Spring cleaning and glamour shots

I've been fiddling about with the blog a little bit.
For a while now I felt the header image I am using didn't really fit the blog anymore. While I like the Crimson Skies plane, I haven't done anything Crimson Skies related for quite some time.
Since I was taking pics of my Knight and retinue anyway, and I seem to be on a fantasy streak for some time now, I thought I might as well update the header.

I also altered the title text colour on the blog to match that of the header. This one is a bit more cheerful, and higher in contrast. I found I was regularly squinting and tilting my head to read the red on gray when I was on my laptop, especially in outside light. That should be fixed now... ;-)
 Maybe I'll fiddle some more in the coming days/weeks, I'm still undecided if this is overhaul enough.

Anyway, on to the meat and bones of this post.
I took some time to set up a few proper shots of my Knight and his newly finished retinue.
Enjoy!

And... Action!

Our brave hero bursts forth from the forests surrounding Dreadshade Crags, his retinue close behind!
They seem very eager to save La Belle Dame Mygraine. She is in quite a bit of distress, shackled to a rock like that, in nowt but her chemise, and to make it worse, it has been raining all day...

 But why has she been mistreated so?
Well, she is to be the most recent biannual ritual sacrifice to Grand Mal, the demon-lizard of Dreadshade Crags.
He doesn't seem to be too happy to be disturbed at dinner time...

 At the sight of the hated beast, Sir Lucien spurs his charger!
Soon he is unhorsed, but rises quickly resumes the fight on foot...
La Belle Mygraine remains a captivated(captive?) audience to this clash of blade versus claw.

His retinue manages to surround the best, forcing it to face their master!
And still La Belle is forced to watch on as others decide her fate... (I do wish she would stop screeching and wailing though, it's giving me a headache!)

Warily, the two enemies circle each other, until, suddenly, Sir Lucien lunges forward and strikes the killing blow!

The heroic deed achieved, our young Lord and his retinue pose for the Heralds and troubadours present as La Belle howls her joy in the background.

 Once the preliminary sketches and verses have been made by the chroniclers, our good knight sidles over to his squire and whispers: "Quickly, fetch me the keys to those manacles! And a gag! She won't shut up and my head aches so from her incessant wailing...."