Dark Isle Saga: Rising Of The Damned Part 1

[Derfel Cadarn]

The Dark Isle Saga

Rising Of The Damned

Part 1

The land is changing. All that once was, now becomes a distant memory. Isn't it strange how people go about their daily business, complaining about life in general but then when things really do turn bad they wish more than anything to go back to their old life!

The darkness spreads, cloaking all of Avalonia who's people have now fled deep into the Mystic Isles. The true extent of the Evil has only just begun to show its color's as it searches for the ancient scroll. The remaining people of Avalonia had known something bad was coming, they waited with baited breath and tried to get on with life as usual but with each day their hopes diminished. But not all.

Two young Avalonians had found the scroll and were now embarked on a quest to destroy it and fight back against the Evil that plighted the land. With the aid of a resistance of loyal warrior's they now fight to turn the tide. However, it is still early days and the enemy is hell bent on capturing the Scroll at any cost, laying waste to the villages, towns and settlements of the Dark Isle, they will not stop!

And so as Taryn, Sarlina, Owain, Ella and Artorious begin to fight back, elsewhere, the enemy now marches and spreads death and destruction throughout the land. It seems no one is safe.

Cragspire Cottage:

The village of Shadow Marsh lies to the east of Grim Hollow. It is a small village, made up of only a few houses and traders but these have been quiet as of late due to the growing fear that grips the land. Cragspire Cottage is one of those houses, home to Hastan and his son Gawaine. Hastan was a hunter by trade and made a good living from selling many fine pelts. He had high hopes for his young son Gawaine, who was very bright and blessed with such a skill of the sword that even the Gods themselves would envy them.

It was a dreary morning and Gawaine awoke to the sound of his father humming to himself from outside as he stripped down a fresh pelt. Feeling hungry, Gawaine got dressed and decided to head into the village for breakfast. His father greeted him as he came out through the door.

"Morning son" said Hastan cheerfully. "Got anything planned for today have we?"

"Just off into town to get some breakfast." replied Gawaine sheepishly, "then I thought I might go and practice swords with Gwen and Dagonet." he yawned and gestured towards the town.

"Ok, however I may need you later on to help me take a cart load of pelts to Gwynedd's Holdings." smiled Hastan.

"Don't worry, I'm sure I'll be back in time for that" grinned Gawaine. Then made towards the town. As Gawaine was leaving, another figure appeared from the other side of the house and headed towards Hastan.

Hastan looked up as the figure approached. He was dressed in full armor, dyed with a black pitch and bore an insignia that Hastan did not recognize. Hastan stood up and went forward to great the mysterious figure.

"Greetings Sir, how may I help you? Have you lost your way?" Asked Hastan kindly.

The dark figure just stared back with cold eyes.

Hastan felt uneasy and was about to turn away, when suddenly the dark figure drew his sword. Hastan shouted but his cries were soon cut short as the dark figure buried his sword up to the hilt in Hastan's stomach. The dark figure grinned as he watched Hastan sink to the ground with a look of shock and terror on his face.

Gawaine had heard his fathers faint shout and hurried back to the house where he crept round the corner to see what was going on.

Gawaine stared in horror at what lay before his eyes. The dark figure pulled his sword from Hastan's lifeless body which then slipped down to the floor. Gawaine could feel a raging anger building inside him and wanted to charge out and attack the dark figure but he held his ground. Gawaine was not stupid, he was unarmed and wounded by grief, he knew he would be no match for this black armor clad demon. He watched on, helpless.

The dark figure stood over Hastan's dead body, raised his sword and shield to the sky and let out a triumphant battle cry, then turned and ran on towards the rest of the village.

Gawaine rushed towards his father, knelt down and cradled him in his arms. No life shone in Hastan's kind eyes, nor would they again. More screams began to sound from the village and Gawaine looked up to see more dark figures running towards it. His eyes were blinded by tears but he knew what was happening, Shadow Marsh was under attack, but why?

Its amazing how time seems to slow to a crawl in these moments, as your mind try's to take in everything that has just happened. A few seconds seems to last an eternity. Gawaine was overcome with grief but he knew time was short and he must react to secure his own survival. He carried his fathers body inside the house, took up his fathers dagger and swore vengeance. He knew the village would fall and there was nothing he could do to save it but he also knew he had friends in that village and was not prepared to see them suffer the same fate as his father.

Fight or flight?....Both! Head towards the village to save his friends, then flee to find help and safety...where ever that could be!

Notes:

The cottage itself is actually based on the same design as Taryn's cottage from the beginning of Chapter 1. This is because I originally rebuilt the cottage in all sorts of different color schemes as tests to find what worked and what didn't. I liked this color scheme a lot but knew I couldn't use it for a full chapter as I would not be able to get enough Dark Turquoise to cover large area's of land for the bigger builds. So it made sense to do a short interlude based around small mocs where I could put this color scheme to good use.

The Rising Of The Damned is not chapter 2. This is more of a sub-chapter which introduces some new characters who will play a big part in chapter 2, plus it will fill in a few back stories and plot holes. It will probably consist of 4 mocs all in the same bluish color scheme. The later parts will probably run alongside the beginning of chapter 2 which will start in October.

Many thanks for reading.

[gedren_y]

Your builds are always outstanding.

Two questions:

Is this the same build that got blogged about over at TBB a couple of months ago?

Have you been painting your TLG leaves?

[MikeyB]

always enjoys your builds. They were the original reason I began building MOCs and this one serves as an inspiration to get back into the game.

Thanks again!

[LegoDrake]

Wonderful Build DC! I love that scarecrow design,very inventive!

[Captain Settle]

Wow, this is fantastic! As soon as I saw it I knew it was based off Taryn's house. I love the unusual colour scheme, and the land scraping is great.

[Gideon]

Bold use of colors! It is a fair bit off from the muted color palette I would consider to be a "realistic" medieval one, but nevertheless in a fantasy setting like this it works very good!

[Lord Vladivus]

I love this, it feels gloomy and dark, yet there's so much colour! Clever vines too!

@Gideon, me and Kabel talked about it briefly after his orange house, but colourful houses were actually frequent back then- it's just because the paint has weathered away, we don't realise it unless we do chemical analysis of the walls. The example I used was that of the English Corfe Castle (it's Gloriette to be precise) in Dorset, which was painted green by King John in the twelfth century (the earliest recorded instance of green paint being used). Sorry, slightly off topic!

[kermit]

Yes the blue does give a grim and gloomy feel to your scene. You did a good job with the design of the building. Its the vegetation that makes this set pop though. The scarecrow from the minifigure series would fit in nicely here.

Edited September 20, 2013 by kermit

[soccerkid6]

Brilliant build! The stone and woodwork of the house are extremely well detailed, I especially like the slanted walls you've been using so much lately and the rods used as diagonal supports. Some of the less obvious details that stood out to me: the brackets you used in the roof line, the rubberbands on the window sills, the chain link used for the door handle, and the hide that Hastan was preparing The only thing that I don't like is that in the pictures the white door disappears into the white background, it almost looks like there's no door in the house and you're seeing right through it. I'm sure it looks fine in real life though

[HammerBro]

I really like the experimenting with colors and it can give way to new and interesting schemes. I also like how you incorporated the three pronged hinge piece at the peak of the roof. Well done.

[Niku]

The sensation of always present dark cold atmosphere is achieved, the build is as you said has a lot of resemblance with your previous one, but I like that one style, kind of repeats on the story it gives cohesion and a sense of linear progression.

The story is interesting also, one can only imagine would be next.

Keep them coming.

[mpoh98]

Lovely story and build, one again Mr. Watkins! The color scheme is wonderful, it gives a dreary sense to this moc. The story is well written, as always, except this time it sad. Poor Gawaine. I can't wait for the next moc!

[Gabe]

Wonderful build DC, the textures on the stone walls just break my brain! The mottled blues of the upper story look very nice too. Gosh Avalonia is in for some rough times it seems... can't wait for the next thrilling installment!

[SkaForHire]

Oh man, DC, this is an excellent looking build. Even if it is a re-purposed design, the color palette is striking and the little details, as always, are great! Good story too!

You sure you don't want to join Nocturnus? (I figure I would help Z out, since he should be here any minute to say this.)

[Derfel Cadarn]

Your builds are always outstanding.

Two questions:

Is this the same build that got blogged about over at TBB a couple of months ago?

Have you been painting your TLG leaves?

Thanks! Yes its the same build, its quite old now, I just didn't get around to posting it here.

Yes the leaves are my own customs as there was not a color available that toned in with the color scheme.

always enjoys your builds. They were the original reason I began building MOCs and this one serves as an inspiration to get back into the game.

Thanks again!

Thanks Mikey1 Good to see you back building for Avalonia again!

Wonderful Build DC! I love that scarecrow design,very inventive!

I love this, it feels gloomy and dark, yet there's so much colour! Clever vines too!

@Gideon, me and Kabel talked about it briefly after his orange house, but colourful houses were actually frequent back then- it's just because the paint has weathered away, we don't realise it unless we do chemical analysis of the walls. The example I used was that of the English Corfe Castle (it's Gloriette to be precise) in Dorset, which was painted green by King John in the twelfth century (the earliest recorded instance of green paint being used). Sorry, slightly off topic!

Thanks. Funny you mention that as I visited Corfe Castle this year(most awesome and worth a visit) and I heard the guide say that at one point the whole castle was also painted white. That must have looked quite spectacular as it can be seen from quite a distance.

Brilliant build! The stone and woodwork of the house are extremely well detailed, I especially like the slanted walls you've been using so much lately and the rods used as diagonal supports. Some of the less obvious details that stood out to me: the brackets you used in the roof line, the rubberbands on the window sills, the chain link used for the door handle, and the hide that Hastan was preparing The only thing that I don't like is that in the pictures the white door disappears into the white background, it almost looks like there's no door in the house and you're seeing right through it. I'm sure it looks fine in real life though

Thankyou! It's funny as I never picked up on the white door until you mentioned it, now it bugs me. I see what you mean.

Oh man, DC, this is an excellent looking build. Even if it is a re-purposed design, the color palette is striking and the little details, as always, are great! Good story too!

You sure you don't want to join Nocturnus? (I figure I would help Z out, since he should be here any minute to say this.)

Thanks very much. Z can try his pitch but I think Nocturnus has got a great selection of builders already, so i'm staying put in good old Avalonia!

[Lord Vladivus]

Thanks. Funny you mention that as I visited Corfe Castle this year(most awesome and worth a visit) and I heard the guide say that at one point the whole castle was also painted white. That must have looked quite spectacular as it can be seen from quite a distance.

I forgot that titbit. Haven't been teaching there for a couple of months. I saw a render of it in white once, it did look impressive. I might have walked past you with a gaggle of unruly kids in tow. I second visiting it, incredible history, and a variety of building styles.

[Captain BeerBeard]

Poor fool got gutted! I love this house. Maybe your best small cottage yet.

A fix to using white pieces is to use a dark background.That way you can have white parts around the edges and they won't get lost in the background. Mainly why I switched to black plus white backgrounds give of more glare too which is annoying.

[Infernum]

Wow! Great story and the build creates an incredible atmosphere! Love all the details, and how original the color scheme is! :thumbup:

[Candia]

How the black bars are them fixed to the wall ?

[kabel]

Oh man DC, your work, as always, is really incredible. Great building techniques, great photography and of course an interesting story. Actually your moving from the pirate into the history realm made me focus my attention on historic mocs too and I have to say I profited quite a bit from that.

Anyway, @others: As I have mentioned before in another thread, the color sceme is not too far fetched. This picture, for instance, shows a house I found in a living history museum in Germany that focuses on old farm houses:

[Maxim I]

Wow, I have stared to this MOC for almost an eternity!!! The colourscheme is fantastic!!