Book IV Prelude Challenge: Category B: Secrets of a Bard

[Velnerius]

Secrets of a Bard

'My compliments for your performance this evening, Asdrubale,' said Federico. 'You've brought some great new songs from your last trip to Illaryian.'

'Grazie mille, my lord,' said Asdrubale. 'But I take it, it's not my new songs you want me to teach you.'

'You know me well! Tell me, what secrets have you unveiled in the capital? What have the Rego and the ministers been up to? It's been too quiet lately, and if I want to further my ambitions, I will have to make some powerful allies soon, or at the very least, get rid of some... obstacles...'

'You'll find all my information in here, my lord,' handing him a sealed letter. 'Furthermore, I plan to travel along the entire bay of Illar, as we discussed before.'

'Good. If we want to establish a dominant position in Varlyrio, we will require a harbour on the bay. For now, take this, and be on your way!'

 

Spoiler

And here is my second build! It's my first time building a smaller, vignette-style build, and I had a lot of fun building it!

As these are my first builds for Guilds of Historica, I wanted them to be connected, while constructing a background for my sigfig and his location. The idea came to me quite naturally, after planning my build for challenge A, to connect my bard to my sigfig, having him teach Federico all the secrets and intrigues, while traveling the world under the cover of learning new songs and stories to perform.

Build without minifigs:

 

 

 

Edited August 29 by Velnerius

[TalusMoonbreaker]

I like the floor technique that you used. The bookshelf design is also very nice. The story is very interesting. Nice to see some intrigue again in Varlyrio! I wonder who this Asdrubale really is… 

To be perfectly honest, Ilazio hasn’t  really done much (that has been revealed) since becoming Rego, other than teaching his niece his trade and reconnecting with his famiglia (and nearly getting stabbed by his brother, Ristoro), patronizing of the arts, daily guild business, and being taken on a lovely vacation (that part only happened irl, not in game haha.) Predominantly, that’s been due to me being busy with my studies so I haven’t had as much time to build. There’s also the matter of  an old force coming back into play and the  imprisonment of the previous Rego, Luca di Carlo and his conspirator/girlfriend? Arama di Athena de Cioto in the wastelands.

For photos, since you mentioned quality issue when directly inserting them into eurobricks, I generally use bricksafe because I find it simple. I just upload them to bricksafe and then copy and paste into eurobricks. I don’t know if this method would help with the quality. 

Anyways, happy backstabbing! 

[SimWies]

Really clean and nice scene, the cess-board flooring is great! Do you have some WIP photos of that or could you explain how you achieved that really nice look?

[Simon_S]

Nice one! I wanted to use that floor technique for a long time but never did it. It works so well here. Where is that printed/stickered part on the left from? This is really cool!

[Gideon]

Nice little build! I like the subtle use of older color palette parts, especially the armor seems very fitting as an old heirloom or similar gathering dust
The bookshelves are also good, but I'm wondering what part has been used at the bottom of the left one for the potions...?

[T-86(swebrickLUG)]

11 minutes ago, Gideon said:

Nice little build! I like the subtle use of older color palette parts, especially the armor seems very fitting as an old heirloom or similar gathering dust
The bookshelves are also good, but I'm wondering what part has been used at the bottom of the left one for the potions...?

 

1 hour ago, Simon_S said:

Nice one! I wanted to use that floor technique for a long time but never did it. It works so well here. Where is that printed/stickered part on the left from? This is really cool!

Appears to be this Harry Potter-piece your asking about.

[W Navarre]

Aha, what's in the wind! Nice build! You have an enemy of Ilazio in Arama De Cioto, if you ever wish to seek her aid (or help her out of prison in the Wastelands), just send me a private message  .

[LordDan]

Awesome vignette! I love the cluttered bookshelves and tiled flooring.

[Seagull King of Vaughan]

A nicely done office! And some of the good old Varlyrian intrigue…

[jtooker]

The floor tiles and cut-corner of the room work well for this vignette.  I like the wood supports poking in at the top, that is a nice detail.

[mrcp6d]

Crisp build.  The floor tiling is a great contrast to the grey and brown.  Love the packed bookshelves. 

[Kai NRG]

That floor is fantastic!  I don't know why, but the tiny extra gaps between the tiles really delight me.  The angled corner is also a nice touch, making the whole room very interesting.

[MrLind]

Building a 45 degree wall gives an open scene and much easier to view. Very well thought out.

The ceiling beams you added are superb. Breaks up both structure and color of the wall and roof.

[The Stad]

A suitably cluttered office, perfect for intrigue and plotting. Nicely done!

[Ben S]

As others have said, I really like the floor technique and the bookshelves. The border is also very neat and cool.

[Velnerius]

On 8/30/2025 at 4:44 PM, TalusMoonbreaker said:

I like the floor technique that you used. The bookshelf design is also very nice. The story is very interesting. Nice to see some intrigue again in Varlyrio! I wonder who this Asdrubale really is… 

To be perfectly honest, Ilazio hasn’t  really done much (that has been revealed) since becoming Rego, other than teaching his niece his trade and reconnecting with his famiglia (and nearly getting stabbed by his brother, Ristoro), patronizing of the arts, daily guild business, and being taken on a lovely vacation (that part only happened irl, not in game haha.) Predominantly, that’s been due to me being busy with my studies so I haven’t had as much time to build. There’s also the matter of  an old force coming back into play and the  imprisonment of the previous Rego, Luca di Carlo and his conspirator/girlfriend? Arama di Athena de Cioto in the wastelands.

For photos, since you mentioned quality issue when directly inserting them into eurobricks, I generally use bricksafe because I find it simple. I just upload them to bricksafe and then copy and paste into eurobricks. I don’t know if this method would help with the quality. 

Anyways, happy backstabbing! 

Thank you for all the information, @TalusMoonbreaker, this will definitely help me get going in Varlyrio! 

On 8/31/2025 at 6:40 PM, SimWies said:

Really clean and nice scene, the cess-board flooring is great! Do you have some WIP photos of that or could you explain how you achieved that really nice look?

Thank you! I don't have any WIP pictures, but I used a floor of 2x2 jumper plates and 1x1 plates underneath, that help create this pattern. If you google 'diagonal floor technique', you'll find some examples on which I based my idea!
 

On 8/31/2025 at 9:33 PM, Simon_S said:

Nice one! I wanted to use that floor technique for a long time but never did it. It works so well here. Where is that printed/stickered part on the left from? This is really cool!

On 8/31/2025 at 10:58 PM, Gideon said:

Nice little build! I like the subtle use of older color palette parts, especially the armor seems very fitting as an old heirloom or similar gathering dust
The bookshelves are also good, but I'm wondering what part has been used at the bottom of the left one for the potions...?

Thanks! As @T-86(swebrickLUG) already pointed out, it's a Harry Potter piece from a very long time ago. I believe it was in the very first potions class!

On 9/1/2025 at 11:09 AM, W Navarre said:

Aha, what's in the wind! Nice build! You have an enemy of Ilazio in Arama De Cioto, if you ever wish to seek her aid (or help her out of prison in the Wastelands), just send me a private message  .

Thank you, @W Navarre! I might get in touch! :)

On 9/1/2025 at 1:47 PM, LordDan said:

Awesome vignette! I love the cluttered bookshelves and tiled flooring.

On 9/1/2025 at 8:35 PM, Seagull King of Vaughan said:

A nicely done office! And some of the good old Varlyrian intrigue…

On 9/2/2025 at 6:01 PM, jtooker said:

The floor tiles and cut-corner of the room work well for this vignette.  I like the wood supports poking in at the top, that is a nice detail.

On 9/2/2025 at 10:30 PM, mrcp6d said:

Crisp build.  The floor tiling is a great contrast to the grey and brown.  Love the packed bookshelves. 

On 9/3/2025 at 2:48 AM, Kai NRG said:

That floor is fantastic!  I don't know why, but the tiny extra gaps between the tiles really delight me.  The angled corner is also a nice touch, making the whole room very interesting.

On 9/3/2025 at 7:34 AM, MrLind said:

Building a 45 degree wall gives an open scene and much easier to view. Very well thought out.

The ceiling beams you added are superb. Breaks up both structure and color of the wall and roof.

On 9/3/2025 at 1:09 PM, The Stad said:

A suitably cluttered office, perfect for intrigue and plotting. Nicely done!

On 9/4/2025 at 7:32 PM, Ben S said:

As others have said, I really like the floor technique and the bookshelves. The border is also very neat and cool.

Thank you all so much for your kind words!!!

[Grover]

Lovely little build!  You have a great angle on this scene to maximize lighting and sightline to the action, and I like the framing with the bookshelves. In particular, the all Lego shot close up in the first picture is great: it draws the viewer in and makes it feel like you are in the conversation. I appreciate the zoomed out whole scene shot, since it allows appreciation of the technical features of the build. The tile floor is an older technique that still looks good today, and you did a great job blending it seamlessly here. I also like the double stacked wedges on the top corner near the ceiling, with the 45 wedge tiles over the larger wedge plate. The torch holder is excellent, and I like the detail of the log rafters protruding into the room near the top.  Incorporating the printed shelf tile isn't always easy, but you did a nice job of it here. 

My only critique as it were is that the scene appears to be an exchange of information for money rather than instruction (teaching) of some kind.  This may be somewhat semantic in some sense, although it does fit the Varlyrian culture well. You have done a great job integrating the story into the culture there, and it works well. The color choices in particular fit right in, and I think you will do well there!  Keep up the good work!