From NoelW: Hatchery (50 points)

“Well, I’m surprised to find it’s pitch black in here. Are you surprised? I’m very surprised.”

“Shut up, Elbow. If you can’t say anything useful, then - “

“Woof!”

“Well, I wouldn’t quite put it like that, Scruff. Let’s just say he’ll bite your kneecap. Or Titchy will. There’s not a lot of difference.”

“You go first into that goodnight, Gnawbone, see if you can find a lever.”

“What’s that dimly perceived nestlike object in the corner there?”

“This nestlike object?”

“Yes.”

“It’s a nest. But there’s nothing in it.”

“So,” muses Getrude. “An empty nest. Something has recently hatched. Let me see. We’ve a hatchery right next to a larder. And beyond the larder…”

“Grimvizaj’s slightly suspect reconstructive Surgery.”

“Beset by overwhelming outsiders armed with nasty weapons and not very nice intentions.”

“Who are prone to build impenetrable barriers.”

“Who like making things difficult for y’r ordinary adventurer. So, how would you get over such a problem, Titchy.”

“With a ladder.”

“Or…”

Clerihew begins rapidly flapping his arms.

“Yes,” agreed Getrude. “Fly. Now, if Grimvizaj was going to build flying creatures.”

“Oh, he’d never do anything like that,” blurts Merlissa. “I imagine.”

Getrude continues: “…he’d need wings. He’d need to breed something with wings.”

“Would it be something flapping and vicious and full of teeth?” asks Titchy. “Because there’s four of them clinging to the roof. Oh – I stand corrected…”

“You mean you’re not actually standing?”

“What I mean is, they’re not clinging. In fact, they’re descending. In fact, they’re descending very quickly. In fact, they’re descending very quickly with glinting eyes and glinting teeth and sloppy, drooling jaws. Ugh!”

“Borrow my handkerchief.”

“Dragons!”

“Quick. Through here. Wherever it leads, it can’t be as bad as a Bother of Dragons.”

 ***

I wasn’t really sure what might need to hatch here. Searching my son’s Reaper Bones Kickstarter from I think, five or six years ago, I came across this empty nest, from which something must recently have emerged, and the four small dragonets.

I painted them primarily using Contrast Blood Angel red. I find the dramatic Contrast colours can work very well on animal surfaces, like scales and fur. Sometimes a little highlighting like here, can add flavour, but sometimes it’s enough to let the Contrast do its job and then pick up one or two details – eyes, horns, claws etc.

These four baby dragons are each between 35mm and 50mm tall, depending a bit on how you measure. Maybe an average of 40mm is reasonable, so 7 points each – 28 points.

Is 2 points too many for the nest?

Plus 20 points for the Hatchery : Suggested total of 50 pts.

Plus 1 more Squirrel point.