Castle El Raja Key Update 2

Andy Taylor finished the full page print that will be included in the release of this project.  IMO it is his best work to date.  Andy will also be drawing some interior illustrations for it.   Eric Bergeron has finished the HI-RES cover (included on the sample cover was a LOW-RES version).  I am now 5,000 words (plus or minus) into the MS.  I am laying it out inline as I proceed.  The map versions being used are scanned by GRODOG and are better than the original ones scanned during the auction (like 5x better).  I am including historical anecdotes when these occur, mostly relating to EGG's adventures upon the 1st-3rd levels when he was a wee Mordy.  All around this is looking more exciting than the Bottle City adventure.

Boreal Level Sample: Wynsom's Icicle

Here is a new magic item sample from the Boreal Level due out in December.  Text sampling by me and the illo by great ole Andy "Atom" Taylor.


Wynsom’s Icicle

This is the permanent habitat of Wynsom the ice-sylph.  She was imprisoned herein by the Frost King, Iraggo, many years ago; and he at times summons her to answer his questions of what she knows, or to entertain him.  He has earlier informed her that the more she cooperates with his desires that the more likely he will be disposed to releasing her from the containment.  Wynsom has been no fool, however, and she often tells the giant only fragments of what she perceives he wants to hear and often couches her advice in the riddles of her kind.  The latter infuriates Iraggo, but he has kept an ever-growing journal (see the entry for Ice Sheaves) of their back-and-forth communications.  Most of these unsolved riddles are just the indecipherable remains of their banter, but some have within them traces of truth and wisdom that Irrago cannot fathom.

The icicle has a flat base and tapers to a point at 9” in full height.  Operating it requires setting it base-first upon one’s palm.  However, the icicle emanates an extreme coldness that damages the holder for 6hp/round held.  During this time no concentration can be maintained to invoke the icicle’s power and thus summon her presence. Only those employing protection from cold (i.e., spells or similar) may wield its powers without harm or interruption.

When first observed, its outer surface portrays an opaque ice, rough and encrusted with an icy film.  If held in one’s palm for more than a turn, the film begins to noticeably melt, and as the liquid runs down its length the encrustations are replaced by a clear and polished surface.  An image of a silver-haired and blue-eyed lady rises from its depth, a miniature but animated bust of a white clad elfin-like figure, which is Wynsom. ...

Herb Alpert and the...?

I am a strange bird sometimes. A few weeks back I was listening to Herb Alpert's "Rise" from his "Definitive Hits" CD (but here is the YT link) and I got this silly inspiration to have him drawn raising the dead with his music. Yeah. So I handed it off to ATOM and now here it is. Bloody well done, ATOM, old chap! Yeah, like I said, sometimes I am strange, but it did inspire me on another blog entry I will be making soon.

More "Dhalt" From ATOM

The bust of Dhalt. As Steven Wright would say: "His arms and legs are in the OTHER museum..."