Henjin_Quilones

Very clever story, Exetrius! Well done. As usual, your figure posing and action photography are brilliant, and I particularly enjoy how Siralia has a green elf ear over one eye and very emo hair.

Very nice story and fig! Where is that fur collar from? I hope his tracking eye can lead him to the red and purple pumpkins he so desperately craves, though he had best be careful wandering the Nocturnian wilds, as you never know when some scary spider or witch might come and eat you...

Very impressive map! That looks great! My favorite part, however, is the bust of the philosopher or statesman over on the side. But truly, there are many great things about this build, like the bookshelves and windows, as well as that stone border around the top with the round tiles. The two things that strike me as being slightly awkward (emphasis on slightly) are the change from two-stud depth of wall to one-stud depth after the door and the slopes on the right side instead of a fully vertical edge of the wall. Those are minor quibbles on what is otherwise a very solid build.

What is your story doing? Building the next chapter in that would be my suggestion. Or else some sort of building; an inn, perhaps, as a place to get your story going.

This build is very nice! I like the fact that you made the base very subtly irregular with those green angled plates for a softer feel, and the varied sizes and textures of your stones in the pathway make it look very attractive. The minifigure posing is what really sells this one, though; good work with that. I appreciate the effort to make the vegetation look as natural as possible with the many shades of green, but I think that is the weakest part of the build by far (since the rest of it looks great). Perhaps some sort of elevation change or rock outcropping might make it better, and fewer of those grass stalks/flower stems (or at least denser clumps of them with some space taken up by rocks). More/larger trees might help, too.

Thanks, Maestro, I am glad you liked the story and the stained glass and the floor. The build started with the floor and then went to the stained glass, and it was only at a late stage that I decided to build some rafters. And as for the Spiderwitch and Raavage, I see them having a short and glorious future together... Thanks, Narbilu! Thank you, Fin! The wooden beam became the focal point at a late stage, but I am glad they are popular. The build was inspired in many ways by older churches, though obviously it has been modified significantly to make it fit the context. The rafters were inspired last Sunday as I was staring at my church's ceiling, actually. So thanks, Titus! Thanks, Kahir, I am glad you like the figures. I wanted a diverse range that could represent many of the Black Spire factions. As for the story, I was trying to keep it brief and limited to what I could show with the pictures, while emphasizing the character of the Spiderwitch. I am sorry that you found it boring.

Thanks, SK! I wanted to do more than just the figure, so I threw something together in a hurry and added some pumpkins... Thanks, Titus. The Spiderwitch is nothing if not despicable...endearing, perhaps, but despicable.

Looks good, Maestro! I can see some SK influences in the windows there, and probably in the snow as well. I like the use of minifig hands as little icicles dripping off of the leaves of the tree. This is also, in my opinion, some of your best stonework yet, with the limited use of textures and colors. It is very effective: interesting without being distracting. The cart is also impressive, as is the dragon head; I just wish I could see more of the dragon! Even the base/edging looks good, making it look sharp and clean. I do not have too much to say as far as ways to improve it, as it is very well done, but perhaps strengthen that crane a little as it seems a bit insufficient for the load...

On behalf of the Resistance: The Proposal of the Spiderwitch After the events of the previous two builds (here and here), the Spiderwitch, intent on winning the pumpkin pie contest, at long last decided to emerge from her darkened lair to pay a visit to Lord Raavage, the contest judge. The Lord of Darkness, Raavage himself, had left the towering edifice of the Black Spire to go visiting some of his other fortresses, and in late October decided to stop by the halls of Ereknydd Castle, home of General Skellek, the great Drow warleader. A great feast was held in Raavage's honor, with many guests invited, including some Hand members, dark dwarves, witches, and the odd goat-wolf-man. The wine flowed as freely as the tears of the Avalonian elf kept in the cage by Raavage's spiky throne. Suddenly, a loud knock on the doors of the great hall echoed through the chamber. The massive portals swung open, revealing a quartet of low orcs bearing a giant, delicious-smelling pumpkin pie on a bier. After depositing their burden on the table the orcs left in a hurry, leaving the doors open in their haste. A silence hung through the hall as all of the guests smelling the savory scents began to salivate. Suddenly, out of the pie, burst the figure of a woman, all blue and scantily clad with seductive head tails dangling behind her. She emerged from the pie and began dancing her way towards the steps and the throne of Lord Raavage. Raavage, entranced by her beauty, stood to greet her, meeting her halfway. While everyone was enraptured by the woman, a mysterious form, the Spiderwitch herself, crept into the hall and began to descend from the high rafters. She plopped her hairy black body down beside the throne of the Lord of Nocturnus, who was startled by her sudden presence and leapt back into the seat he had vacated when the blue woman had approached him. The seductress was standing calmly on the steps, waiting for the business of the witch to finish. The guests all eagerly watched to see what might happen next. A stillness hung over the hall as the Spiderwitch and the Lord stared at each other, wits matched in a mental game of chess. Finally the Spiderwitch smiled broadly and gestured at the pie and the woman. "Eat your fill, My Lord, it is all yours," she said. "And when you are finished with both, I shall be waiting for you in your chambers. You see, it has been many years now since my husband died, and I have been so very, very lonely at night, needing the strong embrace of a powerful and virile man. Will you marry me, Lord Raavage?" "What if I say no?" asked Raavage, a hint of nerves appearing in his voice for the first time as he pulled back from the many hairy spider legs. "You have two choices, My Lord," replied the Spiderwitch. "Either award me victory for my pie, or be my husband. Of course, I would prefer both..." The End. ____________________________________________________________________________________________ ........................................................................................................................................................................................ The build with no figures: Thanks for looking! C&C welcome!

Category A entry: Category B entry: Category C entry:

A Build on behalf of the Resistance: The Spiderwitch Although some part of her history has already been related here, it behooves us in this post to delve a bit deeper into the past of the Spiderwitch using the lovely, and deliriously intoxicating, power of authorial omniscience. It is true that very little is known about her by the outside world, save the rumors that fly faster than her six spider legs and two human arms can pursue, and it is also true that no one has ever come out of her labyrinthine lairs yet living. But it is furthermore true that there are many undead and semidead and other post-death individuals roaming Nocturnus, and, given the number of deaths she has caused, it is no surprise that at least some of those individuals are her victims. However, their accounts are notoriously unreliable, and so I, the author, am going to give you, the reader, a behind-the-scenes look at the best pie baker in all the land. First, it should be noted that even some things are unknown by even the most learned authors, such as the identities of the Spiderwitch's mother and father. However, it does not take much learning to speculate that her mother was likely related to that ancient and noble line of giant female spiders, those of treelight-sucking and high pass-dwelling fame, and her father, well, since they are spiders, her father was likely her mother's first dinner-date. The Spiderwitch herself has a name, though she does not like it to be spoken out loud, as Maybelle is just not intimidating enough for the most powerful arachno-human magic user--and best pumpkin pie baker--this side of the Rakaths. She only tells that to a man on the second date, and, well, that has never happened. But how did she become such a powerful mage? And where did she get her baking skills? Well, let me tell you. Once, long ago, when Maybelle was very small, merely giant tarantula sized, she was crawling around an enchanted pumpkin patch at night, waiting for the spirit of the Great Pumpkin to come and bless her with many toys and other gifts (the Iron Maiden was very popular that year). The full moon was just rising over the dark treetops of the murky wood when a coven of witches came swooping down from the sky, cackling on their brooms. Maybelle hid herself behind the largest of the pumpkins and listened to the conversation of the old hags. They talked of many things, but what they spoke of most was the Great Pumpkin, the most potent deity of those parts. But they were not venerating him, as would be proper for a deity; but instead they were saying that he was such a pumpkin head, a useless old gourd, a puffed up, over-important squash, and other things unfit to repeat in even unpolite company. Maybelle could scarcely believe her ears. She rushed out from behind her pumpkin and told those witches off, explaining how the Great Pumpkin was the greatest of all the vegetable gods and the most loving, beneficent, orange colored-object ever to have existed. Now, did those witches start laughing at that! A small arachno-human telling them, full-grown witches, what to believe and how to act! The very idea of it all brought them to tears of mirth. Maybelle was embarrassed at their laughter, but adamant in her defense of the Great Pumpkin; and so the witches took out their willow wands and began a long and complex incantation, dancing and singing their way through the patch. But just before they were to say the final words of their spell, something unexpected and amazing happened. The large pumpkin, upon which Maybelle was sitting, suddenly began to float up into the air and grow many times larger, glowing so orange that orange no longer even applies, oranger than any fruit or vegetable could ever be, oranger even than the politicians and celebrities down in the big city. It was the Great Pumpkin! He had heard her prayers and was coming to bless her! What joy of joys, night of nights! The witches shrieked, as only witches can, and tried to hop on their brooms and fly off; but the Pumpkin of pumpkins caught them in one of his outstretched vines and reeled them back in. He was shaking with rage, as Maybelle could feel beneath her many feet, and in one powerful curse he caused the whole coven to disappear. Maybelle, however, began to grow larger herself, and could feel some new power coursing through her limbs that had never been there before. And the Great Pumpkin said to her: "My faithful servant, you shall be given the key to many new things, but none so great as the nature of pumpkin-ness, an insight into my very soul. You shall be a mighty sorceress, with the power of thirty witches inside your hairy abdomen, unmatched by any other of your kind. And you shall have my love, my sweet Maybelle." Maybelle heard and was overjoyed. She remained all that night and the next, and an entire week, in the tender embrace of the Great Pumpkin, and at the end of the week she cooked him into a pie and ate him. Now she has the power of thirty witches and the Great Pumpkin within her, and no one can ever create a pumpkin pie better than hers, who knows everything, and I mean everything, in every way, about pumpkins. _________________________________________________________________________ .................................................................................................................................................. Thanks for looking! C&C welcome.

The build is great, very Black Spire-esque, clearly inspired and influenced by Z's builds on the subject. I have to say that I do not particularly like the gingerbread golem, and I think the reason must be the presence of so many studs (I've developed an aversion to them over the years) because truly the idea and the posing of it are top-notch. The milk mug is a nice touch, too. It is good to see that someone is getting the builds posted! (I should have mine up later today or tomorrow, if I can get the pictures taken.) Good work!

Great build, and very fun story! You did an excellent job of equipping a kitchen with all sorts of pots and pans and knives and ladles, but the rolling pin is the best. So much activity!

Very nice winter scene! (You must have watched SK's snow tutorial...) The sledge itself is great, filled with clever uses and nice details. The iced-over pond is a great detail, too. The man pulling the sledge must be a true Mitgardian, though, with ice flowing in his veins to withstand the cold with no shirt or pants on...

Great work! The story is fun, and the build is lovely! I enjoy the very nice hardwood floor and the drawers. The curved wall, though impressive and pretty, is not my favorite, just because it adds so many distracting details. The alcoves are my favorite part (besides the story) and the half-stud offset tan panels above them are also great. Spectacular job, LJ!

Great character introduction! And it is clear from the background of the picture that you have a kitchen in the works, too, for part B, which I look forward to seeing. I am sure that there will be those who would challenge the claim that this Igor fellow was the first in history to make a Nocturnian pumpkin pie, though...

Looks great, but sure makes me wish that I had some of those tooth/hanging snow parts (and more of those 2x6 curved and tapered bricks)! I especially like how the snow drift is hanging over the rocky face, as though it were wind sculpted.

What's wrong with the other guilds? We're people too...

The tree on this scale definitely looks more palm-tree-ish; I know some of the earlier iterations looked a bit like conifers, but this one is more convincingly tropical. I might suggest using brown vine pieces instead of the dark green, since (to my very limited knowledge of botany) the lower hanging things on palm trees are usually dead or dying palm branches. The dark green does not detract however. I like the varied sand colors and the stone path looks appropriately gravel-ish. Nice job!

I'm glad you like the details, Legofin! They are the fun part to add at the very end, filling out the space that has been created to bring it to life. And I love the Ursula minifig as the perfect evil witch character, together with the Maleficent one too. Thanks, Blufiji! I was initially sad that I did not have the pie piece, but then I realized that I could use those pieces and make massive pies instead! More pumpkin for everyone!

The top part of the tower looks great, but I am not sold on the bottom part. It seems like it does not quite fit with the top, and the curved roof (while impressive) doesn't work with everything else being square (in my opinion). It still looks good, though, and there is much to like about it. The crenelations at the top are the highlight for me.

Wow, I hope to see some close-up pics of that build when it is ready! It looks great!

You're welcome, Blufiji. It was too good not to be included...

Good looking group! The rearranged bits of scenery are well-done and effective. My only criticism is that the light cavalry should not have longbows, as they are impossible to use from the back of a horse due to the size of the bow--only a man on foot can use them--so the smaller bows would be a better choice; and perhaps they shouldn't have armored horses, either, to allow for faster riding. But other than that, this looks great!

Looks great! The Skravenport influences are easy to see, and I do not think that this would look out of place there. It is a great little scene of departure--I think the minifigure posing is the highlight here, with the soldier saying goodbye to his son, and the woman waving farewell from the gable window. Another positive is that your highly-textured walls, a bit of a signature for you, are looking better and better as you limit the textures to just a few of the myriad options that bricks give you (using SNOTed tiles and masonry bricks but excluding the log bricks and grill bricks, for example). A bit more simplification could help even more, but they look just fine now. I have only two minor criticisms: first, that the stained glass, while a nice touch, might look a bit better moved away from the roof edge a tad so that the wood is not obscuring part of it, and second, that perhaps a thicker wall (or just a second wall behind the first) would be better so that light cannot be seen passing through it. But those are minor, and the work as a whole is lovely. Good job!