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Ok, so…
@Nug- My take on Blood Raven
Very much my own take. Went a bit away from the original design, so hope it’s alright.
@Geno- One spear for Nkechinyere. It’s a fishing spear, as she’s by water (hence why it looks so top heavy).
Hope the flipping text works this time.
@cliff & @Lef- Yours will be coming soon. All I can say is, Lef, love the colour you went for with the hair and, Cliff, that is boot-iful…
EDIT: Ima deep and forgot I’ve already done Lef’s gift. Oh well, less work for me I guess. *shrugs*
Uh, Linea? I won’t be able to enter this year, but I’d like to swap use of your image #2 for a backstory (2b) I’ve finished. Is this acceptable? Below is 2b copy-pasted from a Word Document (docx won’t import.)
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<p class=”MsoNormal”>Waiting</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>By Herr D, inspired by Linea’s illustration</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”></p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>Bratta stared down at the woman in annoyance. “Don’t you have ANYWHERE to be?”</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>The woman in the plain brown dress shifted her stance slightly, adjusted the flower in her hair, and then stood motionless again. Bratta fumed at her and swore under his breath. He was even more irritated than usual. He reached out and grabbed the bell-pull. Shikah was there before the first note sounded, his powder blue hide glistening as he waited for Bratta’s command.</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>“Yes, Sorcerer-At-Large?”</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>“What good is having my status if any old riff-raff can come in here?”</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>Shikah glanced at the woman. “She clearly has business here.”</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>“What business could she possibly have? She obviously isn’t reading or speaking with anyone. She’s just standing there, doing nothing. How could anyone tell she has business here?”</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>“She is waiting quite patiently.” Shikah loved stating the obvious.</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>“For who?”</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>“I couldn’t say. Have you asked her?”</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>“Repeatedly. She may be mute.” Bratta looked at her sternly. “WELL?!” The woman in the plain brown dress shifted her stance slightly, adjusted the flower in her hair, and then stood motionless again.</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>Shikah glanced at her lasciviously. For a bottle-born, he was very aware of human females. “She is also quite pretty. Yet you mind her being here.”</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>Bratta bristled. “I’m NOT giving you permission to remove her. Obviously an eternity of enslavement to a bottle-born is beneath a human. Even a destitute woman with no apparent purpose. Have my materials arrived?”</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>Shikah clapped twice. Seven dusty tomes and a pile of parchment and dry quills landed on the table to Bratta’s left with a thud and a clatter. “Will there be anything else, Sorcer-At-Large?”</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>“Yes. Did the Congress update my status?”</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>“No, they did not. They expressed a dissatisfaction with your processes.” Shikah polished an oily spot on his shoulder for a moment.</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>“So they wish to test me more, ay? Aren’t I going through enough?”</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>“It is not for me to say.”</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>“Is it for you to say whether any OTHER sorcerer in the HISTORY of this archive has ever taken as many tests as me? Passed them as quickly? Done so in the span of three days? Had a motive as pure as the location of one’s missing sister?”</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>Shikah actually looked thoughtful for a moment. Reflective AND reflecting, Bratta mused drily. “Your experience IS somewhat unique,” Shikah said finally.</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>Bratta looked at him triumphantly. “Then I invoke the Right Of Unique Queries. I’ve read all about it and planned for this moment.” He seized a parchment and looked at Shikah expectantly.</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>Shikah’s eyes glowed bright blue for just a moment. He gave Bratta defeated look and stood, arms outstretched, symbolically ready to receive the questions.</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>Bratta cleared his throat and steadied his shaking hands. “What have I missed in collection of any of the objects my sister last interacted with? What has the Congress, and / or any of its members known about the disappearance of my sister but NOT told me? What spells or other special techniques will I need to master to manage her return?” He took a deep, ragged breath and waited.</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>Shikah let his arms sag slowly to his sides. His nostrils flared out. He nodded. He folded his arms after the fashion of indication of negotiations. “Three questions, two of moderate open-endedness, and one requiring prognostication. Ordinarily, I would insist on favors. However: the answers are not difficult or complicated and necessitate something different in this unique case. You must leave the Archive within three crows after speaking with me and not return for three days. You may verify your suppositions with me personally. Agreed?”</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>Bratta was unable to speak for a moment. No favors? Shikah was going to just answer him with no FAVORS? AND he could verbally check his suppositions with an ‘all-knowing’ bottle-born? Three days would become six, if he hadn’t done enough research, but Shikah was going to have to tell him exactly WHAT to research when he came back. That could save WEEKS. And what he’d already researched he could do ANYWHERE. “Agreed,” he choked.</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>Shikah unfolded his arms with the air of complete resignation. “The answer to all three questions is the same. The answer is naught. You have found it all. They have told all. You have learned all you need to find what you seek. Please begin checking your suppositions. I do have others to serve.”</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>Bratta blinked hard. Was it really that simple that he could possibly have overprepared? Was Shikah just TIRED of watching him blunder about? He wheeled around to the table of books and parchment and began skimming while he asked questions.</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>“Gimmit swore that she was the only one close enough to the funnel of magedust to have been the cause.”</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>“He told you truly, as you have checked.”</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>“That means her body and soul are somehow trapped in a spell of her own creation.”</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>“Open-ended spells are costly. Her whole self is collateral until her spell is fulfilled.”</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>“I believe her to be uninjured and in perfect health.”</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>Shikah sighed. “As you have cited, funnels of magedust have not successfully formed for sorcerers who suffer more than minor injuries or minor infections. Perfect would be a strong word—she is somewhat older than you. Are you finished with the books and parchments?”</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>“One at a time, please, per supposition.”</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>Shikah nodded. He pointed a finger at the top book. It began to float back toward the stacks.</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>“Philosophy Of Control. This was a frequent read of hers. It was important to her sense of process.”</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>“True, Sorcerer-At-Large. She returned to basic principles in her work often as an attempt at elegance.”</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>The second book began to rise. “Ingredient Selection: Treatise By Gimmterap. Another frequent read. She wrote the parchments herself, correct?”</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>“True. You may, therefore, claim them as her next-of-kin.”</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>“Her shorthand is indecipherable. That would do no one any good. Preserve as you would any unfinished work.”</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>The parchments flew away. The third book began to rise. “Finding, Dowsing, Locating, Idea Sieving, And Culling—Author Unknown. Explain this one to me.”</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>Shikah shrugged. “It’s very old. It has been copied so many times that the author has been obscured.”</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>“Not the author, my sister’s purpose with it.”</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>“She had to winnow down listed ideas, select from large groups, collections, and multiple unorganized sources. She recently tested her skill at every technique in that treatise.”</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>“She was thorough. She probably even tried selecting people out of crowds. Ah! She selected people from a large group for purposes of her spell preparation.”</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>“She selected people from several sizes of groups. And yes, it was for her larger purpose.”</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>Bratta turned and looked at the woman in the plain brown dress. The woman in the plain brown dress shifted her stance slightly, adjusted the flower in her hair, and then stood motionless again. He frowned. The fifth book pulled out from under the fourth with a snap and began to rise. Bratta whipped back around. “What’s that?”</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>“Books five through seven do not belong in the sorcery archive, exactly. I should return them to their proper places while you consider your final queries.”</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>Bratta put his hands on his hips. “Title of that one. Now, please.”</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>Shikah looked truly interested in the books for the first time. “Confession Of The Dark Stranger by Yullrat. A romance novel.” The book opened in mid-air to a picture of a woman’s bare back. “Illustrations of high quality. Would you like to borrow it on your return? Perhaps you can request it from the town collection while you wait?” Shikah smiled mischievously.</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>Bratta reddened. “No. Title of number six, please.”</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>“The Collected Poetry Of The Debased Philosophers. She marked a page here: ‘Love is Patient and Kind, Watching with Fervence, Eye-Heart-Mind—‘”</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>“Enough! Return five through seven! Don’t mention those again!”</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>Shikah nodded. Book six snapped shut, Book five zoomed away. “You wish to eliminate distractions, perhaps?”</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>Bratta seized book four, turned the spine toward himself. “Dealing With Abstractions by Kumma. Yes. Yes, Shikah. I want to eliminate distractions. But properly!” He glanced up at the woman in the plain brown dress. The woman in the plain brown dress shifted her stance slightly, adjusted the flower in her hair, and then stood motionless again.</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>Shikah nodded thoughtfully. “You have expressed that I should not deal with her personally. Perhaps I could bespell YOU?”</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>Bratta looked at Shikah, aghast. “What?”</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>Shikah smiled. “I could cause you to simply not notice what you do not wish to. Within your own safety protocols, of course.”</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>“So I might starve while I read?”</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>Shikah smiled again. “I believe starvation happens to be unsafe, as a practice. Treatises on fasting are present in the archive.”</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>Bratta eyed Shikah suspiciously. “How do YOU gain from this?”</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>Shikah did not smile before speaking this time. “Occasionally I like to have leisure time to enjoy myself. I even have hobbies. Not being called upon to adjust the windows or tables or fetch and carry needless materials such as romance novels I won’t even be allowed to read . . . “ he trailed off meaningfully.</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>Bratta blinked. “I would notice ANYTHING potentially harmful to myself?”</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>Shikah nodded. “As long as you are inside the Archive. Even on special occasions.”</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>“Agreed.” Bratta began to look back at the woman in the plain brown dress. The woman in the plain brown dress shifted her stance slightly, adjusted the flower in her hair, and then stood motionless again. Shikah waved a hand dramatically. Bratta blinked.</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>“There were other people here today,” he began, “But now all I see is you, Shikah.”</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>“Yes, I am still here. Your final query.” Books four and six began flying away in opposite directions.</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>“She said she was working on something for my birthday.”</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>“She said so, but left no list and had no recent written request from you.”</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>Bratta frowned. “She gave me the motivation to improve as a sorcerer. I don’t believe that was her intent.”</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>“I believe you are correct. Everyone has been surprised at your progress, and she had not been prognosticating.”</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>“I’ll see you in three days, Shikah.” He stuffed his belongings in a satchel. “Home, please.” Shikah blinked, and Bratta disappeared.</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>The woman in the plain brown dress shifted her stance slightly, adjusted the flower in her hair, and then stood motionless again. She looked sad. Shikah picked up the seventh book with his hands and walked over to her. “He is gone. Shall I read to you from his journal?”</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>For just a moment, the woman looked delighted and nodded. Shikah opened Bratta’s journal. “’I cannot imagine love. It is supposed to be all-encompassing and wonderful, but I have trouble focusing on anything, even sorcery practice. I’m sure it would be great to be driven, even by the want to have children. What kind of woman would I even be drawn to? Obviously someone who doesn’t talk too much. Like Reyend in the village. She could go on for hours about nothing.’ You my dear, having inhibitions about speaking, would be ideal for him.” Shikah and the woman in the plain brown dress smiled. Shikah watched her leave with obvious lust.</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>He looked upward at the spot on the ceiling of the Archive. “Bratta will only be gone three days, but I can continue to derail his efforts endlessly. You wanted to ‘get away from it all?’ I’ll see that you stay away!” Shikah returned Bratta’s journal to its place with a puff of acrid, sulfurous smoke. As he levitated to his bottle, he smiled.</p>
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<p class=”MsoNormal”></p>@Cliff- Happy non-denominational winter celebration 😉
“4 Do one of your own HM characters ready for Winder Holidays: Hanukkah, Yule, Winter’s Solstice, Christmas, Kwanza, and/or Boxing Day, whichever they observe.”
Does that count?
AWESOME! Of course it counts!
Why wouldn’t it??? If I am correct she is the two fisted gunslinger with the half shaved head and all the tattoos Right? And it’s very appropriate for me to check out today, It’s been in the 70s here in Texas, but right now it’s 36! I’m all bundled up as well LOL Thank you very much JR! Happy Holidays or Happy Holly Daze as the case may me. 
Nope, it’s this girl
These are a little late, but I’d been working on them and didn’t get a chance to post them until now. Since they’re late, no need to gift back – I had fun working on them.
Here’s what I’ve got:
- One of my characters (Phoenix, shown in original outfit here) dressed up for Christmas
- A custom sword for Lef (text attached below):
- My take on one of Linea’s characters:
- My take on Nug’s character Blood Raven
And thanks for the spear JR – the text worked fine. I’m working on something using it 🙂
Hey Geno,
don’t feel bad, I was late with yours too, I had been meaning to do this from the day you posted your list, but Holidays and stuff you know.
But here is a Santa companion. Krampus!
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This reply was modified 2 years, 9 months ago by
- One of my characters (Phoenix, shown in original outfit here) dressed up for Christmas
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