[Ch. IV, Cat. B] Sir A. Liddel Studd's Story

[Kai NRG]

The wind gamboled through the trees,

Swirling through the leaves,

Tossing them around as it pleased.

That last d is silent.

But pardon me, I have yet to introduce myself.

I am Sir Akute Liddel Studd. Personally, I find the name Akute rather too bizarre for my taste, so I go by Liddel. Or, if you wish, you may call me Liddie. I sign myself Sir A. Liddel Studd. It has a nice ring to it, I think.

Well, the wind was being windy, as usual. The sun was sunny, and the grass was grassy. On the whole, it was a very nice day. A perfect day for spending a few minutes by my favorite stream and trying to see if I could make sense out of all the latest confusing happenings.

It was weird. This giant island had just popped up out of nowhere. Literally! No one, except those musty old Petraea University doctors, even knew it existed until just days ago. Then, on the other side of Kaliphlin, this half-cracked nut strutted around and called himself the Desert King. The High Council didn’t seem to know what to make of it all. I was in the same boat. Everything was very strange.

Meanwhile, I had to choose a side.

Well, that wasn’t completely true. Of course, I could just stay neutral. But I didn’t want to stay neutral. There was going to be a war and I wanted to be in on it! Besides, I had a hunch – a strange sixth sense. Maybe there was more to this island then just a bunch of ancient historical tales.

And more than that, it wasn’t reasonable for the High Council to treat the islanders – Ulanders or Ulandians, they called themselves – with such contempt, peremptorily refusing to recognize their part in Kaliphlin’s government system.

And it certainly wasn’t reasonable for the self-proclaimed Desert King to expect us all to bow to him now.

But so what? Who cared what was reasonable for the Desert King and the High Council? What was reasonable for me?

There were really two options. Follow what my judgement told me would be the logical thing – keeping Kaliphlin the same as it had always been, with the High Council – or, throw reason to the wind and follow my gut.

What good is reason?

I followed my gut.

* * *

So that was how I got from a peaceful stream to an overhanging rock in the middle of the ocean, in training, fighting against mock mummies for the security of Ulandus.

And not just that. I was at the important battle in the Witherwoods – or somewhere like that, I never was any good at place names. You may have read my dispatch. Ageven never did get me to understand how it got leaked, but somehow it did.

Well, we won that battle. I’m right glad to think I had something to do with it.

But… we lost most of the other battles. Even ones I was present at.

We lost the battle to take over the sands of Kaliphlin.

We lost the battle to keep dragons away from the southlands.

We lost the battle to make a bubbling swamp into a recreational oasis.

We lost the battle to keep our capital.

And we really lost the battle to take over Kaliphlin’s capital, Petraea. I blame that on the fact that Ageven couldn’t remember my name. And on the fact that Maxersine – or Dratiphe, I’m not sure which one – messed up on the date of the battle. It’s a good thing I make a point of being early!

But we didn’t give up! Not us! We manufactured this elaborate plan to sneak into the Desert King’s capital and kill off the highest official we could find.

With our track record though, the result shouldn’t come as much of a surprise.

We lost.

And I started to think that my gut had been more or less totally wrong this time.

* * *

Still, just because we lost all those battles didn’t mean we had lost the fight. And it didn’t mean that all my hopes were back in the same place Ulandus had been before it rose from the ocean.

But before we get into that, I should probably explain what my hopes were.

* * *

The fact is, I had a brother. Oh, I know, that doesn’t sound so impressive. But my brother was far older than I, fifteen years older in fact. I never knew my parents, and it was my brother who raised me until I was ten. He was a bit of a harum-scarum sort of youngster. At first, he was just playing pranks on everyone and everything, but gradually he became more and more adventurous. Early on, he would drag me around with him. To say truth, I rather enjoyed that.

Once we spent a few days roaming around the Salt Sea.

Then, another time we dropped by the Island of Gorr.

Those were the good days.

But then my brother decided that this was no life for a youngster. He wanted me to settle down, he said. Personally, I thought it was already too late. But I was left with a large family that had been friends of my parents. My brother went off on his own.

I enjoyed my life there, it’s true. They were kind to me, and I was allowed to ramble around the countryside, as long as I was back in time for supper. I remember once when I got so excited exploring some ruins that I didn’t get back to my adopted parents until bedtime. Fortunately it was summer and still fairly light. But I sure caught it that time!

Every so often my brother would come back, full of adventurous, exciting tales of his travels. I burned to be older and able to roam around like him.

But one time, he didn’t come back. I waited. And waited. I must have driven everyone around me nuts by my importunate questions.

One day, a passing merchant informed me that he had met my brother near what is now Auner. He was about to embark on a voyage to the “deep south,” the merchant said. He had tried to dissuade him – unsuccessfully of course. That was all I ever heard.

Years later, when the threat of war became imminent, I told my adopted parents of my plans to fight for Ulandus. They shook their heads, but let me go.

I had a bigger reason for fighting for Ulandus than just a desire to be in on it and to stick up for the underdog. I had a weird feeling that somehow, this island would provide a clue. Why had my brother disappeared? Where had he gone?

At the outset, my inquiries weren’t very helpful. Thanks to the introduction provided by Ageven Deraim, the First Centurion did interest himself a bit on my behalf, but no one seemed to know what had happened. So I gave up the quest – for the time being – and went on my way to fight Ulandus’ battles.

* * *

Well, as I’ve already stated, we pretty well lost the first campaign. And things weren’t shaping up too well for the next three. For the matter of that, I had pretty well lost my brother’s scent. And things weren’t looking good about getting it back!

But in the interim, and despite the Desert King hordes, I did a little poking around. I discovered that, in fact, my brother had taken a voyage to the south. And I discovered that the ship he had voyaged in had never returned. Not only that, but a ship that answered pretty closely to the description I had was found wrecked on the Ulandian coastline, near the brand new Serpent’s Crawl. But there my information ended. No one seemed to know of any survivors. In fact, one of the peasants nearby assured me that he had visited the wreck the very day it arrived and had counted out 24 bodies, which had been buried the next day. In fact, I could still see the 24 little mounds.

But there had been 25 people on the ship. What were the odds that the missing one was still alive? And what were the odds that he was my brother?

In any case, obviously the best place to look was right around the wreck. So I started there, and gradually expanded my search, until I had visited every house within a three day’s walk. Nothing. No one knew of any shipwrecked voyager that had passed that way three years before the crawl was lifted.

One day, dispirited, I walked along the crawl itself. Suddenly a deceptively secure looking patch of moss gave way. I found myself tumbling down the steep, muddy banks, clutching anything that looked like it might offer a handhold, rolling down with gathering speed, like a snowball. Only I think I looked more like a mud ball.

I landed splat in a pool of water. I wiped the mud and leaves out of my face and looked around. Right in front of me I spotted a rather dirty and disheveled individual. To say truth, at first I mistook it for my reflection. I dare say that was about what I looked like at the moment.

Before we go any farther, I may as well as put you out of suspense at once. It was not my brother.

And I should also mention that, back in Xerxia, the capital, the victory parades were being celebrated – rather prematurely, I thought. But then, if you’re doomed to lose, you may as well as have the victory party first. You won’t get much of a chance to later!

Besides the customary pageants and finery and whatnot, they were also going to honor some nincompoop who had spent three years on a super-secret underground task and finally discovered the key to raising the Serpent’s Crawl.

All that was part of the reason I hadn’t had trouble getting permission to poke around down here.

Anyhow. To return. Naturally, I asked this man the same thing that I had been asking everyone I saw for the past three days. “Did you see a sailorly looking young man with blondish hair, kind of like my own, and dark eyes – also kind of like my own – in or around this area, about this time four years ago, having just been shipwrecked and being the sole survivor of a crew of 25 – 24 of whom lie buried near their ship yonder – and who had just come from Kaliphlin’s mainland?” (The first few times I had just said, Kaliphlin, and nearly got ducked into the ocean for it. These Ulandians are very staunch on their identity as Kaliphlinians!)

To which most people replied, “Would you be so kind as to repeat that?”

This particular individual was no different.

After I went over it two or three times, he said that unless I was talking about the nincompoop who had raised the Serpent’s Crawl, he hadn’t seen anyone. I made some sort of disagreeable navel sound and prepared to climb back up.

Suddenly I stopped. It was like a brick hit me on the head.

Maybe this nincompoop – er, hero – was my brother!

Well, there’s no use dragging it out. He was.

So, despite my complete dislike of camels, I rushed back to Xerxia.

And we – well, I wish I could say that we lived happily ever after, but we’re not dead yet. So I don’t know.

For what it’s worth, so far, so good!

The builds under spoilers are the ones that were also category C entries. 7 of them, and 7 other builds. I'm afraid the size doesn't quite match up in some cases but I was rather running out of time there toward the end!

Comments are welcome! If you read the whole story - I'll give you a round of applause!

[LittleJohn]

Great group of builds! I love the one with the camel kicking up the dust

[TitusV]

Well done, Nice builds!

[Blufiji]

Solid group of builds put into a nice montage.

[Garmadon]

Awesome series of builds Kai, there is some very nice landscaping throughout, and as LJ mentioned, the camel's pose and the dust is great! I really like the last one as well, the golden floor and the diamonds lying around give a very rich feel to it!

[MiloNelsiano]

Great series of builds. Making small simple builds look as nice as you have is not as easy as some may think. Oh, and the name Liddel Studd made me laugh for a while!

[Kai NRG]

Thank you guys!

Great group of builds! I love the one with the camel kicking up the dust

I think that was one of my favorites as well!

Thanks!

Great series of builds. Making small simple builds look as nice as you have is not as easy as some may think. Oh, and the name Liddel Studd made me laugh for a while!

It's sort of a spin off Ska's Sir Brickalot. Since he said we couldn't actually name our character Sir Brickalot, I tried to see how close I could get...

Thanks!

[soccerkid6]

I read the whole story, well written it was too (per usual). Good series of builds, like LJ, I particularly like the road/camel build, mostly for the neat irregular base and sand layering

Though the trees on the shore build are cool too

[Captain Dee]

Very good story! The name is clever to start with and he/you tell a pretty good tale. "The grass was grassy", "What good is reason?", "Would you be so kind as to repeat that?" - just a few of the witty remarks that keep it interesting. The new scenes, while small, do their part to add to the tale. The island scene is a lovely and relaxing setting. I like the muddy scene and the galloping camel looks nice. The final scene is a good, shiny, rich way to wrap it up. Good work.

[Kai NRG]

I read the whole story, well written it was too (per usual). Good series of builds, like LJ, I particularly like the road/camel build, mostly for the neat irregular base and sand layering

Though the trees on the shore build are cool too

Thanks SK! Glad you noticed my trees, I think I'm going to get some good use out of those new colored leaves I just got!

Very good story! The name is clever to start with and he/you tell a pretty good tale. "The grass was grassy", "What good is reason?", "Would you be so kind as to repeat that?" - just a few of the witty remarks that keep it interesting. The new scenes, while small, do their part to add to the tale. The island scene is a lovely and relaxing setting. I like the muddy scene and the galloping camel looks nice. The final scene is a good, shiny, rich way to wrap it up. Good work.

Thank you Captain Dee!

[Balbo]

Very nice story and creations! I like the different techniques in there, for instance the rockwork and how you made the base

[Full Plate]

Very nice collection of builds! The use of the mirror for still water is genius, and the fight on the rock formation is really well done. Great job!

[Captain Braunsfeld]

Thanks for the applause, I have read the full story and I like it

A lot of new small builds, each with its own highlight (e.g. how Liddie is looking out of the pool of water or the bubbles in the water by the island of Gorr.

[Kai NRG]

Very nice story and creations! I like the different techniques in there, for instance the rockwork and how you made the base

Thanks Balbo! Generally when I do a series of vigs I try to make the bases in different styles!

Very nice collection of builds! The use of the mirror for still water is genius, and the fight on the rock formation is really well done. Great job!

Thanks! Mirrors are awesome!

Thanks for the applause, I have read the full story and I like it

A lot of new small builds, each with its own highlight (e.g. how Liddie is looking out of the pool of water or the bubbles in the water by the island of Gorr.

again!

Thank you!

[MassEditor]

Fantastic builds and story Kai, definitely my favorite for Cat. B! All these builds look phenomenal together like this. Love the new and old builds here, especially the training scene on the rocks and the use of the mirror in the first build. I always enjoy your supremely creative builds. Hate to admit I did not notice Liddel present in so many of your Cat. C builds but it was a lot of fun to pick him out in each one. Really great touch there, was that something you had in mind the entire time?

I also really enjoyed the story and how it wrapped around the overall events of Cat. C. Glad to see the brothers were reunited in the end!

[Kai NRG]

Fantastic builds and story Kai, definitely my favorite for Cat. B! All these builds look phenomenal together like this. Love the new and old builds here, especially the training scene on the rocks and the use of the mirror in the first build. I always enjoy your supremely creative builds. Hate to admit I did not notice Liddel present in so many of your Cat. C builds but it was a lot of fun to pick him out in each one. Really great touch there, was that something you had in mind the entire time?

I also really enjoyed the story and how it wrapped around the overall events of Cat. C. Glad to see the brothers were reunited in the end!

Thank you! Yes, I did have Studd planned from practically the beginning although I didn't have the story arc idea until I wrote the dispatch and I didn't actually finalize that until long after Category C ended! While it went on though, I just sort of randomly threw him in builds where either I needed as many figs as possible or I though the build was really good. I was almost positive he was in my Inn build (which I think was one of my best all challenge!) but he must have fallen out during transportation or something!

I'll admit that several times I rather regretted my hasty reference to a brother in the dispatch. It took a good deal of brainstorming to get them back together!