[ESL-CHIII-Cat B] The Temple of Thabthim

[A_Goodman]

With the free-for-all in the Eastern seas, Hernan Orellana outfitted an expedition to sail for the islands, to see if he might capitalize on the chaos gripping the region. The night before his departure from Weelond, Orellana went for a drink at one of the local watering holes. There he met a man who claimed to have escaped from Lotii captivity. The man told Orellana that upon his escape he had grabbed several Lottii artifacts including a map that, he claimed, led to an ancient civilization on the island of El Oleanda. Although feeling pretty doubtful about this stranger's story, Orellana purchased the map and departed for the island the very next day. Throughout the voyage Orellana studied every inch of his map, but it was only after the cook spilled a mug of lemon juice on it that it revealed its secret. Beneath the marked city on the map, the juice revealed what appeared to be a small oval with a maroon dot and the word Thabthim written inside of it. Several days later the expedition disembarked on the southern coast of the island of El Oleanda, purposefully avoiding all settlements as they didn’t want anyone seeing what they were up to. After a day's march through the thick jungles of El Oleanda, Orellana’s expedition arrived at the ruins of what his men had begun to call Thabthim.

Hernan Orellana at the Ruins by Nicholas Goodman, on Flickr

After a day of searching the ruins, Orellana and his men could find nothing of value more than the structures themselves. But Orellana could just not get that strange gold and maroon oval out of his head. Just as the group began to leave the courtyard a loud rumble came from beneath Orellana’s feet and all of a sudden he was falling.

Falling through by Nicholas Goodman, on Flickr

As Orellana came to his senses he realized he was in an underground cavern. Below the central ruins of El Oleanda was the Golden Altar of Thabthim, a shrine to a god of the ancient Oleandan civilization. The altar held a massive ruby surrounded by ornate gold pieces, untouched by looters, protected from the world for centuries.

The Altar of Thabthim by Nicholas Goodman, on Flickr

Ruins of Thabthim by Nicholas Goodman, on Flickr

Conquistadors at the Ruins of Thabthim by Nicholas Goodman, on Flickr

Eslandola Flag by Nicholas Goodman, on Flickr

Teaser for BoBS MOC Contest by Nicholas Goodman, on Flickr

Orellana stood for an engraving and set out to explore the newly uncovered caverns. Unwilling to incur the wrath of the mighty and mysterious Thabthim, Orellana left the ruby in its altar. At least for now.

Orellana on the Altar of Thabthim by Nicholas Goodman, on Flickr

 

Edited April 1, 2020 by A_Goodman

[Fraunces]

Such an amazing entry! The colors are so realistic .. Thumbs up for the eslandolian flag: how did you make that one?

The temple and shrine also show extensive effort. I really like this one  

[Ayrlego]

Stunning entry! The detail on the ruins at the top of the MOC is absolutely brilliant and quite different from what we've seen in this genre of builds so far. The colour scheme works very well although I would have been tempted to include a little more vegetation on the top - but I do love to overdo the plants so that's probably a personal thing! The Eslandolan conquistadors are also excellent and refreshingly original. Everytime I see a MOC like this with fleshies in BoBS I am sorely tempted to switch over to fleshies!!! Overall great entry!

[Professor Thaum]

Amazing job !

So very much Eslandolan, but the execution is beyond any criticism.

The palm tree is really good.

Small flat, unlike @Ayrlego: the fleshy minifigs.

But it is a detail.

 

[blackdeathgr]

What a great entry! Nice team of minifigs and although flesh isn't my color (LEGOwise), I certainly don't mind looking at them in admiration! Nicely built hole too btw! 

[Tezclatipoca]

Great entry !

Excellent rendition of the Conquistadors; great treasure vault and a cool way to build all of this !

Congrats !

Keep up the great job !

[A_Goodman]

Thank you everyone for all the kind words.

 

12 hours ago, Fraunces said:

Thumbs up for the eslandolian flag: how did you make that one?

Its a model ship technique printing on tissue paper. Its actually very simple and the results aren't too bad

[Pdaitabird]

Very nice! The rockwork and ruins look great. Good minifig design too.

[Mister Phes]

On 3/29/2020 at 5:17 PM, A_Goodman said:

Love what you've done here!

You've taken the the Imperial Amanda sub-theme and given it a more gritty, detailed update while still retaining the essence of the original design.

MOC has been posted on the Classic Pirates Facebook Page,

[Beleg the Ranger]

Super cool! I have always enjoyed ruined MOCs,  and this is an epic example of of one.

[Jerry McGlade]

Fantastic build! This really reminds of Indiana Jones! Great job!

[Capt Wolf]

Great detail on the temple, and with figure posing to tell the story. Wonderful build; I always like these types of builds that show a hidden layer. Well done!

Congrats on being frontpaged!

[leafan]

@A_Goodman I really like this moc. I always think it's interesting seeing an underground area to these kinds of builds.

[Klaus-Dieter]

Exceptional idea and great outcome!

[Corweena]

Stunning creation! I had considered doing a dual layered build like this in the future, so I'll definitely add this to reference when the time comes.