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Rogue Angel

Allora's Quest for the Earth Gem

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Long have legends of the fable elemental Crystals passed through the Lands of Historica, be it by tale or verse or page. Long have these priceless gems captured the interest of treasure hunters and lore masters. This is the tale of the Earth Crystal, and of Allora Thellas.

Our tale begins with the birth of Allora Thellas.

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Allora's birth coincided with the departure of her grand father - Brynn Thellas. Brynn was a renowned soldier, whose exploits had earned him fame and wealth. But he was also a collector of arcane and mystic artifacts. Long had he studied the earth crystal, and this day he was departing to seek it out and add it to his collection. His long time companion, Orgnas, accompanied Brynn on his journey.

Neither Brynn nor Orgnas ever returned. Allora's mother was familiar with the all the legends of the Earth Crystal that Brynn had taught her, including the Earthen Chant:

So you seek the Earth Crystal of yore,

of which you have heard so much lore.

Where druids once ruled in the north,

from their hall you must venture forth.

Where the red god doth gather his flock,

the door shall be hewn out of rock.

Of the crystal's defender beware,

for intruders it never shall spare.

The Earth gem has power incarnate,

with which one may alter their own fate.

But if all four crystals are sought,

thy actions will lead but to naught.

For the elements joined will then sunder,

the world with both lightning and thunder.

As Allora grew, her interest in the Earth Crystal grew as well.

When Allora was old enough, her parents sent her to the Cathedral in Albion, so that she could study at the University.

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By this time, Allora was completely obsessed with the crystal and devoted all of her time searching for tomes and scrolls that might contain ancient elemental lore.

She pored over religious devotions and psalms, and learned of the Dovrak, the Red God of Rage, Lust and Greed. The first mention of Dovrak was of a cult that sprung up among a splinter sect of the ancient Druids of the Mystic Isles. Allora sought out the red priests of Dovrak, and even feigned allegiance to the God to learn all that she could of this red God of the Underworld.

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Allora continued to pursue all sources of lore and legend regarding the Earth Crystal, and stumbled upon a gypsy who knew of an additional verse to the Earthen Chant that she had never heard before.

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The guardian of earth's only bane,

is wrought of a similar vein.

Having acquired this new insight, she sought to make a weapon that wielded the power of the Earth, so as to defeat the guardian she knew she must face. She sought the rare and precious mineral Vematite in the small remote streams of the Enchanted Forest.

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She then took this metal to the Master Smith Heaphus, who forged it into a spearhead which he mounted on an oaken shaft.

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Armed with the great spear, Allora set out for the Mystic Isles to find the Earth Crystal.

She searched the isles for two years before she found the ore deposits that the Ancient Druids had worshiped as the "Hand of God." Behind the hand, she found an entrance to a cave.

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In the back of the cave, she found a roughly hewn tunnel leading back into the hill side. She had traveled for a couple of hours when the floor suddenly collapsed beneath her. She managed to wedge her spear into a crack in the wall, and pull herself to the safety. She could see from the bones below that many had not been as lucky - including her grandfather's friend Orgnas, whose armored rusted in the pit below.

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Despite the skeletons, Allora was heartened, for she knew she was on the right track.

Walking through the tunnel, Allora lost track of time and direction, but eventually she could make about a bluish glow coming from a cavern ahead. As she approached, Allora could see great blue crystals.

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As she entered the cavern, she could see that each of the great crystals contained some unlucky warrior or scout. Allora had heard rumors of a beast that could petrify unwary travelers, and sure enough, she saw the skeleton of the monster.

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The monster was a cockatrice and it had died on the lance of it's last victim. When she looked closer, she saw that it was her Grandfather - Brynn - who had slayed the beast, and died in the process.

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Byrnn thanked her grandfather for sparing her the same fate, and glanced around the cavern. She spotted a Knight Protector of the Mystic Isles,

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An elf who had been frozen in mid leap,

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and even a Drow!

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The corridor beyond the cavern was much larger, and made of polished stone. Some 10 minutes later, the corridor opened onto a great chamber, with great obelisks surrounding a large pit belching smoke. Between the obelisks were great symbols that Allora recognized from her studies. These runes of the ancient druids represented the 11 ancient races.

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And there, at the back of the Chamber, was the EARTH CRYSTAL!

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Her prize was so close, yet she knew that the Cockatrice had not been the true Crystal Guadian, and she must be wary.

As she circled the pit, a great shape rose from the billowing smoke of the pit - one of the fabled Wurms of Legend. This was the guardian she must face!

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The wurm towered over Allora, and spoke raspy words in a grating tongue that sounded like no language she had ever heard.

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As Allora looked upon the great creature, she knew what she must do, that her time of destiny was upon her!

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She took her great spear - imbued itself with the power of the Earth - and threw like a javelin at the Wurm's glowing green eye.

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Her spear hit it's mark, and pierced the creature's high. Blood sprayed from the Wurm, and it's terrible shrieking echoed through the chamber as it thrashed in it's death throes, and then collapsed back into the pit from whence it came.

The guardian defeated, Allora approached the altar and lifted the Earth Crystal high in the air. She could feel the power coursing though it! She had found the crystal and her grandfather, and could return home triumphant!

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The previous adventures encased in crystal is a cool idea that you carried out well :thumbup: The guardian is great, as is the room it is in.

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great stuff,

Lots of nice details in the vingettes and the story was great.

I really like the frozen characters and your guardian is top notch.

Hail Avalonia!

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Fantastic entry! The diversity of your scenes is mind-boggling.

My favourite thing is the lighting, you've done a great job with that. It really helps to make this entry stand out. Good luck!

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Thanks for the comments! I created a lesser version of the final chamber for what I mistakenly thought was the deadline (Apr 15th) and then decided to revamp it when I saw my mistake. I wanted to create a dragon-type creature, and the head worked out pretty well, but the serpentine body just came to me when I was looking at all my round bricks. The guardian worked out better than I expected - I will have to work on creating an actual dragon one of these days though.

I tried some new lighting techniques, and they worked out so-so. I really liked the one shot of the crystal, the campfire and the stained glass window, but the rest ended up just being standard.

I intended to spend the entire day Saturday writing out the story, but ended up spending most of the day in a hospital with a loved one (nothing life threatening, thank goodness) and just threw the story together at the end. I did already have the general storyline laid out though for the scenes, so at least I had that to work with.

I was looking for trans-green pieces to place some small crystal deposits in the cavern until I saw my trans-dark blue windshield pieces, and realized I could fit characters inside for petrified victims. I had 6 different victims, but I built the entire cavern walls and ceiling, and severely limited my camera angles. I really wanted a good shot of the Brynn with his spear through the Cockatrice skeleton, but I could not get the angle - you can't even really tell it's him! Ah well, it still worked out.

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Wow! One of your best builds so far! The tale is well-spun, and the feel of the different scenes are very intriguing. Great entry!

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Great work Rogueang, i really like the cinematic feel of your series of vigs - i really get a sense of being immersed in the world of your story. Having concentrated on lighting a bit in my own entry, i can appreciate how tricky it can be to get it just right - i'm very impressed with the number of different approaches you've taken to the lighting in your story. :thumbup: I also love all the neat touches you've added - the hand carpet (never seen that done and it works quite well!), the scroll and open book in the library, the stained glass and the crystals in the cave etc. An impressive entry! :classic:

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Nice entry with some great touches like the floor of hands and the part you used for the bed. I also love the wurm design!

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This is really good; I like it a lot! Most of the builds aren't that complex, but there are a lot of them, and each one has at least a few really cool things. (And the last few are complex and cool) Plus the photography is good, and the lighting is great. I've got to try some lighting like that. And a great story too. So much to like here including: the books and scrolls in the library, the red fist stained glass, the campfire lighting, the smith's forge (although I think the anvil is too big), the Hand of God and the rock walls around it, the antechamber's construction, the blue entrapping crystals, the cockatrice skeleton, the final chamber design, and the dragon! I want to steal all your great ideas; you'll see some in my future MOCs I'm sure.

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Great scene's you got there! The curving wall in the guardian chamber is perfect. The guardian look's powerful. I wish we could see some of the scenes from a little further out, though. I see a mouse arrow in some of your pic's? Great job overall. :thumbup: Don't make us have to wait so long for your your next moc's!

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So much to love here rogueang! Those minifigs hands as hay is one example and the window with trans clear bricks! (Have to take some techniques from that with me! :classic::wink: )

You have really good lightning in your photos!! Very well done sir!

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Thank guys! I was going for a hay/straw floor, as deGothia guessed. I chose the scenes to further the storyline, so I think that helped make them more relevant.

I wasn't that happy with the stained glass window, but the lighting really improved it IMO. I acutally made the final chamber first, and then remade it completely to get the walls to fit better.

All of my building time over the last month has been spent on this entry and before that I had real life getting in the way. I hope to produce some smaller builds soon, but I'm going to be working on my Albion build, and my High King of the Elves build for Brickworld next month.

Thanks for pointing out the arrows BB - I'll take care of them when I get home from work tonight.

(and now that I look at it, that anvil is way too big *huh* )

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I have to say this is one cool and awesome story and a very great job on building it. :classic:

Those frozen figs is a great idea. Amazing job and good luck in the vote.

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A great exciting entry! The story is well told and I really love the many different scenes you have created here, each one helps bring the story to life. Some great ideas with the figures frozen in crystals and the final chamber is a great build! The guardian looks awesome and I like the fact that he springs up from the pit in the middle of the chamber.

A very enjoyable well built adventure, well done sir, you do mighty Avalonia proud :thumbup:

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Fantastic entry! The diversity of your scenes is mind-boggling.

My favourite thing is the lighting, you've done a great job with that. It really helps to make this entry stand out. Good luck!

The lighting really is awesome, especially at the campfire. I love the whole Elektra/ninja training references, the birth scene is lovely too. My favourite is crossing the river, so simple but brilliant. The arrow in the eye of the guardian looks very good. I won't repeat what everyone else said on other details, great build!

:classic:

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Thanks guys!

The torso is from the new Valkyrie figure from series 8.

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