Entry III. - Forest Lord: The Leshy (Part One)

"Wander not in yonder dark woods, lest ye upset th' Olde Mann"
- warning written on a sign outside the village of Ulfsvelt

~~~

Panic. Mad, blind panic. The raw pain in Gunter’s legs was searing as he gasped and wheezed, his lungs pushed to their limit. 

He burst through the thick undergrowth into a small clearing, not daring to look back at his black-armoured pursuers. The screams of his dying comrades echoing in his ears urged him onwards in spite of sheer exhaustion. But he was wounded, and his frantic running on tired legs caused him to stumble. He tripped and fell, landing heavily in the tall grass.

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Whether he had closed his eyes for a second or for many hours, he did not know. But as Gunter became alarmingly aware that he was regaining consciousness from a sleep he could ill afford, he noticed that the sky began to grow darker. 

However long he’d been out, his enemies had not yet caught up with him. Surely, it could not have been that long.

Looking up, he heard the cawing of crows, as first a trickle, then a flock, then a great stream of the black-feathered birds fluttered frantically overhead. Suddenly, he felt that he was not alone. 

Glancing to his right, Gunter jumped as a huge and terrible figure with the skeletal head of a stag emerged almost silently from the woods beside him.

He screamed in horror, raising his arm to shield his face, believing he was now to be struck down by this cruel servant of the Dark Gods.

Mere moments passed. Moments that felt like an eternity. And yet no evil deed was carried out. No grim fate befell Gunter at the claws of this fell beast.

Shuddering and whimpering, he opened his eyes, lowered his hands, and peered cautiously at the creature before him. It stared back. Calmly regarding and examining the Free Guild soldier cowering within arm’s reach.

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The being was the height of a troll. Lithe yet sinewy, with great thick hands and long, clawed fingers; it clearly possessed great physical strength. Its body was covered in shaggy and matted grey hair resembling the bark of an ancient white ash tree, and about its shoulders was a mass of leaves, twigs, and moss.

At that moment, the creature reached up and pulled down a piece of this mossy mantle to reveal its true face, smeared with mud and hidden beneath the great-antlered deer skull worn atop its head. 

A cunning ruse perhaps? To make the beast appear bigger and more imposing? 

Certainly it had worked on Gunter.

The creature’s true face had an almost human appearance, though much hairier and with a heavy brow, thick nose and wide jaw. It almost resembled the savage Ogors of the mountain steppes, though not quite as bestial. 

Gunter could see in its eyes an intelligence far greater than even the most cunning chieftain of those tribes. Indeed, he sensed that this being surpassed the capacity of his own mind by some margin. He was reminded of the haughty, yet wise and powerful Wizards he’d encountered back in the cities.

Lifting its huge arm, the figure pointed a  clawed, gnarled finger, first at a nearby plant, then at Gunter himself. It then made a gesture as if rubbing something on its arm.

Around the clearing Gunter heard heavy rustling noises, the sounds of large, four-legged figures moving past at speed. They came from the direction the beast had arrived and were heading towards the massacre the soldier had fled. 

The forest was pierced by the mournful howl of a wolf...then another...then another…

Many more joined in the chorus. The pack was clearly huge.

The beast slowly and silently turned away and began to follow the unseen wolf-pack, but not before a massive bear shuffled out of the woods and came grunting to his side. 

As the creature and its bear companion disappeared from the clearing, the wolf howls were joined by new screams....notably more guttural than before, but no less terrified.

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So, this is my first model for AoS28, aka Dark Age Of Sigmar; a Leshy, a mystical forest guardian. I might as well come straight out and say it; yes, this was inspired by the Witcher 3 video game (where the creature is called a Leshen).

But with that said, I was already reasonably well-versed in Slavic mythology before that game came to my attention, and the Leshy is a being that's fascinated me for some time.

This post is just going to be a showcase of the model. I have a lot to say about the background of the creature and my thought process in creating him in model form, but I'll put this in an additional post so that only the curious, and those prepared to read  a wall of text, may opt in if they wish! If so, click through to "The Leshy (Part Two)".

Thanks for stopping by!

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