Chicken-Itza - In The Court Of The Lizard King

Small post today, just a peek into some new terrain Ive been working on.  I wanted the next post to be a battle report, but I just had to share my new terrain.  The battle report is still on schedule for Friday-ish.

Cardboard, clay, glue, and paint a'plenty went into making this new terrain set.  As you can see they match well with my Dwarven Forge.   Now, you might be asking, what is a Meso-American step pyramid doing in Moria?  To justify having some oldhammer lizardmen on the blog, of course!  Unfortunately, I dont have any painted up yet, so a D&D Bullywug King will have to step up to the plate for awhile until such time as suitable lizardmen are painted up.  The turqoise trees are plastic, which Ive painted in a suitable otherworldly jurassic color.  The purple trees are Woodland scenics FineLeaf Foliage.  I suppose its a plant thats been treated with a preservative of some sort.  Once I painted them purple, they really popped out visually. 

Welcome dear readers to the Court of the Lizard King, also called Chicken-Itza!

Somewhere deep in the Savage Lands, stands the Temple.
Once it was the center of an ancient civilization that brought order and prosperity to the Underworld - a reptilian race created by the Gods of Order.  They worked hand in hand with the Dwarves: Lizard magic for Dwarven stonework, but that was millennia ago.  The wars of Chaos divided the races, until both the Lizardmen of Chicken-Itza and the Dwarves of Khazad-Dum were overthrown by evil powers.  The Dwarves abandoned Moria, but the Lizardmen stayed behind, were slaughtered, until only one remained...

The Bullywug King stirred from his reverie, for the first time in hundreds of years.  Events were happening in the real world, that were also coloring his dream world.  The Dwarves have returned to Moria, in greater numbers this time!  But there was something else...  The Ghost King has also returned... to the Savage Lands.  He has awoken the sleeping dead.  The Bullywug was not afraid of him or the vast armies he now commanded.  The Temple was imbued with an ancient spell that hid it from outsiders with a labyrinthine maze of jungle paths and cavern walls.  No one could find the Temple unless permitted to do so.

Here is an ancient Spawning Pool, where new born lizardmen were hatched.  But they have been still and quiet for many ages.

The grey flooring of the pools are made of clay, which I spread out and smeared to look like rock.  And the pools themselves are various green paints and inks with some blues as well, then sealed with a varnish top coat.

"There's danger on the edge of town
Ride the King's highway, baby
Weird scenes inside the gold mine
Ride the highway west, baby

Ride the snake, ride the snake
To the lake, the ancient lake, baby
The snake is long, seven miles
Ride the snake...he's old, and his skin is cold"
 

Magic is infused in the water, the trees, the stone of this land.  An ancient magic, deep and slumbering.  But now it is stirring again... the Land is awakening...  and it is hungry!

The Bullywug stares out over the land and with his staff, he traces magical runes into the air.  Until a vision comes to him, of events near and far.  He sees the threads of the future and its major players.  The ancient enemy, the Balrog.  The Ghost King.  The Dwarf Lords.  The cruel Drow and their Dragon Queen.  And the Fallen Dwarf...  Balin. 

The Bullywug King considers all possible futures and realizes he has a big decision to make that will determine the future of all his reptile kindred.  Sure there were feral reptiles out in the jungles, but they were savage and not intelligent.  If he chooses correctly, he will see the reemergence of the great Lizard race. 

He stares down at the two Spawning pools in front of him, that have stood empty for a thousand years.

"I am the Lizard King
I can do anything"

Who should he side with...?  The alliance of Dwarves and Lizardkind was long ago, would the stunties even remember it?  It seemed like the right choice.
But what if the right choice leads to extinction?

The Bullywug King makes his decision...
He raises his staff again and magical energy is summoned.

But to what purpose?

Soon, the Bullywug King will receive visitors.  They will be the first guests to see Chicken-Itza in such a very long time...

Thats the post!
I will have to drop another hint again for the battle report coming up next post...

"Next to a battle lost, the saddest thing is a battle won."