The Katoren Struggle: Ch. 2: Bandit Camp at Kharab Fortress

[LittleJohn]

Here is chapter 2 of my story about Aymeri and the fight to reclaim Katoren.

I’ve wanted to try a desert ruins scene for a while now, so this was a rather fun build. Inspired by Markus’ amazing build.

I would like to claim the following UoP credits:

History

Military Science: battle scene

After the council meeting, Aymeri and Tierri set to work gathering a few of their most experienced soldiers, and some supplies to set up the initial camp at the ruins of Kharab fortress, just outside of Katoren. Once they had all snuck out of the city bringing their supplies and some weapons, they travelled to the ruins, as discreetly as possible. What they found inside Kharab, however, was not what they expected.

"Hey-ho, look'e what I got 'ere! One 'o them merchants in town gave me all this gold for them blankets we pinched off the last caravan," Rognir declared as he proudly displayed a bag of gold coins.

"Ooh! Gimme the shinies!" Ahriss immediately replied, quickly getting to his feet and rushing toward the inviting bag of loot.

"Get back, you, aye got this meself!" Rognir brandished his axe and Ahriss quickly stopped, though his eyes remained greedily fastened on the bag.

At this, Khatir, who had been seated on a crude bench finally spoke up:"Shut up, both of ya! We'll divvy the gold evenly and if either of you tries to cheat, I'll slit your throat. So sit down, Ahriss, and let Rognir show us the gold."

Seeing Khatir's drawn dagger, and his apparent readiness to carry out his threat, the other two quickly complied. Meanwhile, the bandit leader returned from his scouting of the nearby trade route.

"No new caravans going by today, the road was pretty much empty, 'cept a few peasants... What are you doing with that scorpion, Karih?" asked Zaeim suspiciously.

"Why, slicin' him up fer dinner 'o course! You 'ant me to save ya the tail?" the grubby cook responded.

Zaeim's countenance quickly darkened, "I don't want any part of a scorpion you fool! Make something edible for once!"

"There's no 'eason for you to get yerself upset, all yer shouting will scare Fa'ar, e's still learning to trust us!" exclaimed Karih, as he quickly stooped to reassure his pet rat.

Zaeim's response was cut off by a cry from Qatie, the look out:"To arms! Soldiers outside!"

Aymeri's group had made it to the ruins undetected, but were surprised to hear the sounds of voices from within. Aymeri and Tierri discussed what they should do while one of the soldiers cautiously peeked around the rotting door to see who was inside.

"Looks like bandits," he reported, "I see 5 men."

Tierri spoke up, "With the 4 of us, we should be able to take them by surprise and capture them quickly."

"I agree, let's rush them together," Aymeri said, readying his bow.

But just before they started their ambush, their plan was ruined by Qatie's cry of alarm.

Realizing that a fight was now inevitable, the small group rushed ahead.

When the first soldier burst in, Zaeim was already facing the doors , and so he quickly attacked with his huge scimitar. With a cry of alarm, Karih promptly hurled the dead scorpion directly at Tierri.

The other bandits rushed for their weapons, their gold momentarily forgotten.

The scorpion caught Tierri squarely in the face, momentarily stunning him.

Karih didn't try to follow up the attack, but instead stooped to pick up his beloved pet rat, as Khatir, Rognir, and Ahriss rushed towards the fight.

After recovering from the unexpected blow, Tierri hastily moved to battle Khatir, while Aymeri quickly directed an arrow towards another onrushing bandit.

Zaeim brought a crushing blow down on his foe, who was barely able to block in time.

Aymeri's shot smashed into Rognir's shoulder, knocking him backward and out of the fight. After recovering Fa'ar, Karih's only thought was to flee. Unfortunately, his flight sent him crashing into Ahriss.

Zaeim's powerful blow had hammered the solider to the ground, and the bandit chief prepared his finishing stroke as Aymeri knocked another arrow and Tierri continued to struggle with Khatir.

Qatie had been waiting for the attackers to move out from the archway enough for her to have a clear shot, and now she readied her crossbow and fired.

The downed warrior tried to scramble backwards away from Zaeim's stroke, but Aymeri's final soldier leaped to his comrade's aid, plunging his spear into the threatening figure. In that instant, the crossbow bolt buried itself into the ground, barely missing the soldiers

Aymeri released another arrow at the fleeing cook, and hit the man's calf, immediatlely halting the escape.

Tierri had finally gotten the better of his opponent with a parry from his shield and quick counterattack, while the soldiers made sure Zaeim was vanquished. Aymeri however had a new foe.

Ahriss had finally recovered from his run in with Karih, and whipped his spiked chain towards Tierri, forcing the warrior to block with his shield. One of Aymeri's men started towards the orc to start a flank attack, not noticing the downed bandit in his path.

As he stumbled and fell, his spear battered into the orc's armor.

Despite Qatie's ferorcious attack, Aymeri parried confidently with his dagger, then followed with a left handed uppercut.

The punch sent the bandit reeling up against the wall.

Thus the ruins of Kharab fortress were seized by Aymeri and his men after an unexpected dispute.

Build pictures:

There are some more pictures on brickbuilt.

C&C appreciated, on both the build and story

Edited May 25, 2016 by LittleJohn

[ixypixy]

Wow, this is just beautiful! The colours you've chosen together are quite different to anything I've seen and work really well together. Your stonework is great and you really get a sense of being within a ruin. All the details of the bandits camp are brilliant and the story was a great read. Especially liked the cook whipping up a bbq scorpion

[Kai NRG]

The texture of the ruins is fantastic. There might be a color too many, but the crumbling effect is spot on and I really like the border too. Great job on the action shots and the story!

+1 for the UoP credit!

[gedren_y]

UoP DoH +1 on both credits.

[Pvt13]

I really like it! Both the story and the build! I'm not sure I like the bley though. But then again, I wouldn't know what other color to use to break up the colouring of the walls :s

Edited May 25, 2016 by Pvt13

[LittleJohn]

Wow, this is just beautiful! The colours you've chosen together are quite different to anything I've seen and work really well together. Your stonework is great and you really get a sense of being within a ruin. All the details of the bandits camp are brilliant and the story was a great read. Especially liked the cook whipping up a bbq scorpion

Thanks! I had a lot of fun with that part of the story in particular, so I'm glad you like it!

The texture of the ruins is fantastic. There might be a color too many, but the crumbling effect is spot on and I really like the border too. Great job on the action shots and the story!

+1 for the UoP credit!

Thanks Kai! Personally, I rather like the colors, but I'll definitely keep that in mind for next time. Thanks for the UoP credit too

UoP DoH +1 on both credits.

Thanks gedren!

I really like it! Both the story and the build! I'm not sure I like the bley though. But then again, I wouldn't know what other color to use to break up the colouring of the walls :s

Thank you!

[soccerkid6]

It's easy to see you put lots of work into the story and accompanying pictures The beginning interactions between the bandits are quite humorous

Lovely details with the shelter, and piles of loot and supplies. The large barrel design is quite clever

And of course the ruins themselves look wonderful, and very much dilapidated. The walls are a bit more colorful than is standard perhaps, but I think that fits well for the ruined look and it being a Kaliphlin fortress. And there's only 3 stone colors, then the moss itself, so in reality, not all that many

[cabizzle]

Wow! Great color scheme! I love this build!

[LittleJohn]

It's easy to see you put lots of work into the story and accompanying pictures The beginning interactions between the bandits are quite humorous

Lovely details with the shelter, and piles of loot and supplies. The large barrel design is quite clever

And of course the ruins themselves look wonderful, and very much dilapidated. The walls are a bit more colorful than is standard perhaps, but I think that fits well for the ruined look and it being a Kaliphlin fortress. And there's only 3 stone colors, then the moss itself, so in reality, not all that many

Thanks Isaac! Glad you enjoyed the story, it was quite fun to write. And I was very pleased with that barrel design as well

Wow! Great color scheme! I love this build!

Thank you!

[mrcp6d]

The crumbing/ruined look you've captured here is fantastic. I wasn't sold on the dark bley when this hit Flickr, but it's grown on me since then. Great work LittleJohn!

[Kai NRG]

...Thanks Kai! Personally, I rather like the colors, but I'll definitely keep that in mind for next time. Thanks for the UoP credit too ...

Yeah, that's really just a matter of taste. I've never been a fan of mixing tans and grays, though I do think it worked better here than it usually does.

[TitusV]

Great build, I love the colour-scheme! Awesome vegetation as well!

[dathil]

I really love this build!

What happened to the scorpion after? :D

[LittleJohn]

The crumbing/ruined look you've captured here is fantastic. I wasn't sold on the dark bley when this hit Flickr, but it's grown on me since then. Great work LittleJohn!

Thanks, mrcp6d! Glad you like it

Yeah, that's really just a matter of taste. I've never been a fan of mixing tans and grays, though I do think it worked better here than it usually does.

Funny, I always rather liked how tans and grays go together

Great build, I love the colour-scheme! Awesome vegetation as well!

Thanks Titus!

I really love this build!

What happened to the scorpion after? :D

Thank you! The scorpion probably got cleaned up afterwards, as he would just be laying on the ground otherwise

[BrickCurve]

Looks great! I think having LB grey instead of dark would work better here. There is a bit too much contrast in the colours. Apart from that, excellent build.

[LittleJohn]

Looks great! I think having LB grey instead of dark would work better here. There is a bit too much contrast in the colours. Apart from that, excellent build.

Thanks BC! I'll keep that in mind for future builds

[wout1988]

Nice build, storyline and well photographed!

[LittleJohn]

Nice build, storyline and well photographed!

Thanks, glad you like it

[BrickFit26]

Th structure of it is simply amazing.

[Blufiji]

The texturing and patterns on the ruins are very well done, and an entertaining story as well.

[LittleJohn]

Th structure of it is simply amazing.

Thank you!

The texturing and patterns on the ruins are very well done, and an entertaining story as well.

Thanks Blufiji! Glad you like it

[Gideon]

Nice ruins

UoP +1

[Gunman]

I wouldnt expect such a beautiful result with that "strange" color combination on the walls. Amazing overall look at the moc... Really great texturing. :wub:

[LittleJohn]

Nice ruins

UoP +1

Thanks Gideon!

I wouldnt expect such a beautiful result with that "strange" color combination on the walls. Amazing overall look at the moc... Really great texturing. :wub:

Thanks Gunman, glad you like how it turned out

[Jacob Nion]

That's beautiful! The way the ruins are withered and covered with vegetation creates such an atmosphere. And all the wonderful details inside make it so believable. Now I have to read the story!