A couple of weeks ago, shortly before trade ships set sail in November...

The Weelond harbor was bustling with activity as sailors made their way to their ships and captains checked their manifests with the harbor master. Captain Philip Janszen was one of those captains. The Far Horizon was to set sail for Terreli shortly. But Janszen had received word that Willem Guilder, Director of the MCTC, needed to meet with him. And so Janszen and his first mate, Anthony Crol, headed back to the harbor master's office to meet the director.

"Any idea what this is about?" asked Tony.

"Not a clue," answered Pip. "But it must be important for the director to want to speak to me personally. Maybe he needs us to see to something for him in Terreli at MCTC headquarters."

Pip and Tony turned the corner, and there was Guider, coming out of the harbor master's office. Janszen waved at Guilder. "Director, here we are! I hope we haven't kept you waiting."

"No, not at all, Pip," replied Guilder.

Janszen thought  it odd that the director would call him by his nickname. Usually the director was more businesslike when talking with MCTC captains, but he assumed it was a good sign. "What can I do for you, director?" asked Pip.

But Janszen soon found out that he was wrong.

"Pip, I have some bad news." Guilder stumbled momentarily for the right words.

"What is it?" asked Pip. He had never seen the director like this.

"I've received word from Nova Terreli. The Prince Fernando went down in the storms last month."

"The ... Prince ... Fernando ... ?" Pip stammered, his voice trailing off. Guilder gave him a moment to compose himself, then Pip continued. "And Captain Reyngout?"

Guilder saw the realization in Janszen's eyes. "Yes," Guilder replied, "Captain Reyngout was on board. Commodore Reyngout, actually; the Prince Fernando was his flagship for the convoy. The seas were too heavy in the storm, and the ship was just too old to take it." Guilder paused for a moment. "All hands were lost."

Janszen could not muster a reply. When Pip was just an orphan on the street, it was Captain Reyngout who had brought him aboard ship, given him a home, and taught him the ways of the sea. Reyngout was essentially the father Pip never had.

Guilder continued. "I know you were close to Captain Reyngout, so I wanted to let you know personally. You've exceeded the promise ol' Cornelius saw in you when he brought me to your attention years ago. I know he was proud of you."

"Thank you, sir..." was Janszen's muffled reply.

"If you need anything when you return from Terreli, let me know. In the meantime, I'll arrange for a proper memorial for him." Guilder turned to Tony. "You'll see that he's alright, I trust?"

"Yes, director," replied Tony.

"Very well." Guilder turned back to Pip. "I must be off. My condolences, captain." And with that, Guilder left them to commiserate in private.

With the director out of sight, Pip finally broke down. "There, there, Pip," said Tony. "Let's get you back to the ship. I have a bottle I've been saving from that run to Breshaun last year. Let's open 'er up."

Pip nodded in agreement, unable to speak. As the two made their way back to their ship, Pip manage to get out a few words. "Rest in peace, Cornelius Reyngout, and godspeed."

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Some additional views of the build:

Spoiler

 

 

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When I saw the MRCA results last month, I had to decide whether one of my favorite side characters would go down with his ship or manage to cheat death. I thought with the dawn of Era II, it was time to let developments dictate the story.

As for the build, the structure is copied in large part from one pictured in one of the Lego Adventure books, but I've made enough changes to make it my own. It was a puzzle to figure out how to cleanly manage the recessed walls on both sides of a corner, but I'm glad I worked it out. As the office for the Weelond harbor master, I'll license it as a small commerce property.

As always, all C&C welcome.

 

 

Classical Weelond style - love it. Great use of semi-stud-offsets.

A suggestion for future MOCs is to enhance the streets slightly. For example a lantern, or a flower-pot, or sth.

The offsets on that building are great, Capt, and I really like the ridges you've got at the top of each story as well!  The colors (what color is that, exactly, though?) and those white windows really fit your Weelond style perfectly too - nice job!  That's too bad about the Prince Fernando, though 

Like Garmadon, I think the wall and soffit offset along with your colour choices make for a lovely building.  It may not be ground-breaking but it is a perfectly executed MOC.  Kudos!

Very nice wall with the inset, it looks great.  The colors also go really well!  

9 hours ago, Elostirion said:

Classical Weelond style - love it. Great use of semi-stud-offsets.

A suggestion for future MOCs is to enhance the streets slightly. For example a lantern, or a flower-pot, or sth.

Thanks. I really enjoyed working with the offsets.

And you're 100% right about dressing up the street more. My initial thought was to keep the focus on the building, but when I finished with the photography I realized I should have added some other street/city details. Tunnel vision on my part.

6 hours ago, Garmadon said:

The offsets on that building are great, Capt, and I really like the ridges you've got at the top of each story as well!  The colors (what color is that, exactly, though?) and those white windows really fit your Weelond style perfectly too - nice job!  That's too bad about the Prince Fernando, though 

Thanks. The main color is dark orange.

As for the Prince Fernando, that can be sistershipped, but Capt Reyngout...

3 hours ago, Kwatchi said:

Like Garmadon, I think the wall and soffit offset along with your colour choices make for a lovely building.  It may not be ground-breaking but it is a perfectly executed MOC.  Kudos!

Thanks! Just a great little building that fit with my Weelond architecture well, and gave me a chance to work with a new color and play with the offset details.

2 hours ago, Kai NRG said:

Very nice wall with the inset, it looks great.  The colors also go really well!  

Thanks!

Excellent build, I like the brick-brick house, and nice minifig posing, great writing too.

A very nice building - I'm a sucker for the dark red, it looks great! Those are offsets are very well done and are really effective at enhancing this otherwise relatively simple building. 

19 hours ago, Bodi said:

Excellent build, I like the brick-brick house, and nice minifig posing, great writing too.

Thanks. I had fun with the minifigs trying to give the series of photos a sense of motion.

18 hours ago, Ayrlego said:

A very nice building - I'm a sucker for the dark red, it looks great! Those are offsets are very well done and are really effective at enhancing this otherwise relatively simple building. 

Thanks. It's always fun working with half-stud offsets. It's amazing what it does for an otherwise simple build.

And the dark red is dark orange.

7 minutes ago, Capt Wolf said:

And the dark red is dark orange

Opps! Dark red, dark orange - both are awesome! Actually pretty much dark anything is cool!