Eyrezer

First of all, I have to say I am delighted to have the Motus mentioned as part of the scene-setting! Thrilled! I think the sunset scene is beautifully done, with mostly clean lines for the balcony colonnade. The minifigs are well done. Is that 5 of the LOTR ring in that headpiece?? The story nicely moves along the conspiracy too. I confess I found some of the Italian hard to follow if it’s English equivalent wasn’t immediately obvious - but that speaks to my lack of understanding of the Romantic languages than anything else!

Am I right in thinking the abacus uses “the One Ring” but recoloured?

Does the portal lead to here, I wonder? 🤔

Thanks @Grover, the comments on the photography in particular are helpful. I’m facing a similar issue with my Ancient Wonders build in that I don’t have a large enough space for a “clean” pic. I might try an outdoors pic, which I’ve seen others use well. Yes the side builds were fun. You can’t quite make it out but the initial pic of Anton fishing uses a woman’s hairpiece only for it to become the were-beast in the second. I plan to keep the groot tree so may have a go at improving it. The model joints enable more natural curves but do mean it’s quite bulky… The stag cavalry too cool not to see re-emerge 😁 Thanks @LordDan. The grent Kawa now has his own build too for my small build in the ancient wonders category. Another large tree-man features too! Thanks @mrcp6d! Me too! It wasn’t actually part of the initial concept of the fisherman’s hut but when I thought to add a tree it seemed too good an opportunity to pass up. That idea then influenced the story significantly as I’m sure you can imagine.

Just googled tiefling as it wasn’t a word I was familiar with. That head piece works perfectly! Now I want to get one even more!

The build: The story: The life of a fungus herder could be a lonely one. Most mushrooms were skittish creatures preferring the quietness of the deep forest and the solitude of their own kind. Too much sunlight, noise or disturbance and they grew slowly or not at all. For this reason, fungus herders were often quiet, introspected folk. Some of the most renowned fungus herders in all Historica were the tree-folk of the Enchanted Forest. Tree-folk were often reclusive themselves, sometimes living out their entire lives in the same valley or grove. Their introspective nature enabled the tree-folk to discover the magic of fungi – both metaphorical and mystical: the phosphorescence of gilled Pixie chalices; the healing power of Witches’ Steeples; or the purifying abilities of Spotted Purple Caps, capable of negating evil rot incantations. Of all the tree-folk sub-races in Historica, the best fungus herders came from the grent sub-race. Although few grent would admit it to outsiders, part of the secret to their success was that they could form symbiotic relationships with many fungi. Tiny fungal hyphae would wrap around grent roots and even penetrate the root interior. The fungus provided its grent partner with minerals in exchange for nutrients and other chemicals the fungus needed but could not produce itself. This skill enabled the grent to intimately monitor the health of their herds and encourage spore growth. Even grent, however, sometimes needed help propagating their fungal herds. In a grove within the Enchanted Forest, stood three ancient standing stones. Twice the height of a man, these stones stood in a slight semi-circle. For most of the year they stood grey and largely unadorned; not even moss or lichen marred the surfaces. At the autumnal equinox, however, faint traces of purple and silver runes appeared carved into the rockwork, hinting at a long-forgotten magical purpose. Uncovering one – likely incidental – use for this magic, the tree-folk had repurposed the standing stones for the annual, highly anticipated fungal swap meet. Grents, other tree-folk and the occasional wild dryad would herd their finest fungal specimens across the forests to this one grove. Under a full moon, the magic of the standing stones would ripen the fungal spores, which spawned in vast multi-coloured clouds. The air seemed almost to sparkle as moonbeams fell on clouds of spores. The normally solitary tree-folk were affected by the occasion too, becoming almost giddy. They swapped stories and news; traded fungal specimens; and, on occasion, frisky grents even coupled to propagate baby grent saplings. This particular year, the first to arrive at the standing stones were a small group of grent. There was Ngaio, herding a troop of sharply-pointed Witches’ Steeples; the juvenile sapling Mahoe attending his first meet and showcasing some tiny puffballs, most still waiting for their pinks caps to erupt; and Kawa, corralling a mixed herd of Firecracker white caps and Sour Buttons. They were all good samples and likely to generate plenty of interest when the trading began in earnest. All focus, however, was on Kauri, or more specifically the magnificent specimen he was showing off. ‹Is that an Ogre’s Eye? I didn’t think there were any left!› said Kawa. ‹Is that actually up for trade?› asked Ngaio. ‹I’ll give you all my puffballs› added Mahoe. The Ogre’s Eye was a rare mushroom that was pale green in colour and with a large black spot on its crown. From above it resembled a large eye, hence its common name. While striking in appearance, this was not the reason it was causing a stir. The Ogre’s Eye was bioluminescent and soaked through with magic. It was an ingredient in many potions and highly sought after by elves, mages and even Nocturnan necromancers. Kauri let their excitement wash over him before responding. ‹Hah, no way! I’ve already got a buyer lined up in Cedrica. This one is just for show - I've already removed all its spores. I thought you’d like a look before I make my fortune.› Kawa looked away to hide his disgust. This was a classic move by Kauri, who loved showing off but also proved damn successful at almost everything he tried. Kawa moved off to inspect Ngaio’s troop, refusing to give Kauri any more attention. Tiny Mahoe, however, was clearly impressed, shuffling up for a closer look. Thankfully the moment didn’t last long, with another arrival. A hulking tree-man shuffled into the standing stones glade, preceded by a collection of red and white capped -shrooms. ‹Baob, you’ve really packed on the rings› said Ngaio in greeting. ‹You look like you’re ready to go to seed!› When tree-folk reached a certain age, they gave up their mobility to put down roots. ‹True, I am. This will be my last swap and I’m giving away all my troops in preparation.” Baob was a different sub-race from the grents, a much stockier group known as mallowmen. Three large trunks grew from his hunched back curving outward in gentle lines. The offer of free mushrooms was enough to entice tiny Mahoe to the newcomer. ‹What is it with everyone going to seed all of a sudden? First Rimurapa, now you› interjected Kauri, shifting his specimen in a transparent attempt to restore attention to him. ‹Rimu’s gone to seed?› said Kawa in shock. He’d always been close to that particular grent and it came as a surprise to hear the wizened mentor had settled down without letting him know. ‹Yes, over by the Notomys’s coast› Kauri preened delivering the news to his rival. He’d intended to wait until there was more of a crowd before doing so, in order to embarrass Kawa in front of more kin. Hearing that development, Kawa immediately lost interest in the swap meet. While he needed to stay to revitalise his herds, he resolved to visit his old friend as soon as he the meet wrapped up. He wanted to perform the fungal exchange rituals known to ease the transition to a sedentary state – and find out what had caused his friend to seed years earlier than expected. The herders and their herds: From left to right: Kauri - the Ogre’s Eye; Kawa - Firecracker white caps, Sour buttons; Mahoe - pink cap puffballs (mature and immature); Ngaio - Witches’ Steeples; Baob - red-capped toadstools, pink-spotted boletes, red hard-caps Build notes: Comments and constructive criticism welcome!

Okay wow! With that opening video clip, this is now my favourite entry for this challenge!! Love it!!

Beautiful build and picture. Glad to see you repurposed it for GOH.

Nice socialbricks, I read the whole thing! It's an interesting group of companions. I will look forward to following their efforts against the Crimson Knives. By the way, are you familiar with the Star Wars comic Crimson Empire? I was remined of it by the name and the use of the SW helmets for your antagonists. I also like the way you are making significant use of your CMF for this story (or maybe it actually the other way around given the time you've been planning!) Where is Arya's top from?

Nice save 😂

This is special Aurore! Can’t imagine the trial and error to get the plumage right, but it has definitely paid off. Even the plumes of the cheeks are spot on. The swoop/curve of the wings around the platform is really organic, too. I especially like that shot where the blue sprite is visible out of focus in the background. Perfect use of the heart decorated 1x1 round brick. 😁 One minor criticism, I felt the background image from Autumn of the Hudson didn’t really match the text. It sounds like the build is within a forest glade/undergrowth. But that doesn’t go to the build itself.

Great series! I like the use of the hockey mask for the stone carver. I have a couple of totems of that in a Pasifika-inspired build in my city. Works really well. I like the orc farmer too. Nice to defy the stereotypes. I assume that torso is a reversed piece. Where is it from?

That poor fugitive goblin! There seems to be a real mushroom theme going around this challenge… I wouldn’t want to meet the berserker in a dark alley. Overall my favourite is the Queen of the Sewers.

Really nice build. I like the colour accents to balance the grey base colour and the 45 degree door. Cool bell too.

Beautiful collection and imagery! As I said elsewhere, it inspired me to keep improving mine. I love the dryad base. I need to get some of those. And the hand piece blends in really well. What is the minifig head piece held by Hatto? The embalmer is great and all the accessories are top-notch!

Nice series Kai. That poor soft-hearted Avalonian hunter! I like the rig for the astronomer and the brick build dragon. Overall my favourite is the pottery master. She’s wearing a Ninjago outfit, right?

Nice series, Bard! I like the halfling pipe. Is that a screwdriver used as the handle? My favourite is the Lizardman priest. I’m curious - what part have you used for the column behind him? Second favourite is the Lionman.

Thanks @LordDan, I understand what you mean. I think I was too focused on establishing some new races! I also liked Sofia and Gorki, so much that I built them a home and backstory:

Welcome to Avalonia! I can now see your picture of Walt, so that seems to be working. What a diligent water boy.

I’m slowly working my way through older threads/builds. It goes without saying, incredible set of builds that combine excellently. I love the idea of the centaur home. I’m curious, did you build an interior and does it have ramps for them to get upstairs?? Nice to see the front building off the grid too.

Thanks @Louis of Nutwood, quite the elevation!

Thanks @Kai NRG. As I’m new to GOH, my CMF are my only characters so far. I’m also keen to get my settlement to official “hamlet” status so I’m going to focus there for a bit laying the seeds for a story to develop. 😊 I came to the conclusion that a couple more nets worth of water would be needed to get the up-and-down undulations of waves, but I don’t have that many in my collection! Maybe in the future…

Nice collection! I really like that stumpy mushroom (best seen on your website). I’ll have to try that! I think the gnome tinkerer is a cute idea too. Good variety of torsos - I assume that is Minecraft for your goblin, no?

What they said! Spotted the clever bases first as indicator of guild. The ice cutter is great as the pincers work perfectly on the ice block. I also like the centaur farrier - I’ve recently got sucked down the rabbit hole of YouTube horse shoeing videos so this is timely 😂 Great by-line too.