#383
Feb 1, 2026
Books
This week I read:
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever by Stephen Donaldson
Which is one of my favourite fantasy series. It doesn’t quite feel as ground-breaking today as when I first read it many years ago, but I think there’s still a lot of good and interesting stuff in the Thomas Covenant books, and they should have been more influential than they were.
Roleplaying Games
The Halls of Arden Vul
We didn’t quite get to the 12th Trial this week, but we did end the session 20 minutes early because that’s the very next thing the players want to do and they wanted to make sure they had plenty of time. The endgame begins next week!
Instead, this week the Illusionist character completed working through Thoth’s tests (they had a close call with one of them, but pulled it off with a lucky roll), then the party went to deal with some strange people who had been eating demon-meat for years (they were addicted to it like a drug), using a combination of magic and non-lethal fighting to capture them without without killing them. I don’t think these people will recover in the hospital, but that’s not really a concern given how much longer the campaign is likely to last.
Finally, the Dwarf player’s recruits arrived from Kazildor: they now have a dwarf fortress.
Miscellaneous
Everything needed for the garden is now on its way. I’ve ordered three old-fashioned cast iron chairs and a table, along with a parasol, for the paved seating area at the back; the bird baths and feeder have arrived, and the table should be here next week (or the week after); the composter, likewise, is on its way. I’ve picked up a few tools I needed, and today I mounted the insect towers on the garage wall. When the bird table & composter arrive I’ll put those in their place and make some curving paths out of spare woodchips (I have so many), then come March I’ll plant the seeds.
I am a little concerned about how much yellow rattle is starting to sprout. I might need to pull a bunch of it up so the garden isn’t just a sea of yellow.
Link Roundup
Roleplaying games