Easter in the Caves of Chaos

[bunn]

In 2012 we went on an Adventure from the Keep on the Borderlands, to the Land of Basic D&D from 1981.  Clearly it was a traumatic experience, because although I think all the characters survived, we did not return to the Keep on the Borderlands until this year, when at least part of the party reconvened with some extra characters to clear out goblins and kobolds from the Caves of Chaos. I can report we were quite successful and the Caves of Chaos now have considerably fewer zombies, skellingtons and weird cultists, and coincidentally, also quite a lot fewer jewels and gold pieces.

Photo above: the Party (level one) about to bravely leave The Road and set off towards the Caves.

Photo below: The Party entering the Caves to tackle some Goblins.

I thought I'd lost my previous character, then I suddenly remembered where I'd put him, so I'm putting him here in case I need him again.  He's Level Three now!  But the drawing of him is from 2011.

And here is Amandapondo Spoo, who attempted to recruit a Gorgon to the party, with only partial success.

I concentrated on drawing as fast as I could, which resulted in a lot of pictures, though not necessarily good ones.



I quite liked these mercenaries though.  Sadly, Willow fell in battle, though  Buffy turned out to be pretty awesome.

A moment when Monty (intelligence 3)  was restrained from charging after a goblin by Basil Goblinsbane I probably should have used a reference for the poses, they aren't quite right.


Monty discovered a pit trap in a Kobold cave.  With his feet.  The redhead with the badly-drawn face is Alphonse, who turned out to be a Baddy In Disguise.  He probably didn't deserve such a badly-drawn face though.
]
Brother Bungo joined the party after the tragic fall of Basil Goblinsbane.

Here we are facing a horde of zombies.

Amandapondo Spoo charmed an enemy necromancer! And I think on the right is a Luxurious Bedroom.

Oh yes, here's that Medusa we tried to recruit.  She killed Pp's Elf, Bonjela, under circumstances that provoked some moral debate.


The final boss battle of Bank Holiday Monday.

Comments

[r-blackcat.livejournal.com]

I love your landscapes. The one here is beautiful.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

I find landscapes so much easier to paint than people! But I must persevere with people, since those are the things I find hard, so need the practice... That valley is roughly based on one in the Lake District, up in the northwest of England, but I changed it a bit to match our quest.

[r-blackcat.livejournal.com]

Do you have a photo of the valley in the Lake District?

[bunn.livejournal.com]

I just checked, and the DM suggested it looked like Langdale. The reference photos I used were:

(from visitcumbria)


though I think I looked up generic glacial valleys to get the viewpoint I wanted!

[r-blackcat.livejournal.com]

Ah, these look good too. Thanks

[ylla.livejournal.com]

It reminded me more of Langstrath, which is straighter, or possibly Longsleddale, but Lake District valleys are really all just variations on a theme!

[timetiger.livejournal.com]

I'm especially enjoying your drawings. Unlike Colin the Art, I quite like pencils -- both using them and seeing what others do with them.

Medusa in prison is very funny.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Colin definitely seems to think that Paint Is All. But I like a pencil. Less messy if you drop them, for a start!

We only saw Medusa's lovely legs at first! :-D

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

...and less messy if a cat jumps on them, too. :-D

I don't do very much art, but when I do, it's always in pencil. Pencils generally go where I want them to, but paintbrushes have minds of their own.

[ylla.livejournal.com]

That first picture is glorious - it makes me want to go and have adventures in it, regardless of goblins!

[bunn.livejournal.com]

It's sort of a Lake District glacial valley, but I forget the name of it now. I changed it a bit to match the quest, anyway :-D

[chainmailmaiden]

It is very pretty & it did remind me of the Lake District when I saw it :-)

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

I do like your pictures; they really bring the campaign to life. The landscape is particularly pretty. What a lovely place for peaceful kobold civilians to settle and raise their children, hopefully far, far away from self-righteous, murdering adventurers! :-(

I like your depiction of Errol. I have no idea why, in 2012, I looked at his stats and decided that he was a swashbuckler, but if left me in 2018 with no real idea about who he was and what he was doin' and what he looked like, but from now on, he looks like your picture of him. Although with a cursed helmet of grumpy neutrality, in place of the stylish hat.

(Third attempt at posting this comment, thanks to a new mouse which apparently comes equipped with a "go back, and in doing so, delete comment without posting it" button, set up to be easily - VERY easily - pressed by accident.)

[bunn.livejournal.com]

We are the Nemesis of the Kobold.

(I feel that brave adventurers should not have to deal with pathetic pleading kobold children and wobbly old kobolds! This is a level of moral complexity I was not expecting from D&D!)

Maybe Errol's helmet can be fitted with a stylish brim? Or was that the one that you can't take off....?

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

Yes, it is indeed the one that I can't take off. It appears to have turned Errol from a lawful character to a neutral one, making him suddenly strangely indifferent about things. Maybe one of those things he suddenly doesn't care about is the need for suitably stylish swashbuckling headgear.