 1,000gp to 5,000gp for the wish, depending on the difficulty, or 500gp for an alternate path. 

Morgana paid the 500gp, and the skull told her to “cross the river to the glade Fithane”

Morgana then disintegrated the skull. Nick asked her why! It was a valuable source of knowledge. Morgana pointed out that that was a problem. She didn’t want anyone using it against the party. The pentagram was then destroyed as well, before Morgana used the ritual to teleport the party home to address Jameth’s issue. 

Gains: More magic items from the army of light
Kills: purple worm, orc cultists, oracle skull
Losses: Jameth’s sanity

Rappan: Sarek the Fallen falls

 Session 293 (continued) was played on 08/16/25

Morgana, wizard 10 (Rob)
Borumar, Triton Thief 11 (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter 8 (Lanse)
Nick, Fighter 8 (Me)
Koltic, Cleric 9 (Cindy)
Aroon, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 8 (NPC)

Game paused for dinner….

The party leaves the rats behind on level 1 and returns to level 2, stopping first to check out the ghoul caves. They initially were thrilled for the arrival of dinner, but Koltic disabused them of that idea, and sent their rotten souls back to whatever hell they crawled from. A few of the stronger ones, the ghasts, got away. It was decided that crawling through earthen ghoul tunnels didn’t seem the wisest of choices, so the party headed back toward Sarek’s tomb. 

The golden door was again closed and locked. Morgana “knocked” it, and Aroon pushed the door open. Sarek began to repeat his monologue, while Morgana summoned a fire elemental. The meat sticks chucked vials of holy water, opting to let the elemental take the brunt of the undead lord’s cleaver of a sword. The fight was brutal, but more so for Sarek. He tried to push through the elemental, but Aroon pushed him back, even at one point throwing his sword at the death knight (?) after which Jameth stepped up to keep him from escaping the magical fire of the elemental. Morgana focused on keeping the elemental under her control, while Koltic used his faith to assist in keeping the undead monster trapped in combat. 

In a flash, Sarek was finally struck down. The once mighty general of the army of light, corrupted by Orcus and forced to endure an undying misery locked in his tomb as reward was finally freed. His mortal remains fell to dust, leaving behind only his helm and sword. No longer black and corroded, but both gleaming with their hidden holy magics. 

Aroon retried his sword, and then grabbed Sarek’s. “I am The Light!” It began to speak, but before it could get any further, he dropped it into a bag of holding. “Nice to meet you, we’ll get back to you in a bit.”

Beyond the entry chamber of the tomb was another chamber containing Sarek’s sarcophagus, shield, and a chest of treasure. 

Gains: The Light, +2 shield, assorted coins, gems, jewelry, and some potions. 
Kills: ghouls, Sarek The Fallen
Losses:

Rappan: Running Away & Unexpected Friends

After lunch we decided to swap to the main team for some epic game play. 

Session 293 was played on 08/16/25

Morgana, wizard 10 (Rob)
Borumar, Triton Thief 11 (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter 8 (Lanse)
Nick, Fighter 8 (Me)
Koltic, Cleric 9 (Cindy)
Aroon, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 8 (NPC)

The party departed Castle Black Rook, catching the ferry to Zellcors Ferry and then down towards Sanctuary on the coast. A pack of wolves stopped the party on the way, and dropped a scroll for them. Drusilla needs assistance with some missing property. She also mentions a list druidic retreat that was destroyed by barbarians. It might be a good place to expand.

In Sanctuary they picked up a few rumors
1. Be careful on the river, there's a monster
2. You can't recover spells on the lower levels
3. Great scorpions guard the tomb of the fell king
4. There's a cavern inhabited by living stairs

The party departs Sanctuary and arrives at the graveyard above Rappan. They grab the key to the mausoleum from the dwarf statue, killing the giant rats that had a burrow under/around it. 

Above the mausoleum lurked 3 gargoyles who were quickly and efficiently dispatched, with 2 solid chunks of onyx claimed from their crumbling bodies. 

Descending into the dungeon they explore a side passage, and use passwall to enter a blocked chamber, finding a fancy coffin within. Carefully exploring they find a scroll case and a shiny sword. Within the case was a scroll with Shield, Mirror Image, and Levitate. The coffin was destroyed. 

Further exploration resulted in Jameth and Aroon getting slimed. It took a fireball to deal with the entirety of the green slime. Jameth and Aroon were toasted in the process, but not too badly. Deeper in they encounter a gelatinous cube with some small coinage within. Beyond that they found a secret door behind which they found another scroll with magic spells; Sleep, Charm Person, and Hold Person.

Finally making it to the fungal cave with the stairs down to level 2, they see a small campfire at the far end, and a bit of movement. “Leave us alone” a sad sounding female voice calls out. As it was at the far end, away from both the steps and the way out, and there wasn’t obviously a large group, they continued on their way, giving the voice its wish.  

At the bottom of the stairs a troop of orcs was waiting, most in plate mail! A quick and brutal fight, and the orcs were laid low, stripped of their valuables, and bodies left to rot. The party continued around to the golden door, and began investigating how to remove it from the frame. Borumar unlocked the door, missing the poison needle trap, but the trap failed to hurt him. Beyond the door, once opened, was a charred chamber, and standing in the middle a skeletal figure in a heavy black crown with a large bastard sword. 

“I am Sarak. I have fallen. Prepare to die.” The skeletal figure warned. Sarak’s mere presence was enough to break Nick, Morgana, Jameth, and Aroon and they all ran from the room. Sarak steps forward, sword lashing out and cutting hard into Borumar who finds himself nearly alone. Blotto and Lor’Koth leap to defend Borumar, and all three hit the skeletal figure back, but it just laughs, and heals itself, before lashing out at Borumar again, dropping him. Lor’Koth and Blotto grab their friend and book it. 

The party rallies at the base of the stairs, and attempts to make another assault on Sarak. Morgana throws a lightning bolt through the door at the first sight of the skeletal form, but it just shrugs it off as if it was a static shock. It marches toward the party.

The party runs away back to the fungal cave not stopping till they reach the top of the stairs. 

“I told you to leave us alone!” The female voice from before, this time more angry yells, and follows that up with a volley of Magic Missiles. Morgana returns the favor, and the young woman drops like a rock. Going over the small stream, and through the various large and medium fungal growths to the body. Numerous rats of various sizes hiss but back away as the party approaches. She’s small, maybe a bit malnourished, and wearing a mismatched set of scrounged up dirty clothing. Her magic wand is taken before she’s given a healing potion and touched by Koltic’s staff to revive her. 

She relates a story of another group of adventurers who invaded the dungeon, and indiscriminately dropped a fireball on her wererat mate Jarvix and her family. Her name is Fillaar, and she’s still in mourning from the assault some 6 months back. In an offer of friendship Morgana offers to see what she can do for her mate. Squeezing through some too tight tunnels, she’s brought to the body… what’s left of it after 6 months, and as she already had it memorized, casts Resurrection on it, and manages to bring him back in his original form!

The rats and wererats reward the party with 2 sacks of sneezing and choking, a helm of read magic, boots of elven kind, and a small bag of gold.  

Amamao Paint Pens Review

2 years ago a friend gave me a box of Amamao paint pens for the holidays.. and I was skeptical. I'm really happy using my reaper paints on my minis, and I didn't see what advantages these brought to the table.

I remain skeptical on their use painting tabletop minis, but I discovered back in April that they are fantastic for working on my 3D printed terrain. I also this month discovered that they're great for my 5 year old to use to help me paint my terrain. 

Not only does it minimize the mess he can make as compared to the craft & hobby paints, but he has a lot more control with the pens. An additional benefit is that he has the entire array of colors to choose from, and a love of rainbows, so everything he's worked on has ended up a lot more colorful than it would have been if I'd been doing it by myself. 

Being 5, and easily distracted, he's a little sloppy, but with the pens it's easy enough to go back over and tidy things up. I've also made sure to use the craftsmart antique white somewhere on all the buildings to help tie it all together. 

As for the pens themselves, each pen actually has 2 colors, one on each end. Interestingly the tips on each end are different. One has a larger tip, and the other a smaller one. Both come to a pretty fine point, but for terrain painting, I've largely found the larger tip more useful, and have switched pens and colors if I wanted the bigger tip. There are a few narrow spots the pens can't reach into, but that's a minor issue overall, and mostly spots I'm going to paint a dark shadow color anyway. I've also found that the paint colors don't always match the tip. Not a wild difference, but enough that I've a couple of times swapped pens for something more to my liking. 

 

The color selection is almost perfect. My biggest issue is the lack of a good red in the set. Seems an odd oversight. The selection of metallic paints is fun, but I would have liked a dirty bronze color to work with. 

I have to say that for the price these are absolutely worth it, especially if you have a bunch of terrain to paint. 

November ‘25 In Review

Busy month. But then when was the last time I didn’t have a busy month? Probably early-mid 2020…

Anyway, this month included the following highlights: Voted, came down with a nasty cold in the middle of the month, got better, gave blood, Thanksgiving.


Gaming
Again with the holidays, work only managed a pair of session, and I lost one of my players to a job change, so that sucks. They’re currently in the middle of the Pilgrimage of Yaldabythos from The Painted Wastelands.

Stonehell has the B team dealing with the Fey who’ve taken over the Kobold Korners, and the vampire who took up residence in the Quiet Halls.

Over Thanksgiving I got to try out Horrible Therapist, a very Cards Against Humanity style game. We stayed up way too late playing it, and laughed oh so much. Definitely NSFW or for kids.


Miniatures
While it wasn’t super productive on the miniatures side of things. On the terrain side, I got a lot done. The hamsterling had a couple days off this month, and as one of the activities I used to keep him entertained, we worked on a bunch of my 3D printed terrain, mostly using paint pens (come back tomorrow for a review). One of the cool things with this is that there’s a lot less mess, but also because of his help, they ended up more colorful than I’d have probably gone myself. It’ll make for a more interesting looking table, for sure.  Oh and I went ahead and got a few more things printed up, so this is going to be a very cool terrain set…

And since I need somewhere to put it and play with it, I finally cleared off the piece of plywood that had been sitting on top of the dog crate in my office gathering junk and painted it up. One side is green (using the leftover from the spider) with swirls of darker green, grey, and brown while the other is black. It took an entire 8oz bottle of craft black paint to do it too… 

Not perfect, but better than bare plywood, and certainly good enough to play some Rangers of Shadowdeep on! 

Media
Nightmare Before Christmas (yes, again)
Ghosts
K-Pop Demon Hunters
Superman
Farscape
Hacks

Loot
Dolmenwood kickstarter... these are some big books in the slipcase. They're just tall enough that they will only fit on one shelf of my current bookshelves. Specifically on the bottom, behind the doors... 

Rules Cyclopedia for scale

I also got a walking pad for under my standing desk. 

Goals for December
Finish painting Valfuryx the green dragon (and a handful of other minis)
Finish the session reports from August
Play one mission for Rangers of Shadowdeep or Stargrave 

Stonehell B Team Big Trouble in the Kobold Korners

This was the start of our long gaming weekend! I’ll be breaking the events into appropriately sized chunks for the session reports.

Session 292 was played on 8/16/25

Sonara, Wizard 3 (Rob)
Adorellen, Elf 2 (Me)
Glimmer, Kobold 3 (Lanse)
Kessaren, Cleric 3 (Cindy)
Loahn, Halfling 3 (Josh)
6 Kobold meatshields

The dead rise! It’s been a long time since anyone forced their way through the halls of the dead, and wave after wave of skeletons and zombies poured forth, smashing their undead forms against the might of the B Team. Weirdly, the tombs treasures also seem to have respawned in the darkness… Strange how things work in the underdark. The grave goods found in the once again emptied tombs was a welcome boon for the party, but their objective remained, and they pressed on toward the back door of the Korners.

Just outside the Korners, they were jumped by a pair of crab spiders who should have thought better of it.

The kobold guards at the back door were surprised to have to do anything, and more surprised that it wasn’t Morgana and company. A bit put out to have to do work, the escorted the party through the Korners to meet with Keeper Nolti. The main hall of the Korners was busy, and teeming with fairy-kind. Wasp nest-like structures spiraled around the eves and tucked up against the support pillars full of pixies and other small flying things. Various animal headed fey worked the stalls and shopped, while the kobolds themselves seemed relegated to the more menial tasks.

Nolti arrived quickly to greet the party, and they were surprised to meet a hunchbacked kobold. Morgana hadn’t mentioned that. Nolti took the party to meet with the bookkeeper Roi. They passed by the fighting pit and the slave pens. Nolti tells the party that they reopened the slave market somewhat recently, and that it has been doing good business for the Korners. The guards include Kobolds, Bugbears, and some pixies, though if the pixies were actually guards, or just harassing the enslaved folk, it was hard to tell.

Roi the accountant seemed put off to be forced to make a report on the books. Nervous even. Sonra drops a sleep spell on the lot, but Nolti remains awake! Glimmer doesn’t wait, and backstabs Nolti before he can yell for help. There’s a weird noise from his hump as he falls, and pulling aside the kobold’s robe they find a massive 7 legged starfish on Nolti’s back and shoulder. They remove the starfish, stuff it and Nolti’s body into their bag of holding (it’s good kobolds have such narrow shoulders) and then go across to the slave pens. All the guards dropped from the sleep spells so releasing the slaves was easy enough. The party and their freed slaves make a break for the surface and back to the manor, passing a 10 headed hydra eating… something in the swamp on the way.


Gains: 500ep, 100gp gem, scroll of protection from undead, potion of speed, potion of invisibility
Kills: 14 skeletons, 11 zombies, 1 ghoul, 2 crab spiders, Keeper Nolti
Losses:

Stonehell B Team Into the Quiet Halls

Session 291 was played on 8/3/25

Sonara, Wizard 3 (Rob)
Adorellen, Elf 2 (Me)
Glimmer, Kobold 3 (Lanse)
Kessaren, Cleric 3 (Cindy)
Loahn, Halfling 3 (Josh)
6 Kobold meatshields

It was a short session as a good chunk of time was spent on confirming logistics for our upcoming weekend of gaming...

The party holed up with Rocky for a day in order to be sure to be able to ask another round of questions. Barricading the door from the inside, they hung out and got to know the big stone head.

The following day they asked “How to get to where Sabrine is?”
A: South of the Korners
“What species is Sabrine?”
A: Elf
“Is there anything else you want?”
A: Tasty rocks

With this new info, they thank Rocky, and head out to the Quiet Halls. As ever, the dead do not rest as quietly as the name suggests, and almost as soon as they begin to pass by the crypt doors, the dead begin to rise.