The Exetrius Saga (8): Supplies arrive!

[Exetrius]

Exetrius Saga

1: Fallen leaf

2: Message in Kyrrath

3: Equipment upgrade

4: Subjection of a legend

5: Family Dinner

6: Attack of the Hunters

7: Taking the Runestone

Episode 8: Supplies arrive!

Onicius was worn down by the negative energy that had suppressed his spirit for past weeks. For more than a month, the city had been growing more gloomy with every day that passed. The ongoing suspense for the announcement of the postponed Festival of the Ranks was getting people on edge; sparking fights in the pubs and streets with increasing frequency, as well as a growing aggression towards the Zotharith elite. Nobody knew why the festival was postponed in the first place, let alone if it was still going to happen. Meanwhile, only very few tasks were handed out, hinting that the festival could be imminent...

The big problem was: the city management was pending the arrival of supplies. The silent starting point of the troublesome events was last winter, when the Algus invaded the Mitgardia. Onicius decided upon an expedition to the North, joined by three other members of the Zotharith elite. In the end, due to rushed calculations and inefficient stocktaking, a lot of supplies were wasted during the expedition. In addition, a third of Zotharith's entire magic energy supply was depleted within seconds during the big fight in which Garufust was defeated. However, the problems arose some time after Onicius returned. While he and others were preoccupied with housing, observing and feeding the newly acquired dragon Fulminante - which was a stock-draining operation in itself - the city was slowly starting to run low on food for it's citizens. To make matters worse, the cargo carriages that had been sent to Kaliphlin to get goods in order to fix this problem turned out to have been plundered on their way back to Nocturnus, leaving Onicius as leader of Zotharith with empty hands and a head full of worries. And because all of this happened under the surface, the city was enthusiastically training for the Festival of the Ranks, thereby accelerating the consumption of food and magic energy...

Actions were required to keep the city from hitting a major crisis, within a very short time. Therefor, Onicius scaled up the operation: bigger carriages, stronger guards and the mission to acquire all goods at any price needed to revitalize the city stocks and citizens! And so, he deployed a vessel that had brought Nocturnus a tasteful meal once before, when it was part of the Touring Dragon Buffet. After he sent this second caravan to Kaliphlin, another long and anxious wait began.

At dawn, after yet another sleepless night, the third day after the expected day of return, Onicius' sorrowful stare directed once more to the valley in the west. But then, when his eyes had adjusted to the distance, he saw it: the caravan, loaded with goods, had finally returned!!

The heaviest cargo vessel of the caravan, previously used to transport a dragon during the Touring Dragon Buffet.

Loaded with grains, berries, whines, beers, salted meat, cheese, carrots and tons of other surprising goods...

... of which a secret stash of high-capacity mana crystals! I should give the one that picked all these goods a promotion, Onicius thought.

He found out that, to his great surprise, the person responsible for that was Enzan Armafur, son of late Rambar Armafur (who was involved in the Carakath operation). The young man seemed like a strong, cunning chap, who wished to become a wizard pupil in the Order of Zotharith. Onicius did not hesitate to grant Enzan admission to the Order.

As soon as the caravan had unloaded, the administration was done and the stocks had been replenished, Onicius let out a breath of relief. Now, it was finally time, to officially announce the seventh edition of the annual Festival of the Ranks!

To be continued.... in the next episode: Festival of the Ranks (part 1)

Edit: additional pictures:

With bigger wheels, as suggested by Henjin_Quilones

Hello folks, here's a new episode, I hope you enjoyed! It was harder than I thought to fill up an old build with new stuff, but it was a nice building exercise. Higher quality pictures can be found on my Flickr. C&C appreciated, as always!

Edited August 24, 2016 by Exetrius

[Henjin_Quilones]

That is a fun build. It is my first time seeing it, but it looks like it would be enjoyable to pull around on a table or something like that, with some nice playability. The cargo looks good, all properly secured with cables and ropes to prevent valuable supplies from falling off. I like the giant barrel the best, tapped for easy consumption. My only real complaint is that the wheels just look too small, especially for a vehicle that needs to travel hundreds of miles over roads of dubious condition. Some 4x4 rounds, instead of the 2x2 rounds, would look better, I think, or even 6x6 (though that would be more difficult to pull off, since I have only ever seen them in light grey and blue) to really pull off a caravan look. This seems more like a cart that would go down a street or two, as a food truck kind of thing, selling hot lunches to workers during their shifts, than like a cross-country trekker, especially with such a large, heavy-looking load and only three horses. Bigger wheels and more horses (or better yet, oxen!) would improve it in my judgement. The cart body is excellent, though, and the goods are quite, well, good!

Oh, and the story was good, too, a nice filler-piece for something more action-filled to come. I have enjoyed your saga so far; keep up the good work!

Edited August 18, 2016 by Henjin_Quilones

[TitusV]

Looks very Nice! I like the way How the wagon seems To Be fully loaded, with SO many different goods inside it!

[BrickCurve]

Great design! The style you have managed to achieve here works really well.

[Exetrius]

That is a fun build. It is my first time seeing it, but it looks like it would be enjoyable to pull around on a table or something like that, with some nice playability. The cargo looks good, all properly secured with cables and ropes to prevent valuable supplies from falling off. I like the giant barrel the best, tapped for easy consumption. My only real complaint is that the wheels just look too small, especially for a vehicle that needs to travel hundreds of miles over roads of dubious condition. Some 4x4 rounds, instead of the 2x2 rounds, would look better, I think, or even 6x6 (though that would be more difficult to pull off, since I have only ever seen them in light grey and blue) to really pull off a caravan look. This seems more like a cart that would go down a street or two, as a food truck kind of thing, selling hot lunches to workers during their shifts, than like a cross-country trekker, especially with such a large, heavy-looking load and only three horses. Bigger wheels and more horses (or better yet, oxen!) would improve it in my judgement. The cart body is excellent, though, and the goods are quite, well, good!

Oh, and the story was good, too, a nice filler-piece for something more action-filled to come. I have enjoyed your saga so far; keep up the good work!

A very great thanks for your awesome comment, Henjin! I chose more and smaller wheels because heavy cargo transporters have many wheels to spread the massive weight, which I wanted to emphasize. For the original build, it was important that it looked like a moving platform, accessible to bystanders, rather than a cart. But what you say makes a lot of sense.

Therefor, I made some adjustments (real quick):

Unfortunately, I lack some specific parts to refine the wheels and I don't have oxen, but nevertheless: it looks pretty good, doesn't it? Thank you so much for your suggestion, I had a lot of fun swapping wheels (I might post a variant on tracks later on Flickr) and it rolls much better now!

Looks very Nice! I like the way How the wagon seems To Be fully loaded, with SO many different goods inside it!

Great design! The style you have managed to achieve here works really well.

Thanks, guys!

[bricklover]

Great story, and build!

[Henjin_Quilones]

Much better! The larger wheels made a tremendous difference, I think. Too bad about those oxen, though.

I also appreciate that you added a little ladder for the driver to get up to his seat. Very thoughtful of you, considering the difficulty he would have getting there with the larger wheels.

[MassEditor]

Now that's how you transport some goods! Sweet caravan Exterius!

Although I feel bad for those overworked horses!

[en_zoo]

following along! ;)

nice idea to focus on something different from a static built. and it fits perfectly into the story.

[Henjin_Quilones]

Those horses remi

Although I feel bad for those overworked horses!

The horses remind me of the dog Max in the old animated How the Grinch Stole Christmas, pulling the giant, over-full sled of the Grinch up Mt. Crumpit...

[Exetrius]

Much better! The larger wheels made a tremendous difference, I think. Too bad about those oxen, though.

I also appreciate that you added a little ladder for the driver to get up to his seat. Very thoughtful of you, considering the difficulty he would have getting there with the larger wheels.

Now that's how you transport some goods! Sweet caravan Exterius!

Although I feel bad for those overworked horses!

following along! ;)

nice idea to focus on something different from a static built. and it fits perfectly into the story.

Thanks you! Glad you enjoyed the story.

(Don't worry about the horses, they get to tow lighter carts in the caravan every once in a while. )

[Blufiji]

Not only is this a story build, but it reminds me of the glory age of (my glory age rather) of lego castle. The transport has a great sense of play ability to it..but like it was stated above..those horses won't be around too much longer haha.

[soccerkid6]

I thought that wagon looked familiar, great repurposing! I like your hitching arrangement for the 3 horses, and the different supplies are nicely detailed

[LittleJohn]

Excellent way to re-use that wagon! It looks great here, and you did a fantastic job with all the various supplies

[Exetrius]

Not only is this a story build, but it reminds me of the glory age of (my glory age rather) of lego castle. The transport has a great sense of play ability to it..but like it was stated above..those horses won't be around too much longer haha.

I thought that wagon looked familiar, great repurposing! I like your hitching arrangement for the 3 horses, and the different supplies are nicely detailed

Excellent way to re-use that wagon! It looks great here, and you did a fantastic job with all the various supplies

Thanks a lot for the positive feedback!