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theepitomeofamess · 6 years ago

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okay here’s the first of the original works I asked y’all about @witch19 and @anuninspiredpoet, here ya go. I’m also posting it to my ao3, if that’s easier to read. Feedback is more than welcome if you have any to give! Thank you!

This story was requested by @witch19.

Autumn Blue (the title may change)

word count: 2233

The air has chilled around him significantly since he started the day, signalling the slow beginning of night. Crickets begin to sing and howls announce the arrival of the wolf’s time. He knows many who would slow against the cold, who would insist on setting camp for the night before the sun has even started to set. Many of his comrades in arms would already be settled down at a fire by now, roasting a squirrel on a spit. Not him. He keeps riding, following the fading light even after it’s dipped beneath the horizon. He’s better than that.

Thalia whinnies as the sun rises. She isn’t overworked yet because of the steady pace he’s been keeping, but she needs water. She can hear a stream nearby. He can hear it, too. They stop for two minutes so Thalia can drink and he can fill his water skin. They don’t have time for anything else. He hears the whispers in the stream, the snickers and the stories, and he knows that he needs to keep moving. Mounting Thalia again, he gets back to the trail as quickly as possible and keeps going, following the line of his shadow.

The trees talk with the stream, the breeze laughing at their comments. He can’t understand a single word - he hardly hears them - but he knows that they are talking about him. They know what he is doing. They know what’s happened to every other person that has been foolish enough to believe the rumors.

They know that the rumors are true - far too true for anyone willing to prove them right.

The colors around him are saturated to the point of painful to look at for too long, scarlet and tiger orange leaves burning furiously against an impossibly blue sky. He has to bow his head, watching the trail just above Thalia’s ears to keep himself from getting nauseous at the sight. He doesn’t see when the trees open their eyes, watching as he rides by a bit more quickly than he was before. He doesn’t see the vultures grinning at their future meal between the blazing canopy and eerily cloudless sky.

He only truly stops riding on the third night, when he can hardly stand the exhaustion any more. Thalia felt the same, lying on the ground almost as soon as she was content with how much she’d eaten. He known that he’s been working her too hard, only giving her short bursts of rest while he stopped to gather more water or food, but he can’t afford to lose time on this. He refuses to end up like William, declared dead after being missing for a month after he should have been back. He refuses to become just one more soldier lost to the woods. He’s smarter than that, better than that.

He refuses to take his armor off, just in case.

Leaning back against Thalia’s side, he looks to the sky. He can only just make out stars beyond the canopy that has faded from fire to ink. It still unnerves him to look at the space around him - he’ll imagine a face in the canopy if he looks for too long, or hear a word of doom prophesied in birdsong. It makes his head spin.

No, it’s just the exhaustion. He knows that it’s just exhaustion that’s making him hallucinate, that’s making him dizzy. Pressing himself closer into Thalia, he clings to the handle of his sword and tries his best to get sleep. It’s hard, though, when all he can hear is the not so distant chatter of what he imagines to be wolves praising the thought of his liver soon becoming their chew toy.

“Getting close,” he mutters to Thalia, petting her head as he feels the wind pick up. They’re coming up on the center of the wood, the center of the myths. He knows that it’s almost unheard of for journeys through woods like this to go untampered with, but he knows why he hasn’t come across any foe - any living thing at all - since the beginning of his journey. He knows that they want to see the fight, that they want to see him lose. The only concern in his mind is how he’s going to get out of the woods once he’s won, since they will probably all come after him once they see that their champion is no match for him.

He’s nervous when he sees the clearing, of course. Who wouldn’t be? He’s been hearing stories about this place since he was a child, stories meant to keep him from entering the woods in the first place. His mother had sobbed so much when he’d told her about his quest. He knows that she thinks he’s being foolish. He probably is. But the line between foolish and brave is finer and more fragile than a glass hair. He can’t afford to try and make a definite distinction between the two, especially not now that he’s here. He can’t afford to be like that. He has to be better.

He hitches Thalia to a tree - he doesn’t want her to be in the line of fire, but he doesn’t want her to run away once he wins and needs her to take him home. Petting her between the eyes, he almost can’t bring himself to say goodbye. That might be what happens beyond the treeline - he might never see her again.

He can’t afford to think that way. He has to be better than that.

“I’ll be back soon,” he assures her, the words scorching his throat. “I’ll be back soon.”

Knuckles white as he grips his sword, he does his best to take in the clearing. The color saturation is worse here than anywhere else. The grass and small garden to the left of the cabin are just about glowing, the windows looking into the cabin iridescent. He hears expectant chatter echoing from the treeline. The creatures - spirits, nymphs, fae, he’s heard them called a million things - are gathering to see the show, to watch and see if they get a particularly bloody bit of entertainment to hold them over until the next righteous moron comes along.

His mind swarms with the different stories he’s been told about the witch throughout his life. His father had called her a creature of hellfire and scorches her victims entirely with a single look. His mother had called her a wolf that had assumed human form and shares her victims as a meal with her pack. The village priest warned that she was possessed by the ultimate evil and would send her victims to serve their dark master, leaving only a few corpses at the edge of her woods as an example. His grandmother had called her a wonderful judge of character.

He never knew what she meant by that, but it didn’t matter among the pile of men the witch has stolen away.

He’s sure that she would have every entrance to the place lined with traps. After all, she’d been attacked countless times over the past century or so. Of course, the front door might be spared. Nobody uses the front door when they’re planning an attack. It’s only when he’s got his back pressed to the front facade of the cabin that he realizes he might have wanted to come up with a plan.

Something moves in the cabin. The tap of a cup on a wooden tabletop and the whistle of a teapot.

The whistle is broken by the crack of the wooden door against his foot.

He can’t remember a time when he hasn’t worked with horses. His father owned a horse farm, his first job away from home was in the king’s stables. He was there when Thalia was born, and he has never wanted a life away from stables, away from the smell of hay and mud and horse shit. Most people he met couldn’t see the beauty in it, they scrunched their noses at the life that always left him covered in dirt and sweat that nearly crystallized if he didn’t wash it off immediately.

He’s brushing Thalia gently. He’s in stables that are familiar but foreign. Craning his neck slightly, he looks to the worn down ceiling of the stables. Between the cracks, he can see the color of the sky - so blue, so bright, always cloudless. He can’t remember a time the sky hasn’t been clear. The color seems to squeeze his head between his eyes, the color so flawless that it can’t be real.

He makes a mental note to fix that ceiling before they get a storm rolling in.

He doesn’t ask when they last had rain. He doesn’t question what he knows. He’s better than that.

Through the window behind Thalia, he can see William working in the fields. He’s always had a green thumb. Their parents used to be friends, trading horse manure for produce and buying each other drinks. He’d gone to school with William, played with him while they weren’t working or in class. He’s the one who had taught William to ride a horse, the practice leading to William’s stories about how he would be the famous hero who brought the witch’s head back to the village on a pike. Something about the proclamation had always sounded fake, halfhearted as he looked to his father who warned him to stand by his promise of heroism.

It was William who had persuaded him to join the royal guard in a world somewhere between a dream and a memory, another life entirely.

“Glad to see you’re settling in all right.”

The voice is so clear that it startles him, the brush landing in a cloud of dust on the ground. The woman standing in the doorway of the stable looks old enough to be his mother, silver hair and laughter lines the only indication of any aging. She wears a cloak the came green as the trees lining the perimeter of their little community and a smile that radiates the kind of maternal compassion that’s laced with white lies. In spite of her welcoming presence, he can’t bring himself to look her in the eyes. They’re blue - autumn blue - so clear and bright that it hurts his head.

“Can I help you?” He picks up the brush to avoid looking at her. He wants nothing more than to make her leave, but he won’t. He’s better than that.

“ I just came to see how you’re getting on. It can be disorienting for some, and it doesn’t always go through the first time.”

What the hell are you talking about?

“Would you like to sit down?” He grabs a chair from the corner, setting it out for her. It’s all too easy for him to bite away the question that he actually wanted to ask.

“I see you retained your training in chivalry. Most of them didn’t learn it in the first place.” She moves to sit where he set the chair, and he turns back to Thalia.

The closer she gets, the harder he finds it to focus on Thalia’s mane. The brush isn’t moving, just sitting between his palm and the side of her neck. He can almost feel a crisp breeze coming off of her, running its fingers through his hair. Though she seems vaguely familiar, he has no idea who this woman is or why she’s watching him so intently. If he didn’t know any better, he’d think that he was reliving the first time he prepared a chicken for cooking, his mother watching his every move over his shoulder.

“You’re a friend of William’s, right?” He nods, still with his back to her. He hears the chair just barely creak under her weight. The brush manages to move through the hair again, his body running on autopilot. “He’s a good kid. Just barely edged out of death, he did. He buried it so deep that I almost couldn’t figure out what he was trying to prove.”

“I’m sorry,” he finally forced himself to face her, “but what are you talking about?”

“Oh,” she nodded after a moment, realization crossing her features. “It really hit you hard, then. Don’t worry about it. It doesn’t matter.” She stood, making a stride to leave before looking back at him. Reaching out, she places a hand on his shoulder. “You’re good, you know. I’ve known that for a while. You’re good, better than most. You don’t need to prove it. Not anymore, at least. Just take good care of Thalia. That’s all you need to worry about now.”

Something about the curve of her smile, the crows feet at the corners of her eyes, the slight crack in the cadence of her voice. It all seems more familiar the more he looks at her. She’s still otherworldly, but there’s something that he knows. Something that he trusts.

He nods, and she leaves him to tend to Thalia. There’s something about her, a feeling that he can’t shake. She knows him better than anyone ever has, she knows things that he’s never told anyone before, at least to his recollection.

“Maybe she’s psychic,” he mutters to Thalia, who whinnies and shakes her mane in response as he brushes his way down her side. “Or maybe she’s just a really good judge of character.”

#original writing #my writing #for @witch19 #original work #my stuff #sorry to bother you with my crap #but here it is #a few of you said you'd like to see it #and rae wants me to post it #so here it is #here ya go

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hocats-blog · 6 years ago

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The lord of the rings-review

I say "excellent" but add a caveat. The book is overly long. This edition includes all three "Lord of the Rings" books, and its size indicates what a massive task was undertaken by Tolkien when he sat down to fulfill "the desires of a tale-teller to try his hand at a really long story..." (as he says in a foreword to the second edition, reprinted in this book). It is a massive undertaking not just for the writer but for the reader as well. Despite Tolkien's remark (in the same foreword) that the book is "too short," one is left with just the opposite impression. Curled Up With a Good BookWhen Tolkien said the book is too short, it is easy to assume he was speaking with tongue in cheek; easy, that is, until one reaches the end of the book and sees the various Appendixes. There is enough additional information here about hobbits and the "Second and Third Ages" to make it clear that the author might easily have added another thousand pages to the tale. Perhaps, given Tolkien's prodigious imagination, he truly did feel the book to be too short. The story could have been pared down in places without really losing much. Sometimes it seems to take forever for Frodo (the primary character or "hobbit" in the tale) to simply walk over a hill or go to sleep. That complaint aside, it must be hastily added that this is a truly wonderful sword-and-sorcery tale, otherwise beautifully told. A wonderful book for lovers of fantasy fiction. That's "book" because The Lord of the Rings is not three books, as many assume, but one book in three parts (each part originally published separately). It is in fact the sequel to The Hobbit. In The Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins (not Frodo) comes away with a magic ring that, put on the finger, makes one invisible. That was the extent of its power until Tolkien sat down to write "The Lord of the Rings". Now we learn that this particular ring is the ring that binds other magic rings and creates, for the holder of the "One Ring", the ultimate power over all the world. It is, in other words, the ring of rings, and it is now sought by an evil force that has been searching for it since its loss many years prior to Bilbo's finding it. The Lord of the Rings opens with Bilbo celebrating his "eleventy-first" birthday. Bilbo is now well over one hundred years of age. He chooses this birthday to pass on the ring (which he has had in his possession since finding it) to Frodo, his heir. In doing so, it is Frodo that becomes the central character of the novel. The ring Frodo how holds must be destroyed yet it is indestructible, so what is to be done? It can be destroyed, it turns out, only one way: by throwing it into the depths of Mount Doom. The quest is set, Frodo (and others, in particular another good hobbit named Sam) must set off to destroy the ring. Many dark forces will try to stop him and take the ring from him along the way. The true saving graces of this book are the astounding imagination of the author and, by his wonderful writing ability, the realization of that imagination. Despite its great length, the book manages to hold the reader's attention and, in parts, is quite gripping. (Stripping away some excess would have made this a legitimate page-turner.) It is a book replete with dozens of wonderfully imaginative characters and creatures, many of which no doubt helped spawn other tales that carry similarities to this one (such as the Star War series). It's easy to see why it is a fantasy classic, or as some would have it, the fantasy classic. Those readers ready to sit and read the more than one thousand pages will, for the most part, be enthralled except for those rather long-winded parts where you'll say "get on with it". For those others not quite ready to assume the "massive undertaking" of reading the book, you will no doubt enjoy the movie that will do the paring down that the book could have benefited from. The book is, when all is said and done, an amazing achievement.

#the lord of the rings #lord of the rings #7 rings #books #reviewbooks

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farb3yond · 11 years ago

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Soul Mates

One time, the great Greek philosopher Plato invited all the other eminent philosophers to a drinking party to discuss the meaning of love.

Before we go any further, can I just interject and say how epic that is!? Cheers Plato, my Ancient Greek brother. I wish I could have been there. I’ll spill a little for you next time.

Anyway, in the midst of the drunken philosophical revelry, Aristophanes gets up to share his monologue. Here is my paraphrased version of the story he tells:

One upon a time, the world was still mysterious and hadn't quite decided on its final shape. In this age humankind existed in three forms. The men of the sun, the women of earth and the third gender which was Androgynous; children of the moon, both man and woman.

These humans however, were whole; having one soul, four hands, four legs, two faces on their head, and yes, two sets of genitals (of which Aristophanes takes special note to mention). Being whole and thusly gifted with an abundance of limbs, the humans thrived; moving effortlessly across the land propelled by their legs, and building and creating with the deft dexterity that four hands allow.

And though they loved the gods and honored them with their tributes, over time their success fueled their hubris. So a plan was hatched to march on Mount Olympus and dethrone the Pantheon that they had once worshiped.

Zeus, the king of the gods, was torn seeing this, for though he could have destroyed them all with thunder, he would lament the loss of the tributes and offerings they gave him. So, together with Apollos, he devised a plan.

Using his thunder he split all the humans in half, leaving each half with two arms, two legs, one face and one set of genitals. Then to Apollos fell the task of mercy, to sew each half up at the navel so they would not die.

But such was a mercy far too little, for each half ran to their other held them tightly and embraced them, desiring with their entire being to be whole again. But alas unable to do so, they were overcome with crippling sorrow. A sorrow so deep it would prevent humankind from ever being confident enough to challenge the gods again.

Moved by their plight, Apollo granted them one more mercy. By turning their face in-wards, and moving their genitals to the position just beneath their navel he granted them the ability to join bodies so they could feel, even if for just a brief moment in time, what it is like to be whole again.

So was the human condition born, and that is why each of us are born with an existential emptiness. Doomed to spend our lives seeking the other half that the gods separated from us before anything but our soul was aware. Doomed to steel our courage, to hope against hope, to make ourselves vulnerable, to make mistakes, to sometimes humiliate ourselves and degrade ourselves in our quest to feel what it is like to be whole again, even if it is only for a brief moment in time.

This is the myth from which our modern idea of ‘Soul Mates’ originates. An idea that has fallen into the category of immature and ridiculous, lumped in with such trite platitudes as ‘love at first sight’ or ‘happily ever after’. Basically all the things Disney romances are based on, or that Bruno Mars can’t stop singing about. And believe me I scorn these ideals as much as anyone! I mean bitch please, ‘love at first sight’ is called an erection and ‘happily ever after’ is just an easy way to end a story.

But I’m not quite ready to give up on Soul Mates, and here is why:

See, we all know the masks we wear. The professional mask for our jobs, the bro mask for our friends, the saint mask for our judges. The patient mask for when we feel frustrated, and the strong mask for when we feel like crying.

Our masks are important, I’m not denying that. After all, it’s through them that we connect with the world around us. Each mask has a lifetime of tailoring that makes it ideal for its audience and we can make as many masks as audiences.

But we also all know that person we are when we can forget the world and shed all our masks. The one who danced every dance alone in your room, to the music you only play when no one is home. The one who’s responsible for every strange sexual thought that has unexpectedly entered your mind or pervaded your dreams. The one who knows each tragic secret of your childhood, all the ways in which you hate yourself and bears every anxiety you have about your future.

It’s who you are when you aren't trying to be anyone. And if such a thing as a soul exists, well fuck… it’s him!

If you can find someone with whom you can connect with on that level, without either of you needing masks, well that’s a Soul Mate. A person to whom you can bare your soul.

Who you can wake up next to and share your dreams with. Who knows your secrets and loves you for them. Believes in your goodness, and makes you feel strong enough to face the future. It’s the kind of person with whom you can be so honest, that they will know when you’re lying to yourself.

Because, in the end, that’s all that deep intimate love really is: affectionate honesty.

I don’t think there is just one of these for each of us, but Aristophanes with his myth captured one thing perfectly. Nothing compares to that sense of wholeness a Soul Mate brings, nor to the depths of sorrow that await those who know what it feels like to be whole, and then be separated from their other halves. So keep those you can be truly honest with close, nothing is rarer or more deeply resonant in this life.

#soulmate mythology love honesty ancientgrece tragedy

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eddycurrents · 7 years ago

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For the week of 17 September 2018

Quick Bits:

Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1 gives us an “untold tale” of Spider-Man shortly after Secret Wars while he still had the black costume from Saladin Ahmed, Gerry Brown, Lee Loughridge, and Joe Caramagna. It’s a nice bit of embellishment, giving us a look more at the reactions from the people around Peter and what the Venom symbiote was doing while he slept. The dark, moody art from Brown and Loughridge is perfect for this.

| Published by Marvel

Avengers #8 is a bit of a housekeeping issue from Jason Aaron, taking stock of what’s changed for this new incarnation of the team, putting together the status of the various members, and setting up the new status quo. It’s nice to see David Marquez and Justin Ponsor aboard for this arc, continuing the very high bar this volume is setting for art.

| Published by Marvel

Black Hammer: Age of Doom #5 answers all of the questions, with Jeff Lemire and Dean Ormston filling in all of the details in Lucy’s quest to find the missing heroes. It’s an interesting, and satisfying, revelation that sets up an even bigger picture and possible looming threat.

| Published by Dark Horse

Bloodborne #5 begins a new arc, returning to the city, and focusing on a scientific and religious inquiry into the nature of the affliction besetting the world. Wonderful art from Piotr Kowalski and Brad Simpson.

| Published by Titan

Burnouts #1 isn’t a bad start from Dennis Culver, Geoffo, Dave Dwonch, and Lauren Perry, riffing on the teen alien invasion vibe of things like The Faculty. The premise of needing to be high or otherwise intoxicated to see the true threat is an interesting one, leaving an obvious out as to whether or not it’s real, but this issue largely takes it at face value.

| Published by Image

Captain America Annual #1 is very well done. Tini Howard, Chris Sprouse, Ron Lim, Karl Story, Walden Wong, Scott Hanna, Jesus Aburtov, Erick Arciniega, Israel Silva, and Joe Caramagna give us a story set deep into World War 2 of Cap and Bucky behind German lines, helping a group of civilians who escaped from Stutthof.

| Published by Marvel

Death or Glory #5 sets fire to Glory’s life quite literally. This entire series so far has been damned good, moving at a breakneck pace pushing the characters harder and further with each subsequent issue. Rick Remender, Bengal, and Rus Wooton continue to deliver.

| Published by Image / Giant Generator

Dick Tracy: Dead or Alive #1 is a curious thing, embracing the odd stylistic choices of Chester Gould’s characters with Rich Tommaso and Mike Allred’s art, and the kind of throwback tone of Lee & Mike Allred’s script, but through the use of a cellphone it doesn’t seem to be a period piece. Still, it’s an entertaining beginning to this mini.

| Published by IDW

Ether: The Copper Golems #5 is the bittersweet end to this mini, setting up a new problem for Boone and co. to face in the third series, but in doing so putting him in an even more tragic situation, both in the present and in the flashback back-up. Matt Kindt & David Rubín have bottled magic with this series and I can’t recommend it highly enough.

| Published by Dark Horse

GI Joe: A Real American Hero - Silent Option #1 begins a new limited series following Bombstrike and her team’s investigation of the missing Helix. It’s a bit bloodier and more brutal than the mothership series, but given the subject of human trafficking, it’s kind of understandable. Larry Hama, Netho Diaz, Alisson Rodrigues, Jagdish Kumar, Vinicius Townsend, and Neil Uyetake put together a decent start here. There’s also a great back-up filling us in on Helix’s past from Ryan Ferrier & Kenneth Loh.

| Published by IDW

Hack/Slash: Resurrection #11 is the conclusion to the “Return to Haverhill” arc and it continues with the usual offbeat humour that Tini Howard has brought to the title. Mixing the horror with wacky hijinks.

| Published by Image

Ice Cream Man #7 might be one of the more horrifying issues of the series, telling the tale of a young girl coming to terms with the death of her best friend. That story alone is enough to pick up the issue, but it also brings back more of the ongoing story of the Ice Cream Man’s trials as well, giving us a bit more interconnectivity of what are otherwise mostly standalone tales.

| Published by Image

Immortal Hulk #6 sees Al Ewing working to put the disparate pieces of the run so far together, along with revealing at least one group of antagonists dogging Banner’s heels, and working Hulk back into the broader world of the Marvel Universe to deal with the ramifications that have been hovering since Civil War 2. Surprisingly, none of it is particularly confusing, which is a testament to how Ewing is laying this out. Also, really nice guest art from Lee Garbett (with colours from Paul Mounts).

| Published by Marvel

Impossible Incorporated #1 is a new all ages mini from JM DeMatteis and Mike Cavallaro. I have fond memories of their previous collaboration The Life & Times of Savior 28, so came into this with some fairly high expectations. They were exceeded. The premise for this series taps into the same family of adventurers dynamic of the Fantastic Four and Challengers of the Unknown, and it yields some interesting characters, weird landscapes, and phenomenal art.

| Published by IDW

Infinity Wars: Soldier Supreme #1 is the first of these Infinity Warps tie-in minis to the overarching Infinity Wars saga, blending together two of Marvel’s heroes in this new reality. In this case, Captain America and Doctor Strange. I’m not sure how much impact these will ultimately have on the event, but it’s a fun diversion. Gerry Duggan, Adam Kubert, Matthew Wilson, and Clayton Cowles deliver an entertaining beginning to this story, laying out Stephen Rogers’ origin and showcasing a number of other amalgamated heroes and a rather interesting villain. Kubert and Wilson’s art is definitely more than worth the price of admission.

| Published by Marvel

The Life of Captain Marvel #3 delivers more heartfelt and strange complications for Carol Danvers. I’m really enjoying the drama that Margaret Stohl is creating in this series, it’s really been injecting a real element of humanity in Carol that’s been missing for years.

| Published by Marvel

Mr. & Mrs. X #3 gives us an explanation for the egg that everybody and their bird-brained aunt are fighting over. This development is definitely very interesting for the cosmic side of things.

| Published by Marvel

Olivia Twist #1 is an updating of Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist, gender-bent and worked into the future, by Darin Strauss, Adam Dalva, Emma Vieceli, Lee Loughridge, and Sal Cipriano. The premise works quite well adapted to a dystopian future, with the protections of society broken down and oppression at an all time high. Although this is set in a future Britain, it’s easy to see similar conditions in America today. What really brings the book together is the artwork from Vieceli and Loughridge.

| Published by Dark Horse / Berger Books

Patience! Conviction! Revenge! #1 is the beginning to what looks to be another beautiful sci-fi epic, starting out with a bit of a western feel, before moving on to the city. I quite like the voice that Patrick Kindlon gives to the protagonist, Renny, as he doesn’t seem to shut up. Also, the artwork from Marco Ferrari and Patrizia Comino is wonderful. Ferrari has a style that reminds me of Sean Gordon Murphy and Devmalya Pramanik and it perfectly suits a lived-in future.

| Published by AfterShock

Return of Wolverine #1 is not a terrible comic. In fact the artwork from Steve McNiven, Jay Leisten, and Laura Martin is very, very good. McNiven seems to be channelling Barry Windsor-Smith for the artwork and it’s perfect. The action and page compositions are wonderful. I can also say that the story, dialogue and such, from Charles Soule is not bad. I’m not sure if I like the implied idea of pulling Wolverine’s history from him, putting the memory genie back in the bottle when we already know his Origin, is a good idea, but his issues with Persephone and Soteira are at least interesting.

What ruins this comic, however, like the Hunt for Wolverine: Dead Ends issue, is that it renders the entire Hunt for Wolverine event superfluous. It doesn’t respect the readers’ time or money, showing that Hunt for Wolverine didn’t build to anything. There’s absolutely nothing in this comic that necessitates having read anything before it. That’s good for new readers, but it’s a crappy ploy from Marvel that manufactured an empty event that seems like its sole purpose was to bilk the customer. I feel terrible saying that, since for the most part the mini-series weren’t bad in isolation, but as a whole, it just seems like a marketing stunt. When it comes to a character like Wolverine, who has previously been associated with the idea of market oversaturation, it’s just worse.

From Marvel Legacy through to now, it doesn’t feel like there’s been any guiding hand. It doesn’t feel like there’s been any coherence between any of the appearances. It just feels like Marvel turning to some of their worst tendencies in making this past year or so a marketing ploy, tarnishing something that possibly could have been special, and ruining the return of Wolverine. Wolverine’s still dead, Marvel’s just pimping a corpse.

| Published by Marvel

Seven to Eternity #11 checks in on Adam’s family at the farm while he’s hanging around with the Mud King. Like every issue, beautiful, stunning artwork from Jerome Opeña and Matt Hollingsworth, somehow outdoing themselves with the brilliant colour schemes and impressive character designs. Also, I love the biting, almost subtle, humour that Rick Remender employs for the Mud King’s dialogue.

| Published by Image / Giant Generator

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #86 begins the Earth Protection Force’s assault on Burnow Island, the new home to the Triceratons and Utroms. The action depicted by a returning Dave Wachter (with colours by Ronda Pattison) is very nice, even as we get some interesting moral and ethical hemming and hawing from both the Turtles and Burnow’s defenders as they choose whether or not to release their war criminals to help fight against the EPF. This feels like the beginning of something very heavy.

| Published by IDW

Thor #5 resumes the King Thor story from the first issue, in the far-flung future, with a reunion between Thor and Logan. It’s not quite as bonkers a story from Jason Aaron as the opening Niffleheim arc, but it’s certainly up there. I almost get the impression that Aaron and Donny Cates are seeing how far they push the cosmic envelope at Marvel right now, between their respective series. In any event, it’s led to some great storytelling. Especially when you add guest artist Christian Ward, who just makes this a must buy.

| Published by Marvel

Venom #6 is a not-so-subtle reminder that the art team of Ryan Stegman, JP Mayer, Frank Martin, and Clayton Cowles are absolute beasts. Every issue of this series has been impeccably crafted so far and I swear that this one ups the ante. Gorgeous work from the team.

| Published by Marvel

West Coast Avengers #2 is more ridiculous fun. If you liked the first issue, this is more of that, with some even more over-the-top shenanigans with the team, as they try to get to the bottom of BRODOK. Kelly Thompson’s dialogue and humour here are a highlight, reminding me of some of best of Keith Giffen and JM DeMatteis’ work on the bwahaha era of the Justice League. A book that doesn’t take itself too seriously is a nice balm these days. Also, gorgeous artwork again from Stefano Caselli and Tríona Farrell.

| Published by Marvel

Other Highlights: Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows #23, Aphrodite V #3, Black Badge #2, Bonehead #4, Britannia: Lost Eagles of Rome #3, By Night #4, Coda #5, Coyotes #6, Crude #6, Curse Words #16, Days of Hate #8, Doctor Strange #5, DuckTales #12, Edge of Spider-Geddon #3, Encounter #6, Evolution #10, Flavor #6, Hit-Girl #8, Infinity 8 #6, Jeepers Creepers #5, John Wick #3, Kick-Ass #7, Lost City Explorers #4, Luke Cage #2, Lumberjanes #54, Mae #9, Mata Hari #5, Multiple Man #4, Quantum & Woody #10, Rick & Morty Presents Sleepy Gary #1, Robots vs. Princesses #2, Rumble #7, Secret Agent Deadpool #2, Shadowman #7, Star Wars #54, Star Wars: Lando - Double or Nothing #5, Stellar #4, Strangers in Paradise XXV #6, Summit #9, Superb #13, Sword of Ages #5, Usagi Yojimbo: The Hidden #6, Vagrant Queen #4, Venom: First Host #4, Witchfinder: Gates of Heaven #5

Recommended Collections: Beowulf, Cable - Volume 3: Past Fears, Coda - Volume 1, Cold War - Volume 1, Descender - Volume 6: War Machine, The Mighty Thor - Volume 4: War Thor, Ninjak vs. the Valiant Universe, Skybourne, Spider-Gwen - Volume 6: Life of Gwen Stacy, Venom - Volume 4: Nativity

d. emerson eddy enjoys doing stuff some times. And things other times. Stuff and things.

#This Week in Comics

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tanoraqui · 8 years ago

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This is the last you’ll get of this AU for a while, I think. Until then...bonus points to whoever accurately guesses where/when Whitestone comes in!

[Prologue / 1 / 2 ]

Flashback to several hundred years ago:

Vex did not fall back onto her bed so much as fling herself delightedly, with the express purpose of bouncing. The famed elven bards of Rivendell had, this night, utterly failed to induce restfulness in their listeners.

“I shall be just like Luthien when I am older,” she announced. “Wham! Ha! Aaaa!” She punched the air, and sang a ringing note.

“And marry a human?” Vax, sitting calmly on his own bed, gasped in faux-horror. “Father would be furious.”

Vex rolled onto her elbows and grinned at him. “That is another benefit. You're growing so wise, brother.”

He stuck his tongue out at her. She propped one hand under her chin and continued.

“I do wonder if Men are more...energetic, than Elves. You'd think so, wouldn't you, with how little time they have? It's not just here - even back home, everyone is so dull. Slow. Not at all fun to-”

“Stop!” Vax put his hands over his ears. “I do NOT want to hear about you and...anybody, ever. Not in Mirkwood, not in this shitty house-”

Now it was Vex’s turn to stick out her tongue. But she abated her musing.

“Anyway,” said Vax, once it was safe to uncover his ears, “Tinuviel wasn't as badass as her father.”

“Thingol?” Vex’s voice could not have been fuller of scorn. “What did he do?”

Vax wobbled one hand in the air, palm up. “Banged a Man?” He lifted the other and shook it up and down firmly. “Banged a Maia.”

Vex replied, with that tone of almost genuine sympathy that only a sibling can truly achieve, “I really don't think Gilmore thinks of you the way you-”

A lesser being might not have caught the pillow, so quickly did Vax fling it at her face. But Vex’ahlia, daughter of Syldor, had come of age hunting beasts beneath the dangerous eaves of Mirkwood. Her reflexes were second to none.

“Shut up!” her brother shouted, already reaching for another pillow. “That's not what I- and anyway, no one knows whence- we were just talking, Vex’ahlia, it's not like-”

The rest of the scene was lost in quite a lot of torn cloth and flying feathers.

Even the great translator Professor Tolkien of Oxford University did not dwell, in his similar tale, on every detail discussed at the great council we now come upon. So nor shall I, overly much.

For some context, I should say first that Pike wakes after three days, and when she does, Gilmore has arrived at last, and they are delighted to see one another well. It had been a couple close calls: Gilmore had been attacked on Weathertop just a few days before Pike and her companions, by four of the Nine. As well as had some previous troubles of his own. And Pike, of course, had nearly passed away into wraithhood herself, the sliver of the Witch-Queen’s blade working its way steadily toward her heart for days. But Syldor Half-Elven* is a mighty healer, well-practiced in battling evil wounds of such type, though perhaps never so severe. But hobbits, as Gilmore has been saying for years, are surprisingly hardy folk.

The even dearer reunion is with Wilhand, who has been in Imladris for many years now. He earned his retirement in the Last Homely House with his own great deeds and adventures, if you will recall previous tales. There were several dwarves, and one dragon. He has gone a little deaf, now, and partakes a tad much of wine and sweetmeat—just think what the neighbors would say, he japes to Pike, once they are done hugging. After so many years of adventurous reputation, he’s acting like a respectable hobbit at last!

(This tale that I am telling now has fewer dwarves, and…well. We shall have to see about the matter of dragons.)

It is another couple days before Pike is well enough to see Grog, for he is camped out on the opposite shore of the now-quieted river. There is a limit to how far people will go to make good with unlikely allies, and that limit is an orc in Rivendell. Grog, frankly, agreed. The valley is too bright everywhere for his tastes. He has not been too alone: when Scanlan was not fretting at Pike’s bedside, he was across the ford, teaching Grog drinking songs from the Shire. With accompanying drink, of course. Minxie visited a time or two, and Vex’ahlia and Vax’ildan more often. They brought much of the best drink.

First, however, the Council of Syldor. Dark times are come to Middle Earth, and so it is not just for Pike’s burden that people have assembled from near and far, seeking advice in trade for ill but urgent tidings.

From Uriel’s elven court of Mirkwood comes Allura, a lady and a scholar, to say that dark things are stirring once more in Dol Guldur. Not long did the fortress lay silent, after the cleansing dealt by the Wise back when Wilhand was out adventuring. Once more, spiders spin their webs, and orcs move and Black Riders have been sighted.

Lowbearer Vord, a dwarf of the Lonely Mountain, comes with his ward to bring similar news, and darker yet. War is brewing to the east, for the Lonely Mountain and Dale as well. Messengers have come in Vecna’s name to treat. They also ask after a hobbit, and a ring - “a trifle”, they say. Twice they have been rebuffed, but a third and final choice approaches…

Maryanne Darington of Minas Tirith arrived just this morning, with tale of a city beset and a dream most strange. For the latter, she seeks council; of the former, she speaks only with weariness and pride. Long has Gondor stood against the Enemy, and long shall it - she hopes. Osgiliath has fallen, and her brother’s dream spoke of Isildur’s Bane.

And what if that ring, that trifle, that doom of Elendil’s eldest son? That tale falls to Syldor, who was there for much of it - for times lost save in song and story, and the living memory of a very a few still on this earth.

I will not bore you with a retelling of those great events. The forging of the great rings, the betrayal of Sauron, the Last Alliance of Men and Elves… I’m sure you are likewise familiar with the parts of the tale that Gilmore fills in, of the finding of the One Ring by first one small person, and then another.

There, of course, the tale does a hop, skip, and a jump, as Wilhand tells his part - how he lost his party beneath the Misty Mountains and came across a small golden ring instead, as well as a young orc being strangled in the dark by a pale, slippery sort of being. This was the selfsame orc who had earlier tried to defend Wilhand against his own monstrous kin, so Wilhand sought to return the favor. Together, though it was not quite the tender-hearted hobbit’s plan, he and the orc killed the strange, frog-like beast, and tended each other’s wounds and escaped into the sunlight before parting ways.

That young orc, of course, was Grog, because orcs live as long as I, the storyteller, want them to live. He is very much not at this council - but while Pike was recovering, Gilmore and Minxie together got a story out of him, of wandering south and east, as countless of his kind were summoned over these last many years, and saw many terrible things and endured far, far worse, until the Great Eye knew the name “Trickfoot” and the race “hobbits”, and the land “Shire.”

(This, GIlmore tells with sympathy in his voice, and Wilhand takes and squeezes Pike’s hand as she shudders for their friend, remembering too well the Nine’s deathly cruelty. Because fuck you, Tolkien; even orcs don’t deserve that.)

Gilmore also speaks of his own recent captivity at the tower of Orthanc, at the hands of the wizard Curunir. (“Sauruman” in other tales, but in this world of Exandria, so enamoured was she of the name the elves gave her that she entreated its use by all, and they weren’t assholes so it stuck.)

So...the quest.

In the books, the moment is still, as they all stare at the Ring on the table in the center of the circle. This small, golden ring, which holds all their fates. In the films, there is shouting, discord already being sown by the power of the Ring. To guard it with the wisdom of Elves, or the strength of Men, or the strange, untouchable nature of Matthew Mercer, back in the Old Forest t the edge of the Shire, who would be First and Last? Or to take it, to use it, to overthrow the Enemy and win peace at last for Middle Earth? No, no--it must be destroyed, that is known. But how? And, moreover, who? Who could bear such a perilous quest, unspeakable temptation and greater peril, to the Fires of Mount Doom itself?

“I’ll do it.”

Pike’s voice rings clear, through silence or hubbub. She does not stand tall but she does stand forth, with her head high and her eyes alight. Her shaking hands curled into steady fists.

“I will take the Ring to Mordor. Though I do not know the way.”

[and now, for dramatic effect, I think I will follow the films]

“I have some knowledge of it,” says Gilmore, and comes to stand beside her, a tall and steady presence. “I will help you bear this burden, Pike Trickfoot, as long as I may.”

“And I.” Minxie - or Keyleth, perhaps, we ought call her - kneels to hobbit height. “Broken or not, my sword is yours.”

“And my axe!” Kima of the Iron Hills, the Lowbearer’s ward, jumps to her feet. She has been fidgeting since the council convened.

Allura shoots the dwarf a skeptical look, and steps forth as well. “Whatever aid the Kingdom of Mirkwood can give, or even just I myself, is yours, little one.”

“I think that’s our line, darling.”

Syldor scowls as Vex’ahlia and Vax’ildan step from the shadows by the door. His children by a Silvan elf, now deceased, they are estranged, and had not been invited to this meeting. They came anyway, and now take matching places at Pike’s back.

“We’ve got you, Pickle,” says Vax, with a comforting hand on her shoulder. She smiles up at him.

“And me!”

Scanlan’s appearance from hiding is much less graceful. He falls out of a tree. But he picks himself up and scrambles to stand by Pike. “No way is Pike going to go destroy all evil without me.”

Syldor casts his eyes to the heavens, as if seeking salvation. Maryanne snickers for just a moment as she stands, before her sobriety returns. “If this is truly the will of the Council…” she says slowly, and puts a hand on the hilt of her sword. “Then Gondor will see it done.”

“Fine,” Syldor says with perhaps more force than necessary. But he, too, sobers as he surveys the group assembled before him. “The Enemy fields Nine Riders - so we shall send forth Nine Walkers. The Fellowship-”

“Actually,” Scanlan interrupts. “Mr. Elf Sir Guy. Sorry, but we’re ten.”

“What? No, you are-”

Scanlan Shorthalf, who knows his way around a story, crosses his arms and stares down Syldor Peredhil, son of Eärendil, of the line of Beren and Luthien. He says, confidently: “There’s no way Grog is gonna want to miss this.”

*A/N: This is the character swap-in I’m least comfortable with, because tbh Elrond deserves better, but I am assuaged by how much canon!Syldor would hate this title.

#lotr #critical role #fanfiction #i am NOT tagging everyone #my fic #Let Vax Bang a Maia 2k17 #actually if you know lotr and cr and perhaps have half a sense of how my brain works #you should at this point be able to anticipate pretty much everything

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sewing-elven-maid · 3 months ago

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Molinde? Have you sailed yet?

@malandir

I will be sailing soon. I just have one last thing to finish.

#third age: quest to mount doom #malandir

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team-skull-admin · 8 years ago

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My favorite 40 games of all-time

Made an arbitrary list of my favorite games of all-time cause I wanted to figure out where Breath of the Wild is on it. It’s, uh, pretty high. Assload of text below the break.

40: Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow I'm not the world's biggest Symphony of the Night fan (outside of the incredible soundtrack) and I think this is where Iga's seamless platformers found their footing.

39: Call of Juarez: Gunslinger I love goofy, experimental games like this and Far Cry: Blood Dragon, but I think the schtick in this (an unreliable narrator bragging about their heroic exploits) works better than Blood Dragon's dorky 80s nostalgia.

38: Rayman Origins A beautiful platformer with incredible level design. The music for the diabolical secret level is seared into my memory.

37: Cibele A short, story-centric indie game that captures the essence of playing MMOs in the mid-2000s and long-distance relationships. The awkward conversations in this game made me think about my WoW years for an entire weekend.

36: Mario Kart Wii It's not technically the "best" Mario Kart, but I actually enjoyed the motorcycles and I have fond memories of crushing my brother while we downed beers and talked shit.

35: Guild of Dungeoneering I'm usually not super into "We made X game, but added CARDS!" even though I love card games, but they nailed the loop here. I vaguely remember one of the decks being super busted, though.

34: Tropico 4 Adding a political slant to Sim City by making you the leader of a banana republic was just the slant to that formula I was looking for, and I lost a weekend circa New Year's '13 just delving into this hard.

33: Gran Turismo 2 My brother bought a PS1 off a friend when they upgraded to a PS2, and I grabbed a copy of this cheaply at the local EB Games. Once I wrapped my mind around the simulation, upgrading cars and havin fun with them here might have more to do with me being somewhat of a car person than anything else.

32: Metal Gear Solid 4 I should really put the whole series on here, but MGS4 deserves special note for making the core stealth actually fun and somehow tying all the loose ends of the insane plot together while dialing up the insanity even further.

31: Sim City 2000 I figured out how to make a 50,000 person city when I was like, 8. I still have no fucking idea how I did this. It took me till my 20s to crack 100k.

30: Pokemon Black/White People are torn on this game, but the contentious design decision to hide the old Pokemon in the postgame made every new encounter incredibly exciting in a way the series hadn't been since the orignals. The writing also shows signs of the maturity that Sun/Moon would follow through with.

29: Dragon Warrior Monsters 2 I think most would deride this series as a soulless Pokemon cash-grab on the surface, but they're actually roguelikes with a crazy monster breeding system and the most rote of stories to get you into the core loop of exploring new keys to breed ever crazier monsters.

28: Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls Diablo 3 vanilla's reliance on the auction house created design issues that were hard to look past, but Blizzard abandoning it for the expansion made the game into an incredible dungeon crawler. I never laddered, but had fun for hundreds of hours chasing loot with friends.

27: Fallout 3 I'll never forget the feeling of walking out of the vault for the first time, and feeling like I could go anywhere. I also think this is the only Bethesda game that regularly pays off when exploring - weird shit like the Republic of Dave or the man stuck in the tree are fantastic rewards for poking at the less inhabited edges of the map.

26: Bassin's Black Bass featuring Hank Parker I'm honestly wondering if the rest of the world has picked up on this game's low-key genius since I saw it for 15 bucks at a retro game store recently, but this game's arcadey fishing is incredibly satisfying and snappy. It has some major, obvious, irritating mechanical issues, but the core gameplay loop is so good I don't care.

25: Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor I still remember my nemesis. This motherfucker was right at the beginning of the game, inside the first quest area, and was like level 5 or 6, but had a defensive ability that made it harder for me to gank him easily. So he killed me. Twice. And leveled up each time, becoming a level 12 badass who could literally sniff me out when I hid. But he was weak to fire, and I lured him to a campfire and set him ablaze, getting my revenge.

24: Super Metroid I feel like most people would have this game higher on the list, but I think the controls are floaty and Meridia is overly confusing. The rest of the game is incredible and I can't believe they pulled it off on a Super Nintendo.

23: Pokemon Sun/Moon After XY and ORAS were disapointments I was cool on Pokemon, but Sun/Moon challenged a ton of series conventions and got a lot right in the process. I can't believe how deftly this game handles dysfunctional families.

22: A Link Between Worlds This was Nintendo's hit at what was to come with Zelda - a smart, experimental take on the franchise that's easily its best 2d outing.

21: Muramasa: The Demon Blade Vanillaware's magnum opus, a gorgeous Metroidvania where everything is hand-painted. The combat's loop of mixing launchers with sword management is also incredibly fun, if not particularly deep. But fuck I loved looking at it so much and it felt good.

20: The Walking Dead Only time a video game made me cry.

19: Banjo-Kazooie The only 3d collect-a-thon platformer from that era that still holds up, it combines cheeky humor and an incredible soundtrack to craft a world that's always surprising.

18: Borderlands 2 is better crafted, but I enjoyed the dry wit and more grounded guns of the first. I've replayed this like 4 times and I'm not entirely sure why, but I have a blast each time.

17: Doom (2016) Apparently the secret to making this license work in a modern context is to give Halo combat arenas a healthy dose of cocaine and play Meshuggah riffs over it. It so fucking works.

16: Saints Row: The Third I think the writing in GTA is usually sophomoric at best and its attempts at commentary are eye-roll worthy, but having a game say "FUCK IT" and just Mel Brooks that experience is such a wonderful idea. It's also hard to pull off, and SR3 totally sticks the landing (unlike the sequel).

15: Super Mario World The best traditional Mario game. I replayed it recently, and it struck me how much secret exits add to the level design versus 3, and how freed Koji Kondo is by the new hardware. The castle music's classical overture sticks out.

14: Monster Hunter 4 I liked Monster Hunter 3's various iterations but I hated swimming. Taking out swimming and replacing it with mounting was enough for me to sink hundreds of hours. I actively avoided getting Generations because I knew it would interfere with school.

13: Mario Golf (GBC) The perfect portable game. Golf works well on the platform, and adding basic RPG hooks was enough to make a rote story totally engaging.

12: Super Mario Maker I think the real triumph of Mario Maker isn't the levels (which are usually terrible), it's how Nintendo imparted the feeling of being creative in such an easily digestible and satisfying way. It's an achievement that ascends past Mario design (which still works here) into something greater and more profound.

11: Hearthstone I fucking hate this game and I keep playing it because the Arena is like literal fucking crack and every time I have an opponent at 1 life and they beat me they can eat fucking dicks.

10: Super Mario RPG Clever writing and a strange world grabbed me way harder than Intelligent System's later Paper Mario games. It's too easy and doesn't look as slick now, but the writing still holds up.

09: Mass Effect Trilogy You can't really separate these, as the experience that makes Mass Effect great was carrying your Shepard and their decisions from one game to the next. Everyone will remember Garrus, Wrex, and co. Shame about the ending.

08: Tetris I am weirdly good at Tetris. I know what a T-Spin is. I sank hundreds of hours into it on Facebook. I don't regret it.

07: Persona 4 Describe a game to me as a mix of a J-RPG and a slice-of-life anime and I'll run to the hills, so the fact this game's sharp, mature writing and "just one more day" calendar mechanic combined into one of my favorite games of all-time is a shock. They also put in Pokemon with fucking demons, how cool is that shit?

06: Ocarina of Time I can't believe this game came out in 1998. The world is still fun to traverse, and the dungeon design (especially as an adult) still holds up at the top of action-adventure puzzle design.

05: Magic: the Gathering I wish it was less expensive otherwise it'd be higher.

04: Breath of the Wild I can't believe Nintendo reinvented the wheel so well that I'm putting the game so high on the list. Every design decision in this game is carefully considered to make exploring this iteration of Hyrule that much more satisfying. And its incredibly clever chemistry engine, where every object in the game has chemical properties that can be manipulated as well as physics, creates a ton of emergent gameplay scenarios where you're constantly asking "Can I do that?" and the game almost never lets you down.

03: World of Warcraft Sometimes I regret the 4000 hours I spent in Azeroth, but I'd have a hard time giving up the friends I made there. I could probably shred and like, speak another language though.

02: Pokemon Red I was the perfect age for Pokemon mania, and the fact that the core game was literally designed to appeal to me didn't help. I still love collecting the things and min/maxing ways to beat the Elite 4 with minimal grinding.

01: Mega Man X I think this is literally the perfect platformer. Moving X feels incredible. There's nothing in any of the levels I think is out of place. The soundtrack is a masterpiece. And the game's hidden secret is so insane you'd probably call bullshit on any kid who told it to you at recess. I'm really glad the rest of the world picked up on it after Arin Hanson did a Sequelitis about it, because I've been beating this drum for decades.

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kayawagner · 7 years ago

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12 Times Odder, Half as Much [BUNDLE]

Publisher: Skirmisher Publishing

This pecial 52% off bundle contains all 12 titles in the popular "Oddities" series of universal sourcebooks, including four Platinum bestsellers! Price for this bundle will be even lower for anyone who has purchased any of the "Oddities" titles through this or an affiliated site.

100 Oddities for a Creepy Old House Regular price: $1.99 Bundle price: $0.95 Format: PDF Welcome to "100 Oddities for a Creepy Old House"! This sourcebook features 100 strange and unique things that characters in game sessions or stories might find while exploring a decrepit old home. Oddities are the little touches that fill up the corners of lives. In our own mundane world, they might be limited to old, chewed pencils, unused key-fobs, or a half-finished decorative spoon collection awaiting the Grand Canyon and Mount Rushmore. In the worlds of our imagination, however, they can be so much more. What oddities might be found in the halls, on the walls, or occupying the shelves of a Creepy Old House? Let’s find out ... Oddities are intended to aid storyteller creativity, turning possibly bland areas or gaming episodes into something more. The goal of this publi... 100 Oddities for a Found Car Regular price: $0.99 Bundle price: $0.47 Format: PDF Welcome to the “Oddities” series of sourcebooks, each of which presents 100 imaginative elements, curios, and details to add to games and stories in whatever way you like! Oddities are things that stand out from the ordinary, and make you — and your characters — wonder about them. This edition of the Oddities series looks at items that might be found variously in the trunk, glove compartment, or elsewhere inside a vehicle found by one or more characters. It is primarily intended for use with modern, horror, post-apocalyptic, or near-future science fiction role-playing game scenarios. Oddities are intended as aid to storytellers, turning possibly bland areas or gaming episodes into something more, and the goal of this pub... 100 Oddities for a Graveyard Regular price: $1.99 Bundle price: $0.95 Format: Watermarked PDF Welcome to 100 Oddities for a Graveyard, the fourth entry in Skirmisher Publishing’s popular "Oddities" series! As roleplaying locales go, graveyards are classic, and can play a part in just about any type of game. As long as adventurers venture and people die, there will be graveyards. Fantasy, historical, urban, modern, horror, and even sci-fi or post-apocalyptic games can all benefit from the occasional introduction of a graveyard — and we have the Oddities to help you “flesh” them out. Oddities are intended to aid GM creativity, turning possibly bland areas or gaming episodes into something more, and the goal of this publication is to make things more fun and to take your imagination in directions it might not otherwise have gone. They fill in th... 100 Oddities for a Sewer Regular price: $1.99 Bundle price: $0.95 Format: PDF Welcome to “100 Oddities for a Sewer,” the eleventh entry in Skirmisher Publishing’s bestselling “100 Oddities” series of universal mini-sourcebooks! Sewers figure in a lot of roleplaying games, especially those set in or involving cities and, from the lowly rat-slaying forays of fledgling heroes to quests against monstrous beasts that dwell within them, they can keep adventurers busy. They also can allow travel below, to, or through intervening places (including those you might want to visit even less than the sewer itself). They might also be a haven for criminal elements or street folk, or a hideout for those who cannot stand scrutiny by the light of day. Sewers exist from age to age, and could figure in an ancient setting as easily as a modern or future... 100 Oddities for a Thieves' Guild Regular price: $0.99 Bundle price: $0.47 Format: PDF Welcome to Skirmisher Publishing’s Oddities for a Thieves’ Guild, second entry in an ever-expanding series of curiosities for places absurd, bizarre, creepy, devastated, enervated, and frustrated (we can go on and come up with an entire alphabet of abject adjectives, but we have already calibrated our cogitation contraptions to alliterative mode). Oddities are the details that can transform a 10’x10’ room into a memorable encounter and can be mundane or magical, trivial, obtuse, unusual, unsettling, and even horrifying. You provide the big items like critters, adversaries, mustachioed villains, history, treasure, and context, and we give you embellishments that can enhance any encounter — or hijack it for a hard left turn or even an about face.... 100 Oddities for a Treasure Hoard Regular price: $1.99 Bundle price: $0.95 Format: PDF Welcome to "100 Oddities for a Treasure Hoard," the ninth entry in Skirmisher Publishing’s popular "Oddities" series! This publication features 100 unique things characters might encounter in an otherwise mundane collection of loot and includes guidelines for ways to introduce Oddities into your game sessions or stories in a fun and compelling way. Have you ever needed to stock a treasure hoard? If you are the storyteller for a game, the answer to that question is undoubtedly a resounding yes! At the end of a long and perilous quest, the heroes (and their players) usually look forward to some tangible material reward for their efforts. But it can be difficult to get beyond randomized coinage and a handful of gems, especially if you are ... 100 Oddities for a Viking Encounter Regular price: $2.99 Bundle price: $1.43 Format: PDF Welcome to the tenth title in Skirmisher Publishing’s popular and ongoing “100 Oddities” series! "100 Oddities for a Viking Encounter" is a thematic sourcebook that contains lists of 100 Items, 20 Places, and 30 People & Monsters that can be used separately or in conjunction with one another to add some evocative details to a Viking-themed encounter or to construct one from scratch. These elements routinely cross the line between actual mythological elements and meta-references to them, and storytellers can decide in any given case whether they are dealing with something legendary or merely reminiscent of it. Oddities are things that stand out from the ordinary, and prompt both game masters and players to wonder about them. Oddities intrigue and&nbs... 100 Oddities for a Wasteland Regular price: $0.99 Bundle price: $0.47 Format: PDF Welcome to 100 Oddities for a Wasteland, the sixth entry in the “Oddities” series of sourcebooks, each of which brings you 100 imaginative elements, curios, and details to add to your games, in whatever way you like. Previous volumes in this series — including 100 Oddities for a Creepy Old House, 100 Oddities for a Graveyard, 100 Oddities for a Thieves’ Guild, 100 Oddities for a Wizard’s Library, and 100 Oddities for a Wizard’s Tower — have tied in primarily with the fantasy and horror genres, and 100 Oddities for a Wasteland is the first to cross over into post-apocalyptic science fiction. It is thus ideal for adding a twist to encounters for Gamma World, Mutant Future, and many other modern, sci-fi, and post-apocalypt... 100 Oddities for a Wizard's Library Regular price: $0.99 Bundle price: $0.50 Format: PDF Welcome to 100 Oddities for a Wizard's Library, third entry in Skirmisher Publishing's ever-expanding series of curiosities designed to fill the empty corners of your campaign worlds! Oddities may clutter a shelf or lie forgotten in a corner but are not defined by where they are so much as what they are and are unusual by their very nature. A dead rat in the basement of an abandoned building is not an oddity, but the same dead rat with its eyes sewn shut is. Oddities make you think about why they exist, how they ended up there, even what the hell they are, questions that are key to an engaging and invigorating roleplaying experience. Oddities are intended to aid GM creativity and turn possibly bland areas or gaming episodes into something more. The goal of this... 100 Oddities for a Wizard's Tower Regular price: $1.99 Bundle price: $0.95 Format: PDF Welcome to 100 Oddities for a Wizard's Tower, the fifth entry in the “Oddities” series of sourcebooks, each of which brings you 100 imaginative elements, curios, and details to add to your games or stories in whatever way you like. Oddities are intended to aid storyteller creativity, turning possibly bland areas, and the goal of this publication is to make things more fun and to take your imagination in directions it might not otherwise have gone. They fill in the corners of a bookshelf, a room, a level, a scenario, with all the sorts of things that add interest but take loads of time to come up with. A good oddity awakens curiosity and creativity, in player and storyteller alike, adding interest to an encounter, or even making one out of nothing. Volumes in thi... 100 Oddities for an Egyptian Tomb Regular price: $1.99 Bundle price: $0.95 Format: PDF Welcome to 100 Oddities for an Egyptian Tomb! Ancient Egypt’s tombs and funerary rites have long captivated the imagination of many, with their impossibly rich golden treasures, mummies, elaborate beliefs in a physical afterlife, curses, hordes of servants doomed to eternal servitude. And for each god of rejuvenation, light, and life, there is a monster of damnation, consumption, and terror. In 100 Oddities for an Egyptian Tomb, Skirmisher Publishing provides Game Masters with descriptions of thematically appropriate encounters, items, and creatures with which to bedevil or intrigue players as they venture beneath the dunes and sandstone, into a tomb that promises death and revivification. This universal mini-sourcebook fills in for hours of research, sparks the imagin... 100 Oddities for an Enchanted Forest Regular price: $1.99 Bundle price: $0.95 Format: PDF Welcome to "100 Oddities for an Enchanted Forest," the eighth entry in Skirmisher Publishing’s popular "Oddities" series! This publication includes 100 unique things characters might encounter in a sylvan setting and includes guidelines for introducing the Wild Hunt into your game sessions or stories. Your characters are traveling from one region to another, such as from the keep they call home to a distant ruin, a frontier outpost, a battlefield, or the like. Making their way through the forest that lies between their point of origin and destination can be a simple matter of a couple of nights camping out and an encounter with a wandering monster ... or it could be so much more. Oddities are intended to aid storyteller creativity, turning possibly bland areas or gam...

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dickbosman · 8 years ago

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"Now the Elves made many rings; but secretly Sauron made One Ring to rule all the others, and their power was bound up with it, to be subject wholly to it and to last only so long as it too should last." ― The Silmarillion, "Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age" The One Ring was an artefact created by the Dark Lord Sauron in the Second Age for the purpose of ruling over the Free peoples of Middle-earth, mainly the Elves. It was also known as the Ruling Ring, Great Ring of Power and Isildur's Bane( due to it causing the death of Isildur). In the Ring Verse it is referred to as Ash Nazg in Black Speech. During the Second Age, the Dark Lord Sauron persuaded Celebrimbor and his people, the Elven smiths of Eregion, to forge the Rings of Power. Secretly, Sauron returned to Orodruin and forged the One Ring in its fires. It was made as the Master Ring, the One Ring which would control all the others, and dominate their bearers. Sauron allowed much of his will and power to go into it. Thus, he was at his most powerful when wearing the Ring; however, it also caused his power to weaken considerably if he was not in possession of it. Although it appeared to be made of simple gold, the Ring was virtually impervious to damage, and could only be destroyed in the very fires where it had originally been forged - Orodruin. When Celebrimbor and the other Ring-bearers realized Sauron's treachery, they took off their Rings, as while they were wearing them, Sauron knew where they were, and went to war with him. This war, the War of the Elves and Sauron destroyed Eregion and devastated much of Eriador. Sauron conquered and was able to claim all the Rings of Power (except the Three) and distribute them. During the era known as the Dark Years, Sauron became master of almost all of Middle-earth beyond the coasts and was known as the Dark Lord of Mordor. He raised Barad-dûr near Mount Doom, constructed the Black Gate of Mordor to prevent invasion, and raised massive armies of Orcs, Trolls, and Men, chiefly Easterlings and Southrons. The power of the Ring allowed Sauron to link with it some of his works, such as Barad-dûr. With the Ring he controlled the Nine Rings that were given to nine mortal Men, who were corrupted and turned into the Nazgûl, his chief servants. However, he was unable to control the Seven Rings of the Dwarf-lords, because of their different, more hearty nature, and natural resistance against domination by others. Sauron's rise offended the arrogant Númenóreans, who attacked him with great force of arms. The forces of Sauron fled the onslaught, and Sauron realized that he could not overcome the Númenòreans through military might. Sauron allowed himself to be taken as a hostage to Númenor by King Ar-Pharazôn. There, he quickly grew from captive to adviser and was known as Tar-Mairon; he corrupted many Númenóreans using the power of the Ring and eventually convinced the king to rebel against the Valar, resulting in the Downfall of Númenor. Sauron was diminished in the destruction and his spirit (presumably with the Ring) fled back to Mordor, where he slowly rebuilt his strength. When the Faithful Númenóreans founded the Realms in Exile, Sauron began an offence against Gondor, which was one of those realms; the Elves and the Númenóreans formed the Last Alliance against Sauron, who was vanquished by Elendil and Gil-galad. Prince Isildur then cut the ring from his fingers and took it for himself. Isildur was corrupted by a great desire for the Ring, and he took it for his own, instead of destroying it as should have been done. Though he bought it "with great pain", Isildur considered the Ring a most precious heirloom of his house, and documented its properties upon the a scroll he wrote in Minas Tirith. He kept it around his neck as he travelled back to Arnor; but his party was attacked by a group of Orcs during the Disaster of the Gladden Fields. Isildur jumped into the Gladden River to escape, but the Ring betrayed him and slipped off his finger, and was lost in the River Gladden River. Isildur was revealed to the Orcs when he climbed out of the river, and he was shot. The Ring remained hidden in the riverbed for over two millennia, despite Saruman and his many attempts to locate the ring, including sending orcs to comb the Anduin. Until it was discovered on a fishing trip by a Stoor named Déagol. Once again, the Ring's evil powers acted upon Déagol's friend and relative, Sméagol, who murdered Déagol and took the Ring for himself. Over many ages, Sméagol was changed by the Ring's influence into the creature called Gollum (which is what he called himself, as it was similar to a sound he made). The Ring manipulated Gollum into settling in the Misty Mountains near Mirkwood, where Sauron was beginning to resurface. There he and the Ring remained for nearly five hundred years, until the Ring tired of him. Then, wishing to be discovered by a new keeper, and so thus find its way back to its Master, it fell off Gollum's finger as he was returning from hunting a Goblin. The Ring was discovered in the Third Age by a hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, who had been separated from his party of Dwarves and become lost in the caverns of the Misty Mountains, near Gollum's lair. After losing the Riddle-game to Bilbo, Gollum sneaked off to fetch his "Precious" (as he always called the One Ring), so that he could kill Bilbo and eat him. But when Gollum arrived at his island, he found that the Ring was missing, and he let out a great wail. Deducing from Bilbo's last question--"What have I got in my pocket?"--that Bilbo had taken it, Gollum chased the hobbit through the caves, not knowing that Bilbo had discovered the Ring's powers of invisibility and was following him to the cave's exit. Bilbo escaped Gollum and the Orcs who inhabited the Misty Mountains by remaining invisible (although he lost a few of his nice brass buttons.) When he told the story to the Dwarves and Gandalf, however, he left the Ring out of the story. But Bilbo was aware that Gandalf suspected the presence of his magic Ring. Later on Bilbo was forced to tell the Dwarves about the Ring, to preserve their lives and continue their journey to Erebor. Gollum, meanwhile, eventually left the Misty Mountains to track down and reclaim the Ring. He wandered for decades, only to be captured and interrogated by Sauron himself, to whom he revealed the existence of Bilbo and the Shire. In T.A. 3001, following Gandalf's counsel, Bilbo gave the Ring to his nephew and adopted heir Frodo. This first willing renunciation of the Ring in its history sparked the chain of events which eventually led to its unmaking. Gandalf was suspicious about the effect it had on Bilbo and went to Minas Tirith and found Isildur's account on the Ring, being lost since his death. He returned to Hobbiton and tested Frodo's Ring in fire, only to confirm his fears since the letters described by Isildur appeared upon it. By this time Sauron had begun to regain his power, and the Dark Tower in Mordor had been rebuilt. The War of the Ring had begun. Gandalf urged Frodo to carry the Ring to Rivendell where the Wise would decide their actions. Despite Gandalf's warnings, Frodo did wear the Ring several times during his journey. On Weathertop he was tempted by the Ring to wear it and evade the Ringwraiths, only to make him more visible to them and to be wounded by a Morgul-knife. In order to prevent the recapture of the Ring, Frodo and eight other companions set out from Rivendell for Mordor in an attempt to destroy the Ring in the fires of Mount Doom. During the quest, Frodo gradually became more and more susceptible to the Ring's power, and feared that it was going to corrupt him. When he and Sam discovered that Gollum was on their trail and "tamed" him into guiding them to Mordor, he began to feel a strange bond with the wretched, treacherous creature, seeing a possible future of himself that he felt he had to save in order to save himself. Gollum gave in to the Ring's temptation, however, and betrayed them to the spider Shelob who stung Frodo. Believing Frodo to be dead, Sam bore the Ring himself for a short time, and glimpsed its power, although he never gave in to it. Sam rescued Frodo from a band of Orcs at the Tower of Cirith Ungol and returned the Ring to him, but feared that the toll it was taking was too great. It nearly was: although Frodo and Sam, followed by Gollum, eventually arrived at Mount Doom, Frodo decided to keep the Ring for himself rather than destroy it, evincing its corruptive nature. However, he was attacked by Gollum, who bit off the finger holding the Ring before falling into the fires of Mount Doom, finally destroying the Ring, and Sauron with it.

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dparkins · 8 years ago

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I commented on my twitter feed that Blood Rage was my new favorite game. There are many reasons for this, but I realize in hindsight that this may have been a bit erroneous. It is my favorite new game that I have tried, for there are a few games I still enjoy a bit more if not for the simple fact that I have played them so many times now. But Blood Rage is definitely up there in terms of pure fun and I can’t wait to play it a few more times to really get the hang of it.

The reasons are simple, but as in all of my reviews, I want to start off with what the game is about.

Ragnarök has come, and it’s the end of the world! It’s the Vikings’ last chance to go down in a blaze of glory and secure their place in Valhalla at Odin’s side! Blood Rage is a Viking board game created by acclaimed game designer Eric M. Lang. In this fast-paced yet highly strategic game, players take control of Viking clans, with their own warriors, leader and ship. Invading, pillaging and battling in a quest to gain as much glory as possible before Ragnarök finally consumes the land! Here comes the ultimate Viking saga. The game’s striking visuals are a combination of Adrian Smith’s highly evocative artwork, and Mike McVey’s amazingly detailed miniatures for this mythological game.

Blood Rage is an incredible game where each player takes control of a mythological Viking clan seeking glory as Ragnarok approaches with impending doom and destroying certain areas of the board deeming them off limits for placement. The game is played in three ages or rounds, and has elements of card drafting, battling, and territory control with forces expertly and beautiful represented by plastic miniatures. All of the conflicts on the board are resolved through playing battle cards, upgrade cards for clans, leaders, and monsters, as well as strategy cards that generally give the most glory (victory points).

Though setting up probably took the most amount of time and without Jeremy’s help, we would have been lost, but having a game master present meant all the difference. I chose the wolf clan simply because I love House Stark in the Game of Thrones movie and board game franchise, and was dealt eight cards to play from. Unbeknownst to me, not drafting any strategy cards but many attack cards meant I was the one to attack and take control of as many areas as possible. What I learned too late (only during the third age) was that I could “march” into any area on the board rather than one space over, and so didn’t prevent others from their own strategy cards and eliciting the most amount of glory points.

The game, once the mechanics are learned briefly and within a short period of time, played incredibly smoothly and simply. We had four players on the board and this seemed to be absolutely perfect (though the five player expansion would be interesting). During the night, we had four others playing Star Wars Armada and three others playing Ticket to Ride while we hunkered down and learned a new one. There were a few spectators who were content to watch as well.

I cannot express to the reader enough the simplicity of the game yet the deep strategies involved, as well as hiding the motives that the strategy cards gave you. By the second age, even though I was well behind in the glory points at this stage, was where I was given the first strategy of area control, yet others had what I was hoping for; glory from Valhalla.

Think about this; from all of the games I have played, I have never had the dynamic where you could win by dying gloriously in battle, and taking control of huge detailed “monsters” like the troll that destroyed all players in an area when placed in a section was such a fun enterprise and undertaking. Others did the same. We were all vying for control of certain areas, and what I will do next game is make sure I have a stronghold not only in my own strategy induced places, but also in others in hopes of destroying their glory points.

Blood Rage offers an incredible mount of depth to keep any strategic player completely entertained while also allowing the more casual player an amazing experience. Players have to choose their strategies carefully during the draft phase but also must be ready to adapt and react to their opponent’s strategies as the action phase unfolds. What I love, absolutely love love, about the game is that battles are decided not only by the strength of the figures involved, but also by the cards played in secret. One can simply observe an opponent’s actions and allegiances to specific gods, once the cards are known, and then you will be able to predict what cards they are likely to play and plan accordingly.

Though I do not own the game myself, it will be my next purchase for sure, as well as all of the expansions, for Blood Rage is so simple that I myself, after playing it once, feel confident enough to teach as a Game Master. The game ended in second for me, just behind the GM who taught us, and I will be out for blood come next Gaming Night for Dualist games. I invite you to join us and see for yourself just how amazing this game is. Or, simply pick up a copy yourself and see just how amazing it is. Take hold of the glory of Valhalla and wager hard on the gods who dictate the game!

Blood Rage The Board Game Review I commented on my twitter feed that Blood Rage was my new favorite game. There are many reasons for this, but I realize in hindsight that this may have been a bit erroneous.

#Blood Rage #Blood Rage Board Game #Board Games #Board/Tabletop Games #Eric Lang #gaming #strategy #Viking

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