Scribe's Contest XIV entry: The Taurus Crown

 So, I`m not a novelist or anything, but I decided to enter the Scribe's Contest XIV: The Bold and the Bastardly on Chaos Dwarfs Online this time round.

The goal is to write a short story, 30 to 500 words, about a character of your collection, and with the Taurus Crown Mordheim like event planned at the Tin Soldiers of Antwerp, more on that in a future post if it actually takes place, I decided to write a piece of lore of my expedition to that multi-player skirmish game.

I have no idea on how I will fare in the contest, as this will be my very first entry ever, BUT if for some reason I would end up in the prizes, I hope I`d be second and grab 2 of the Bastards line figures from CDO (as I already have the Horns of Hashut).  

And I`ll take the opportunity in this story to bring in the first hints of the next Levies unit I`m planning on building for my Infernal Dwarf force...

But without further ado, here is my entry, one of the 17 send in:

The Taurus Crown

The skies burned, industrial smoke blotting out the sun and putting the lands around the fortress of Tenghza in a perpetual red light.  On the balcony of the black tower, Aldades Vongalazthag gazed upon the soldiers on the central court.

Decades it had been since he had fought his last battle, as he had been dedicating the past years to the creation of the perfect engines of war, many slave orc incinerated in experimental accidents.  But recently he came to realise his once glorious name has been fading into obscurity, only remembered by the older masters on the Council.  And even some of them have been turned to stone in that time, their places taken by young usurpers who think of him as a raving old man with drunken tales of past glory.

He knew this has to change, that his name would once more be linked to violent victories and succesful enslavement raids.  That those young ones needed to be shown that like wine, battle prowess gets better with the ages.  And when he heard the rumours of The Taurus Crown, a potent magical relic long thought lost had been found again, he decided to withold this information and set up an expedition to reclaim it on his own.

So there they where, his fierce and loyal servants, in awe that he had taken up his smithing hammer of war again instead of his engineering goggles.  But the one thing that he had concerns about where the Asklander levies standing amongst them, led by a beautiful blondhaired shieldmaiden, and their weird ritual of slaying one of their number in a bloody ritual before battle by splitting open their backs.  Could they be relied on, or would they prove to be a flaw in his well-planned armour...

So there we have it, a little story of exactly 300 words to link my first return to the battlefield (hopefully) after a years long hiatus, and linking it to the planned little event where this will actually take place...

 

But how did I end up in the competition?  Well, a ranking isn't made for all entries, just the winners of which I wasn`t part, as can be expected.  But it was fun doing, and I`ll be getting more involved in the CDO contests as a result.

 

PS: at time of posting, I am sadly forced to mention the event was cancelled due to circumstances.  But when it will take place at a later date, I already have the fluff sorted out...

 

 

RPG Fudousan

 As we reach the R in the letter challenge for this year, it's time for some comedy.

And the choice fell to RPG Fudousan, basically a real-estate comedy in a fantasy setting...

The demon lord was defeated over 15 years ago, and now the world knows peace.  Kotone is a young wizard, moving to the big city for her new job after coming fresh out of the academy.  She will be employed at RPG Fudousan, a real estate agency ran by Lady Satona, together with her co-workers Rufuria (a cleric), Rakira (a warrior) and the dragon girl Fa.  She also moves in next to Fa, in a building for non-humans as that was the most decent place she could get for her budget.

On her very first job, she proves she might be suited for this career, helping the Grand Sage to find a suitable house.  After a week on the job, they go on a business trip, as they manage to move a family of digging mice to a cave property thanks to Fa, and allowing some other creatures to switch houses for a better place to live.  

As the girls conduct their business, a dragon has been sighted. When they go to test a magic power meter created by Lady Satona, Fa seemingly has a gigantic power reservoir, eraning her a big bag of snacks.  Can she be connected to the big dragon?  Rufuria and Rakira run into an argument when they have to sell a property with a personal connection though.

In the meantime, Kotone has hatched the plan to find a house for themselves, where they can live all four together.  But the connection between Fa and the dragon seem to get tightening, as Kotone even seems to start believing Rakira's suspicions.  When the dragon destroys another village, the girls can temporarily shelter them in the former dungeon under the castle.  

Helping out a fortune teller, Kotone sees that Fa might be not connected indeed, as they approach the mark where they need one more sale to reach the projected goal mark.  But first they attend the Summer Festival, where they help a young girl that got seperated from her parents, Mimo.  But she is actually the daughter of a godess... who granted their wishes as a special thanks.

But Fa is never the less arrested on suspicion that she lures the dragon out during her sleepwalking bouts, but as the dragon attacks the convoy she is saved by Kotone.  The dragon seems to be controlled by a dark mage however and on the rampage.  Fa can break briefly through the spell, to communicate with the beast and learning it is actually pregnant and wants a safe place for her baby.  They stop Lady Satona attacking it, and Kotone and Fa fly off to try and convince the beast.  The dark mage though, also a dragonkin, enchants Fa, who is really called Fafnir, and changing her back to her true form of a dragon.  

Stopping the dragon, she is attacked by the humans in fear, and is taken over now by the Dark mage herself.  But Kotone manages to get through to her by singing for her, but she is again possessed and smashes Kotone away, mortally wounding her.  Her soul passes on, returning Fa back to her humanoid form, griefstricken.  But miss Lily the Necromancer had put her soul in a doll, and returns it to Kotone's body, ressurecting her. 

And now the girls can go back to their daily lives, together with the dragon going to an island for a royal assignment.

The format is simple of this series, almost every episode consists of two "property hunts" for the girls, each with their own funny angle.  All in all, it was amusing to watch for a bit of light entertainment amongst more serious anime series.

Lord Ipsqueeck's Adventures: a long week to Vennenbos

 Hey everyone, welcome to another one of my thrilling holiday journals.

And after the great weekend I had in the Lommerbergen, mommy and daddy had promised we would return to a park like that, so we set of to Vennenbos, just across the border between Belgium and The Netherlands.

I just made sure I was well rested for arrival!

The park has this awesome indoor playground, and I just had to try that the first evening, with slides, and tunnels and all the lovelyness.  And delicious cinnamon cake!

 

On the sunday, we went bowling, and to the amazement of mommy and daddy I showed them well, being the only to even actually manage a strike.   Though between us, they have a severe lack of talent, I could have taken them even with my eyes closed and one hand behind my back.  But only after a good meal in the family restaurant first!

 

 

Mom and dad decided to cheer to my victory then!

Sadly, monday wasn`t that great a day, as my beloved grandfather had passed away from lungcancer, so we went back home for the day.  But as Bompa wanted, we returned to the park in the evening.

But we went back as he wanted, and a late evening swim to cool down.

I also had such a heap of fun around the bungalow, like playing with sliders, or bubbles outside and inside, and of course there just had to be pancakes for lunch!  Because the recipy was on a big poster in the vacation house, so I didn`t tolerate any excuses.

 

 

 

We also went an afternoon to De Hooiberg, an half hour walk from the vacation park with a great and amazing indoor playground.  I learned a valuable lesson here: you can go off slides head first, which is awesome!

Okay, so maybe I need to work on my landing...

And in the evening, green olives where to be stolen hihi.  We went to see the entertainment later that evening, but it was to noisy for me honestly.

 

Daddy also did a barbeque, look at all that meat for dinner!

The park also had various outdoor playgarden's, where I could enjoy big swings and more...

 

But to every story comes an end, and we where really lucky as it started raining the friday morning we had to leave.  Mommy piloted us safely back home, where I immediatly made sure that it was redecorated to my tastes!

Well, that's my tale about a week of Vennenbos, see you next time!  

 

As I comforted Bollo, I will certainly be back so he doesn`t have to miss me to long!

PS: and of course daddy had to get some more beers for at home...

Blue Period volume 7 - Tsubasa Yamaguchi

 So, this is it for this manga series, it is now moving past the events of the anime series, and as such totally uncharted territory for me.

And something I look forward to reading!

And it is the entrant ceremony for TUA when the book starts, a stressed out Yaguchi and Takahashi go together in order while their mothers maternize.  After the welcome speech by the school president, they wander the campus and meet some excentric people, like Maria, a girl who seem to enjoy drinking more then anything else as they join her for lunch.

But arriving in their classroom, it turns out she isn't a first year student, but a first year doctorate and one of their teachers.  The first assignment they get is to take one of their older works, and present themselves to the class and their teachers alongside it.  One of his classmates is Kimi, the girl that accidentally broke his mirror in the entrance exam.

During the introduction, he meets both his head teachers as well as his course mates.  He gets the advice that he must try out anything, considering how young he still is, and find a style to his liking that way.  The first assignment they get is like their exam piece: a self portrait.  Yaguchi decides to go the opposite way of that piece, choosing the theme of how others see him, yet he can't get started on the painting.  But after a talk with one of his professor's, he starts his piece.  But he is racked by self-doubt, questioning everything if he has the skill to be in the school.

He decides to apporach it from a totally different angle, taking the theme of his exam piece, but going for an installation instead of an oil painting.  However, right before the review it literally falls apart, causing his teachers to skip his review and increasing his doubt of why he is there.  His friend Koi though tells him not to quit, and they receive their second assignment, for which a maquette is also required.

He meets Kuwana by accident in the zoo, having a nice talk about his budding TUA life and his issues he is having.  This talk both gives them a better focus on what they need to do, and they set off reenlightened...

So this was a good fun of the new arc, and I hope that it will become an anime as well, as i really enjoy this discovery of art series...

On the Painting Desk 245

 Awright, back from holdiays, and rejuvenated!

Or scared from the ever-closer looming deadline, whatever you prefer.

 

But facts being facts, I'm going to be upping the painting the coming weeks, as I have about a thick month to get everything done, which suddenly seems all to short...

 

 

As such, work has been going on with the levies, the little time I have in the evenings being forced for maximal result, and I really should finish them in the next two weeks and start the warriors.

 

Yup, one can say deadline pressure is starting to be felt now...

I'm a Behemoth volume 1 - Taro Shinonome and Nozomi Ginyoku

 Okay, bear with me, because this is the full title of this series, that I basically started due to a MAL stacking challenge.

I'm a Behemoth, an S-Ranked Monster, but mistaken for a cat, I live as an Elf girl's pet.

That is not even a mouthfull anymore...

A proud knight, a protector of humanity, is slain by an assassin's blade.  He finds himself reincarnated as an S-class, or Calamity class, monster, the biggest enemy of mankind.  But when he finds a pool and sees his reflection, he finds out he looks like... a kitten.

He is found and picked up by an elven girl adventurer, and wakes up in the city of Labirynthos, build on top of the dungeon to actually keep monsters inside it's walls.  But as he is snuggled by the, errm, well equipped elf, he thinks he is in heaven.  As he recalls how he had to fight monsters while she pampers him, he decides he will become her protector for as long as he lives.

 

He follows her into the dungeons, coming to her aid when she is attacked by a goblin mage and as such revealing he has powers.  But he is mostly amazed by her high speed, even if her combat skills are still crude.  Afterwards in the inn, they meet Kussman, who intimidates Aria.  He is stopped by Aria's friend Arnold Holweilenegger, or Anna for short, the guild receptionist.  He thinks our little behemoth is mistakingly an elemental cat, giving him the perfect cover to hide his true status.

Aria names him Tama, and hopes that one day, he will be her first when he grows big and strong (okay, here it goes a bit cringy) and drunkely takes him for a bath.  Later after questing, Kussman comes back with an extermination order for Tama unless they beat him, the baron's eldest son, in a duel.  Though pressed, they manage to win the duel.  In the aftermath, Vulcan the blacksmith, a high-ranked catgirl adventurer, asks them to party up with them...

Okay, so there was that cringe section, but for the rest this was good fun, and a series I'll surely continue to read in the future.

Unboxing Chaos Dwarf suited figures from Miniatures Forge

 Sometimes, the Facebook and Instagram spams lead to nice discoveries.

And this is one of them, a polish RPG miniature creator called Miniatures Forge.

I found them as such from a post that popped up in one of the various FB groups I was in, and went to have a look to see if they had some models suited for my ever grwoing (again) army, and they sure did.

Now, you can select the scale they are printed in, so I opted ofc for 32mm as most models are heroic scaled, and the option of "no base" as they will go in my forces for rank-and-file gaming.  That meant they came to about 5.50 euro each per figure, not to bad for a heap of characters.  

So let's look which brave (cough) dwarves joined the ranks of the Dawi Zharr:

 

 

I like the quality a lot, and have my eyes on the manufacturer already for some more figures to bolster my ranks, something I`ll get round to ordering in a few weeks I guess.

Now to first clean off the cotton of these guys and galls...

Whisper of the Heart

 Taking part in the "Wonderful Wordsmiths" intrest stack challenge on MAL for this summer, this Studio Ghibli movie was on the list to watch, so I sat down, turned on Netflix, and completed my Ghibli movies watched a bit more.

 

 

And there is always that sweet nostalgia to these films animation style, not to mention the Country Roads opening song...

 

Shizuku is a 14-year old student at Mukaihara Junior High School, where she is best friends with Yuko Harada.  Living in Tokyo with her parents and older sister Shiho, and loves to write creativetly.  One evening as she is looking through the check-out cards of her library books, she notices they all have been read by someone named Seiji Amasawa.

 

During the next days, she encounters a boy that teases her about "Concrete Roads", a set of original lyrics she had created on the tunes of Take me home, country road.  When she follows a stray cat riding the train, it leads her to an antique shop run by Shiro Nishi, where she sees a cat statue of "The Baron".

 

 

 She later encounters the boy again in the shop, where he shows her the workshop that he is attending to learn and make violins.  He agrees to play for her, but only if she sings her lyrics.  He is revealed to be Seiji, Nishi's granson, and they befriend each other.  he admits he admires her talent and he had been checking out books in the hopes she would notice him.  A few days later, he is leaving for Italy to a two-month study with a master violinmaker.  Inspired by him pursuing his dream, she asks Nishi if she can write a story featuring The Baron, to which he consents as long as he is allowed to read the story as the first one.

She concocts a lovestory with herself the protagonist, The Baron as the hero looking for his love Louise, and the cat from the train.  But as a result, her school grades start dropping as she looses herself in her writing.  When the story is finished, Nishi reads and approves, and he tells her the true story behind The Baron, which is based on his own past and first love, and how they got seperated during the second world war.

Deciding to learn more about writing, she resumes studying to get into High School just as Seiji returns from his trip.  They ride his bike to a lookout, and Seiji professes his love for her, proposing they should marry in the future which she happily accepts...

A typical Ghibli feel good movie, this is something that did lighten my heart on a serious private matter, which I won`t be blogging about though.  So if you ever feel full of sadness and pain of loss, check out this innocent movie and feel a bit refreshed!

 

Transformers: War for Cybertron - Earthrise

 The second part of the War for Cybertron trilogy, and finally I got round to watching it.

And let's see how the remaining Autobots handle the fall-out of season 1, with the betrayal of Ultra magnus, and the Battle of the Starbridge that left Cybertron is shambles.

It all starts with an Autobot prison raid on a Decepticon jail, where they are amazed they locking up those of their own kind.   But Shockwave is working on a big plan called Project Nemesis, which will require all the energon of underperforming Decepticons, something Megatron must acknowledge after visiting Sector 12.  The Autobot team is captured by a lure of Starscream, who used the long-dead Steeljaw (btw, that was one of Blaster's cassetes in G1) to send out false messages, and brings them before Megatron for harvesting.

In space, the Ark is boarded by Doubledealer and his mercenaries, where he finds the inert body of Optimus Prime.  They are fixing the ship back up, as he has a deal he can keep the ship if he delivers the passengers to his secretive patron.  

On Cybertron, Elita and her team are about to be killed when suddenly the Decepticons they freed earlier make a break-out attempt, and even in Skythread they find an ally who thinks Megatron is going to far.  On the Ark the Autobots are starting to awaken, and they are brought before a Quintesson.  He claims it was him that freed Cybertron aeons ago, but as he is about to destroy the Autobots, the mercenaries, being doublecrossed, sweep in to free them.  Back on the Ark, they realize that not only does Megatron not have the Allspark, but that they have the actual means to search for it and take off in the vessel.  But on Cybertron, Megatron forces Shockwave to activate Project Nemesis, a gigantic spaceship powered by harvested sparks and sets out to search for the Autobots himself.

 

With the Ark not having enough power and the spacebridges on Cybertron destroyed, they set course to a station where a bridge is seemingly constantly open.  They find a spacestation wedged inside it, and as they board the station are attacked by an enraged Scorponok, the last of his kind that didn`t revolt against the Quintessons.  When Megatron and Optimus Prime engage in a duel, he orders the destruction of the station and they find themselves in a strange  "Dead Universe".  Here they meet some strange visions, Optimus Prime encountering Sky Lynx, who long ago wanted the matrix for himself but has come to terms with his own failure.

Megatron meets Galvatron, who tells him he will help kill Optimus Prime, and he reawakens the old spark of hatred Megatron had when still fighting in the pit.  He engages the Ark, but Sky Lynx sacrifices himself so that the Ark can escape the Dead Universe.  The Nemesis persues, and they find themselves above a blue watery planet where the Allspark should have gone to... Earth.

As on Cybertron the battle rages on with Elita facing Shockwave, resulting in a big explosion engulfing both forces.  As Optimus Prime communes with the Matrix on what he should do, as the mercenaries also exit the Dead Universe, out to destroy both Autobot and Decepticon alike.  Megatron through deceit overpowers Optimus Prime and takes the Matrix from him, as the Ark crashes to an ancient Earth.  It is seen by a Velociraptor... when he suddenly scans the vessel with an optical sensor.

And so the second season of the trilogy ends, and I am eager to start the third for one with that cliffhanger.  If you ask me, the Beast Wars are entering the fray, and that raptor was Dinobot...

Alchemy of Souls

 Time for a good fantasy series, and the choice fell on the first season of Alchemy of Souls, now on Netflix.

Now sit back, because this is a 20 episode season, with every episode rnning about 1hr 25 minutes, so that's almost double the usual series lenght of episodes.

If this was for example The Witcher, it would be a 40 episode series, just to say you will be in for a long ride.

The story takes place in Daeho, a mythical land ruled by four families that lies on the borders of lake Gyeoncheondaeho (henceforth referenced as "the lake" lol), where a mythical icestone is said to rest.  It begins when the dying king asks his mage lord, Jang Gang, to swap bodies using the Alchemy of Souls, a forbidden ritual that can shift souls for at least seven days.  But he betrays Jang Gang and sires a child with Lady Do-wha, Jang Gang's wife.

Twenty years later Naksu, a shadow assassin, is being hunted down by the mages of Songrim outside the city.  Mortally wounded she flees into the city where she uses the ritual to put her soul in a weak, young woman named Mu-deok.  Jang Uk, a young man who lives under the gossip that he is the child of his mother Lady Do-wha and an unknown man, arrives.  he has a curse placed on him by his father Jang Gang that has closed off his energy, making him unable to cast spells.  They meet during an attack on Songrim, and Uk takes Mu-deok as his personal servant, and as he knows who she really is, becomes her student in return.

She deliberatly poisons him in order to have the healers open up his energy channel.  He starts on his road of training, including a duel with the crown prince that he looses, but slowly becomes more and more skilled in the arts.  Mu-deok takes him to Danhyanggok, the place she trained to become a shadow assassin, where they meet Master Lee.  He decides to help Jang Uk, and it turns out he is a centuries old wise man, and the pupil of the great Seo Gyeong who apparently destroyed the ice stone, and founder of Songrim.  

Jin Mu, the deceitfull assistant Gwanyu, is hatching a plot to find the long lost daughter Bu-Yeon of the Jinyowon, the guardians of the artifacts, by training a thief girl, So-I to become her.  In a rematch duel, Jamg Uk now defeats the crown prince thanks to Mu-deok's blood and the art of Tansu, which to the amazement of those present he mastered very fast and learned by his own.  As a result, he is welcomed into Songrim to begin his training as a mage in earnest, and Mu-deok applies succesfully for a maid position to assist him from close by.  Jang Uk discovers that Seo Gyeong's book Words of the Heart is actually a loveletter to the first leader of Jinyowon, and he reveals in it what he did with the Icestone.

So-I is introduced as the missing daughter to lady Jin by Jin Mu, intent on using the girl to control and take over Jinyowon and it's artifacts.  Jang Uk must fight 10 duels, losing the first 8 but picking up skills along the way.  Eunuch Kim in the meantime threatens to reveal that the Queen is actually the evil shaman Choi, and that the queen's soul is locked in the old shaman's body, hidden away and kept alive to prevent her Lantern of Life diminishing.  

Jang Uk learns the power of Chisu in several days, something both Park Jin (the leader of Songrim) and master Lee decades.  jan Uk does lose his 10th and final duel from his friend Yul, meaning Mu-deok will become Yul's servant instead.  Master Lee confronts the court, bringing Gwigu, a vicious spirit that can detect soulshifters, there, but as it barks and leaps towards the Queen's servants she destroys it.  Jang Uk receives Naksu's sword, promising Mu-deok that he will find the Icestone to prevent her from turning wild and petrifying.  In the village of Gaema, where he and the crownprince are looking for clues about shaman Choi, he unknowingly meets his father Jang Gang, who has returned, drawn by the turmoil he inadvertedly caused years ago.

Jin Mu tries to force lady Jin to install Bu-Yeon (So-I) as the new leader of the house, but she refuses.  During an Unanimous Meeting, she reveals that the Icestone has been in Jinyowon all that time, as she had asked Jang Gang years ago to save her dead baby.  To prove that it is actually the stone, Mu-deok volunteers to be killed, remembering she is actually Bu-Yeon in her dying moments.  The stone revives her, but a barrier has been erected with the children inside it, and a loose running soulshifter.  So-I saves a gravely wounded Yul, as Mu-deok kills the soulshifter.  

In the palace, using fake ashes of Gwigu, Park Jin reveals the Queen being shaman Choi as he brings the body containing the soul of the queen before her.  The Queen tries to initiate the Alchemy of Souls, but Jang Gang arrives and blocks the ritual using his body, mortally getting wounded in the process.  In his dying moments, he confesses his sins to the King as was requested by master Lee in a letter to him.  To protect Jang Uk from the backlash, he also denies being his father.  The Kingstar appears in the sky, which is actually a projection of jang Uk holding the Icestone, but the crownprince is seen as being the one due to a deal with Jang Uk.

When Jang Uk and Mu-deok prepare for their wedding, Jin Mu uses artifacts of shaman Choi to control her mentally and turn her back into Naksu.  During a fight, she mortally strikes Jang Uk before returning to her senses, and flees the battlefield.  Jang Uk's body is cremated as Mu-deok throws herself of a cliff into the waters where Soulshifters are buried, but the funeral pire turns blue, explodes and a reborn Jang Uk walks out of the flames, showing he is the one born under the King's Star indeed.  As Mu-deok sinks, spirits appear and drag her back up...

So, that was a long and big season, and actually a pretty good one (okay, perhaps episode 20 was not needed, it could have ended just as well and even on a more epic note with episode 19).  Now to watch some other things first, before returning for season 2 and more asian Sword and Sorcery.