Mike S

My wife wanted to see the other entries besides mine and when she saw this one she was like WOW!!! So thats coming from someone that isn't a LEGO fan... I must say that I'm really inspired by this...

Some interesting concepts here... I like how you have the ice bridge getting larger in subsequent pics. Also the cracked floor is awesome. But the sand golem... I swear everytime I look at it, it brings back memories of my great grandma's monkey sockdoll back when I was 5 or so. I'm not sure if that is good or bad but it makes me smile everytime I look at it.

Thanks everyone for the comments! I have just realized with this contest that I may end up learning to be a better photographer as well as a better builder. I never fancied myself to be that great of a photographer but I'm realizing that without good photos, its hard to share a good representation of what I build. I plan to do some experimentation with my camera so I hope you will see an improvement in later entries. The main problem with this one was its size. I had always been able to set up artificial light that worked fine imo (e.g. A coffee house of Barqa), but with this I couldn't really rig any lighting I had available with satisfactory results. I lucked out that it turned out to be a fine day when I got off work on Saturday evening so was able to take better pics. I think you are asking about Bricklink part 2903 Dark Bluish Gray Wheel 81.6x15? I stacked a bunch of them to make the trunk of the towers. Are there jungles in Mitgardia?

I agree!

Nice! I'm glad you were able to salvage your MOC...

Brilliant! I was wondering where the guardian was... I never would have guessed that the island itself was the guardian.

This is getting added to my favorites! There are so many unique techniques: the waterfall, staircase, bridge... a very solid entry!

That is awesome and I love that crystal tree! From what I have seen of your MOCs, I think this is the best one yet....

Some additional photos: This was my original concept:

Ok I finished my entry...My link I'll try to get better pics tomorrow if I can.

Greetings most excellent Dextrus Flagg, I present to you the water crystal of Kaliphlin. The story of how I came to find the crystal is long and I shall save the complete tale for another time. However I am now unconvinced of the benevolence of the Elder Druids and because of this I will recount to you the actual finding of the crystal. You may not recognise me in the paintings for I decided to set aside my heavy armor and wear a lighter more adventure suited attire. My search party, which consisted of myself, ten soldiers, four packmen, my personal portrait painter, and our mysterious guide, had been trekking through a primeval jungle south of Barqa for over a week. Our mysterious guide that I had met in the caves I had discovered near the WitherWoods, continued to chart his course with a strange compass like device and we continued to follow him. Finally on the day we found the crystal, the ancient path we had been following abruptly ended at the edge of a cliff overlooking a hidden jungle valley. Across the valley, built in successive intervals, stood a row of towers connected by rope bridges. We continued our trek across the bridges and towers and eventually came to the center of the valley. One of my soldiers fell through a rotted plank of one of the rope bridges but he managed to grab one of the ropes and his comrades hauled him back up. At the center of the valley a mound of rock rose above the jungle fauna. Upon this rock was built an ancient edifice. We carefully crossed the last rope bridge to this structure and found the rock mound to be hollow on the inside and there was a staircase built into the rockface leading down to the bottom of the pit. Suddenly the fauna growing upon the walls of the ancient edifice began to move. Until now I had not paid much attention to the fauna on the walls, my concentration being instead on the deep pit within the mound of rock. As the vines detached themselves from the walls, I realized these were a species of plants I had never encountered before. I had noticed some interesting plant species in the jungle below as I crossed the rope bridges one of which looked like the rare Dragonwing Flower. But these vines were thicker than a man and thorny. One of my soldiers screamed as a thick tendral wrapped around him, his swinging sword unable to free him before he was torn in half. The rest of my soldiers were already in action hacking at the tendrals but I could not see much hope in their efforts. Suddenly a burst of fire came from behind me and engulfed one of the massive vines. I looked behind me and saw our mysterious guide aiming his mages staff at another vine and saw a stream of fire shoot out of the glowing red gem at the tip of the staff. “Fire! Men! Light your torches!” I yelled to my soldiers. My packmen lit a torch as my soldiers retreated back to us to light their torches. With the torches, my soldiers began to make visable progress toward destroying the vines. Unfortunately our success was not to be easily won. The vines changed tactics and instead of trying to grab my soldiers, they now began to coil and whip at us, the sharp thorns on the vines slicing and ripping through any unprotected skin. Two more of my soldiers were felled, one being slammed into the wall and knocked unconcious and the other knocked off the narrow stairway and falling into the depths below. I heard yelling behind me and realized that our mysterious guide was trying to get my attention. “The head!” he yelled pointing at the center of the pit below. I looked and understood what he meant. We had to get down to the head and destroy it if we were going to emerge from this battle triumphantly. I yelled the orders for my soldiers to make their way down to the center of the pit. I instructed my packmen to return to the last tower out of reach of the vines and followed my men down the narrow staircase that wound down around the side of the pit. Our mysterious guide remained above and continued to shoot flames of fire out of his staff but now directed at the massive head at the bottom of the pit. Once I reached the bottom, I realized that I no longer had much of a fight ahead of me. The plant's head was engulfed in flames and it thrashed about trying to escape the fire to no avail. I swung my torch and hacked at the vines surounding the head and soon the plant ceased to move. A blackened and crumpled lump of leaves was all that remained of the plant head. I looked around to see if there were any other enemies or traps but couldn't detect any so I walked over and picked up the water crystal from its monument. The return journey home was quite easy and we encountered no problems. Our mysterious guide took leave of us just before we reached Barqa. I asked him to return with us and I would reward him for his help recovering the crystal. He refused saying he had somewhere else to be and had no time to stop in Barqa. I never saw his face as it was always covered by a golden mask but as I think about him now, I get an uneasy feeling about him. I continue to ponder who he was and what was the strange device he used to find the crystal. I now know that I have only scratched the surface of the mysteries that Historica holds and that thereare more mysteries here than a lifetime of adventuring can uncover. But I now have decided to search for more information about the Elder Druids, for if their sacrifice had the power to bless historica, why then was it locked away and the keys sent to the four corners of the land and guarded by such dangerous entities? I urge caution in proceeding until more solid information is obtained of the Elder Druids for it seems now we act upon legends, legends that could have become corrupted over the ages. May your wells always be clean and full, Mikel Kalores of Barqa

Very creative story and MOC! I like it! I wish I could be inspired to make a simple MOC as inspiring as this but alas my mind can usually only dream up these gigantic scenes. (I'm not sure if simple is the word I should use as this is a very eye appealing MOC and one that I wouldn't mind saving as wallpaper on my comp but can't think of a better at the moment.)

Great job! I loved the story and the gaurdian! Also liked the dwarven beard/ cavewoman hair combo. I have never seen that done before but it looks like it works out well. I had tried different hair pieces with the beard but there always ends up being a gap which looks weird. This hairpiece looks like it might solve that problem...

Agreed except I might replace "evil" with awesome! (It has an angelic theme )

Thanks! I've been thinking that Mikel will be getting a new look soon. Adventuring in noble clothes and heavy armor just isn't working out too well. So expect a character update. Once I finish challenge 3, it should free up some time for me to continue Mikel's backstory and Hitchikers' Guide. I also have some new techniques that I have been playing around with one of which is going to be incorporated in my castle (roof) and a MOC located in Avalonia which will be the abbey from Mikel's past (pillars)- that will also be my free build for the embassy challenge since I signed up here too late to enter that. Tower challenge is incorporated in challenge 3.

super cool... it reminds me of a game my dad bought us kids when we were young- Vikings and Barbarians

I could probably put together an army of around 60 Lion Knights alone (but if I put all factions and monsters and recruited villagers together into an army.... ) but my standing army will be a bit less. I like to be a bit realistic with my standing army and if I do not have the buildings to lodge and support my army (think food, armor/weaponsmiths, etc), I reduce the size. When I finish my castle, (which thanks to Eurobricks is now slated to be torn down and redesigned ) I should be able to maintain a standing army of about 50.

Welcome to the Guild, Sir Anturio and Nariek Francis Well I took some time off from work but still having quite the time finding the time to finish the entry. However today I was able to make some serious progress. Progress update: The gaurdian has continued to evolve and I think I am finally satisfied with its current form. Mostly all I have left to do is vegetation. I had taken another picture of top viewbut my camera evidently corrupted the file... I only have internet at work (money that used to go to internet service now goes to LEGO) and I only realized the file was corrupted as I was about to upload it. Hopefully I will have final pics this weekend.

Thanks! My lack of building space is more of a headache I think... Thanks! I hope I have the meanest looking gaurdian ever!

Just to say, I think this is one of the best Cuusoo ideas currently being presented... I was wondering if the designs are to scale for 3d printing like Mingles did for his Zelda designs? It would be awesome if you sold these online with the material quality of Brickwarriors so we fans didn't have to wait for the long TLG process.

Here are some more WIP pics:

EDIT: eurobricks doesn't seem to like my word processor program. I always have to edit when I copy and paste. Well I was planning on posting some pics today but when I went to take a pic I realized that I had left my memory card at work so I will just post Part 1 of my Quest for the water crystal and add pics later. Greetings most excellent Dextrus Flagg, I present to you the water crystal of Kaliphlin. The story of how I came to find the crystal is long and I shall save the complete tale for another time. However I am now unconvinced of the benevolence of the Elder Druids and because of this I will recount to you the actual finding of the crystal. My search party, which consisted of myself, ten soldiers, four packmen, my personal portrait painter, and our mysterious guide, had been trekking through a primeval jungle south of Barqa for over a week. Finally on the day we found the crystal, the ancient path we had been following abruptly ended at the edge of a cliff overlooking a hidden jungle valley. Across the valley, built in successive intervals, stood a row of towers connected by rope bridges. We continued our trek across the bridges and towers and eventually came to the center of the valley. One of my soldiers fell through a rotted plank of one of the rope bridges but he managed to grab one of the ropes and his comrades hauled him back up. At the center of the valley a mound of rock rose above the jungle fauna. Upon this rock was built an ancient edifice. We carefully crossed the last rope bridge to this structure and found the rock mound to be hollow on the inside and there was a staircase built into the rockface leading down to the bottom of the hole. Suddenly the fauna growing upon the walls of the ancient edifice began to move. Until now I had not paid much attention to the fauna on the walls, my concentration being instead on the deep pit within the mound of rock. As the vines detached themselves from the walls, I realized these were a species of plants I had never encountered before. The vines were a mixed color of red and green and at the end of each grew a massive transparent twin leafed pod that opened like the jaws of a giant serpent. One of my soldiers screamed as a thick tendral wrapped around him, his swinging sword unable to free him before one of the pods enveloped him. The rest of my soldiers were already in action hacking at the tendrals but I could not see much hope in their efforts. Suddenly a burst of flames came from behind me and engulfed one of the massive vines. I looked behind me and saw our mysterious guide aiming his mages staff at another vine and saw a stream of fire shoot out of the glowing red gem at the tip of the staff. “Fire! Men! Light your torches!” I yelled to my soldiers. My packmen began lighting torches as my soldiers retreated back to us to light their torches. With the torches, my soldiers began to make visable progress toward destroying the vines. Unfortunately our success was not to be easily won. The vines changed tactics and instead of trying to envelop my soldiers now began to coil and whip at us, the sharp thorns on the vines slicing and ripping through any unprotected skin. Two more of my soldiers were felled,one being slammed into the wall and knocked unconcious and the other knocked off the narrow stairway and falling into the depths below. I heard yelling behind me and realized that our mysterious guide was trying to get my attention. “The head!” he yelled pointing at the center of the pit below. I looked and understood what he meant. We had to get down to the head and destroy it if we were going to emerge from this battle triumphantly. I yelled the orders for my soldiers to make their way down to the center of the pit. I instructed my packmen and Rafael my painter to return to the last tower out of reach of the vines and then followed my soldiers down the narrow staircase that wound down around the side of the pit. to be continued.... and updated with pictures.... A quick pic of entry WIP showing druid structure, gaurdian tendrils, head, mysterious guide, and unfinished base.

medic - You MOC looks good. Can't wait to see the finished product. Basiliscus - Awesome entry you have going on there!

cerrunos is a good name... however it does look like your triceratops is a different variation of the triceratrops that I was naming. As my guide that I'm working on is of the Siccus Badlands I just wanted to establish sort of "official" names in Kaliphlin. Even in Kaliphlin though, I expect that the same animal is called several different names as some are quite content to use the actual real life names or invent their own names which I can in "roleplay" logically attribute to different languages and dialects.

Yes, I'm pretty sure TLG is copying Jurassic Park with their dino theme and so the raptors are based off the movie as well. (edit: the lego dino website actually clarifies the raptor as being only 7 feet long which would make it only slightly longer than a minifig) Personally I'm glad they did as chicken sized dinos are just not as fun... Some name ideas I have come up with: T Rex = Kertenkele Kral (Lizard King) Velociraptor = Orakayak (Sickle Toe) Coelophysis = Kolofiz (Hollow Form) Triceratops = Uclukorn (Triple Horn)