[ENTRY] [LARGE] The Final Task

[Math Wizard]

 

Becoming a pirate is hard. Very hard. Becoming a part of the famed Redbeard's crew? -- so hard some might call it impossible. Yet Steve was desperate. 

Just several years ago he was a prosperous merchant, but oh how the tables had turned. And now, here he was, the cave mouth looming before him and the dangerous steps carved into the mountain behind him. Even he could barely believe the turn of events. 

It all began with a storm. Several years prior Steve decided to take up exploring. He had heard rumors that in the far east there was a land that contained double sided plates, inverted cheese slopes, and pure gold Bionicle masks. He couldn’t resist. Steve spent all he had to finance a ship and fill it with the most valuable things he could find, hoping to trade it for the immeasurable riches that this land held. Then the storm struck.

Steve’s ship was battered tossed by the wind and waves, eventually smashing its hull open from the pressure. The ship began to sink, but Steve managed to escape in a lifeboat, riding out the storm like a cork in the ocean, bobbing up and down. 

The storm finally passed, and Steve could see nothing of his ship, his crew, or the goods his ship once contained. Certain that hope was lost, he laid back on the lifeboat, consigned to his fate. But fate is a strange thing, and while Steve lay there, awaiting death, a ship appeared in the distance. As it drew close, Steve felt hope swell up in his chest. He frantically waved, trying to get the ship’s attention. Then he noticed it- The skull and crossbones flying over the ship. This wasn’t any ship- it was a pirate ship! He thought fast, for he knew pirates rarely let captives live. 

He decided that if they saved him, he would claim to be a pirate himself, and with his navigation skills, perhaps he could join them. He knew enough about pirates from the stories and tales that were told. He could fake it- right?

Luckily for Steve, Redbeard was in a good mood that day, and decided to pull him up, if only to have a bit of murderous fun with him. When Steve’s legs hit the deck of a ship once more he collapsed, exhausted. Redbeard laughed menacingly. “What do we have here?” he asked. 

Steve’s story quickly spilled out- how his ship (though he said it was a pirate ship) wrecked in a storm and he was the only one to survive. He regaled Redbeard with the tale of how actually he and his three companions survived, but how he murdered them to save provisions for himself, as that seemed a very pirate thing to do. 

Unfortunately, Redbeard didn’t fully believe him. “Well, if ye be a pirate, why don’t ye prove it?” he asked. “I’ve got a map here. It’s an island that all pirates know well. We’ll drop ye off there and return in a weeks time. I’ve three tasks for ye, quite simple if ye know how, and when I return I expect to find them done. If so, ye can join my crew for a time, but if not, it’ll be the plank for ye!”

And so they had left Steve on this island, now five days ago. He had managed to find the leg-o fruit in the rainforest that covered the island, stolen a Billundain parrot from the islander village, and now pursued the legendary Kirk. Unfortunately, Steve knew not what this Kirk looked like, or what it even was. He hid the parrot and fruit at the base of the mountain, for it was the only part of the island he had left unexplored. 

As he began to climb he noticed a precarious set of steps winding up the sea-facing side of the mountain. Perhaps he was on the right track! He began to climb, still unsure what he was looking for. At various places he saw what appeared to be sprung traps- skeletons impaled by swords, and a treasure chest filled with a venomous snake; definitely not treasure. So here he was- at the top of the mountain, a cave looming in front of him.

Would he succeed? Would he become Steve the pirate? Or would he fail his task and die a gruesome death? Steve’s fate depended on what he did these next few hours…

The Final Task by Grant Decker, on Flickr

And for those of you who want a closeup of Steve, here he is:

Steve by Grant Decker, on Flickr

Thanks for checking it out- I'm really enjoying the creative writing aspect of this contest!

-Math Wizard

Edited July 2, 2024 by Math Wizard

[Captain Pirate Man]

Great story, I enjoyed reading it!! The build is really well done also. We just recently did a rock build, so they are kinda fresh in my mind right now, so that helps give me appreciation for what you built here. I especially like the shark hidden in the rock. Ok so I gotta know... What happens next??

[Captain Pirate Man]

So I have to know... Are you indeed a Math wizard? If so, have I reached 25 yet? I've lost track, lol.

[thewatchman]

I love this build!

 Rock building is absolutely not my forte and I’m always impressed by shape and scale, especially here.

 My overwhelming issue with the build is lack of variety in colour. Be it sand, ocean or wet vs dry rock. I feel with a touch of sand and plant life this would be top notch!

[Horation]

A pleasant short background story, fitting for such a character as Steve. 

The rockwork is quite frankly some of the most creative I've seen, you use so many parts, which could have looked quite disjointed, but doesn't ; the dish piece looks like a rounded rock, the shark is just a really clever addition, and there is a good use of angles to improve the setting to a sufficient level.

However, @thewatchman is correct in his critique of the colours, I think some greens would help. Ideally dark greens so as to not ruin the the atmosphere too much. There's also an element I find a little strange : there a skeleton blocking the path at the bottom, which is indeed helping set the tone, but how did Steve get past him? He either would have jumped over him (he doesn't look like a gymnast though...) or he'd have moved him aside (and the skelly wouldn't be completely blocking the path, which is an easy fix).

A kirk (in Scotland) means a church, if that is what you meant, perhaps some hint of a chapel or of some spiritual challenge ahead would help send that message, alternatively if you meant captain kirk, consider adding a tribble or two... 

[Samarth]

Excellent rock work; I spy the shark and the brick separator! 

[NOD]

Interesting story, I'm sure Steve will also complete the final task. The rock formation with the steps is well built.

[Mazin]

Hey, i have exactly the same stairs at home!

:)

Jokes aside, amazing amazing stonework. Not sure what that shark is doing there, but what the hell, this is the land of total weirdness so why not? Conan's writers are boring compared to it's secret and all the treasures You came up with ;) Who knew Steve's life could be so dangerous, and that pirates would be so cruel/

This story surely needs more instalments to be complete. Especially that there seems like there is a secret door into that rock, in it's lower part, by the sea, and i'm very curious to know what's inside ;) And a shark... did i mention the shark. Surely we need to know more about the shark ;) 

BTW... Double thumbs up for including references to Prince's "Raspberry Beret" ;) 

[Captain Braunsfeld]

Very fine story. All the best to Steve, I hope he'll make it! 

[MyFirstMOC-Hun]

How did you make this rock monstrosity? Can you show me pictures of the technique? I would be very interested to see how it is built. Very nice entry! And the shark is a very good gag. 👍😉

[Fraunces]

Well written story and build!

[Autumn]

I love seeing old and new grays mixed together like this, makes it a lot more textured than just light and dark blay. You also have used a lot of interesting and unconventional parts to make the rock face. I also agree with the other critic however, it does need a little more colour, even if it's just a few scraggly bits of plant here and there, but I like it overall.

The moc reminds me of the Stairs of Cirith Ungol from Lord of the Rings.

[Math Wizard]

On 7/2/2024 at 12:14 AM, Captain Pirate Man said:

Great story, I enjoyed reading it!! The build is really well done also. We just recently did a rock build, so they are kinda fresh in my mind right now, so that helps give me appreciation for what you built here. I especially like the shark hidden in the rock. Ok so I gotta know... What happens next??

Thanks! It was a lot of fun to build, and ended up being pretty complex. Rockwork was something I wanted to work on growing my skills in, and this build really helped. As for what happens next... we all know where Steve ends up, right? So I'm sure you could deduce how it goes :)

On 7/2/2024 at 4:07 AM, Captain Pirate Man said:

So I have to know... Are you indeed a Math wizard? If so, have I reached 25 yet? I've lost track, lol.

I am indeed a Math Wizard, however I am much to busy to answer questions right now. I would advise going to your profile and checking your recent posts and counting them.

On 7/2/2024 at 6:32 AM, thewatchman said:

I love this build!

 Rock building is absolutely not my forte and I’m always impressed by shape and scale, especially here.

 My overwhelming issue with the build is lack of variety in colour. Be it sand, ocean or wet vs dry rock. I feel with a touch of sand and plant life this would be top notch!

Thanks! I'm glad you like it! If I still had it together I would add some more color, but unfortunately I had to take this build apart for need of pieces, ssince it uses all the dbg I own. 

 

On 7/2/2024 at 9:16 AM, Horation said:

A pleasant short background story, fitting for such a character as Steve. 

The rockwork is quite frankly some of the most creative I've seen, you use so many parts, which could have looked quite disjointed, but doesn't ; the dish piece looks like a rounded rock, the shark is just a really clever addition, and there is a good use of angles to improve the setting to a sufficient level.

However, @thewatchman is correct in his critique of the colours, I think some greens would help. Ideally dark greens so as to not ruin the the atmosphere too much. There's also an element I find a little strange : there a skeleton blocking the path at the bottom, which is indeed helping set the tone, but how did Steve get past him? He either would have jumped over him (he doesn't look like a gymnast though...) or he'd have moved him aside (and the skelly wouldn't be completely blocking the path, which is an easy fix).

A kirk (in Scotland) means a church, if that is what you meant, perhaps some hint of a chapel or of some spiritual challenge ahead would help send that message, alternatively if you meant captain kirk, consider adding a tribble or two... 

Thanks! The rockwork took a lot of patience to get looking good without gaps- some sections went through a lot of attempts before I was pleased with the lack of gaps. In regard to color, see what I said above. As for the skeleton, I didn't even think of that-good catch! I guess I'll suppose he worked his way around it to the right. And by Kirk, I was trying to give a reference to Ole Kirk Christiansen, the founder of LEGO, similar to how I referenced lego and Billund.

On 7/2/2024 at 9:59 AM, Samarth said:

Excellent rock work; I spy the shark and the brick separator! 

Thanks! Nice work! Can you also find the minifigure beanie, airplane tail, and cockpit?

On 7/2/2024 at 10:42 AM, NOD said:

Interesting story, I'm sure Steve will also complete the final task. The rock formation with the steps is well built.

Thanks! I feel like he has a good chance, considering where he ended up.

On 7/2/2024 at 1:01 PM, Mazin said:

Hey, i have exactly the same stairs at home!

:)

Jokes aside, amazing amazing stonework. Not sure what that shark is doing there, but what the hell, this is the land of total weirdness so why not? Conan's writers are boring compared to it's secret and all the treasures You came up with ;) Who knew Steve's life could be so dangerous, and that pirates would be so cruel/

This story surely needs more instalments to be complete. Especially that there seems like there is a secret door into that rock, in it's lower part, by the sea, and i'm very curious to know what's inside ;) And a shark... did i mention the shark. Surely we need to know more about the shark ;) 

BTW... Double thumbs up for including references to Prince's "Raspberry Beret" ;) 

Thanks! They're actually modeled after my attic stairs.  (jk lol) The shark was mainly placed since I was running low on grey pieces and needed something to fill the corner, but also adds a nod to the pirate theme. I was originally going to create a few smaller entries to go along with this, but I'm nor sure I'll have time as life is quite busy right now. As to the reference you noticed- It was entirely accidental; the only things I tried to reference were lego, billund, and Ole Kirk

On 7/2/2024 at 3:17 PM, Captain Braunsfeld said:

Very fine story. All the best to Steve, I hope he'll make it! 

Thanks! I think he will 

On 7/20/2024 at 5:23 AM, MyFirstMOC-Hun said:

How did you make this rock monstrosity? Can you show me pictures of the technique? I would be very interested to see how it is built. Very nice entry! And the shark is a very good gag. 👍😉

Thanks! It was built with careful hands and a lot of patience. I have a picture of the back, but I don't want to take up space on my Flickr. Is there another way to post images?

On 7/21/2024 at 4:40 AM, Fraunces said:

Well written story and build!

Thanks! Creative writing is one of my other hobbies in addition to LEGO, so this was a perfect chance to use both of them!

11 hours ago, Autumn said:

I love seeing old and new grays mixed together like this, makes it a lot more textured than just light and dark blay. You also have used a lot of interesting and unconventional parts to make the rock face. I also agree with the other critic however, it does need a little more colour, even if it's just a few scraggly bits of plant here and there, but I like it overall.

The moc reminds me of the Stairs of Cirith Ungol from Lord of the Rings.

Thanks! Using dbg and lbg contrasted too much, but old dark grey and new dark gray was a better gradient. You can see my earlier mention of using colors. Coincidentally, this was a MOC of Cirith Ungol, that I modified for this contest while I had it built. Here is the original build: https://www.flickr.com/photos/197227990@N07/53828024590/in/dateposted-public/

[Horation]

1 hour ago, Math Wizard said:

You can see my earlier mention of using colors. Coincidentally, this was a MOC of Cirith Ungol, that I modified for this contest while I had it built. Here is the original build: https://www.flickr.com/photos/197227990@N07/53828024590/in/dateposted-public/

I have to say it is rare that I see a build that fits two themes so well, but this is one of them! Glad to know that the skeleton critique has been noted.

[Math Wizard]

12 hours ago, Horation said:

I have to say it is rare that I see a build that fits two themes so well, but this is one of them! Glad to know that the skeleton critique has been noted.

Actually, I submitted this build to not 1, not 2, but 3 contests! It was for the open round of MELO (Middle Earth LEGO Olympics), the Stairway Tales category of Summer Joust, and here, for the Infamous Steve Contest. If contests have overlapping time frames I like to try to build things that can fit multiple, as I don't have a super lot of building time between other life obligations.

[Horation]

That's a really good trick, and I can't complain. Since you have indeed put quite a bit of effort into creating a credible backstory behind it all.

Edited August 9, 2024 by Horation
punctuation

[Math Wizard]

7 minutes ago, Horation said:

That's a really good trick, and I can't complain, since you've indeed put quite a bit of effort into creating a credible backstory behind it all.

Yeah, I really enjoy the creative writing aspect of this contest. I have a lot of builds that have stories written with them. My current favorite is this duo of builds and the accompanying story: https://www.flickr.com/photos/197227990@N07/53279791357/in/dateposted-public/ and https://www.flickr.com/photos/197227990@N07/53347674998/in/dateposted-public/

(Also, you might want to edit your previous post and add a period to change it to 2 sentences to qualify as a reply for the critic awards)

 

Edited August 3, 2024 by Math Wizard
links

[Horation]

Well, that's a pair of fine builds as well, they are both quite Victorian in style!

I do hope this Overseer of yours won't stand in the path of Steve.

Edited August 6, 2024 by Horation
punctuation.

[Math Wizard]

20 minutes ago, Horation said:

Well, that's a pair of fine builds as well, they are both quite Victorian in style!

I do hope this Overseer of yours won't stand in the path of Steve...

Thanks! That story will continue later this year when the Wandering Skies contest occurs again... 

You'll have to wait until then to find out, but given the different locations they probably won't cross.

But then again, LEGO has a contest to have builds displayed in the LEGO House right now and one of the categories is mashup madness, so...

Edited August 3, 2024 by Math Wizard

[YellowFrog]

Great rockwork, it looks both natural and cohesive, very difficult to achieve. One critique would be that the shark stands out too much (perhaps use a shark in dark bluish grey instead of old grey), and that in the end, the build is just a large rock. Perhaps plants, or palm trees leaning off the sides, would add to this?

[Math Wizard]

2 hours ago, YellowFrog said:

Great rockwork, it looks both natural and cohesive, very difficult to achieve. One critique would be that the shark stands out too much (perhaps use a shark in dark bluish grey instead of old grey), and that in the end, the build is just a large rock. Perhaps plants, or palm trees leaning off the sides, would add to this?

Thanks! It took a lot of tries to get it looking this good (and a lot of cheese slopes filling in gaps). I agree with your critiques. The problem is the dbg sharks have printed eyes, which is why I used an old grey one, and hoped it would blend in since there are several other old grey bricks mixed throughout. In regard to adding plants, it seems like a great idea, and I would totally do it if I still had the build fully intact. 

[YellowFrog]

I believe you can buy plain shark heads on PaB. Also, I commend the photo edit - it looks very sleek and professional.

Edited August 6, 2024 by YellowFrog

[Horation]

Well, I can understand not wanting to spend money to make money. But, it would indeed be quite efficient to just order a few such parts next time you buy online, as it could improve the colour consistency a little

[YellowFrog]

I wouldn't be too hasty to call building Lego MOCs money-making, even if you enter it in competitions. But still, I agree that a PaB order on the side of every purchase is a good way to build up your parts collection.

[BardDandelion]

Interesting build, reminds me a lot of stairs to Sheloba lair from LotR.

Stairs themself are really nice, it's good that you make them uneven and skewed, climbing them feels like a real challange. :D

Not sure about the rockwork. Parts that are not bricks or slopes seems a bit off, this is not the best incorporation of weird parts into the rockwork. Sometimes even not that wacky connections do not look natural (eg. if rockwork is mostly done with slopes but then there is some big curved wedge between them). This also often happens in microscale or in greebling in space builds. In your case shark and brick separator are a bit too obvious to spot, they stand out from the whole build.