Tyler F.M. Edwards's Blog, page 61

Review: Continuum, “Power Hour”

Before I get started, I should mention that I watched this episode under less than ideal circumstances. Specifically, Showcase’s video player died about halfway through, and it took over a day for me to get it working again. So that may negatively impact the quality of this review.

Moving on…

The main theme of “Power Hour” seems to be Alec and and Julian trying to change their destinies, with both of them attempting to find new paths as far away as possible from who they became in Kiera’s timeline.

Julian takes a stand by utterly rejecting his Theseus identity… only to discover that he may have already shaped history.

This episode is another recent case of Julian managing to actually be kind of likable, as much as it truly pains me to say that. It seems he may finally be understanding that it’s not all about him, though I wouldn’t be surprised if he relapsed at some point. If he doesn’t, Continuum will deserve major credit for making a character as viscerally despicable as him actually tolerable.

He still has that douchey haircut, though.

I do wonder what game Curtis is playing at. He seems to have a hand in pretty much everything that’s going on, but I can’t begin to guess what his endgame is. I can’t help but wonder if he’s the one everyone should be truly scared of.

Meanwhile, Alec rejects corporate life and decides to help the police department directly… which ends with him serving as a puppet for Kiera, meaning nothing has really changed.

I do think Kiera’s playing with fire. Brad is seeming less trustworthy all the time, she risks burning bridges with one of her staunchest allies by going behind Carlos’ back, and I think her desperation to get home at any cost is going to cause a great deal of grief. We’re already seeing the truth of that.

The action of “Power Hour” comes as Kiera and Garza attempt to sabotage a mysterious new project of Kellogg’s, despite continuing to have what I’m going to call a strained working relationship.

The fights this time weren’t as mind-blowing as we’ve seen in the last two episodes, but it was still plenty entertaining, and the climax was a real shocker.

I’m kind of inclined to agree with Garza’s perspective on matters throughout this whole debacle, honestly. I mean, she’s still a psycho and possibly a pyromaniac, but she’s right.

On a related note, I do like the idea of Garza having a super suit of her own. A character as volatile as her having access to that level of technology can only provide entertainment, and I’m not going to object to the eye candy factor, either.

On the whole, I found “Power Hour” less enjoyable than the previous episodes (though the split viewing couldn’t have helped with that), but still a pretty strong showing.

Overall rating: 7.5/10

Filed under: Reviews Tagged: Continuum, review, sci-fi, TV

Review: Lichdom: Battlemage

I like playing caster classes in video games. Why muck about with ordinary weapons when you can rain arcane fury on your foes?

But often mage classes do feel a bit hobbled. You’re mana-starved or baby-sitting cooldowns or an immobile turret or some other nonsense. I hate that.

So when I heard of Lichdom: Battlemage, a game which promises total freedom and unlimited power as a mage, I was immediately intrigued, and I opted to pick it up during a Steam sale.

Mechanically, Lichdom: Battlemage is essentially a first person shooter with some RPG elements. True to the advertisements, your spells in Lichdom are not limited by mana or cooldowns. You can spam them to your heart’s content. You’re also free to cast while moving, and you pretty much have to because enemies hit hard, and combat is very intense and frenetic.

The RPG elements come in the form of leveling your sigils, as well as loot drops. Instead of traditional gear, enemies drop spell components that you can craft into new and more powerful spells.

Unfortunately, it does suffer from the common issue of having copious amounts of loot… most of which is utter crap. Inventory management becomes a major time-sink.

I also would have preferred if they’d just done away with vertical progression altogether and made spell crafting purely a way to customize your abilities, rather than something you have to do regularly to keep your spells up to snuff.

The spell system is a little odd. It’s very deep, to the point of being overwhelming at times, and there’s an enormous of options… but yet it still felt fairly limiting to me. Most of the spell elements and shapes struck me as too odd and niche to be worth using most of the time, though I’ll grant this may be a failure of creativity on my part.

What I eventually settled on was a fire/necromancy/corruption build that involved blanketing enemies with debuffs and then killing them with fireballs, triggering a chain reaction as each dead enemy spawned a new zombie minion and a horde of aggressive insects that would then seek and attack enemy targets.

I did love the necromancy in particular.

“Who is it?”

“Goons.”

“Who?”

“Zombie goons.”

“…Zombie goons?”

Ahem, anyway.

The combat in Lichdom is fast, intense, and satisfying. However, it suffers from being extremely repetitive.

There is very little variety in enemy types in this game. You’ll have seen almost all of them within the first hour or two. Thus, after a while, the constant battles all start to feel the same, and I found my enjoyment of Lichdom petered off as the game progressed. First five hours? Awesome, loving very minute. Next ten hours? Luster’s worn off, but still pretty fun. Final five hours? I just want this to be over.

Another serious flaw is that Lichdom uses a checkpoint-based save system — something I’m not fond of at the best of times — and checkpoints tend to be pretty far apart, which makes death a very punishing experience and makes the repetitive nature of encounters even more painful.

The story is… odd.

It’s almost like a fantasy version of a Stephen Seagal movie, or maybe the weirdest Taken sequel yet.

The story begins with your sister (or wife, if you play a male character) being abducted by a death cult, so of course you go off to rescue her, but then that sort of gets forgotten after a while and you end up just pursuing the cult on a mad quest for revenge. It’s a bit disjointed, and there are a lot of things that are just left hanging.

The dialogue is less than stellar. At first I wondered if they were being intentionally cheesy, but in the end I came to the conclusion that we’re actually meant to take this game seriously, which is disquieting.

Also, I have no idea where the “Lichdom” part of the title comes from. There’s lots of undead in the story, but the concept of liches never comes up.

On the plus side, the backstory for the world — while not entirely fleshed out — was pretty interesting, and I was always eager to learn more about the history of the setting.

Something else that saves what would otherwise be a very underwhelming story is that Lichdom features a surprisingly stellar cast that almost reads like a who’s who of awesome voice talent: Jennifer Hale, Troy Baker, Clancy Brown, David Lodge, Jaime Murray…

Visuals are also an area where Lichdom hits it out of the park. It’s not just that the graphics are fantastic, although they are. I’ve played games that had excellent graphics but squandered them on mostly generic environments.

Lichdom’s environments are often more unusual and exude a great deal of personality. This further enhances the strong world-building I mentioned above.

My personal favourite location was a giant, frozen whirpool filled with ruined ships. It’s not something any amount of screenshots can do justice to — it’s one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen in a video game.

On the whole, Lichdom: Battlemage is a bit of a wonky, mixed-bag of a game. It has a lot of good ideas, but the execution is often lacking.

Overall rating: 7/10

Filed under: Games, Reviews Tagged: fantasy, Lichdom: Battlemage, review

Rage of the Old Gods, Chapter Twenty-one: Bridged by Fire and Ice

We come now to the twenty-first chapter of Rage of the Old Gods, the first book of my epic science fantasy trilogy the World Spectrum. In the coming weeks, I will be posting the entire book for free on this blog. If you’re just joining us, you can get caught up with the previous chapters now.

The Gods march on humanity’s last bastion beyond the Gormorra Range. The land itself bars their way, but they are ready to unleash the full power that saw them viewed as divine. They will not, cannot, be stopped.

———————

Chapter twenty-one: Bridged by Fire and Ice

The machines’ retreat and the celebration to mark the anniversary of the Battle of Heart provided a welcome respite for Leha and her army. For a few days, they had been able to forget about the perils of war. But with the dawning of the next day, they knew that time had ended. They knew that the Automatons could come at any moment, and the air of the camp was thick with tension.

Sentries patrolled the edge of the camp, watching the marshlands to the west and waiting for some sign of their enemy. Leha joined them in their vigil, and hour followed hour as she scanned for the first sign of danger.

Just before noon, it came.

“Look!” a watchman to her left said.

She looked where he pointed. West and slightly south of the camp, she saw a bright, flickering light.

“What is that?” she said softly.

Word had already begun to spread. She heard her soldiers scurrying for their weapons and conversing in quick bursts. People with handheld bells sounded the alarm.

Leha squinted and enhanced her eyes to better see the light over the marshlands. Even with her vision enhanced, she had trouble deciphering its nature. It looked to be some sort of magic, and it seemed to be moving closer, but she could tell nothing beyond that.

She glanced at her assembling people, returning her eyes to their normal state. “I’m going to run out and see what I can see.” She gestured to a Tor battle wizard. “With me.”

She summoned Tyzu’s energy, feeling it course through her body, and darted out onto the plain, the wizard following close behind. A cold feeling settled into the pit of her stomach. Where the Automatons were concerned, unknown things were rarely good things.

The salty air whipped past her as she flew across the plain. Her hair streamed out behind her, and her feet kicked up rocks and loose soil. The ground began to slope downward and grow damp. She came to a stop. The battle wizard did the same a moment later.

Returning to Barria’s energy level, she again enhanced her vision and scanned the horizon, and the wizard extended his staff. The energy hovered over the distant western marsh, swirling and sparking and crackling. Beneath it, she could barely glimpse the dark forms of the Automatons.

“Can you sense anything?” she asked.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him shake his head. “They’re drawing a lot of power, but they don’t seem to be using it for anything.”

Leha frowned.

The machines grew closer, and the green-white light on the horizon grew brighter. She began to see details of the individual machines; they moved in a long, thin column across the moors.

She arched an eyebrow. They shouldn’t have been able to walk across the marshes. They should have sunk and become mired.

“How exactly are they drawing power?” she asked.

“As far as I can tell, they’re just pulling it up from the ground and releasing it into the air,” the wizard said.

Something clicked in her mind. “They’re freezing the marshes and rivers by pulling out all the energy. It gives them a path to walk.”

The wizard’s jaw hung slack, but he did not disagree.

Leha stared, awestruck, at the Automaton column. This was power. This was the might of the Old Gods in all its glory.

She funneled Tyzuan energy into as much of the machine army and its surroundings as she could, hoping to overload them. The cloud of energy above them blazed brighter, sending tendrils of crackling light across the sky, and the silver at their wrists burned like stars. But nothing else happened.

Leha swore under her breath. By now, nearly all of the machines were Wizard-Automatons. Many hands make light work.

She returned her eyesight to normal. “Let’s get back to the army,” she said to the wizard.

She channeled Tyzu’s power, and they set off towards the main human force. She continued to flood the Automatons with Tyzuan energy. If nothing else, it would slow them by forcing them to channel more energy, and there was always they chance that one of them might loose control and be overloaded.

* * *

The human army prepared for battle, as they had so many times before. Crossbows were loaded, javelins were readied, armor was donned, and swords were drawn. Leha and the other leaders ordered their people into a long crescent formation that would net the machines as they emerged from the marshes. Parties of Clanspeople were scattered around the area; they would catch any Automatons that broke through the formation or tried to avoid it. Barrian, Lost One, and ice creature wizards scattered through the ranks and readied their magic for use in battle. The mental link spread like webbing through the minds of the army.

Leha, now dressed in her leather armor and equipped with the blade Drogin had made for her, took her position in the front ranks at the center of the crescent. There, she waited.

A bank of dark clouds had begun to roll in from the north. It dimmed the sky and brought the scent of rain, but for now, the sun continued to shine.

Out over the marshes, the Automatons’ column had come close enough to be seen clearly by all in the human army. The energy above them roared and twisted like some insane storm, and the air around it shimmered with heat. The ground froze beneath their feet, forming frost that twinkled in the light of the energy above. Between the fire and the ice walked the Automatons.

A few ranks in, she could see the three-pronged crown of the Automaton Lord. The sight made Leha shudder. The air reverberated with the distant thunder of their footfalls.

She was reminded of the meeting she had called in Elder Sheen’s home, several months ago. She remembered saying that they could never hope to hold a fixed position against the superior might of the Automatons. She hoped she had been wrong. If they lost the eastern camp, she didn’t know where they would find another safe hiding spot.

The Automatons reached the last river before the edge of the marshlands and began to freeze it. As their efforts cut off the flow of water, the river began to flood its banks, and this water, too, was frozen, creating a great fan of sparkling ice that spread across the marshlands.

Soon, the Automatons would arrive on the plain. Leha and the other leaders ordered the battle wizards to attack, and a spray of magical strikes, enhanced by Tyzu’s power, burst from the ranks to hurl themselves at the machines.

Some of the swirling energy above the Automaton army twisted down into a curtain that wrapped around the front ranks and deflected the human spells. Leha brought the Automatons at the fore of the army down to Sy’om’s level of energy – it would make it easier for them to freeze the marshes, but it would also weaken their ability to protect themselves with magic. She was pleased to see that the sudden change caused one of the machines to lose its footing. It fell sideways, its bulk pushing it through the shield, and it landed in a pile of unfrozen muck. It twisted feebly in an attempt to rise.

The battle wizards reacted quickly, blasting the fallen machine with so much fury that even its lead armor failed to protect it.

The Automatons struck back, sending their own bursts of energy at the human army. The battle wizards did their best to block and scatter the assaults, but one finger of magic slipped through and slammed into the southern half of the crescent. Dirt, ash, and body parts flew into the sky, and a wave of hot air washed over the army, bringing it with it the smell of charred flesh. Some of the soldiers near where the spell had struck screamed. Their fellows in the link tried to calm them.

The battle between the machines and the wizards continued to rage. The roar and hiss of great magics boomed across the plain, and lights burst through the sky as spells and counter spells smashed into each other. The shield around the Automatons rippled and flashed as the battle wizards hammered at it. More strikes slipped through the defenses of the humans and their allies to carve holes from the ranks of Leha’s army and scar the plain.

Slowly, the machines moved closer to the edge of the marshes.

Leha frowned as she surveyed the situation. We should try the feedback spell, she thought.

She conferred with the other leaders, and they reluctantly agreed. Since the destruction of Drogin’s machine at Marlhem, they had rarely made use of the spell. It had always been unreliable, and the Automaton Lord’s ability to withstand it had done nothing to increase their confidence in it. But now, it seemed they had little choice.

Three battle wizards were given the order. They took control of spells sent by the Automatons and bent them back to their creators. Three loops of blinding energy took shape over the plains, emitting a high-pitched whine that set Leha’s teeth on edge. She poured Tyzu’s power into the machines while funneling the energy of Sy’om into the battle wizards.

The loops burned brightly, but the machines withstood it. Leha’s heart beat faster.

Two of the battle wizards began to scream, and their bodies burst into green-white flame. Their feedback loops failed, and the backlash ripped through the ranks of Leha’s army, killing all those who had been near the wizards.

Leha had not been connected to their minds directly, but she could feel the horror of those who had. She shook her head and struggled to maintain calm.

She reached out to the remaining wizard’s mind. Stop! she cried psychically.

The wizard broke off the spell, but the backlash still wounded him and several soldiers.

Leha felt the worries of the other leaders echo her own. Natoma, the most composed among them, did her best to radiate calm.

Leha refocused her attention on the machine army, hoping to find something positive. The battle continued much as it had. One spell managed to worm its way through the Automaton shield – Yarnig was behind it, she learned via the link – and cripple one machine. It toppled to the ground and was destroyed by further spells, but dozens more Automatons remained in the column.

The first of the machines reached the edge of the marshes, the shield dissolved, and they fanned out. Some were damaged by the attacks of the battle wizards, but most managed to defend themselves. Leha and the other leaders moved their army forward, bringing the prongs of the crescent in to flank the machines. The Automatons became too scattered for Leha to keep them all at one energy level, so she switched to channeling the powers of the other worlds as her people had need of them.

Those in the center of the crescent charged to meet the machines. Leha led them, running ahead of all others, her body gliding through the air. Even before she reached the first Automaton, she knew that things were not going well.

Her forces were too few. Too many had been lost in previous battles. They did not have the advantage of surprise, as they had at Tallatzan. The Automatons were not spread too thin, as they had been in the battles of the past days. Her people could not take advantage of the terrain. They had no forests to hide in, no high ground to take – at best, they might be able to drive some of the machines into the marshes. They had nothing to rely on but strength of arms, and in that contest, the Automatons had the advantage.

She tried to think positive thoughts. Her doubt would be poison in the mental link.

Her feet left the ground, and she landed on the cool chest of an Automaton. She dug in her claws and leapt a second time, landing on its featureless face. It attacked her with its magic, but a battle wizard summoned a shell of protective energy around her.

Her blade shot from its sheath, and she plunged it through the glass pane of one the machine’s balefully glowing eyes. The light went out.

The Automaton’s legs began to crumple, and slowed by the energy of Sy’om, it glided backward in slow-motion. Leha climbed onto the crown of its head. There, she screwed up her legs and jumped, flying over the plains to land on the left shoulder of another machine. She fluttered about its neck, sped by Tyzu’s energy as she weakened the machine with Sy’om’s, and attacked the supports of its neck. Stinging smoke and sparks flew as she worked.

The neck crumpled, and the head fell, the metal of the last few connections screaming. Her blade retracted.

She turned around, searching for her next target, and she saw the dark, towering form of the Automaton Lord charge for her. As she made to summon Sy’om’s energy and weaken it, it raised its fist and launched a bolt of energy at her.

Fear stabbed through her heart.

The battle wizards connected to her dropped what they were doing and pooled their energy to create a shield around her. The shield met the Machine King’s attack with a clap like thunder and a blast of heat.

The concussion sent her flying backward over the plains. She plummeted towards the ground. Just before she landed, she brought herself down to Sy’om’s energy level. She thudded into the rocky soil.

She pushed herself up with her hands. She would have bad bruises, but she had suffered no worse injuries.

She heard a clanking of metal behind her. She rolled onto her back and saw a lead-plated fist hurl itself toward her. She rolled to the right, and the Automaton’s fist slammed into the earth where she had been a moment before. She activated her blade and swung at the fist, severing its thumb in a spray of hot flame.

It raised its other hand. The silver at its wrist sparkled with magic. She made to dodge.

A length of rope spread between two silver globes passed into her vision and wrapped itself around the Automaton’s neck. The Clan rope pushed it backwards, and it crashed into the ground.

A squad of whooping Clanspeople charged in and attacked the machine with their narviks. Leha felt a rush of gratitude. Distracted by her own problems and other groups within the link, she had not been paying attention to this detachment. She poured Sy’om’s energy into the Automaton, and it was soon dispatched. The Clanspeople moved on.

She crawled up onto the chest of a ruined Automaton, feeling its unnaturally cold skin beneath the soles of her feet. She took in the battle raging around her, her vision enhanced by the knowledge granted to her through the telepathic link.

For now, her army held the Automatons at bay at the edge of the marshes, but they wouldn’t continue to do so for long. Already, the machines were close to breaking through the crescent. Once they did that, they would be able to flank the human forces or attack them from behind.

The only thing that had kept the Automatons from overwhelming them before now was the fact that more than half of the machines were still trapped on the narrow corridor across the wetlands. In their rush to join the battle, a few Automatons had lost their footing and become trapped in the mire.

Though slowed by Sy’om’s energy and squads of human soldiers, the Automaton Lord bore down on her, crushing everyone in its path. From where she stood, she could hear the screams of its victims.

With every passing moment, she saw the Automatons make more gains and felt more minds vanish from the link. At that moment, she knew the battle could not be won.

As soon as it arose, she fought to crush the thought, but it was too late. The knowledge spread through the army like wildfire, killing hopes and bringing doubt into the hearts of the soldiers. The other leaders were forced to admit their agreement with her, and the despair strengthened. Doga alone still held hope, and his shrunk quickly in the face of the others’ feelings.

Leha felt the heartbreak and disappointment pound at her like a wave. Her throat constricted, and she felt ready to weep. I’m sorry, she thought. I failed you.

The demoralized forces of humanity began to dissolve. The best efforts of Leha, Natoma, and the others failed to make them stand their ground. The Automatons pressed the advantage.

Leha’s heart ached. She wanted to fall to her knees and cry, to give herself to the drowning wash of hopelessness. But she fought against the sorrow and fear and forced her mind through the link, commanding her people to begin an orderly retreat. By strength of will, she turned her people from their mad flight and pushed them back into order. The other leaders added their efforts, and her army pulled together to fight off the attacks of the Automatons as they moved back to the tents of their camp.

The Automatons pursued them at first, nipping at the heels of Leha’s army and picking off stragglers, but then they fell back. They waited at the edge of the marshes for the rest of the machines to complete the crossing.

The clouds from the north had moved in closer, and now they blocked out the sun, bringing shadow to the barren plains. The wind picked up, whipping at the retreating soldiers with cold, damp gusts.

The army made it to the camp, and under the direction of their leaders, they began to dismantle it, leaving behind anything that they could. Leha and the others removed themselves from the link so they could discuss their next course of action. Leha sent her mind south, to the camp on the shores of the River Sheen, and contacted Benefactor. She sent him the knowledge of what had happened.

She sensed him set his jaw and felt a wash of anger at the machines from him. I am sorry, Leha. You did everything you could.

She sent him a wordless message of gratitude.

He connected his and her minds with those of Natoma, Doga, Eranna, and Drogin.

What do we do now? Leha asked without delay. She stood amidst a knot of hurried soldiers breaking the camp, giving what direction was needed with her voice and hands.

They quickly decided to abandon the plain, opting to make for the camp to the south. They also decided to leave behind a force to slow the Automatons advance and keep a watch over the machines. Doga and Eranna volunteered to lead the rearguard.

Leha nodded. Good. Drogin, Natoma, and I will head back to the south and start making further plans. She looked over her shoulder. The Automatons had nearly finished crossing the marshes. We don’t have time right now.

Benefactor broke off the link, and they each went about their next tasks. Leha collected a few things from her tent – the rest would be packed by someone else – and headed for the nearest jumping point to Tyzu. There, at the northeastern corner of the camp, she met Drogin, Natoma, and a handful of other people who would be making the journey to the camp.

Breena, one of those people, raised her staff. But just before she cast the spell to make the jump, she faltered.

Leha frowned. “What is it?”

“There’s no jumping point,” Breena answered, a note of worry in her voice.

Drogin pulled his wand from its sheath. “She’s right,” he said. “It’s gone.”

A gust of wind whipped Leha’s hair, but it was not the source of the cold that settled in her stomach. “They must have brought a barrier machine.”

Breena again raised her staff.

“What are you doing?” Leha asked.

“Scrying.”

The air in the center of the silver hexagon that crowned Breena’s staff shimmered. An image appeared in the empty space. It depicted the marshes from a bird’s eye perspective. At the rear of the Automaton column, a Urannan Sextamaton shambled forward. It looked weathered and beaten, and it seemed to have been the recipient of some hasty repairs. Atop its back, where its siege weapon should have been, a barrier machine had been fused to its armor. The rings of the barrier machine spun faster than Leha had ever seen before, and they glowed with a faint light.

Breena lowered her staff, dispelling the image.

Those in Leha’s group muttered to each other.

“Why is it glowing?” Breena said. “I have seen barrier machines before, but they do not run like that.”

The eyes of Leha and the others turned to Drogin.

Her brother didn’t answer immediately. He furrowed his brow in thought. “If I were to guess, I would say that they are attempting to increase the range it can cover. Depending on how much they’ve been able to enhance its abilities, they may be able to stop us from fleeing the camp to the south while they’re still many miles away from it.”

Leha’s shoulders slumped. “It would explain why they’re willing to take the risk of launching this assault.”

Natoma nodded.

A significant portion of the camp had now been cleared out, and the humans and ice creatures of the army had begun to head south. Leha empowered them with Tyzuan energy to speed their passage. From where she stood, Leha couldn’t see the machines, but she knew their army would be fully assembled soon.

Leha sighed. “We can still make it to Tyzu. We’ll just have to make a new jumping point.”

Breena shook her head. “No, we can’t. For the battle in the Mannall Range, they adjusted their machine to destroy all jumping points immediately.”

Leha swore.

“That might not be the case here,” Drogin chimed in. “If they’re pushing that machine as hard as I think they are, I doubt they’d add to its burden by forcing it to disperse jumping points quickly.” He frowned. “It’s not like we’ll be able to evacuate the eastern camp by makeshift jumping points.”

Breena looked to Leha.

“Try it,” she said.

Breena raised her staff. Drogin and the other wizards in their party added their own abilities, screwing up their faces in concentration. Leha summoned the energy of Tyzu to ease their efforts.

Green-white light enveloped them, and they entered the space between worlds.

* * *

Late that night, Leha leaned against one of the columns in the meeting chamber of the Clan hall. She closed her eyes, wishing she could sleep. Things had been hectic since their return to the camp below the mountains. They had performed the unpleasant duty of informing the camp’s residents that they were no longer safe, and they had begun organizing the evacuation. Even now, people were being herded to the jumping points and sent to safe havens on Sy’om or Tyzu.

The efforts were hampered by the damage inflicted on those worlds by the attacks of the previous winter. Many places that might have offered refuge before had been destroyed. Finding places to send people slowed things down significantly.

The news of the Automatons’ approach had nearly sent the entire camp into panic, and only the fact that such things had happened before, coupled with great effort on the part of Leha and her comrades, had kept a semblance of order in place.

On top of that, Leha had been occupied with aiding the forces still in the north. They had been unable to fight on the plain, so she had fueled them with Tyzuan energy for hours as they ran for rougher terrain, where they at least had a chance of slowing the machines. Once they’d reached the edges of the forests that seemed to cover nearly all the land beyond the Gormorra Range, they had finally been able to set up a resistance. At the same time, she had had to use her abilities to aid those groups trying to jump back to the southern camp. The effort of sending so many people had exhausted the wizards, and hundreds of people had been forced to stay with the rearguard.

The rearguard and the machines had skirmished off and on throughout the day and night, and Leha had given her abilities to aid that as well. She had considered rejoining the fight in person, but as Natoma had reminded her, she needed to conserve her strength for later battles. She would almost certainly have to defend the camp.

For now, the rearguard had moved ahead of the machine army and taken the chance to rest. Rather than being connected to the entire army, as she had been during the battles, her mind was connected to only Eranna, Doga, and Benefactor, who maintained the link. Through the Lost One and the Tor, Leha could see the orange light that illuminated the dark northern sky and smell the smoke that pervaded the forests. The Automatons were burning their way through the trees.

A few feet from Leha, Drogin and Natoma sat on cushions, their stooped forms showing nearly as much fatigue as Leha’s. To their right, Benefactor crouched in a kind of four-legged kneel.

Leha opened her eyes. She didn’t feel as tired as she had during the battles for the northern front, but she longed for her bed.

“I think we can assume that we will have to defend this camp,” Natoma said, breaking the silence. “The Automatons wouldn’t have brought the barrier machine unless they thought it had a strong chance of doing its purpose. We won’t have any chance of creating enough jumping points for our people to escape, especially once the machine army arrives.” She folded her black-sleeved arms – she had shed her plate armor. “So the question we face is not if, but how.”

Leha nodded, grimacing. She felt echoes of agreement from Benefactor, Doga, and Eranna.

Drogin stared at his fingers. Leha didn’t need to link with his mind to know that he was thinking hard.

He raised his head and ran his fingers through his hair. “I’ve been thinking; our situation may not be as grim as it seems.”

Leha raised her eyebrows.

Drogin continued. “The Automatons have sent everything they have against us, yes. We’re in great danger, yes. But the machines are taking great risks to do this. They’ve cut themselves off from any source of maintenance. They’ve left their settlements virtually undefended. They’ve put everything into this. What does that tell us?”

Leha leaned forward, feeling a thin ray of hope grow within her. “They’re desperate.”

Drogin nodded, the suggestion of a smile beginning to appear on his face. “Yes. My guess is that they spread themselves too thin on the northern front, and they decided they had to abandon the fight. Our victories there and at Tallatzan have them worried, and they’re going to put everything they have into this attack. If we can defeat them here, it could win us the war.”

Leha considered his words. Hope warred with fear within her.

A dark thought passed through her mind and Eranna’s at virtually the same time – she had trouble telling who thought it first: if they lost, it would likely spell the end of the human race.

Reluctantly, she spoke the thought aloud.

A tense silence followed.

“I’m sorry, but we need to know the stakes,” she said as her companions frowned and grimaced. “We cannot abandon the people at this camp, and if we fall, then our race will be leaderless. Those that survive will be hunted down. Even if they escape to Tyzu or Sy’om, the machines will find some way to destroy them, no matter how long it takes.”

She leaned forward and spoke with a strong voice. “That’s why we have to do everything we can to defend this camp. We have to win.”

Doga sent her a wave of agreement. We can’t lose hope. We defeated the Old Gods once before; we can do so again.

Benefactor agreed. We will fight to our last breath, he said simply.

Leha relayed their sentiments.

Natoma nodded.

They turned the discussion to the specifics of their defenses. They estimated that they had about a week before the Automatons arrived. In that time, they would prepare the camp for defense as best they could. Much of the trees around the camp had already been felled to fuel the forges and campfires, but they would clear more to create on open field where they would be able to easily see and target the machines. Much of the wood would go to constructing trebuchets and other engines of war – they were too clumsy to be of much use in the kind of guerilla war they had been fighting for the last few months, but when mobility was not an issue, they were effective weapons against Automatons.

Leha and the others realized they had one advantage in the form of the River Sheen. It cut across the path the machines would take, and it was long enough that the Automatons wouldn’t be able to circumvent it without wasting a great deal of time. Water was damaging to the machines; they would likely have to freeze it before they could cross it. That gave Leha’s people an extra layer of protection. They considered clearing the trees from the northern riverbank, but they realized that they could not predict where the Automatons would try to cross.

The battle in the Mannall Range had shown that Automatons could quickly turn Clan halls into bonfires, so the hall in the camp would be dismantled. Some of its parts could be used in the construction of the war engines.

The discussion then shifted to the topic of reinforcements. They could not strip the Clan lands of their few remaining defenders, but they did opt to recall Brodar and his troops from the Gormorra Range. There was no longer any need for them to guard the passes. They would jump back while they still could.

My people could likely spare a few more warriors, Doga offered after they made the decision about Brodar. It may leave some villages vulnerable to Stassai and other predators, but it will be worth it if we are victorious.

They may come if they wish to, Leha replied, feeling guilty for asking so much of the Lost Ones.

There were other topics to discuss, but they were all tired, so they decided to retire for the night. Leha felt confident that she would be awoken and required to lend her powers to the rearguard at least once.

* * *

Her confidence proved well-founded. Twice in the night, she was awoken to aid the rearguard. When she rose and began her day, she felt nearly as tired as she had before she had gone to sleep.

Before the sun even crested the horizon, preparations for defending the camp were already underway. Drogin and his people went to work constructing weapons and armor of every size and description. The trees around the camp crashed to the ground and were chopped into usable pieces. Brodar arrived and added his people to their forces. Natoma put many of the noncombatants to work building earthworks around the camp – they would not provide much real defense, but every advantage helped, and it gave the people something to do besides worry. Food and water were stockpiled. The sound of people at work provided a backdrop to life in the camp.

Skirmishes between the rearguard and the machines regularly interrupted Leha’s life. Eranna and Doga found they could barely stay ahead of the machines, let alone slow them down in any real way. Midway through the second day after the battle by the ocean, it became clear that the rearguard could do no good, and they focused their efforts on reaching the camp before the machines did. Leha did what she could to speed their journey.

Later that day, Breena approached Leha with an idea.

Leha had been overseeing the construction of the earthworks, giving encouragement to the increasingly frightened and agitated civilians. The day was hot, and she was sweaty. A fair amount of dirt had stuck itself to her clothes and her sticky skin. The air smelled of freshly churned soil.

“You’re familiar with wards, yes?” Breena said after offering her greetings.

Leha nodded, remembering the wards that had been placed in Three Gates to slow the Tor army.

“They are not much used by the Clanspeople, but over the past few months, I’ve learned they are a very common type of magic among the southern nations. Wards are generally not of use against Automatons because of their lead armor. We can’t directly do them harm with wards, but I think we might still be able to make use of them.”

Breena took a breath before continuing. “Wards are essentially spells that activate when someone stumbles into them – any spell can be used. We can’t use an offensive spell, but if we use a small shield spell, we can create a bubble of energy beneath the feet of any machine that steps on the ward. Their lead armor will be repelled by it, and they won’t be able to keep their balance.”

She shrugged. “It’s not much, but it might help.”

Leha nodded and gave a little smile. “It might. We’re going to need every advantage we can get. I’ll get the other wizards working on these wards.” She smiled wider. “Good work.”

Breena smiled back.

Later on, Leha had an idea of her own. She approached Drogin as he oversaw the dismantling of the Clan hall and broached the possibility of creating new feedback weapons, like the one they had used at Marlhem.

Drogin thought it over and came to the conclusion that they could be built. Between what they had salvaged from Automaton wrecks in recent weeks and the remnants of the Clan hall, they had unusually large stores of silver and other metals.

After a bit of discussion, Drogin also said that, with a few modifications to the design and some watchfulness on the part of the operators, they could probably prevent the Machine King from hijacking these like it had the first one, though he didn’t think he could build one strong enough to actually use against the Automatons’ leader. Leha thanked him.

Before she left, she complimented him on the speed at which his people had been able to produce weaponry for the battle – the first trebuchets were already nearing completion.

To that, he replied, “You can get a lot done if you don’t bother to sleep.”

That evening, as the sun began to fall behind the peaks of the Gormorra Range, and the air began to cool, the barrier fell into place. In the space of a few minutes, the jumping points vanished, and the evacuation ended. They had been able to evacuate more people than Leha had expected they would – including all of the children, the infirm, and the pregnant women – but a few thousand civilians remained.

For the barrier to already be affecting them, it had to cover an incredible amount of land. Drogin put it into perspective, saying, “If the machine was in Eastenhold, the barrier would probably cover the entire nation.”

Leha looked toward the north and tried not to shiver.

———————

Enjoying the story so far? The next chapter will be posted soon, but if you can’t wait, you also have the opportunity buy the full ebook now!

Filed under: My writing, World Spectrum Tagged: books, fantasy, Rage of the Old Gods free chapters, sci-fi, steampunk, The World Spectrum, writing

Review: Continuum, “Rush Hour”

I think Kellogg has made a grave tactical error by going after Emily. Not only has he antagonized the smartest and most ruthless man in the twenty-first century, he’s made it personal.

The last time something happened to Emily, Alec traveled through time, destroyed an entire branch of the Continuum, and murdered himself to save her.

Imagine what he’ll do to Kellogg.

So, yes, “Rush Hour” is focused on the efforts to rescue Emily.

Kellogg demands Alec undo the damage of his hack in exchange for Emily’s release. Alec allows Kellogg to believe has has acquiesced, but he, Lucas, and Kiera have other plans. Meanwhile, Travis and Garza plan their own, more permanent, solution to the Kellogg problem.

This is once again another busy episode, though, and there is a little more to it than the Search for Emily. We see further development of Liber8’s relationship with Alec and Kiera, get a little more insight into Jason’s past/Alec’s former future, and we see the rather unwelcome return of an old friend.

Yes, Dillon’s back, and I can only assume this is a precursor to some fairly bad stuff. Dillon had pretty much gone off the deep end before Sonya blew him up, and it’s pretty much a rule in fiction that if a bad person is disfigured, they get much worse afterward. He looks like a Sith lord now — it’s not exactly subtle.

This is a bit of another example of Continuum having confusing timelines without the need for time travel, though. One gets the impression it’s only been a couple weeks — at the very most — since Sonya bombed the precinct, yet Dillon has already made a full recovery.

Kiera’s scenes were a bit of a mixed bag this time around. On the one hand, we have more of her pining for future, which I’m not fond of. It felt like we put that to rest a while ago, and bringing her desire to return home back to the forefront seems to be throwing a lot of good development out the window.

On the other hand, her sparring with Kellogg was pure gold. She’s always at her best when she’s playing the badass, and that was certainly the case here. The contempt rolling off her was so searing it’s a wonder Kellogg still has eyebrows.

“Rush Hour” started out a bit slow, but the latter half of the episode was once again an example of Continuum going completely balls to the walls with insane action and constant reversals. Good luck finding a moment to catch your breath.

Emily again stars in an absolutely crazy and thoroughly entertaining fight scene. Whoever the stunt coordinator on this show is, they need a raise. Most Hollywood blockbusters can’t produce fight sequences this good.

On the whole, the second episode of Continuum’s final season is another very strong showing. “Rush Hour” offers nary a dull moment, and is once again a shining example of why Continuum is a show that will be missed, and why I’m so glad it got to end on its own terms.

The ending does seem to invalidate the efforts of the characters throughout the episode, but I don’t think we’ve seen the end of this particular arc, so I’m not going to let it bother me much.

Overall rating: 8/10

Filed under: Reviews Tagged: Continuum, review, sci-fi, TV

Re-examining Dragon Age: Inquisition: The Trespasser, the Descent, and the Wildcard

This week saw the release of the final major DLC for Dragon Age: Inquisition, Trespasser. This follows closely on the heels of another story-heavy DLC, The Descent.

The Descent was excellent, and Trespasser was even better — an epic and emotional tour de force that is quite possibly the highlight of the entire Dragon Age franchise to date.

(Note that I do not own and have not played the Jaws of Hakkon DLC, but I did watch a friend livestream it in its entirety over the course of a few weeks.)

You may recall from my original review that I left Inquisition with somewhat lukewarm feelings. I felt it was a major improvement over past titles in terms of game mechanics, and that it had some impressive highs, but that an excessive amount of filler content and some other hiccups held it back a lot.

But Descent and Trespasser were so fantastic that it’s completely reignited my passion for Inquisition, and now I’m wondering if I’ve underestimated the game… or if this is just a passing fancy.

I’ll be writing this post assuming that the reader has played all of Inquisition, including the DLC, so expect some spoilers.

A fitting end:

At this point I think we can safely say that Inquisition was released unfinished. It’s amazing that a game as vast and detailed as this one could still be incomplete, but it definitely was.

The original ending to Inquisition was an anticlimax. It was entirely too quick and easy, it lacked emotional weight, and it left many important questions unanswered.

Trespasser was the ending the game needed. It offered emotional send-offs for all the major characters, a thrilling and intense climax that did not feel at all rushed, major revelations that have completely upended everything we thought we knew about the history of Thedas, and tantalizing hints of what is to come.

While not as crucial, Descent also provided some useful clues to making sense of Inquisition. One of the big things the main game left me scratching my head about was red lyrium, the nature of which was never fully explained. We learned that it’s lyrium that’s been infected with the Blight, but that made no sense at the time, seeing as the Blight infects living things and lyrium is a mineral.

But now we know that lyrium is the blood of a Titan, so now things make sense.

Some might be upset by having to buy a couple DLCs to get the full Inquisition experience, and I certainly wouldn’t blame them for feeling so, but personally it doesn’t bother me that much. If the end product is good, I don’t mind forking out a little extra dough.

The ending always has a profound impact on how one views a story, and I think the weakness of the original ending was a major contributor to my ambivalence towards Inquisition. Now that there’s a better ending, my opinion of the game is much higher, but much of my complaints about Inquisition still hold true, and I do have to wonder if this will last once the high from these DLCs has worn off.

That might take a while. Trespasser rocked my world.

This time, it’s personal:

Trespasser was almost entirely Elven lore, so maybe it’s not surprising I loved it so much.

It’s not just the info-dumps, though. These events play so well into the development of my inquisitor it’s like Bioware wrote it for me.

My inquisitor is a Dalish Keeper. There is nothing more important to her than her people and her culture. She and Solas hit it off right away, and they remained close up until he suddenly left the Inquisition.

And even when she learned the truth, and the terrible things he had done and still wanted to do, she almost wanted to join him. There is nothing in the world that she wants more than the restoration of her people.

She doesn’t care that it would kill her. She would give her life for a reborn Elvhenan without a second thought. Nor would she shed a tear if the corrupt nations of the shemlen were to drown in fire.

But there are people in this world she cares about. When her clan died, those close to her in the Inquisition became her clan, her family. She cares deeply about Sera, Dorian, Thom Rainier, Varric, and the Iron Bull, and she cannot let them die.

So now she could not be more torn. A man she loves as a brother plans to bring about that which she spent all her life dreaming of, but the price is just too high to pay, and now she has to stop him, and save him.

The writer in me is just squealing in joy over what a fantastic character motivation that is.

The ending has led me to believe we will be able to continue playing as our inquisitor in the next game, and I will be profoundly disappointed if this is not the case. I’ve never liked abandoning the player characters after each Dragon Age game, and at this point in the story it just doesn’t make any sense not to continue with the inquisitor, if you ask me.

The wildcard:

Something else Trespasser has made me reexamine is Sera.

Now, I knew I was going to like Sera from the moment she was announced. A chaotic good Elven archer? That’s all I need to hear.

But when the game came out, she didn’t quite live up to expectations. I did like her spirit of joyful rebellion and her passion to fight for the little guy, but there was much about her I found off-putting. She was too crude, too childish, and her disdain for her own people was equal parts confusing and off-putting.

If I was playing as a dude, I would have romanced Dorian instead, but I’d already rolled a girl, so I decided to press ahead with my original plan of romancing Sera. Let me tell you, it’s not easy to win over someone who fears magic and disdains Elven culture when you’re a Dalish Keeper.

But eventually she warmed up to me, and as she began to open up, I began to understand her. At first glance, Sera seems so simple and shallow, but nothing could be farther than the truth. She is an incredibly complicated person, and even when her behaviour seems utterly random and nonsensical, there is often a deep and powerful meaning to what she does. She just has a very difficult time expressing herself in appropriate ways due to her youth and lack of a proper upbringing.

As an aside, it’s this ability to gain a deeper level of insight into characters that ultimately sold me on the concept of in-game romance, which I initially found odd and perhaps a little creepy.

Coming to understand why Sera is the way she is, as well as how big-hearted she is, improved my view of her somewhat, but it wasn’t until Trespasser that I came to love her character as much as I expected to when she was first announced.

I came to the conclusion a while ago a lot of the reason Sera is so rough around the edges is simply that she’s basically a kid. I often wondered if she would mature as she got older.

The answer is yes.

In Trespasser, it became clear that Sera’s positive attributes — mainly her kind and loving nature — have won out over her rougher aspects. Oh, sure, she’s still cursing all the time and drawing butts on everything for some reason, but where it counts, she’s grown up.

What impressed me most was that her Elf-hate, the one thing that still really bothered me about her, had softened. She was using her Red Jenny network to track down survivors of my clan — all on her own, without prompting — and even more amazingly, rather than gloat over the loss of everything the Dalish once believed in, she simply offered my inquisitor a proverbial shoulder to cry on.

It was so gratifying to see Sera evolve like this, and it’s this kind of stellar character development that keeps me playing Bioware games despite their many, many flaws.

The future:

My eyes now turn to the future of Dragon Age and my relationship with it. My love for Trespasser has inspired me to do something I never expected to do (at least not any time soon): Start the game over with a new character, a Qunari rogue.

I don’t know if this will last. Inquisition is vast game, and there’s a pretty good chance I’ll just lose interest — which is what happened when I tried to play DA2 a second time. I really don’t relish doing all those side quests and other chores over again. I know I could skip them — I probably will skip collecting shards, at least — but it’s just so hard to resist the completionist in me.

I will be taking it easy. I think playing Inquisition largely to exclusion of other games the first time led to a lot of burnout and may have given me an unfairly negative view of it. Since Inquisition plays more like a single-player MMO, perhaps I should have adopted the more laidback attitude I use for them.

If I do continue, I have to decide whether to side with the Templars are not. I feel I should see the other side of the story, but I hate the Templars and everything they stand for.

As for the franchise as a whole, well, it’s already pretty much confirmed we’re going to Tevinter. I think the inquisitor will once again be the protagonist (they damn well better be, anyway), and that we’ll be mediating the Tevinter/Qunari war in much the same way we did with the Templar/mage war, with Solas playing a similar role to Corypheus.

I think Scout Harding will be a party member in the next game, and probably a full romance option. She seems a very popular characer (rightfully so), and I don’t think they snuck her into the final cutscene for nothing.

I think Dorian will play a major role, but not be a party member. Probably his role will be analogous to, say, Leliana’s in Inquisition. We’ll probably have the option to make him ruler of Tevinter at the end.

I very much hope that Sera will return as a major character. I’d like to believe her mentioning that she’s already visited Tevinter is foreshadowing of some sort. I also hope we get to explore her magical talent — or whatever she has. I’d also love to see Bull, Thom, and Varric again, but based on their epilogues, that seems fairly unlikely — especially for Varric.

I’m also hoping the inquisitor gets to graft a giant sword to their stump like Kargath Bladefist.

Whatever may come, Trespasser has left me far more excited for DA4 than I have been for any other Dragon Age game to date.

Filed under: Games Tagged: Dragon Age, fantasy

Review: Murdered: Soul Suspect

I’m generally not that fond of adventure games or similarly puzzle-heavy experiences. I am a simple man; I like to get a big sword or gun and wreak virtual havoc.

But I was intrigued by the concept of Murdered: Soul Suspect — a game where the player takes on the role of the ghost of a police detective trying to solve his own murder — and it seemed to have a lovely ambiance and creep factor to it, so I decided to give it a shot.

It didn’t meet all of my expectations, but I don’t regret buying it.

In Murdered: Soul Suspect, you play as Ronan O’Connor, the hardboiled detective of all hardboiled detectives who is hot on the trail of a brutal serial killer known for the mysterious bell marking he leaves on his victims. Filled with reckless aggression after the untimely death of his wife, Ronan confronts the killer without backup, and pays for it with his life.

But that is not the end. Before Ronan can move on and join his wife in the beyond, he must resolve those things he left undone in the land of the living. Namely, bringing the Bell Killer to justice.

Along the way, Ronan gains an accomplice in the form of an ill-tempered teenage medium named Joy, and much of the latter parts of the game involve working in tandem with her.

Being dead obviously has its disadvantages, but as a ghost, Ronan gains a number of supernatural powers that heighten his already considerable capabilities as a detective, such as teleportation, the ability to absorb memories from locations and objects, and the capacity to possess and subtly influence the living.

In practice, Soul Suspect mostly boys down to wandering crime scenes looking for things to click on and then figuring out the correct clues to put together to solve a particular investigation. It’s not terribly challenging, but Soul Suspect is really less about gameplay and more interactive fiction, like Remember Me or any Bioware game ever.

In addition to the main story, there’s a lot of optional side content — though not so much it feels burdensome. There are a few side quests where you help other lost souls move on, though these stop about halfway through the game, which is odd. There’s also a lot of lore items to collect that expand on the backstory of the characters and the town.

When you complete some item sets, you’ll be treated to a fully narrated ghost story alongside some fairly creepy artwork. These were the the only parts of the game I found to be legitimately scary.

One major weakness of the game is Ronan himself. He’s just not a very good character by any measure. Much of his dialogue is painfully cheesy, and while I’ve heard worse acting, his voice-overs don’t improve matters any. He’s also a fairly implausible character — a lifelong criminal and multiple felon who manages to fall into being a police detective through the good graces of his brother-in-law.

Joy is a bit more interesting, but still not an especially memorable character in the greater scheme of things.

On the upside, the main storyline provides a very effective mystery. Up until the last half hour of the game, I thought I had figured everything out and knew exactly what was going on.

I did not.

The final twist hits a perfect sweet spot of being unexpected, yet making perfect sense once all the pieces of the puzzle are revealed.

Really, that’s all you can ask from a mystery, and that’s what Soul Suspect is.

Overall rating: 7/10

Filed under: Games, Reviews Tagged: fantasy, Murdered: Soul Suspect, review

Retro Review: Once Upon a Time, Season Three: Episodes 1-6

We now embark on the third season of Once Upon a Time. It’s once again a hit and miss situation, with some very good episodes and some not so good episodes.

“The Heart of the Truest Believer”:

Well, we’re only one episode in, but so far this is an improvement over last season.

Season three picks up immediately after the end of season two, with the search for Henry in Neverland. While Henry himself tries to escape the Lost Boys, Rumpelstiltskin strikes off on his own, and the party from Storybook battles both the hostile environment of Neverland and each other.

Meanwhile, Baelfire awakens in the Enchanted Forest and tries to find his way back to Emma.

I quite like Neverland so far. It’s an embodiment of the darker side of fairy tales, a strange and capricious place, and Pan himself is a shockingly ruthless twist on the traditional story.

I also quite enjoyed seeing Greg and Tamara get their just deserts. Though on the downside, Hook is still breathing.

Also, Mulan is back in the picture. Huzzah!

My only complaints are that I don’t buy Emma endangering herself as a good way to get the team to work together — why do Hook and Regina care? — and the way Neverland keeps jumping between being a jungle, a deciduous Forest, and British Columbia.

Overall rating: 7.8/10

“Lost Girl”:

Peter Pan likes to play games. Head games, specifically.

He gives Emma a map that will supposedly lead her to Henry, but only if she accepts who she really is. Clearly some soul-searching is in order — not something Emma is very good at.

Meanwhile, we have a series of flashbacks showing a time when Snow had similar problems.

I’m starting to wonder if the flashbacks have outlived their welcome. I wouldn’t say they’ve become a detriment to the show, per se, but they also don’t seem to be adding much. There was a time they were essential to understanding the story and its characters, but that seems to be rarely true, if ever, these days.

Otherwise, this is about as good as an Emma episode ever gets. I still like how strange and creepy Neverland and Pan are.

Overall rating: 7.1/10

“Quite a Common Fairy”:

At Hook’s suggestion, Emma and company seek the aid of the one resident of Neverland who might help them track down Pan: Tinkerbell.

But Tink and Regina have history, so it’s not going to be easy.

Meanwhile, Baelfire tries to talk Robin Hood into helping him with a risky scheme to reach Neverland.

The main storyline of this episode was pretty weak, honestly. What Regina did wasn’t even that bad, by Regina standards, so that robbed the plot of much of its power.

On the other hand, a lot of the side plots and nods to the future were intriguing. Not sure whether to believe Pan about Henry being the saviour of magic; it makes sense, but Pan is a bloody sociopath, and it’s hard to believe anything he says.

Also, apparently Robin Hood is Regina’s soulmate. That’s… unexpected. Does seem to give lie to Tinkerbell’s comment, though. I don’t get the impression Robin’s life is all sunshine and lollipops, but it definitely doesn’t look “ruined,” either.

Also, remember how I said Mulan and Aurora were another goldmine for femslash fans? Heh, funny how things work out.

For my part, I think Mulan can do much better, though.

I do hope Baelfire’s departure doesn’t mean we have to wait another season to see Mulan again. She’s just far too badass to be as much of a background element as she is.

Overall rating: 7/10

“Nasty Habits”:

Proving themselves to have more sense than the Bush administration, Emma’s party decide they need to have an exit strategy before they confront Pan. They seek out the cave Baelfire inhabited when he lived in Neverland in search of clues, but without Baelfire, they can make no sense of what they find.

Meanwhile, Rumpel and Baelfire have a family reunion, but it doesn’t end well, and a series of flashbacks shows Rumpel and Pan have history — who doesn’t have history with Rumpel?

This is one of those weird episodes where a lot happened, but nothing really happened. The pacing was fast and we had all kinds of confrontations and reversals, but in the end, nothing has really changed. Emma and co. are still up a creek without a paddle when it comes to rescuing Henry, Rumpel is still struggling to do the right thing but will probably fail, and Henry is still Pan’s prisoner.

In the end, it just seems like filler.

Overall rating: 6.8/10 I miss Mulan already.

“Good Form”:

There’s a good little plot nestled in this episode about Emma’s party trying to get a message to Henry. Seeing them stoop to Regina’s dark magic was quite a nice piece of drama and a needed justification for Regina’s presence in this journey.

However, most of the screen time goes to Hook, and by now, my feelings on him are clear. What’s amazing, though, is that they managed to make this even worse than a Hook-heavy episode ought to be.

The general message of “Good Form” is that Hook isn’t such a bad guy after all.

I call BS.

Hook has, from the very beginning, been consistently portrayed as selfish and craven in the extreme. This is someone who was willing to do anything, hurt anyone, in order to satisfy his own petty need for retribution. This is the guy who was a good friend of Cora’s. He’s deceitful, cruel, and selfish. That’s the character they’ve established.

So the idea that he was once a noble soldier for the king, that there’s a man of honour buried underneath all that roguishness, is laughable.

Emma beginning to fall for him was also cringe-inducing, though at least that makes a certain kind of sense. Emma has long been shown to be fairly lacking in both intelligence and good judgment.

Overall rating: 5/10 Very poor form indeed.

“Ariel”:

Snow White isn’t very good at keeping secrets. As a result, Emma soon learns that Baelfire is, in fact, alive and in Neverland, and the party sets off to find him. Setting him free will require more secrets to come to light, as each party member must utter their darkest and most terrible secret to unlock his prison.

Meanwhile, Regina strikes off to join forces with Rumpel against Pan, and in the Enchanted Forest’s past, a mermaid named Ariel — yes, that Ariel — becomes entangled in the conflict between Regina and Snow.

This is another of those episodes I hate reviewing because it lacks both major blunders and notable stand-out moments. It’s neither great nor terrible — merely adequate.

I found Ariel a bit insipid, but as a link between worlds, she could serve an interesting role in the plot. I’m also a bit curious if Ursula the sea goddess will play any role going forward, or if that’s just something the writers threw in for fun.

And Emma confessing her feelings for Baelfire was a bit nice purely because it makes Hook unhappy.

I really don’t like him.

Overall rating: 7/10

…Why do they call it the Little Mermaid, anyway? I’ve never actually seen it, but in the photos, she looks normal-sized. Not really sure what normal size is for a mermaid, though, I guess.

Filed under: Retro Reviews Tagged: fantasy, Once Upon a Time, review, TV

Reviews: Defiance, “Upon the March We Fittest Die” + Dark Matter, Episodes 12 and 13

Defiance, “Upon the March We Fittest Die” (season finale):

As Defiance’s third season comes to a close, Nolan and company rush to defeat the Omec before their invasion can spread beyond the town of Defiance. Freeing Doctor Yewll has cut off their supply of food and left them temporarily weakened. The time to strike is now.

Yewll hatches a scheme to repeat history and destroy the Omec ship from within, and Nolan, Irisa, and Datak accompany her on her mission of sabotage.

Meanwhile, Stahma attempts to bury the hatchet with Amanda.

If I was to describe “Upon the March We Fittest Die” in a word, I’d go with “adequate.” It’s got enough intensity and excitement to be satisfying as a season finale, but it doesn’t particularly excel. The final confrontation with Kindzi is fairly by the numbers and doesn’t especially thrill.

The ending doesn’t make a lot of sense, either. Irisa’s plan is just ridiculous within the context of what has been established about the Omec so far, and Nolan going along within it is even more confusing. I can’t imagine them writing Nolan out of the show permanently, so I have to wonder what the point is.

I did like Stahma’s scene with Amanda, though.

Overall rating: 7.1/10

All in all, I would say that Defiance’s third season was still significantly better than its weak first season, but also significantly less interesting than the excellent second season.

Season three suffered from two major flaws, the first of which was that it tried too hard to be dark. I enjoy dark storytelling, and Defiance was never exactly a show full of rainbows and candy-canes, but season three was just relentless grim, to the point where it became more wearing than entertaining. Even Battlestar Galactica knew to give the characters a break once in a while.

I’ve heard a lot of people say the writers were trying to turn the show into Game of Thrones, and one does get the impression there’s some truth to that. The writers often did seem to value shock value over good storytelling. Did we need the Omec incest? Did Rafe need to die?

I don’t think so.

The other issue was the Omec. I’ve said it before, but they’re just not interesting. The Defiance world is so rich in cultures, history, and mysteries that have yet to be explored, all of which would have been more compelling than the Omec. Instead of expanding on pre-established but underdeveloped things like the Votanis Collective, Liberata and Sensoth culture, the Gulanee, or the Volge, we get this totally random out of nowhere new race that turns out to be little more than one-dimensional villains.

On the other hand, the Rahm Tak story was far more entertaining. Still too brutally dark at times, but on the whole very strong, culminating in the utter brilliance of “My Name Is Datak Tarr and I Have Come to Kill You,” which was undoubtedly the highlight of the season and one of the best parts of the series to date.

Unfortunately, after that, the season lost momentum, and the following episodes are far less memorable.

So the end result is a fairly mixed season with some incredible highs, but also a lot of lows.

Dark Matter, episode twelve:

In what is by now a familiar pattern, the crew of the Raza accepts a dangerous job out of a desperate need for allies, only for it to turn out to be a set-up.

In this case, it was all a trap to lure out Two so she could be abducted by her mad scientist creator, played by Will Wheaton. The facility is heavily defended, and only Sally the android has a chance to infiltrate it and free Two.

This was on the whole a pretty underwhelming episode. For one thing, it’s pretty much just filler. In theory we learned a bit about Two’s past, but none of it’s terribly substantive. We still have more questions than answers.

Filler isn’t terribly welcome at the best of times, but this is the second last episode of the season, and given the luck of sci-fi television these days, very possibly the second last episode ever. By now they should be building to a climax. There should be shocking twists and major reveals.

The ending hints at that a bit, but it’s just a tease. Not enough to make this a memorable episode.

Also, the fact is Will Wheaton just isn’t that intimidating. Despite being all Bond villian-y and doing weird, creepy stuff the whole episode, he never stopped being Will Wheaton the lovable nerd. The other doctor working on Two was far more frightening.

I did like getting to see the android play a larger role, though.

Overall rating: 6.9/10

Dark Matter, episode thirteen (season finale):

There is a saboteur on the Raza, and the android is just the first victim. As more and more crew members fall prey, the remaining crew members begin to turn on each other, suspicion destroying the trust they worked so hard to build.

One and Three of course immediately turn on each other, while Five takes a page from my book and suspects Two, and Six and Four prove surprisingly blase about the whole thing.

It’s another very tense episode, and one that will keep you guessing. I certainly didn’t see the twist at the end coming. It does make sense in retrospect, though.

It also trickles out a few more answers to the mysteries of Dark Matter, though still not the full reveal I’ve been hoping for. We do theoretically know who wiped their memories now, though why is still not entirely clear.

It’s a solid episode, and on paper it does tick all the boxes for a good season finale — mounting tension, a nail-biting cliff-hanger, significant reveals and unexpected twists — but it doesn’t quite hit the heights I expect from a great sci-fi season finale. I should be scraping my jaw off the floor, but I’m not.

Perhaps I’ve been spoiled by how stellar the last few Continuum season finales have been.

On the plus side, Dark Matter has already been renewed for a second season, so this isn’t the end. There’s plenty of time for the story to continue to grow and evolve.

On the whole, the first season of Dark Matter has been pretty strong. It’s had a few stumbles, and the last two episodes were somewhat underwhelming, but mostly it’s been a very fun ride, and considering that sci-fi shows usually need a season or two to fully find their voice, I look forward to what is to come.

Overall rating: 7.2/10

Filed under: Reviews Tagged: Dark Matter, Defiance, review, sci-fi, TV

Rage of the Old Gods, Chapter Twenty: The Anniversary

We have now reached the twentieth chapter of Rage of the Old Gods, the first book of my epic science fantasy trilogy the World Spectrum. In the coming weeks, I will be posting the entire book for free on this blog. If you’re just joining us, you can get caught up with the previous chapters now.

A year has passed since the victory that made Leha the Hero of Heart. It is an opportunity for the remaining champions of humanity to reflect on how far they’ve come, and how far they still have to go — a last respite before the final clash.

———————

Chapter twenty: The Anniversary

Breena had been right. In this place, the sun did not set.

As the normal time of dusk had grown closer, Leha had watched the sun’s progress as it drew closer to the horizon. It eventually lowered itself enough to plunge the camp into a dim twilight and paint the sky in a mixture of pinks, oranges, and violets, but it never fully sunk, and night never came.

One hour after when the sun should have set, she prepared for dinner. She asked Drogin and Natoma to join her, and the three of them gathered around a campfire outside Leha’s tent, roasting a piece of reindeer meat that would barely be enough to feed them. The wind blowing off the sea grew colder, but Leha’s tent stood in its way, and they were protected from the brunt of it.

As the meat cooked, Eranna came by, and they invited her to join them. She left briefly to find more food, but she soon returned with a wedge of reindeer cheese and took her place by the fire.

They discussed the eerie nature of the unsetting sun and the strangeness of this land as the fire crackled and the wind ruffled the tent canvas.

Just as Leha was about to serve the meat, Lahune emerged from the twilight, the wind stirring his dark robes. He wore a backpack. Doga followed a few paces behind him.

“Hello,” the priest said in his smooth voice, stopping before their little fire.

Doga stopped beside him and nodded to Leha and her group. He greeted Leha and Drogin in Eastenholder, and he greeted Eranna in Tor.

Eranna favored him with one of her rare smiles. It transformed her normally joyless face. “Ko nadl,” she said.

He smiled back. He turned to Natoma and greeted her in Eastenholder, adding, “I am sorry. My Urannan is not good.”

She smiled at him.

Leha wondered why Lahune had come. He normally avoided places where battle was likely to occur. “Would you two care to join us?” she said. The scent of the cooking meat taunted her hungry stomach.

“Yes, thank you,” Lahune said.

He and Doga sat in the gap between Eranna and Natoma.

Leha surveyed their meager provisions. “I’m afraid we don’t have much food for you.”

Lahune smiled. “That’s all right. I brought my own.” He removed his pack and looked Leha in the eye. “Do you know what today is?”

She furrowed her brow. “No.”

“Today is the one year anniversary of your triumph at the Battle of Heart.”

Leha raised her eyebrows. It didn’t seem to her like it could have been an entire year.

“We’ve come to celebrate it,” Doga added.

Leha thought that this seemed like an odd time to celebrate. The Automatons were bearing down on them, and there was still a good chance that the war would not end in victory for humanity. But after a moment’s thought, she decided that those were good arguments in favor of it. She shared glances with her companions, and their expressions mirrored her own feelings.

Her face blossomed into a smile. “Thank you. That’s an excellent idea,” she said. She nodded towards his sack. “What’ve you brought?”

Lahune opened the pack and began removing items. “Nuts, jenjin fruit, cheese, smoked reindeer meat, and a jug of ulu and whiskey.”

“And…” Doga said. He reached into a sack hanging from his belt and removed a small loaf of fresh bread, a rare delicacy these days.

A murmur of appreciation met Doga’s offering.

They shared out the food. Not everyone received the same things, but everyone had enough. For her share, Leha took a small piece of the meat they had cooked over the fire; a piece of cheese, which she melted over the meat; a jenjin, a plum-sized Tyzuan fruit that looked like a purple tomato and tasted like a grape; a handful of nuts; and a slice of bread. In addition to the food, they each received a cup of ulu and whiskey. The drink was strong and burned Leha’s throat, but it was also pleasantly sweet – she suspected extra honey had been added along with the whiskey – and she enjoyed it.

The meal was simple, but it was far better than anything they had eaten in weeks, and they relished it.

Once her hunger had subsided somewhat, Leha had the thought that others deserved to celebrate this anniversary. She reached out with her mind, found the nearest ice creature, and had it broadcast her order that the army was to have double rations tonight. It would tax their food supplies, but the boost to morale would be worth it.

As they ate, the six of them talked. They talked of the Battle of Heart, of their lives before the war, and of other things. Drogin and Eranna spoke about their meeting in the battle and how they had both agreed to put aside their differences in the interest of survival. Doga told stories of his life before Leha had come to his village. He showed a scar on his left wrist that he had earned in a battle between some Watching Eye warriors and a pair of Stassai. Natoma mostly listened. Lahune talked about his life as a priest prior to the war, seeming not to notice the odd looks given to him by Drogin and Eranna. Leha had heard that the people of Uranna were more tolerant of his order than other nations, but she supposed he must still be used to being an outcast. Leha briefly talked about her life before the war, giving special detail to the diversity of Three Gates and the exotic goods and people that had flowed through the city. She stopped when she noticed that she was making Eranna uncomfortable.

In spite of the bittersweet nature of the anniversary, smiles and laughs were plentiful among many of their conversations. But as the sunlit night wore on, Leha found herself withdrawing from the discussions.

Since she had awoken after the machines’ retreat, she had seen and experienced many arguments in favor of the goodness of the human race. At times, she had wondered if her quest to “fix” them, to ensure continued unity, was necessary. Throughout her army, from the recruits she had never met to the friends gathered around the fire with her, she saw what humanity should be, a unified people working towards a common goal.

But the warriors of the Liberation had embodied the same ideal. After the defeat of the Old Gods, humanity had been a single society, a society without war or hate. And within a few centuries, it had all fallen apart.

She didn’t want that to happen again.

What was to stop it? Why had it happened the first time? The questions plagued Leha’s mind. It was all far more than she had ever had to consider. She wondered if such ponderings were beyond her.

Eventually, the gathering wound down, and the pounding of waves replaced the sound of voices. One by one, they returned to their tents and sought their bedrolls. When Eranna excused herself, Leha asked to walk her back to her tent, acting on impulse.

“I’m not very tired,” she explained honestly. “It’s the way the sun doesn’t set, I think.”

Eranna agreed to let her come. They strolled through the twilit camp, the moist wind whipping Leha’s hair and tossing Eranna’s braid. It was late, and nearly everyone – other than those assigned to watch – had gone to bed, but a few were still awake, talking or celebrating the anniversary.

Leha ran her fingers through her hair. She tried to think of the right words.

“Eranna, do you ever think about after the war?”

Eranna looked surprised. “Not very much. I’ll be happy if I’m alive to see it.”

Leha nodded and mumbled an agreement. After a moment, she tried again. “I think about it a lot. A lot has changed since before the Automatons turned on us, hasn’t it? Before the war, you and I were enemies.

“Sometimes I wonder if the changes will last.”

“I don’t think our friendship will end with the war.”

“No, of course not. That’s not what I meant.” She paused and took a deep breath. The air smelled of campfires and the ocean. “But before the war, we were all separate nations. Some of them were enemies. Sometimes I wonder if everyone will be willing to forget that when the machines are gone. I wonder if we’ll continue to be one people, or if we’ll just fall apart.”

Eranna peered at her. “I hadn’t really thought about it.”

Leha pressed on. “We’ve banded together because it’s the only way we’ll survive, but what happens when our survival isn’t threatened anymore?”

They’d reached a quiet part of the camp, and Eranna stopped and faced her. “What are you getting at?”

Leha tilted her head up to look her in the eye. “We, the human race, have proven ourselves capable of great things. We defeated the Old Gods once, and there’s a chance we might do it again. We can be good and tolerant. But if you look at our history, we have so often given ourselves to our worst traits. It’s nearly destroyed us. I want to know if it will happen again.”

Eranna stayed silent for a long time. She started walking towards her tent again, and Leha followed.

“I don’t know,” Eranna said at last. “You’re right. I saw what happened at Three Gates – and Broad Field, and Heart – better than you did. I know what we can be at our worst.” She let out a breath slowly. “I don’t know why, though. I don’t know why the Tor Vargis ordered the destruction of your nation, and I don’t know how they convinced my people that such slaughter was a good thing.” She shook her head. “Maybe it’s just part of how the Old Gods made us. Maybe we’re just made to fall apart.”

Leha shook her head. “I don’t think I can believe that.” I don’t want to believe that.

They reached the Tor soldier’s tent and stopped at the entrance.

“This reminds me of a conversation I had with Doga a few months ago,” Eranna said, facing Leha.

“Really?”

Eranna folded her arms. “Yes. He mentioned some teaching from Lahune’s cult, and we started talking about the fact that the Old Gods designed us. Doga was saying that it didn’t matter, that we had evolved beyond what they made us to be.”

Leha nodded. “What do you think?”

Eranna let out a breath. “I don’t want to believe that we’re somehow programmed to be at each other’s throats. I don’t think I would want to live in a world where that was true. But the fact is that we were created by machines, and we are what they made us.” She glanced off to the side as if listening to a voice. “But then, we’re also what we’ve made ourselves.” She turned back to Leha. “I’m not sure what to think.”

A moment of silence, broken by the drone of waves and wind, followed.

“What’s the point of all this, Leha? Why all the questions?”

Leha lowered her head. “I don’t know. I don’t want things to return to the way they were. But I don’t know what I can do to stop it.”

“I’m not sure there is anything you can do. I’m not sure there’s anything anyone can do.” Eranna grimaced and shrugged.

Leha tilted her face up and smiled weakly. “Well, thanks.”

They bade each other goodnight, and Leha returned to her tent, walking through the quiet twilight.

* * *

When she reached her tent, she was surprised to discover Lahune was still there. He and Natoma had been there when she’d left, but she had thought they would have gone by the time she returned. He sat by the edge of the fire remnants. The few remaining embers gave off a weak heat and an aroma of wood smoke.

He greeted her.

She sat down across from him. “What’re you still doing up?”

“Natoma suggested I talk to you. You were distracted during the meal; Natoma believed it had to do with your mission to keep our people together after the war.”

Leha’s eyes widened. “She told you about that?”

Lahune nodded. “After you and Eranna left, yes.”

“How’d she know that was what was distracting me?” she asked.

Lahune shrugged. “She knew it had been on your mind, and you left to talk to a Tor soldier who helped to destroy your homeland, a soldier who is now your friend. I think the only surprising thing is that it took you this long to talk to Eranna about this.”

Leha netted her fingers together and stared at her claws. She gave a little chuckle. “Natoma is very observant, isn’t she?”

“Yes, she is.”

Leha looked up. “I suppose it was inevitable that I would talk to you about this eventually. You are the priest of humanity.”

Lahune said nothing. She paused to think, and he waited, a patient expression on his face.

“This is so complicated,” she said finally. “Eranna is a good example. She’s a good person; I know that. But she helped to destroy my country. This would be difficult enough if humanity could simply be divided into ‘good people’ and ‘bad people,’ but it can’t. Bad people do good things. Good people do bad things – they can even do it for good reasons; or they can do it unknowingly or through ignorance.”

She rubbed her left temple. “And then there are the truly bad people. The evil people. The people who knowingly do harm. What about them? What makes them go bad? Can they be made good?” She shook her head. “It’s all too complicated.”

She looked Lahune in the eye. “How do you deal with it? Your order is about celebrating humanity; but what about the darker aspects of it?”

Lahune took a deep breath. “I do what little I can. Much of Aya’s teachings have to do with how we should conduct our lives, and I try to follow what they proscribe. I share her teachings with those who will listen. But there’s not much one person can do. I try to content myself with what little difference I can make.”

“Do you ever think about where our darker traits come from?”

“Sometimes, but I don’t like to. I prefer cultivating the positive to worrying over the negative.”

Leha nodded. She huddled close to the remains of the fire. The warmth took away the chill of the night wind.

“I think that pretty much everyone tries to be a good person, though, and it doesn’t seem to have done much good,” she said. “Wars were still fought; murders were still committed.”

“That doesn’t mean the effort is useless. Plans are not always successful overnight. It may take a long, long time for humanity to reach its full potential, but I think it can.”

Leha nodded again. She stared into the orange embers for what felt like a long time, mulling over his words. Some of his points were good, she thought. She started to see why he held his philosophies. Accurate or not, they were comforting.

“There’s one thing I’ve never understood,” she said, looking back at him.

“Yes?”

“Why did Aya choose to name her followers after the priests? The priesthood of the Old Gods helped to oppress and enslave their fellow humans just so they could have a more comfortable life for themselves. The Old Gods’ religion kept us ignorant and afraid for who knows how long. Why would she choose to associate her followers with that?”

Lahune paused to think. “We are not named after them. Aya was a child when the Liberation began, and she did not fight in the war, but she did remember what life was like under the tyranny of the Old Gods. Their priests and priestesses represented the worst that humanity has to offer. They embraced the worst parts of themselves, and they made it their work to limit the potential of those around them.

“Our order was founded to be the antithesis of them. It is our purpose to build up the best parts of ourselves, and to work to ensure that the human race reaches its full potential. Aya intended us to heal the damage done by the priests – and their masters – but we are not meant to replace them. Do you understand?”

She chewed her lower lip. “Yes, I think I do.”

Lahune smiled. “Good.” His smile broadened. “I must admit, I sometimes think Aya should have picked a more convenient name for us.”

She chuckled.

She leaned back and yawned. Even with the sun still up, she was getting tired. “I think I should be going to bed. Thank you. You’ve given me a lot to think about.”

Lahune stood and bowed to her. “It is my honor. If you ever wish to talk again, or if you would like to know more about Aya’s philosophies, I’ll be happy to help.”

“Thank you. I might.”

“When you have the time, perhaps we can return to our recordings.”

She smiled. “I’d like that.”

He said goodnight and departed, and Leha went into her tent. She undressed and crawled into her bedroll, where the sounds of the wind and the ocean soon calmed her busy mind. Within minutes, she was asleep.

* * *

The morning after the celebration, Drogin set out for the other end of the camp. The weather was identical to that of the day before: sunny, clear, and with a cool, salty wind blowing off the ocean. Drogin wondered if it was always windy here.

As he strode through the rows of tents, his stomach knotted in apprehension of what he planned to do. What’s the worst that could happen? he asked himself in an attempt to calm down.

He entered the section of the camp that housed most of the Lost Ones, his wand slapping against his thigh. He’d known he would have to do this since his breakfast with Leha and Doga following the Automaton’s retreat, but it had taken him this long to build up the courage to do it.

When Leha had returned from Tyzu, she had changed in ways he’d found shocking, and, he realized now, he had placed some of the blame for that on the shoulders of the Lost Ones. He had treated them with hostility and suspicion. Over time, he had become more accustomed to them, and when he had patched things up with Leha, he had forgotten his prejudice.

But that morning, he had been reminded of his earlier belligerence. Doga had avoided conversation or eye contact with him; what interaction he’d had with Drogin had been tense and cautious. Now that he thought about it, Doga had been acting that way for some time now.

Drogin knew that he would have to make amends with the Lost One.

He found Doga preparing his breakfast in front of his tent. Drogin smelled cooking meat and warm ulu.

Drogin gathered his courage and went to stand before Doga’s fire. “Hello.”

Doga looked up. “Hello.” He seemed surprised.

Drogin ran his fingers through his hair. He sighed. “I need to talk to you about something.”

Doga stared at him. He wore a neutral expression.

Before he could stop himself, Drogin glanced at Doga’s jagged claws. He forced himself to meet Doga’s gaze. “I’ve come to apologize.”

If Doga had possessed eyebrows, Drogin suspected they would have shot up.

Drogin continued, sweating. “In the past, I’ve treated you poorly. When Leha came back from Tyzu, I couldn’t accept how she’d changed, and I blamed your people. All I knew was that my sister had disappeared, that you’d done something to her, and that she was different. I treated you, and all the other Lost Ones, poorly, and I did so without good cause.

“That was wrong, and I’m sorry.”

Doga considered him silently for a few moments.

The Lost One stood, stepped forward, and clapped a hand onto Drogin’s shoulder. Drogin felt pleased that he didn’t flinch.

“Thank you,” Doga said. “That took courage, and honor, and I respect you for saying it.” He smiled.

Drogin managed a shaky smile.

Doga released his shoulder. “Consider yourself forgiven.”

“Thank you,” Drogin muttered.

Doga stepped back. “Would you like to join me for breakfast?”

“I’ve eaten,” Drogin said. “But thank you,” he added quickly.

Doga nodded and sat back down. Drogin excused himself, and the Lost One waved goodbye. Once Drogin was out of sight, he breathed a sigh of relief.

* * *

Yarnig watched the fire, seeing the wood crack and burn. Suspended over the flames, an iron kettle swayed slightly in the breeze from the ocean. Last night, he, Erik, and the soldiers from the nearby tents had pooled their rations to make a simple but tasty stew. They had eaten it, among other things, as part of the impromptu celebration of the anniversary of the Battle of Heart. Some of the stew had been left over, and once it boiled, they would have it for breakfast. He could already smell the stew’s earthy aroma.

A gust of wind ruffled his shirt. His tent lay at the northern edge of the camp, and its canvas could not fully shield them from the incessant wind.

For the first time in days, he felt relatively calm. The celebration had allowed him to put Natoma out of his mind. Thoughts of her still played at the edges of his consciousness, but they were not overwhelming.

The soup boiled, and he served it out. As he ate, he talked with Erik and the other soldiers. Those he fought with were finally beginning to grow used to his company – Yarnig believed Erik may have helped with that; under the right circumstances, his manner could put people at ease. Whatever their feelings had been about Yarnig’s role as emperor or his magical abilities, they seemed to be getting past them.

As he finished the last few bites of stew, he heard footsteps approach. He barely noticed until a smooth female voice said, “Yarnig?”

He almost dropped his bowl, but recovered quickly. Natoma.

He forced himself to appear calm, and turned to face her. “Hello,” he said.

She stood over him, her armor and hair shining in the bright sun. “It’s been a few days since we were last able to work on your swordsmanship. Would now be a good time?”

Yarnig cleared his throat. “Uh, yes,” he answered, not really thinking about what he was saying.

She nodded once, smiling politely. She gestured for him to get his sword, and he headed for his tent. He felt pleased that he did not stumble or do anything else foolish, and he experienced a rare moment of gratitude for the years of strict protocol he had endured in the courts. It helped him keep his composure.

Erik, on the other hand, wore an expression of sympathetic terror. The other soldiers looked at him oddly.

Yarnig strode from the tent, strapping on his sword belt, and Natoma led him past his tent, out of the camp, and onto the fields. Yarnig’s heart pounded, and he sweated. His mind felt fuzzy. Part of him wondered how he would manage to practice his swordsmanship in his current state.

She led him to a shallow depression in the ground where the winds were slightly weaker. She turned to face him. “I’m sorry; I didn’t ask you here so we could work on your fighting abilities,” she said.

“No?”

She shook her head. “We need to discuss your feelings for me, and I didn’t think that you would want your comrades to know the true reason behind our meeting.”

She said it so matter-of-factly that, for a moment, he didn’t realize what she’d said. When he did, he briefly had trouble breathing. “Discuss my feelings?” he said weakly.

“Yes,” she said, a patient expression upon her flawless face.

“You know?”

“Yes.”

He wondered if he was dreaming – this seemed too surreal. With great effort, he made himself speak. “So, what did you want to discuss?”

Nothing in her body language suggested any of the confusing emotions he felt. She seemed calm. “First, I think it’s important that we both acknowledge that we’re aware of how you feel. I don’t believe any good comes from keeping things like this hidden away. This way, we can deal with things in a mature way.”

She looked him in the eye. “Do you have anything you want to say?”

Several things popped into Yarnig’s mind, but they all sounded foolish. “No,” he said. “I think you have probably figured everything out for yourself.”

“Very well,” she said, her voice still perfectly serene. “Then, I should tell you how I feel. I assume you would prefer honesty?”

His heart beat even faster. “Yes,” he said, though he wasn’t sure he did.

She studied him for a moment. When she did speak, a tiny hint of uncertainty had crept into her voice. “I don’t know how I feel.”

She started to pace a little – her first sign of discomfort. “If not for the mental link, I’d never spare you a second thought.

“I’m not ignorant of the way men react to me. I know that I’m considered beautiful. On top of that, my father was a man of great wealth, and I quickly rose to a position of power within the military. Suitors began approaching me before I had even passed puberty, and the bombardment did not relent until the revolt of the machines.” She let out a small sigh.

“I’ve long since lost interest in men who are simply handsome, rich, or powerful. Even the title of emperor fails to impress me.”

Yarnig’s stomach twisted painfully, but at the same time, he felt an echo of familiarity in her words. He, too, had spent his youth surrounded by potential lovers, only to discover they were interested in him only as a political bargaining chip. Simple beauty no longer mattered so much to him.

Natoma stopped her pacing, hands clenched. “But I’ve seen into your mind, and your heart. I know there’s something inside you that all those other suitors lacked, and I find I can’t simply write you off.”

Hope – achingly strong and bright – blossomed in Yarnig’s chest.

She shook her head. “I don’t what I feel, but what I do know is that we are at war, and neither of us can afford to be distracted. It would be impossible to completely ignore the situation between us, but I think it would be best to focus on more important matters. If and when the machines are defeated, we can come to some better resolution.”

He stuck his slick hands in his pockets and mulled over her words. It was not the acceptance he had hoped for, but it was not the rejection he had feared. His stomach knotted with disappointment, but hope for the future warmed him.

The rational part of his mind saw the logic of postponing things until the war ended – though part of him hated the idea. After what felt like a very long time, he said, “I understand.”

She smiled warmly, causing his heart to flutter. “Good. I’m glad. Do you still wish to serve in my squad, or would it be too hard for you?”

“I know something about keeping focus. I’ll stay in the squad, if it’s all right with you.”

“I have no objection.” She came to stand in front of him. She reached out with one hand and squeezed his left shoulder, giving a dazzling smile. “Until the end of the war.”

He returned her smile and patted her hand with his. “Until the end of the war.”

She released his shoulder and headed back for the camp, her armor clanking.

Yarnig stayed where he was for what felt like a long while. He worked on repairing his outward calm. He could afford to take his time – the people back at the camp thought he was having sword lessons; they wouldn’t expect a speedy return.

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Enjoying the story so far? The next chapter will be posted soon, but if you can’t wait, you also have the opportunity buy the full ebook now!

Filed under: My writing, World Spectrum Tagged: books, fantasy, Rage of the Old Gods free chapters, sci-fi, steampunk, The World Spectrum, writing

Gaming Round-Up: TSW’s Spin-off, Diablo III’s Patch, Heroes, WoW, and More

I really want to start making a dent in my massive backlog of already written blog posts, but the world just keeps throwing new juicy blog topics at me. Today, there’s a bundle of gaming news to cover.

Funcom announces The Park:

Here’s something absolutely no one saw coming: Funcom is putting out a single-player spin-off of The Secret World.

The Park is a horror title set in the Atlantic Island Amusement Park on Solomon Island. Presumably this means it will be set before the events of TSW — this is probably one of the horror stories that got the park shut down.

The amusement park was always one of the more interesting and unusual places in TSW. Aside from being creepy as all Hell, it’s one of the few storylines in the game with no real connection to the game’s main arcs, so this makes for a good choice for a spin-off.

I’m also glad to learn this was Joel Bylos’ secret project. For some reason it comforts me that Joel didn’t really leave the Secret World — he’s just working on a different part of it. Maybe he’ll come back to the MMO later.

Horror games aren’t usually my cup of tea, but I’m enough of a Secret World fan that I’m pretty much guaranteed to buy it.

I’m more interested in what this will mean for Funcom as a whole, though. The latest financial reports have been quite dire, and as a fan of TSW, this has me very worried. I hope The Park will be successful enough to turn things around a bit, and maybe boost TSW as well. Hopefully people who like The Park will then want to play TSW.

If Funcom is smart, they’ll take a page from Blizzard and do some cross-promotional rewards. Buy The Park and get an exclusive outfit in TSW, or something.

The really interesting thing is that this might open the door for more TSW spin-offs. The Secret World is such a vast and unique setting that the possibilities are virtually endless. You could get twenty games just from Innsmouth Academy and the League of Monster Slayers.

What I’d most like to see are Nassir’s time in the “special” Special Forces and a prequel about Halina Ilyushin from the Facility. I think she’s one of TSW’s more compelling antagonists, and she deserved way more attention than she got.

Diablo III: Is it about my cube?

In other news, this week saw the release of patch 2.3 for Diablo III, which is arguably the largest non-expansion patch the game has yet seen.

The big new features are the Ruins of Sescheron zone and Kanai’s Cube, an artifact with a number of powerful abilities, most notably the capacity to extract powers from legendary weapons and equip them on you character as a new set of passive abilities.

I was very impressed with the Ruins of Sescheron. I have often ragged on D3’s subpar graphics, but Sescheron is absolutely beautiful and without a doubt the best looking place in the game to date.

The detail of the zone is excellent, and not just in terms of visuals. There’s all-new, fully voiced lore — including the incredibly welcome reappearance of Abd al-Hazir — as well as several memorable new monster types. The yetis gave me a nice jolt of nostalgia for Diablo II — which is a bit weird since I didn’t like that game very much.

The Cube is also quite an interesting concept, though I haven’t been able to get much use out of it yet. To my eternal regret, I disenchanted nearly all my spare legendaries before the announcement of the Cube. All I’ve been able to throw in so far is my old level 60 Mirrorball.

But that disappointment is entirely on my own head.

I am eternally impressed by how Blizzard keeps putting out new free content for Diablo III. In any other game, something like patch 2.3 would be a $15 DLC. Blizzard could certainly get away with charging that much for it. But they’re literally giving it away.

I am increasingly struck by the stark differences between World of Warcraft’s team and the rest of Blizzard. While StarCraft 2 sets a new standard for developer communication with weekly development updates and Diablo III throws free content at players for funsies, WoW is defined by shameless greed, out of touch development, and tone-deaf communication.

Blizzard is still a fantastic company. But you’d never know it if all you play is WoW.

Heroes of the Storm: Infernal Shrines and map rotation woes

Heroes of the Storm also got a significant update this week with its second Diablo-themed map, Infernal Shrines.

Unfortunately, I’ve only had the opportunity to play the map once so far, but based on first impressions (which could prove totally wrong once I have more experience), I’m not sure I agree with the people saying this map is more prone to snowballing than others. My team had a massive advantage for the first half of the match — we won something like the first three or four Punishers — and we still went on to lose badly.

Painful as that was for me personally, it does show comebacks are very doable on that map, and that’s a good thing.

On the whole it seems a fun map. Having the bosses target players as much as structures is a nice change of pace, and I like the way they borrowed monster affixes from Diablo III. Arcane seems especially deadly.

On the downside, the fact that some affixes do seem better than others adds an unhealthy degree of randomness to the map, and the amount of skeletons you need to kill to summon a Punisher seems to favour AoE-heavy heroes, which are already pretty popular in the metagame right now.

Then again, I play Jaina and Tassadar. Maybe I shouldn’t complain.

The addition of another new map also means the map selection has once again been cut down to increase the odds of Infernal Shrines appearing for the first week. It’s a good idea in theory, but it has some flaws.

It kind of sucks if your favourite map is one of the ones (temporarily) cut, and you still have only a one in six chance of getting the new map, which tends to make one pretty sick of the others. I have seen way too much of Tomb of the Spider Queen lately.

You could do custom games, but you lose out on matchmaking, and it’s kind of a pain in general if you’re not lucky enough to know nine other people who are interested in doing custom games.

World of Warcraft: I’m back, baby

Yes, despite all my harping on Warlords of Draenor, I have finally returned to WoW. I missed my characters, and I want to get the legendary ring for my rogue.

For the most part my previous thoughts on WoD remain true. It’s a sea of blandness and mediocrity occasionally spiced up by some brain-achingly bad decisions. Garrisons remain the main saving grace for me, though I somewhat understand from where the hate for them springs.

The grind needed to unlock flight isn’t improving my view, either. It’s not really that bad a grind in terms of how long it takes, but the stuff you’re doing is just so agonizingly tedious. Apexis dailies are a special kind of Hell. I mean, I even like the idea of just filling up a progress bar through whatever is at hand, but they’re tuned to be so slow. Every time I kill a mob and see that bar move only 1%, I die a little inside. Add to that crowds of players killing and looting everything in sight, and it’s just miserable.

On the plus side, I finally started leveling my warlock in earnest, and the Frostfire Ridge storyline turned out to be by far and away my favourite part of the expansion so far. Was a great reminder that Orcs are actually pretty awesome when they’re not being stripped down to Saturday morning cartoon villains.

I found the culture they established for the Frostwolf Clan to very fascinating — basically translating the canine pack mentality to a full society of sentient beings — and Durotan is just all kinds of awesome. The way he shut down Ga’nar was just brilliant.

Very pretty zone, too.

Filed under: Games Tagged: Diablo, fantasy, Heroes of the Storm, sci-fi, Starcraft, The Park, The Secret World, video games, Warcraft, World of Warcraft