Leif Thorstein's Quest for the Sword

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Eklund
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Leif Thorstein's Quest for the Sword

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After Elyssa had been found by Leif in the forests of Lenfald, the two thought they would make their way back to Garheim.While passing by a Lenfald outpost, they greeted a soldier standing guard in front of the tower.

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The soldier said he had some important news to tell them, that the King had offered a handsome reward for the return of the mythical Sword of Karlamac. Leif had grown up hearing stories of the ancient King Karlamac, and how he had squashed the rebellions of the evil magic forces of the time with the supernatural powers of the Sword. The sword had been passed down from one owner to the next ever since, at least until it came into the possession of Duke Wirklich Nervig of Lenfald. Though the Sword had been passed to him in times of peace, the Sword frightened the Duke, and in his fear, he hid it. The Duke died before he could produce an heir, and the location of the sword was never disclosed to anybody, leaving it seemingly lost in the sands of time. For hundreds of years now, treasure hunters have been searching for the sword, but no one has ever found it.

Knowing this, Leif didn’t think much of it, and he returned home to the whaling region on the west coast of Garheim. Days later, word finally came up to the village of the King’s decree, and Leif’s father, Ragnar, asked Leif if he was going to go off and search for the Sword. Leif told his father about how he loved the stories of the Sword, but he really didn’t believe it existed. Ragnar once again decided to tell Leif the stories of the Sword, and in doing this, inspired Leif to go out and search for it. However, Leif still had doubts in his mind. Just as he was about to leave, Elyssa showed up.

After first hearing the news after her rescue in Lenfald, Elyssa had wanted to go look for the Sword. She was an adventurous young girl; after all, not many women in Garheim participate in the sled dog races. Despite this, Leif told her what he thought about the reality of the Sword, and she knew it was more important to just get home. Once the news came into the village, her desires to search for the Sword were rekindled. She had just come over to the Thorstein residence to try and convince Leif to come and hunt for the Sword with her.

The two were both happy to see each other as they had enjoyed each other’s company on their way home from Lenfald. They also knew that between the two of them, they had all of the skills they would need to find the Sword, the only thing they would need is luck. As they set off, and journeyed south, Leif asked Elyssa where she thought to look first. She told him that she remembered a story of the Duke that said he had lived in a castle in the shape of the Sword. The two decided that they would try to find the ruins of the castle and search there first. The tale of how they found the ruins of the Duke’s castle is a long one indeed, and today I don’t have time to get into that, the important thing is that they did find it.

As the ruins of the castle emerged from the forest in the center of the Wandering Woods, Leif and Elyssa couldn’t wait to examine what had taken them weeks to locate. The two of them examined almost everything in the castle, the towers, walkways, what was left of the keep. Nothing was to be found, and the two were discouraged. The last tower to examine was at the tip of the blade, as the castle was in the shape of a sword, and it was the tower that was the most intact. As Leif and Elyssa scaled the tower together, they saw that the castle itself was like a very large arrow, and was pointing to an ornate tomb off in the distance. Immediately, the two made their way to the tomb of the Duke.

Tales of the Sword of Karlamac were not the only stories Leif had heard as a child, and from others, he knew that tombs were excellent hiding places of treasures and artifacts. He had once heard a story about two poor adventurers that had always slightly missed great treasures, and one of these treasures had been stored in a cave underneath the tomb of an ancient noble. Remembering this tale, when Leif approached the tomb of the Duke, he had a feeling that a great treasure was stored underneath the tomb of the Duke too. As he gave the tomb a shove, the tomb slid, and a cavern was opened up underneath the tomb. To the dismay of the pair, the Sword was not in the shallow opening underneath. However, a great clue was inside about the Sword’s location. They found a staff with a large sapphire stone in it, and a scroll with the following message:

An isle the shape of what you seek,
Hides the Sword which makes enemies weak,
Insert the staff, it is a key,
In the River through the Trees



It was not hard for Leif and Elyssa to figure out the meaning of the clue, so they set out from the tomb to the headwaters of the Everlyn River located in the Airgid Corónaigh Mountains in northwestern Lenfald. The Everlyn River had always been nicknamed as “the river through the trees”, so that is how they knew which river was referenced. Upon their arrival of the headwaters, they started following the bank of the river downstream. Soon, the river opened up, and in the center was an island shaped like a sword.

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Leif and Elyssa made their way to the center of the island, and as Leif got closer, the sapphire in the staff began to glow. In the center of the island was a notch which the staff perfectly fit into. As Leif did this, the Sword rose up from the island on a column of stone. Leif then triumphantly grasped the Sword of Karlamac, and proudly showed Elyssa. They had succeeded in their quest. The only thing for him to decide in that moment was whether he would exchange the Sword for a reward from the King, or keep it and use the power for himself.
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Re: Leif Thorstein's Quest for the Sword

Post by athronieth »

Love the window technique in your tower, never seen anything like it. Good stuff.
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Re: Leif Thorstein's Quest for the Sword

Post by AK_Brickster »

How did you get all of the hinged segments to hold consistent angles with each other? I'm working on a half-circle tower and it keeps getting deformed.
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Re: Leif Thorstein's Quest for the Sword

Post by Eklund »

AK_Brickster wrote:How did you get all of the hinged segments to hold consistent angles with each other? I'm working on a half-circle tower and it keeps getting deformed.
Ok, so first, I had about three or four rings of hinge plates in the tower, and the more rings of those you have, the less loose the tower will be. Secondly, and I think this is what you are looking for, I also had plates running across the tower at the top and bottom forming an "x" in the middle, which pretty much split the tower up into fourths, making four of the sides consistent with one another. You could have plates running in the middle of your tower too though. I was lucky in that my tower was either 12 or 14 studs across, which meant the plates could directley cross in the middle. That gave it a lot of stability. Also, that diameter made it so that four of the segments could be directly attached to the base.

Anyways, I would suggest to have as many of the segments attach to the base as possible, and to have plates running across in various points. Since you said you were only doing a half circle, you could include these in the middle so certain segments could have plates run across that otherwise wouldn't be able to.

Hope this helps :)
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Re: Leif Thorstein's Quest for the Sword

Post by AK_Brickster »

Ooh! That turntable idea might be just the ticket. I can sandwich a plate in between two of those turntables and build a central core that way. I'll post pics of the final solution. Thanks for the help!

Luckily, when I drafted Helm's Deep w/ 3 other people, I picked up the brick hinges AND the plate hinges, so I have LOTS now (as in, almost a 1 gallon bag full), lol!!
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