5 days to Crucible GT

13 Days to Crucible GT

So the Crucible GT in Orlando is less than two weeks away and now we're getting to about the point where the wheels came flying off the wagon for me before Battle for Salvation this past fall. The good news is, I'm much closer now to getting Skeletor's Sinister Luftwaffe off the worktable and on the gaming table. Bad news is I still have a bunch of stuff to do and I need to start getting more serious about doing it. I'm taking heart in the stuff that I have been able to get done by steadily working a little at a time the past couple months, and hoping that will motivate me to crack down and finish the rest of it. Here's what the two OOP raiders will look like that carry Skeletor's evil warriors that are going to be the wracks. The raiders have maybe an hours worth of painting work to do on them, which includes finishing the bases.

And here is an idea of what the finished rotons will look like when they're carrying the evil warriors that function as kabalite trueborn. These babies were completely built from scratch and then the pieces molded and cast. This pic was before I did the edge highlights on the black, and I still have about an hour or two to do on them, including finishing the bases, the cockpit interiors, and touching up the yellow smoke/gas.

I've also been working on the visual army list I'm going to have for my own reference and also give to each opponent for their reference and as a kind of souvenier.

It's going to be on legal paper with two sides and laminated when it's done and basically is intended as a visual reference for what models are what in the army and what upgrades are given to each model and unit. I'll also have the printed Army Builder list for the stats and points, of course. I haven't gotten a recent pic of Snake Mountain, but there's not a lot of progress since the last couple that I've posted (I think the last one I posted had the base coat of paint laid down with the lava falls completed and the first couple coats of paint on the lava) Right now I've been washing the lava with Bloodletter red to get it to look more like lava, as Mrs. Carnivean keeps saying it still doesn't look like lava. After I'm planning on adding a resin coat with a slight tint to it. Any ideas on the color and ratio I should use? I know some of you have done a lot more with the resin effects than I have. I'm using the two part stuff that I know Tim and Tom have used in the past. Here's the army list itself, which is based off my original list and incorporating some of the suggestions Bob had made before BFS. It's submitted already, so locked in, but any strategy tips and advice would be greatly appreciated, as I still haven't played a game of 40K in two years. 2000 Pts - Dark Eldar Roster - Kabal of the Snake Headed Mountain Total Roster Cost: 1998 HQ: Baron Sathonyx (1#, 105 pts) 1 Baron Sathonyx, 105 pts HQ: Haemonculus (1#, 50 pts) 1 Haemonculus, 50 pts Troops: Hellion (15#, 275 pts) 14 Hellion, 224 pts = 14 * 16 1 Helliarch, 51 pts = (base cost 26 + Phantasm Grenade Launcher 20 + Power Weapon 5) Troops: Wracks (11#, 220 pts) 9 Wracks, 110 pts = 9 * 10 (base cost 10) + Liquifier Gun x2 20 1 Acothyst, 25 pts = (base cost 20) + Venom Blade 5 1 Raider, 85 pts = (base cost 60) + Torment Grenade Launchers 5 + Night Shields 10 + Flickerfield 10 Troops: Wracks (11#, 220 pts) 9 Wracks, 110 pts = 9 * 10 (base cost 10) + Liquifier Gun x2 20 1 Acothyst, 25 pts = (base cost 20) + Venom Blade 5 1 Raider, 85 pts = (base cost 60) + Torment Grenade Launchers 5 + Night Shields 10 + Flickerfield 10 Troops: Kabalite Warriors (6#, 130 pts) 5 Kabalite Warriors, 60 pts = 5 * 9 (base cost 9) + Blaster x1 15 1 Raider, 70 pts = (base cost 60) + Night Shields 10 Troops: Kabalite Warriors (6#, 130 pts) 5 Kabalite Warriors, 60 pts = 5 * 9 (base cost 9) + Blaster x1 15 1 Raider, 70 pts = (base cost 60) + Night Shields 10 Troops: Kabalite Warriors (6#, 130 pts) 5 Kabalite Warriors, 60 pts = 5 * 9 (base cost 9) + Blaster x1 15 1 Raider, 70 pts = (base cost 60) + Night Shields 10 Elite: Kabalite Trueborn (4#, 121 pts) 3 Kabalite Trueborn, 56 pts = 3 * 12 (base cost 12) + Splinter Cannon x2 20 1 Venom, 65 pts = (base cost 55) + Night Shields 10 Elite: Kabalite Trueborn (4#, 121 pts) 3 Kabalite Trueborn, 56 pts = 3 * 12 (base cost 12) + Splinter Cannon x2 20 1 Venom, 65 pts = (base cost 55) + Night Shields 10 Elite: Kabalite Trueborn (4#, 121 pts) 3 Kabalite Trueborn, 56 pts = 3 * 12 (base cost 12) + Splinter Cannon x2 20 1 Venom, 65 pts = (base cost 55) + Night Shields 10 Heavy Support: Ravager (1#, 125 pts) 1 Ravager, 125 pts = (base cost 105) + Night Shields 10 + Flickerfield 10 Heavy Support: Ravager (1#, 125 pts) 1 Ravager, 125 pts = (base cost 105) + Night Shields 10 + Flickerfield 10 Heavy Support: Ravager (1#, 125 pts) 1 Ravager, 125 pts = (base cost 105) + Night Shields 10 + Flickerfield 10 Validation Report: 1. Dark Eldar Army: Kabal; c-1. File Version: 1.29 For Bug Reports/www.ab40k.org; b-1. Roster Options: Named or Special Characters; a-1. Scenario: Normal Mission; b-2. Levels of Alliance: Battle Brothers Roster satisfies all enforced validation rules Composition Report: HQ: 2 (1 - 2) Elite: 3 (0 - 3) Troops: 6 (2 - 6) Fast: 0 (0 - 3) Heavy: 3 (0 - 3) Fort: 0 (0 - 1) Created with Army Builder® - Try it for free at http://www.wolflair.com And here's the punch list, which I will try to update as I go and can kind of be viewed as a companion piece to my two Wall of Text articles to show what goes into getting a complicated army with display base ready for a tournament and the enormity of the undertaking I was attempting with this particular army. Kabal of the Snake Headed Mountain Punch list - red washes on lava - resin coat on lava - finish painting OOP raiders - finish painting rotons - airbrush yellow smoke - airbrush raiders x3 - paint raiders x3 (basically the highlights and details. Not using the crew models since the kabalite warriors are all pegged to fit in the raider while being transported) - finish painting ravagers x3 (airbrush coat is already done and crew are already painted - finish assemble snake mountain bridge - paint snake mountain bridge (the bridge is magnetized (and will be pegged as well)to fit in place so will not be permantly attached - assemble snake mountain doors x2 - install snake mountain doors x2 - assemble snake mountain portuculis - install snake mountain portculis - drill and peg vehicles to mountain (I had magnetized the rotons and OOP raiders but they're just too heavy to hold, so I'm going to drill the bottoms of their custom bases and make removable pegs that will fit down into the top of the mountain and hold them in place a little better, as right now I'm seeing a potential catastrophe any time the display base gets jostled a little) - Finish painting Snake Mountain (have to do some of the detail stuff, the touch-ups, and the highlight coats, as well as the name plaque/scroll at the base. Mrs. Carnivean wants to help with this as she had done the highlights and finishing on the Ghosts N' Goblins base and really enjoyed it) - make Dragstor smoke effects (basically he's going to have a trail of exhaust smoke behind him attached to his base and to the base of the raider he's travelling with) - finish painting Grizzlor, Modulok, Evil Lyn, Tri-Klops, and Manntenna (mainly just touch-ups - they were all almost finished when I bailed last time) - finish wrack and trueborn bases (most have been done already, but the last batch of characters I was working on still need their bases done) - finish painting hellions (mostly done from before - they just need the last couple highlights) - finish kabalite warrior bases and feet and separate into numbered baggies (an explanation here; since the warriors are all pegged with paper clip pieces to fit into the raiders and then onto the magnetized bases, they kind of have to be matched with the correct base to fit well. Since there are fifteen of them, this could lead to problems. To solve this, I've painted the undersides of each foot with a unique pair of colors which will corespond to the unique pair of colors the bottoms of each base are painted with. To further help, each five man raider crew and their bases will be in a separate numbered ziplock baggie and their raider will have the corresponding number on its belly, so that way when the crew disembarks, I can throw the bases down on the table immediately to show placement and add the models while my opponent is rolling/moving models/etc so as not to use up time. I'll be using the same strategy with the wracks and trueborn, putting the bases in different baggies corresponding to their transports. The character names are all on the bases, so it'll be easy to know who goes on what base) - finish visual army list (basically involves adding the rest of the pictures, doing a background and sprucing up the title font, then printing and laminating them at Staples) - Select montage pictures (I should explain here. I want to have the flat backside of Snake Mountain decorated with pictures of the army in progress so people can see that all the non-GW minis were scrach sculpts rather than stuff from another line, and also to show off the work that went into the army. It's going to have a black border/frame with a shattered mirror pattern) - Trace snake mountain back and cut foamcore, posterboard, and clear plastic for montage(white foamcore for the backing, onto which the pictures will be affixed, with the clear plastic - thin sheets used in some poster frames - and then the black posterboard frame over top. Since Snake Mountain is in three stackable pieces, the montage will be made up of three sections, each of which will affix to the back of the mountain pieces. - Create picture montage and cut out windows in frame (this project I'm going to give to Mrs. Carnivean as it's the kind of thing she likes to do) - Glue finished montage to backside of display base

Evil Toys for Christmas

Back from the Grave

Back From the Grave

So it’s been a crazy couple months since I got back from my visit back home but I’m trying to put the pieces back together of my failed BFS army and also tie up some loose hobby projects before the New Year.  So get ready for a massive update.

Wall of Text Article:  This is something I had been working on sporadically for the past three or four months and I finally finished last week and it’s up on the boards now.  (The first half at least; the damn thing was so long Rod thought we should make it into two articles)

http://ordo-ineptus.proboards.com/thread/3781/wall-text

The Kabal of the Snake Headed Mountain:  Sadly once there was no more tournament to bring them to I lost a lot of steam and life got in the way for a few weeks as well, but I had been making some incremental progress and now I’m planning on making a big push to finish everything.  Snake Mountain is mostly base painted now and I’m in the process of painting the lava effects.  Once that’s done it’s just doing the detail painting and adding some details like a couple of gates/doors and a bridge.  I nailed down the color schemes I want for the different transports, and have started mixing up colors and painting the two old school raiders by brush.  I’m hoping to be able to use my crummy airbrush to at least put down the main hull colors on the newer raiders and ravagers, and would like to have a first coat on all of those by the end of this weekend if possible.

 

There’s a weekend long tournament in Orlando in February that I’m planning on bringing them to, and I’m going to try to have them finished by the new year or shortly after so I don’t have to try and scramble to meet another deadline again.

The Pledge:  I kind of lost track so I’ll have to go through everything and do a final tally, since I know I didn’t buy too much this year.  I was “in the black” for most of the year, but then I picked up the Dark Vengeance set a couple months ago and that screwed me up a little. And so the next few weeks I’m going to try and finish some projects that got left 95% completed when the BFS army started taking over, like my huge 30+ plague monk unit with furnace, my gatorman posse and Maelok for Hordes and Collodi’s warband for Malifaux.  Just doing those should put me back in black.

Malifaux: I’ve had Collodi’s crew 90% done for the better part of a year now and I’d really like to get them finished.  I really want to get back into this game since I’ve always really loved the models and the game system and now with second edition being released they’re doing a lot now at  he place in Kissimmee. And also with Malifaux being supported at the newly opened Gamers Gambit up there, I figure some people in the club might be getting into the game soon and I’d love to play it with you guys since they do have a Malifaux module now on Vassal.

Blindwater:  Working on getting my Blindwater Congregation for Hordes up to 50 pts.  There’s a steamroller coming up in a couple weeks in Tampa that I might try to bring them too, but mainly I want to finish with them so I can move on to other War Machine stuff, as I’ve been wanting to try Menoth since I’ve had the starter set painted all this time and think it might work well with my play style (better than Cryx anyway)  The gatorman posse is done and just in need of a protective coat and basing, Maelok is pretty much base coated and just needs all the detail work and highlights/shading.  The witch doctor and boneswarm are currently black primered with nothing else.

The Grey Knights: I’m really trying to get away from painting armies for deadlines, because it keeps me from playing, and I’m not going to make any friends down here if I’m not frequenting the places that people game at.  To do that I need to get myself to a place where I can use an unpainted army and not give a damn.  One of the ways I’ve decided to do this is to only play in Tampa with unfinished 40K armies.  From what I’ve seen of the tournaments I’ve participated in at the place down there, they don’t give any points or prizes for painting, so it should help me be able to bring an ‘army in progress’ without beating myself up over it.  I’m going to think of it as my farm league.  I’ve been bouncing around space marines for a while, and got as far as coming up with a chapter color scheme and painting a unit up a couple years back, but hadn’t done much other than slowly accumulate stuff. With the Dark Vengeance set, I now have enough for an 1800 pt list, which I’ve decided to play as Gray Knights because they’re a fairly new codex and also because they’ve got the witch-hunter stuff. (yes to any of you who think I’m going soft by finally playing a [technically] non-evil faction, my concept is very inquisition themed, meaning they like to set people on fire very much, just in case they might be consorting with creatures of the warp)

I picked up some bitz on ebay and have been working on doing minor conversions to the space marines and terminators to bring them in line with sword bearing theme.

 I’m planning on making the swords all aflame with green stuff, but that will be the last step before painting, which will be whenever I get around to it.  In the meantime, I want to use them to get back into the game since I still haven’t played 6^th edition yet. I probably won’t do any more work on them till after the holidays because I won’ be able to use them for a month or two, since this month’s RTT is 2500 pts which is way over the models I have available.  Fortunately, I have a plan B.

Da Bengal Boyz is Kommin!! (to the tune of the Vengabus): My mecha heavy ork army has been sitting in a half finished state for a couple years now.  They were never meant to be incredibly well painted – I just had a lot of the stuff already and always liked the whole goofy Dick Dastardly and his Flying Machines gone to Thunderdome look and fun feel of the Orks in 40K.  I had always planned on doing a limited color base coat-drybrush-wash-done. The two HQs are big conversion jobs and those two are the only ones I was ever planning on going the extra mile with the painting to try and make them showcase pieces.  Presently the boyz and nobs are done, the killa kans, dredds and battlewagons have the base color (orange with black tiger stripes) airbrushed on already and the deffkoptas, bikers and scratch built skorcha buggies are assembled and primed with chaos black. 
The conversion work on the HQs is almost done.  I can cover the 2500 pts for the Dec 21 RTT in Tampa with them and really only care about having them all on the proper bases and packed in a couple toolboxes, but if I could get three colors on each of them in the next few weeks, that would be nice, and also help me along on the Pledge at the same time.

 

34 days to BFS: The Rotons are starting to fly

It's been a while since I've posted anything and I had some time today after sitting through a typical Bucs penalty-fest this afternoon. Been getting a lot of work done on the Rotons the past few weeks and have them all now up on their flying bases. What still needs to be done is to put the blade cylinders in two of them, fill in around the blades with

green stuff, fill in the gaps between the molded pieces with green stuff and clean everything up, then add the magnets for the minions of Skeletor that are functioning as blaster wielding trueborn.

BFS; 9 1/2 weeks and counting

Getting up to speed in the new job has been taking up a lot of my time lately, but I've still been getting work done for my Battle for Salvation army, just not as quickly as before. 

Like Cobra Commander exchanging his ceremonial hood for his battle mask in anticipation of the climactic fight (as seen in Marvel Comics' GI Joe #1 true believers)  I have exhanged the chasm and waterfall terrainscape of my gaming table with the unadorned plywood worktable top before really getting down to business

The main reason for no recent updates is that I haven't painted anything else, having been primarilly concentrating on the sculpting and assembling. 
Since my last update:

• Finished sculpting five more Masters of the Universe villains for the wracks/trueborn
• Started sculpting the final wave of characters
• Assembled the last raider and the first of the three ravagers
• Repaired the old school raider I had gotten on ebay
• Ordered the final two ravagers from the local Hobbytown
• Magnetized the two old school raiders being used for the wracks
• Made new bases for the two old school raiders with sculpey and a coat hanger wire that will be eventually obscured by a plume of hot gasses from the volcano

• Finished sculpting the roton pieces and created the molds I'll need to create three of them to use as my venom transports for the trueborn units

• Begun planning out the Snake Mountain display base
• Purchased on ebay the snake head piece (for 8 bucks - woot!) from the original Snake Mountain playset that I'm going to incorporate into the display base

Right now my plan is to have all of the sculpting and assembling (save for the display base) completed in the next two weeks so that the final 8 weeks before the tournament are just painting and making the display base.  Without wishing to jinx myself I feel like I'm in pretty good shape compared to how I usually am with big army projects before tournaments.

More to come

Battle for Salvation; 14 weeks and counting

This week I added another wrack to the completed list.  This this time Dragstor, who had some GW parts to him, though I can't remember exactly what. 

I also took the time today too do all of the bases for everything that had been comleted so far, as well as the ones for the next five wracks on my paint list.

 

I also started working on wire supports, using coat hanger wire, that will hold a couple of the 'flying' characters aloft and also the two old school raiders and the three rotons when I have them done. (the other three raiders, hellions, and ravagers I'm going to keep on the clear peg stands). My plan is to have plumes of hot gasses coming up from fissures on the surface of Snake Mountain, and make them out of some kind of cotton material spray painted and then use them to hide the supports.

 

I didn't do any work on the hellions this week but I knocked out all of my 18 kabalite warriors, who looked at one another in confusion as to why they were being painted up like toys from the 1980's.

 

 Dr. Carnivean knows how to commit to a theme

 I really like the way these guys came out. I almost want to run around the house with them going "pyew pyew pyew".

Hmm
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The reenactment of my childhood is now complete

Battle for Salvation; 15 weeks and counting

Even taking the holiday off from hobby stuff, I still managed to get enough work done this week to feel a sense of accomplishment and that things are progresssing. I was hoping to have the hellions closer to being done but am still happy with how they're looking. I'm probably going to start on the 15 warriors I have to paint this week as I'm finishing up the hellions. 

 

As for the wracks, Webstor, Octavia, Leech, and Spikor have joined Faker and Mer Man in the ranks of the completed, with their bases being the only thing that needs to be done. I may end up waiting till the end and doing the bases all at once.

 Leech was a complete sculpt from scratch.  The only part on Spikor that was a previous model was the arm holding the mace, which I think was rom a Skaven kit. Webstor I remember had some Kroot DNA in him, and ghoul arms.  I think the head was also based on a ghoul and his weapons I got from the bitz box. Octavia started life as a daemonette.

Battle for Salvation; 16 weeks and counting

Now that I have my flight booked and am registered for this year's Battle for Salvation GT October in Nyack, NY, and also now that I've taken all of my licensure tests and am now kind of sitting back and waiting for results and callbacks for jobs I've applied to, I've decided to start working on the army I'm planning on using.  I've mentioned the Kabal of the Snake Headed Mountain in a few other posts previously, as I've been working on my Masters of the Universe themed dark eldar for almost the past two years now.

I've done some work this week and here is where I stand with 16 weeks to go.  I figure I'll do a new post at the end of each week to show how I'm progresssing.

Hellions
I've started working on all of the hellions this week and while I'm probably only a third of the way in on them so far I'm really liking how they're coming out.  They're totally selling the Masters of the Universe theme with those colors and really do look like toys from the 80s.

Everything Else:

 Basically the last time we saw them all, with Merman and Faker standing proudly among the rest of the half painted and half sculpted wracks, trueborn, and kabalite warriors.  The pieces of the Roton (which will serve as venom transports) are still being worked on, although I've made the first mold so far with the pieces that were finished.  And them below are the other vehicles I have so far, two OOP raiders which will transport the wracks, and the two newer ones to carry the warrior units.  I still have to eventually pick up another raider and a trio of ravagers,

The Symbol:
Finally sat down and drew the symbol for the KotSHM, which is basically the silhuette of Snake Mountain from the old 80's cartoon.

I may take a little off the bottom so that it's more evenly distributed making it fit better on things.  I plan to have it on all the sails on the skimmers, on the wings of the Hellions and I may even do another Chessex order and have some dice with the symbol.

Snake Mountain:
Right now all I've got is a kind of a sort of a sketch.

I'll be doing some more detailed sketches in the next couple of weeks.  I already figured out the maximum size I can make it to get it up north.  I'm going to have to make it in three stackable pieces which can be packed in a suitcase.

 

Right now I'm shooting to have the hellions, warriors raiders, and half of the wracks done by the end of July and have the roton molds made, and then spend the next three months focusing on Snake Mountain, the Ravagers, rotons, and the rest of the wracks and trueborn.

The Army of Lord Horrificus

 

It was upon the second day of my travel that I came across the farmhouse, and the memory of my encounter there shall undoubtedly haunt me for many years to come. The fields were mal tended, and disease had been allowed to set in, all but destroying the crop. I decided to investigate, thinking that perhaps whatever farmer tended these lands had taken ill and may be in need of aid, or perhaps had passed from this earth, in which case a proper burial was called for.
As I neared the house, I saw a single cow grazing in the field before it, and as I drew closer, I could see that the poor creature had been blinded. Dismounting my horse, I had a closer look, and noted the recent scar tissue about the empty sockets. Turning my attention back to the house, I now noticed the thin grey sliver of smoke drifting lazily from the chimney.
Setting my jaw, I prepared to have strong words for the farmer who would mutilate one of his beasts in so cruel a fashion. When he answered my knock at the door, however, all thought of such admonishments left my mind, as I stared aghast at the haggard man’s vacant sockets. The farmer had been blinded as well. As had his entire family. Even the sickly tabby cat that brushed against my leg was so defiled. My mind swam at the utter ghoulishness of the scene. When I could again speak I asked the man who had done such a monstrous thing to he and his kin.
The man answered with a single word.
"Horrificus"
-From the journal of Professor Heinrich von Ruttenburg

 

The dread lord Horrificus has marched forth from the Forsaken Vale to seek the Spectral Colossus. Like pus from a squeezed cancer, his fetid host streams into the Old World, spreading its foul corruption where it travels.  Before the great host rides the vanguard led by Furrghus the Debauched, a raider and pillager who has given himself over to Slaanesh and leads a menagerie of foul creatures into battle.

Horrificus has divided command of his armies among his two chief lieutennants, and each of them commands a splinter force.  The first is led by the headless Count Brocken, an early experiment of Dr. Shellendrak and Horrificus' right hand. The second is led by Dycedarg, a foul daemon who entered this world through the Rotfeast Monolith. It is unknown whether the chaos lord has actually bent this foul creature to his whim or if the daemon merely serves to further its own nefarious goals.

 

Lord Horrificus (chaos lord, 2500 pt general)

 “The way I hears it he used to be some kind of lord somewhere and that he was only born with one eye, and that’s why he likes to cut them out of people. He keeps ‘em  on little hooks woven into the hair of the  hippogriff he rides. They say he found it dyin’ on some battlefield in Bretonnia and kept alive with ‘is dark magics and that you can still see the ‘griff’s guts fallin’ out. They say  he can kill you just by touchin’ you and that he’s got every disease known to man, and a couple even the gods don’t know about. Them that’s good anyway.”

- Unknown patron at the Malodorous Goat

Count Brocken (exalted hero, 2000 pt general)

“And if I were to tell you I was this Brocken, what would you do?  Shoot me with that pistol in your hand?”

The sellsword stopped then in his tale and took another drink. He was deep into his cups now and I worried it might affect his recollection.

"His back was turned to me when I drew it," my dinner companion continued, "and I had cocked it before even entering the dwelling. There was no way he could have known."

"Some sorcery," I suggested, and the man just shook his head in dismissal.  His body language was becoming more and more agitated.

"I shot him then and there.  I hadn't lasted this long by taking chances. The shot was true - I saw the hole open up in the back of the hood he was wearing.  I began to untense a little but then he turned back toward me and his head fell right off onto the table."

I raised an eyebrow at this, but the man continued without noticing.  The color had drained out of his face.

"But it wasn't a head at all. Not a real one. Just a wooden one with a face painted on it and a big splintered hole in the back where the ball had hit. I had no idea what had just happened. That's when the laughing started. But I could see now it wasn't coming from him. It was coming from the hooded cage on the table. My heart stopped in my chest then. There ws enough light to see the shape of something moving around in there behind the cloth, and wasn't no bird. Piss shot right down my leg as I looked at the sillhuete of that head laughing at me. The last thing I remember before turned tail was his headless body waving a bloody sword and that shape in the bird cage moving around. I ran out of that house and never looked back."

The man across the table from me rubbed the stump at the end of his arm.

"I must have gone a whole block before I realized the bastard took my hand."

- From the journal of Professor Heinrich von Ruttenburg.

 

Dycedarg (scyla anfingrimm, 2000 pt general)

Dubious of my bold claim, the creature Dycedarg tested its veracity by tentatively brushing at the invisible threshold of my protective circle with a vile tentacle. As it did so, steam emitted from the fleshy tip with a hissing sound, and the daemon recoiled its appendage, a grunt issuing from one of the two heads.  The other head curiously examined the blackened spot that now marred the purplish daemon flesh of the tendril.

“Most impressive,” the other head growled, “I applaud your efforts.”

“I am ever amazed by the ingenuity of these humans,” remarked the first head almost conversationally.

There was a silence then, and I could hear the silent weeping of those huddled within my protective circle, and the sound their shuddering bodies made on the floorboards.

“Very well professor,” Dycedarg boomed in twin voices.  “You win for the present. But I have other methods at my disposal which your arcane wards and glyphs will be unable to circumvent. Do not think you can protect these people forever.”

-          From the journal of Professor Heinrich von Ruttenburg