Howling in the Mountains - Nocturnus Minichallenge I

[kahir88]

A silent night, in the Rakath Mountains. Just moments after midnight. Three soldier from the Resistance waiting for a meeting, in a canyon, not far from the main road.
- Damn those humans! -grumbled the goblin- They are late! I would give them three more minutes, and then leave!
- We have our orders. -said the centaur calmly, then looked to the third one: -right sargeant?
The third soldier slowly turned around. A werewolf, he looked to the others with his yellow eyes:
- Sure we have... General Grimm ordered us, to wait here, and meet the leader of the Avalonian mercenaries, to discuss their side, in our civil war. If one of us, leaves his post, that counts as desertion. I'm I clear?
- Yes sargeant Farkas... -said the goblin.
- Speaking of them, I think they have arrived. -said the centaur, and pointed down on the road.
The two others looked to the way, where the centaur pointed. A small torch just appeard, not far from them, and moved towards them. Four cloacked men arrived, the flag and their armors were black and red. Just as the members of the Wolf Brigade.
- You are late! -said Farkas. - this is lack of discipline, for a soldier.
- Sorry, it was hard, to find the right path. -said the archer.
- Bah.. then we are lucky, to not set this meeting in The Kelra Labyrinths. -the grim look of the werewolf face turned to a smile for a second - But we are here todo business. I'm sargeant Farkas, I was tasked to meet the leader of the Avalonian mercenaries, to discuss their role, in the upcomming conflict. You are the one, who calls himself, Conrad the Sly?
- No, but I'm here to speak on behalf his name, you can call me Zan, the Black Arrow.
The werewolf raised his eyebrows. 
- Whats more important to your leader, then this meeting right now?
- Like, prepearing to help you, in your civil war, for the Darklands? -asked back Zan with sarcasm in his voice.
- So... The Wolfs of Avalonia will help us?
- For the right price. -said Zan, with a smile on his face. - And it depends, what help you require from us?
- Ah.. Almost forgot the fact, that you are mercenaries... Luckily, General Grimm gave me this pouch of gold, as payment. We will pay more, if you keep your part of the bargain.
- Sounds good for us. So what do you require? Supplies, weapons, soldiers? Or taking out targets?
- First we need is the manpower, like sword-arms and craftsman.
- Right - nod whit his head Zan. - I will take the payment, and return to Conrad with the news. Pleasure doing business with you.
Zan reached out, to take the gold. But Farkas stopped for a second to sniff in the air.
- *Sniff* *Sniff*... Darn!
- What is it?
- Drows! - said the seargent and reached for his axe.
As the two groups picked up their weapons, three dark figure appeared from the shadows. One of them bears the flag of the Black Spire.
- Put down your arms - said their leader, as he put down a large sack, next to him. -there is no need for bloodshed.
- Then what do you want? - asked Farkas with anger.
- Don't be so rude seargent. This is the way of the Resistance, to greet the guest in the Darklands? Let me show you, how we do it: I'm ambassador Ilrune, from the Black Spire. Let me welcome you, Wolfs of Avalonia, in the Rakath Mountains, Can I offer you some wine, from the Spires deepes cellar?
- Be gone! - screamed angrily the werewolf. - They are here to do business with us, not drink with you.
- Make no mistake sargeant, I'm here to do bussines too. - said Ilrune calm in his voice. - Lord Raavage needs the Wolf Brigades help too. Oh... And he didn't forget the payment.
As he completed his sentence, he grabbed the sack and throwed it between Farkas and Zan. Afther the impact, gold scattered all over on the ground. Farkas looked to Zan with anger in his eyes:
-Don't you dare touch that gold, or I will split you in half! -raised his axe.
Zan calmly reached for and arrow, and turned to the sargeant with a smile:
- Taking the money from a dead elf is a problem for you, partner? 
The angry grim on the werewolfs face turned in to a smile once more. 
- I like, the way you think...
Moments later, the mountain become silent once more...

 

I made this, for the Resistance.

Edited September 22, 2016 by kahir88

[Henjin_Quilones]

Very nice! you certainly did quite a bit of SNOT-work here, which looks great. The rocky spur coming down from the trees by the Drow is the best, I think, though since the whole terrain is SNOTed that is just one detail I like. The terrain is so varied, and I like that a lot, especially the road set down in a defile like that. Your Drow look great, too, particularly that leader with his gilded armor. 

 

I have just two things that I think could be done to improve the build. The first is that the border, rather than making the whole thing look sharper, actually detracts slightly (in my opinion) due to the presence of so many visible studs, especially surrounding a (relatively) studless build. I think it would be improved by some tiles on the top of the border, or else trying to find a way to make the border SNOTed too to hide the top studs. The second suggestion I have is to have fewer, but thicker, trees. What I mean is that you have a bunch of trees, but they are fairly sparsely leaved, and I think it would look better to consolidate it a bit to have more leaves per tree, but fewer trees. 

 

That being said, I think that the story does a great job of accompanying the build and was fun to read. The decision at the end to kill the Drow and take the gold surprised me a bit, I have to say, but I guess I am more accustomed to Avalonian customs than to Nocturnian savagery. It was a good twist.

[TitusV]

A very nice build, and tough I recommend to make your border a bit smootherr to not distract from the build, that's only nitpicking!

[soccerkid6]

The SNOT landscape here is pretty cool, it gives a much different look than standard studs up designs

[en_zoo]

haha I love the story! Only, may I just say? A bit too many commas - or was it on purpose? Maybe just the way those people speak? But seriously, it was a great reading ^^

[LittleJohn]

Very nice build, I'm surprised at how well the completely SNOT landscaping works! I do agree with Henjin and Titus that tiling the border would improve it a little though