Keymonus

Amazing set up and development! The story begins in a gruesome way but hey, BoBS is preparing for rough times in the third era! The two vignettes are amazingly well built, but the story is really stealing the scene! Well done, @Khorne, even if I fear that no good will come from giving the rebels/heretics/heretic rebels/free thinkers a martyr to mourn!

Inside the hold of the Meduse, South of El Oleonda, May 624 Tristan walked into the cargo hold of the Meduse. He had little time, and a fundamental decision to take. After days of exhausting marching in the jungle and a few skirmishes with the Daca warriors, Tristan and his men had finally reached the Southern Coast of El Oleonda, where the Meduse was waiting for them. For some reason, the natives seemed to be afraid of the Ocean: the sight of the sea put an end to their chase, allowing the Oleonese to safely board the rescue ship. Now that the danger had ended, the captain would soon have asked where to set sail... and Tristan's answer could have changed the future of El Oleonda. Konrad, the only survivor of the Carnite expedition, was waiting for him... and basically represented the source of Tristan's problems. The young Carnite explorer, together with the maps and diaries from his unfortunate adventure, could lead to a fabulous treasure: gold and silver, jade and other gems, sunk with the old Lotii fleet and dozens of its sailors... a treasure worth thousands and thousands of doubloons, enough to make an empire move. At this point, Tristan could order the captain to sail west, to Neuburg, and return Konrad to his nation. This, however, would have surely renewed the interest of Carno for El Oleonda, inducing them to organize a new expedition to the shipwrecks... in other words, Tristan would have thrown a huge pile of hay on the embers of the war. On the other hand, he could order him to sail east, to Jiangkai. The military intelligence would have acquired the documents, and Tristan would have likely received a medal. Then, Oleon would have tried its luck with those cursed shipwrecks, angering both Carno and the Lotii. The war would have likely started again, and many more would have died. There was, however, a third possibility. The mysterious Cypher could open the route to unknown islands, to the discovery of a mint-new part of the World and its wonders... even if the very existence of that object proved that "discovery" was not the right word at all! Before the unfortunate expedition, Konrad had spent years studying the artifacts of the ancient civilization of El Oleonda, and could represent a valuable help to decode that unusual, ancient map. Moreover, that task would have kept him safely far from both the Carnite and the Oleonese authorities... definitely better than "just shooting that Carnite dude and throwing him in a pond", as one of the scouts had suggested! Many questions remained, and the answer was probably out there, somewhere in the Southern New Haven Seas. Who had built the Labyrinth? What had caused their end? Did something survive of them, apart from old ruins and a few tribes of barbarized descendants? Well, someone might have complained, and he might have received an angry letter from a ministry or two... but the decision was taken. The Meduse would have sailed neither to Neuburg nor to Jiangkai, but southbound, towards the unknown! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unfortunately, I will be away from most of my bricks for a while, but I wanted to provide a proper conclusion also for my main character arc in this long storyline! There is not much to say about the MOC itself. The shiphold comes from another storyline (the Tale of the Charon), even if I refurnished it. Chronologically, this part comes before "Aftermath", and is still set in May, immediately after the escape from von Undingen's ambush.

An amazing addition to the lore of Jiangkai! The police station is very well built, it keeps the style of the other parts of the main street, but at the same time it is unique! The Joan of Arc-style rebel leader seems a serious threat to our nation, I hope Section 13 will be able to handle her before she can muster more rebels and heretics!

Thank you guys! This is probably my longest storyline, together with the old Charlatan Bay civil war story, so I’m happy you enjoyed it! Von Undingen will definitely make his comeback as a full fledged villain in the next future… with a missing hand and a lot of vengeful spirit!

Seawatch, El Oleonda, June 624 Matthias walked into his room, staggering a little. At that hour of the night, it was hard to remember that he was Major von Stern, the Stonewall, the Hero of Seawatch. It was hard shutting down the voices of the men he had killed and of the ones who had died under his command, mercilessly accusing him… only whisky seemed to work. He threw his black officer coat on a chair, stumbling against the low table. He was pathetic, but he didn’t care much: that night, he was alone with his ghosts… many more than the previous time. He poured himself a glass, then he immediately gulped it. That awful man had deceived them all, and many good soldiers had died for nothing… for nothing but his greed, and Matthias’ own foolishness! He poured a second glass, but this time he only took a short sip… he had planned to get terribly drunk, but that excellent Essian whisky deserved some more attention! The audacity of von Undingen’s plan amazed and disgusted him. That man had fooled everyone: the Governor’s orders had been forged, and nobody in Neustadt seemed to know anything about their expedition, nor about Professor Wagner’s one; the Perseus, who should have collected the salvaged treasures, didn’t exist in any register, and was probably nothing but a Garvyan privateer. The whole expedition, prepared in plain sight, was only an elaborate ruse: von Undingen had planned to use the Essians for his own purposes, just to abandon them and disappear with the gold. Now Matthias was back in Seawatch, along with his personal ghosts. They had given him a medal for bringing part of his men back “despite continuous attacks from overwhelming enemy forces”… something he couldn’t accept. Too many of his jaegers had fallen for nothing, and now were looking at him from the corners of the room. Von Undingen had also died: Matthias had seen him falling, surrounded by the Daca warriors. That scoundrel had received what he deserved, at last. Matthias raised his glass in a spiteful toast: “May you burn in the Tartarus, miserable bastard!” In that moment, the shadows in a distant corner of the room seemed to take form. A man in a black cloak, who until then had remained still, was lighting an oil lamp. “Always a nice thought for an old friend, I hear. But I fear you’ll be there before me.” Said the man, with a creepily friendly voice. It was impossible! Matthias rushed for his pistol, but suddenly he felt terribly tired, and fell heavily back on his chair. “Oh, don’t bother to try.” The man continued, friendly as before. “It was in your whisky. One part of stramonium, two of foxglove, and one of belladonna. I’m surprised your heart is still working, but it won’t last long.” Matthias looked with hatred at the man who had just killed him, then at his pistol again… it was on the other side of the table, but it seemed miles away. “Scourge! My men were killed because of you!” He whispered. If only he could have reached his pistol… “Yes, and you left me behind to die. We are even then. Or maybe not, I don’t care much!” Matthias would have loved to remove that hateful smile with a cobblestone, a sharp detail in a face that was starting to fade. “But you also did me a favor, in a certain sense. Now that I’m dead, nobody will look for me. There’s a little island where I had started some fruitful activities, during the war… but before that, you are not the only friend I plan to visit. My best regards, Major von Stern! I hope to see you again as late as possible!” With these words, von Undingen left the room, two fingers raised to the brim of an imaginary hat in a last, mocking salute. ------------------------------------------------------------ Overall view: Details of the furniture: -------------------------------------------------------------------- This will probably be the penultimate part of my storyline, with the last one focusing on my main character. I hadn't planned it, but I didn't want to leave von Undingen "dead" for too long, and I still have to think a little more about where Tristan will be sailing to next. The story is dark, way darker than usual... I hope you still like it!

Thank you guys! I don't know if this character will appear again but, in this way, I can keep it for possible new uses... after all, failing a "last chance of redemption" mission required either an alternative success, the defection of Lei, or his death! Option 1 seemed the best one!

Thank you!!! I’m really happy you enjoyed this storyline and the builds accompanying it! Congratulations to all the other winners and to all the participants, there were a lot of great entries!

Hi guys! Thank you for your kind comments! At the moment I don’t have much building time, and I’m mostly sticking to small MOCs in the same colour palette (that is, mostly with the same boxes of pieces)… but I’m happy you are enjoining the result! Thank you! The original plan was to close within the challenge (two builds ago), but the story closure seemed a little too rushed! There will probably be one more (from the point of view of Tristan), plus possibly a bonus one (already complete in terms of text and pictures), but I still have to decide if I want to use it now (as a closure of “book 1”) or in a future (to begin a “book 2”).

Somewhere in the jungle, El Oleonda, May 624 There was a little shrine, somewhere in the jungle of El Oleonda. A dozen miles East of the mysterious Dead City, it was probably built by the same ancient civilization, centuries before. The old building had almost completely disappeared in the undergrowth, crumbling under the weight of time... impossible to say whether it originally was a temple to some pagan deity, the mausoleum of a forgotten chief, or something else. For Commander Lei Feng, these old ruins had represented a fundamental waypoint during the exhausting guerrilla campaigns against the Carnite. That day, they also seemed a good place for what he had to do. Lei had received one last chance to escape the deadly trap set up by his enemies in Oryant, and he had lost it. In a normal situation, he should have been proud of saving his soldiers from the double ambush in the Dead City: he didn't manage to capture the three Carnite explorers, but those men had most likely been slaughtered by the Daca natives; the Carnite attempts to find the shipwrecks of the old Lotii fleet had been thwarted again, and the Oleonese seemed to have completely different objectives... for sure it wasn't a victory, but it wasn't a complete defeat, either. However, it was not a normal situation: his enemies in the army had chosen to use him as a scapegoat getting rid of him once and for all. In Oryant he could only expect an execution, and surrendering to the enemies of the Empire was out of question. Lei unsheathed his dagger: he still had one honorable way out. Following an ancient ritual, he would soon have stabbed himself in the abdomen; then, a loyal assistant would have beheaded him with a sword. It would have been a gruesome end, and the result of a terrible injustice, but it was the only way for Lei and his clan to retain their honor. Maybe he could become a yurei, a specter, to haunt forever the nights of his enemies... the High General Wang, coward and traitor, deserved never to sleep a quiet night again! Lei was ready. He made a nod to his assistant and hardened his grip on the dagger... then, he noticed something. There was a pile of rubble, in the far corner of the little shrine. Nothing too weird by itself in a ruined building, but something looked out of place. There were several ceramic artifacts, scattered all around, and they looked surprisingly well... they had been exposed to the weather for ages, not for centuries. He looked better: the pile contained also some tiles from the pavement, and was topped with bricks from the nearby pillar. Someone had likely dug a hole in that place, and then he had covered it carefully… but why? Well, Lei’s honorable death could wait for a while… Within a hour, the rubbles had been completely removed, revealing a little niche. That hole was probably an ancient native tomb, similar to many others he had seen on Jinzi: his men had sacked many of them, usually finding nothing but old bones, ceramics, an occasional golden trinket. This time, however, they were far luckier: someone had replaced the original content of the grave (including the ceramics scattered all around) with Lotii coins, gold bars and, even more importantly, old maps and documents! The objects had been for sure left there by the first Lotii expedition, marooned on the island years before: nothing, compared to the treasures still laying on the bottom of the Southern Bay, but still a considerable fortune! Lei looked at the documents. They were exactly what he had hoped, and even more: maps of the archipelago and of islands he couldn’t recognise, the log of one of the ships, the precise route of the first expedition… something the Empire had looked for ages! With those, he could now return to Oryant as a hero… and provide some annoyances to General Wang even without becoming a vengeful ghost! ——————————— Overall view of the build: After a long delay, here you can see the aftermath of my challenge storyline from the point of view of the Lotii officer. I plan one more MOC (the one about my main character) before moving to something different! I hope you enjoyed this part and this storyline in general!

Nice looking ship! Fast and agile, as her task will require! All the best luck to the Thessalonike and her crew, the story is intriguing and I hope to see learn more about Giefaux and his deeds soon!

Thank you! I also liked a lot the final result with the falling objects, in close-up pictures it works very well only from certain angles, while IRL the effect works better! About the Count, expect indeed to see him again soon(ish), angrier than ever and full of vengeful intents... PS Great quote BTW! As a child, Scooby Doo was by far my favourite cartoon!

Another great addition to Essen lore! The story of "your" city is getting more detailed and interesting with every new post!

Thank you! I’m glad you enjoy this part of the storyline too! About Frederick von Undingen, we’ll see… I plan to reuse it, but I don’t know how soon will this be. For the moment, he is considered “fallen on the battlefield” by Carno military reports but, as you said, scoundrels are often lucky! Yes, BTW plan to use him as an enemy for Tristan in the future. Thanks! It’s a technique working very well when you see the build, in close-ups it’s great from some angles and just ok from others, but I plan to use it in the future for more falling objects! Thanks! About the natives, the only canon tribe of El Oleonda are the Tyree’De, even if somewhere it was stated that they are one of the tribes living on the island (and possibly not the only one). In my stories, I now and then needed something slightly different, so I adapted them a little and introduced other smaller tribes. Below some notes on how I use the various tribes but, again, it’s just for clarity in my builds, and not canon at all! -the Tyree’De themselves in my builds wear red scarfs on the head and sometimes some “Asian” hat. They also have sometimes the war maces you introduced. They mostly live on the coasts (and possibly on other islands too),and were joined in the past by some Lotii sailor marooned on the island, who also taught them some new technologies. -the Tamaco: I needed a small tribe providing scouts to the Monomonto (and that now has switched allegiance, or is at least neutral). They have red face paints and either some sparse “samurai” weapons and armour pieces, or bone helmets. They appeared a couple of times. -the Daca: probably “barbarised” descendants of an ancient civilisation, they live in the interior, close to or into the ruin complexes. I had mentioned them a few times in the past too (“careful, we are close to the Daca territory” or similar), but nothing more. They have primitive weapons, simple clothing, and a lot of tattoos or face paintings.

Somewhere in the jungle, El Oleonda, May 624 They had snatched the prize out of his hands! But it was not over, not yet. He would have put his hands on that treasure, in one way or another. A warrior appeared in front of him, the face horribly painted. The Daca raised his wooden spear, but he was a second too slow: Frederick von Undingen cut him down with his sword, without even slowing down. He would have returned, he swore. He would have returned with more men and some good cannons, maybe a company of Namerian mercenaries... and he would have wiped out those savages from El Oleonda, he would have killed them all! Then, the treasure of the Lotii fleet would have become the key to a new life of wealth and, even more importantly, power! Frederick only needed to reach Seawatch alive, and the cards would have turned in his favor again. Some would have been angered with him for his failures, but nothing he couldn't handle. Professor Wagner's group had been massacred, leaving no useful notes behind. In their abandoned camp, however, Frederick had found a little booty of Lotii gold: not much, but enough to convince his friends in Aden to forget some little things and support his future endeavors. They had little time to lose, however, since the Oleonese seemed to have captured a survivor of Wagner's expedition... if he only had ordered Kurt to shoot that man first, he would have felt safer about his plans. The bushes in front of Frederick disappeared, suddenly replaced by a small clearing. Somehow, he managed to stop his run, just a few steps before a cliff and the violent rapids below. Frederick realized immediately that he was in deadly danger: his little group had been cut out from von Stern's column, which was now on the opposite side of the stream. The Daca, instead, were all around them again. The Essians jaegers were fighting fiercely -they were excellent soldiers, he had to recognize that- but the warriors seemed just too many. His loyal Kurt shot a warrior at point blank, killing him on the spot. A second and a third one were already running towards him, spear in hand... with no time to reload, his musket was now nothing more than a robust club. Two warriors were almost upon him. There were no battle cries, as usual... only the low, menacing hiss anticipated the attack of the Daca, together with their hellish drums. Frederick raised his sword in a high guard, bracing for their attack. He deflected a spear lunge directed at his face, then turned to his right, aiming for the chest of the incoming warrior... but his right foot found nothing but air. Before he could even realize it, Frederick was falling. Frederick tried desperately to recover his balance, but the dirt at the edge of the cliff was too slippery. For a moment he remained almost still over the roaring water, staring at the triumph on his enemies' face. Then, the bag with the gold dragged him behind, towards the rapids and a watery grave. He was still holding it, he realized. His ticket towards wealth and power. Ironic. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This MOC, as you can see, represents the aftermath of my TC2 storyline, from the Carno point of view. I plan to publish a conclusion scene also for the other parties involved, that is the Lotii and Oleon, before moving to my future plans. Since I really liked this storyline, the setting, and the characters I had created, I thought they deserved a proper conclusion for their journeys. I hope you liked my storyline and these conclusive scenes too! For possible newcomers, Frederick von Undingen, graf von (Count of) Wiesemberg, is a borderline psychopath, a villain in my storylines, and probably a sort of loose cannon also for his nation. This should explain his very questionable points about massacring all the natives of El Oleonda, the complete disinterest in his comrades dying, and similar amenities. Here he receives what he deserves, but there will be no body available for burial... if this is really von Undingen's end, or if you'll see this character again, remains to be seen! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Lotii gold falling into the river from a different angle. A better angle, in my opinion, but the MOC was too small to show the scene from this point of view. Since I like the result, I'll attempt something similar in the future. Overall view:

Slowly coming back to answer the newest topics... I love this entry, and it is amazing how you created a full diorama just as a "frame" for your entry! The choice of the "Oriental-style" (or rather Southern-style, given our geography) portrait is very original and really appropriate for the time frame! I also love the setting, with the half-said story about the desert uprising, leaving much to the readers' imagination!

Thank you! I had planned to make a villain reappear completely disfigured, but indeed no yellow option (apart from possibly the old Quirrel/Voldemort face) seems available, and I can’t turn all the other characters in flesh versions… fair enough, I’ll probably resort to making him wear a mask or similar!

Thank you! I was referring to the spoiler on top of the last entry (All the parties involved). If it’s better for organisation purposes, below there are links to all the parts of The Cypher storyline. You may directly use this post for reference: Ghostly voices - Free Build, not to be considered Down below A suspicious jungle stroll The mouth of the Emperor The City of the Dead Shadows of a distant past Morituri te salutant All the parties involved

Thank you! Yes, all the previous parts are linked to in the initial spoiler

Thank you for the great organisation effort! Only a minor thing: the conclusion of my story (“All the parties involved”) seem to be missing from the entry index. In the end I didn’t merge my entries in a single topic… too bad, but at least I managed to close the storyline on time! Now I’m really looking forward to seeing what Era III will bring to our little world!

Hello everyone! For a storyline in the RPG part of this forum (Brethren of the Brick Seas), I plan to make a believed-dead character reappear. Could anyone give me a suggestion about a yellow head looking severely scarred or burnt? There are several suitable parts in flesh colour (Anakin from Star Wars, Cavendish from the Lone Ranger, and many more), but I can’t think about a similar part in the traditional yellow colour. Thanks!

Thank you! I read that several of the ancient buildings were somehow painted and decorated, and I wanted to play a little on this comparison! Despite the small scale and the simple architecture, I'm very happy about the result! Thanks! This MOC wasn't in the original plan, and it grew almost by chance... but I love it! As usual with ghosts and supernatural things, I kept it borderline between being a vision/hallucination and being something "real". It is something I only did a couple of times, but I love the way it turned out!

Thank you! I managed to answer when my storyline was already completed, so you know how things have ended! Don't take the sea zones too literally, but I wanted places with highly recognizable symbols allowing to point to places out of the map... I have no clue whether these lands might exist, or if they are just blank spots in the MRCA map have been destroyed by the ancient cataclysims too. Thank you! An arena was in a corner of my mind since a long time, even if I had thought of placing it in New Oleon or in a nearby state... who knows, maybe in the future... Thanks!

Thank you! This was probably the most intricate story I built, and I overestimated the time I had, so it really was a funny ride! I'm glad you liked the final result! I don't have precise plans about von Undingen, at first I had planned to just make him die, but it seemed a little waste, and I think I need a nemesis for my main character... so expect to see him again, maybe with a scar or an eyepatch! For the developments on El Oleonda, only time will tell... this is something beyond what I can decide with my storyline, but I hope we'll see some more action there! Thank you! Tristan will remain my main character. Before new EGS rules will be defined, I think I'll build more adventure-themed things than properties, so you'll see more about him soon! Thank you! The treasure is something I wanted to keep for a proper storyline... it's something I introduced in an older challenge, but I never found the time to properly focus on it! It was a little bit a rush, as I had to leave for a sailing trip and I'm only today back on dry land... with a little more experience about sails and nodes! Von Undiingen's head is from a pick-a-brick desk in a LEGO store, the code shoud be this one: 3626cpb2792. It's a quite versatile part, I think I already used for at least 10 background characters around my MOCs!

The Labyrinth, El Oleonda, May 624 Tristan inhaled deeply and flexed his wrist, loosening his muscles. His sword answered as an extension of his arm, and the blade of Guelphian steel whistled in the air. It would have been a difficult fight, that was clear. The Oleonese and the Lotii were similar in number, but the latter seemed better equipped for a melee fight: the chasseurs would have faced their long swords, spiked clubs, and partial armor with knives and sabers. As usual, however, the men could make the difference, and his chasseurs had proven their worth several times. All of a sudden, a slow clap arrived from the bleachers. A man in red civilian clothes had just appeared on the balcony, surrounded by soldiers in black uniforms. The Carnites, somehow, had found their track... and in the worst possible moment! "What a dramatic show, mein Herren. I would almost be tempted to let you finish... or to order you to do it. As you can see, there are quite a few muskets pointed towards your heads! By the way, I am Frederick von Undingen, Count of Wiesemburg, at your service." The man's voice didn't betray any emotion, but the half smile and the polite nod were absolutely unsettling. For some reason, he reminded Tristan of Slim Bill, a gang leader that during Charlatan's Bay civil war used to collect his enemies' ears... a complete psychopath, that Tristan had personally sent to Hades years before. He went on smiling, as if he hadn't just suggested watching them dying just for fun. "I have to make you my congratulations. We had fallen behind, and we had little hope of finding Professor Wagner, or any of your gracious groups. If it hadn't been for my good friend, Major von Stern, we would still be trudging at the border of these ruins, back North. At last, he convinced me to leave behind carriages and porters, and to precede you on the way to the shipwrecks... so here we are!" They were falling out of the frying pan and straight into the fire. Oleon and Carno were allies, but Tristan didn't think it would have mattered much. He didn't know which shipwrecks von Undingen was talking about, but he seemed to consider them a matter of life or death. By going there, von Undingen had cut them the road towards the sea, where an Oleonese ship was waiting! That wasn't even the worst part... in the distance, a drum had started to play, soon followed by a second and a third one. Konrad widened his eyes, but Tristan gestured for him to remain quiet. At least ten muskets were aimed in their direction, and any sudden movement could trigger a nervous soldier. At the moment, the best strategy was letting the eximious von Undingen talk, hoping to get alive out of that situation. Meanwhile, the man continued, impassive as before: "I'm sorry we meet in this situation, General Rimbaud. You provided great service to my nation, in Seawatch and Neuburg. Unfortunately, the treasures of the lost Lotii fleet are too important for my masters... you meddled in something too big and too dangerous, mein Freund! I don't think I can let you go, I fear." He also added something in Lotii, that Tristan couldn't understand, with the same voice of ice. The Lotii officer stared back with hatred, then spat on the ground. Everything seemed clear now. The Carnites hadn't abandoned the hope of finding the old Lotii fleet, even if their greed had cost way too many lives. The expedition Konrad was part of had finally succeeded, before being slaughtered by the natives. And the Chiffre, probably the most amazing part of their discoveries, was only a fortuitous finding in their insane gold hunt. "Monsieur von Undingen, I have absolutely no idea of what you are talking about." Convincing the man to let them go was impossible, but Tristan could gain some time. Pierre, on his left, was adjusting the grip on his knife. He was on a good angle to hit the man, if things had escalated more... The Carnite acted surprised, even embarrassed... impossible to say whether he was sincere or was only pretending. "Oh, monsieur le General, I'm sincerely sorry. I would have killed those Lotii dogs in any case, but this is an unfortunate accident. I fear I told you too much, and now you have to die. My fault, please forgive me. Let's close it here. Mayor von Stern, please, order your men to open fire!" The officer in black -von Stern, apparently- hesitated. There was a moment of silence, broken only by some native drums... way closer, this time! "Herr, Graf... might I remind you that Carno and Oleon are allies, and that we just fought side by side in Seawatch... the governor would never approve this move. And I can't approve this order, either!" "Ah, von Stern, you are a traitor and a coward! But you know, you can never trust an Essian for something important. Well, let’s make things easier for everyone: if anyone ignores an order again, I’ll have him hanged as soon as we return to Neuburg. Now, where were we? Oh, right! Kurt, would you please oblige? And make General Rimbaud the courtesy of being the first one.” “Yes, sir!” Without other comments, the man lowered his musket and took aim. Time seemed to slow down. For a second, everyone remained still, and only the sound of a drum broke the unreal silence. This time it was close, very close, but nobody seemed to notice. Then the world seemed to run faster and faster. Pierre sprang as a bow, throwing his knife in Kurt’s direction. He missed by a little, but the blade passed close enough to make him lose the aim. The musket fired, but the ball only hit the sand at a half a meter from Tristan’s feet. Then, before anyone could react, the battle cries began. “Idiot, you killed us all!” Yelled in Carnite the Lotii commander. He was probably true, but it was also their best chance to run! The Daca emerged from the bushes, right behind the Carnites. The musket shot had given up their position, and apparently also angered the natives a lot. Von Undingen seemed too busy to notice that is prey was escaping, and seemed in a quiet dire situation. Tristan, however, had the feeling that he would have seen that hideous man again, sooner or later… probably he was so evil that the Boatman would have repelled him! As the Carnite soldiers were fighting for heir lives, the Oleonese and the Lotii started running away under a rain of spears… trying to fight each other didn’t seem particularly important in that moment. With a map to unknown lands and a ship waiting for them along the Southern Coast, a few miles far, Tristan felt almost as when he first sailed to Astrapi, many years before… an unknown world was waiting for him to explore, and a new Era seemed ahead, both for him and for his nation! ———————— Overall view: With this last part, I conclude my storyline about El Oleonda, the Labyrinth and the “cipher”. I hope you enjoyed it, for sure I had fun with the buildings and the story! I will for sure reuse some of the characters: Tristan will remain my main one, and von Undingen will probably be his nemesis in a future story… Note: sorry, I had left the “wip” in the title even if everything was over!

The Labyrinth, El Oleonda, May 624 The Carnite guy, Konrad, spent two days between life and death. He didn't seem to have eaten or drunk anything in several days, and was feverish from an infected wound. Tristan had little hope for recovery, but the young man surprised everyone: his fever decreased, and he soon regained consciousness. After a few more days, he could even walk with a little help. Despite the gratitude, Konrad remained extremely vague about the original purpose of his expedition. In return, he talked widely about the mysterious Chiffre: at first, the Carnites had mistaken it for a Lotii military cipher, but it was soon clear that the object was far more ancient and fascinating. Despite the appearance, that little gold cylinder was a sort of map of the New Haven Seas and beyond. The first and last disc seemed to represent the start and destination points; the ones in the middle indicated the relative distance and direction of the two points. Tristan was utterly impressed by the complexity of the mechanism, and even more by the level of knowledge owned by its mysterious builders. Whoever had lived on El Oleonda, whoever had built the Labyrinth, had also traveled across the whole archipelago before disappearing from history: Tristan recognized clear references to Cascadia (the little jaguar) and Ile Dyonisus (the crocodile), but completely deciphering the object would have taken weeks. It was clear, however, that the cipher exceeded the Madrician knowledge of New Haven Seas, with several symbols falling East or South of Noveau Oleandia, far out of the most recent maps! Before trying to sail towards the Rising Sun, the Flower, or the Idol's Mask, however, Tristan and his men still had a little priority: leaving those damned ruins. Alive, if possible. The last point, at the moment, didn't seem particularly easy: heading towards the Southern Coast, Tristan's unit had to cross a dangerous choke point between some cliffs and a large Daca village. One wrong move, and dozens of warriors would have soon come for their heads. The soldiers marched forward as quietly as they could, sometimes mumbling swift prayers to Artemis or Poseidon. None of the gods seemed particularly inclined to oblige, however, since a twice damned Lotii patrol suddenly appeared among the ruins. The Lotii seemed as surprised as the Oleonese soldiers. For a moment, everybody froze. Tristan could almost hear the thoughts of the enemy commander: he knew, or imagined that the blue barbarians were probably in the Labyrinth for his same reason; he had met them as they were trying to leave the ruins, meaning that they had found what they were looking for; he knew he had to stop them, at any cost. But he also knew how close the Daca village was, and how bad could be facing dozens of their warriors. Indeed, nobody had shot his musket... not yet. Tristan brought a finger to his lips, gesturing for silence. Then, he slowly put his pistol on the ground and unsheathed his sword. The Lotii commander nodded and did the same, soon imitated by the soldiers of both sides. It would have ended that way, then. No muskets, cannons, or ordered formations: only sword against sword, warrior against warrior, as in the legends about the heroes of the past. Seen in that way, it didn't seem a bad conclusion for his story, if things had gone wrong. Tristan looked around. If they had been in the Old World, that place could have been one of the ancient arenas, where prisoners were forced to fight for the amusement of the noblemen. Maybe it was something similar, or maybe not... but in a few steps, the Oleonese and the Lotii would have been at a sword distance, and the fight to the death would have begun. At this point, the ancient gladiators would have yelled "morituri te salutant" to the Emperor, right before trying to butcher one another. That day there wouldn't have been any salute... but if the ancient inhabitants were still watching from the other side, they would have surely seen one last, glorious show. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Note: As my story gets closer and closer to its conclusion, also the time to the deadline is starting to run short. I hope you'll enjoy this part and the next one (that hopefully will be out tomorrow), even if I had to overpack them with way too much story for such small builds. Just to clarify, "morituri te salutant" (meaning "those about to salute you) was the classic salute of gladiators to the organizer of their "games", even if it's more a historical fiction trope than a real thing. The idea of the silent fight that is going to happen here, instead, is a sort of reference to a similar scene of the movie Kingsmen: the Origins (where the problem is represented by WWI machine guns, and not by angry natives).