[SoNE Ep XV] - Sewers - In through the out flow

[LucasLaughing]

Spoiler

This was supposed to have a few freebuilds setting up the story, but there wasn't time to finish them so they'll be up in the next few weeks.  The title, of course, is a play on the Led Zeppelin album "In through the out door"  Title runner up: Everybody's poops.

Coruscant.

Sub-level 19.  Pump station FK-523b.  An osik place for guard duty.  The pair of Black Sun goons with hand torches shine them nervously back and forth, trying to push back as much of the darkness as possible.  They know someone’s coming for them.

They’re expecting rebels, maybe pathfinders, so they’ve got full coverage of the two service walkways leading up to the pump station.  

They can almost be forgiven for overlooking the discharge pipe which empties out 12 meters above them.  Especially considering that the pipe’s next closest opening is six kilometers away.  That’s right, six kriffing kilometers through a pipe almost, but not quite, big enough to stand upright in, knee deep in osik all the way. 

Arjun's operating our probe remotely.  He's had it hugging one of the hot water pipes, to make sure it doesn’t get picked up by the guards’ thermal sights.  

I project its display onto my helmet’s HUD to make sure  the targets haven’t moved too far, check my rappelling line one last time, and signal to Kom’rk that I’m  ready.

Maze drops a stun-grenade down the hole and, for the Black Sun guards below, the darkest night becomes blindingly bright and the sound of rushing sewage is drowned out by an incredibly loud explosion.

Note: the remaining images have been light-enhanced for clarity.

One one-thousand.

As soon as I hear the explosion I drop, firing straight down.  Somewhere behind me, the heavy gunner blindly opens fire.  

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

Two one-thousand.

I've rhapsodized before about the beauty of stun grenades. The rodian and the nikto are going to be blind and deaf for at least a few more seconds, but the gunner’s NVGs should recover pretty fast.

My feet hit the walkway as the heavy gunner tries to bring his weapon to bear.

Three one-thousand.

Even though I’m expecting the second stun-grenade, there’s still a moment of fear when my vision whites out completely.  Keeping a firm grip on the rail, I make my way toward the ladder as my teammates drop down like avenging angels of death.

A burst from Kom’rk’s Deece-17 takes care of the heavy gunner and his assistant, and Maze’s slug-thrower … well, it’s extremely effective at close range.

My optics reset in the few seconds it takes my teammates to descend, and I stop the rodian’s panicked flight with a quick burst of weaponized light.

“Arjun, where’d the lizard go?”

"Moving the probe - stand by."

I'm already starting up the ladder.  The service entrance to Xizor's palace is just half a klick further - plenty of places for the missing trandoshan to hide in the dark, but the dark is my ally too.  The lizard's already dead, it just doesn't know it yet.

Kom'rk puts out the comm call.

"Shadow 2-1 to Shadow Actual.  Pump station has been neutralized, proceeding into the palace."

"Solid  copy 2-1.  Good hunting."

Spoiler

 

Thanks for viewing!  Full size pics are on my flickr.

Overall build:

Behind the scenes / progress shots:

Spoiler

 

 

One thing that's kind of disappointing about the final build, is that I don't think it portrays the scale as well as this initial shot with just the empty pipe.  But, I decided empty pipe was too boring, so ...

 

 

 

Edited June 4, 2017 by LucasLaughing

[VaderFan2187]

Mighty impressive. Let's win this!

Go Imperials!

[Tariq j]

Awesome build! I love the way you've used train track to create the arch. 

[Professor Thaum]

Just amazing built !!

[Merc4Hire]

Really outstanding build! Loving the scale of the entire pipe and the sewage water. Not to mention the other pipes and platform. Fantastic stuff man

[Commander Beltar]

 Awesome build! The lighting really gives it a nice feel, you also got some great action shots! And the build itself- it's phenomenal. 

[Ryn]

Wow, I am beyond impressed with this build! You've really managed to capture the essence of the sewers here. I have no complaints whatsoever.

[Kodan Black]

That is enormous. I can't even imagine doing a build on that scale! Looks right out of a movie. Some really great photos and photo editing. I liked how you built stuff coming out of the various pipes also, really gives it that extra level of detail. Amazing.

[mediumsnowman]

Amazing work, everything is spot on. The lighting really brings out the details in the crumbling bridge and variations in the walls. I'd love to see this repurposed into a Batman MOC for this guy!

My only gripes are that the tiled sewage in the front right looks out of place next to the incredible detailing and swirling of the rest of it, though I suppose it doesn't matter since you can only see it in the spoiler shots. And that back wall isn't Lego!!

All jokes aside, this really is an incredible build.  

[Cody Startale]

As always, an outstanding build. I think I am most impressed by using the rail tracks as a base for the round shape, that alone sets it apart from like 90% of all builds that use more conventional shapes. I also really dig that probe droid, it's a simple, tiny and clever build and the unusually light color scheme sets it apart from your usual probes.

 

The photography and setup with light, etc., are superb as well and make it really enjoyable to look through your images. If I were to voice any criticism at all, it would be that the sewer water itself used too many studs. The whirly color shape is a brilliant touch and I wonder if it wouldn't benefit the build if a layer of studless trans-tiles were on top of it, so that the color is retained. But nevertheless, a fantastic job and sure to score some serious points for the Empire, which would be the only thing that I cannot feel too much joy about. ;)

[MKJoshA]

That is a very impressive looking sewer. Great work on the color changes of the muck and I love your sewer pipes!

[Evolved Turtle]

Dang... I couldn't imagine designing and building this in the amount of time we had... fantastic job!