Dank Witchery

 January 25 th , 2022/Worms 9 th , 749 Heroes present: •Beowulf, level 2 fighter, played by J •Deckard, level 1 specialist, played by M •Joan, level 2 cleric, played by A •Pendor, level 2 fighter, played by R Their entourage: •Six shieldmaidens, level 0 fighters The adventurers then spoke to Hervor and her shieldmaidens. They convinced six of the warriors to join them in assaulting Castle Fen. At Pendor's suggestion, the shieldmaidens formed a tight phalanx, covering the adventurers as they crossed the long bridge to the castle. As the group advanced, orcs rained arrows on them from the castle towers. Two of the shieldmaidens went down, but the formation held regardless. The castle gates were open, so the party was able to rush in to the courtyard. They circled around the side of the central keep, where they found cover from the orcish arrows. An inner gate and a heavy portcullist barred the way. Working together, all the party's fighters were able to push the portcul

 January 11 th , 2022/Worms 8 th -9 th , 749 Heroes present: •Beowulf, level 1 fighter, played by J •Deckard, level 1 specialist, played by M •Joan, level 2 cleric, played by A •Pendor, level 1 fighter, played by R Their entourage: •One donkey •Three horses The adventurers continued north toward County Fen. The first village they came across when entering that territory was Mossbridge, which they found to have already been sacked by marauding orcs. A few orcs were still in the village, and the adventurers defeated them in combat. Once they did, a disheveled man emerged from the ruin of a house. The adventurers questioned him and learned that he was Tedrin the Blacksmith, last surviving Mossbridger. Pendor hatched a plan. Mossbridge needed to be rebuilt. He would renegotiate their contract with the Count of Fen, and ask to be made Lord of Mossbridge if his party could save the count's castle from the orcs. He would managed the reconstruction of Mossbridge, and make a nam

 December 22nd, 2021/Worms 7th, 749 Heroes present: •Beowulf, level 1 fighter, played by J •Daveth, level 1 specialist, played by M •Kilwoo, level 1 elf, played by A •Pendor, level 1 fighter, played by R Their entourage: •One donkey •Three horses Wayfarer's Sanctum was a minstry just off a road in eastern Omnikar. It was built by a monastic order dedicated to Dinrad, the god of hospitality. In accordance to the will of Dinrad, Wayfarer's Sanctum had doubled as a roadside inn for many years. It was midmorning. Beowulf, Joan, Pendor, and two strangers named Daveth and Kilwoo were all guests at Wayfarer's Sanctum. Joan was in the monastery's infirmary, recovering from a mild illness she contracted from rat bites the night before. They were enjoying a cheesy chipotle breakfast prepared by the monks and their leader, Mother Dayna. The guests soon became ill. Daveth left to relieve himself outside behind the stables. A monk showed Beowulf, Pendor, and Kilwoo to their individu

 December 6 th , 2021/Worms 6 th , 749 Heroes present: •Beowulf, level 1 fighter, played by J •Joan, level 1 magic-user, played by A •Pendor, level 1 fighter, played by R Their entourage: •Moorgreene, level 1 cleric •One donkey •Three horses Anathar remained behind at the House of the Squared Circle. He would enter the ranks of its students. Before parting ways with the rest of his party, however, he gave Talon's book to Pendor and told him everything he had learned about it from the archmage. Joan arrived and rejoined the party. She, Beowulf, Pendor, and Moorgreene set off on the road to Regdar's Rest. When they arrived, this is what they saw: Regdar's Rest was a large village surrounded by a wooden palisade. When they passed through the village gate, they found that villagers were loading dead bodies onto stretchers. Many of the living people looked sickly and malnourished. In the middle of the village stood a hill, and on that hill, surrounded by another pa

 November 23rd, 2021/Worms 4th-5th, 749 Heroes present: •Anathar, level 1 magic-user, played by T •Beowulf, level 1 fighter, played by J •Pendor, level 1 fighter, played by R Their entourage: •One donkey •Three horses Our heroes decided to go visit Grand Ninup, capital city of their kingdom, in search of further adventures. Joan stayed behind for the time being, but the rest of booked passage on a barge which was traveling there by way of the Downerflow River. There were two other passengers. Beowulf found them sitting on the bare deck, eating stale bread seasoned with gravel. He greeted them, and they introduced themselves as Amets (a priest) and Aingeru (his apprentice). They hailed from the distant nation of Uskul and belonged to the Cult of Igor. The cultists offered to share some of their gravel-bread with Beowulf. He accepted, and listened to their gospel. Igor was born a mortal man, but by exemplifying the masculine virtues, he had transcended mortality. Among many other manly d

 October 26 th , 2021/Raccoons 30 th – Worms 3 rd , 749 Heroes present: •Anathar, level 1 magic-user, played by T •Beowulf, level 1 fighter, played by J •Joan, level 1 cleric, played by A •Pendor, level 1 fighter, played by R Their entourage: •One donkey •Four horses When the party left the Gray Moth Inn, they found that the villagers had hanged yesterday's bandits from the large tree in the village center. Turkey vultures had already arrived to pick at the dangling corpses. One of the vultures wore a monocle, and stared at the heroes for a moment before flying eastward. The heroes set out into the Black Mountains. They followed a familiar path past Castle Dreadmory and, from there, struggled to find their way through treacherous terrain. They came across a small campsite next to a pond. The three men at the campsite attacked them. The heroes killed two of these men, and Anathar charmed the last one. Anathar and Joan recognized him. He was Leofrith, one of the warriors w

 October 12 th , 2021/Raccoons 29th-30 th , 749 Heroes present: •Pendor, level 1 fighter, played by R •Sigurd, level 1 dwarf, played by J Their entourage: •Two horses Pendor and Sigurd awoke early the next morning. They sat on the porch of the Gray Moth Inn and watched the sun begin to rise. This relaxing moment was broken by war-cries. A band of spear-wielding horsemen rode into the village, attacking the few peasants who were outside. Pendor and Sigurd leaped to engage the marauders in combat. The two heroes knocked out four marauders. Two more managed to escape their wrath. It was a difficult fight, and Sigurd had to resort to using more murder-tree sap in order to survive. In the chaos of battle, the mayor of Dunnage was slain. The heroes tied the bandits up and interrogated them. It turned out they were all under the effects of a charm spell cast upon them by an orc named Bloodrot. By repeatedly beating one of the bandits in the head, the heroes were able to lift the spe

 September 28 th , 2021/Raccoons 27th-29 th , 749 Heroes present: •Anathar the Craven, level 1 magic-user, played by T •Joan, level 1 cleric, played by A •Pendor, level 1 fighter, played by R •Sigurd, level 1 dwarf, played by J Their entourage: •Beornraed ap Oroko, level 1 fighter •Sheornraed ap Oroko, level 1 fighter •Tryglia ap Oroko, level 2 fighter •A donkey •Four horses Beornraed and Sheornraed got the party into Oroko Town without paying the usual visitors' tax. They took the heroes to meet their father in his castle, which stood on a hill in the center of the town. Count Beornwine was overjoyed to see the return of his children. He ordered Tryglia into the castle dungeon, and invited the heroes to feast with him that night. At the feast, Beornraed told this story: County Oroko had once been ruled by the wise and beneficent Countess Tryng. Her heir, Tryglia, was known to be craven and dishonest. So, on her deathbed, the countess had bequeathed her titles and pos

 September 21 st , 2021/Raccoons 23rd-27 th , 749 Heroes present: •Anathar the Craven, level 1 magic-user, played by T •Joan, level 1 cleric, played by A •Pendor, level 1 fighter, played by R Their entourage: •Beornraed ap Oroko, level 1 fighter •Sheornraed ap Oroko, level 1 fighter •Tryglia ap Oroko, level 2 fighter •A donkey •Three horses The safest road to Oroko would take the heroes south, through the village of Nordale, then through the Black Mountains by way of Shortfellow's Pass, then north again. First, though, they decided to take a detour to the nearby town of Guthla, seat of County Guthla. When they arrived, they sold some of the extra weapons they had looted from the bodies of Tryglia's warriors. They also visited the local temple of Wotan, where they met a young fighter named Pendor. He had come to town from his father's farmstead, seeking adventure and fortune. The party was happy to let him join their ranks. Father Modbrand, a priest of the temple,

I am currently running a Lamentations of the Flame Princess campaign roughly every other Tuesday. This is how it is going. September 14th, 2021/Raccoons 22nd, 749 Heroes present: •Anathar the Craven, level 1 magic-user, played by T •Joan, level 1 cleric, played by A •Sigurd the Brave, level 1 dwarf, played by J Their entourage: •A donkey The heroes were relaxing in the Gray Moth Inn in the village of Dunnage, in County Guthla in the Kingdom of Omnikar. Suddenly, a young man stumbled in through the swinging saloon-styled doors. He wore tattered chain armor, but was unarmed in more ways than one. His right arm had been cut off at the elbow, and the wound had been crudely bandaged. He uttered a few desperate words: “Castle Dreadmory! My sister! Send help....DREADMORY!” Then, he passed out. His wounds were too severe for Joan's fledgling powers to heal. They called upon the local midwife to help them staunch the stranger's bleeding and sanitize his wound. None of the heroes were fa

  “…when the second moon blossomed into fullness, Danlyn and his sister Danla sang into their blue stones a dank witchery.” Terry Tafoya, “A Legend of the Hellers”~ I wish I could tell you that the above quote has some deeper meaning and changed my life, but really I just thought the phrase “dank witchery” sounded fun. This blog will mostly be about Dungeons & Dragons and Dungeons-&-Dragons-like games. I reserve the right to write about other topics when such a mood strikes me. Technically, my first introduction to Dungeons & Dragons was reading the Dragonlance trilogy in middle school, sometime in the early 2000’s. However, at the time, I was not aware that those books had anything to do with a game. So, my real introduction was in 2013, when a friend’s relative stopped playing and mailed him her gamebooks, thinking he might enjoy them. In retrospect, this may have just been that relative getting rid of her 4th edition books in anticipation of the upcoming release of 5th e