The road has led your party to Etelva, a backwater barony who’s small capital hugs the banks of an icy lake and trade river. Happy to have the town’s walls as shelter against the early winter chill, you find the citizens of Etelva in a state of confusion and disorder: Strange signs have been seen in the sky weeks past, followed by tales of monsters and disappearances in outlaying settlements. Best take tonight to warm yourselves by the hearth, because tomorrow there’s hero’s work to be done.
Adventure Hooks:
Looking around for work, the party are eventually pointed towards a dwarven monster hunter by the name of Red Jess. Well seasoned in tracking and trapping all sorts of beast, Jess will (after some convincing) invite the party along on a scouting expedition to the snowy hillsides. Rumours have been circulating that folk have seen a dragon, but Jess is experienced enough to know that rumours don’t pay for lodging and the next resupply. Better to head out, get the lay of the land, and determine is there’s truth to any of this hearsay. Worst case there’s no quarry to be had and the hunters come back with a few beast pelts to sell for their troubles, best case scenario they can come back with proof of something and get the baroness or the crown itself to lay a bounty on the creature. A Few days travelling on with Jess and the party do indeed spy a dragon swooping low over hinterlands, not marauding as the rumours said, but obviously searching for something. Taking care not to be seen, the party realize that someone is riding the dragon, both mount and rider surveying the landscape, though for what they cannot be sure.
Having lost important cargo to bandits and up to his ears in debt because of it, an over the hill merchant by the name of Ravell has been pushed over the edge by the paranoid air in Etelva and has begun a series of arson attacks focused first on the property of those he owes money to, and now starting on his own. Confused at first for accidents, these fires are spurred on by a demon that’s latched onto Ravell’s shoulder, feeding his latent desire to “Burn it all and walk away” , a demon that will be quite hostile should the party try and cut its fun short.
After some time in town the party are approached by Ryldyr, a diviner and minor soothsayer who seeks the party’s protection as he beleives someone or something is after him. Ryldyr is only so so when it comes to predicting the future, mainly offering his agrarian neighbours insight on upcoming weather events that might affect their crops. His runes never lie though, and speak of some looming danger that will affect him in particular if he doesn’t keep moving. Just as he’s given the party a few cryptic hints about their future in order to get them to beleive him, the door is kicked in, and several of the Baroness’s guards pour in to take the addled scryer into custody.
Here she is, she is finished!!!! It’s a little hard to see her eyebrow due to her bangs but it’s there!
I got new paints for this one, and though they’re the same brand apparently the older ones were so old that the formula was wildly different. I think both versions of the paint have their pros and cons. You wouldn’t be able to tell that her skin tone is coral + grey meanwhile Dionysos is coral + white. That’s how different the paints were. She’s the first one I added a base coat to as well.
I tried to put a labyrinthine pattern on her first skirt layer. She’s also loosely based on the snake goddess figures but that was just one reference and I wanted to add a snake since she’s the wife of Dionysos.
Ariadne is one of my favourite mythical figures in part based on the whole sense of mystery with her. And I’m glad that in most versions, she received her deserved happily ever after. Anyways you can see I went a little crazy with the axe and glued a bunch of crystals to it.
Fun fact when I put them side by side last night Dionysos fell onto her and it looked like a kiss, and I was slightly intoxicated from superglue fumes so I freaked out a bit. This is taken today though.
