[Freebuild] Embervale Castle - Elvish Crypt (Chronicles of Embervale Ep.04)

[Aurore]

THE BUILD

 

THE STORY

Previously, on the Chronicles of Embervale:
Alrune met an old friend who passed her an order from her mother. Tasked to retrieve the embalmed heart of an ancient hero, she eventually got qualms of conscience and refused to comply.

Chronicles of Embervale Ep.05 - A Wail in the Night

Featuring…
Alrune                  The Lady of Embervale, mage
Evrart                   The captain of her guards
Grog                     A goblin guard
Seisiri                   An unwelcome visitor

“Sir, Sir! Open the door! Serious matter, I swear!” the squeaky voice of a goblin shrieked.

Evrart curled up under his blanket and desperately tried to ignore him. It was the third time this week his insufferable subordinates had come to wake him up in the middle of the night for so-called serious matters.
The last time, it was about a nightmare. Not some kind of demonic horse, as he had initially understood, but just a bad dream. And they had waited until he had gathered and equipped a whole squad to eventually spill the beans. 

The screaming was going on. The goblin even started to bang on the door – and Evrart could have sworn he heard him sob. He came to realise the pesky little bugger would not stop.
He begrudgingly left his bed and opened the door, only to find Grog, the smallest, weakest, nicest of the goblin guards, panicking in the corridor.

“There’s a ghost with a corpse in the elves’ crypt, sir!” the goblin whined as soon as the door moved.
“Sounds regular. Leave me alone!”
“But sir, it’s a ghost of the Boss’ mother!”
“What the…When did her mother pass away?”
“No no no, sir! Not what I said! Not a ghost of her mother, a ghost of her mother!”

Evrart sighed and rubbed his eyes. All right. He had no clue what Grog was talking about, but still: it was his duty to deal with intruders.
He ordered the goblin to gather a squad. Thinking it a little more, he sent him wake up Lady Alrune and her uncle first. Whatever the Lady's mother had to do with this, it seemed to be a family affair.
Then, once equipped, he reluctantly headed for the elvish crypt.

He positively hated the funerary complex that previous owners had found tasteful to set up under Embervale Castle, a labyrinth of bleak passageways connecting an absurd number of crypts and vaults.
Many of those had interesting architectural features mirroring the fancy ornaments of the castle above, but he found those displays of pride distressing in the cold and darkness of the underground.     

The elvish crypt was one of the most elaborate parts of the catacombs – and, indeed, there was presently a ghost inside.
A bluish-skinned lady with fine yet shrivelled features, whose face displayed a smirk when Evrart entered the room.

“Someone, at last! No offence, but hospitality leaves a great deal to be desired in this castle!”
“Hospitality is for guests, not for ghosts,” he grumbled while scanning the room. There was something white on the catafalque behind the spirit.
“Ghosts?” she laughed – a clear, but eerie laugh that sent a shiver down his spine. “I’m not a ghost, my fair sir, I’m a banshee. I have a present for Lady Alrune d’Embervale, from her loving mother.”

She waved a hand at the catafalque and floated aside as Evrart cautiously approached it. A corpse. The thing on the catafalque looked very much like a corpse wrapped in a white shroud – just as the goblin said.
As he stared as it, the already icy temperature in the crypt seemed to drop a little more and the Lady of Embervale entered the room.

“Your Highness,” the banshee stated in her honeyed voice, and bowed. “Your mother wants you to know that you have greatly disappointed her.”
“I always do so, Seisiri," Alrune replied. "Could you be more specific?”
“Her Grace had entrusted you with a simple, basic mission. And you failed, if you may be so kind as to excuse such a severe word. But as a matter of fact, you could not even retrieve some helpless heart from a mundane mausoleum.”
"This is between her and me. I’m certainly not answerable to an underling, and I’m not going to discuss the matter with you.”

The smile of the banshee got wider, and she hovered towards Alrune until their faces were only inches away. The Lady quivered, but did not move and held the spirit’s stare.
“Someone else has disappointed Her Grace, ma’am,” Seisiri sneered. “Your Halfling friend, the one she had tasked to ensure you would follow the orders. Her Grace kindly sends you her body: she will make a pretty little undead servant! Her Grace also says you need to be reminded you’re a necromancer, ma’am – it’s not good for you to be surrounded by so many beating hearts.”

Alrune turned pale, and she cast a dismayed glance at her captain. He silently folded the shroud aside to reveal the face.
And his heart missed a beat when he recognised the corpse: she was, indeed, the friendly, cheerful halfling who had given a book and a letter to the Lady at the summer fair.
He nodded sourly.

Glowing darts of magic whizzed from Alrune’s fingers towards the banshee, who dodged and burst out laughing. As the elf aimed a second spell, more powerful but hardly better prepared, the laughter of her opponent morphed into a creaky, high-pitched howling.
Evrart felt his mind crack like a crashed mirror as the wailing increased.
He saw Alrune collapse.

He struggled briefly but faltered, and passed out just as three black daggers darting from the darkest corner of the room took the banshee down.

...to be continued

ADDITIONAL PHOTOS

Edited July 3, 2023 by Aurore
Minor rewording and adjustements following my husband's proofreading!

[Eyrezer]

Beautiful! Came straight here after seeing the pics on Flickr to read the tale. Alrune’s mother is one nasty elf!

Where is the banshee headpiece from?

Edited February 19, 2023 by Eyrezer

[T-86(swe)]

Nice! The lighting really enhances the feeling of scene. An allover nice build! One detail i like is the statue ‘coming’ out from the wall! 

Edited February 19, 2023 by T-86(swe)

[A_Forest_of_Lego]

Amazing build!

[Frike]

I love the round columns sticking out from the walls! The transition is really smooth, are there SNOT tiles on the sides to account for the jumper plate offset?

[Kai NRG]

The lights on the close ups are so cool!  Excellent minifigure combos too and the detailing on the walls is great as is the subtle floor pattern.

[Aurore]

@Eyrezer Thank you so much! I initially intended Alrune's kin to be drows but I did not manage to find enough appropriate LEGO parts. I have kept the initial concept I envisioned for her mother though, and she's definitely not a nice lady.
The banshee's hairpiece is from a Nexo Knights Harpy.

@T-86(swe) Thank you very much! The statue coming out of the wall gave me a hard time, as I had the concept in mind but could not manage to actually build it (I initially tried with hinges).

@A_Forest_of_Lego Thank you so much!

@Frike Thank you very much! I used mainly regular jumper plates for the offsets. I'm an absolute fan of the half-cylinder part and need to experiment more column styles with it!

@Kai NRG Thank you so much, I'm so glad you enjoy the lights! The LED string I used was definitely not cooperative. I should have taken a photo of the build with lights taped all over it...

 

[Grover]

Really beautiful! Love how you did this with a minimal color palette.  The LED lighting is brilliant, although it sounds like it was a pain!  What is the skirt piece on Alrune from?  You have some great decorations on the walls. Are the tiles there phases of the moon?  Very clever.  Nice tile work on the floor, too.  Overall amazing work and very nice story that I am enjoying reading!

[socalbricks]

It's great to see this story continue - Alrune's mother sounds like a real piece of work! 

As for the build itself, the parts combos on everyone are great (as usual). I really like the combo used for Evrart - where is that torso from?

I also love the burial shroud and the torches open each side of the gate (which I may have mentioned in your "Miscellaneous Historicans" post)!

[Simon_S]

beautiful pictures! the lightning works really well. and you have some nice textures in there. also these arches just work so good. nice build!

[Aurore]

@Grover Thank you so much! I was wondering if anyone would notice the (indeed) phases of the moon! 
Alrune's skirt is from the SW Kaminoan minifig (Taun We from set 75333)

@socalbricks Thank you very much! I think that torch design is going to be rather widespread within Embervale Castle...
Evrart's torso is from the Sinister Strange minifig (set 76218)

@Simon_S Thank you very much! The lighting was a pain, but I'm really glad on how it ended up!