[OOC] Last Words

[Fil kearney]

are Lorm and aivanther waiting on me for something? I thought I was up to date...?

Originally Posted by Lormador

Here's one thing we can almost all RP together, outside the Arena: the gambling window!

I think I'll open a game thread where you can bet on the matches, using any wealth you may have left over. Your characters can visit the window, interact with the teller, and get rich! We will have odds as a function of character records. You can bet on your own matches, or those of others.

Sound fun?

lol Laeric would totally bet against himself.

[aivanther]

I'm waiting for him to resolve my current action I think.

[Eviltedzies]

Hehe a betting window? Rofl if the fights are life and death then if our own characters are going to fight then we should bet it all on ourselves.
If after each fight the loser gets rezzed/brought back by mysterious circumstances then I'd say it makes it more interesting.....

[Ithamar]

If someone teaches Ump how to count, and what "money" is, he'll happily bet on himself.

[aivanther]

I'll be sure to teach him, and how 2 coppers is more coins than 1 gold, so I'll exchange stuff for him.

[Ithamar]

Ump squeezes his new teacher and pets his head lovingly, "...and I will hug him and kiss him and name him George!"

[Lormador]

I can feel the love in this room.

Seriously, would Sirith like to handle Ump's finances and be his patron? Ump isn't allowed out of his cell. He kills everything.

[Lormador]

Oh, and we are mysteriously brought back in the event of our demise. There are no penalties.

[aivanther]

Actually, it would be a funny thing, I think.

Incidentally, kudos for the Mice and Men Reference.

[Fil kearney]

Hey Lorm... orking on this picture, and I wanted feedback.

The pillar in the middle of the chamber is obviously (eventually) THE pillar of darkness.
the mishappen hockey puck on the ground in front of it will become the Colosseum.
Is the ratio of colosseum to pillar correct, or do I need admustments?
Is the size of the pillar accurate for the space you envision?
I also imagine there are various ramps and platforms along the wall that will be in various levels of dark with lights peppering the region.

Any other feedback while I'm on a rought sketch before I start doing the "heavy lifting" of details?

[Lormador]

Wow, you're ambitious! The interpretation differs from my own imagination in several respects.

1. I imagined the Dark Tower farther away from the Colosseum, and the Colosseum itself taller: I guess by about 50%, with spires and arches.

2. The top of the Dark Tower doesn't merge with the cavern ceiling: instead, it disappears into a gaping hole in the cavern ceiling.

3. The Dark Tower is perpetually surrounded by a cloud.... of Beholders, Eyeballs, Spectators, and other abominations. Might not be visible at all from this distance, but might want to put in some specks.

4. On the roof are all the best bars and most luxurious estates: some of them are the kind of place where you can drop a thousand GP on a meal. One notable bar, called the Onyx, surrounds a perfectly formed sphere of thick Onyx merged with the roof of the cavern, a wide terrace, and numerous passages nearby.

5. The outskirts of the Duergar fortress might be visible on the right, behind Laeric.

6. Across Olothruul on the opposite side, you might see a gaping hole in the rock, festooned with webbing. About it, several castles of various sizes, and ruins. We're talking extreme detail here.

7. Immediately around the Colosseum is the human enclave. This is replete with magical lights and torches, but still very shadowy.

8. The rest of the floor is Warrens, filthy pits where lesser creatures dwell.

9. Numerous passages lead down through the Warrens to the Farm levels, but these probably wouldn't be visible at all.

The approximate size of the Dark Tower to the rest of Olothruul is as I imagined, you're right on there. It's interesting to see it from this angle, my imagination originally placed me on the opposite side where the PC first entered the chamber. You're also right about the ramps and platforms, but you should also take into account the Duergar and Drow enclaves when making these. There's a Svirfneblin enclave, too, but it's (of course) completely concealed.

All told, I'm very impressed. I can't believe someone would undertake to depict Olothruul. That's seriously cool.

[Fil kearney]

Originally Posted by Lormador

Wow, you're ambitious!

a bit. This pic will be an example of "finally just quit adding details"... but I think a good exercise for me.

Originally Posted by Lormador

1. I imagined the Dark Tower farther away from the Colosseum, and the Colosseum itself taller: I guess by about 50%, with spires and arches.

I'll be scooching the Colosseum closer to the foreground instead of moving the Dark Tower...considering the actual arena pit is 100' diameter; I imaging the entire diameter of the arena to be around 300' diameter (and thus, the Dark Tower approximately the same... is this accurate?

Originally Posted by Lormador

2. The top of the Dark Tower doesn't merge with the cavern ceiling: instead, it disappears into a gaping hole in the cavern ceiling.

ah yes. missed that detail. :/

Originally Posted by Lormador

3. The Dark Tower is perpetually surrounded by a cloud.... of Beholders, Eyeballs, Spectators, and other abominations. Might not be visible at all from this distance, but might want to put in some specks.

are there off-shoot towers and what not, or pretty much a solid phalus surrounded in bad critters, but otherwise symmetrical around it's width?

Originally Posted by Lormador

4. On the roof are all the best bars and most luxurious estates: some of them are the kind of place where you can drop a thousand GP on a meal. One notable bar, called the Onyx, surrounds a perfectly formed sphere of thick Onyx merged with the roof of the cavern, a wide terrace, and numerous passages nearby.

black onyx, or a different color?
where is it in relation to the human enclave? if reflective, it can be a secondary light source.

Originally Posted by Lormador

6. Across Olothruul on the opposite side, you might see a gaping hole in the rock, festooned with webbing. About it, several castles of various sizes, and ruins. We're talking extreme detail here.

how big? you can use the segments of the tower currently depicted for scale (without compensating for distance/foreshortening)

Originally Posted by Lormador

7. Immediately around the Colosseum is the human enclave. This is replete with magical lights and torches, but still very shadowy.

I imagine this is the major source of light in the cavern.. am I wrong?

Originally Posted by Lormador

8. The rest of the floor is Warrens, filthy pits where lesser creatures dwell.

right. plenty of details to sprinkle.

Originally Posted by Lormador

The approximate size of the Dark Tower to the rest of Olothruul is as I imagined, you're right on there. It's interesting to see it from this angle, my imagination originally placed me on the opposite side where the PC first entered the chamber. You're also right about the ramps and platforms, but you should also take into account the Duergar and Drow enclaves when making these. There's a Svirfneblin enclave, too, but it's (of course) completely concealed.

hehe. "from the other side of the table"
Yeah.. I'll have fun with the enclaves.

Originally Posted by Lormador

All told, I'm very impressed. I can't believe someone would undertake to depict Olothruul. That's seriously cool.

save being impressed until I'm done and get it right. Technically it's just a character portrait, but I can at least get the details right... but Laeric and his perch are on separate layers, so I can provide a finished piece of just the city for your use.

[Lormador]

About the Dark Tower, there are no side towers or visible projections from it. It's darker than the rest of the cavern too, kind of a 'blacker than black' light-drinking effect. It is also vastly larger than the Colosseum- I was thinking more like a kilometer in diameter, whereas the Colosseum would have dimensions basically as you've described. Perhaps a total diameter of 400'.

The human enclave is, indeed, the major light source. That, and random fires in the Warrens.

The Onyx color hasn't been specified, and let's make it reflective. Actually that sphere is the result of a Limited Wish one of the players used in a fight outside the bar. We decided it should be permanent, so the bar can move into the sphere.

[Fil kearney]

I'll be rotating the colosseum from the 7:30 position it is in crrently to the 4:30 positino behind/below Laeric so there is a lighting effect that will make him visible.... otherwise, he's just going to melt into the overall darkness unless I put a light on him specifically.
This is going to move the druegar enclave to behind/left of the Tower, and the webbing with drow mostly off camera to the left, correct?
where is the onyx sphere in relation to the colosseum?
what else come on camera to the right, now that I've rotated position?

Overall this is very manageable.

[Fil kearney]

OOh.. also: if the Tower is 1 kilometer diameter; is it's ratio still correct for the size of the chamber? I would estimate the chamber about 15Km diameter if ratios stay as they are... and that would make the colosseum about 1/8th the size depicted here... so the floor covered in spots of fire/community clusters will be very low-detail at this range.