Ultima VII Lego

Pyramid

I finished my most recent Ultima playthrough, but I thought I’d spend more time mucking around in The Black Gate, building stuff.

For the pyramid, I picked a spot in the desert north of Vesper, near an oasis, with some picturesque desert shrubbery around. Unfortunately, it also turned out to be infested with giant scorpions and snakes. Working in desert heat and getting bitten all over proved to be too much for the companions, who left for the Vesper pub.

I had a couple of false starts, but in the end I figured out the basic shape of the base:

I initially envisioned a more Egyptian-style pyramid, but it turned out to look more like the pyramids I’ve seen on my trip to Mexico, with a tiny inner chamber.

Building a fence around the pyramid was an absolute must. Look at these murderous critters!

The Wicker Man

There’s a real reason why the Avatar was summoned to Britannia through the Moongate, which was hidden… until now.

The ending of the British cult horror film The Wicker Man is one of the most disturbing and memorable endings I’ve seen, and it kinda struck me that if a creepy nature cult was to happen in Britannia, it would probably happen in an isolated, outwardly idyllic place like New Magincia. Oh, and just like the character in the film, Avatar in The Black Gate is a virgin. See, the coincidences just pile up!

I cheated in Photoshop to give Iolo Lord Summerisle’s line of dialogue, and put back the roof over Avatar’s head – I forgot that it disappears from view once you’re inside. Otherwise it’s all real construction. Making the arms was the biggest challenge – they basically required building a wall and a giant staircase.