Raising the Dead Part V: The Battle of the Pit (Part One)

[SkaForHire]

Raising the Dead Part V: The Battle of the Pit (part one)

If you missed the beginning:

Slaughter at Sultan's Rock

Raising the Dead Part I Collecting the Pieces

Raising the Dead Part II Retracing our steps

Raising the Dead Part III Family Heirloom

Raising the Dead Part IV: Preparing the Potion

BOOOOM!!!! The earth shook and the heroes were thrown in all directions. The earth boiled over, making glass instantly, and in some places the desert felt… alive…

DSC_0845 by skaforhire, on Flickr

Paulos looked around, he had been thrown against Sultan’s Rock, and his helmet had been knocked off. There were… Tenticles!?!?! Coming out of the ground? A large rift had opened and a doorway stood below them deep in the trench but against Sultan’s Rock.

DSC_0844 by skaforhire, on Flickr

Was that… Dugal?

DSC_0842 by skaforhire, on Flickr

The others began to recover too. Paulos looked around, everyone seemed to be moving. However, there was no sign of Sergio. Paulos tried to remember if had had gone ahead to scout…

DSC_0847 by skaforhire, on Flickr

Paulos thought he definitely had a concussion… as he peered over towards Cannondale, Al’Meter had hobbled up next to the bodyguard. In a blink of an eye, an elf in shimmering silver armor and jet black hair appeared next to Al’Meter, this was not one of Al’Meter’s regular bodyguards…. That was Arcannon!

DSC_0848 by skaforhire, on Flickr

Al’Meter began to heal Cannondale, while Merith got up holding her head. At first she looked into the pit and yelled with glee, but it soon turned to horror, as she saw what came out behind Dugal. Fire Elementals.

DSC_0851 by skaforhire, on Flickr

Paulos grabbed his helmet, and his weapons and tossed his short sword down to his mostly naked brother. “This will have to do!” He yelled down to him.

DSC_0857 by skaforhire, on Flickr

Masa shouted over the rift, “I have to get Yesil to Safety! He is hurt bad!” Or great, Paulos thought… the one guy that might be able to control these elementals is leaving.

DSC_0850 by skaforhire, on Flickr

The fire elementals started to come up the rift, but at the top of the cliff, Paulos’ body guards, the Eastgate troops, began to rain down arrows. Some even began to scale down the cliff the help.

DSC_0860 by skaforhire, on Flickr

DSC_0861 by skaforhire, on Flickr

Arcannon ordered his brother, the shaken up Cannondale, and Merith to get out of there, as he turned towards the pit.

DSC_0863 by skaforhire, on Flickr

DSC_0866 by skaforhire, on Flickr

The Battle of the Pit was on.

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

DSC_0826 by skaforhire, on Flickr

[Mike S]

Great job on the terrain! Those horned tentacles are really cool too! I like the massiveness of the MOC shown in the second pic.

[TheUtilityBelt]

Love it!

[Hammerhand]

This looks awesome. Very cool landscape, and the underworld is scary.

[-Carson Haupt-]

Awesome!

[SkaForHire]

Raising the Dead Part Vi: The Battle of the Pit (Part Two)

If you missed the beginning:

Slaughter at Sultan's Rock

Raising the Dead Part I Collecting the Pieces

Raising the Dead Part II Retracing our steps

Raising the Dead Part III Family Heirloom

Raising the Dead Part IV: Preparing the Potion

Raising the Dead Part V: Battle of the Pit

Sergio ran towards the explosion. The ground around him no longer felt sandy… it felt, mushy…

He came to a gaping hole in the side of Sultan’s Rock, a trench almost as deep as the rock was tall laid before him and there were tentacles, bone spears, and fire elementals pouring forth from the earth.

What the heck have we done? He thought.

DSC_0870 by skaforhire, on Flickr

As he got to the edge, new tentacles burst from the ground, he could see one try to overtake Paulos on the other side of the chasm.

DSC_0873 by skaforhire, on Flickr

Spikes of flesh or glass came shooting from the side of Sultan Rock, it was like the whole terrain had come alive to kill them all.

DSC_0874 by skaforhire, on Flickr

A giant bone hand with black claws burst forth from the ground next to Sergio, it grabbed up Lincoln, one of Paulos’ loyal guards. In seconds Lincoln was no more.

DSC_0877 by skaforhire, on Flickr

The men started to fall, and Sergio knew he needed to fall back. Across the pit, he could see Dugal and an elf crawling up the side to safety. But another elf lay crushed by another one of the pit’s appendages at the bottom.

DSC_0881 by skaforhire, on Flickr

Dugal must have called for the Golden Axe of Eastgate, for that was the only possession he had. That was a little comfort… at least Sergio knew that only the real Dugal could hold that axe.

Back at the watch tower the heroes had regrouped, but the armies of darkness descended into their camp.

DSC_0900 by skaforhire, on Flickr

Dugal felt cold, sweaty, but alive. For the first time in centuries. It had been centuries, right? He thought to himself. The fire elementals were now joined by Leraki, or sand devils, and one had his eye on Dugal.

DSC_0904 by skaforhire, on Flickr

After dealing with the sand devil, a white figure came at Dugal. Before Dugal vanquished the spirit, it moaned out “THE NECROMANCER SENDS HIS REGARDS. REMEMBER YOU DEAL.” Dugal had no time to think about that now.

Another creature made itself known at the Watchtower, a Drow warrior attempted to assassinate Arcannon, but he dispatched the vermin with ease. Dugal could not believe that it was THE ARCANNON CRESENTTHORN.

DSC_0905 by skaforhire, on Flickr

Although they lost many men, the enemies began to run or fall, and eventually the battle at the watchtower had finished, the Heroes still standing.

Dugal looked around… He couldn’t believe the cast of characters that had assembled to bring him back. Merith, Paulos, Al’Meter, Arcannon, Yesil, Masa, Cannondale, Sergio.

“What do you think this all means?” Masa was saying over a corpse, he was directing his question to Al’Meter. Yesil was strangely quiet.

“It means a price must be paid for brining Lord MacLean back.” Al’ meter sighed, as he glanced towards his brother who was walking towards a fallen friend. “That portal to the underworld did not close. The pit is open and will stay open until we find a way to close it.”

“So that means that Kaliphlin has its own personal Nocturnus resort?” Sergio laughed.

“Pray it be so little. There are things beyond death that have not been seen in Nocturnus for millennia.” Al’Meter Said.

“What do we do?” Dugal said, focusing back in on the conversation.

“We must guard the pit so nothing else gets out.” Al’Meter turned to Paulos. “You must command all the men at Queens Cross to return here and keep whatever comes out in. I will stay here with my elves, and we will figure out a defense plan.”

He turned to Dugal “ You must take Eastgate back. It is clear that your brother has something to do with the permanency of the Pit. He was the only one against this party that knew exactly what you were all doing. “ He said as he looked at the adventurers who had gathered the components. “ We will hold the pit for now, but you must find Petera and destroy him, or capture whatever magical iterm he has that is keeping this hole open.”

Yesil finally spoke. “We are sure that this is Petera keeping the hole to the underworld open not. Anyone could this be. Yes, hmmm.” He coughed. “Adventure, I am too old for this. Be the enemy, you must keep all possibilities open, Petera may not.”

“Still, the best plan of action is to end one rebellion quickly, so we can get those soldiers to the pit. I am afraid there are not enough Wither Wood elves to stop what will eventually come.” Dugal replied. “But first, I must get some clothes.

Paulos Spoke, “I think you will like your new colors.”

“New Colors?”

“yes your fiancé decided that you will need a new heraldry, now that you have been reborn.”

DSC_0912 by skaforhire, on Flickr

Dugal returned in his new clothes. “They feel great, and the renewing tree is a fitting symbol.”

“Let me fix your wounds, you have a long ride ahead of you.” Al’Meter reached over and healed Dugal.

DSC_0913 by skaforhire, on Flickr

“Great, can you give me a haircut too?” he chuckled. Al’Meter gave him an icy glance.

“I have sheers in the camel’s pack, “Sergio said. And with that, they began their journey towards Eastgate.

DSC_0914 by skaforhire, on Flickr

[SkaForHire]

Oh, I forgot to say this, but this is the first time I have ever gone back and redid a location... The original Sultan's Rock looked like this:

DSC_1965 by skaforhire, on Flickr

[Gunman]

What a great landscaping specialy on the pit. I really like it.

[mpoh98]

Wow, really great job, and fantastic story! I am really loving the redo! So much better!

[Gideon]

Great storytelling and fig posing! It's also really nice to see how the artist's rendition of the location has evolved since we saw it in book I.

Can't wait to follow the rest of the story

[kabel]

That is a really cool scene and I'd say its the best you've pu together so far. Love all the action and story telling too, you're the master of story telling around here!

[HammerBro]

Great story! I love the black and those fire elementals are awesome!

[soccerkid6]

Impressive landscape! The cliff looks great and I like the bushes

[Captain BeerBeard]

Nice job on this. The landscape is pretty good. The plants look good as well. The brown really works in the Kali desert. The hellish pit is cool though maybe too black? Some parts of the Kali terrain in there might have worked.

[SkaForHire]

Great job on the terrain! Those horned tentacles are really cool too! I like the massiveness of the MOC shown in the second pic.

Thanks, I wanted it as hellish as possible. There were a series of underworld builds I wanted to do first, but I needed to bring him back sooner rather than later. So I may go back to the story someday.

This looks awesome. Very cool landscape, and the underworld is scary.

Indeed! same as above, I hope to return to building a little more.

What a great landscaping specialy on the pit. I really like it.

Wow, really great job, and fantastic story! I am really loving the redo! So much better!

Thank you both.

Great storytelling and fig posing! It's also really nice to see how the artist's rendition of the location has evolved since we saw it in book I.

Can't wait to follow the rest of the story

I think it was your reinterpretation of the scene at Queenscross that made me step up my game. Not that I won't do some quick story MOCs of lower quality still, but I needed to prove that I could go back and make things better.

That is a really cool scene and I'd say its the best you've pu together so far. Love all the action and story telling too, you're the master of story telling around here!

Thank you kindly.

Great story! I love the black and those fire elementals are awesome!

Thanks, I think I had used the design a while back when we introduced the Leri'ki (I actually can't remember how we spelled it either). I think they are simple but look good.

Nice job on this. The landscape is pretty good. The plants look good as well. The brown really works in the Kali desert. The hellish pit is cool though maybe too black? Some parts of the Kali terrain in there might have worked.

Thanks Beery. There are a few bits of tan in there, but hard to find . I was thinking that the explosion from the spell turned much of the area to glass, so it would be mostly black, but photographing black is way too hard. I probably will not do solid black again.

[robuko]

Wow, I somehow missed this whole series of builds back in the summer. What a great storyline! And this remake of Sultan's rock is just fantastic! I love what you have done with the brown and dark tan, it looks very naturalistic. Black is just too hard to photograph especially when you have these high contrast colours against it, but the shapes and build are great in there. Excellent minifig posing all round too. Awesome series!