The Dragon's Maw (Final) - The Chronicle's of Braum Stormforge

http://dragon.images3.org/picture/913-scary-dragon-breathing-with-fire-by-oustins/

    The last kobold hit the ground with a resounding thud.
    For half a moment, Braum just stood there, his breath coming in short ragged gasps. His head was spinning and his fingers were numb. Despite this, he could easily feel the liquid collecting in extremities of his armor; the combined blood and sweat from the fight pooling and sloshing about in the metal gauntlet's fingertips and at the base of his boots.
    Some of it was theirs. More of it was his.
    With a crackle and sizzle of electricity, the eidolon settled next to him as Ember made his way down the stairs, stepping gingerly over the corpses.
    "Well that was fun." the summoner commented.
    Braum could do little more than scoff as he brought his hand to his chest, the palm growing a distinct golden hue. A warmth spread through his body as his god's divine blessing touched him and, while he would need actual rest to properly heal, he felt the blood from his wounds stop flowing as the flesh began to knit itself back together.
    He let out a sigh as the burn of battle began to be replaced by a wash of relief.
    "Yea." Braum agreed with a half-hearted nod before turning his attention upwards towards the orb. "But at least we found the o-"
    The entire room shuddered with the force of a small earthquake.
    "-rb." he finished and quickly added. "What was that?"
    Boooooom.
    Another shake and shudder, the echoing explosion could be felt in their bones and Braum could actually see the shockwave run through the walls; sending dust and bits of loose debris skittering about.
    Ember's eyes narrowed and Braum, his body still burning from the battle moments before, wearily lifted his hammer again, ready for a fight.
    Unfortunately, they weren't ready for what came.
    A jet of flame, blazing blue with tinges of red and orange, exploded through the wall on the far end of the room. The solid stone didn't fragment as much as it did turn instantly to molten rock and splatter like liquid wax from the sheer force and heat of the blast.
    Half a second later, what wall hadn't been liquefied by the flames collapsed as the head and neck of dragon came crashing through. The beast was larger than any creature Braum had even dreamed about; a mountain turned monster. It's bright red scales shone brilliantly in the firelight and the gargantuan creature, quite literally large enough that it could likely use the entirety of Wyrmshorde as a nest, was quickly followed by a bolt of lightning that struck it across its face from somewhere beyond the wall's precipice.
    "GRAB THE ORB AND RUN YOU FOOLS!" the magically enhanced voice reverberated off the walls, echoing from the room the beast had just broken through from.
    While the speaker was unseen, both men knew instantly who it was. It was the priest of Bahumut. They very man who had sent them on the quest.
    And so they ran.
    Sparing an extra few seconds to climb the small pillar in the center of the room, Braum snatched the orb and tucked it away in his bag before sprinting for all he was worth. In that time, several more blasts of flame had turned the walls, ceiling, and a number of nearby treasure piles to boiling slag and at least a dozen bolts of lightning had ricocheted off the beasts glittering hide.
    "Just remember the old Elvish proverb!" Ember called back as they barreled up the stairs and away from the chaos. "One does not need to outrun the dragon. They just need to outrun the dwarf!"
    Braum could do little more than growl as the summoner laughed at him. The taller, lither man quickly picked up speed but, to his credit, used the headway to open the magical armoire at the far end of the hall instead of simply leaving him behind.
    With Ember at the front, Braum behind, and the mage's Eidolon taking up the rear, they quickly navigated the twisting stone tunnels and didn't stop running until they were a half mile out the cave's entrance and down the road.
    Once there, they both collapsed in exhaustion; their faces and bodies drenched in sweat as they openly wheezed.
    "Th-That was..." Ember started.
    "Yea...
    "And the priest..."
    "Yea..."
    "Why?"
    "Don't know."
    Nothing else needed to be said. The two sat there for a minute, trying desperately to catch their breath while watching hesitantly up the mountain road at the cave's entrance. Nothing followed them out, although Braum doubted that such a beast as they'd seen would use the cave. Based on its sheer size, it very well might take the mountain with it if it decided to pursue them.
    Weakly, he stood up.
    "Let's get back to town." Ember said, his words barely a whisper through his hoarse throat. "I'm not sure what we're supposed to do with this damned orb if our payday is in their with a dragon, but I'd rather not wait around here."
    "Agreed." Braum said with a nod.
    And so, after another minute of collecting themselves, the pair began their trek back down the mountain. He noted that the necromancer seemed to be missing but thought little of it at the time. There were other things on his mind.
    Braum was thinking about the glowing orb in his pocket. He was thinking about how strangely heavy it was and how it felt in his palm, a slight sensation of energy tingling through his nerves at every slight touch.
    He was also wondering. He was wondering what he was supposed to do with this thing now that they had acquired it and whether the priest, who very likely saved their life, would be able to collect it from him.
    What he was not doing was thinking about the future.
    He wasn't thinking about some sociopathic mage with a love of dead bodies. He wasn't thinking about the implications that such a man, with an entire troop of dead goblins, was no where to be seen. As he was not a fortune teller, he wasn't thinking about how this one act, this one little quest they had just performed, would change the world forever. And finally, he certainly was not thinking, wondering, or really had any way of knowing that this orb and its quest would not only lead to his death, but his rebirth, and how the wheels that were now turning would strip him of his title in the eyes of his god and his position as a paladin.
    Instead, his mind was on the orb and no where else.

===

(Hello Lovelies. I hope you enjoyed 'The Dragon's Maw'. While I'm going to be stopping here for a little bit, worry not, Braum will be returning later. More of his story exists and hopefully the ending gives you a hint at some of what is to come. For now though, I'm going to be returning to Little Island Tales as well as a few other new pieces. Some of them will be a return to the classics and heavily horror oriented while a few others will be attempts at branching out my talents. Check in soon for more and I hope you have a wonderful day.)

Uncanny Valley - Part 3

    Karlo closed his eyes and fell backwards.
    His fall was cushioned by the soft grass and the loamy soil beneath him.
    He was on the side of a hill and the sun was glowing overhead just as it started to dip towards the horizon. The smell of trees and grapes was heavy in the air and floated over him in wafts of warm breezes from the nearby vineyard. In the distance, he could just make out Krapina through the hills.
    If he really wanted to, Karlo could make his way over to Krapina and join his friends and family. They were all attending the Festival Kajkavske Popevke like they do every year but this year he just couldn't muster the interest to join them.
    He had too much on his mind.
    He was thinking about everything that happened. Everything that he'd been told.
    Only a few days before, he'd been told about an exciting new prospect. A reidite mine had just been dropped on the "moon" of Proxima and they were looking for people willing to risk their lives for some serious money.
    Karlo thought he was just one of those people.
    He had to laugh though.
    Proxima didn't officially have a moon that astrologists ever agreed upon. Instead, where the mine had been dropped was on an asteroid that seemed to maintain a relatively standard orbit around the planet.
    Thought it was technically name ISO-83256a, a few of the people he'd spoken to had taken to calling it "Paradise Valley" for some reason.
    All the same, the idea of riding a trillion tons of rock hurtling around the Centauri B solar system sounded both exciting and terrifying at the same time.
    And then there was the money.
    "Hey there, mister. This spot taken?"
    Karlo opened his eyes again to find his sister, Miljenka, standing over him. She was wearing a big smile along with her summer dress.
    In response, he patted the soft ground next to him.
    "What're you doing all the way out here? I thought you were going to join us at the Festival." she said, curling up next to him.
    Miljenka was his little sister by several years. Despite this though, there had always been a huge size difference between the two of them. She had always been exceptionally petite; taking after their mothers side. At a whopping five foot tall and ninety pounds soaking wet, Karlo liked to make jokes that a large bird or a strong gust of wind would carry her away one day.
    He, on the other hand, was well over six feet and heavily built from years of day labor.
    As such, with no husband or boyfriend yet, his sister always seemed to take comfort in hiding under his imposing shadow.
    "If that's the case," she would tell him. "You better keep me from flying away."
    A pang of guilt hit him as he looked down as his sister.
    God, he was going to miss her.
    "I was just thinking." he offered in response.
    "About your trip?"
    "Yea."
    "Yea." she echoed somberly. "Me too."
    That sat in silence for a minute. If he strained his ears, he could just make out the music from the Festival over the gentle breeze.
    "You okay?" he finally asked her.
    "Mmmhmm." she said with a small nod of her head as she gently nibbled on her bottom lip.
    "Come on, mali rotkvica. I know that look."
    Realizing what she was doing, she quickly stopped and pulled away slightly.
    "How long are you going to be gone for?" Miljenka asked quietly.
    "A few years. My contract is officially for five. One year to get there. Three years working. Another year back."
    She watched him, trying to muster a small smile but failing.
    "If you really think about it," he quickly added, "It's really only three. I'm getting paid two years salary to be asleep."
    Miljenka chuckled a little.
    "Only you could get paid to be so lazy, krumpir."
    "It's not like I'm going to go do real work." he shot back.
    They both laughed and leaned back onto the grassy hill, staring up at the slowly dipping sun. A few sparse clouds were drifting like torn cloth across the bright blue sky.
    "I wish it was only three." she said softly.
    "I know, mali rotkvica. I know. But Earth is running short on opportunities these days. Especially if you don't speak English or Chinese."
    "You know English." she shot back.
    "OR if you don't want to be some snob wearing a suit and handing out pink slips to actual hard workers."
    Miljenka shrugged at that and then sighed.
    "Mega corporations are dumb." she said.
    "Yeah." he agreed. "They are."
    They sat quietly for a few more minutes, simply watching the world drift by, when Miljenka finally pushed herself to her feet and stood up.
    "Well, come on." she said, the fire and steel that Karlo felt defined his little sister quickly seeping back into her. "If you gotta leave, we're not spending our last Festival in five years on some hill."
    He glanced from her back to Krapina in the distance.
    "Besides," she quickly added. "I'm sure mom and dad are wondering where we are."
    "Yea, alright." he said, reaching up to take her hand.
    Bracing to pull himself up, he took her hand, pulled hard, and tore her arm off.
    In surprise, Karlo just stared at the severed appendage in his hands. It was still gripping him tightly but it had come off clean at the shoulder. There was no blood. No sign of damage. It was just...not on her anymore.
    "Come on, Karlo." she insisted again and seemed to offer with an arm that was no longer attached to her body.
    He stared at her and then at the limb.
    The hand was twitching. Grasping.
    "Karlo?" Miljenka asked, a look of confusion on her face.
    She seemed completely unphased by the fact she was missing her arm. Or that he was currently holding it and that it seemed to be trying to grab at him.
    "Karlo?"
    The hand was moving. It was grabbing and crawling up his arm. Going for his throat.
    His sister was smiling reassuringly.
    He tried to throw the thing away. To pull it off of him. To get away.
    "Karlo?!"
    He screamed, tearing at the monstrous thing on him. The piece of his sister. It had moved up his arm past his shoulder while she just stood there smiling. Its fingers were closing around his neck and...
    "KARLO?!"
    Karlo shot up in the chair screaming. The room was dark and musty and a bay of computer screens in front of him showed nothing with the exception of a command line on one and a text messaging box in another.
    The last messages were frantic.

    Hello?
    Are you there?
    What's going on?
    Hey? Karlo???

    "Come on Karlo! Answer me please!" the panicked voice of Dr. Lethe came through over the loudspeaker.
    She sounded like she was sobbing.
    "Yeah, yeah. I got it." he said to no one in particular

    I'm here. he sent to her.
   
    "Oh god! Thank you. Thankyouthankyouthankyou." he heard over the speaker; quickly followed by, "What the hell just happened?"

    Turn off the mic. he typed.

    In response, there was an audible click and the microphone static cut out above him.

    What was that? she demanded.
    I don't know. I guess I fell asleep.

Uncanny Valley - Part 2

    The security room was smaller than he would have liked, but he entered all the same.
    He could barely stretch out his arms without hitting some set of buttons, blinking servers, glowing monitors, or half a dozen other technical apparatuses that he really didn't understand
    Maybe the room was actually larger, but as it stood, he couldn't imagine more than a single person fitting in the tight space semi-comfortably. 
   A single office chair, high backed and squishy with extra padding, sat directly in the center of the high space. Its well worn leather and small tears here and there showed a subtle impression where many hours of someone's life had whittled away watching the monitors in this room.
    He shook off the the thought and sat down.
    He had to admit: it was a pretty nice chair.
    Behind him, the security door slid to a close with a soft whoosh and the click of a lock.
    Glancing around, he looked from screen to screen, trying to figure out what exactly he was supposed to even do with this equipment. He knew what he was looking at. Keyboard. Computer. Monitor. Server. Biometrics scanner. Video camera. Speakers. But he didn't completely remember how to work them or, much less, what he was supposed to do.
    Who the hell was that woman?
    Even if he remembered how to use the equipment before him, he had no idea who he was trying to contact.
    It all made his head hurt.
    "kkkZZZT!"
    The speakers chirped loudly, coming to life in the eerie silence of dust and whirring machines and making him jump.
    "Hello? Are you there? Can you hear me? GodIhopeIgottherightchannel...Please. Please be the right channel. Hello???"
    The young woman sounded nearly as panicked as the first time he heard her. Once again, she seemed as though she were half talking to him and half to herself. Or perhaps someone else?
    "Hello?" he responded, looking expectantly from monitor to monitor for some kind of sign that he was doing something.
    None of them seemed to react. With the exception of a black screen flashing a white cursor in the bottom left corner, all of the other screens had "EREWHON: Butler v.1.32" plastered across them and that was it.
    "Ok. Ok...Breathe. It's alright." The woman continued on although the man wasn't sure if she was talking to him or herself. "It looks like you should be in the security room. At least, I can see a silent alarm going off in there. So it's either you...or...one of them."
    Her shaking voice betrayed her swelling when she said the word "them".
    "Look. If you can hear me, there should be a mic in there. Say something."
    "Something." he responded before smiling to himself.
    He knew it was ridiculous for some reason, but it felt satisfying to respond like that.
    All the same, the woman waited without hearing. Until...
    "Alright, nothing. So here's what I'm going to try. Look at the monitors. You should see me typing on one of them."
    In tandem, one of the monitors blinked to life; changing from the fabulous EREWHON splash screen to some sort of text box. It displayed an ever growing string of nonsense that resembled "SADGASHGASDJGKSFGDIFBBAG" like someone was just banging on a keyboard.
    "Can you see it?" the woman asked frantically.
    "Yea, I can see it." he responded with growing exasperation. "I can see it."
    Hesitantly, he reached out and grabbed the keyboard. His memory seemed to be returning more and more with each passing moment; perhaps as his brain thawed, he wondered to himself. Tapping one of the keys, a patented "A" appeared within the text box below the woman's line of gibberish.
    "OHMYGOD!" she screamed so loud that he grabbed his ears. "YES! YESSS!"
    The man clutched his aching head for a moment before reaching back out for the keyboard. To his surprise, the words flowed naturally from his fingers and actually was easier than speaking.

    "Jesus Christ, woman."

    This elicited another frantic scream of joy and he could swear he could hear her jumping up and down and banging things wherever she was.
    "Yes! Yesyesyesyesyes!" she cheered again. "Ok. Ok. Here we go. Can you hear me?"
    As she spoke, she typed.

    "Can you hear me?"
    "Not technically, but yes." he shot back.

    "YES!"

    He could hear her cheering again over the loud speaker.

    "Ok. I'm gonna turn off the loud speaker for now. We can talk through here."
    "Ok." he agreed and heard an audible click followed by silence. 
    After a long moment, he typed again. 
    "Hello?" he asked. 
    "Sorry, Mr. Nadohs. Was just getting everything turned off."
    "Mr. Nadohs?"
    "This is Karlo Nadohs, isn't it?"
    "I don't know."
    "Why don't you know?" 

    The words were simple and logical, but he couldn't help but feel as if they were a touch incredulous.

    "I just don't." he shot back.
    
    Another extended moment passed in silence as Karlo stared at the blinking text screen. He was about to ask if she was still there when she began typing again.

    "It must be the cryo freeze." she said.
    "Cryo freeze?"
    "Yea. You were cryogenically frozen for the trip. All of the miners were. You don't remember?"

    Karlo stared down at his hands as if they would somehow provide him a response to the hundred questions that just entered his mind. All that stared back were soft, pink pudgy things with a hint of callous.

    "I just said I don't."
    "I suppose you did." the woman agreed before quickly adding. "Sorry."
    "No problem. Can you tell me what the fuck is going on though?"

    Another pertinent question. Another long gap of silence.

    "No. I don't think I can." slowly scrawled across the screen followed a moment later by. "But I'll try."
    "Ok. Let's start with this. Who are you?"
    "Oh! Sorry. My name is Dr. Mara Lethe. Nice to meet you. :)" 

'Aliens' Movie Adapation Review

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If at anytime you felt concerned or worried that the first 'Alien' movie to book adaptation set the bar for what was to come, let me assure you that it was the black sheep of the family. Sitting at the head of the table, on the other hand, is the 'Aliens' adaptation.

Whereas the first one ran far too slow in many parts, the pacing in this story is on the dot. Where there was too little or too much detail in any given scene, 'Aliens' paints a picture and lets you admire it without forcing your face to the canvas. When the original quoted a largely out-of-date screenplay for a movie so many were familiar with, this adaptation adds select scenes that were left out of the original movies but only so as to benefit the story and not confuse the reader.

To those unfamiliar with the 'Aliens' movie, this story picks up 50+ years after the original 'Alien' story. Ellen Ripley, the last survivor of the Nostromo disaster highlighted in the first story, is discovered and revived from cryogenic sleep. Despite briefly returning to Earth, Ripley is forcibly thrust back into the terror. Planet LV- 426, now known as Acheron, has since been colonized and begun to be terraformed in the interim, only to mysteriously go dark shortly after Ripley wakes up. Now, with a squad of Colonial Marines at her side, Ripley returns to LV-426 only to discover how truly unprepared even the military is to face the monsters that led to the Nostromo disaster. With time ticking down to destruction and aliens around every corner, Ripley and the few survivors must find a way off of Acheron before the clock hits zero.


To those who have seen the movie, easily some of the most memorable and enjoyable experiences include the marines and seeing how the aliens function in a more natural dynamic. The book delivers well on both.

For the marines, the novel expands upon not only interpersonal relationships, but the marines are given more character then is even present in the original movies. Off handed characters like Spunkmeyer and Frost who are forgotten against big characters like Hudson and Sanchez are given more scenes and more personality versus 'stock marines'. Smaller, subtle interactions like Hicks training Ripley are given more personable details and help to show both of these people as human beings, not just survivors. And conniving little shits who are constantly searching for their next big meal ticket like Burke demonstrate their thought process in a way no movie can truly reveal.

The same mastery of omnipotence that can only come from a book delivers well within the context of the Aliens as well. Entire creatures, like the 'worker drones', that were left out of the movie make a sudden appearance and add clarity to several unanswered questions. Certain untold features about how the creatures hunt and immobilize their prey are also expanded upon; namely the creature's 'stingers' that only appear in the original script of the movie. Plus, you get just a taste of what the colonists truly faced when dealing with the scourge that overran them.

The only complaint I can make, and this is a minor one: the language. First, allow me to clarify: while I'm sure any of my regular readers are well enough aware that I can be a fucking foul mouthed motherfucker, I don't have some bizarre love of curse words. That said, one of the most iconic lines of the film is "Get away from her you, bitch!" which, in the adaptation, is altered to "Get away from her youuuuu!" Doesn't quite have the same ring. Pretty much all cursing has been removed, which just seems out of place. The book is by no means child friendly, particularly with people regularly being gutted and eviscerated, so it just seemed an odd choice to do this. While it doesn't truly retract from the experience, it just jumps out as being odd.

With that said, I highly recommend this title. Having read all four (with the other two reviews to come), Aliens was easily my favorite of the series of adaptations. It's well paced, fun, breathtaking, and engaging. It expands upon all the right things, makes addendums to small inadequacies that didn't quite add up, is overall exactly what I'd hope for when I think of a movie to book adaptation. If you enjoy horror and action, give it a read.