MassEditor

On the Road to Shadowmere

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Anfauglir was not anticipating a warm reception as he crossed the border into Shadowmere. Old grudges do not easily die, and there were plenty between Anfauglir and the ruler of these shadowy lands, Lord Vladivus. The Nocturnus Civil War had pit the two squarely against one another, and on more than one occasion both met on opposite sides of the battlefield.

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Despite the Black Spire's victory, Lord Vladivus continued to command one of the strongest resistance forces left in Nocturnus. His fighters were a constant harassment to Raavage's ambitions, and hardly a whisper passed by the Shadowmere intelligence service unawares.

Now it was time to put their bad blood aside. If there was a chance of stopping the Black Spire, it would need all factions of the resistance to unite. Divided, Raavage would stomp them out one by one.

Anfauglir had not traveled far into Shadowmere before reaching one of its border outposts. A group of Shadowmere border troops guarded the path ahead, the twin towers of their fortification loomed over the road to the city itself. Dismounting his horse, he approached the outpost expecting a mistrustful greeting - Covenant commanders, even rebellious ones, were not generally welcomed in these lands. One of the soldiers spotted Anfauglir as he neared the outpost. The guard eyed him suspiciously before speaking.

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"Hail traveler! It's a free city Shadowmere is, but if ye be a troublesome drifter, be warned! Cause a problem and you will be introduced to its gallows! So, what be yer business here?"

"I've come to meet with Lord Vladivus. I've traveled a great distance to be here, and it is of the utmost importance that I speak with him."

The guard stared at Anfauglir. He turned to the other guards manning the outpost and laughed.

"Ye hear that boys? The drifter wants to see the boss! Well, right this way m'lord, we'll take you right to him!"

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The guard jumped down to the road and unsheathed his sword. Two others followed suit.

"And who be ye to waltz into Shadowmere and demand the presence of the Lord of these lands? By the looks of ye, I think ye be a spy, or worse yet... an assassin!"

Another guard eyed Anfauglir's sword and spotted the Covenant emblem on its hilt.

"A Covenant assassin he is! Come to kill Vladivus no doubt!

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Anfauglir said nothing as the guards surrounded him. Haste actions now would spoil the purpose of this trip.

"Silence, eh lad? I think some time in the dungeons would loosen your tongue! Get 'em boys!"

The guards advanced towards Anfaulgir, but a voice called out before the first guard reached him.

"Men, halt! I would not advise you to act so foolishly - this man has killed many on the field of battle, including those of Shadowmere. You know not who you deal with."

The guards paused. Behind them they saw Lord Vladivus himself, escorted by several royal soldiers. He had been informed of Anfauglir's arrival and rode from the city to met him personally.

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"M'lord! Covenant scum this one be, and an assassin for sure!"

Lord Vladivus laughed. He dismounted and approached Anfauglir.

"Indeed, a Covenant he is. But I hope he has not become so desperate as to kill men in the dark to earn his coin. This man is no assassin. He is Anfauglir, a commander in the Covenant army. Or should I say former commander? Does a motley band of soldiers hiding in the mountains count as a command?"

Anfauglir's eyes flashed to Vladivus.

"We do our best. Now I've come to ask you to do the same."

"To do the same? Strange speak from a man who until recently allied himself with the scourge of Nocturnus, pillaging and destroying all before him. Shadowmere has always resisted the Black Spire, and we will continue until the last drop of sweat and blood. Tirelessly do we resist Raavage in hopes of saving our lands from his terror. Now I'm to believe you have matched our effort?"

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Anfauglir relaxed. He knew his service with the Black Spire would make this a difficult meeting, but he needed Shadowmere's help.

"My men have vowed to right the wrongs we have committed, but without your help we cannot resist the Black Spire for long. Raavage and his crony, Senurhem, will find our hidden fortress and they will surely crush it. Unless the resistance unites, Nocturnus is doomed."

"So, humility is not a trait entirely lost upon commanders of the Covenant, it would seem. I know why you are here, Anfauglir, and we indeed have much to discuss. Let us ride together to Shadowmere, there Lord Mortis is awaiting our meeting."

"I have heard rumors of Lord Mortis' return. Has he pledged to resist the Black Spire?"

Lord Vladivus mounted his horse and turned to Anfauglir.

"Yes, it seems our allies grow in number each day while Raavage's wither - we have heard about your escape from Lagash Ur alongside the Dragon Master and Zugal leaders. But come, Lord Mortis awaits us."

Anfauglir returned to his horse and waved to the outpost guards as he rode by. Riding behind Vladivus on the road to Shadowmere, Anfauglir's mind turned to Samarkand and his men. Their future would perhaps rest on the outcome of this meeting.

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A full shot of the MOC:

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Hello again! This build is part of a collaborative project Lord Vladivus, Jorrith and myself have been working on. My original intention with this build wasn't to go entirely with classic, studs-up rockwork but I wanted to give it one more shot before trying some totally new styles, for me that is. I think this is the best studs-up rockwork I've done, but it doesn't really compete with the angled and SNOT techniques a lot of landscaping folks are using now. I wasn't too happy with the way the big tree turned out, but after messing with it for one full, frustrating day, I decided I'd go with it.

Anyways, thanks a ton for looking! As always, feedback is much appreciated!

Edited by MassEditor

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I'm always blown away by your MOCs, and this one is no exception. The tower flag at an angle is a great touch.

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Personally, I think studs up rockwork can still look jsut as fabulous as the new SNOT styles, as is demonstrated here :thumbup:

The fortress layout looks great and I :wub: the little wooden platform with rope ladder. Great dead trees too, I know how difficult those can be, after doing a few dormant ones for my sugaring build :classic:

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This is awesome ME. So much rockwork here that studying it will help a lot with others who struggle with even this technique (me!). Your photography and presentation remain impeccable.

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The rockwork is very nice! Also the black towers with spikes everywhere, are just amazing! Love it! Great work!

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Another excellent build, MassEditor! Great job with the rock-work and tower, story, signpost and trees :thumbup:

I'm looking forward to the continuation of the collab! :wink:

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Great build, ME!

The black tower with spikes works very well, IMO. That dead tree is great as well!

The detail I like best is the rockwork. Studs-up rocks can still work very well, even though the technique is simpler than SNOT rocks. For a larger build like this, SNOT-rock is not necessary to look nice!

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Oh wow! You did an outstanding job with the story and build! The rockwork is excellent and i really like the depth the pathway to the outpost creates. The outpost itself is very nocturnus, i like it alot! :wub:

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I'm always blown away by your MOCs, and this one is no exception. The tower flag at an angle is a great touch.

Thanks man, the flag was the last piece I placed on this build!

Personally, I think studs up rockwork can still look jsut as fabulous as the new SNOT styles, as is demonstrated here :thumbup:

The fortress layout looks great and I :wub: the little wooden platform with rope ladder. Great dead trees too, I know how difficult those can be, after doing a few dormant ones for my sugaring build :classic:

Thanks SK, glad you liked the build! You're maple sugar trees were definitely an inspiration.

Fantastic landscaping, the rocks, the tree, the tower, everything is perfect.

I appreciate that V!

This is awesome ME. So much rockwork here that studying it will help a lot with others who struggle with even this technique (me!). Your photography and presentation remain impeccable.

Thanks a lot McCoyed, I'm flattered!

The rockwork is very nice! Also the black towers with spikes everywhere, are just amazing! Love it! Great work!

Thank you sir!

Another excellent build, MassEditor! Great job with the rock-work and tower, story, signpost and trees :thumbup:

I'm looking forward to the continuation of the collab! :wink:

Thanks Garmadon, me too!

Great build, ME!

The black tower with spikes works very well, IMO. That dead tree is great as well!

The detail I like best is the rockwork. Studs-up rocks can still work very well, even though the technique is simpler than SNOT rocks. For a larger build like this, SNOT-rock is not necessary to look nice!

Thanks Slegengr! After messing around last night with some other techniques, I started to think it would be pretty difficult - beyond my current skill anyways - to do rockwork on this scale using some of the SNOT methods out there (in particular, I'm thinking of the excellent example Infernum provided with the scene he built for his Snowvenom dragon). So, I might just carry on with studs-up rocks mixed in with some simple SNOT for the time being! Anyways, thanks for the feedback sir, glad you liked it!

Oh wow! You did an outstanding job with the story and build! The rockwork is excellent and i really like the depth the pathway to the outpost creates. The outpost itself is very nocturnus, i like it alot! :wub:

Thanks Jorrit! Anfauglir much anticipates his meeting with Lord Mortis!

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Great build, I really like the signpost and that tree looks good to me! Also like your studs up rockwork; I'd hate to think how long it would take to do that much rockwork SNOTted!

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Such a superb, detailed build MassEditor. The little dead trees are such an excellent aspect, and the rocks are just top-notch. The black/spiked motif culminates beautifully on the towers. Looking forward to future installments :thumbup:

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The structure of the black tower looks very good! I cannot explain why, since it is not very complicated, still I love it very much.

(The story-line is exciting as always, needless to say)

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Great build, I really like the signpost and that tree looks good to me! Also like your studs up rockwork; I'd hate to think how long it would take to do that much rockwork SNOTted!

Thanks Kai, glad you liked the signpost! I think you're totally right, this much rockwork would take ages to do SNOTed!

Such a superb, detailed build MassEditor. The little dead trees are such an excellent aspect, and the rocks are just top-notch. The black/spiked motif culminates beautifully on the towers. Looking forward to future installments :thumbup:

Thanks Scaevola, glad to see you're back around these parts!

i love that black outpost, it looks great!! I especially like the small dead trees thrown in among the rocks :classic:

Thanks LordDan!

Just: wow. Immense work, such atmosphere.

I appreciate it TenorPenny!

The structure of the black tower looks very good! I cannot explain why, since it is not very complicated, still I love it very much.

(The story-line is exciting as always, needless to say)

Thanks Yooha! You know, as I was building this I thought the same thing - the towers were nothing special, and I figured I'd end up re-doing them at some point. But once I got them set in the mountainside, they just really fit the scene. To me, they look really intimidating.

Really outstanding work here! The rockwork is superb and the castle itself in amazing. :sweet:

Thanks Jakorin!

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Wow!! Impressive build, once again...

Your rockwork always amazes me.. Love the path beteween the rocks.

Keep it up buddy.

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Outstanding. Great dialogue, brilliant rockwork. I love that signpost.

The ground seems a bit plain, but perhaps that's meant to indicate barren-ness?

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I really like that tree! The roots coming out at the bottom, well done! But the rocks are the star here for sure! So nice and I´m impressed with the size of this beast and yet you have been so detailed with all the rocks! Another master piece ME!

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Outstanding. Great dialogue, brilliant rockwork. I love that signpost.

The ground seems a bit plain, but perhaps that's meant to indicate barren-ness?

Hey Sarah, thanks! Yes, in hindsight the ground does seem a little plain. I wanted to emphasis that the area in front of the rockwork was really a well-trodden road, which I figured would be largely featureless (thinking back now, some wagon ruts would have been a good idea!).

I really like that tree! The roots coming out at the bottom, well done! But the rocks are the star here for sure! So nice and I´m impressed with the size of this beast and yet you have been so detailed with all the rocks! Another master piece ME!

Thanks dG!

Wow!! Impressive build, once again...

Your rockwork always amazes me.. Love the path beteween the rocks.

Keep it up buddy.

Haha, thank you sir, especially considering your recent masterpiece!

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The rockwork in the MOC is very good. I also like the black tower - cool design approach!

Last not least you have found a very good way of leading a path upwards. This looks really good, natural.

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