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hahaha I was like 'what's with the capital letters and everything..?', then read the intro and laughed big time Nice little build, many of those parts I had never seen before (and the central one is only one big thing? )! Also, good to see some more on Varlyrian gnomes - keep it coming!

this!

Oh my! The upside-down boat is excellent and I love the overall look - simple and effective, neat and elegant; exactly what you'd expect from a well-known tavern. Lovely details all around, on the balcony, on the docks, the boats, the interior, the figs.. and those roofs! Nice lore to go with it as well (Scarlet Marauders, uh? ...). I thought I recognised that fisherman so I went and checked: it's him! Brickshelf link won't work? Waiting for Flickr. 'Soft Avalonian tendencies' cracks me up Awesome job!!!

oh that means some Nocty stuff?? I would be awesome! ... or have you changed guild while I wasn't around? Oh so you knew it! With your question there, I thought you didn't know about it... Thank you, RA - good to hear from you!

Oh man, this is even better than the armory I love the details all around and I think you nailed the lighting - how did you lighten the fireplace? Light brick or? I also really enjoy how this integrates the armory and the whole story of the de Fiori's family. Pity to hear that this will be it for a while... ?

Awesome job here, really neat! I love all the details and the lady kneeling down (with a skirt) is really well done! And can I ask which part are those kind of arrows in the barrel (metallic colour) - I can't find them by myself..

Oh my! I really like this one! Love the idea of gnomes doing business, very well executed too. Can't wait for the story to come! Also, I didn't know you were keeping the previous builds there to update the city as you go - that's awesome!

Nice job! Caliphinian style in Varlyrio or? Really neat, well done

Nice work! You could try a different technique for the roof, the cobblestone looks very good instead! The best part is the story - well written and nice sequel to your previous one (you might wanna link the previous 'episode', to make it easier for people to follow the whole story) and can't wait to see where this goes!

nice job. micro sclae + forced perspectie isn't always easy - that's actually something I tried and didn't quite succed with. It seems you managed much better One thing: I went and check if there were other posts from you about yur charachters, but coudn't find any - is that so? I'm asking because, for next time, it might be better to introduce them in a different post to avoid the explanations in brackets; that way will the story flow better, imo

Oh man, I'm totally in love with that vig! the rounded entrance, then those stairs to the door! overall really neat, some simple and very nice details, love the ground too. Oh and I wasn't around in August, so I didn't know you too had your Varlyrian family - looks intriguing, keep it on!

thanks McC, I'll keep in mind! Thank Bas, glad you like the water - I wasn't too sure I managed to make it looks like it was flowing forward. And yes, as I mentioned, waiting for January to see if I can get the lighting to work even better.. can't wait really Hey, good to hear from you, Ex! I'm afraid that's the extent of my grass stalks in olive green, but good to know you appreciate the water as well as that SNOTted part - good point about the other side actually, it didn't occur to me! Glad you enjoyed the story too - speaking of which, haven't read about your 39th mage for a while... would love to! Thank you, Muakhah, I'm glad you're reading the story along! You can't imagine how relieved I am to have got the water flowing back, for the sake of the town - I've wanted to do that for ages! So, there was this cartoon that came out a while back called 'Avatar, the Last Airbender' - ever heard? If you check it out long enough, you'll see earthbenders too and you'll get the idea I had in mind for this build right away. [the cartoon it's also kind of fantasy and it inspired things like this - just a quick example. There were also a couple of original LEGO sets with this theme, though unfortunately not very good ones IMO..] If you do check it out, do let me know!

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

another nice build for your city! really neat. I particularly like the portico in front of the entrance as for your doubts about the snow, I think you're doing pretty well overall. To be precise: what could be better is the tree - the white leaves should be at the top (simple snow fall) or maybe at the side if a storm had raged, but not at the bottom. The rest of the snow is well done on the roof as well as on the ground (given all the activity and the hence the fact that it's partially melted), but I think you've nailed it close to the little wall on the left hand side, I really like it there! I also love the figs

nice build! I'd personally avoid the round tiles/plates sticking out on the wall and use them within it, instead of the bigger round bricks - but that's just my taste. What's really a pity, is that the tree is at the back! It looks good, but I can't see it very well. Intriguing story! can't wait to see where this goes - keep it up!

Yessss! This is awesome! I'm at my parents now till end of the month = no bricks I cannot promise, but I should have some time in January to build it up - hopefully this time I'll manage with the deadline, it'd be the 1st time! Whatevere the case, well done everyone with the preludes and organisation, I love it! @Rogue Angel@Henjin_Quilones@Kai NRG@soccerkid6

Nice job here, RA! I really like the colorful houses (they remind me of my homeland, softspot.. ). Bets thing is how you got those scenes going and how they depict life in Illaryian. I'd be curious to see a full-build shot. Nice to see the Book advancing, too. Oh, and I love the fig heads you chose

oh my! You nailed the sunlight effect! And such elegant loggias in Druidham! I also love that tree trunk (while I do have a gut feeling, I can't actually figure out what's keeping it up..). The shots from inside the loggia must be my fav Awesome to see all of the preludes after your representation of the queen's council, btw. Well done

Well I didn't say 'I don't like them'.. no, seriously - that's a good lesson you have there for me - I've always prioritised fig-scaled builds... Uhhm, my eye (and mind) might not be ripe enough yet, but thanks for pointing it out, it'll be food for thought!

awesome job, SK! Love the atmosphere as a whole. I've never thought of separating the two main browns into actual sections - good choice. I also like the idea of that kind of step coming up to the walls. Finally, really nice to read your story!

really nice, love all the merchandise as well as the story itself, with everyone chiming in. Though my fav must be the merchant's assistant appearing from behind it - awesome shot, made me laugh!

haha yes, I didn't want the dialog to be too long , but thank, J., good to hear about the water effect - I wasn't quite that convinced. Good point about the missing tiles, I'll have to keep it in mind for next time.

Love the trees as well as the atmosphere. Really like the idea of a group of minotaurs too

Nice shot, lovely vegetation! Nice to hear more lore about Varlyrio and, mainly, really intriguing story! Keep it coming!

Previously Laesonar's Saga Episode 9 - Much Needed Water Fine water particles tickled Laesonar's nose as he stared at the waterfall flowing down the abyss below him. The ground underneath the riverbed had opened, creating a gorge that was swallowing up all of the water from the river. To Laesonar's left, after the gorge, the former riverbed, now completely dried up. To his right, at his side, Armin was adjusting his cloak on his shoulders. He turned towards Laesonar as the half-elf spoke to him. "So, master Paladin, why are we looking at this?" Armin wasn't too sure whether that question was ironic. "We wanted to investigate why the river stopped flowing into the lake, remember?" "Oh right. Right." The paladin smiled and huddled up in his cloak, observing the waterfall. "This is weird enough, as they told us. It really doesn't seem the result of a normal earthquake and..." He gave a start, as the half-elf at his side suddenly screamed. "You can come out of those bushes, old man, we know you're there!" Armin turned around and looked where his mate was looking. An old man, indeed, with a weird gaze, came out of some bushes, on the other side of the riverbed. The man looked fixedly at Laesonar, who stared back at him. Armin was confused. "Laesonar, what..." They kept looking at each other's eyes, intensely. Armin noticed and fell silent. After a while, the old man moved his arms and the ground trembled. The earth shook violently and Armin struggled to keep his balance as new soil surfaced, completely filling up the gorge where the water was disappearing into. In the blink of an eye, the river started to flow back into its original riverbed. The old man then turned on his feet and peacefully walked away. Rather perplexed, the two warriors watched him disappearing into the bushes. Armin looked at the half-elf, longing for an explanation. "He is an earth-bender." "A... what?" "Well, some sort of wizard, he said." "He said? When?!" "I heard his voice in my mind." "......" Armin was speechless. He wanted to ask whether... "Well that was easy enough, master Paladin. Let us return to Laelariel, shall we?" Laesonar moved and turned back. Still a little confused, Armin smiled, then joined him on the way home. Full build ---> Next Episode -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hello everyone ^^ I guess I went a bit ambitious here, as I wanted to portrait a very particular moment and I'm afraid one cannot quite get what's going on, unless they read the story.. Oh well, I wanted to build this for aaages! Let the water finally flow back to Laelariel and Lake Laendir! One thing I do regret, is that I wanted that river to be much bigger, to be consistent with the Avalonian map.. unfortunately that's the extent of my trans-clear 1x1 round as well as 1x2 plates.. I also wanted to try out this type of palette, which I initially chosed because I wanted to use light yellow in the river bed to simulate a sand - turned out, it didn't look that good on RB, so I took it off Finally, I wanted to try my hand for the first time at a snotted base, mixed with stud-up plates, on the right hand side - I'm kind of pleased with how it turned out, though I've got a long way to go. As for photography... oh well... No seriously, this is the first attempt at following @Basiliscus's advice, who is patiently baby-sitting me (luv ya mate!) - I started with lowering the ISO and found out I need better lamps, which will hopefully come in January. So that's the best I could get for now and it's still grainy when zooming in as well as a bit blurred here and there... BUT I promise I'm working on it! Actually, just to try and prove this to @Henjin_Quilones and for everyone else to have a laugh and/or go for a facepalm, I've decided to include a pic (spoiler below) of my upside-down room during the pics-taking phase All C&C most welcome as usual - thanks for reading!