CHALLENGE V: Category B: Team de Fiori - Fall of the Amancios

[Puvel]

The wind whistled around the street corner as Susto de Fiori came down the way to the Drunken Wyvern, whistling along with it and feeling the dagger in his pocket.  

That was one mistake old Supano Amancio would regret making.  

Everybody knew that Malco Amanico was a worthless, good-for-nothing rascal, and so it came as little surprise to anybody that, instead of taking the troops that the Rego had commissioned to be sent to the continent at the Queen's request, he had instead squandered the money and provisions he had been given and left his troop to disband in disgust.  But it was certainly a handy turn of circumstances for the Anti-Rego alliance, headed by the de Fiori's - especially when the Rego had now to head to the mainland himself to try to amend matters with the Queen.  Such things were always handy when you had certain piratical friends upon the seas.  

The door swung open and Susto spotted Malco Amancio seated at a table in the middle of the room, as they had agree to meet, already drinking away.  Susto rolled his eyes, wondering at the same time how Malco had managed to get that first glass - he knew that he was already quite low on coppers, which was why he had so readily agreed to meet up with a de Fiori - as long as Susto, that de Fiori, would foot the bill.  

Susto sat down without much ceremony, and immediately began the conversation; and Malco was all too ready to talk.

"Yes, just so - heading out with the morning tide on the Golden Fortune," he was saying, after he had finished blubbering about his "worthless troops" having abandoned him and his uncle's fury for a good half hour without intermission.  Susto bidded his time and waited him out, however, and as Malco got deeper into his glass the questions and interrogation began sharp and quick, and Malco as quickly gave him all he wanted; ship, time, departure dock, course, destination.  To be sure, the speech got more and more slurred as he went on, guzzling the fiery liquid with the avidity of a man dying of thirst, but they were intelligible enough for all that to Susto's practiced ear.  

"Let me get you another glass," Susto smiled, as Malco attempted to rise to order another himself.

"By all meansh do, my frsiend," replied the other, dropping back into his chair with a lazy smile. 

Susto went over to the counter and ordered another glass, and brought it back to the table, quickly pouring a few drops of liquid from a vial in his pocket into it as he returned.  

Malco grasped it eagerly, and swallowed it in a draught, and Susto rose to leave.  

"Wait a shecond," Malco began, suddenly curiously suspicious; "come, Shushto - sho why did you want to know all o' shat?  What do you de Fiori'sh have up your shleeves?"  He glanced at Susto warily.  "Nothing good, I'll warrent shoo."  

"Never fear about that," replied Susto, as he got up.  "You won't need to worry yourself about that, I reckon me."

Malco attempted to rise after him as he turned to leave, but fell back into his seat before breaking out into contorsions for a moment and falling senseless upon the table.  Susto came to his side and felt his pulse.  

There was none.

"T-t-t."  

---   ---   ---    ---

 The wind whistled along the way, and Susto bore down towards the dock whistling with it, but Malco Amanico still sat at his seat in the Drunken Wyvern - never to move again. 

"Always too easy with scoundrels," muttered Susto under his breath.

 

 

Edited June 1, 2020 by Puvel

[Ayrlego]

It was easy to hide in the shadows of the dark walkways down in the dockside districts of Illaryian. The buildings pressed up on the canals and in some places even overhung them. The walkways were twisting and narrow. At night the warehouses were mostly empty; however, plenty of life and noise came from the numerous taverns and houses of ill repute. Nicco stood concealed in the shadows, the lamp over the warehouse door next to him was conveniently not lit. His dark clothing allowing him to effortlessly blend into the shadows.

Nicco operated almost exclusively in the docklands. Need a warehouse set fire? A sea captain blackmailed? A customs officer bribed? Nicco was your man. Just yesterday he had been approached by a man he had worked for in the past. A factor for one of the great houses he was sure. This man had hired him to arrange for three men to be hired to the crew of the Golden Fortune; the very ship of the Rego himself. To accomplish this task, Nicco had decided to simply remove some of the existing crew at the last minute before sailing and thus open up vacancies. With the ship due for departure, he could then easily arrange for the new men to to be hired by the desperate captain. To was to this end he found himself in the shadows, waiting for two of the Golden Fortune's crewmen to emerge from the adjacent tavern.

Just before the bells struck the first hour after midnight, the two men emerged. Both had clearly indulged too much as only sailors can. Indeed both still had bottles in hand as they staggered from the Tavern's door. A cargo gondola glided past carrying more barrels of wine to another tavern while across the canal a richly dressed bravo escorted a butterfly of the night to his lodgings. As Nicco slipped out of the shadows towards the men, he was confident even the watchmen in the nearby tower would not see him dispatch the sailors. By the time they were found, the Golden Fortune would have sailed with his client's men safely onboard. All in an easy night's work!

 

 

[kahir88]

 "I knew this trip would be a disaster!" grumbled Arnth, as he looked after the ship disappearing on the horizon.

Five days earlier, he and the other crew members of the Rego's ship, the Golden Fortune, were preparing to set sail to the continent with their guild leader on board.  Arnth got up early in the morning and took a walk to the docks, only to learn about the bad news when he arrived.

Larxi and Venza, two of the other crew members, were missing.

Captain Larze ordered Leuithu to visit the local taverns and pubs to recruit some extra hands for the journey.  By good fortune, as Arnth considered it at the time, Leuithu arrived shortly after his departure with three new crewmen who all seemed to be old salts, willing to sail for very low pay.  This should already have raised Arnth's suspicions, but he hardly noticed the fact.  Everything else went smoothly - the Rego arrived with his bodyguards, and they were able to set sail with the morning tide.

The first three days were admirable smooth sailing.  Everybody worked hard to fix the bump at the beginning of the journey - everyone except the new hands.  The three replacement seaman were hardly worth even their low pay.  They were clumsy, slow, not that precise - or at least that's what they told the captain.

But the sixth day dawned the worst in Arnth's life so far.  Everything seemed to be working against them on the Golden Fortune that day.  The winds were low, the compass had gone haywire, and many knots came strangely loose during the night.  And on top of all that, the three new sailors claimed that they had eaten some spoiled meat for lunch and were out to lynch the cook.  Strange! - thought Arnth - none of the others were sick at all.  In fact, one of those three puked all over the deck that morning, Rego and captain notwithstanding.  Captain Larze was furious!  He couldn't just simply throw them in the seas or he probably would have; but without the manpower, the ship would never arrive at its destination.  But he determined to punish them after they had docked in Avalonia... a good old keelhauling would do the trick...

The sun had burned in the heavens for several hours already.  On lookout duty, Arnth yawned at the noteworthy-nothing on the horizon. In his boredom he peered down to watch the happenings on the deck.  The Rego and the captain were charting out a new course to gain some time.  A glance to the other side of the ship showed him two of the newcomers cleaning the deck... after one of them puked out his breakfast.  Arnth lazily wondered how he could have managed to vomit out some carrots if he had been eating biscuits and hardtack.  On the other side, the guards stood next to the captain's cabin, the wheel was stirred by Tite, one of the original crew members, and the captain and Rego seemed to have settled on some new plan.  But before the day could turn into a moderately decent day, something appeared on the horizon.  Arnth only noticed it when he glanced back to where they had left the Varlyrian coast astern.  A ship was sailing swiftly in their direction, gathering shape and form as it bore them down.  And of course, the sails were pitch-black.

"Captain, Captain Larze!" Arnth shouted down from the crows' nest. "Sail, Ho!"

The captain grabbed his spyglass and, with the Rego quickly following him, headed for the stern of the ship.

"Indeed Sire," Captain Larze exclaimed, handing the glass to Amancio, "it looks like this journey is no longer undercover.  Those are pirates, beyond a doubt, and I'm sure they will gain upon us."

"And what is your suggestion, captain?"  The Rego turned on the shipmaster with a frown.  "Glancing around on this crew, we don't have stand much of a chance if we must fight."

"Argentum willing, we won't have to," exclaimed the captain, dashing off a prayer.  "ALL HANDS ON DECK!!!"

The upper deck soon teemed with seaman.  Running up and down, unfurling the sails, stowing away everything that could be in the way on deck. They all looked busy.  But in spite of all their efforts, the ship didn't pick up nearly enough speed to outrun the pirates. The black ship slowly but surely crept up on them. The cheering and laughing of the pirates sounded in their ears.

"They are going to try to board us!" cried the captain.  "You, bring up the weapons from below, and you," grabbing one of the guards - "go down with the Rego, and protect him with your life!"

The guard nodded.  "Aye, captain!"  Then he turned to the Rego - "This way Sire!" - and both of them disappeared below deck.  At the same time, the other seaman appeared with some weapons, which the captain distributed to the crew.

"Listen up, men!  We are outmatched in an open fight" - the captain looked sternly at the three weakest links in the chain - "The only thing we can do is to keep them away from our deck.  We can't allow them to board too many men on our ship at the same time.  If we can deal with them one at a time..."

But as he was speaking, the pirate ship appeared behind them.  Countless nasty-looking pirates glared back at them, their faces crossed with threatening grins and sneers.  Arnth gripped his sword tightly in his sweaty palm.  He had never been in combat.  Only, once he fought back in a brawl because a drunken sailor bothered him in the tavern...

"Hooks!" screamed the captain.  "They are trying to board us!  Don't let them, men!"

The pirate ship collided against the sides of the Fortune, scrapping loudly against its hull, and the pirates threw over their grappling hooks, catching in the ship's rail and rigging.  With the lurching sea, the pirates lost momentum for a moment, but luckily no one lost balance on the Golden Fortune.  Arnth saw the captain and two others, as they charged without hesitation to cut off the hooks.  He felt the adrenaline pouring through his veins, and, letting out a regretful sigh for the life he figured he probably was about to finish, collected himself to join in with his comrades...

All of a sudden his ears rang, everything was blurry around him, and he had never felt so dizzy.  Next thing Arnth knew, he found himself on all fours on.  What had happened?  His blurred vision started to clear up, he began to regain his hearing, and he felt a bump growing on the back of his head - but everything around him was still a mess.  The captain's familiar voice near him shouted out, "Traitors!!"  Something wasn't right, he felt it.  Arnth reached out to find his dropped weapon, but a heavy boot stepped on his back and pushed him down on the deck.

"Don't be a hero, lad!" a wicked voice sounded behind him, and he felt the rum coming from behind his ears.  "You don't want to be like him!"

Arnth groaned as his attacker jerked his head up by the hair.  "Look!"

His vision was still blurry, but Arnth recognized the blue uniform of the bodyguard, and saw as other blurry figures disarmed and tossed him overboard.

The skirmish ended quickly, and the prisoners were lined up on the Golden Fortune's deck.  Arnth felt a little dizzy, but he watched as the pirates escorted the Rego out from the deck.  The pirates' bloody axe reminded him - the Rego hadn't been alone down there.

"Good day gentlemen," came a calm tone from the other direction.  Arnth and the rest of the crew turned to the voice.  A black-cloaked figure crossed the plank between the two ships.

"Sorry to interrupt your journey," the pirate smirked in a sly tone, while put his hands behind his back. "But during our trip, I remembered that I missed a good old friend of mine," - he stopped and turned on his heel, his eyes skimming over the lot.  "We're visiting the ships in this muggy latitude, 'case maybe one of you have seen him.  This tall, white beard and hair, usually dresses in red..." - he paused again to look into the eyes of his prisoners. - "Anybody?"

He stepped next to the first seaman in the line.  "Who is the captain of this lubberly barge?"

"Captain Lar.. BLUAGH!" - the sailor collapsed on the deck with an uppercut to his stomach from the pirate captain's fist.
The captain left the man on the deck and stepped to the next seaman.

"Who is the captain?" he repeated

"Capt.. Fwaah" - but again, the sailor couldn't finish the sentence.  He was slapped across his face before he could.

Then the pirate captain stepped next to Arnth.
"Maybe you, young man can answer my question," he smiled.  His face was bristly and rough from lack of shaving, but Arnth had not regained enough of his vision to notice it yet.

"Y..." Arnth gulped, - "You?"

"Blimey!  Looks like you are the brain on this cog, dear sonny!" said the pirate with a relief!  "Now then, would you be kind as to show me around?"

"Enough of this farce, Xari!" exclaimed Amanico, stepping out from the line.  "Here I am, leave them!  They have no quarrel with you!"

"Blow me down!  Is it truly you, Amanico?"  And Xari started to approach the Rego with opened arms.  "We were so worried about you!  And what wond'rous luck!  The first ship, and you are on it?  I should play gambling more often!"

"Cut the comedy, Xari!" exclaimed the Rego, with a wave of his hand.  "You are working for the de Fioris, are you not?  What do you want from me?  Varlyrio, I tell you, will not bow to them!"

"I don't have the slightest idea what you are talking about," Xari smiled.  "But please, come, we have much to discuss."  He pointed commandingly towards the gangplank to his ship.

"And what," began Amancio regally, "what if I don..." - but he fell to the deck unconscious.

Two pirates picked him up, like a sack of potato, and dragged him on to their ship.

"Rogle..." Xari approached the pirate who had knocked down the Rego, "I said no violence!"

The pirate just shrugged.  "He talked too much."  And with that, he followed the others back to the ship.

The pirate captain nodded over to the line of prisoners, and the three "new hands" walked out of the line and over to the pirate ship, just turning back to wink at the crew as they swung over the side.

And, as promptly as they had arrived, the pirates disappeared again with the Rego, leaving everybody tied to the ship's mast.  The crew looked helplessly at each other, as the pirate ship vanished into the horizon...

"I knew this trip would be a disaster!" grumbled Arnth.

-----------------------

Arnth gulped down his tenth cup of grog, and sighed at the memory of that awful day.  He turned again to the group of old salts gathered around him, soaking up his story like rum.

"Yesh, maties," he swirled his cup, with a slovenly gesture - "thatsh just wut happerned to the Reger, sho I say!  Ashk any o' my maties, and they'll tell ye jush the same thing!"

One of his listeners in the back corner of the tavern leaned back in his seat and laughed softly to his buddy.  An eyepatch and well-kept mustache altered his looks, but if anyone looked at him closely enough, they might recognize him as the second mate of Xari's ship - one of the "replacement hands" on the Golden Fortune.  

"I'm sure they would," he whispered with a wink to his companion - "if they were drunk enough!"

 

-----------------------

I would like to thank @Garmadon, who invited to his team, and also checked and corrected some of my mistakes from the story! And also here are pics about the ships: The Golden Fortune, and the Black Parrott

 

 

 

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

Spoiler

 

Edited June 1, 2020 by kahir88

[Garmadon]

The crowd broke out into a thunder of cheering and applause.

It was a glorious April day, and the sunbeams shown gaily through the windows of the Royal Dome of Illyrian and on the golden hair of Luysio Chiaro as the boy - the young scion of the family best of Varlyrio's kings - according to time-honored custom, approached the center of the circle with the crown upon its velvet cushion and presented it to the new king.

Luca di Carlo glanced around the room, and at the sight of all the power and wealth of Varlyrio assembled to witness the coronation - how long had he thought of this chance, this far-off possibility of power as the rich but almost unknown son of the olive merchant.

But now it was a reality - he breathed in an attempt to draw it all in, and a glint of a smile flittered across his face.  Yes, Rego!

Alesio de Fiori leaned back against the wall across from Luca and scanned over the crowd with his sweeping, penetrating gaze.  Luca Rego!  Indeed, and mostly through his conniving.  Di Carlo was just such a young, vigorous, and daring leader as Varlyrio was in desperate need of - no stuffy old Supano to be fouling up relations with the Queen and ruling Varlyrio with his hand of iron.  And, of course, Luca di Carlo happened to be a member of that certain alliance, where old de Fiori pulled the strings...  Alesio smiled as he winked over at Aureo, standing in the crowd.  

Luca stepped forward to receive the crown, and a dangerous thrill of exhilaration and power passed through him.  He gazed once more around the room, and his eye rested for a moment on the face of Alesio de Fiori, before taking the crown from the boy before him.

The crowd burst into shouting once again.

"Luca di Carlo, Rego!"

 

Spoiler

Figless:

My contribution to our teams' collaborative entry!  And that would be it for our team, so the thread is now open to any and all commenting! 

Thanks for viewing, C&C are welcome as always! 

[Basiliscus]

Really great entry guys! So much to love here and a nice variety of different scenes - interiors, exteriors and on the high seas.

Here's a question - why did the de Fiori's go to all the effort of eliminating the Rego, only to put a di Carlo on the throne? I know there's an alliance, but it seems a bit weird to me?

I'm curious to see which of these Varlyrio stories will eventually become canon, especially those that contradict each other. Exciting times for the island guild!

[mrcp6d]

Ok, first off, kudos to this team for figuring out how to post in the same topic in succession without letting anyone else get between them.  Forum wizardry I assume. 

Puvel:  I love that floor technique with that camera angle; perfect for a hardwood floor effect especially with the square footage you've got here.  (One of these days, I'm going to use it...)  I wish the (great) attention to detail you showed on the outside also moved into the interior especially since the 2 stud thick walls would have let you use clips and SNOT bricks to hang all sorts of stuff to the walls.

Ayrlego:  Standouts for me here are the overstuffed window flower boxes and especially that low and wide profile arch.  Is the structure of the arch just one of the 12 stud long arches?

kahir88:  I really like the black and read boat!  Color blocking is really nicely done and of course the monster at the bow is cool--reminds me of the Dragon Masters sets of the mid-1990s, which is a very good thing. 

Garm:  Like I said on Flickr already, the walls are fantastic with them being a single color and giving the impression of carved details.  Floor is special too!

[W Navarre]

Really great work guys! I enjoyed the story, and Ayrlego I really loved how your story went with your build 100%.  It's rare that so many details are in both the story and the build! Garmadon, you really nailed the lighting, lovely windows! Long live Luca di Carlo  . Kahir you really made an enjoyable story! And the action in the build is very cool! Puvel, great architectural details! I like the drain for the canal.  Brilliant collab guys! 

[Kai NRG]

Great job on this collab guys, I like how you all did a good job differentiating your builds from each other.  Nice choice of colors for the ships and the upside-down treasure chest tops are perfect for those plants.  Gorgeous transparent floor Garmadon!  And I love seeing macaroni tiles get used for architecture!

[Grover]

Great job everyone!  This is a brilliant collaboration.  I really like how you all put a single story together coherently, and you lined up each twist of the plot clearly.  The rise of Luca DiCarlo, from a 4th ranked family, to Rego, deserved some explanation, and you did just that with the de Fiori family now as the shadow power behind the throne, which also preserves some of the complex political machinations.  Not really sure what all the excitement is with teams wanting to put Luca di Carlo on the throne, but great job with the explanation!

As for the individual builds:

@Puvel: The outside is quite lovely with the stonework and canal.  I particularly like the opening in the canal (a sewer perhaps?) and the 33° corner slopes on the top (they are some of my favorites).  The door looks a little boarded up and might have used a handle, but it's not really the centerpiece of this build so it doesn't distract much.  The interior is very nice, and I particularly like the floor.  The bar is well done and I like the tables askew from the grid of the baseplate.  I'm a little curious how they get to the second floor, or if that's supposed to be a cutaway?  I would like to see some more decorations on the wall, as someone else noted, but I do like the texturing and the open floor space (usually interiors are cluttered due to lack of space).  Well done!

@Ayrlego: You really killed this one.  I enjoy the wall textures on your buildings, and this is no exception.  You strike an excellent balance between texture and polish that comes through as an aged wall.  The arch over the canal looks great, and I love all the vegetation.  The assassin hiding in the corner is great, and you got the lighting perfect.  My only suggestion might be to vary the texture of the street a little more, as the round tiles are a bit too much for my eye after a while, but that's a matter of taste.  Love the use of the wine and grapes sign over the tavern, and you did a great job choosing your colors.  It's very recognizable as a Varlyrian build.  Excellent work!

@kahir88: Love the boats!  The black and red is probably my favorite, but I like the golden snitch on the prow of the white one, too!  I like the choice of colors and minifigs to help the reader understand who is who in the scene.  I read your story before you had posted your pictures and you matched well to what I had imagined.  It might be nice to cover up the backs of the plates on the white ship, but I don't know how you could have done that.  A few of the pictures are a little dark, too, so some more lighting might help that.  I'm really glad you included pictures of the whole ships in the spoilers, because I really wanted to see them, and the closeup shots of the figs, while good for the story, didn't let me see the whole boat, which I really wanted to!  My hat is off to you, as building ships and ocean scenes like that is tough.  Great job!

@Garmadon: Gorgeous execution!  The white on white tones of the cathedral(?) walls and dome work well to suggest relief carvings, and the cracked glass looks great.  The floor is the real show stopper, though, and is quite impressive.  It looks like it was really frustrating to put together!  The lighting looks good through the back window, though there is a bit of bleed-through on the back wall and it necessarily made some of the other areas darker, but the white walls help a lot.  I like all the figs and their posing too!  Well done!

[Aurore]

Great story guys!

@Puvel What a beautiful façade! I especially like the tiled frieze and the windows.

@Ayrlego Impressive build on such a small surface! Perfect choice of color, perfect texture on the houses. The little balcony is gorgeous!

@kahir88 Glad to see ships! Both aree very nice - I especially like the refined design of the Golden Fortune and its figurehead.

@Garmadon Gorgeous room! The rounded walls look great, and the lighted stained glass add a lot of solemnity to this moment.

[Garmadon]

Fantastic job, team!  It was definitely a pleasure building and planning this out with you, and seeing all the final builds together here is even better!   And yes, of course I saved the best for last!  

@Puvel Very nice work with the canal and facade here - I'm a fan of those stripes of half rounded tiles!  The curved tiles over the door and windows are great too, and if there's one thing I'd suggest, it'd be throwing in a bit of color with some vines or flowers or maybe a few brightly colored passersby.  The floor on the interior is very good though, as well as the barrel, tables and chairs!   And I honestly really enjoyed writing your part of the story - it was way more interesting than mine!  

@Ayrlego You've nailed the Varlyrian colors!  The lantern, balcony using the wands and sprues, and treasure chest tops for window baskets are great as well, and your assassin's pose and placement is perfect - though if I were him, I'd think about hiding that very shiny knife a bit farther out of sight!   The arch over the canal was an excellent idea too (and very well executed), and very nice job with your section of the story!

@kahir88 Great job with your ships and with depicting your story, mate!  The sides of the Golden Fortune are very nicely done, and the unconventional rig and the lanterns are some awesome details.  That raven figurehead on the pirate's ship is excellent too, and once again, thanks very much for all your input and work on the story here!  You really helped a lot both coming up with ideas and fleshing it out into its final form!

On 6/1/2020 at 6:51 PM, Basiliscus said:

Really great entry guys! So much to love here and a nice variety of different scenes - interiors, exteriors and on the high seas.

Here's a question - why did the de Fiori's go to all the effort of eliminating the Rego, only to put a di Carlo on the throne? I know there's an alliance, but it seems a bit weird to me?

I'm curious to see which of these Varlyrio stories will eventually become canon, especially those that contradict each other. Exciting times for the island guild!

Thanks Bas!  Exciting times indeed!  I'm looking forward to seeing how this all ends up getting sorted out when the results are ready, and to all the repercussions and builds the challenge ends up producing as a result!  I think I already replied to your question (though I can't remember where ); basically, though, just like when we first started our alliance, I still didn't want to be the next one to take the throne myself since it's meant to be a place opened to all Varlyrians who want to aim for it and I would rather hang back for a while and let someone else take the Rego's position... and since we had been talking over Luca becoming Rego - quite a while ago now, actually! - I just went for it without ever really reconsidering it! 

On 6/2/2020 at 12:00 AM, mrcp6d said:

Ok, first off, kudos to this team for figuring out how to post in the same topic in succession without letting anyone else get between them.  Forum wizardry I assume. 

...

Garm:  Like I said on Flickr already, the walls are fantastic with them being a single color and giving the impression of carved details.  Floor is special too!

Whatever would make you think so?! ... Alright, maybe just a little...  

Thanks mate!  Glad you liked it - I was happy to put some of all my random white pieces to some good use here!  

On 6/2/2020 at 10:03 AM, W Navarre said:

Really great work guys! I enjoyed the story, and Ayrlego I really loved how your story went with your build 100%.  It's rare that so many details are in both the story and the build! Garmadon, you really nailed the lighting, lovely windows! Long live Luca di Carlo  . Kahir you really made an enjoyable story! And the action in the build is very cool! Puvel, great architectural details! I like the drain for the canal.  Brilliant collab guys! 

Thanks man!  And we'll see about that!    Luca hasn't exactly been suing for a long life since he came into the position, haha!

On 6/2/2020 at 12:48 PM, Kai NRG said:

Great job on this collab guys, I like how you all did a good job differentiating your builds from each other.  Nice choice of colors for the ships and the upside-down treasure chest tops are perfect for those plants.  Gorgeous transparent floor Garmadon!  And I love seeing macaroni tiles get used for architecture!

Thanks Kai!  That floor was where I got started (naturally ), and is certainly one of my favorite things in the build!

On 6/2/2020 at 11:55 PM, Grover said:

Great job everyone!  This is a brilliant collaboration.  I really like how you all put a single story together coherently, and you lined up each twist of the plot clearly.  The rise of Luca DiCarlo, from a 4th ranked family, to Rego, deserved some explanation, and you did just that with the de Fiori family now as the shadow power behind the throne, which also preserves some of the complex political machinations.  Not really sure what all the excitement is with teams wanting to put Luca di Carlo on the throne, but great job with the explanation!

@Garmadon: Gorgeous execution!  The white on white tones of the cathedral(?) walls and dome work well to suggest relief carvings, and the cracked glass looks great.  The floor is the real show stopper, though, and is quite impressive.  It looks like it was really frustrating to put together!  The lighting looks good through the back window, though there is a bit of bleed-through on the back wall and it necessarily made some of the other areas darker, but the white walls help a lot.  I like all the figs and their posing too!  Well done!

Thanks Grover, glad you like it, and kudos to Ayrlego and Kahir who wrote up their parts of the story and helped get everything fit together just right!  And since we knew that Luca and Navarre's team was going to be diving into the intrigue side (though no idea just how deep, obviously!  ), we decided to take it on and hit the challenge right between the eyes!  We'll have to see how it all ends up and who has the hold of the power once all the smoke clears, though - but Navarre's team certainly had their story well played!

Thank you!  My inspiration was almost certainly a cathedral building - this could be, or could be any kind of coronation dome, and the relief work was definitely not easy to deal with!  Glad it works for you though, and yep - having the sun setting right behind the build as I was taking pictures for the light through the windows kind of made a bit of bleed inevitable, but I was pretty happy with how that turned out!  The floor was actually pretty simple and came together almost by accident - the brick circles, that is.  No way all the cheese slopes lined up accidentally     As a matter of fact is wasn't all that difficult though - getting the windows to stick without falling out was a bit harder!

On 6/4/2020 at 1:31 PM, Aurore said:

Great story guys!

@Garmadon Gorgeous room! The rounded walls look great, and the lighted stained glass add a lot of solemnity to this moment.

Thank you!   I'm glad the lighting paid off!  I'd wanted to build this ever since I saw the picture that inspired it, and I may go back and revisit it sometime when I have more time to polish off the build, but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out all things considered!  I'll need to get some more arches before I try it again, though - or maybe I should say Kai needs to get some more, considering that most of the ones here were borrowed from her for the build!