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[PLUSH HYENA of DOOM]

YET MORE Indian architecture!

Another different style of shrine in which to install statues and such like things... or, you could just install some of the nitrogen-moleculely prolific Maldrapuri furniture and make it a nice gazebo feature in the palace garden... or you could use it as a Large Box of Assorted Chocolates, but it will convince precisely nobody...

Also, I don't know why those two utter numps are madly venerating a statue of Kali whilst the lady herself is walking past in plain view. Idiots.

[PLUSH HYENA of DOOM]

KALI vs YALI

What would a new page of this thread be without another new Giant Horrible Mutant Rubbery Killer Spleen Monster?

The Yali is another huge, powerful, seethingly dangerous beast that prowls the pages of ancient Hindu texts like the Ramayana. Vaguely considered a hybrid of elephant, lion, horse, serpent, it usually doesn't look much like any of the above. (And mine has a bit of Albertosaurus thrown in too).

The Yali is often depicted in temple architecture, especially decorative pillars, most commonly in southern India. It seemed another obvious addition to the roster of horrendous lurking menaces for the Maldrapur Chronicles by way of being yet another huge, deadly whassname that can come crashing down upon everyone and have them running to Kali whinging about being eaten and crushed to pastes and stuff... The Yali possesses a vast capacity for eating people and crushing them to pastes - and it likes doing it, what's more.

Aside from the lethal jaws and those dirty great tusks (to which it never applies any toothpaste and thus has rampaging halitosis), the lethal claws and the whiplash tail, the Yali also has the murky, unpleasant habit of suddenly lowering its head and lurching forward to try to gore its opponents hideously all over its profusion of filthy great dorsal spines - see below.

All in all, yet another cheerful and mild-mannered addition to Maldrapur's friendly and loveable fauna. Sorry, that was supposed to read "another savage and homicidal Death Monster..."

No surprises there then.

[3RavensMore]

We'll be way out in the Narayanpur part of the Abujmarh hill forests, pretty much the most wild and remote bit of Chhattisgarh, maybe all India... There's a reason Abujmarh translates in the local Gondi as "Unknown Hills". We'll primarily be looking for King Cobras - you'd be amazed how well an eighteen foot long snake that can rear up to be taller than a man can hide - since there's been very little done in the way of population studies in this area - since no sod ever goes there...

(That said, the museum have now told us that there might be armed groups of militant Maoist insurgents hiding in these forests, not to mention Indian Army units looking for them, so the local snakes, tigers, spiders, leopards and occasional crocodiles may be the least of our problems... Wouldn't be the first time we've been shot at in the field. Still, so long as we're allowed to shoot back... The people we're supposed to be working with in India are saying we should make maximum effort to show ourselves to be a scientific party and in no way military or political. WE, however, favour the stealthy approach of not being bloody seen in the first place. Also this doesn't scare off the animals we're supposedly looking for...)

Ho-hum.

 

Sounds like one hell of a lot of fun, or it would have been for me 20 years ago.  However the whole being shot at would have probably had me reconsidering the endeavor.  Been robbed with a gun in my face once, and now the whole idea scares the crap out of me.  I'm too immobile for such adventures now.  I hope your journey goes well though.

[shadguy]

Safe travels, Hyena.

 

-Dave

[PLUSH HYENA of DOOM]

I'm not sure how safe travels can be when you're deliberately looking for animals that can kill you in an environment that can kill you with a possibility of people who might kill you being somewhere close by and no medical facilities for a hundred miles or more in any direction... but the sentiment is appreciated nonetheless.

"Fifi", Vineeta and I have been doing this on and off since college, twenty years odd of being bitten, clawed, stung and occasionally squashed by every significant predator on Earth short of maybe a Giant Squid - we still have hopes of getting a face to face look at Architeuthis some day; we did Humboldt Squid, which are amazing enough (and farcically aggressive toward everything there is)... Thus far we've been supremely skilful lucky in evading a Collector's Edition Novelty Box Set Assortment of Hideous Demises... Maybe when we hit our fifties - if we make it that far - we might consider packing the debased fieldwork in but... the natural world is just so darn fascinating; and areas of these hill forests are so remote that we might even find - o joyous day - new species of Weird Bug that we can name after ourselves!

 

Anyway...

Those who've been paying close attention to all the lovingly hand-crafted Maldrapuri furniture both this time round and in the previous selections, will have noticed the glaring fact that amongst all the piles of furniture there are NO bookcases. So, nowhere to store all the huge tomes of Vedic texts and Mahabharata and Ramayana and so on and so forth.

But it's alright - I've dealt with it.

All books suitably Indianized to match the furniture; I put Saraswati on the covers since she's goddess of knowledge and learning, along with Lakshmi since she is said to have given man the gift of language (Sanskrit), and thus they seemed logical to go on books, as well as a few random, Indianesque patterns.

And, also, more big, lumpy cabinets, just to ensure that the Rajatnur Furniture Showroom bursts.

Just hastily completing final tests on all the new stuff to check for rubbish walkmeshes or animation glitches or anything Spleen-shaped like that... Kali 2 should be on the Vault in just a day or two now.

[Tarot Redhand]

Just don't invoke the wrath of Hanuman and get bitten by monkeys...   BTW you going anywhere near Karni Mata (aka the Rat temple)?

 

TR

[PLUSH HYENA of DOOM]

No. First, it's 500 miles away from where we'll be, give or take, and second, last time we were there I nearly trod on one of the sacred kabbas (twitchy-nosed rodents)...

Probably also replete to the point of bursting with Rats (Rabid Killer Death Spleen Rats though, not sacred ones) is Vashnoor Palace. This is a cursed abode of Vetala and Pisacha, centre of a dark cult fond of blood sacrifice and summoning to Maldrapur every filthily evil nightmare thing it's blatantly unwise to go summoning.

Unlike the set of elements for Rajatnur Palace that allow for all sorts of building options and also, being cut into sections, doesn't kill NWN stone dead instantly with its hideous poly count, Vashnoor is a single Placeable since, in Maldrapur, its actual location, not shown here, is jammed into the side of a mountain and thus it doesn't really require much detail on the back and sides. So I got away with the poly count. Just.

[Ssythilac]

Sounds like a hell of adventure! I envy you a lot, being trapped here in my study with a lot of Ph.D work to do...

 

Good luck and good travels, PHoD!!

[PLUSH HYENA of DOOM]

Aaah, but when you've GOT your doctorate, then they assume - rightly or wrongly - that you know what you're doing and then they let you go out in the field! Then you get to travel the world and get bitten by all sorts of fascinating wildlife... well, depending on what you're studying... I mean, obviously, if you specialize in ancient porcelain, say, then the probability of you having to grapple by hand with a semi-tranquilized 150lb Spotted Hyena who hasn't taken kindly to the fluffy pink dart stuck in her rump is approximately zero... On the other hand, we don't often come face to face with ancient Ming vases in the field... and if we did, it'd probably be a Ming the Merciless vase...

Anyway, we have now discovered that, as usual, our scientific attainments are less the reason we got this assignment so much as half the museum staff were hiding in specimen cases making eerily adept efforts to look like stuffed lemurs and jocosely referring to the King Cobra study as "the suicide mission"... And since our peculiar penchant for grappling vengeful and embittered animals is well known... Also, Fifi and I are veterans of several suicide missions. Obviously we're not very good at them since we keep coming back in (more or less) one piece...

 

Anyway... Since I've now amassed vast piles of Indian temples and palaces and stuff to cram into Maldrapur's jungles, what will obviously be required is a set of Loadscreens depicting... I'll give you one guess...

Those are just a couple of samples; there's a sort of pile of them depicting both Indian temple things and also just plain, good old fashioned jungle... he said bouncing from paw to paw at excited thoughts of soon being back in the thick of it being devoured by the ever present Nuclear Mosquitoes which are the bane of our lives... Loadscreens being thrown in the Colossal Crate with everything else. (The Big Box wasn't big enough).

Next post will be the last... Sadly, as time has sort of run out, I've had to leave a few things until I get back, the Nagas for example... I've got the models done, but I don't like the idea of posting something that isn't completely working and Maleioch's Salamander/Yuan-Ti model, which I used as a foundation, always craps out if you try to make the Creature dual wield two single-handed weapons. I have discovered the reason for this and identified the solution, but haven't had time to actually hit the appropriate things with bricks yet.

[KlatchainCoffee]

From all I've heard, India is quite amazing. Hope you enjoy - but take care also - against any potential food/water as well as snake poisoning. *worried grin*

[DM Frayne]

Yeah... don't have ice in your drinks and stay off the salads.

[PLUSH HYENA of DOOM]

I avoid salads in all countries. I am a carnivore.

Besides, it's not like we've never been in India before or anything...

 

All the New Maldrapuri Stuff is now available...

http://neverwinterva...akpak/phod-kali

 

So, that's it... Maldrapur is growing into an entirely new world for NWN, and now you've got something like 160 Indian Placeables, loads of Creatures and Loadscreens and CANE BASKETS! I mean, if that isn't worth Hall of Fame, or at least a few votes from those who forgot last time, I don't know what is.

 

Anyway, the Kali Hak (updated!) has been a labour of love (though it, and my debased ramblings here, should not be mistaken for a bona fide treatise on Hinduism) and, to me anyway, it's been well worth all the hard work. Probably the best thing of mine on the Vault, that and the Aliens, and as fitting a Final Farewell to the Community as anything.

Thanks and strange little growling noises to all those who've been so supportive over the years. I'm not saying this IS the End of PHoD in the Community, since I'll always be going on with Demoness Tales etc, but you know, stuff and things - if it IS, at least I feel I'm going out on a high.

 

This is PLUSH HYENA of DOOM, last survivor of the commercial towing vehicle Nostromo, signing off...

[Tarot Redhand]

I like that this stuff is now available but how am I supposed to press the like button when you say that this could be your final post ever. On a purely selfish note (and yes I know there is no time left ATM) what happens with those skyboxes you've promised us and the new doctor who hak as well?

 

Cest la vie. So long and don't forget about the fish <hhgttg reference>. Keepest thou well and please return safely.And please, please, please return here (if it or the vault still exist) when you can.

 

TR

[3RavensMore]

TR, keep calm and carry on--he'll be back.

[CaveGnome]

Thanks ! Maldrapur is a magnificent gift. For us, deep Gnomes, this wonderful work is more than Hall of Fame worthy... In fact, there is much talk going here about the greatness PHOD things brought to our community. We love our new carpets and CANE BASKETS !!! are all the rage here ! Lately, our local clerics suggested to name one of the major caves, the "great Plioviverrops" and a few engineers are trying to adapt your beautiful temple architecture for practical underground use. May Garl protect your travels, and give you success in your endeavors.

CG

[henesua]

Take care, PHoD. You've been a great presence around here. And I hope you show up again after adventures. Take care.

[shadguy]

Happy trails!

 

-Dave

[Bluebomber4evr]

You can't leave yet, PHOD! What about your awesome dinosaurs?! 

[Tarot Redhand]

@BlueBomber4evr, He's been in India for at least a week now.

 

TR

[Bluebomber4evr]

@BlueBomber4evr, He's been in India for at least a week now.

 

TR

D'oh!

[rjshae]

Happy travels PHoD, and may your left hand never stray near your mouth.

[PLUSH HYENA of DOOM]

If there's one thing I really hate - which there isn't 'cause there's millions of things I really hate - it's when someone asks you what the view's like from the summit of Mount Everest the instant you mention you've climbed on Mount Everest. Why do they all ask the same inane question as if they're the first person ever to imagine asking such a thing?

 

(Yes, we climbed on Mount Everest, 'cause we had a bit of spare time, wandered about all the most remote bits of Northern India and Natasha - who suddenly refuses to be referred to as "Fifi" any more - caught sight of a lumpy mountainoid and instantly said we ought to climb it, since, in her exact words... "Everest - we haven't done that yet." So naturally we immediately set off, found ourselves in the foothills of Nanda Devi and with blistering insight I suddenly said "Sod, we're on the wrong sodding mountain." But we found the right one eventually by means of high, scientific processes like reading maps, compasses and blind guesswork. Thing about the Himalayas is they're all sort of big, tall, pointy things made of stone. All a bit interchangeable when you're clinging to a rockface really.

 

 

SO, we climbed on Everest. You'll notice that at absolutely no time did I in any way infer that we climbed all the way to the top, nor held any mad intention to. Like we WANT to go clambering about on some freezing cold, Yeti-infested middenheap 27,000 feet in the wind-tormented air getting frostbite and stuffing raw oxygen up our noses with all the bulge-eyed mentalism of depraved gas junkies.

No. The higher you go, the lower the temperature - and we don't do low temperatures. Hate low temperatures.

We got just far enough up it to definitely be in a position to say we were on it and then went back down into the forests where there were more interesting animals to be found. (But we did spot a Yeti. Actually it was a small yak-like thing, but it was shaggy and in the Himalayas and so we immediately called it a Yeti despite its lack of any true Yetiness whatsoever.)

 

Oh, and we didn't find a single King Cobra for the whole first two weeks. But then, we abruptly found a fourteen foot specimen in our tent in the middle of a rainy night, trying to jam itself between us in the sleeping bag. All was thus well with the so-called expedition and we soon found ever more and better venomous animals, usually in our tent.

And, what's more, I didn't get deported by the Indian authorities for being overly fixated with cane baskets as Vineeta suggested I would be...

[Tarot Redhand]

Welcome back,

 

TR

[PLUSH HYENA of DOOM]

I'm not back. You hallucinated me...

 

No! Wait! I AM back! In that case - what's that cobra doing just there on the floor...?

[Tarot Redhand]

Hissing itself? (Well what would you do with a shabby hyena beast slavering next to you?)

 

TR