Dragon Mage Enterprises
Lead Miniatures

Semtek - Karennana and Hethian

Karennana (or Renn as she is called to her friends) is a Druid-Rogue-Edgewalker. The Edgewalkers favor the bow very strongly - the mark of their order is three arrows flying out from a point, and all Edgewalkers have that mark magically tattoed on their foreheads. They follow the Dungeons and Dragons Druidic restrictions, which means no metal armor or shields, and minimal metal in their weaponry.

What this meant in the practical terms of finding a lead miniature for the character was:

1. It had to be a female miniature, or at least one that could be converted from male to female without being dreadfully obvious about it.
2. It had to have a bow. Other weaponry was optional.
3. Ideally, it had an exposed forehead.
4. Ideally, it would be wearing studded-leather armor, or less ideally, leather. Plate and chainmail were right out.

Eventually, I found the Nirodel miniature from Reaper Miniatures. Nirodel is a male elven archer in studded leather armor - close enough. I filed down the ears and then began carefully reconstructing the figure's chest to put breasts on it that had studded leather armor over them. Eventually, I got a decent result.

Renn has brown-green eyes (hormal human eyes, unlike her cousin Thiara's) and brown hair with a crystal-silver streak in it that she got from killing Aesthaniel. On her forehead, she has three blue arrows tattooed. Her armor is wyvern-skin studded leather, but the studs are made from mahogany, rather than the more standard steel or bronze. Her bow is a quasi-artifact made for her by Ahdosar - it hurts Alar a lot, and evil things somewhat. Her boots and sword were likewise made for her by Ahdosar - the boots allow her to balance on air for five minutes out of a day, should she so choose, and her sword is poisonous and will do large amounts of damage to anything vulnerable to poison. (The sword is hard to see from the front; it is under her left arm.) On her back is a quiver that will put whatever arrow she wants into her fingers when she reaches into it. She has a pair of blue bracers around her arms that were made for her by the Demigod Semtek, after whom the campaign is named.

Hethian is Renn's animal companion, a benefit Druids acquire at first level. The animal is loyal and stays with the Druid, helping her in her endeavours, and in Hethian's case, providing transport. Hethian is a Forest Hart, a magical beast that looks something like a deer, with the horns and coloration of an antelope and the fur and tail of a collie. There was no chance whatsoever that a miniature existed that would work for Hethian.

So, on the advice of Leanne, the friend who first taught me to paint miniatures, I made one. Fimo and Sculpey work very well for sculpting out rough body types and shapes, and they can be shaved and glued together if you make the pieces separately, removing the difficulty in working with them when they're very soft and bendy. Thus, while Hethian is nothing like a proper miniature in detail, he works very well for a placeholder on the table that gives a good idea of what's there. He's also a great conversation piece - every other mini in the Semtek campaign is pretty self-explanatory.