Laesonar 6 - Laelariel [Part 1]

[en_zoo]

Ep. 5

 

Laesonar Episode 6

Laelariel [Part 1]

" … I've been looking for an order of knights of which I used to be... well... a member of and from which I got... well... separated. This bear heraldry is unmistakably theirs. Their major temple was empty when I got there and I later found out that those bandits had stolen everything from it. I gave in to rage and attacked them mindlessly. Pretty much as you did, Laesonar. Only, my adventure didn't end so well."
Laesonar seemed distracted. The trees around were slowly turning smaller and the undergrowth younger.
"… Laesonar?"
"Yes. Sorry, Armin. I've been listening."
"Is everything ok? You've been quiet for a while."
"Sorry. I was initially focusing on this guy who's following us, but now I can smell something..."
Krisly gave a start: "What? We're being followed?! Why didn't you tell us? How many are there?" She grabbed her bow, quickly reaching for an arrow.
 "You don't have to worry about it, it's just a kid."
Armin was surprised: "What? Where? I haven't heard anything at all! And how can you tell it's just a boy?"
"I can hear him clearly. He knows his steps, so he must be a local, yet he still has much to learn about the art of stealth. He's very young and keeps his distance – I say he's no threat."
"Wow... Ok well, so why are you so concerned, master half-elf?"
"I can smell something. Something... bad."
Helga reached for her axe while approaching Armin. "What is it, Laesonar? Armin, can you smell anything?"
"Actually, now that he mentions it, there is something of a stuffiness in the air..."
"It's not just stuffiness, master paladin. Something is foul here. It's like something has been rotting for a while, something big."
Elysande was worried now. "Wh... what? You mean like a dead beast or something?"
"I'm afraid not, Ely, it's much bigger than that. I fear something really wrong has been going on here. Something really unnatural."
That last word echoed in everyone's mind, placing a dark cloud over the once-happy little crowd. Laesonar noticed. "At least we're soon going to find out. The smell gets stronger at every step."
Armin was impressed and confused at the same time "This man... How can his senses be so sharp? How many other things am I going to find out about him?" "… You're quite the unusual one, Laesonar, do you know that?"
"As a matter of fact, I do. But I can never say that, else everyone thinks that I'm vain."
Everyone smiled slightly. "If anything, I've managed to defuse the situation a bit.." thought Armin, while striding through the undergrowth.

The forest was thinning out and the trees were slowly giving place to bushes when the little group could glimpse the border of the forest. Now they could all clearly detect that smell, getting stronger at every step, together with their anxiety. Unable to wait any longer, they all ran to get beyond the last trees, where a meadow opened up in front of them – in the distance, a small city rising up right next to... a huge hole in the ground. Gobsmacked, they all stared down the hill. Unsure at first, they started to understand. Helga dropped her axe, Krisly fell to her knees, unable to believe her eyes: "That... that's Laelariel! How is this possible?!"
A shiver went down Armin's back. Laesonar's words echoed in his head "Something wrong and really unnatural". He swallowed heavily, then finally spoke up:
"Holy Emptiness! What on earth happened to this lake??!"

 

----------------------------------

What can I say, guys? I'm not quite sure whether I'm happy with the result, actually. I guess the Summer Joust made me go a bit ambitious The perspective has been my worst enemy here, this was a great challenge. The lack of pieces didn't help, in particular I ran out of green cheese for the trees. This again made me fight with the perspective as the trees at the left were supposed to be closer and hence bigger than the ones at the back..

As for photography, I've taken a million shots and was never happy. At the end I surrendered to this one. I've got only this one, as the MOC was literally built around it and it was hence impossible to go for another angle - only a centimeter off and the scene wouldn't have been 'immersive' anymore. There had been another, slightly bigger, shot possible, hadn't I run out of medium blue too..

Anyway, I've enjoyed tried my hand at this kind of macro-micro-scale. I already had the idea of the empty lake and the Summer Joust provided the right occasion, at the right time, with the 'immersive scene' category.

There are more critiques to make - I'll leave them to you guys  I'm open to suggestion on how to improve the perspective. Hope you enjoy the finally-short episode too

Thanks for reading ^^

 

Ep.7

 

 

Edited October 22, 2018 by en_zoo

[Henjin_Quilones]

Beyond your own critiques, en_zoo, I don't have much to add. I do like it, though, if that makes you feel better about it. One suggestion I have would be to include just one more step up of land closest to the viewer, and to put minifigs there to give it even more scale. Then we, the viewers, could be joining Laesonar and the others in viewing the desolation of the lake. As it stands, though, it looks good. I like the small village on the right. 

[TitusV]

Aside from what you and HQ already said (a minifig would indeed help out a lot!), I have one more remark: the air. I have seen quite a lot of these brickbuilt clouds lately, but I must say that yours is really good! To be honest, I love it  It's just the right shade of blue, and just the right amount of plates... Impressive  

[The Maestro]

An empty lake... you have me intrigued 

I agree with all said so far, especially adding a minifig. Still I really like this and think you did well, the landscaping looks pretty natural too 

[soccerkid6]

Always entertaining to read the next section of your story, and this one is particularly fascinating Immersive shots can be very tricky to pull off, but I think you did fairly well. Can always try again in the future when you have more parts and time

[en_zoo]

On 28/06/2017 at 1:56 AM, Henjin_Quilones said:

Beyond your own critiques, en_zoo, I don't have much to add. I do like it, though, if that makes you feel better about it. One suggestion I have would be to include just one more step up of land closest to the viewer, and to put minifigs there to give it even more scale. Then we, the viewers, could be joining Laesonar and the others in viewing the desolation of the lake. As it stands, though, it looks good. I like the small village on the right. 

It does make me feel beeter, HQ - thanks I actually had in mind to add the figs and yet I discarded the idea for some reasons...

On 28/06/2017 at 0:42 PM, TitusV said:

Aside from what you and HQ already said (a minifig would indeed help out a lot!), I have one more remark: the air. I have seen quite a lot of these brickbuilt clouds lately, but I must say that yours is really good! To be honest, I love it  It's just the right shade of blue, and just the right amount of plates... Impressive  

Thanks Titus. Glad you like the clouds, it was the part I anjoyed the most myself ^^

On 01/07/2017 at 8:41 AM, The Maestro said:

An empty lake... you have me intrigued 

I agree with all said so far, especially adding a minifig. Still I really like this and think you did well, the landscaping looks pretty natural too 

Thanks Maestro, it's a relief to read your words good that you're intrigued, I do have plans..

On 04/07/2017 at 2:13 AM, soccerkid6 said:

Always entertaining to read the next section of your story, and this one is particularly fascinating Immersive shots can be very tricky to pull off, but I think you did fairly well. Can always try again in the future when you have more parts and time

Really glad to hear, SK ^^ And yes, I've found out the hard way how tricky they are