[COR - CHIIA] Help Me, Erie Flynn, You're My Only Hope.

[SkaForHire]

Challenge II, Category A

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

The Flynn Blockhouse at Port Raleigh.

fortflynn by skaforhire, on Flickr

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PART ONE: Her Only Hope

The Day was young, and Lieutenant Sully Tanner was already exhausted. Governor Flynn had insisted on walking to the new Blockhouse named in his honor rather than ride – or at least walk the last three miles of the journey outside of Port Raleigh. Tanner was on bodyguard duty, with a few members of the 33^rd Regiment that he now commanded. (Although he missed the Royal Marines, they were much… tougher.) The governor had his commission transferred to the 33^rd, but he would always be a man with his eye to the sea.

The first part of the fort to come into view was what the soldiers had nicknamed “the crown” the parapets on the top of the roof of the blockhouse were meant to serve as both a watch position and to provide extra cover fire from a superior vantage point.

DSC_2898 by skaforhire, on Flickr

The governor wanted to make his way to the fort to meet with a new trader. The trade, Mark Folton, desired to bid on the contract to supply the new fort. Sully knew that the man’s prices would beat the current supplier, the MAESTRO Company, but he doubted that Folton could supply in the same quantity as the Elsandolan company that held a post on Annetta as well.

DSC_2890 by skaforhire, on Flickr

The first think Sully noticed when they got to the large, flat clearing where the fort had been constructed was that the jungle growth had already began to reclaim the grounds that his men had spent so long to clear in order to build the fort. The governor had all of the settlement’s animals on the now pasture land, in hopes that the cattle and horses would mow the vegetation away. Unfortunately, by the look of it, the herd would have to be ten times larger to keep men from having to keep the clearing void of growth.

DSC_2891 by skaforhire, on Flickr

The fort was heavily armed, with eight large guns, two a side, pointing at the four compass points. The fort sat on a critical point along the native trail, about five miles from the settlement. This was the first contact point for natives who wanted to trade with the Corlanders. Eventually, a palisade and trading buildings would be added to the site, but for now the fort also stood as Port Raleigh’s western defense.

DSC_2883 by skaforhire, on Flickr

DSC_2888 by skaforhire, on Flickr

Sully was watching the governor exchange pleasantries with the merchant, he could tell Lord Flynn was less than impressed, when all of the sudden, out of the brush, without warning from the guards in the Crown, two natives made their way straight for the governor. The men of the 33^rd jumped in front of their governor to protect him.

DSC_2893 by skaforhire, on Flickr

But the woman was in tears, and the man, despite carrying a weapon did not act threatening… actually he seemed to be upset and pleading in another language.

DSC_2896 by skaforhire, on Flickr

Soon the governor brought over Folton who knew the language. These were not the Ténotclaxcans, but another tribe, The Andequota, a small group of natives from the southern side of the island. The Andequota were subservient to the Ténotclaxcans, due to a war a few decades ago. In fact they were a tributary people who did not have permission from their masters to talk to Halosians. That is probably why they were here now.

DSC_2899 by skaforhire, on Flickr

“She says that she wants to give you this blood ruby.” Folton said.

Sully leaned in to pear at the largest ruby he had ever seen.

“She says that she knows our kind love rubies and all things from the ground.” Folton continued.

“Why? Is it a gesture of good faith?” Lord Flynn asked.

The woman began to cry even harder now and Folton had trouble interpreting her through the sobs.

“She says that her baby was taken by a Ténotclaxcan priest…. Something about too late… no, no, if we do not hurry we will be too late.” He stopped, and a second later his moth dropped open.

He turned to the governor, “Sir, I think the priest means to harm the baby.”

“Savages!” said one of the men of the 33^rd. Sully knew that many of the regiment were new to New Terra, and were far from open-minded about other cultures, but this seemed to go a bit too far to just accept.

One of the 33^rd chimed in to one of his buddies: “we shant be stikin arr neck out for thaar kin! They bin murdin our brothers for months now.”

The governor spoke, “She needs to talk to the Ténotclaxcan King here. We are not supposed to even be talking to her, our truce is barely held up by our mutual partnership with MAESTRO. “

“Sir, she says the King Azuma had sanctioned this atrocity!” Folton said. “He may even be at the Temple of the Snake” now.

“By Zeus, that is terrible.” The governor said, and thought for a moment. “We can’t pull the troops here to go on this chase to save the infant, but at the same time, how can we forgive ourselves if we let the innocent be slaughtered? But I can’t put our men in danger. Tell her I am sorry.”

Folton spoke to the woman, and then again looked stunned. “Sir, she says that there are Halosians there in Purple coats. No, err…. Purple and blue always get mixed up by the Andequota, I think she means blue coats”

“Oleanders!” Lord Flynn said. “Sully, have someone ride back to town now and prepare the defenses at Fort Redoubtable. If the Oleanders are making dark pacts with the Ténotclaxcans, our very existence may be threatened. We need to send men there to assess the threat.”

The governor looked at Sully. “Tanner, we can’t send the 33^rd, but I want you to investigate this. Take the Andequota man, and go to Prospector’s bluff, it is on the way. Grab Lieutenant Nichols and what is left of his platoon from the 27^th regiment. Do not engage unless the baby is in immediate danger and you know that you can save it.”

The men of the 33^rd breathed a sigh of relief, they knew this to be a dangerous mission, as the Ténotclaxcans were fierce warriors. If they were with Oleanders, or even if it was just the purple uniformed Garvians, this could be a real battle. The 27^th Regiment. “The Roughnecks,” were disliked universally by every other army regiment. As a penal regiment, they were not thought to be fit for garrisoning cities, and the crown had begun to send them to the new world. Flynn didn’t want them here either, so he sent Nichols and his platoon out to a prospecting site to erect a fort. Sully was not pleased that he would be working with them at all.

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Thanks for reading the story and looking at the build! There actually is an interior, the roof pops off, but I could not get it totally furnished in time. I am a little disappointed with the surroundings, but a historic blockhouse would be in a clearing, which would have been leveled if possible. So I added the vegetation problem to make up for the empty space. I hope you all like it!

[The Sarge]

Nice! This looks a lot like the blockhouses at Fort Vancouver down the river from me. Photowise, do you have some paper you could place behind it when taking photos? It might make the unedited ones look better.

Also, we Oleanders don't make treaties with baby killing natives... we "pacify" them. One way or another.

[blackdeathgr]

Great build, great atmosphere, great story and quite some minifig bustling scene. This is what it must had looked like when trade was being done outside fortified "white men" settlements

[TitusV]

Great build, great atmosphere, great story and quite some minifig bustling scene. This is what it must had looked like when trade was being done outside fortified "white men" settlements

All agreed on! Good job

[Fuzzy MacFuzz]

Brillaint addition to the defences of Port Raleigh! The fort looks magnificent and the figures are very nicely arranged in all your scenes. And I Ioved your story, increasing interaction with the natives is a great line to pursue. But I see trouble ahead...

[SkaForHire]

Thanks everyone! Yes, trouble indeed! I did not license the fort in March, but will have to do so here in April!

[kabel]

straight outta plymouth .. cool stuff Ska, always like what you put together!

[Mike S]

Nice builds and story! Looking forward to see where this leads...

[Tezclatipoca]

What a story !

And great entry !

I hope some dissident Ténotclaxcans are not friends of Oleon priests ! This could lead to a war and MAESTRO would have to help king Azuma too.

[Elostirion]

So solid, a great blockhouse. One of the best wooden lego fortifications I have seen to date, I really love it.

And yet again another amazing storyline built around it.

[Bregir]

Great looking blockhouse, Ska - just the kind of inland fortification I was hoping to see here. Very fitting for the setting. On closer inspection, the ground looks a little bare, but I think the grazing animals and the different vegetation does a good job of disguising it. And maybe it really just is a flat plain? (Those fallen over flower stems work surprisingly well.

The story is really good too - but I wonder if it will have diplimatic consequences...

My only comment is to put something in the title that indicates that it is part of a series - I read them in the wrong order!

[SkaForHire]

Thanks everyone,

I had too little time, and not enough green to do too much more with the ground. But, engineering wise, the soldiers would have tried to level the land anyway to keep the ability to fire further, at least most blockhouses in the interior of North America were designed like this if the soldiers had time to do so. That is kind of what I was thinking here anyway, Away from the fort would eventually be other buildings, such as a storehouse or trade post. I might try to build the whole scene eventually.

[Captain Dee]

Beautiful blockhouse. The overall form looks just about perfect and the dark red roof looks great. I don't mind the flat base - it makes perfect sense to me, otherwise it would be more difficult to defend. The action on the ground looks good and the story is well-written as usual. Good work.

[Captain Braunsfeld]

I think you are the first one to re-use the circus director's torso in a pirate context - but it seems to be ok!

Fine MOC!