[OL-TC2A] All the parties involved

[Keymonus]

The Labyrinth, El Oleonda, May 624

Spoiler

Ghostly voices - Free Build

Down below

A suspicious jungle stroll

The mouth of the Emperor

The City of the Dead

Shadows of a distant past

Morituri te salutant

Tristan inhaled deeply and flexed his wrist, loosening his muscles. His sword answered as an extension of his arm, and the blade of Guelphian steel whistled in the air. It would have been a difficult fight, that was clear. The Oleonese and the Lotii were similar in number, but the latter seemed better equipped for a melee fight: the chasseurs would have faced their long swords, spiked clubs, and partial armor with knives and sabers. As usual, however, the men could make the difference, and his chasseurs had proven their worth several times.

All of a sudden, a slow clap arrived from the bleachers. A man in red civilian clothes had just appeared on the balcony, surrounded by soldiers in black uniforms. The Carnites, somehow, had found their track... and in the worst possible moment!

"What a dramatic show, mein Herren. I would almost be tempted to let you finish... or to order you to do it. As you can see, there are quite a few muskets pointed towards your heads! By the way, I am Frederick von Undingen, Count of Wiesemburg, at your service." The man's voice didn't betray any emotion, but the half smile and the polite nod were absolutely unsettling. For some reason, he reminded Tristan of Slim Bill, a gang leader that during Charlatan's Bay civil war used to collect his enemies' ears... a complete psychopath, that Tristan had personally sent to Hades years before. He went on smiling, as if he hadn't just suggested watching them dying just for fun.
"I have to make you my congratulations. We had fallen behind, and we had little hope of finding Professor Wagner, or any of your gracious groups. If it hadn't been for my good friend, Major von Stern, we would still be trudging at the border of these ruins, back North. At last, he convinced me to leave behind carriages and porters, and to precede you on the way to the shipwrecks... so here we are!"

They were falling out of the frying pan and straight into the fire. Oleon and Carno were allies, but Tristan didn't think it would have mattered much. He didn't know which shipwrecks von Undingen was talking about, but he seemed to consider them a matter of life or death. By going there, von Undingen had cut them the road towards the sea, where an Oleonese ship was waiting! That wasn't even the worst part... in the distance, a drum had started to play, soon followed by a second and a third one. Konrad widened his eyes, but Tristan gestured for him to remain quiet. At least ten muskets were aimed in their direction, and any sudden movement could trigger a nervous soldier. At the moment, the best strategy was letting the eximious von Undingen talk, hoping to get alive out of that situation.

Meanwhile, the man continued, impassive as before: "I'm sorry we meet in this situation, General Rimbaud. You provided great service to my nation, in Seawatch and Neuburg. Unfortunately, the treasures of the lost Lotii fleet are too important for my masters... you meddled in something too big and too dangerous, mein Freund! I don't think I can let you go, I fear." He also added something in Lotii, that Tristan couldn't understand, with the same voice of ice. The Lotii officer stared back with hatred, then spat on the ground.

Everything seemed clear now. The Carnites hadn't abandoned the hope of finding the old Lotii fleet, even if their greed had cost way too many lives. The expedition Konrad was part of had finally succeeded, before being slaughtered by the natives. And the Chiffre, probably the most amazing part of their discoveries, was only a fortuitous finding in their insane gold hunt.

"Monsieur von Undingen, I have absolutely no idea of what you are talking about." Convincing the man to let them go was impossible, but Tristan could gain some time. Pierre, on his left, was adjusting the grip on his knife. He was on a good angle to hit the man, if things had escalated more...

The Carnite acted surprised, even embarrassed... impossible to say whether he was sincere or was only pretending. "Oh, monsieur le General, I'm sincerely sorry. I would have killed those Lotii dogs in any case, but this is an unfortunate accident. I fear I told you too much, and now you have to die. My fault, please forgive me. Let's close it here. Mayor von Stern, please, order your men to open fire!"

The officer in black -von Stern, apparently- hesitated. There was a moment of silence, broken only by some native drums... way closer, this time! "Herr, Graf... might I remind you that Carno and Oleon are allies, and that we just fought side by side in Seawatch... the governor would never approve this move. And I can't approve this order, either!"

"Ah, von Stern, you are a traitor and a coward! But you know, you can never trust an Essian for something important. Well, let’s make things easier for everyone: if anyone ignores an order again, I’ll have him hanged as soon as we return to Neuburg. Now, where were we? Oh, right! Kurt, would you please oblige? And make General Rimbaud the courtesy of being the first one.”

“Yes, sir!” Without other comments, the man lowered his musket and took aim.

Time seemed to slow down. For a second, everyone remained still, and only the sound of a drum broke the unreal silence. This time it was close, very close, but nobody seemed to notice.

Then the world seemed to run faster and faster. Pierre sprang as a bow, throwing his knife in Kurt’s direction. He missed by a little, but the blade passed close enough to make him lose the aim. The musket fired, but the ball only hit the sand at a half a meter from Tristan’s feet. Then, before anyone could react, the battle cries began.

“Idiot, you killed us all!” Yelled in Carnite the Lotii commander. He was probably true, but it was also their best chance to run!

The Daca emerged from the bushes, right behind the Carnites. The musket shot had given up their position, and apparently also angered the natives a lot.

Von Undingen seemed too busy to notice that is prey was escaping, and seemed in a quiet dire situation. Tristan, however, had the feeling that he would have seen that hideous man again, sooner or later… probably he was so evil that the Boatman would have repelled him!

As the Carnite soldiers were fighting for heir lives, the Oleonese and the Lotii started running away under a rain of spears… trying to fight each other didn’t seem particularly important in that moment. 

With a map to unknown lands and a ship waiting for them along the Southern Coast, a few miles far, Tristan felt almost as when he first sailed to Astrapi, many years before… an unknown world was waiting for him to explore, and a new Era seemed ahead, both for him and for his nation! 

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Overall view:

With this last part, I conclude my storyline about El Oleonda, the Labyrinth and the “cipher”. I hope you enjoyed it, for sure I had fun with the buildings and the story! I will for sure reuse some of the characters: Tristan will remain my main one, and von Undingen will probably be his nemesis in a future story…

Note: sorry, I had left the “wip” in the title even if everything was over!

Edited August 22, 2024 by Keymonus

[NOD]

That was a great and exciting story of an expedition!   There are great builds to see in every episode. The photos are fantastic and give the impression that it is a large diorama. I like the architecture; the buildings are very well built. Great selection of minifigures.

Interesting development of the story, I wasn't expecting Carno troops. Haha, von Undingen gets what he deserves.   He'll be lucky if he only loses his wig. I'm glad that General Tristan Rimbaud   remains your main character. 

The alliance is only a pact of convenience, everyone is looking out for themselves. This of course makes things exciting on the island of El Oleanda in the future, because it has settlements from 3 nations. In addition, there are dangerous hostile Daca.

[Fraunces]

I really like your stories about Tristan. Would like to see more 

[Khorne]

A fine ending to the story and setting up future rivalry. Too bad we didn't get to the actual treasure.

Glad you were able to finish the story in time. All of these installments sure must've taken some time to build and write.

Where is von Undingen's head from? Can't immediately recognize it.

[Keymonus]

On 8/9/2024 at 11:44 PM, NOD said:

That was a great and exciting story of an expedition!   There are great builds to see in every episode. The photos are fantastic and give the impression that it is a large diorama. I like the architecture; the buildings are very well built. Great selection of minifigures.
Interesting development of the story, I wasn't expecting Carno troops. Haha, von Undingen gets what he deserves.   He'll be lucky if he only loses his wig. I'm glad that General Tristan Rimbaud   remains your main character. 
The alliance is only a pact of convenience, everyone is looking out for themselves. This of course makes things exciting on the island of El Oleanda in the future, because it has settlements from 3 nations. In addition, there are dangerous hostile Daca.

Thank you! This was probably the most intricate story I built, and I overestimated the time I had, so it really was a funny ride! I'm glad you liked the final result!
I don't have precise plans about von Undingen, at first I had planned to just make him die, but it seemed a little waste, and I think I need a nemesis for my main character... so expect to see him again, maybe with a scar or an eyepatch!
For the developments on El Oleonda, only time will tell... this is something beyond what I can decide with my storyline, but I hope we'll see some more action there!

On 8/10/2024 at 12:21 PM, Fraunces said:

I really like your stories about Tristan. Would like to see more 

Thank you! Tristan will remain my main character. Before new EGS rules will be defined, I think I'll build more adventure-themed things than properties, so you'll see more about him soon!

On 8/10/2024 at 1:15 PM, Khorne said:

A fine ending to the story and setting up future rivalry. Too bad we didn't get to the actual treasure.
Glad you were able to finish the story in time. All of these installments sure must've taken some time to build and write.
Where is von Undingen's head from? Can't immediately recognize it.

Thank you! The treasure is something I wanted to keep for a proper storyline... it's something I introduced in an older challenge, but I never found the time to properly focus on it! It was a little bit a rush, as I had to leave for a sailing trip and I'm only today back on dry land... with a little more experience about sails and nodes!
Von Undiingen's head is from a pick-a-brick desk in a LEGO store, the code shoud be this one: 3626cpb2792. It's a quite versatile part, I think I already used for at least 10 background characters around my MOCs!