Last night was the first night in a while that I haven’t HAD to go back to work.  Not the first night I’ve not bothered to go back to work.  There’s a difference.  I’m salaried, so when work needs to get done … you go and do it … unless you are physically exhausted, then you take a nap and then you go and do it.

So, last night I delved back into my dungeon workshop and set to cleaning the clutter that occurs over time and setting the work space back to “cleared” and workable.  The dungeon, or basement, suffered some flooding a while back so I had to move stuff off the floor and move stuff from soaked cardboard boxes to plastic tubs, etc.  Clutter ensued and it’s been a while since I had the time to make it right.

In the midst of all this I see a mini I made a while ago … sitting atop my brush stand … he’s an Illithid or Mindflayer from D&D (11-406 Mindflayer from Ral Partha).  I painted the figure some time ago as a mindflayer lich.  I gave him a bone white head with sickly tentacles (I know, they are already sickly looking but these are purply and dead looking though animated).

As a more elaborate base I placed him on top of a “bowl of blood” which overflows to the ground below it and dubbed him a Blood Lich, whatever that means.

Anyway, after looking at him for a few and then returning to working on clearing things I decided his “bowl” still looks to much like a bottle cap and needs more to make it look like an altar of blood.  So I sit down and and consider the possibility of adding some clay/green stuff to the front of the “bowl” and making it more of an altar.

After a moment, I clear a notch of the cap so that I can place a toothpick piece flat against the metal underneath and then dig out a notch in the sand/glue/paint below it and glue the first support in place.  Then after a little fussing with matching angles, etc. I get a second strut in place on the opposite side.

I have a conversation at this point, an internal monologue if you will, “What do I want to do with this as a miniature? Am I going to leave it a ‘monster’ for the players to chase and kill?  Or do I want to do something more with it?’  And after a period of internal debate I decided to make a full diorama for the figure … perhaps with the Blood Lich still removable and playable as a game piece.

Initial Layout

I pull out a faux marble block, five inches square and nearly half an inch tall and start arranging slate pieces and the lich until I have him on a stone stair leading to an outcropping over the rest of the base.  Looks cool.  Play with the pieces until I have them just right and then mark the pieces against each other and number them from the ground up for reassembly later.

Rearranged Selection on Black Faux Marble

I think it has a lot of potential now.  Just have to do some sculpting.  I think I will mix a variety of sculpting materials to achieve the finished effect.

So the next perplexing thing … what is the Blood Lich doing on his altar of blood out over oblivion … or a sea of fire or a lake of blood.  Do I put a sacrificed corpse out on a rock below him?  Do I use one of the Haunts from the Kickstarter Bones I got?  Oh, I could do both and have the haunt coming from the chest of the victim.  I have a few old demons the Lich could be summoning from below. 

Layout with the Bones Haunt in place

Post thoughts on what I should do next in the comments.  We’ll see where this diorama leads.