Shrieking Bolete

The Shrieking Bolete is a fully custom creature created in Blender with the assistance of the Gimp and NifSkope. Mesh, skeleton, textures, and animations were all created by myself with trouble-shooting assistance from many of the kind and generous modders on the official forums.

The Bolete has been released as a modders' resource. This resource includes the creature model and animations, a lore book, and an alchemy ingredient. The attached .esp includes an example Bolete set-up in the Construction Set and a test area for previewing the creature.

Background

"...the Shrieking Bolete inhabits dank caves and caverns from Vvardenfell to the Summerset Isles and is quite common. In it's natural habitat, it is quite harmless and stupid, feeding on the carrion left behind by larger underworld predators and the dung and offal of goblins and their kin. Left alone, and on their own, they pose no threat to the explorer or naturalist; their unusual defensive mechanism, however, makes them of particular interest to goblins and other humanoids who frequently use them to guard the perimeter of their dwellings in much the same way that surface dwellers employ dogs to guard their homes to alert their owners to the presence of danger through their vocalizations...." Tyrndael Veshnim, noted Dunmer naturalist

The original inspiration for this creature will be obvious to fans of classic D&D pen and paper role-playing. The Bolete is a nuisance creature designed to introduce unique gameplay experiences and strategies, and is more than a simple punching bag. The proper attitude to take towards these creatures is one of repect mixed with annoyance. Deal with them quickly or avoid them entirely, or you may find yourself quickly overwhelmed by the inhabitants of a dungeon.

I have made an effort to adapt the Bolete to the Tamriel mythos, but I am not a lore expert, so I apologize if some of you feel this clashes somewhat too much with the existing lore. At the very least, it should fit in well with the Shivering Isles. :)

Tools Used

Blender
NifSkope
The Gimp

Credits

Kilza for his awesome custom creature tutorial at the CS Wiki. Kilza made it all happen!
SaidenStorm for his assistance on various technical points, and for being a truly inspirational wunderkind.
Mr. Siika for his wonderful creations. You are a constant inspiration!
TSR for creating D&D and making me such a wonderful, messed up kid-at-heart!
The players, for whom all resources are ultimately created. Enjoy, and never stop demanding more from your game!

Limitations on Use

The Bolete can be freely used in your own mods, but may not be resold for profit. A credit in your readme would tickle my fancy. If you do use this resource, I would love to hear about it, so drop me an email. You can reach me at the link on the bottom of any page on this site, or via pm in the ESF forums where I go by TheMagician.