Challenge VI: A Song of Orcs and Fire

[Gideon]

Challenge VI: A Song of Orcs and Fire

Chapter I. Along the Arkbri River

The Arkbri River flows through central Historica, from Mitgardia all the way down to Barqa in Kaliphlin. It is navigable along most of its course which makes it an important trade route. Despite the war, the traffic is lively along the river. A war party led by Sir Gideon and the avalonian Sir Derrik of Groenby is rushing to Queenscross further upstream. Sir Derrik and his men are survivors of the terrible sacking of Groenby by the Hand of Corruption.

Some brave traders are still transporting their goods along the river. This particular river boat is loaded with food supplies for the army gathering in Queenscross, as some Barqa trader obvious has seen an excellent business opportunity to sell food at ridiculous prices as the destruction had left the city with precious little food to supply the forces making their stand against Victor's forces.

Responding to the call to arms to Queenscross, Sir Gideon and his band of warriors are travelling up from Barqa along the towpath on the north side of the Arkbri river. It is however not safe to travel these days, as there have been encounters with orcs on this side of the river. Several of Sir Derrik’s men were killed by a raiding party, as well as the horse of Gideon’s squire. Fortunately nothing seems to dampen the spirit of this young lad, eager to earn glory on the battlefield.

Meanwhile, refugees from the death and destruction further upstream are struggling in the heat in the opposite direction, not really towards anything but just desperately getting away from the slaughter. Right now they have been forced to take a break to let the oxen pulling the boat and the soldiers pass.

Chapter II. After the Battle of Queenscross

Many of those marching to Queenscross with Sir Gideon would later fall in the battle there, as told in the report of the battle by Paulos MacLean. Among the casualties were Gideon's old friend and comrade-in-arms Sir Derrik of Groenby and Sir Gideon’s squire, too brave for his own good.

A few of those who have responded to the call to arms however showed up in Queenscross too late to join the battle. Surprisingly, some turned out to be acquaintances of Gideon. One of these is the scoundrel and former sailor Roger Farstrider, who had been expected to arrive with Gideon but somehow found himself delayed by some unclear reason, sounds like he found yet another excuse to save his skin when the odds looked bleak. But of course he wasn't more delayed than that he arrived in time to take part in some unsanctioned plunder of the fallen foes. Many are angry at him for avoiding the battle, where Roger’s deadly crossbow skills would have been sorely needed at times. At the side of a war-torn garden patch he is now doing what he likes best, taking a break from things and sharpening his enormous dagger.

Not far after Roger, another man arrived along the same road. This was Lutalo, a dark and muscular proud warrior from one of the islands in the southern sea. Of some kind of noble birth after their fashion, he was exiled from his island many years ago never to return. He found refuge in the tolerant Kaliphlin society, and has fought for Gideon on more than one occasion. Arriving soaked in sweat after running for many miles, he is cursing long and loudly in his incomprehensible tongue for not making it in time to the glorious battle.

On a street in the war-torn city, Gideon is bleeding from a dozen wounds and still shivering from nearly drowning when he fell into the river during the battle. The only thing that was between Gideon and certain death had been one of the mermaids aiding in the fight against the Hand of Corruption. Gideon is mourning the losses of both his old friend and his young protégé at the hands of the Cyclops.

Suddenly an unexpected figure shows up. A female battlemage of the Khel'Zarim, truly a rare sight. Clad in crimson and with a grim looking and scarred face, there is however something familiar with this hard woman.

Gideon (in pain and annoyed by the disturbance): What do you want? Wait...do I know you? There is something familiar about you?

Battlemage: Gideon the half-elf isn't it? I'm Aidana, and the last time you saw me I was a young girl in the company of Sohail, father of that dishonest merchant Emad who I know you still have dealings with.

Gideon: Look at you! Now I remember, but you certainly don't look like when we last met all those years ago!

Aidana: I've seen more of the world, and know much of mysteries you haven't even heard about. And it's not only you steel-warriors who have to go through fighting and hardship.

Gideon: Certainly not! Your order's reputation precedes you. But what brings you here?

Aidana: As you can see, I was recruited by the Khel'Zarim who recognized my talent for more than just the small tricks I did to amuse Soheil's guests. They brought me to their seat at castle Zar, deep inside the jagged foothills of the Rakath Mountains, where the base of the Khel'Zarim have been for centuries. From there, we have strived to expand our knowledge of magic and also control and restrict its use throughout Historica. My wing of the Khel'Zarim is as you know called the battlemagi and our role has been to be the sword and shield of the order. Our goal is to seek out rogue wizards and other magical anomalies, wherever they may be. We do this both for the protection of Historica and for our own interest, since there is so much to learn of the mysteries of magic that the inward-looking graybeard scholars in the towers of Zar simply can't even imagine. The battlemagi’s main weapon has been elemental magic, but proficiency with cold steel is also an important part of our training. Most of our order, including myself, have focused our studies on fire magic. Indeed, some even claim that our order is a cult of fire, and if you have ever seen the eternal fire pits and stained glass windows in the great hall of castle Zar you can't be blamed for thinking that of us.

Never numerous, the hard fight against the elementals throughout Historica has spread the Khel'Zarim battlemagi forces thin and caused heavy casualties among our ranks. Our castle was of course one of the primary targets of Victor's elemental mayhem, and countless elementals of all kinds put us under relentless attack. In order to defend the castle, the few of us who remained there had to resort to an extreme measure. We gathered the last of our strength and thanks to our deep understanding of elemental magic, we succeeded in creating an expanding anti-magic field around our castle which instantly dissipated the elementals just before they breached our castle walls.

So far, the story sounds like a story of success to you, doesn't it?

Gideon: Yes, but you don't seem to be too happy about it?

Aidana: Indeed not. Now on to the dire news. Unfortunately, the anti-magic field also left us powerless and our spells useless. Only the eternal fire pits in the great hall, fuelled with deeper and more ancient magic, were spared the dimming of our magical power.

Before the field had dissipated, we heard increasingly loud scratching noises which seemed to come from one of the walls. Suddenly holes started to appear in the courtyard at the base of the wall and out of the ground orcs started to emerge. Victor's plan had clearly been more cunning than we had expected, while we were busy fighting monstrous elementals a force of orcs had snuck in right under our noses and undisturbed dug their way in. My brethren fought valiantly, but many of the outnumbered and powerless battlemagi were slain by the invaders before we took the hard decision to abandon our castle.

This leads me to where we are now. After the fall of Zar, me and my remaining brethren decided to split up and seek out the places where our skills were most needed. Hearing about the threat to Queenscross, I rushed here but didn't arrive in time. Fortunately, it seems that no sizeable elemental force were part of the enemy armies here so you and all the other brave warriors managed to hold here anyway.

Gideon: Yes, but at a terrible cost. But you seem to have more to tell me?

Aidana: Yes. Seeing that the enemy has been thwarted here, I am trying to gather a force to take back castle Zar. I know that you don't have many men left after the battle, but could I hope for your help in this endeavor?

Gideon: Pah! As if a small band like us would be able to take a castle like that all by ourselves!

Aidana: Yes. If the castle is poorly manned and you know how to get in without notice. After sacking much of the castle I saw most of the restless orcs continue on to new opportunities of plunder.

Gideon: Aha! Now your plan suddenly sounds less unrealistic. But why the urgency? Shouldn't there be other more pressing matters for our steel and your fire, like taking back Cedrica or even going after those cursed Cyclops?!

Aidana: There is surely much to be done, but I'm prepared to do whatever it takes to reclaim our castle without delay. I have reason to believe that the orcs haven't been able to enter all the hidden and protected parts of the castle yet, so much of our secrets may still be safe. And there might even be survivors hiding in these hidden parts of the castle. The archmage himself is still unaccounted for, and who knows the secrets of the castle better than him? Maybe he still is alive somewhere in there. But if Victor were to get there before us, he surely will find our secrets and kill our survivors and by that cause irreparable damage to our order.

Gideon: Alright, once again I see that you have given this more thought than me.Aidana: Yes I have. So are you with me?Gideon: Gladly, but look at me. I'm not in any shape to kill more orcs anytime soon.Aidana: I agree, your wounds don't look very good! Let me do something about them.

Gideon: Pah! As if magic could do me any good! And besides, don't you know that we elves are quite resistant to your kind of magic?

Aidana: Don't presume to teach me about magic! And by the color of your skin you look just as much human as your pointy ears give away your elvish blood. Seeing how you still are alive after all these wounds I think you even must have some of the old blood of the northmen in you.

She gives Gideon a small vial of a dark liquid, which he reluctantly empties.

Gideon: Aaaah! It burns!!

Aidana: Good. Then you aren't as immune to elemental magic as you thought and the potion is doing what it should. Look, the blood flow from that badly dressed wound is already stopping. And the shiver from the cold after your little swim in the river seems to have stopped? In a day or two you should be back in fighting shape.

Chapter III: Through the Rakath Foothills

And so it was that Gideon set out with a ragtag force towards the east, Aidana leading their way. Behind them were Lutalo (seeing the opportunity of finding glory in the coming battle) and Roger Farstrider (seeing the opportunity for gold in the coming battle). Another man with the same motive was Ediz Falconi, who also had been persuaded to join with some reinforcements from their nearby base at Falcon’s Nest. After a long travel on uneven roads up into the jagged foothills of the Rakath Mountains, the travellers pass over a ridge and finally see a great castle on the next mountain.

Aidana: Behold, beautiful Zar! Now we are finally almost there, but we should await the darkness before trying to approach the castle.

Gideon: Alright, but we are not trying to get through that main gate I hope?

Aidana (chuckling): No, indeed not! To those who know the castle, there are innumerable hidden passageways. And some of them reach the outside of the castle as well.

Roger Farstrider (catching up with the others): Sounds good! Hidden ways are always better than fighting.

Ediz Falconi: Looks like a big castle, I assume our reward if we succeed will be accordingly?

Aidana: Don’t you worry about that, if we take back the castle I will make sure that you are a rich man.

Ediz: Sounds like my kind of battle!

Lutalo: I yearn for a good glorious battle! It has been too long since I last had the chance to cleave an orc with my sword.

Aidana (with a smile): Looks like you all can get what you are looking for. Now let’s rest a few hours and then get on to business.

Chapter IV: Battle in the hall of the Khel'Zarim

Aidana leads the party to a small crevace at the base of the mountain, and behind some rocks there is a smooth surface. She mumbles some arcane words and her staff starts to glow, and in response a fiery line spreads along the wall to form a doorway. With a low rumbling the door swings inwards and inside the opening a long narrow winding stair ascends into the mountain. Climbing for hours, the party finally reaches the castle. Most of the castle seems desolate and on the surface looks completely pillaged, with the decaying bodies of both magi and orcs still dot the courtyard. Some corpses clearly show signs of being eaten on, by orc or animal is hard to tell.

From the great hall there is however some noise to be heard, and Aidana quickly leads the party in through the broken front door. Inside, a horrible scene unfolds. Dead bodies, skulls and bones surround the great marble council table where the band of remaining orcs apparently have taken up residence.

Aidana, who has held a quiet determination throughout the infiltration of the castle loses her composure and screams: "Sacrilege! They are using one of the eternal fires for cooking! And it looks as they are cooking a human! This must end NOW!!"

Surprised by the screaming, the orcs scramble for their weapons and prepare to attack the intruders who are quickly moving towards the orcs. A big orc in black armor with skeletal ornamentations, clearly the chieftain, stands outside the back door to the archmage's private palace and screams orders to his band.

The battle begins when Gideon engages one of the orcs at the front along the wall, while Lutalo quickly jumps up on the council table to attack the orcs who are standing there. Roger Farstrider and one of Falconi's men take up their crossbows to eliminate the enemies with ranged weapons.

The first casualties are one of the orc archers downed by one of Roger's bolts, the crossbow armed orc by the chieftain hit by the Falcon crossbowman. The enraged and still confused orc attacking Gideon exposes himself and falls to a quick strike from the half-elf. Falconi's men on both sides of the great table engage the foes, while Lutalo finally gets to taste blood on the tabletop.

As more orcs are put out of action, the first casualty among the humans is the Falcon crossbowman who is hit by arrows from both remaining orcs with bows. On the right flank, the Falcons are quickly progressing through the still confused orcs while Gideon is circling around one of the fire pits.

Roger Farstrider reloads his customized crossbow with lightning speed and takes aim at the ranged foe at the balcony.

As another of the Falcons are mortally wounded, Aidana lands a hit with one of her fireballs knocking one of the orcs down engulfing it in searing flames. Falconi's closest man finishes off the orc he previously wounded.

The battle clearly has turned in the favor of the humans, as Gideon and Ediz downs the last orcs by the firepits. Soon thereafter, a well-aimed crossbow bolt takes down the last orcish archer.

All the humans, and the half-elf, advance towards the orcish chieftain who so far only with increasing desperation has tried to scream orders to his dwindling numbers. Before anyone, or even one of Roger's bolts, reaches the orc chieftain Aidana screams: He is mine! Now feel the fury of the Khel'Zarim!!

A stream of fire arcs out of her staff and bright flames erupt around the big orc. The battle is over.

Falconi tends to his wounded crossbowman and one of his men are finishing off the last surviving wounded orcs. Meanwhile, Gideon and Aidana enter the palace of the archmage. After some searching and calling out for survivors, a tile in the floor starts to move, exposing a stair. A dirty but well dressed grey-bearded man emerges from the opening calling out: Aidana! You did it!.

Aidana: Archmagus, did you truly doubt that we would come back?

Archmage: Yes, as the anti-magic field dissipated I thought that the battlemagi would retake the castle but as time went on and the only sounds I heard was from the orcs looking for treasure in my palace. Finally I was almost ready to do a final desperate attempt myself, but even with my powers I knew that it would likely have been my end. So I decided to remain here to destroy our secret archives if Victor came back.

Aidana: I'm glad you didn't have to destroy the archives, imagine the loss to the world if the Flame had been let in there!

Archmage: Yes my daughter, but I would let the Flame have them a thousand times rather than Victor laying his hands on them. Who knows what dark magic we have quelled over the centuries that Victor could use to terrible effect?

Aidana: Of course, Archmagus.

Archmage: We are still not safe here if Victor would turn his full attention here, but let us hope that other forces of good are victorious and that maybe as we speak even Victor himself has been defeated?And so it was that the Khel'Zarim once again ruled over their great castle, and the great hall was quickly restored to its proper state. And who knows, maybe the archmage is right that in the same moment, someone is fighting Victor himself...?

Edited May 1, 2013 by Gideon

[Brickington]

Looking good so far! My favorite is probably the last micro one. But all of the builds are superb!

[Kai NRG]

Great job, I love the SNOT brown dirt on the first build, I don't recall having seen anything like that before! The FP is excellent, and the sand green leaves work very well there. And great job with the irregular border on the second build!

[-Carson Haupt-]

This is amazing! How do you take such good forced-perspective?

[Legonardo]

That last MOC looks real nice, good color scheme too! good luck

[Mike S]

Nice job! That forced perspective MOC is awesomeone of the best if not the best I've seen. Also like the half burned tree and barge!

[SkaForHire]

Damn! I am glad to see you got an entry in, so nice. Go Kaliphlin! I said it before in the other thread, I really like the mourning picture. Farstrider's pose is classic - just perfect. The I have to agree with Masa about the FP, one of the best ever. And, you got that out of an Olympus!?! Wow. (Sorry, I'm a Nikon snob.)

If Gideon would have asked Paulos, he would have sent Cannondale to help on the journey. (Or you can say he did, and Cannondale came.)

[Pyrovisionary]

Amazing! I wish I could build like you! And thanks for the editing tips, they worked a treat!

[Gideon]

This is amazing! How do you take such good forced-perspective?

Tripod, a decent lens on a DSLR camera and a lot of tinkering with camera settings and many trial shots to get a depth of field i was satisfied with

@Ska, Olympus works ok for me, but I'm looking a bit for a new camera (which would have to be Canon or Nikon in this segment nowadays...) since the small Olympus four-thirds sensor of this camera is way too noisy in low-light conditions and the fact that this one can't be used for filming.

Amazing! I wish I could build like you! And thanks for the editing tips, they worked a treat!

Thanks! Actually, the only pictures in chapter 1-3 above which I have edited are those of Queenscross. The background in the others are just the backdrop with enough indirect light (external flash directed at a white ceiling) to wash it out. Saves lots of time

[Maxim I]

Amazing entry so far gideon!! Really interesting story and awesome builds! Am looking forward to the next part !

[Alcarin]

Great MOC and good story!

[soccerkid6]

An excellent entry, the boat in the first build is a perfect detail for the scene

Nice burnt effect on the tree, and the colors in the FP scene work very well

[Gideon]

First post updated with the final chapter!

These will be my scored builds:

Along the Arkbri River by Gideon_83, on Flickr

On the road to Castle Zar by Gideon_83, on Flickr

Battle of Castle Zar by Gideon_83, on Flickr

Edited April 30, 2013 by Gideon

[Maxim I]

Wow, that last build is just stunning!!! And congratz about the story! It really fits with really all the other stories!

[kabel]

I really like all of this. You're a great builder Gideon, it's great to have you for the GoH project!!!

[Kai NRG]

That last build is awesome! I especially love the flame windows, those are spectacular and the fact that you did an irregular base for an interior is great! Fantastic pillars as well!

[soccerkid6]

I agree with kabel, you are really a talented builder!

The circular staircases, brick effect around the windows, and use of microfigs are the things that stood out to me in your last build.

The table and chairs are excellent as well

[Gideon]

Corrected a some typos and errors from cutting and pasting text, I was obviously a bit too keen on making the deadline... Please don't hesitate if there are more errors in the text!

[de Gothia]

I´m so glad you joined GoH Gideon! After seeing your mocs at Swebrick I knew you could do wonder in here! The fallen temple in the first build. The outstanding FP with some really nice framing and the last top class interior scene! Well done!!

[Legonardo]

this is one of my favorite entries! that interior is awesome!

[robuko]

That last build is awesome! I especially love the flame windows, those are spectacular and the fact that you did an irregular base for an interior is great! Fantastic pillars as well!

I totally agree. Those pillars are excellent. I think the first build is my favourite, but they are all superb. The burned tree and the fallen under the shields is a very tender scene. Nice technical work on the interior scene. Your presentation and photography are outstanding. Great entry.

[Gideon]

Thank you all for your encouragement! But please feel free criticize anything I could improve on the next time, that's really why I'm here in the first place

An excellent entry, the boat in the first build is a perfect detail for the scene

It was my first attempt at a brick-built boat, definitely not very sturdy but I think I finally managed to get the lines of a river barge quite ok.

That last build is awesome! I especially love the flame windows, those are spectacular and the fact that you did an irregular base for an interior is great! Fantastic pillars as well!

Thanks! The windows are actually the reason behind that particular build and indeed the whole theme of the entry, I was experimenting with a bricklink delivery of various transparent cheese slopes and I thought the flames were a nice pattern.

I don't know how well it came through on the photos, but another detail is that I put lighting in the fire pits (1 red and 1 yellow light brick in each).

Here is a picture which shows it better (sorry for the ugly background color, looked better on the screen I edited it on...):

Fire pits by Gideon_83, on Flickr

Edited May 1, 2013 by Gideon

[-Carson Haupt-]

Wow, the lights really look great!

[Kayne]

These are incredible! I love this story and all of the builds involved here. Great job!

[ZCerberus]

The interior is indeed fabulous. Great work on it. I like the micro as well.

Your photo skills were quite excellent.