Varlyrio Guild Challenge 2E: Spring of Styx

[MaasEffekt]

Hi there!

Would like to present my third (already?) moc for the Varlyrio Guild Challenge. It is for 2E: Varlyrio Scenery - Sunken City.

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 Ah, it's you again! How do you blewe? You are becoming kind of a regular in these waters. Float a little bit closer, and i am going to share a secret with you! Can you keep a secret? Of course you cannot! However, it is imperative that i fin you in. Sooner or later, you would notice it anyway. Are you ready?

Once upon a tide, long after mer folk moved into Lorelei Loch, they discovered something that completely changed our fate. They found a mersterious pond, filled with magic. In all likelihood, it is a consequence of centuries of magic used to make Horthol, the Sunken City liveable. All the preternatural powers the kolgari and others casted into the environs, somehow cumulated and made this supernatural pool. We named it "Brunnen der Veränderung" in our tongue- the "Well of Transformation" or something like that is the direct translation, but you mer friend can just simply call it the "Spring of Styx" on your common drylander language. Styx was the name of the mergygur who swam across it first. I mean a female finvolk. A nixe. A male is called a nix by the way.

WoT01 by Erhard Maas, on Flickr

Okay, okay, i won't swim around the kelp anymore! The place can transmute mervolk into surface strollers, and back. All hail Pontus! Now, what do you say about that?! I might add, mer folk weren't very enthusiastic to go dry, but it was too great of an opportunity to just ignore it. It was a small step for mer, one giant leap for merkind. The kolgari helped us a lot to acclimate, and we had the chance to meet a lot of other dust dwellers, who lived in- and around the Sunken City. I mean, we knew these people before, but now it was from a totally different perspective. Mer folk, the mervolk stood on two legs. It wasn't easy at first, but we learned a lot, and gained not less. We looking at the drylanders differently. I know, i know, we still don't fancy them. But it was worse in the past.

Let mer hear your questions! I can see it in your eyes, you have some. No, it seems it won't work on other beings. Some kolgari, and non- elves jumped into the well before, but nothing happened, except they became wet. Don't have the slightest idea, why it is only working on us. I can tell you fish don't grow legs neither, if we carry them through. Who? Children of Ceto? They didn't try it yet, as far as i know. Wanted to persuade Octavia to give it a shot, but she wasn't so eager, so i let it go.

Where is the well? Well, it can be found in an extraordinary place called Eventide Forest by the Kolgari. Huge dread ash, and midnight maple trees. Dread ashes with their dark red leafs, and orangish flowers. It has also a yellow fruit, the curvy finger. I like it very much, but the webbed winged filcher- which is a smaller flying animal- usually steals most of them. Oh, i saw some different dryland animals too! Well, partially dryland. There was the sun anuran- a very rare frog, and the mavros ophidian. Be careful with that sneaky serpent! Oh, and the drop skorp! That is especially a nasty one, when jumps from the tree into your hair! Lunacy! There were other animals too, like bugs! Big, ugly bugs! When i first saw them, i almost went back underwater immediately...

WoT04 by Erhard Maas, on Flickr

But we intend to stay above ground with this conversation for a bit more! Be nice now, because i would like you to meet a friend of mine. She is mer "link". Traditionally, when a marmennill, or margygur enters the surface world for the first time, the kolgari assign an aid/ guide to the new fin on the block. We call this person "link". A connection with the surface world. Her name is Coventina, and she is a kolgari circe- a sorceress, so do not offend her because you might find yourself in the shape of any aforemertioned creepy- crawly...

May the water flow with you!

WoTWP by Erhard Maas, on Flickr

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Spoiler

WoT02 by Erhard Maas, on Flickr

WoT03 by Erhard Maas, on Flickr

WoT05 by Erhard Maas, on Flickr

More pictures can be found in my Flickr album.

Edited December 19, 2018 by MaasEffekt

[mccoyed]

Pretty good vignette. I like the design of the pond but that tree might be too small to have so much going on.

[Spader]

An irregular border might serve you better here, but otherwise a good build

[Basiliscus]

A nice little MOC here @MaasEffekt! Really nice story there, interesting to see that the mer folk can actually interact with the drylanders, I'm sure that will come in handy as the story develops!

I like the colour choices in this one, the dark red and dark tan in particular go well together.

A few things caught my eye however: for me the dark bley cheese slopes around the opening are too regular, it looks too modern, in my mind I imagined an old decrepit portal rather than something that looks like a nuclear bunker. Also, as @mccoyed said, the tree is a little on the small side.

Good work though!

[zoth33]

Pretty good vignette, I like the colors and the tree.  The water portal is nice too.  The figs are neat and the story is well developed.  

[en_zoo]

Nice, really nice! Great idea to get your character out of the water! Love the lil build as well with all the 'weird' animals and fruit (the 'drop skorp' cracks me up! ) - the tree branches could be a little less straight though. The 'link' is also a very nice idea - all this is really intriguing, keep it coming!

[Rogue Angel]

Good vignette, very good story. Keep it up!

[Henjin_Quilones]

I think a bit more on the tree would improve it a bunch, especially more foliage. Lots of leaves obscures any shortcomings in the trunk construction, in my opinion, since it looks like a tree either way. Without the foliage, construction of the trunk becomes more important; and this trunk is quite boxy and awkward, not looking organic in any way. To improve it, I would suggest getting rid of the arches and instead using flex tubing for a tree of this size, or else bars in brown attached to clips, with minifigure hands (also brown) attached to form small branches. The arches are popular in sets, but they fail to live up to what many trees actually look like. As to the pool, what Basiliscus said about it being to regular to be natural is true; but perhaps it is not natural? I love your story and the writing is unique, and I really hope to see more of your take on the Sunken City and the culture of the Kolgari soon, as it is still to be explored!

[Grover]

This is a pretty build with a nice use of colors.  I'm assuming that the tree is kind of dormant or half-dead, otherwise may benefit from more foliage as others have said.  I like the dark color choice and the bright blue opposed to that.  While small, there is a nice level of detail and I really enjoy the story!  Great job!

[soccerkid6]

I continue to greatly enjoy your story telling style Nice use of the large golden clamshell, especially in combination with the printed tile