It was nice being able to enjoy a little gaming again with three friends and this time it was the Castle Ravenloft D&D board game where I had an excuse to use a dwarf I painted more than a year ago now. We’ve been playing the scenarios as a campaign, and this time it was “Gravestorm’s Phylactery,” where the idea is to neutralize the eponymous Gravestorm—a skeleton-dragon monstrosity with sharp claws and teeth as well as a fearsome tendency to breathe gouts of lightning at one and sundry!

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My friends usually play the same characters: an elf wizard, dragonborn fighter and dwarf cleric. I favor a dwarf fighter, who I usually set up so she has some nifty defensive powers as well as the ability to move quickly as needed. One doesn’t usually think of dwarves as being fleet of foot, but I guess there are always exceptions.

Sun, July 18th

Afternoon Walk: 12.43 miles.

Mon, July 19th

• Morning Walk: 3.26 miles.
• (Afternoon Workout) Did one set of the MV Steel Mace Workout with my 5 lb. mace and then two more sets with the 10 lb. mace. Then I worked with the 2 lb. indian clubs for 15 minutes.

Tues, July 20th

• Cable Lat Pull Downs (Hog Bar): 70 lbs. x 4 sets x 8 reps
• Standing Cable Rows (Hog Bar): 60 lbs. x 4 sets x 12 reps
• (Superset) DB Bicep Curls: 20 lbs. x 4 sets x 8 reps +
  • Set #1: Dead Bugs (2-ct): 12 reps
  • Set #2: Standing Side Crunches (2-ct): 12 reps
  • Set #3: Full Squats: 12 reps
  • Set #4: Face Pulls: 15 lbs. x 12 reps

I think Gravestorm would look really good with even just a minimum amount of painting. Basically a usual sort of skeleton recipe with some extra attention to the wings would look quite pretty. Knowing me, if I painted this creature, I’d probably want to dedicate it to Nurgle somehow.

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Wed, July 21st

• Morning Walk: 3.26 miles.
• Arnold Press: 25 lbs. x 4 sets x 12 reps
• Lateral Raises: 12 lbs. x 4 sets x 8 reps
  • Did these as a superset with my bench press warm-up sets.
• BB Bench Press: 65 lbs. x 8 reps, 75 lbs. x 8 reps, 85 lbs. x 8 reps, 95 lbs. x 8 reps
• (Superset): Tricep Pushdowns (rope): 25 lbs. x 4 sets x 8 reps +
  • Set #1: Dead Bugs (2-ct): 12 reps
  • Set #2: Standing Side Crunches (2-ct): 12 reps
  • Set #3: Light Spring Bar: Hands Pronated x 12 reps + Hands Supinated x 12 reps
  • Set #4: Face Pulls: 15 lbs. x 12 reps

Thur, July 22nd

• Morning Walk: 3.26 miles.
• (Afternoon) Recumbent Bike: 30 Minutes, Hill Program, Level 11. RPM’s: 70 – 100+

Here we have a post-victory celebratory photo op. It was a close thing, as it often can be, and besides the obvious threat of Gravestorm and the other monsters, we had a few pretty vicious traps and random encounters to deal with as well. It was good to get a chance to use one of my dwarves, that I bought from Etsy, and roll some dice with friends again too. I’ll probably use one of the other dwarves the next time we play.

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Fri, July 23rd

Morning Walk: 3.26 miles.

• Captains of Crush Gripper (Trainer, 100 lbs.):
  • (Set 1): Left = 4 mm x 4 + 1 reps, Right = 4mm x 5 reps
  • (Set 2): Left = 4 mm x 3 + 2 reps, Right = 4mm x 5 reps
  • (Set 3): Left = 4 mm x 3 + 2 reps, Right = 4mm x 5 reps
  • (Set 4): Left = 4 mm x 1 + 4 reps, Right = 4mm x 5 reps
  • (Set 5): Hold Guide (60 lbs.) closed with piece of paper for time: Left = 30 sec, Right = 40 sec

Sat, July 24th

Afternoon Walk: 5.08 miles. Did about 10 minutes of miscellaneous calisthenics after the walk.

Weekly Weigh-in: I am up 1 lb. since last week. My total loss thus far is 28.4 lbs.