Lost Dispatches of Feraso #58 - ... and the Village of Hommlet

The 17th Day of QuaDec in the Year 1045

The Free Village of Hommlet, Viscounty of Verbobonc

To His Lordship, Eger, Viscount of Verbobonc

The last three days have felt like an eternity. I arrived with the Feldkurton Lancers to fight off an invasion of bugbears and other ne'er do wells, possibly from the Evil Elemental cult outside of Nulb.  Since then, I've been tasked by expedition leader, Duke Gregory of Ostverk with exerting all my tactical skill to cover the logistics of moving his rather large encampment to the outskirts of Nulb.

In my time, I did finally get a chance to check off Hommlet from the list of villages, hamlets, and dales I had not visited before.  It's structure is akin to dozens of small villages throughout Ras-Prythax.

A single bar/inn, a trading posts, and temples to Akana and Guya are the major buildings, with a tower garrison filled by men from a mercenary company known as Burne's Badgers, just outside.

The burials of your agents, Elmo and Rufus, were attended by most of the town, and many of the various dominion guards.  I still have my doubts to the effectiveness of these agents, if they were caught unawares of the activities in the moathouse. 

No one has gotten a lead on Sabu Tablesmasher and his ilk, and as much as a younger baron might jump on his horse and chase after them, I'm much too old and out of practice to go on such an adventure.

As I finishing penning this letter to you, we have officially set up the tent that act as Duke Gregory's headquarters for leading the assault back into the ruins of the Evil Elemental Power.  I must admit the the years of serving your Uncle as a scribe in the castle swelled up a number of memories as I personally set up writing tables and supplies.

I have not been given my own men to enter the ruins, rather a group of hastily conscripted militia from one of the other minor noblemen in attendance.   Murag Mountainhammer is in the same predicament, although his levied troops are part of the second wave.

While I foresee problems with this attack, I have faith in the other nobles, the brave fighting men under our command, and the hope that Murag will relieve some of us in time, if we fall under attack by a completely underestimated fool.

Sir Elsderth Greyhawk, Baron of Greyhawk

Wielder of the Legendary Betrayer.

Defiler of the Temple of Tiamat.

Slayer of the Wizard Sazor

Freigraff of the Totenlinden of Amberstoll.

DM Notes: The first place my high school players set foot in was Hommlet, and despite a fabulous write-up, I twas too much a novice DM to take advantage of it.  We ultimately skipped the moathouse and went after Nulb and the Temple.  

Next #59 - A Letter from Duke Gregory

Happy Russian Orthodox Christmas!

Dad Day 2020

A longer tale will be in my Mandatory Basketball Rant for this week, but the womenfolk have all piled into the car with other friends and decided to travel up I-81 to Syracuse to watch the Notre Dame Women's Basketball team play.

That leaves good ol' Dad at home by his lonesome.  I've got a few small projects to do around the house, but I foresee some time clearing off the painting bench and clearing up the blog backlog.  My Project 350 goal of behind-the-scenes posts and game ideas has become swollen nearly breaking 500!  

A mid-afternoon nap followed by some take-out might be in order.

Happy Birthday Millie!

Almost eleven years ago I became a father.  None of that prepared me for nine years ago, when my daughter Millie came into my life. 

She is stubborn, she is stronger than her height lets on, and wiser than her years at most points, and the sweetest kid in the world.  She keeps us on our toes. 

Maja is my gamer girl, but that doesn't mean Millie doesn't want to grab some figures and throw in some cocka-manie secondary storyline that's so good I just have to roll with it.

And with me coaching her, it's her show this year in basketball that's dominating a lot of our attention (and I think Maja's okay with it most of the time), and hence, cutting into gaming time. 

By mid-March, Winter Basketball is over... who knows what the Spring will bring (probably more basketball).

(Kickstarter) The 7 Dwarves 28mm Sci-Fi Minis by Macrocosm

Macrocosm Miniatures has started the New Year off with a bang with a Kickstarter for The 7 Dwarves 28mm Sci-Fi Minis.

I'm Okay With Resolutions, So Long As They're Dice-Based

Mandatory Basketball Rant - Week 8

The holiday break for community sports is usually a time of chaos, just not sports chaos.  The schools are closed for everything but official school events, so went to one.

Monday was ViscountEric Household alma mater girl's basketball game:  Easton Area at Crestwood.  I had the game as part of my team's holiday homework, to watch actual live basketball.  The only player to attend was my daughter Millie, and that's because she got to tag along with the Varsity girls and the rec league's travel team for introductions.

As it should be, ViscountEric's alma mater destroyed the home team 62-20.

The rest of the week has been a nightmare of scheduling.  School (and practice) starts up again on Thursday, January 2nd, and every coach with a practice Mon-Wed is clamoring for the four open practice spots.

It took all my effort to hold off decisions until this past Sunday, and it was worth it  One of our coaches, who has suffered without a practice since before Thanksgiving, finally spoke out.  Even the coaches who normally clamor for a second practice during the week backed off when I told them that tale of woe.

Sunday ended with a rash of cancellations at the league Maja's travel team plays for, an a yo-yo-ing of schedules.  At the end, we played the same team we were supposed to, only 30 minutes earlier. 

The lackadaisical travel team lacked, well, everything fundamental.  They deserved the 39-21 loss.... and I hate to say, reinforced all the other coaches in the rec league demanding practice time. 

It's going to be interesting getting the lead out of the 3/4 Spurs this week.