kahir88 Posted January 25, 2019 Posted January 25, 2019 (edited) Barqa is a huge and beautiful city. Full of life, both day and night. Every one in the city can find a way, to entertain themselfs. Like the wealthier, they visit many of the bath-houses in the city, both locals and new comers alike. They come to relax, have conversations, met with important peoples, and so on. Like the four higher ranking gentlemen, they are here to talk to each other, but not about trading, or the daily life in the city. The topic is politics: "- We are in big trouble gentlemen." - the dark skinned man started the conversation. He looked like a retired soldier from old wars. "- If we don't came up with something, Kaliphlin is doomed." "- Not just Kaliphlin, all of Historica! "- corrected the old noble in the green turban. "- Our queen is inexperienced too rule, and she must listen, to her royal council." "- This is the problem! She listens! But not to they, who have lived in Historica for decades. But to a foreigner!" - grumbled the third man, and smashed his fist in the water. "- I agree with Achatius. That... N'ri causes more more trouble, than we could handle." - said the feline, and took another piece of grape, from the nearby plate. "- We got our own problems, and now what? He advised her, to make shows to the public... from our treasury!" "- And she also neglects the problem with the Desert King!" - Achatius smashed the water again, creating small waves, and splatering water out from the bath. "- Keep your temper young friend." - the old noble tried to calm him down. He was cautious. "- We don't want anyone, to know more about our little plot." "- Agreed..." - said again the feline, then spit the grape seed out, before reaching for another one. "- I would say, it's time to take action, and find a way to solve our problem with the Desert King. The queen and the others are distracted with the shows and charity..." "- Yes, but it must be subtle. We already had a civil war, we don't want to start another one." - the soldier leaned back, and stroked his beard. "- If we can hire some one..." "- Excuse me..." - came the voice from behind them. While they were arguing, how terrible the new reign was, they hadn't noticed, some one apprach them. A man, with reddish hair and beard, stood next to the bath. A towel was wrapped around him, and he had left some wet footprints behind him, as he came hastily from the nearby pool. He continued: "- Can I join in?" - asked him. The nobles looked to each other, and then back, to the uninvited guest. the feline answered him: "- Sorry good man, this is a private bath." - and made a hand gesture, to shoo him. "- I meant, in the conversation." - smiled the man. "- I told you to keep your temper..." - whispered the old noble to Achatius, while the four men looked to each other again. "- As my friend, Ja'hirr said, this is a private bath. Are you eavesdropping us?" - the noble raised his voice. "- No, it wasn't my intent, to eavesdrop your conversation, but your other friend made some spectacular show with the water..." - the old noble looked to Achatius with a, "I told you" look... "- I wanted to see it, from the first row!" With that said, he droped his towel, and squeezed in between Ja'hirr and the soldier. He smiled, as he looked to the nobles: "- And also your talking can be heard in the whole bath-house..." - the nobles quickly regretted, letting him in. "- But don't worry my lords, for I can give you a solution to your... problem." "- How?" - asked the soldier suspiciously, while looking to the other nobles. "- We do not yet know you, introduce your self first!" "- I was tasked, not to reveal my self too soon, but..." - he reached for his towel, and took a small insignia, It was a wolfs head on agreen field. "- Let this talk instead of me." "- Wolf Brigade!" - the dark skinned soldier quicky recognized it. "- Mercenaries from Avalonia... What is your business here wolf?" "- To aid you, in your little plot against some one." - he put away his insignia. "- Lets say, hes followers can be victims of a desert bandit, attack. Or some natual disaster, preying animals, and so on. The southern regions of Historica are unpredictable, but you already know this." - smiled the mercenary. The nobles were shocked. They looked to each other, they had questions and opinions, but no one dared to speak. Zan, the Black Arrow looked around in satisfaction. The next task, what was given by Conrad was complet. He reached for his towel once more, stood up and wrapped it around him. The next phase is about to begin... "- I must excuse you my lords, but I can't tell you more here. If you are interested in working with us, we must meet in a not so public place." - he stepped out from the bath. "- Meet with me in the The Tasty Cobra tavern tomorrow at night, and I will tell you more." - with that said, he bowed, and left. The nobles once more looked to each other. What they talked further more, they did in secret. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A long waited building is finally done! I always wanted to build a turkish bath styled bath-house. And also it was a perfect time, pick up again, and continue the little story, I started almost two years ago. And I wanted to share more pictures about the bath-house too. Enjoy: Hydrotherapy bubble bath. His expression tells us everything... Withouth the figs. Edited January 28, 2019 by kahir88 Quote
Cody Startale Posted January 25, 2019 Posted January 25, 2019 (edited) What an excellent build. It's fantastic to look at, there is so much little details. I love the bubble bath and the fig posing, the guy taking in a big breath in the back is hilarious. A thing of beauty and I don't (just) say that because of the great amount of nudity! Edited January 25, 2019 by Cody Startale Quote
mccoyed Posted January 25, 2019 Posted January 25, 2019 Great build with awesome details and figs. One thing is, your dialogue would be easier to follow if you employed quotation marks, the universal standards of punctuation for dialogue. Quote
Basiliscus Posted January 26, 2019 Posted January 26, 2019 A lovely build @kahir88! A bathouse being a hotbed of politics and intrigue is a great idea and despite the lack of quotation marks I thought your story was one of the best I've read. I liked the way you described the little things, like the feline eating the grape or where the Green Wolf guy squeezed in. As for the MOC itself I love the floor patterns, the design is great. One thing I wish though is that the blue floor patterns wasn't the same as the blue water - using trans-bkue for the water may have helped to distinguish them. The waterfalls at the back and the steam room are nice touches too, it all adds to the realism. The figs are well posed and the place looks busy. Lovely stuff. Quote
Gideon Posted January 26, 2019 Posted January 26, 2019 Great concept and execution, fits spot on in Barqa (which is the correct spelling ) I've actually had a similar idea for a long time too, and now I got a renewed urge to build another build on my "to-do" list showing one of the aqueducts supplying the great city with fresh water from the Zumrut Bluffs. Maybe it's me being a non-native English speaker missing something, but even after a couple of readings I'm still not sure where the plot is pointing? I'm asking as I'm almost done with a Barqa build myself and don't want to accidentally contradict your story (*hint* mine will be about the relations between Barqa and the Desert King) So could you (or someone else) give a TL;DR explanation of what this plot is suggesting...? Quote
kahir88 Posted January 27, 2019 Author Posted January 27, 2019 On 1/25/2019 at 6:27 PM, mccoyed said: One thing 12 hours ago, Gideon said: Great concept and execution, fits spot on in Barqa (which is the correct spelling ) Corrected them both! Thanks the advice and the notification about writing down the citys name incorrect. On 1/26/2019 at 8:43 AM, Basiliscus said: blue floor patterns Yes, I noticed it too late... I wanted to show the colors of Kaliphlin. On the desk it looked so good, when i took the pictures and uploaded them, I saw the big problem too... Shame, maybe next time! :D 12 hours ago, Gideon said: where the plot This can mean two things, I'm a damn good storywriter and I can hide the realy thing, behind words, :D Or, as too, not a native english speaker, I write to complicated, and too mystified. I think, it's more like the last cause, not everyone understands the ploting part. I have a grander plan, for my little band of merryman, and I notyet wanted, to tell it. But the "Cat.C ploting challenge" was a great indication to begin it. Here is a quick look back: Conrad tasked three of his man, in the Scarlet's Scarlet Brothel, Zan, the mercenary in the Bath-house in Barqa story came to Kaliphlin (Wolfs in the Sand (Part I.)), to do his part of the task. Later, he was informed what happened in the Royal Council, and use the new information as adventage. So he tracked down some of those, who don't agree with the Queens new politcs, and this is how he finds this four nobles, and tired to win them, and their support with the "we can help you defeat the Desert King". In short: Yes, I'm ploting againts the Desert King too :D My little mercenaries now inviting those, who wish to end the Desert King's rule, without help from the Crown. And what is the real reason, You can find it out, in the next part: (Wolfs in the Sand (Part II.)) :DD Quote
Muakhah Posted January 27, 2019 Posted January 27, 2019 Vile treachery against the Desert King! Though I am intrigued at what a company of mercenaries is plotting. And there was me hoping that the various Kaliphlin factions were growing to accept that Ark Mora Raa is the master of Kaliphlin. The bath house design, layout and details are great. The main criticism is as others have mentioned. The blue and red tiles are a bit much and make it very busy. If possible more white tiles with blue and red as borders would have been better but would have needed a lot more white pieces. Excellent posing and expressions though! And the way heads are positioned to follow things happening around them in realistic ways. Quote
Gideon Posted January 27, 2019 Posted January 27, 2019 Great that there are both plots against and in favor of the Desert King in Barqa, makes for an interesting Book III 8 hours ago, Muakhah said: Excellent posing and expressions though! And the way heads are positioned to follow things happening around them in realistic ways. Subtle turning of the minfig heads is imho a great way to create a much more beliveable connection between the characters Quote
Grover Posted January 28, 2019 Posted January 28, 2019 Really well done! As others have noted, a bath house is the perfect place for intrigue. I love the detail in the walls and the baths. There’s plenty of action with the figures and the story covers it perfectly. The only part that is a little confusing is the use of blue in the floor tile and as water, although if you don’t have a lot of trans pieces it makes sense. Great job and I want to see where the story goes! Quote
The Last of Nergoue Posted January 28, 2019 Posted January 28, 2019 very nice the flooring looks really good! Quote
en_zoo Posted January 28, 2019 Posted January 28, 2019 Oh my! Awesome stuff here. I love the idea of people plotting in the bath-house as well as the execution - full of lovely details all around together with a true Kaliphinian/Barqan feel I believe I mentioned this before, but I think you should work on your punctuation, as it's sometimes difficult to follow the story (I see that others have noted this too), which is a real pity as it's very intriguing and really wanna see where it goes! I'm a non-native Eng-speaker too, so I do appreciate the effort - don't give up! Quote
kahir88 Posted January 28, 2019 Author Posted January 28, 2019 Thanks guys, I'm really trying to put some life in my builds, and also the little details. I will try to improve my punctuation skills, to help you guys in reading. :D And aslo, thanks to @Grover, for helping me out. You are the true hero! Quote
adde51 Posted January 28, 2019 Posted January 28, 2019 Nice build and a really great story! The aesthetics is very Kaliphli-an (is that right..? ) and I enjoyed the floor. I agree that the colours unfortunately blend together a bit when using the same blue for the water as for the floor but aside from that great work! Quote
Mike S Posted February 1, 2019 Posted February 1, 2019 I love the selection of minifigs you put in this! They really give the build "character"! And your story is well done too! Quote
soccerkid6 Posted February 12, 2019 Posted February 12, 2019 Lots of excellent details here! The floor patterns are lovely, and fit well in a bath house Though it might have been better to not use any blue in the floor, since you're also using that for the water color in the baths. It's not easy posing a large number of figs in interesting ways, but you pulled it off brilliantly here! Quote
Rogue Angel Posted February 13, 2019 Posted February 13, 2019 Great story on this, and tons of details. You've done a great job representing a Kaliphin bathhouse, and nailed the intent of this challenge. Quote
Exetrius Posted February 16, 2019 Posted February 16, 2019 As people mentioned before me, the architecture is both great and a bit rough, with the colours. Some details stand out to me: the running tap, the golden candles, and the small red fences in the entrance portals. The minifigure scene is so complete; it really sells the build! You thought of everything, from musicians to bubble bath blowers (that would never cross my mind!); I like how food and drinks are being served and found around the place, on the floor. Lastly, excellent combo's, expressions and poses on the figures! Quote
Henjin_Quilones Posted March 4, 2019 Posted March 4, 2019 The atmosphere is certainly exotic, and that is nice, and the fig posing is top-notch. It looks like a great venue for scheming and spying, too. As others have said, using regular blue for both the water and floor tiles is a visually confusing choice, though the patterns in the floor are nice. Changing one of the blues would be the best solution, I think. Quote
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