Standing around 4-5 feet tall, dwarves were purpose-built by the god Gardd to dig into the earth. Their curved claws allow them to quickly dig tunnels even without their sturdy tools, and their pale, glowing eyes illuminate the untold depths they dwell within. Failing this, their antennae (often confused for thick facial hair) and oversized sensory organs provide navigation through the black. No one can say for sure why dwarves have flat heads, however... an odd choice, but one that shows its purpose from time to time nontheless.
Larkspur was a levistus tiefling celestial warlock I played in a level twenty one-shot, where we knew from the start our characters would die and it was just a matter of seeing how long we could make them last. She and her allies were pursuing a necromancer who kept sending spooky ghosties and ghoulish critters of all kinds to fight them! Larkspur’s patron was a powerful unicorn called Stargazer, and her pact boon was her ‘book of radiance.’
Later on, in the finale of Ursh’s campaign (hence I attached their reroll model as well), we found out that one of our allies was the shade of this necromancer when he summoned the spirits of the player characters from that one-shot. I mean, I already knew, but that was when the others found out! Since Ursh had died earlier in the combat, I was allowed to control Larkspur’s ghost for the duration.
So I rolled the special icy dice I’d bought to represent Larkspur...and that’s how this character who had never even featured in this campaign until this final moment finished off the Big Bad.
In a storytelling sense, maybe it doesn’t make for such a great finale. But I was personally Very Happy because a) it took some of the sting out of what happened to Ursh, and b) Larkspur died trying to protect her friend. And although she failed, she was able to come back centuries later and save* some other adventurers. Yay!
*(not even exaggerating- Ursh was dead, the paladin had been rolling death saves the whole second half of the combat, and Tsuki the warlock was one hit away from unconsciousness. She’d bought herself time with Tomb of Levistus though, which was an excellent move with how everything worked out! The DMPC was okay but would have fled if the rest of us were downed.)
My friendo got me some fun terrain stuffs for my birthday (the ‘army painter battlefields basing set’.) I’ve filled in that gap on the right since taking this photo, and tidied up some other Messy Bits, but otherwise this is my progress on Ursh! Gonna add some leetle plants too, should be nice.
I love all this cool weird stuff! I’d like to make either Zazz or Astrophelle’s base pretty and snowy, since there are snow components in the box too. Those ones would be a bit trickier since they’re Deep Cuts minis (with that rocky bit beneath their feet, then glued onto a flat black base), but I’m sure I’d work something out. Probably experiment with Zazz’s first since his mini isn’t one I need to use in an actual game (since that game is played over Skype), whereas Astrophelle’s game will be beginning irl Very Soon (am excite!!! Even if this is the campaign replacing Ursh’s, and that means I won’t be playing my sweet orc cleric anymore.)
First half of the Boss Fight went well! Four named NPCs died (a high-elf paladin from the past, an aarakocra druid, a wood-elf guard captain, and a cool half-dragon mercenary), as well as Ursh’s ghostly weasel sidekick, but all the PCs are okay! Well...relatively okay. We were able to short rest after taking down a massive ‘Spider God’, and next session we’re going into the Big Bad Fiend’s castle.
We’d earlier been fighting the fiend, when he looked directly at Ursh and said “I’ll see you very soon”, before teleporting out and presumably back to his castle. Very tense but exciting!
The session ended with us discovering that the original owner of Ursh’s magic demon-slaying sword, who we thought died years ago, is still alive. That was a fun cliffhanger to end on! It’s my fave magic item I’ve ever had but if the original owner wants it back after this fight, I won’t complain. It would be a lovely conclusion.
(If Ursh survives the fight I’ll resummon Floral as a flesh-and-blood weasel, to show that Ursh’s skills have improved since the last time Floral died, which will be nice.)
Been tidying up these two minis for a game on Sunday! Ignore the cat fur haha. It’s the final Boss Fight of this campaign for my cleric/ranger and their ghostly animal companion...pretty excited but also a little scared. We’ll have to wait and see how it all goes!
“Again because I am a noodle who left this so long: can’t remember if this was for ship-meme or word-prompt-meme! I will use ship-meme because I like that prompt better than ‘flinders.’
R: things you said when you were scared.
“Gulgg?”
“Mmm?”
They held her close and buried their face in her hair. Ursh could feel their own heartbeat, far too fast; but they could feel hers too, and it was slow and strong and soothing.
Gulgg in general was strong and soothing. Now, as she turned her face to speak, her voice was as low and slow as ever, but with an edge of concern.
“You’re shaking. What’s wrong?”
“Just a dream,” they said.
She slowly sat up, and they moved with her. “Should we talk about it?”
They leaned into Gulgg. As it always did, the immediate fearfulness faded with waking. Their heart rate was slowly returning to normal and everything else would follow. Ursh knew all of that, but dreams don’t spring out of nowhere, especially not the recurring ones. There were elements burned into their mind- a few images, a series of impressions.
“This time, you weren’t there. But he was,” they said carefully. “He drowned.”
“It’s still not your fault,” she ran her fingers through their hair.
“I know. It’s just some part of my brain doesn’t, you know? I know that so many people died and there’s no way I could change that- not with Garlin, not with anyone. But Kriv saved my life.”
Gulgg was quiet for a moment, but just having her there helped. When she wasn’t Ursh usually went to Floral, or sought out their mother, but neither of them were a physical presence. Neither of them were warm.
“Okay,” she said at length. “Andry’s bound to be doing something fun. Probably something illegal. Should we find her, or should we haul drunken guests out of the front room?”
Ursh wasn’t really in the mood for hauling guests. “Andry sounds good.”
“Right,” ever efficient, Gulgg was already hunting down her clothes. “Andry it is. Let’s hope she’s alone. Her employees annoy me.”
