#Gnarly Tree Rex

[unofskylanderspages]

Seen above: A loading screen in Skylanders: Universe with the Life Skylanders introduced in Skylanders: Giants

[fyeahspyroandcrash]

[yourlocaltoad]

Assets used for Gnarly Tree Rex's Character page (skylanders.com, 2013/2014)

[grigori77]

Critical Role, Campaign 3 Episode 101 (Downfall, Part 3)

Where ... where are the others? It's just Tal and Marisha, what ... oh, wait, I think I know what's going on here ... yup, here we go ... Sam is so game, I love it. Of course now they're just full-on TORTURING him, but still ... XD

Marisha: "I'm so alone! It's so cold ..."

Matt disappears ... the other two freak out ... then Brennan appears ...yup ...

"Keep your mitts off my fucking cake!" Yeah ...

Okay, so here we go, then ... FINALLY ... because it was a SIX FUCKING HOUR EPISODE ... talk about having scheduling problems ...

Ah yes, so back in the speakeasy, then ... and it fucken wimdy out there ...

So ... is Cassida starting to regret her choice, maybe? Or is she just a bit ... overwhelmed?

Trouble in the club? Hmmm ... oh! Right! Turbulence, yeah, that makes sense ... yeah, that's right, nothing to see here! Go back to merry-making, folks! All's well!

Oh yeah, the traitor angel! OKay, then ...

Good point ... how DOES the Telepathic Bond thing work? Yeah, might not be the SMART move to download to everybody ...

We're all in this "together"? Are we SURE about that?

Calm Emotions? OKay, then ... yeah, this is NOT a very calming situation right now ...

Shit ... no, the Emissary IS NOT one of the bad guys ...

Charisma check for the Counterspell ... hmmmm ... 18? Yeah, JUST ... this is about to go REALLY BAD ...

Clearly she really IS on their side ... CAN THEY win her back to their side? Wow ... this is starting to feel like it's going to turn into a full-blown TRAGEDY ...

So the password is ... AURORA REX ... in theory, given things are likely becoming worryingly fluid ... hmmm ...

Yes ... time for some hard truths ... crap ...

A line between "those who matter and those who don't" ... oof ... NOT the best way to put it, if you ask me ...

Acastrial? Hmmm ... wow, this angel really DOESN'T LIKE THEM at all, do they?

A talisman? Intriguing ...

Ah, bargaining ... here we go ... I knew it was gonna go this way. It's all going to shit just like I thought it would ... yeah, she just doesn't get it, they're gonna destoy Aeor ANYWAY ...

The red thread? Oh ... wow ... that's intense ...

So what ... they're erasing the knowledge, but still planning on KEEPING it anyway? Hmmmmm ... yeah, THAT can't go well.

MIslead? Interesting ...

Through Dearest's eyes ... oh fuck yeah, this is just pure CHAOS ... it is SO TOTALLY FUCKED out there right now ...

Fuck! Impaled by his own staff! That is GNARLY ...

Aha! Vital information! Nice ... Seven Wards, yeah ... "disanimate" the Factorum Malleus? Hmmmm ... sounds like a suicide mission ...

She understands that she's marked to die no matter WHAT happens in this ... oh fuck ... yeah, this is weighing heavy on Trist and I am NOT surprised ... Ashley, you really are SUCH A TOTAL SWEETHEART and I wouldn't have it any other way ...

Good point ... HOW THE ACTUAL FUCK are they gonna get to the Genesis Ward IN THIS SHIT?!!!

Tishar: "This fun." Asha: "I don't know what that is." Tishar: "Urgh ... cannot believe you have more followewrs than me."

Yeah! Go off Wildmother! That is so awesome ... Asha (to Tishar): "I have SO MANY more followers than you."

It really is FUCKING WILD out there right now ... O.O

Wait ... they BLEW OUT the teleportation system? The ruling class fucked everybody else? OF COURSE they did. What else would we expect?

Ashley: "No! No! NO!!! I want a do over!" No shit, Ash ...

"The faithful executed for their crimes" ... oof ...

Protecting the tree EVEN NOW ... fucking SWEET MOVES, Asha ... you're STILL my favourite in this ...

The Emissary (to Cassida): "Not good, or bad. Family. Balance. Understand?" Hmmmm ...

Ashley: "This doesn't feel right, this doesn't feel right, this doesn't feel right ..." Man, I wanna give her a hug right now ...

Everybody's just tooling up for badassery to come, clearly ...

The first constellation? Sweet ...

Milo really is a massive prick ...

DRAGONS?!!! Fuck's sake ... O.O

Level B9 ... "benign"? Oh for fuck's sake ...

She has a point, you can't really DESTROY knowledge, not forever. You can only DELAY it ...

SPLITTING THE PARTY ... like always, I say it again, it's NEVER a good idea ...

Asha KNOWS that Emhira is using some trickery here ... and says NOTHING. Interesting ...

A distraction? Really? Ballsy ... I'm not sure SILAHA's really thinking this through right now ...

Oh shit ... Battlemap time? Cool ...

Holy fuck ... that looks like a fucking basestar from Battlestar Galactica!

And now we're one a break ... SO EARLY? Bloody hell ... the last stretch is gonna be FOUR FUCKING HOURS of solid combat, looks like ...

This fucking thing is CONSTANTLY ROTATING ... is that maybe going to make things a bit difficult for actual GAMEPLAY?

Yeah, watch out where you're placing those FUCKING GIGANTIC aeormatons, Brennan ... O.O

Deception? Shit ... ALREADY?!!! Not a good sign AT ALL ... 28? Okay ... uh-oh ... that fucking angel ... is this about to go south after all?

Divine Awareness? CRAP ... and so it's time to ROLL INITIATIVE!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!

27 Initiative for the Emissary? HOLY FUCK ...

Whoa ... so as they start to destroy Wards their godly powers are gonna start to come through? SWEET ... but it also means if Brennan's gonne get a TPK he's REALLY gonna try for it in the first 20 minutes ...

The Emissary dashes in to reach SILAHA ... Arcana Check! 10? Oof ... they extend their Scales of Justice and just CHUCK 'em at the nearest Ward ... 31 to hit? Oh FUCK YEAH that totally hits ... it has to be at least 15 points of damage to cause ANY damage? Interesting ... Demolishing MIght? Sounds MAJOR ... yeah, definitely use that shit ... 18 points so that's DOUBLE damage ... nice ... so a warcry and then it goes SMASH!!! Yup, that just SHATTERS it ...

Holy shit ... that is a fucking SWEET bonus to unlock! Divine prowess INDEED!!! Yeah, get smashing, people!

Brennan: "Okay ... that happened A LITTLE FASTER than I thought it would!"

SILAHA and the Emisary BOTH need to make dexterity saves ... BALLS!!! Ooof ... so they're BOTH fails? Wow ... yeah, Acastriel is a RAGING BITCH ... and now WISDOM saves? Oof again ... 45 Radiant damage! AAAAAAAAHHH!!! And now they're BOTH stunned ... damn it ...

Here come the aeormatons, then ... crap ... squatting over more Wards? Hmmmm ...

A Glabrezu? What the sweet FUCK?!!!

A massive Nalfeshnee? Owww ...

Fucking hell ... people are taking damage and they're not even IN the battle yet ...

THAT FUCKING DRAGON!!! I fucking knew it! Fire-breath equals INSTANT 45 points of fire damage to SILAHA and the Emissary ... oof ... they're ALREADy starting to look rough ...

Zaharzht waddles in the best he can and manages to do NOTHING this turn ...

Emhira sends a mote from her Crown of Stars up to try and hit one of the Wards up top. Okay ... 26 is DEFINITELY a hit ... the top Wards are a T25 threshold to even scratch it? Ow ... 32 points? SWEET!!! It's sparking now, not broken but definitely damaged ... okay, time Shatter on the nearest enemy ... six D8 of damage? Holy shit ... 27 points! Nice ... the aeormaton takes a big hit but manages to shake off the worst of it with its save ... the other ward is also still up but this one is ALSO now badly damaged too ... and now she's visible, too.

The Solar uses a Legendary Action to Teleport directly in front of her ... crap! Acastriel takes two swings at her with their greatsword ... 22 slashing and 27 Radiant damage ... OUCH!!! but Ayden teleports right in and takes the second hit himself instead ... Hellish Rebuke? Oh nice, Emhira ... meanwhile the illusory version of her with Trist and the rest just VANISHES ...

Asha rushes in and attacks SILAHA and the Emissary's opponent ... the demon is instantly STUNNED and takes a SERIOUSLY messy hit ... 21 points! Now she has advantage on further attacks ... another 9 points, and she takes Patient Defense to cover from the dragon.

ANOTHER FUCKING DRAGON?!!! Come on! I knew it, Brennan REALLY IS trying for a TPK!

Acastriel tries to mindfuck Emhira ... Con save! Oof ... wow, now she's BLINDED!!! Fuck!

Paralising dragon breath! FUCK!!! Con saves manage to keep people from getting SUPER-fucked, but still ... this is not good! Oh, and Zaharzht is instantly frozen ... crap ...

Tishar runs in and uses the angel as a stepping stone to leap onto the brass dragon, hacking down as she goes ... WOW!!!

Trist, back in the library, gets a message through her sending stone from her family ... oh boy ... something's going BADLY WRONG with them. She tells them to RUN. Fuck ... this sounds like something REALLY BAD is going on there ... she can't go back to them but she's DESPERATE for them to be all right ... oh this is so bad ... and now the stone is suddenly SILENT ... FUCK!!! Trist is PANICKING now and I can't blame her in the slightest ...

Yeah, Umleta really don't strike me as a hugger ...

Fuck ... what is she going to do now? Is she leaving the battle? She's going to join her family ... hmmmm ...

Great ... more archmages are coming to defend the weapon ... that's just PERFECT ... the Emissary barely avoids getting Banished ... meanwhile half the group are caught in a Cone of Cold ... thank fuck for magical resistances ...

Selena tries to Wish SILAHA away ... FUCK!!! The fake aeormaton BARELY shakes off the spell's effect ... but takes a halved damage of 60 Force points all the same ... OUCH!!! But that could have been SO MUCH WORSE ... O.O

Ayden decides he needs to start healing RIGHT NOW, so he casts Sanctuary on himself, then a 6th level Mass Cure Wounds to give everybody who's hurt 20 hit points back and himself for 25 ...

Emhira takes 17 damage from the Silver dragon's tail ... ow!

Milo arrives? Oh thank fuck ... I hate his guts but we really need him right now ...

ANOTHER FUCKING DRAGON? An UNDEAD dragon? Are you fucking kidding me? Basically EVERYBODY has to make dex and wisdom saves ... FUCK!!! The Emissary and SILAHA are now both FRIGHTENED ... and that's a fuckton of Necrotic damage across the board ...

Top of the round again, then ...

Automatic Hit? Fuck's sake, Brennan!

Thank fuck the Emissary and SILAHA are no longer stunned, at least ...

Taking all of the Emissary's damage, Ayden is EXTREMELY fucked up right now ... ouch ...

Brass dragon regains its breathe weapon ... damn it ... wait ... Noshir could use Luck to make Brennan reroll? Oh PLEASE do ... a 3? YES!!! No breath weapon after all! NICE!!!

So instead it just shakes Tishar off and bites into her ... 70 points of damage? FUCK!!!

Zaharzht is currently reeling under his permanent pain and therefore can't do anything ... balls ...

Emhira is BLIND, so she tries a Hail Mary to attempt to hit the higher damaged Ward ... Crown of Stars again ... 17? That's a miss ... balls ... okay ... so she just belches out a void of screeching darkness instead ... wow ... that's going to hurt friends as much as enemies ...8 D8 of damage? Fucking hell, Laura ... 35 points of Psychic damage? Ow ...

Okay ... so this inflicts HUNDREDS of points of damage to their enemies and causes a bunch of missed attacks, but Ayden also takes a bunch of damage too ...

Acastriel tries to cut Ayden down ... 15 piercing and 27 Radiant damage ... oof ... Emhira takes the damage instead and on a NAT-FUCKING-20 shakes off an INSTANT DEATH ... wow ... Matron of Ravens INDEED!!!

Family, man! It's a beautiful thing ...

Asha takes a leap to the lower damaged Ward, IN THE DARK, and TANKS the hit to EASILY land it ... BOOM!!! She lands a Stunning Strike on the construct to knock it back, both fail to have an effect ... shit, guess that was a fail, then ... she stays put to try her luck again later ...

Acastrial teleports out of the Darkness ...

SILAHA, no longer stunned, summons constructs to heal 100 hit points ... then they cast Meteor Swarm on THE ENTIRE PLACE ... if this works, they could take out FOUR OF THE WARDS in one go ... so long as the mages can't counter it ... Ademar fails ... Selena succeeds, but SILAHA Counterspells HER Counterspell ... AND IT WORKS!!! So that's ALL gonna hit, then ... O.O

Abubakar is clearly relishing the CHAOS he's about to unleash and I LOVE IT ... XD

20 D6 Fire damage AND 20 D6 Force damage ... sweet fuck ... this is going to be SO BEAUTIFUL ... 69 + 77? Bloody hell ... and this is TIMES FOUR, essentially ...

So the dragons are now FUCKED UP ... Selena manages to save, but Ademar is VAPORIZED!!! Holy shit ... and SILAHA is no longer grappled ... Acastriel FAILS his dex save ... O.O ... HDYWTDT?!!! The angel is FUCKING DEAD!!! Beautiful, SILAHA!!! It's a BEAUTIFULLY HORRIBLE death for the Solar.

Meanwhile Asha grabs hold of SILAHA and LITERALLY dances him out of the impacts of each hit on the top level ... that's so fucking cool ...

And now for the Greater Wards ... the damaged one INSTANTLY fails! Now TWO!!! HOLY FUCK THAT'S ALL THREE!!! Un-fucking-believable ... O.O

Wow ... Brennan is GENUINELY a little speechless now ...

Divine Magic ... fucking hell that one is SERIOUSLY OP'd ... Vitality ... I'm sorry ... restore ALL HIT POINTS? AUTOMATIC SUCCESSES ON DEATH SAVES? Sweet fuck ... Potency? Spell damage MULTIPLIED BY TEN?!!! Holy fuck ...

They are LITERALLY GODS right now ...

Trist SURGES into the battle, goes STRAIGHT to the Emissary and heals them with Mass Heal along with the others in range, INCLUDING Emhira's blindness! Sweet! Then she tries to Persuade the construct in front of her to destroy the nearest Ward ... oh shit ... Nat19 ... along with all the other advantages they now have that is a RIDICULOUS success ... and it punches it TO FUCK!!! O.O Tht's 60 Force damage ... the Ward SHATTERS ...

Divine Resistance ... Legendary Resistance x5? Massive immunities? Holy fucking shit ... that's another OP'd bonus ...

The silver dragon fails to recharge its breath weapon AGAIN?!!! Wow ...

More mages? Hmmm ...

Wow ... so Con saves are now, like, RIDICULOUS ... SO LITTLE DAMAGE now ... these hits are like pinpricks to them now ...

Another Meteor Swarm? Hmmm ... Spectral Wings from Trist? Nice ... dex saves all round, then ... I love how Ashley can LITERALLY just say NO to Brennan now regarding how much damage the Emissary takes ... XD

Ayden starts to rapidly age, doubling over before bursting up and casting Sunburst at 9th Level ... 12 D6 of Radiant damage? Wow ... 37 multiplied by 10? Holy fuck ... 370 points of Radiant damage ... which takes out A BUNCH of the mages ... and ALL THREE of the dragons? Holy fuck TWICE!!!

Now Ayden leaps up onto the platform, then Commanding Rallies the Emissary. Interesting ...

So the Emissary attacks the nearest Ward ... 160 damage? Oh that just ANNIHILATES the Ward ...

Divine Awareness ... Immunity to conditions including Charmed and Stunned? That's pretty sweet ...

Oh, so the talisman's finally come into play? What's Selena gonna do? She sends it to Oblivion? Some kind of spell ... this sounds complicated ... SILAHA is being presented with an agonising choice ...

Wish? Crap ...

It's the Emissary's turn, then ... they Rage and make the leap onto the platform, charges towards the remaining Ward, readying an action for when it goes down ...

Emhira Eldritch Blasts the last construct ... four GUARANTEED hits now, then ... 110, which just batters it RIGHT BACK off the Ward ... so she pours the rest into the Ward itself ...

Divine Vigour ... yet again this is thoroughly OP'd ... and that was THE VERY LAST WARD ...

The Emissary swings and hits the machine ... yup, I'd say that qualifies as disanimation ...

THey're no longer mortal, then ... EVERY ONE OF THEM is pure god, now ...

Who's in the cage? The Wildmother releases it ...

Trist says her goodbye to her family through the stone ... fuck ... wow, so that act literally saves her family from certain death? Crazy ... but also awesome ... oh, so they have power too? I mean they would, they're her kids ...

Ayden uses a Legendary Action to move an impossible distance at once ... SILAHA elects to stay and witness the destruction of the weapon ... Asha says her goodbyes to the Emissary and leaves FAST ... Emhira follows ...

Casting Calm Emotions, Trist comforts the Emissary before she leaves as well ...

Fuck ... Cassida's dead? Murdered by Ameris, Trist's husband? Wait, he's NOT him? Who the fuck ... IMPOSTOR!!! TRAITOR!!! Fucking Asmodeus ...

Fuck, ANOTHER fight? Right now? Crazy ... roll Initiative, then ...

Trists casts Guiding Bolt ... 110? Oof ...

The Lord of Hells? Shit ... but she aims for THE SCROLL ... 12 D6, then ... 50 x10 ... 400 damage, then ... oh shit, yeah, that thing's just INCINERATED, then ...

The Emissary blows ...

Wow ... so Selena's Wish gives EVERY MAGE IN AEOR the knowledge to recreate the weapon ... and tells them to RUN ... that's fucked, man ...

Yeah ... that is a whole lot of stone to be dropping out of the sky all at once ...

Meanwhile every one of these mortal gods is DESTROYED ...

Fuck ... Noshir and Laura make us cry with the Emissary's passing on ...

At least Cassida's boy is saved at the last ... that's sweet...

Asha becomes a wolf again before she's destroyed ... yeah ... I love that ...

Ayden wishes he could have saved Aeor instead of this ... even at the end he was trying to do the right thing ...

Wow ... Asmodeus is just as much of a drama queen as I expected him to be ...

The Wildmother and the Crawling King really do have a very complicated relationship ... but there's something quite beautiful in it, too ...

Trist heals Cassida's body again, and at least they can bring her peace. Her heart's breaking, she wishes she could've done more ... fuck ... finally she lets go after an embrace with the Matron, and she's the last to become what she TRULY is ... the Everlight ...

Ah ... family ... even in suffering, it's sweet ...

So that's it for Aeor, then ...

The Lawbearer: "We killed them for being good." Ouch ...

Wow ... so even after all this, they're STILL going to go back to war with the Betrayers ... oof ...

Goodbyes all round, then ... oh boy ... more tears ... great ...

The Threads of Fate ... fuck ... that's still beautiful ...

Right to the end, then, the Dawnfather remains the most human of all of them. Always THE BEST of what they can be. That's powerful ...

Classic Brennan Mulligan epilogue, then ... and he's gone ...

Welcome back, Matt ...

And so we segue back into the main story of Campaign Three all over again ... setting things up for the next session, then ...

Is it Thursday yet?

[geetzyfily]

Tree rex is pretty Gnarly

[starlightrows]

As Far As I Go

Inspired by this post

Paring: Echo and Reader (not necessarily romantic)

Word Count: 641

AN: I’m not normally an Echo girl. But this one really spoke to me and I had to write it.

“Was it something I said?” Tech asks

You turn and give him a look, “No, it was everything you said” You turn on your heel and follow Echo out away from the Marauder but give him some space to blow off steam.

He sets himself down by an old gnarly looking tree and leans against the trunk. You approach him and sit down beside him, not saying anything, just sitting.

He has his eyes closed and a frown on his face. He’s listening to the sound of the breeze blowing through the trees. He wishes it was his true ears hearing it. The fingers of his left hand gently card through the grass. He keeps his prosthetic arm in his lap.

He takes a deep breath and glances over at you

“Come to chew me out?” He asks

“No, should I?“ You respond with a half smile

“Probably” he admits

“For what it’s worth, Tech only thinks he’s the smart clone ever to come off of Kamino” you point out

“A smart ass is what he is” Echo huffs

“He’s good at logistics, I’ll give him that. But I wouldn’t exactly describe him as experienced. You have him far our ranked in that department” You point out

“My brother Rex used to say something along those lines….. a long time ago” He says with a half breathed laugh

“You miss your brothers don’t you” You ask

“Of course I do” he says sadly

“They’re your brothers too ya know” You nod your head back toward the ship

“I know” he admits “Just not quite the same. Not like my brother Fives”

You hum and nod your head, “You know I met him once on Coruscant”

He looks at you with genuine surprise “You never told me that”

“You never asked” you shrug

“Oh… well uh… what did you think of him?” He asks

“Smart guy. Too smart of his own good sometimes. Kept your ARC medal until the day he died and had your name written on the inside of his vambrace” You tell him honestly

“Really?” Echo’s heart gave a lurch. Rex had told him, bits and pieces of what happened to Fives. But maybe even he didn’t know about the medal and vambrace. Or maybe it was just too painful.

“Mhm” you nod “Asked him about it when I saw it. It’s for my brother he used to say, I never would have gotten this far without him so I’ll take him with me as far as I go”

He’s dumbfounded. He and Fives were closer than most brothers. He expected that maybe he was remembered fondly by Fives. But this…. “I… I didn’t know that”

“You should talk about your brothers more often” you say “It helps”

“Yeah…. maybe you’re right” he says. He pauses thinking about what you’d told him “Wish I had something of his… to carry with me as far as I go”

“Carry his spirit. Carry his joy. Carry his memory” you say, pulling a small package wrapped in cloth and tossing it his lap “Carry this”

He looks down in his lap and narrows his eyes. He doesn’t open it, he eyes shift over to you.

“How long have you had this?” He asks a little suspiciously

“Rex gave it to me to give to you” you tell him “when you were ready”

He looks back down at his lap. He knows what he will find wrapped in the cloth. His fingers carefully unwrap the cloth and let the ARC medal fall onto his lap. He swallows hard, and scoops up the medal to get a closer look at it.

He could swear he could see Fives’ laughing face somewhere in the glinting reflection. He smiles in spite of his aching heart and closes his fingers around the medal.

“Thank you” he whispers

[weirdletter]

The Big Book of Modern Fantasy: The Ultimate Collection, edited by Ann Vandermeer and Jeff VanderMeer, Vintage Books, 2020. Cover art by Leonora Carrington, info: penguinrandomhouse.com.

From Ann and Jeff VanderMeer comes The Big Book of Modern Fantasy: a true horde of tales sure to delight fans, scholars — even the greediest of dragons. A Vintage original. Step through a shimmering portal... a worn wardrobe door... a schism in sky... into a bold new age of fantasy. When worlds beyond worlds became a genre unto itself. From the swinging sixties to the strange, strange seventies, the over-the-top eighties to the gnarly nineties–and beyond, into the twenty-first century–the VanderMeers have found the stories and the writers from around the world that reinvented and revitalized the fantasy genre after World War II. The stories in this collection represent twenty-two different countries, including Russia, Argentina, Nigeria, Columbia, Pakistan, Turkey, Finland, Sweden, China, the Philippines, and the Czech Republic. Five have never before been translated into English. From Jorge Luis Borges to Ursula K. Le Guin, Michael Moorcock to Angela Carter, Terry Pratchett to Stephen King, the full range and glory of the fantastic are on display in these ninety-one stories in which dragons soar, giants stomp, and human children should still think twice about venturing alone into the dark forest. Completing Ann and Jeff VanderMeer’s definitive The Big Book of Classic Fantasy, this companion volume to takes the genre into the twenty-first century with ninety-one astonishing, mind-bending stories.

Contents: INTRODUCTION – Ann and Jeff VanderMeer TEN ROUNDS WITH GRANDFATHER CLOCK – Maurice Richardson THE CIRCULAR VALLEY – Paul Bowles SIGNS AND SYMBOLS – Vladimir Nabokov THE ZAHIR – Jorge Luis Borges LIANE THE WAYFARER – Jack Vance POOLWANA’S ORCHID – Edgar Mittelholzer THE MAN WHO SOLD ROPE TO THE GNOLES – Margaret St. Clair O UGLY BIRD! – Manly Wade Wellman THE GOPHERWOOD BOX – Abraham Sutzkever MY LIFE IN THE BUSH OF GHOSTS (EXCERPT) – Amos Tutuola A VERY OLD MAN WITH ENORMOUS WINGS – Gabriel García Márquez THE ANYTHING BOX – Zenna Henderson LEAN TIMES IN LANKHMAR – Fritz Leiber THE DREAMING CITY – Michael Moorcock CRONOPIOS AND FAMAS – Julio Cortázar KAYA-KALP (METAMORPHOSIS) – Intizar Husain THE LAST DRAGON IN THE WORLD – Tove Jansson THE DROWNED GIANT – J.G. Ballard THE MONSTER – Satu Waltari NARROW VALLEY – R.A. Lafferty THE SINISTER APARTMENT – Mikhail Bulgakov THE ORIGIN OF THE BIRDS – Italo Calvino THE PREY – Bilge Karasu THE TOPLESS TOWER – Silvina Ocampo THE BARBARIAN – Joanna Russ THE YOUNGEST DOLL – Rosario Ferré THE ONES WHO WALK AWAY FROM OMELAS – Ursula K. Le Guin ARK OF BONES – Henry Dumas WINGED CREATURES – Sylvia Townsend Warner LINNAEUS FORGETS – Fred Chappell THE ERL-KING – Angela Carter THE GREAT NIGHT OF THE TRAINS – Sara Gallardo THE TALE OF DRAGONS AND DREAMERS – Samuel R. Delany THE WHITE HORSE CHILD – Greg Bear THE DREAMSTONE – C.J. Cherryh FIVE LETTERS FROM AN EASTERN EMPIRE – Alasdair Gray THE ICE DRAGON – George R.R. Martin ONE TIME – Leslie Marmon Silko SISTER LIGHT, SISTER DARK – Jane Yolen THE LUCK IN THE HEAD – M. John Harrison WARLOCK AT THE WHEEL – Diana Wynne Jones MRS. TODD’S SHORTCUT – Stephen King ON THE DARK SIDE OF THE STATION WHERE THE TRAIN NEVER STOPS – Pat Murphy AFTER THE HURRICANE – Edgardo Sanabria Santaliz THE GIRL WHO WENT TO THE RICH NEIGHBORHOOD – Rachel Pollack THE BYSTANDER – Leena Krohn WILD BOYS: VARIATIONS ON A THEME – Karen Joy Fowler THE MOLE KING – Marie Hermanson WHAT THE TAPSTER SAW – Ben Okri THE FOOL – David Drake THE FLYING CREATURES OF FRA ANGELICO – Antonio Tabucchi A MEXICAN FAIRY TALE – Leonora Carrington THE BOY IN THE TREE – Elizabeth Hand TV PEOPLE – Haruki Murakami ALICE IN PRAGUE OR THE CURIOUS ROOM – Angela Carter MOON SONGS – Carol Emshwiller THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF SHED NUMBER XII – Victor Pelevin THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE DRAGON – Patricia McKillip TROLL BRIDGE – Terry Pratchett LONGING FOR BLOOD – Vilma Kadlečková A BRIEF VISIT TO BONNYVILLE – D.F. Lewis TRAVELS WITH THE SNOW QUEEN – Kelly Link THE NEUROSIS OF CONTAINMENT – Rikki Ducornet THE DARKTREE WHEEL – Rhys Hughes FŒTUS – Shelley Jackson TAN-TAN AND DRY BONE – Nalo Hopkinson WHERE DOES THE TOWN GO AT NIGHT? – Tanith Lee POP ART – Joe Hill STATE SECRETS OF APHASIA – Stepan Chapman THE WINDOW – Tatyana Tolstaya THE WEIGHT OF WORDS – Jeffrey Ford ALL THE WATER IN THE WORLD – Han Song THE KITE OF STARS – Dean Francis Alfar MOGO – Alberto Chimal THE MALADY OF GHOSTLY CITIES – Nathan Ballingrud END OF THE LINE – Aimee Bender I LEFT MY HEART IN SKAFTAFELL – Victor LaValle THE GRASSDREAMING TREE – Sheree Renée Thomas LA PEAU VERTE – Caitlín R. Kiernan A HARD TRUTH ABOUT WASTE MANAGEMENT – Sumanth Prabhaker BUFO REX – Erik Amundsen THE ARREST OF THE GREAT MIMILLE – Manuela Draeger AUNTS – Karin Tidbeck FOR LIFE – Marta Kisiel THE SPRING OF DONGKE TEMPLE – Qitongren THE WORDEATERS – Rochita Loenen-Ruiz CREATURE – Ramsey Shehadeh BEYOND THE SEA GATE OF THE SCHOLAR-PIRATES OF SARSKÖE – Garth Nix THE BEAR DRESSER’S SECRET – Richard Bowes TABLE WITH OCEAN – Alberto Chimal THE JINN DARAZGOSH – Musharraf Ali Farooqi Acknowledgments Permissions About the Translators About the Editors

[dtrainderailed]

Gnarly Tree Rex

Here is a loose Skylanders giants figure of Gnarly Tree Rex that was found most likely in some trash somewhere in Lancaster County PA. Not sure why I kept it but probably just thought that it was cool. Weird fact thought, that I found it inside a zip lock bag marked eraser and come to find out that it wasn’t an eraser but an action figure once I put all the pieces together.

[sixones1]

Activision Skylanders Giants Gnarly Tree Rex

Activision Skylanders Giants Gnarly Tree Rex

Sky Giant Giants Gnarly Tree

[ladycapuletwrites]

Beach House

The sun is making pink streaks across the sky that someone says look like lines of cocaine. Probably Rico. Angel is lying on a foldout leaner with shay, safari hat on his head, so stoned he can barely open his eyes. The MDMA that Michelle got us is finally starting to kick in, and I’m sucking down Marlboro ice blasts like it’s the end of the night already.

“Is that a bunch of seals?!” Rico points at a nearby rock formation, clearly beginning to trip. Our laughter lifts itself into the salty air and a moment that could be frozen in time is captured by Wanagi, who is taking photos with his camera and the light is glinting off our corona bottles. There are moments where I wonder how it’s possible to be so tortured, how it’s possible to carry so much pain around in my psyche when life gives me so much to value. This is how I know I’m getting high. The sunset is forming a crack on the skyline, two horses carry people lazily down the beach, I take another sip of my beer, clenching my jaw for the first time of many. Ah, the feeling of unadulterated bliss brought on by a sizeable amount of drugs.

Earlier, when I arrive at the beach house, everyone is stoned and eating a barbecue cooked by Luciano the Argentinian. Joints pass daintily around sun chairs, next to a swimming pool. Into the afternoon Wanagi and Rico and I divvy up our shares of MD, packets of aluminum foil that looks like chewing gum wrappers. Michelle says she got it brought on a bus from Lima. Twenty hours in the back pocket of a Peruvian girlfriend, best stuff she’s ever had. The fact that getting molly in Peru that’s actually molly and actually works is like finding a million dollars in a treasure chest does not escape us. Upon first opening the packet though, we are momentarily stunned at what we see. Three Australians with a sizable chunk of drug experiences between us and we ain’t never seen shit that looks like this. “FAAAARK man that looks gnarly” says Rico, looking on with the rest of us at the black rocks in the bag. It’s like tiny crystals, all black around the edges, glinting strangely in the light of the afternoon. “Looks like someone cooked it on a grill” Wanagi takes a sip of his beer. “Haha probably did eh!” Says Rico. “I’m game.” “Me too” I say, placing my lighter determinedly on the table. We decide that the easiest way to get the foreign substance into us would be to wrap it in toilet paper and ingest it. I wonder for a very small second if we’re all going to end up seizing on the floor. But something makes me do it anyway. That same thing that always makes me do it anyway. That tiny little throbbing vein of defiance. Bruno joins us, (having never taken it before. “Is that what it’s supposed to look like?” We all assure him “yes” with a strange predatory glance in each other’s direction) and we make four little pouches, floral toilet paper wrapped black magic. Holding our coronas as chasers, we attempt to knock them back. I instantly gag. This was a mistake. I swallow the vomit that rises in my throat. This was a mistake, this was a mistake. Swallow again. More beer. We are all choking on toilet paper, having forgotten or not noticed that the paper was scented, and it feels like swallowing baby powder and sulphuric acid. More beer. More beer. This was a mistake. Swallow vomit again. Mistake mistake mistake, my brain jeers on a loop and I keep swallowing until I can speak. “Fuck it guys, scull your beers.” I have the most trouble keeping mine down. The other boys look on as I cover my mouth with my hand and the back of my eye lids flash green repetitively. But I won’t waste half a gram of anything, and soon enough, my body accepts the flagellation my oesophagus is given.

I am thankful for this as the sun sets. In fact, I’m rather thankful for everything. The world begins to shimmer, and the beach darkens, we all decide to head back to the beach house we hired for the fuck of it. There are bottles and bottles of booze, but one of them is sticking out of a watermelon, so we decide to try that one first, cutting hunks of watermelon off with a kitchen knife we found. “Does anyone else… doesn’t anyone else, hahaha” says Rico, and Wanagi and I nod in agreement. We are coming up nicely to our highs, shooting for the stars, shoulders slumping, brain sending all those pleasure receptors tingling down the spinal tap. The vodka watermelon is strong and we’re all gagging again, but this time we are laughing, Luciano and Bastion (who have not taken anything yet) look at us in confusion as Wanagi begins to slam his hands on all the counters screaming “YES! YES! MD YOU MOTHERFUCKING BEAUTY YES!” wandering around the house with me clapping him on like a mentally challenged fan girl. Bruno and Rico abandon the watermelon to play beer pong, refilling their cups with rum. They can’t see straight though, so their game is woefully slow. Every time someone gets a ball in, neither can bring themselves to scull the beer, but Wanagi and I are lying down beside the table on the floor holding hands talking about how beautiful life is, so they pass their beers down to us for the drinking, and resume their half plotted game. “Now this move? This one is called the pterodactyl!” Rico says, pulling his arm into his hip, and catching a fluke shot into Bruno’s cup. “Don’t you mean a T-Rex?” I ask. Rico scoffs, eyes rolling back in his head. “Of course not, I know my fucking, my fucking dinosaurs mate, it’s a fucking, it’s a pterodactyl”

Everything begins to take on shape and meaning, but blurring intermittently. I keep filling up my cup. Vodka gums through my veins with amphetamines. Shay appears suddenly and we become momentarily infatuated with the light fitting, coveted with tiny dangling shells. “Don’t you think this is what it’s like to regress into your childhood, with the newness that first took you at being introduced to mobiles?” We have our faces buried in both sides of the dangling pieces of beach detritus, but somehow they feel soft to the touch. I envision a tiny Saturn circulating my peripheral, with no real confirmation as to whether it was a memory or a particularly vivid, wishful hallucination. We’ve taken to putting the watermelon pieces in our drinks because the vodka is too strong and it keeps making us want to throw up. Michelle has awoken from her nap and is surprised to find us all absolutely loopy, senseless and not even making coherent sentences. “What the fuck happened to you guys when I was sleeping?” Rico produces the empty chewing gum packet, throws a ping pong ball in Michelle’s direction. “You, my friend, better get yourself started on it” Michelle, Rico and Bastion go to organize a little package for themselves.

Outside, Bruno goes to sit with his cigarette in his mouth watching the lights of the swimming pool with intent. They have an eerie quality about them, in the pitch black, powder blue looks strange and neon and foreign. Shay and Angel are presumably off having sex somewhere, because we don’t see them for the rest of the night. I take a stick from a nearby tree a proclaim it as my wand, before wading into the water on the poolside. I begin to draw stars very quickly, and watch Bruno’s pupils enlarge and a smile play across his lips. I stop momentarily to notice that the others have come to watch me work my water magic. “DO YOUR WORK WOMAN!” Bruno screeches, encouraging me to continue. Music is alive in me and I am dancing around my wand making shapes in the water as we all stare into the blankness, my legs wet and cool, the smell of weed and salt and friendship seeping into our wide open drug infected hearts. Serotonin never felt so good, and if it did, we take it again to remember.

The party is moved to the table tennis area, where I find a room attached and Wanagi begins to film me becoming increasingly confused by all of the items in it. Though from a few days later viewing, none of these items are out of place. Except of course, the huge hole in the floor with running water flowing through it, covered in two planks of wood. I discover it and am fascinated as if it is the last vestige of an ancient civilization. Why is it here? What is its purpose? There is cat food but I haven’t seen a cat all day. There are laundry baskets with towels in colours that look otherworldly. I am out of my fucking mind at this hidden underground waterfall in a laundry that we have discovered right next to the table tennis room.

Thoughts skip and skitter about like light bulbs in an electrical storm and everything is beautiful beautiful beautiful. Hours pass and jaws grind and Rico attempts unsuccessfully to teach me table tennis, we discover that the beach looks mighty magical under the stars. Michelle makes us do shots of something that makes me throw up black liquid into the kitchen sink and we dance like there is no tomorrow ever coming, ever at all. “I know what you mean now guys, woooooow!” Michelle says, eyes flaring around at the moon and back to our faces. Unfocused and refocused, “wow, wow, wow…” she trails off and I remember why they call this drug ecstasy. The night passes and we don’t ask it to, though time never was one to pander permission. My last coherent sentence was, “do go on” as we say draped over the furniture lazily smoking a joint, Luciano, Wanagi and I, talking about our lives, talking about the richness of our waking moments and the question of deservance.

Wanagi and I are the first to wake in the morning, having both fallen asleep on the couch. My legs are hanging over the side so it takes about ten minutes for them to resume having feeling. Until then I waggle my toes around, unable to feel them, and then slowly, pins and needles drilling their way up my ankles and into the rest of my body. We rise from the couch awkwardly, surveying the damage.

Damage would be too light a sentence for what we find. Out of the two hundred cups we bought, we have used them all. A moment of silence for the whales and the waste. There is watermelon and liquor all over the counter tops, there is left over meat from lunch on the floor. The beautiful wooden floor boards are covered in sticky somethings, crockery and cutlery and pans and napkins and ping pong balls and people, strewn across the wood. Luciano is asleep upright, leaning into a chair. I begin to collect the cups. But fairly quickly realise that the water has been turned off, and there is nothing to wipe the surfaces in the house. Earlier in the morning I thought an apparition walked through the house, there was still a joint burning in the ashtray and my half lids were playing with my mind. But putting two and two together I realise it must have been the landlord, appalled by the detritus he found upon wandering through the property. He must have switched the water off so we would have to come to him for permission to switch it back on and he could lambast us and refuse our deposit. Soft beats of the waves lap into the open back door. “What should we do?” Wanagi, sitting on the floor with black foot soles, fondling a nearby packet of cigarettes. I look at the swimming pool, and grab a stove pot. “We clean with what we’ve got,” I say, hauling a pot of water out of the swimming pool and into the kitchen.

I find some detergent and rubbish bags and we begin to wash the entire property with water from the swimming pool that I’d so magically woven drug fueled spells into the night before. Though the juice of the night still surged through me as I sweat out the tar black voodoo sorcery that made me dance as if the wilderness belonged inside me, I scrubbed and munched on the ends of the vodka sodden watermelon I found strewn around the deck chairs, and shot the whisky that just hours before, had made me throw up in the sink I was now cleaning out. Tirelessly working for hours, Wanagi and I play music and smoked left over cigarettes and held each other’s minds together to clean up the dream of the night before.

Rico is found naked with his legs spread towards the heavens like a prostitute offering in a room that we weren’t sure we’d rented. Bruno is asleep in a bunk bed, curled into the corner in fetal position, as if to ward against evil. Bastion and Michelle are upstairs, along with Shay and Angel, and Ryan, who I briefly remembered snorting coke with in the bathroom at the odd end of the morning when he arrived hours behind schedule, and promptly put himself to bed.

We wake everyone just on time to check out, and climb into three tuk tuks feeling decidedly underprepared to return to the world of Loki. Our little paradise away from paradise, a complaint that here from hindsight, looks a lot like ignorant privilege.

“So how did you get the house clean if the water wasn’t on?” We sit on the dorm balcony and pass the joint around, getting ready for the night shift. “A little bit of black magic, my friend. Oh and some water from the swimming pool.” “I peed in there” says Bruno. “Me too”, laughs Rico. “Here lies the beach house, though experiences can never be repeated, the memory will serve forever, fostered by the magic of our limanian drug grills, cleaned by the piss of our forefathers” I say, and take another drag. It occurs to me that maybe some day, I’ll remember just how our laughter rose into the summer air, or whether that exact feeling, could never be encapsulated in a single memory.

[unofskylanderspages]

Seen above: Gnarly Tree Rex and a Special Edition Blue Wii packaging

[fyeahspyroandcrash]

[thedeltafiles]

Delta Review Corner: Skylanders Giants (Wii; Initial Look)

Wednesday, I was able to get Skylanders Giants, and I have to say: I really love this game to bits!  I was actually incredibly impatient and figured I could preorder Swap Force in a couple months, since it doesn't come out until October.  At any rate, that's enough rambling.  Time for the figures.

The Console Starter Pack includes Series 2 Cynder and Jet-Vac, a newcomer to the scene.  There's also a glow-in-the-dark variant of Cynder in Wal-Mart stores, but I opted against that, due to this bad boy:

Ha-ha!  That's right: GNARLY Tree Rex!  Normally you'd get the regular red Tree Rex with the game, or shell out nearly $200 US for the special Wii/PS3 bundle.  However, I was able to find an offer on Amazon for the special set without the console for only $45!  He's my first special Skylander, but that's not the end of the story.  Yesterday I was able to get my first LightCore:

Say hello to Chill.  To be honest, I wasn't expecting any other Skylanders for at least a couple more weeks, so this is a nice surprise.  I'll be sure to update my list as I get more Skylanders,  Until then, though, here's one last look at GTR and Chill:

[unofskylanderspages]

Seen above: Gnarly Tree Rex's card

[unofskylanderspages]

Did you know? Gnarly Barkley bears the same name and color scheme as the counter part of Tree Rex, Gnarly Tree Rex. This makes him the only Mini variant to be based of a variant for his regular sized counterpart.

[unofskylanderspages]

Seen above: Gnarly Tree Rex's promo render