11 - The odd couple - The plan is sharpened
by MollyFootman
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Description
The landlady of "Ye Olde Rodent's Retreat" pointed an accusing finger at Zwen. "Yer've a nerve asking to put the meal on yer credit. Yer as bad as that scoundrel, Jorl Bloodbringer!"
"Surely, I'm not that bad. Fer instance, I've a better personality," Zwen replied between swallows of ale.
Jorl studiously ignored the conversation. Instead, he spoke to his young minion, the cat girl. "Now Missie, yer've posed a good 'un an' fer certain. I been breakin' me thinkin' pot an' I can't fer th' life uh me figger a way ter get th' scroll in ter th' Golem's thorax."
"Jorl, one of us distracts it and the other inserts the scroll. No other way presents itself!" The cat girl nibbled delicately on one of the fish from her platter.
"Which is ter decoy and which tackles th' Golem? I don't fancy either job." Jorl tore angrily into the leg of fowl and chewed vigorously as though the act of chewing would somehow solve the dilema.
"I'm certainly not keen on risking the embrace of that thing again!" The cat girl put down the fish and pondered.
"Suppose t'were two what distracts and one exceptionally fast and sneaky to insert the scroll?" The enquiry came from a small rodent who had insinuated himself onto a stool at the end of the table. "Such a service might be very reasonable," he added.
The cat girl looked the rat over. "I didn't know rats could speak much less help a thief!"
"I expect there's a lot you have yet to learn, Cat Girl," the rodent replied. "All rats can think and are very bright. The special few, the royalty as t'were, are gifted with gab. Sir Squeaker, esquire, at your service."
"So me an' th' girl distracts it with th' advantage uh two on one and we trusts a rat ter insert th' scroll what freezes th' Golem?" Jorl's incredulousness was apparent.
Squeeker nodded. "For safe passage with you where 'ere you go and a bit of every meal you partake. That's far from dear when you consider!"
Jorl groaned. "I done more daft things..."
The cat girl smiled. "You're going to have to share more of the secrets of rodents with me, Monsieur Rat."
"It's settled then!" Squeeker smiles. "So, how's that fowl and maybe a bit of the fish as well!"
Molly's art notes: Set up and rendered in Poser 12.0.757 with Superfly Cycles 2 and tweaked in Photoshop for a bit of glow (spectral bloom) and vignette. The interior of the tavern has benefited from many suggestions including "portal lighting" that I received with regard to my pictures of the interior of the Wizard's home. Thanks for the feedback and help! =)
The catgirl is A3 using some very old material from DAZ I was reminded of recently by Mazzam. The textures haven't aged well and I messed with them to try to give the impression of fur rather than plastic (the hair was the worst >.<). The Dwarf is by Sixus1 and is available at Renderosity. Squeeker is from Poser software. Zwen is based on Hein by Nursoda. The grumpy landlady is based on V4 with morphs and textures by the divine Tempesta3D. The tavern is by BigLovePose. There's some bits from 1971s and Flink in the background out the window.
Production Credits
Zwen
$8.00 USD
55% Off
$3.60 USD
Comments (17)
mifdesign
Delightful composition, awesome pose and expression, great atmosphere and lighting, brilliant render.
Magnificent Masterpiece of Finest Arts. I love it! I wish I knew if the tavern is a closed volume, I mean if it has all the walls or some walls might be missing to allow the camera render.
MollyFootman
Thank you for your lovely comment, Marius. Regarding the Fantasy Tavern, there is no front wall and each wall, the ceiling and the floor are separate props. I did copy the back wall and put it on the front of the box to totally enclose the interior for purposes of lighting and reflections although I suppose it wasn't really necessary.
Molly
kelchris3
Fantastic!!!!! Always get a twofer with yours. Wonderful image filled with lots to fill your eyes and a brilliant story :) Thank you for sharing!
MollyFootman
Thank you, Kelllie. I am so glad you enjoy both my story-telling modes: visual and textual. I am always trying to improve and this business of fantasy is surprisingly different than my usual mode (which, come to think of it, is sometimes pretty fantastic...). XD
Molly
jdwtrxk
Good to see them back. Looked at the image, read the prose. then went back to the image to find the rat. No matter, as I look things over more than once as a matter of course attached prose further encourages the effort :)
Fun as always Molly, with more cute characters to br5oaden the tale.
MollyFootman
Thanks, JD. I admit the rat is less than obvious in the picture on initial viewing and if this had been done in graphic novel style he would likely had 1 or 2 panels to himself. =) As a character he is so far from humanoid norm and so deep into fairy tale fantasy that I'm really stretching to figure out how to present him both visually and textually.
Molly
bakapo
A wonderful party of characters. Good poses and use of props. I like the idea of a talking rat, especially one who's smarter than a cat. :)
MollyFootman
Heh. Thank you, my dear!
As for the smart rat, I've cohabited with many lovely cats and have always found it amusing when something puzzles them or takes them down from their ordinarily confident approach to life. To create an unlikely alliance seems to be one of the tropes of fantasy and I'm trying to learn how to tell a good story. Hopefully, you will continue to get a giggle from the interaction of Sir Squeeker and his reluctant allies. =)
Molly
mazzam
Fine fantasy scene, lots to look at.
MollyFootman
Thanks, Mazzam. I continue to be quite grateful that you reminded me of the A3 Cat Girl character. I hope you'll get a smile or two from this if I can find the focus to continue and not get too distracted by my other ideas. XD
Molly
perpetualrevision
I missed the rat until I read the text, and then I went back and zoomed in to see how cute he looks with his hand raised to politely enter into the conversation! Sounds like he could be helpful to the "odd couple," unless he's got betrayal on his mind! Then again, he's not big enough to haul off the loot himself, so he'll need the others' cooperation.
I love that Jori has food in both hands. Very fitting for his character, as is a cat girl eating fish! I also love the extra characters at the tavern, good ole Hein being a scoundrel and the surly tavern landlady. I'd never seen the Ol Ethel character before but she's a hoot! Too bad she's no longer available. The lighting looks great!
MollyFootman
Thanks so much, Amy. Your enjoyment is so pleasing for me. I'm really sorry that Tempesta3Ds earlier characters are being withdrawn. Some of them, like Ol' Ethel and her male friend Ol' Jeb were really quirky. It's hard to find much of that as most characters are implausibly beautiful and/or anatomically extreme women and men. Although most of my human characters are attractive enough I so like a range with some who are, well, unique.
As for the lighting, it's much better after my integration of all the advice I got with the Wizard's home. It's so tricky when interior lighting is dim and exterior lighting shining through the windows so much brighter.
Molly
Darkglass
Brilliant imagery...a superbly crafted scene in every respect.. the rats pose with his paw up is priceless...!!... you nailed the lighting this time really is very nice, lovely highlights, great shadow fall and position, every little detail matters...top notch work and render...real pleasure to view...
MollyFootman
Thank you so much, DG. I'm glad the rat gave you a giggle as such a fantasy character with no real humanoid characteristics is really a stretch for me. As for the lighting, it's a journey and all the advice I got about the dim interior of the Wizard's home was put to good use here. I am always grateful for any idea to improve. =)
Molly
anniemation
Well done! Lots of detail!
MollyFootman
Thank you, Annie. While I was worried about the lighting and fussed with it quite a bit, I tried not to forget to add plenty of props and some extra characters to "sell" the scene. You should have heard my renderbox creaking with all that.... XD
Molly
paul_gormley
very nice contrast of interior with the exterior though the window, ratty is cute, but then he was a hero in 'the Wind in the Willows'; A really fun scene brought to life by the excellent posing and lighting
MollyFootman
Thank you so much for your kind words; I always enjoy hearing from you and viewing what you share. I've not read "The Wind in the Willows" I have some memory of viewing an animated version (Disney, I think) when I was quite young. I didn't have it consciously in mind but it may have influenced my choice of the Rat as a character. Now I must do some reading and maybe seek out that animation. =)
Molly
jdwtrxk
I think the rat in his scale and location are appropriate for the scene and prose. We should be studying the scenes we like anyway...:)
MollyFootman
Heh. Thanks for the addendum comment! XD
Molly
eekdog
superb all around, great atmo, character setting, props and story. Happy Easter.
MollyFootman
I hope you had a happy Easter as well, Steve. Thanks for commenting!
Molly
Radar_rad-dude
A fun scene and excellent continuation of this story! Love the illustration and the dialogue! Many fine kudos from me!
MollyFootman
Thanks, Rad! Nothing pleases a story teller as much as having someone say they are enjoying a story! =)
Molly
enigma-man
Well written and truly an odd group of characters to say the least. Zwen looks like the Viking relative of Hein also made by Nursoda.
MollyFootman
Thank you for letting me know you are enjoying the story and pictures. Yep, Zwen is the viking relative of Hein. =)
Molly
A_Sunbeam
Great characters and scene - I like this series! Tavern looks good.
MollyFootman
Thank you, my dear. One of the things I like best about Poser is how good old content like the Tavern looks with very little tweaking of material. =)
Molly
UteBigSmile
This new image, as well as all the others, are all very beautiful dear Molly. Unfortunately, for health reasons I am not able to leave a comment on each one and hope for your understanding.
MollyFootman
Oh, thank you for the comment, Ute. I always enjoy hearing from you and am glad for a comment once and awhile. You needn't comment at all and I will still enjoy your art and sometimes comment on it. I don't have the time to comment on everything and I am not plagued by poor health so I certainly understand how much harder it must be for you. <3
Molly
RubyTuesday70
I liked this but for some reason did not leave a comment when I intended to, something must have distracted me. As always, your ability to put together various characters and give them natural expressions shines here. I also really enjoyed reading the dialogues, your writing is just as entertaining as the render. And the little rat is adorable with the paw up!
MollyFootman
Oh, thank you so much for the kind comment, RT! =)
I did love the rat raising his paw to be recognized. XD
Molly
longprong
What an interesting group of characters have been brought together under one roof and the narrative brings everything together very well
MollyFootman
Thank you so much for the encouragement! I am currently struggling with the next picture in the series and refining the text for it. Maybe I'll be able to post it later this week. XD
Molly