Darnok

The "Garnet Inn", run by old Osmond Garnet and his daughter Jewel, is a jack-of-all-trades pub. It serves a variety of beers and wines, you can get a fine meal there - many ingredients are grown in its own garden behind the house, or come from the nearby jungle - but "Ol' Osmond" also offers postal services and sells a couple of newspapers. Customers are served in the lower level, Jewel and her father live and sleep upstairs. Situated at a road eastbound into the deeper jungles of Celestia, and literally the last building of Jameston on this route, over the last weeks the "Garnet Inn" has become a popular last stop for expeditions before finally moving into the wilderness. At this place, a few days after Reinhard had met quite a strange lady: 617, Day 21 of the 11th Month, In Jameston Almost a week has come and gone, but now I finally have made up my mind. Even if I never planned to end up on this island, I will be damned if I do not make the best of it! If there is indeed a fabled orchid in the jungle out there, it can as well be me who finds it. A few discoveries on the way there would be most welcome! The preperations are made, I will start tomorrow in the morning. Today I will visit the "Garnet Inn" one last time. The owners daughter, Jewel is her name, seems to profess an unusually good knowledge of the plants around here. She does venture into the jungle for hours every few days, and often brings back leaves, berries and whatnot to put into her (delicious) meals. If I could convince her to come with me, that would be a great help... I thought that I could just ask. "Dear lady Garnet, we do not know each other too well, but I have noticed your considerable expertise when it comes to the nearby jungle. I ham heading for the wilderness tomorrow in the morning, and a person like ou would be a great help! What would you say when I ask you to join me on my expedition?" Jewel replied: "I thought you would never ask. I have so many ideas! It is just that my fath..." We got interrupted by Ol' Osmond: "Enough of this nonsense already! Jewel, you will not go on one of these foolish expeditions. Silly flowers deep in a deadly jungle?! Do not be so childish! And you mister: get out of here and do not come back!" I had to leave, but heard Jewel whisper "come back in the earliest of morning" before being kicked out by her infuriated father. =================================================== 617, Day 22 of the 11th Month, In the jungle near Jameston In the early morning, just before the black of the night turns into the darkest blue of dawn, I waited behind the "Garnet Inn", curious as what to expect. I did not have to wait long, when one of the upper windows opened in absolute silence, and young Jewel climbed down a rope! What a surprise! There was not a lot of time for discussions, for her father seemed to have noticed the open window. Just when he came out of the front door, furiously yelling at us, we legged it into the nearby jungle. Now the sun is up for two hours already, and we have made a good bit of progress on the paths made by those expeditions coming before us. My first real adventure in the New World has just started! =================================================== Dramatis Personae: Reinhard Wolffson, 48 years old, moved to the New World after the death of his father. An experienced explorer already, he hopes to discover many more wonders and secrets all over the Brickseas. Somewhat stranded on Celestia, he now is heading for the deep jungles of the island, looking forward to find a fabled "superb orchid" - and study as many things as possible on the way there. Jewel Garnet, 32 years old, daughter of "Ol' Osmond" Garnet. Until just recently, she heped in running the "Garnet Inn", and is well known for both her cooking skills as well as her curiosity - but most of all for her desire for adventure and freedom. She knows the jungle close to Jameston inside out, but never moved far away from the town. She sees Reinhard as a chance to finally follow her dreams. Where this will take her? Only time will tell. ====================================================================================================== The adventure is now "officially" started, this post will work as my entry for Category A of the Superb Orchid Challenge. First, some more pictures of the builds outside: The roof (including the upper level, which has no interior - sorry @Mesabi ) can be taken off, and the building itself can be taken apart right in the middle. More pictures of that, including details from the scene in the first post: C&C on the story as well as on the build itself are of course welcome.

While I do not like either the series or the Ghosts design, this MOC is absolutely incredible! Very impressive build, a fine rendition of the series model, with lots of sweet interior details. Well done!

As usual with you: top quality build! Of all the many details I like the order in the warehouse the most: everything perfectly lined up, very corrish! Is this warehouse in King's Harbour or Quinnsville? Your entry does not say (and it is not that important), but for the story it ould be nice to know.

Aye, a brilliant build, perfectly merging old and new. Thanks for the sub-build pictures, they are awesome!

As the saying goes: pecunia non olet! The build is nicely detaild, the minifig posing is good, and the story - as usual - is hilarious. Well done! The following criticism is moaning on quite a high level: the lighting is not that great in some pictures (especially the first one), some of the brown plates look dusty, and the chest on the top right in the last pictures looks like it is floating a bit (not pressed on the plate below?). These are minor things really. I really like what I see! But... ... would it not be wiser to first pay the debt, and then tell the story?

There are no challenge entries yet. You can comment on the story thread on everything, or wait for the single entry threads for comments on specific things. To quote myself:

Nice! Lovely model, with great details. Well done!

Thanks for clearing this up, I thought it would be like that. No big deal really, I think the categories B and C are indeed much more important.

Is it correct that there are 1st/2nd/3rd prices in the categories B and C, but only one price for category A? If so: may I ask why?

617, Day 15 of the 11th month, In Jameston These last days have been weird. I boarded a ship in Arlinsport three weeks ago. Its destination was Cocovia - or so I thought. My plans were to work on the Royal Wagonway, explore the island, its plants, animals and natives. I had no idea that the captain of my ship was the greatest idiot to ever sail the Brick Seas. When we landed, I was informed that we had arrived in Celestia, not Cocovia - the captain was sure they were one and the same! The gods, they do not smile on me... So what to do next? I first looked for a room, which was easier said than done. The whole town was busy with foreigners, I repeatedly heard some kind of orchid mentioned. I finally found a small hotel in the outskirts of Jameston. Over the next days, I made a series of long walks through Jameston itself and the area around it - what a beautiful corner of the world this turned out to be! There was a nice little place to rest at the very end of town - the "Garnet Inn" - which I frequented often these days. After one of my walks into the nearby jungle, I had an evening meal there, when I met a most interesting woman: "So you are one of the ousiders looking for an orchid here? You are aware that there are lots of orchids in this jungle?" I asked her. She seemed to be drunk. "Yarr, orchid stuff. I am famous, you know? And this one orchid will be famous too, we just need to find it first. It is somewhere deep in the jungle, and everybody and their donkey is sending expeditions out. I guess you noticed..." "Possibly. But tell me more about this. And: barkeep, give this lady another bottle of your finest!" "Cheers, what a gentleman! Unlike my damn husband, who is chasing some poor souls to rip off in the south... never mind. So we had our own little expedition going, but you know what? The jungle sucks. And orchids suck too. Two days into this green hell were enough for my taste. May some other fool have luck with this, we will leave tomorrow. You want some equipment, only mildly used? And for this bottle - why is it half empty already? - one piece of advice: leave too. There are so many things I have never seen or even heard about out there, one silly flower is not worth the effort!" Having said that, she stumbled out of the inn, not to be seen again. So many things never seen or heard about out there? How awesome is that? What a great chance! I might just take it, but an expedition into the unknown is not to be taken lightly. I will sleep about this, and see what the next days bring. ================================================================================= This thread is supposed to tell the story of Reinhard Wolffsons adventures on Celestia. Many posts here are also entries for the Orchid Challenge, but these will be reposted in seperate threads as requested by The Powers That Be - I assume it will make the handling of the challenge entries easier. Some other builds will not be for the main challenge, but "story builds" only, some posts might actually be text only (the horror!). Please comment on the challenge entries in the respective seperate threads, and here when it is about the story itself (sometimes both might be appropriate). If in doubt, just post where you want.

Since the Main Challenge has been extended until January 30, I take the chance to extend the deadline for this mini-challenge. The new deadline is the 14th of January. See above.

Good news!

Bah, sorry for the mixup. And thank you for clearing it up.

I am fine with this as well, but now I have two conflicting answers. @Bregir: Do you change your first anwser?

Ah, I see. I assumed that "unlimited" meant "one build, not restricted in size". Thanks for clearing this up. Is it okay to use one thread for all my challenge entries, or should I set up one thread per entry? I would like to present it as one continuous diary, but I would understand if "one thread per entry" is easier for organisational reasons.

So you have to post your progress here? I have started my first AMRCA here.

I have a question about category C: I assume this one can also consist of multiple builds as "one entry"? I ask because I would like to depict the scene where the orchid is found in one (minifig scale) build, and show the orchid itself in a second (macro scale) build. Another option would be to do the scne in category C and the orchid in category B - but then "the orchid itself" could not be judged in my category C entry...

Nope, crystalclear, thank you. We'll do it like that.

@Bregir: Thanks a lot, that will help to avoid confusion in the future! Two questions concerning mines: Is a prospect build necessary for every mine? Or does each prospect build allow an unlimited number of mines of the given type? Does a prospect build of player A allow player B to set up a mine of the given type? As an example: I have discovered coal on Argentia, and wonder if Mesabi can set up a coal mine. As usual: thanks in advance!

Hehe, nice little story! The sails work surprisingly well, I have never thought of this. Great idea! The numbers are pretty distracting though, but they could be hidden behind some round arches (like you will find in many church windows). I have no idea how it could be considered this. What a strange comment!

A very creative design! The build itself is not overly complex (which is good), and the overall concept just works. I love it!

Northbound, out of the port of Elizabethville and on the open sea sailed the "Cranky Parrot": The ships supplies had been refreshed in Elizabethville, and the adventure had now started properly. On board, WTC Operator Aryana Irving, called "Pip", remembered the day some weeks ago, when a letter from Count Mesabi reached Mesabi Landing: Mission is going fine, but don't tell Agnes. Can't tell where we are right now, letter might be intercepted. Heard about a reward for finding land north of Serentia. Send Old One Eye. Make it so! With Mordo having other important duties, it fell to Aryana to organise the mission. She decided to kill two birds with one stone, and not only send Gerard "Old One Eye" Wilton and the infamous "Black Squad" - the heaviest drinkers of Mesabi Landing, and propably all the Prio Sea - out of town before any Corrington snoopers arrived, but also get rid of any possibly incriminating material. So "Black Squad" was called into action... ... while Captain Riley oversaw the "Cranky Parrot" loaded with many an ominous content: Mordo discussed the situation with Pip and Old One Eye: "Listen here. I have never heard of them before, but the Royal Society of Navigation and Discovery apparently has set up a considerable reward for anybody finding habitable land north of Serentia. The Counts orders are clear. You two will lead the expedition, the Cranky Parrot will first set course to Elizabethville. Try to make some deals on Lacryma, I hear they have lots of horses - and please behave! Get some last supplies there, then set sails for the open sea and head north. You will take some messenger pigeons with you, but only use them in case of emergency, or once you find land." So once everything was stored, the "Cranky Parrot" - modified to carry a smaller boat for landing operations and expeditions - left the harbour of Mesabi Landing: Back on the open sea nobody knew wait waited for them, only that they were... northbound. ================================================================================================= Some more pictures under the spoilertag, especially the messenger pigeon and some more harbour shots: And the harbour scene I based the microbuild on (including my Fort Argavia build):

Then... do so? If you make a ruling and then not make it public knowledge it is not the new player to blame for not not knowing about it. @Bregir: You could get of your high horse every once in a while...

INDEX Summary Prelude Chapter I - An unexpected diversion Chapter II - This is no moon island Chapter III - Further North (?) Chapter IV - The Great Unknown Chapter V - A change of plans Chapter VI - Parting ways... for now Chapter VII - Intermissions =============== SUMMARY Status: Chapter VII - Intermissions Participating members Drunknok Participating vessels Cranky Parrot, Nipper Point of start: Elizabethville Characters WTC Operator Aryana "Pip" Irving Gunnery Sergeant Gerard "Old One Eye" Wilton and his "Black Squad" of the WTC Marines Captain Cassidy Riley and the crew of the "Cranky Parrot" Wesbert Thaum Troops "Black Squad", 1 Platoon (10 WTC Marines) ========================================== Dramatis personae:

Ruling by "because I say so" is not leadership, it is bullying.