ARCHINT: The Ring of the Defiler

It's pale yellow with a tinge of green and shaped like a cupped hand. Your finger goes through a hole in its center, ringed with little wedges etched into the 'palm.' The words "if you take the pain/no one will take you." are etched onto the back of the miniature hand's fingers in ancient Greek along with a series of nonsense letters. It's hard to make out, but the hand is wearing an even smaller version of the ring. If worn properly, it transmutes mental pain into physical. 

Whispers of the Dead (Tsathoggua)

Tsathoggua (Artist Proof) by Liv Rainey-Smith

The Ritual 

The operator must first descend underground. In a subterranean chamber, they light candles, oil lamps, and bundles of incense until the air is thick with fumes. As the operator murmurs prayers to Saint Toad, they present their sacrifice and slit its throat. Then the gasses congeal into a hideous form. In a croaking voice, she introduces herself.

I am Tsathoggua, the god-bat of the Pnakotic Manuscripts and sleeping lord of black lightless N’kai. I brokered the secrets of the universe to wizard Eibon and have watched this world since before its veins of rock and fire were born.
My appetite is almost as boundless as my power, why have you awoken me from my slumber?

[Agent’s Name Here]–Reanimator

This made picking the tags tricky

INVESTIGATING HERBERT WEST

A basic look into Dr. West uncovers the tale of a man obsessed with defeating death. Instead of any explanation of his research, Agents only find reports of strange deaths and crimes like arson and grave-robbing that seem to follow West like a cloud of flies. Bureaucracy or Criminology 60% or a sucessful INT test suggests that there have been repeated attempts throughout history to suppress knowledge of his work. Books that mention him are checked out and never returned. His papers are damaged by mold and humidity in poorly kept archives, rarely digitized, lost in mysterious fires, and locked behind defunct security clearances that have yet to be declassified.

Ankhs but no Thanks - A Play Report

 

a plaster cast of the titular ankh

I ran Ankhs but no Thanks, a Delta Green scenario by mellonbread. The party consisted of:

Karina Lask, AKA 'Rowan,' a woman in her mid forties who still looked twenty-five thanks to a vampire bite that so far has had no other effects.

Sophie Walley, an actual twenty-something who worked for the CIA's Covert Influence Group who would look more at home on someone's Instagram feed.

They were told a coroner friendly in New Jersey had found something weird and wanted Delta Green to check it out. The coroner's office was a converted bungalow with a climate-controlled shipping container shoved through a hole in the wall. It served as a relatively more secure lockup and after sealing the gaps between the metal and the bungalow's drywall with insulation, it kept the office cold too. Despite the ramshackle nature of his workplace, Dr. Goldberg was a real doctor and kept his certificates framed on a wall. He showed the Agents over to his find.

ANGUISHEDWIRES session three

After a long hiatus, it's time to run ANGUISHEDWIRES again! Or rather it was, since I ran it last night. The usual crew couldn't make it, so it was up to Litho resuming his role as Octavia, and a new join, Goliath, who dropped in with Zo, a man almost religiously devoted to martial prowess.

I'd finally written up enough of an equipment list to start using it, so it was time to shop. Between sessions, Octavia had recruited a cadre of eleven hirelings, for a mere 56 SP per day. Four men-at-arms, two crossbowmen, three porters, and two thieves, all of them 2nd level. At thirteen strong, the party crossed the river and marched into the dungeon.

SWORDTEMBER

According to some of my art friends, it's SWORDTEMBER 2022, which apparently means that you draw a sword each day of the month with a theme for each day. I'm no artiste, but I still enjoy drawing stuff and think I'm at least okay at it, so I figured I'd join in. You can also sculpt or 3D-model sword media, but that is far outside my artistic capabilities. Also, to justify the D&D-themed name of this blog despite the overwhelming majority of my posts being about Delta Green, I figured I'd stat the swords up.