There are places you'd better avoid. No one would even consider getting close to them. The Dark forest Betstroih Lings is one such place.

It is surrounded with an aura of restlessness. Everywhere are twisted trunks that may once have been trees. They have no branches and no leaves grow on them.

There are stories that you can encounter a gigantic, mythical demi-god there who feeds on human flesh…

This is the third MOC in my marathon build for the LEGO Castle and Fantasy fan contest called Summer Joust 2025.

My third and final day in the studio. The basic construction of the terrain and "forest" went super fast. I've been collecting black elements for this type of scenery for a long time and had an exact look in my head.

The LEGO Bionicle/Hero Factory character also went very quickly as I already have several of these creatures in the workshop and also had been collecting the parts for a long time. Everything what I needed was in the drawers.

However, perfecting the whole thing while taking the photo took some time. I endlessly rearranged and rebuilt the plants, changed the lighting and camera settings until everything looked exactly as I had imagined.

Yes, this time there's only one photo. From the beginning, I had only this one specific, atmospheric shot in mind.

I'm adding as a bonus a few behind-the-scenes photos.

Previous MOCs made for Summer Joust contest:
→ [MOC] Wizard's inception
→ [MOC] Orc's agriculture