#yerth

Well, it’s October INKTOBER again, my friends, and I’m here for it.

After looking at the last few years and where I’m at with them, I decided I’m much more interested in doing adventure seeds and one offs instead of continuous dungeons.

So here we go.

A night hag has been plaguing a respected family. The last straw was when the eldest son attacked one of the townspeople in a fit of madness…

This year, each day will have a discreet, custom map and preview text of the adventure.

I’m doing it

For my birthday, we picked up the globe from the Lego store, and all the way home I was planning and considering challenges. When to start? How to start? What planning is needed? What scaling will I need to do? What additional parts will I need? How do I pick them? What program(s) will I use to plan the map? How do I chart it out? So many more questions swirling about in my head.

The biggest hurdle in my mind is this: The original map was generated from a fractal world generator, but at the time it only had Square projection and some of the weirder, less useful ones. Worse, even though I recorded the seed and other details, the processing seems to have changed behind the scenes, so attempts to generate the map again have failed.

So I only have a high-res square projection of the world… which was fine to convert it onto the wall map and for the purposes of hand-drawn regional maps… but now I’ll have to figure out the projection onto a globe. Then there’s inventorying the available parts, figuring out the map projection onto the plates, which parts, colors and so forth to represent the land masses… it’s going to be a lot of work.

So, with a lot more other non-Lego work to do, I settled on sorting out some of the math, getting started on scaling the map, since this will give me some idea of what follow up planning I need to do. I pulled the instruction book out, flipped through it to count the longitudinal (vertical) sections, count and calculate the studs available and then start calculating the scale.

The inestimable Kat Vancil has issued a writing prompt challenge for September, and with the madness going on over at NaNoWriMo, it seems like a good chance to sharpen my writing skills.

You should participate too! Go to her Pintrest:

Here is my first entry:

Suffering is just one route to empathy. - Author Unknown, Whispers of Fate

Arcadius Shalefoot’s sharp eyes picked out the finer details of the masonry and the rushed finishes on the stone blocks. This tomb was built by humans, but the architect was a dwarf, probably one from Dhur Rhoz. Known for their spacious tunnels and arching ceilings, Dhur Rhoz architects were popular among the other peoples of Yerth.

The tunnel walls were broken up by large alcoves, each big enough to be its own reliquary. Each one was empty, giving the sense the tomb was left unfinished. The tunnel took a sharp right turn and Arcadius stood at the top of a gently sloping ramp down. 

There’s nowhere else for them to be. They have to be here, but… the memory of the girl’s hopeful gaze tightened his chest.

The expansive chamber below had twenty-foot tall doors centered in the far wall. Flanking the doors were two large stone statues. The stone block walls of this chamber were built to a higher standard and the flagstone floor was originally laid with greater care than the rest of the tunnels he had passed. The statues were exquisitely built and polished granite, effigies of powerful guardians of the human god Temur.

From his vantage point, Arcadius could see that other explorers had come to their end here. The remains of about a dozen humanoids had been piled or pushed into the corners of the chamber. Shattered bones, dented and crushed armor, and broken weapons were mingled with the glint of coins no longer needed by their former owners. The flagstones were cracked and broken from powerful impacts, and scorched from magical spells. Despite the superficial damage, the arching supports were still in good condition. 

Finally Arcadius’ eyes fell on the statues themselves. The identical nine-foot-tall sculptures were shaped in the form of an idealized, well-muscled human. Sandals, a loincloth, and bracers were detailed in stone, and well-muscled arms were folded across the statue’s chest. A stone halo gilt in gold backed each statue’s head. Chips and grooves marred the smooth surface of the figures, and their fists were coated in what could only be dried blood.

Golems. Clem’s warning rang in Arcadius’ head. Automatons that will follow any order, from simple guardianship to whatever mad thought their owner might think of. Arcadius began trembling, the fluttering fear shaking his limbs and screaming at him, run, you have no business being here. Run. He knew he couldn’t stand up to one golem, let alone two. Not when they had destroyed entire groups of professional adventurers. And there was no telling what might trigger them to action. The girl’s hopeful face flashed through his mind. 

Still, I made a promise…

- = -

The human-child Mary gave a brave smile through tear-streaked cheeks and watery eyes. Her guardian looked at Arcadius with quiet gratitude. “Thank you, master Shalefoot. At least Mary can grow up knowing her parents died with her welfare in mind.”