Aonbarr Cartography
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The Apiary on Heather Hill (20x20, 200px) - Patron Only Version
🕑 Added 2023-05-09 16:26:45 +0000 UTCAs you cross the heath towards the apiary on the hill, you feel somewhat unsettled, though you can't quite place why.
As you draw nearer, it dawns on you - for all the heather on the heath, you can hear no bees, nor do you see any insects at all.
A figure dressed entirely in white stands at the north end of the property, observing the empty log hives there. As you approach, they turn towards you, wordlessly, their face obscured by a wicker mask, before slowly turning back to their hives.
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As long as I've been remotely aware of it, I've always loved folk horror. On May 1st, my fiancé and I watched The Wicker Man, both the original and the 2006 remake, due to the significance of the date in both films. Being able to compare the films so closely is always an experience, and frankly feels a little unfair. This map was partially inspired by one aspect of the remake I do like - the focus on an isolated community that places great significance upon their bees. Unfortunately, I found myself using the map as an opportunity to experiment with a few things, so what should have taken me a couple of days to finish took me most of the last week. Sorry for the delay!
Notable experiments included changing how I tackle the night variants of my maps to improve the lighting, using straw flooring (as most poor households in the medieval period would not have had wood or stone floors), building the hives out of 20 or so triangular pieces of thatched roofing and some scrap wood, and making the small bee smoker on the table outside out of a funnel, a pitcher, a scrap of leather, some random pieces of metal, and a plate. I also felt that the standard fireplaces provided by Forgotten Adventures didn't quite feel right for this location, especially given the straw flooring. So, I combined a few different assets and paths to make a larger hearth that seemed more fitting, which also took a while to figure out.
I've made versions of the map with and without the fire/smoke, but I've also included files for open and closed doors, as I'm also experimenting with providing Foundry modules for my maps. So far I'm still experimenting, but it seems promising, so I'm hoping I can start providing these to the Apprentice tier and higher very soon!
Also, if you're not familiar with medieval beesuits and their wicker masks, I do recommend taking a look at this piece by Pieter Bruegel the Elder - it's much more appropriate for horror than one might imagine at first!
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My maps are made with assets from Forgotten Adventures and AoA (bolstered with assets of my own making here and there), and they usually come with day/night, edited/unedited, and light/lightless variants, plus JPEGs, WebPs with transparent backgrounds, and UVTT (DD2VTT) files for Foundry VTT if the map features buildings or interiors.
Comments
Vincent - Aonbarr Cartography
I'm really glad to hear it! :D Intelligent bee swarms in suits, you say? Are you perhaps running What Crooked Roots?
Miriam Cox
Reporting back: they LOVED the encounter, and the map was super helpful. They heard the buzzing, saw the apiary's on your map, and went, "Oh gosh, it's a bee farm!" The little bedroom was perfect so that when they finally got past the "beekeepers" (intelligent bee swarms in suits), they found the former farm couple passed on, but tucked in bed... So cinematic.
Vincent - Aonbarr Cartography
You're very welcome, Miriam - I'm glad I could help! :D
Miriam Cox
They do not, but another Patreon Artist, Douglas Lamore, made a hex crawl for each domain of Prismeer. His "Hither" hex crawl includes an encounter at a small beefarm, and I was really wanting a nice map for it, but didn't have anything. And then you made this! It was perfect! My family loved it. :-D Thanks again!
Vincent - Aonbarr Cartography
I really should take a closer look at Witchlight some time - I didn't know they had a hex crawl based on Bruegel's work!
Miriam Cox
Oh, ha--yes, that is the same piece the Witchlight hex crawl is based on. :-) Douglas Lamore--another artist--made a neat hex crawl, but no map for the location. This is just a great pairing!
