Inkblot Cistern — Obsidian Cistern Drakes Character Sheet

The story of Inkblot Cistern

A fictional story inspired by the artwork.

The Inkblot Cistern drakes live in the chambers below a city whose streets were built on an older roof. Small openings in the stone let rain into the cistern. When the streets are dry, the drakes hear which channels still carry water by listening at the mouth of each passage. Their fin crests fold as they slip through the narrowest doors.

The drake with a gauge on its chest keeps the first watch at the inlet. A companion with hanging glass bulbs crosses to a lower basin and compares the color of the water against a lamp. The coiled drake can rest in the smallest chamber, where the lamp above its neck hangs over the edge of the pool.

On days when the gate opens, a heavier drake carries a domed vessel and waits beside a measuring bowl. Another lowers its head to send a thin stream into a brass basin. The last watcher waits for the sound to settle before moving its lantern to the next stone arch. They finish the round without ever going above the street.

Glossy black scales carry pinpoints of lavender, and the crests vary from long arcs to translucent fins with droplet tips. The brass fittings and glass vessels repeat the violet light across the sheet. Four legged and serpentine bodies give the group a range of silhouettes despite the shared palette.

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