To Everna and Beyond!

An exploration of Fantasy and Science Fiction Worlds in literature and multimedia entertainment
The official blog and novelblog for Evernade Saga and FireHeart Saga by Andry Chang

"Come forth, Paladins! Fulfill your destiny!"

Explore Worlds in Clicks

FireHeart Highlights!

Saturday, December 31, 2011

3.1.7.4. Boulder Trouble - Part Three

Tautan
Golem (Giant Rock Golem) by Ketka-2realife
Retrieved from the source: Castle of Fantasies Gallery
http://fantasy-image-gallery.blogspot.com/2011/04/destroyer-golem-ketka.html

Robert raises his shaky hand, and presses his lips on his mother’s ring on his left little finger – his habit that gives him a psychological effect that prevents him to rush into orcs head-on and keeps his head cool. He thinks again about his mother, father, sister…

And Robert is right. There is an orc among the newly incoming group, and also a blonde, long-haired knight wearing full plate armor and wielding a great Flamberge sword.

Hernan recognizes the knight and bows to him, saying, ‘Viscount Adler von Bachmann. How glad I am to have you among us. I’m Don Hernan y Parvaez Besso Trinidad, loyal aide for our King Jaime of Escudia, at your service.’

‘And I to you, Don Hernan. You see, we passed the wind tunnels and came here quickly, thanks to the directions from a peasant sorceress called Genilda and a red-haired, silly-looking man whom I thought I saw somewhere before. So what do we have here?’ says Adler in a commanding tone.

‘We’re trying to move the boulders here to activate the switches which will open the door to the exit. We can use some more help, though,’ says Hernan. Then, seeing the slightly wounded orc, he says, ‘Who is this orc? He seems abnormally strong.’

Adler glances at the orc quickly without turning his head to the orc, then answers, ‘Don’t you ever heard of him? He is Dar’gum the Relentless, warchief of The Iron Mount Tribe in Gremion, champion of the orcs. I fought him in the Wind Tunnels, and now his lowly life is in my mercy.’

Hernan only stares at Adler observantly, thinking. This man is not only proud and arrogant. He likes to subdue and control others, even a chieftain or a king! The King of Borgia, for instance, is within his influence. I must be extra careful with him. No wonder he has no friends!

Bragl Dar’gum The Relentless has a big, muscly, massive body like Desmond’s. His skin is green just like orcs’ in general, with his boar-like face and straight large tusks protruding from his lower mouth. He has a Mohawk-styled auburn hair, that is rather odd for orcs in general, but it suits him real perfectly, adding to his real tough look. But judging by the expression on his face, instead of being brutal and ‘relentless’, his face somewhat shows wisdom and tenacity. In spite of all his massive appearance, he seems to have received a sound beating. With a swollen eye, and newly made blade wounds all over his body that proves that Adler really kicked his butt. He is wielding a giant double-blade axe with a spear between the axe blades on his back. This impressive weapon is named il Khâtl J’nadh in Ancient Elvish, meaning J’nadh’s Decapitator. The axe once used by a great orcish warchief, Bragl J’nadh to conquer half of Barc’vadon and establish the orcish realm of Gremion 200 years ago. But later, Bragl J’nadh was decapitated in his sleep by his offspring, Bragl Uvak’ghul. What an ironic end for a king, to die by his own weapon and his own son!

Then, turning to Dar’gum, Adler ‘commands’ again, ‘Dar’gum! Rally your comrades and get them ready to push the boulder over there on my mark! That includes you too, elf guides!’

Dar’gum only answers with a grunt and walks towards the boulder with his fellow orcs and other hunters in Adler’s contingent. While the supposedly ‘real’ real leaders of the group, the noble-looking elf guide and the female dark elf guide follow grudgingly behind Dar’gum.

‘HALT!’ Hernan signals Sheena’s team to stop pushing. Now both boulders are exactly near the switches with runes. Ideas of timing and ‘organized power management’ keep running in Hernan’s mind. Okay, now the next step.

‘Desmond, take half of your team to push the first boulder.’ And when about equal number of men on each team is on its position, Hernan yells again, ‘Levitate… and PUSH!’

The hunters push the boulders and drive them until they perfectly fit on the rune switch. Then the magicians release their levitation tractor beams, and the boulders drop at once with a thundering crash, pushing the switch to the bottom. And then a rumbling sound comes, and the stone door to the exit is slowly lifted up.

And then Hernan sees threads of light begin to crawl on the boulders like glowing worms, from the bottom to the top. He reacts upon that sight.

‘Pirate girl’s right! The elementals are RECHARGING! To the exit, quick!’

Robert, supported by Andreas, Carolyn and Iris walks into the next room, followed by other hunters and champions. They all go hastily, jostling against each other at the doorway. Then the recharging process of the boulders is complete, now the threads of light are glowing all over the boulders. The boulders begin to transform into earth elementals again, and as their transformations are complete, the giant brutes immediately get up and walk away from the switches. The giant stone door comes crashing down, crushing two poor hunters like scorpions trampled by a behemoth. And some unlucky chaps are trapped inside the previous room to battle the two elementals once again, with a much lessened chance of success. The hunters’ screams of fright and death fill the air.

‘Poor souls, they are,’ says Carolyn, hearing the deathly screams behind her.

‘Better worry about what’s ahead now. Look,’ says Iris, ‘More boulder troubles ahead!’

Carolyn looks ahead of her and shrieks, ‘Eek! You’re right!!!’

Indeed, most of the hunters successfully went through the door, but in this room they are not safe yet, not safe at all. The room is somewhat longer than the previous one, with sturdy stone bridges and slopes in it. It looks like a harder work is just ahead. And adding to their horrors, the room is guarded by not two, but three earth elementals: as big as their two previous comrades, and as brutal.

No need commanding the hunters to use their ranged attacks on the earth elementals again. This time Iris shoots three times before she hits bull’s eye (in this case, a rock golem’s eye). Looks like this time the elementals are much tougher to shut down. It takes about three straight shots on each eye to drain their energy.

Robert’s strength is nearly completely restored now, and he is determined to help. Too bad my crossbow is broken when the golem hit me. Now I can only depend on my kiliji and Fire Slash to fight the golems.

On the other hand, Andreas and two other healers are busy dragging the victims to a corner and apply Vitali and Viavitali spells on them. Whenever a victim is dying and beyond help, Andreas makes The Holy Ankh, The Mark of Vadis in front of him and prays for his soul.

‘Vare Jokul’me Tyral!’ Agustina casts a Frost Arrows spell that targets an earth elemental when it tries to block another shot from Baxter from another direction, and two of those magic arrows hit straight into its eye. The earth elemental is not shut down yet, but having diminished his strength the elemental clobbers here and there desperately on a final rampage. One of its blows comes directly towards Desmond. With his Megaton Impact blow, Desmond displays his tremendous prowess by hitting the stone fist directly with his great maul. Amazingly, not one of them is pushed back by the impact of that single blow. The elemental’s right fist and the maul just stay there against each other, unmoving.

The earth elemental immediately delivers another blow with its left hand, but Kyflynn’s Soul Splitting Drill into its eye stops it midway. Sparks emit from its eye, and it changes into its shutdown state – in boulder form.

The rest two elementals are finally subdued by the hunters, whose efforts and drive for survival equal the champions in every way.

‘Ah, so many victims this time too,’ says Hernan with a sigh. ‘And look! There’s an orc down.’

Everyone sees Dar’gum with his dead orc companion on his lap.

‘Lokh’tar. Gush’tar. Kraal jughn nu il shlo drakhl. (My friend. My brother. May death bring you a new beginning).’

Those are Dar’gum’s parting words in ancient orcish, showing his care and honor upon his brethren. There are words in ancient orcish that are used also in ancient elvish, so the elves can somehow understand Dar’gum’s words, and put their hands on their chests with respect. A minotaur shaman offers to cremate the victims, including the dead orc. Dar’gum agrees. And then the shaman performs a quick fiery disintegration spell on a pile of dead hunters including Dargum’s orc friend.

Feeling that the hunters have had enough rest, Hernan speaks up, ‘Thanks, Akh’mal of Thalag’dhega for cremating the fallen. Now we must move the boulders again. Now split into three groups. Robert will lead group one, Sheena, group two, and Kyflynn, group three. And as usual, Lord Adler, please do whatever you will to help them or anything else.’

Adler responds to this butt-licking request with a slight nod, and he readies his Ulcergash for any necessary action. Had the words came from a commoner, Adler would attack him on the spot. It’s I who should be in command, not another, he thinks.

Meanwhile, thanks to the levitators, although their number has been decimated by the deaths and those who were left behind, the hunters only need to steer and push the boulders – it’s still an easier job than to push the boulders outright. But having to maintain contact and concentration is proven to be very, very exhausting for the levitators, even the spell-casting elves.

Suddenly, a spell thread is broken. Sheena’s group, with weaker and fewer levitators than other two groups only depends on Iris to maintain control of the boulder. Now that the contact from Iris is broken, the boulder shifts out of control, and stumbles over the bridge where it was being pushed. A hunter gets knocked over by the boulder, falls on the ground floor below, and the boulder falls on him.

‘GYAAAAH!!!!’ It’s too late. It all happened so quickly. Iris is thunderstruck, and falls on her knees. Tears begin to roll from her eyes.

‘Oh, no… it’s… it’s my fault… I was… too tired…,’ says Iris in a broken tone.

‘Stop! Stop at once!’ says Hernan as soon as he sees that incident. The hunters stop pushing at once. Then Hernan and Carolyn move towards Iris and try to cheer Iris up.

‘Actually it’s my fault,’ says Hernan. ‘It was not wise to split you up into three groups like this. I should’ve made a more creative plan, so this wouldn’t have to happen. So, I’ll let Lord Adler supervise from now on.’

‘Oh, no, Don Hernan, please don’t,’ Carolyn interrupts. ‘We’d rather let you supervise than that big-headed baron moron.’

‘It’s viscount, my dear.’

‘Whatever. We are too exhausted, and we can’t expect anybody to give a better advice than this one. Even if “the miracle thinker” Rael’charon is here now, I doubt he can generate better ideas.’

‘Yes… please lead us,’ says Iris.

‘Thank you. And you,’ Hernan turns to Iris, ‘Cheer up and get a rest. Success and failure are in our hands, not just you alone.’

Hernan then turns towards the hunters and yells, ‘People! Let’s get this moving! Now that was my fault, so if anybody wants revenge for that poor soul you can settle it with me now! If not, please excuse me because I need to help pushing this boulder!’ He points at the fallen over boulder and moves towards it. Almost at once, Robert walks weakly towards the boulder, followed by his party members and all other champions including Dar’gum, except Adler.

And for the first time in his life Robert seems doesn’t mind being side-by-side with an orc. The pushes and levitations resume, and now the hunters can steer the boulders more easily because the three groups merge into two groups and move the boulders two by two. After about two hours of trial-and-errors, finally the three boulders are set near the floor switches.

Robert raises his shaky hand, and presses his lips on his mother’s ring on his left little finger – his habit that gives him a psychological effect that prevents him to rush into orcs head-on and keeps his head cool. He thinks again about his mother, father, sister…

And Robert is right. There is an orc among the newly incoming group, and also a blonde, long-haired knight wearing full plate armor and wielding a great Flamberge sword.

Hernan recognizes the knight and bows to him, saying, ‘Viscount Adler von Bachmann. How glad I am to have you among us. I’m Don Hernan y Parvaez Besso Trinidad, loyal aide for our King Jaime of Escudia, at your service.’

‘And I to you, Don Hernan. You see, we passed the wind tunnels and came here quickly, thanks to the directions from a peasant sorceress called Genilda and a red-haired, silly-looking man whom I thought I saw somewhere before. So what do we have here?’ says Adler in a commanding tone.

‘We’re trying to move the boulders here to activate the switches which will open the door to the exit. We can use some more help, though,’ says Hernan. Then, seeing the slightly wounded orc, he says, ‘Who is this orc? He seems abnormally strong.’

Adler glances at the orc quickly without turning his head to the orc, then answers, ‘Don’t you ever heard of him? He is Dar’gum the Relentless, warchief of The Iron Mount Tribe in Gremion, champion of the orcs. I fought him in the Wind Tunnels, and now his lowly life is in my mercy.’

Hernan only stares at Adler observantly, thinking. This man is not only proud and arrogant. He likes to subdue and control others, even a chieftain or a king! The King of Borgia, for instance, is within his influence. I must be extra careful with him. No wonder he has no friends!

Bragl Dar’gum The Relentless has a big, muscly, massive body like Desmond’s. His skin is green just like orcs’ in general, with his boar-like face and straight large tusks protruding from his lower mouth. He has a Mohawk-styled auburn hair, that is rather odd for orcs in general, but it suits him real perfectly, adding to his real tough look. But judging by the expression on his face, instead of being brutal and ‘relentless’, his face somewhat shows wisdom and tenacity. In spite of all his massive appearance, he seems to have received a sound beating. With a swollen eye, and newly made blade wounds all over his body that proves that Adler really kicked his butt. He is wielding a giant double-blade axe with a spear between the axe blades on his back. This impressive weapon is named il Khâtl J’nadh in Ancient Elvish, meaning J’nadh’s Decapitator. The axe once used by a great orcish warchief, Bragl J’nadh to conquer half of Barc’vadon and establish the orcish realm of Gremion 200 years ago. But later, Bragl J’nadh was decapitated in his sleep by his offspring, Bragl Uvak’ghul. What an ironic end for a king, to die by his own weapon and his own son!

Then, turning to Dar’gum, Adler ‘commands’ again, ‘Dar’gum! Rally your comrades and get them ready to push the boulder over there on my mark! That includes you too, elf guides!’

Dar’gum only answers with a grunt and walks towards the boulder with his fellow orcs and other hunters in Adler’s contingent. While the supposedly ‘real’ real leaders of the group, the noble-looking elf guide and the female dark elf guide follow grudgingly behind Dar’gum.

‘HALT!’ Hernan signals Sheena’s team to stop pushing. Now both boulders are exactly near the switches with runes. Ideas of timing and ‘organized power management’ keep running in Hernan’s mind. Okay, now the next step.

‘Desmond, take half of your team to push the first boulder.’ And when about equal number of men on each team is on its position, Hernan yells again, ‘Levitate… and PUSH!’

The hunters push the boulders and drive them until they perfectly fit on the rune switch. Then the magicians release their levitation tractor beams, and the boulders drop at once with a thundering crash, pushing the switch to the bottom. And then a rumbling sound comes, and the stone door to the exit is slowly lifted up.

And then Hernan sees threads of light begin to crawl on the boulders like glowing worms, from the bottom to the top. He reacts upon that sight.

‘Pirate girl’s right! The elementals are RECHARGING! To the exit, quick!’

Robert, supported by Andreas, Carolyn and Iris walks into the next room, followed by other hunters and champions. They all go hastily, jostling against each other at the doorway. Then the recharging process of the boulders is complete, now the threads of light are glowing all over the boulders. The boulders begin to transform into earth elementals again, and as their transformations are complete, the giant brutes immediately get up and walk away from the switches. The giant stone door comes crashing down, crushing two poor hunters like scorpions trampled by a behemoth. And some unlucky chaps are trapped inside the previous room to battle the two elementals once again, with a much lessened chance of success. The hunters’ screams of fright and death fill the air.

‘Poor souls, they are,’ says Carolyn, hearing the deathly screams behind her.

--------------------
Navigation:
Previous Page
Next Page

--------------------
A support permalink to:
Castle of Fantasies
http://fantasy-image-gallery.blogspot.com

Aksarayana Fantasy E-Magazine
http://www.aksarayana.com


3.1.7.4. Boulder Trouble - Part Two

A Stone Golem. Temporary Reference Picture from
The Soulcalibur Wiki (http://soulcalibur.wikia.com/wiki/Golem)
To find out more about golems, please click Wikipedia here.

There is only one champion among the dark side, the dark-skinned lady only wearing a half-breastplate and a dancing skirt wielding two scimitars, and Robert can’t mistake her with somebody else as he says, ‘Sheena Mekh’ta! And the stooges, Baxter and Ellephar!’

Andreas replies with a mixture of shock and confusion, ‘Defilers of Eil’thanath! We found them at last! Now we must question them whether they’ve sold the greaves or…’

Robert is puzzled by Andreas’ reaction, ‘Father Andreas! They’ve sold it, you say? How’d you know it?’

Andreas scratches his forehead with an unintelligible grin, ‘Er… eh, nay, nay! I was just… assumed, that’s all.’

‘That’s odd,’ says Robert with a look of distrust on his face. ‘Normally you’d say, “Let’s get it from them”, right?’

And for the first time since their entrance into Enia’s Sanctum, Andreas loses his temper. ‘Just drop it, please! Forgive this old slippery tongue. For once, just be flexible, Robert! For Vadis’ sake!’

‘All right, all right. We’ll ask Sheena later if we have a chance, now we have to…’

THUD!

Something hits Robert squarely on his back, hard. Robert is thrown forward. Apparently an earth elemental clobbered his giant-club hands aimlessly just to counter the attacking hunters, and it happened to be near Robert.

‘ROBEEEERT!!’ Iris and Carolyn shriek together.

Iris and Carolyn rush to Robert’s side, but they are engaged by a hobgoblin*) hunter and a minotaur**) shaman.

Footnote:

(* Hobgoblin: The improved, superior evolution from common goblins. Their height is similar to humans, they’re twice as smart as goblins. They have large ears but not pointy, and their skins are blue, not like the green goblins.

(** Minotaur: Demi-humans with bulls’ heads as their heads.

‘Just where do you think you’re going, ladies?’ the minotaur shaman taunts.

‘Mewillkillya!’ says the hobgoblin, throwing his spear towards Iris. But Carolyn deflects it away with her trident Esthagar. Lavennia smiles thankfully at Carolyn and attacks them at once with her elven dagger.

While his partners are busy with their opponents, Andreas manages to sneak past them and tends to Robert. The white-haired swordsman lies face-down on the floor. He is still alive, although he’s unconscious from the massive blow that must’ve hurt his insides. Robert’s crossbow that hangs on Rob’s back is broken in splinters – the weapon served its purpose for the last time as a shield for its master. Had the blow hit Robert directly, he would be dead for sure. Lots of blood came out from his mouth, making a bloody puddle on the floor. Andreas sighs in guilt.

He’s badly hurt. It’s my fault, I should’ve told him about Kyflynn’s greaves. I’m sorry, Rob. Viavitali!

With his thought only, Andreas casts Great Heal on Robert, putting one hand on Robert’s back and hold his Staff of Gloria Vadis with the floating orb on it spinning and shining to generate holy energy. His hands glow white. Robert’s life is saved, his inside injuries are healed slowly and supernaturally. Andreas is trying to maintain his spell, while a few dark hunters see this as an opportunity and immediately attack Andreas and Robert. But before their weapons even touch them, they can only see their weapons fly away or break. And as they look up to see their attacker, they are horrified at a sight of a body so large and massive of a fighter, Desmond the Berserker.

Desmond holds his great maul high with one hand and roars, ‘ATTACK THE ELEMENTALS FIRST! REMEMBER THE CLUE!’

The deafening roar makes the fighting hunters pause for a moment, and some are still fighting the losing battle against the earth elementals. Hernan is having difficulties to defeat an elemental even with his multi-thrust air-to-ground move, Shears of the Falling Rain. Seeing the hunters stop fighting with each other, he grabs this opportunity by saying, ‘Their eyes are the same as the air elementals’! Shoot their eyes!’

Several hunters immediately use their ranged attacks and spells with the elementals’ eyes as their targets. Lavennia Iris is the first to hit an earth elemental’s eye with her Heartseeker, a wind-enchanted arrow shot. Sparks of red electric bolts come out from the elemental’s eye, and the earth elemental stumbles with a roar. Instead of being shattered into pieces, the stony brute curls itself up and hides its head into its body. And then it curls up to form a big, square boulder and stays there on the spot where it fell.

The second earth elemental is hard to finish. Carolyn always misses the target with her Polyvoltarus (Lightning Rain) spell and the elemental, realizing that its weakness is known, covers its eye with its left hand and keep clobbering with the right one. And this makes the other hunters can’t shoot at the target too.

At this time of crisis, a brave soul comes forth. It’s Desmond, and despite of his bulky body, he climbs on the stone-golem-like elemental to its head. The elemental can hardly feel anything on its body of solid stone, but it keeps moving and swinging to shake off anything crawling on its body. Desmond works hard to maintain his grip, and after a slip and a bump, he finally manages to reach its head. Standing on the constantly moving monster, Desmond takes out his great maul from his back, and immediately swings it with all his might on the eye. The eye emits red sparks too and like its ‘room mate’, the earth elemental stumbles and curls itself into a huge, square boulder. Desmond rolls over to avoid being plummeted by the giant boulder. Kyflynn walks towards his partner Desmond and pats his back, and Desmond replies with a smile. But his smile would be fuller if Agustina also comes to him and gives her support.

Agustina just stands far from her partners and observe her surroundings. The door is still closed. Something catches her sight, and she just walks to a corner without telling the others first. Then she steps on a very large tile which seems different than other tiles around it. It has a rune carved on it. The tile doesn’t move at all, but Agustina immediately comes out with a conclusion. Then she talks softly to Hernan, the nearest to her, ‘There’s a switch here. Maybe it will open the door.’

‘Really?’ says Hernan. ‘Let’s try pressing it then.’

‘It won’t come down. I’ve tried it,’ says Agustina.

‘Ah, pity. Of course your pretty legs won’t be enough to press it,’ says Hernan playfully. Agustina immediately turns her head and leaves him in disgust.

‘Hey, you, big guy,’ Hernan turns to Desmond, and then to some other hunters, ‘and all gentlemen in this room, will you please help me? My frosty girl here found a big switch, a large rune-carved tile, and maybe if we all step on it, it will come down and open the door to the exit. And please, stop fighting or we will be short of manpower and we’ll all die.’

Agustina grunts again in disgust. Frosty girl, he said? I’ll make a frosty snowman of him anytime! Who does he think he is?

Suddenly a hunter yells, ‘Oy, mates! I think there’s a switch here too!’

‘Good,’ says Hernan, in a bossy tone. ‘Then we must split into two groups and step on them at the same time. Oh yeah, check if any other switches are around.’

‘Wait, Mr. Hernan – I presume?’ says Sheena, raising her hand and coming forward. Baxter and Ellephar are eyeing Kyflynn, Agustina and Desmond vengefully, but they don’t dare to attack them frontally because they are no match for the hunters who stole their prize, The Mythril Greaves.

‘Yes, my dear? What’s in your mind?’ says Hernan.

Sheena says, ‘If we all step on the switches, if the door opens then who will go into the next room? I mean, assuming that we have to keep pressing the switches to keep the door open, right?’

‘Ah, yes. You got a point there.’

‘Now, let’s see. There are two boulders here. They are here for a reason, right? Let’s just move the boulders to the top of the switches. Their weights will surely be sufficient to press the switches fully. That’ll give us time to get into the next room before the boulders transform into earth elementals again. I mean, you see the runes on the switches? I think they’ll recharge the boulders with magical energy, and you’ll know what will happen next.’

As Sheena finishes her explanation, she hears someone clapping hands at a corner. It’s Kyflynn saying, ‘Bravo! What a thorough analysis. I know I was right about you. If you gave up being a pirate, you would make for an admiral!’

‘Well, thank you, Mr. Kyflynn,’ says Sheena. ‘Too bad I can’t say the same about you, though. By the way, you and I have a score to settle, and we’ll settle that once and for all after we get out from these traps.’

Kyflynn just snorts with a malevolent smile. He just answers lightly, ‘Yeah, why not?’

Just then Hernan is busy giving further instructions.

‘… And you mages use your levitating spell on the boulders to make them push easier! Okay! On your places, now!’

The hunters are split into two groups. As each group is now gathering near each boulder, Hernan who acts as supervisor yells again, ‘Ready! Get set! PUSH!’

The hunters begin pushing the boulders together. The light side and the dark side, side by side. Thanks to Desmond and Hernan’s initiative, making them all cooperate for their own survival. Even the dumb, brutal Cyclops also gives a big help for his group.

‘Amplifor Eleviant!’

Carolyn, Agustina, Iris and other mages cast Levitation spell on both boulders. Their combined, amplified spell can only lift the boulders a bit from the ground, but it makes the pushers’ work considerably lighter. Then, slowly but surely, the first group led by Desmond reaches the switch first.

The second group led by Sheena apparently takes a longer, trickier route than the first group. Hernan the supervisor sees this and yells, ‘First group! Hold it! Don’t push it into the switch yet! Help the second group push theirs until they’re one step away from the switch! Then go back and push the switches in unison!’

Greatly fatigued, the first group stops levitating and pushing. They immediately go towards the second group and give their assistance, with Baxter, Ellephar and several more hunters yelling continuously, ‘Heave, ho!’

Meanwhile, Andreas, now assisted by Chiel the Micha has completed his Great Heal magical process on Robert and Robert comes into consciousness again. Robert tries to get up, but he is still too weak and his sight is blurry, and he falls on the floor. The first person that comes into Robert’s sight is Andreas.

Robert tries to talk, ‘Unnnh… father… thank…’

Chiel lets out a ‘Chi, chi!’ happily and rubs itself against Robert’s cheek, while Andreas answers Robert calmly, ‘Hush, now. You have to gather your strength first. We must get out from this room when Hernan gives the signal.’

Robert is about to talk again when he hears footsteps from the rune room. He notices one of them, and then he frowns and talks very feebly, ‘Orc… must… destroy…’

‘Calm down, Robert! You must gather your strength! We can deal with him later! Don’t let your personal vendetta destroy you instead!’


Navigation:

Previous Post

Next Post

--------------

Sponsor Message:

Happy New Year 2012! From all of us in FireHeart - Vadis Productions. Peace be on earth! Come forth, fulfill your destiny!

Monday, December 26, 2011

MonsterBane 8: Final Battle!



Made with Strip Generator (stripgenerator.com)
Well, this is my way to show the current MonsterBane! Roster.

Meet the new guys:
- Vordy the Dark Lord
- Skelly the Skeleton
- New Hero: Rob (a.k.a. He-Man?)

And of course, the guest of honor: Zoltar!

Well, we REALLY have the RPG PC Game for MonsterBane: FireHeart Paladins EX! Get it today in www.fireheart.tk

---------------
Direct Image Link:
http://s3.amazonaws.com/stripgenerator/strip/59/73/06/00/00/full.png

Saturday, December 24, 2011

David and Leigh Eddings - The Younger Gods (Book 4 of the Dreamers) Review



The Younger Gods (The Dreamers, #4)The Younger Gods by David Eddings

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Well, I beg to differ.



"The Gods Must Be Crazy".

It's an obvious notion Vadis, the Pilgrim From Everna got while exploring the nameless World of the Dreamers. And that notion escalated to a climax in this final episode of The Dreamers Saga.



In this last work, the late David Eddings tried so hard to bring out the "climax of all climaxes". While altogether sliced the story between lots of main characters' point-of-views and balancing between dialogue, narration (story) and action.



The result is, the Pilgrim is again impressed by the brilliant work of a true Fantasy Pro as follows:



- Brilliant strategies, giving a more "natural" touch in this "god-loaded" story.

From fort-building to outsmarting enemies and - a goddess in particular.



- Fantastic and godly magicks that seem to fit in place, representing the main elements of nature. Remember the episodes: 1-Volcano (Earth-Fire), 2-Flood (Water), 3-Tornado (Wind-Blue Fire) and 4-Blizzard (Ice).



-Individual brilliance of the commanders and especially the "Dream Team": Longbow, Keselo, Rabbit and Omago.

If you choose to ignore Omago from page one, get ready for a surprise. A bit predictable, yet still shocking.

All in all, the characters are likable with sufficient descriptions of their interesting personalities, traits and abilities.



In spite of that, the Pilgrim stumbled on several things. Observant readers, be warned.



- Too many reminders and discussions about the exploits in past episodes and chapters, in dialogues and narrations alike.



- Except for the blizzard and a few others, on many occasions the Pilgrim was left with "reports" about battles and such. Maybe it's to avoid prolonged narrations about such "minor events". Yet the Pilgrim wished he "join" the characters in action in the spur of the moment instead of "hearing" them TALK about it. The danger, the suspense...



- The involvement of so many mighty gods and dreamers, though with limitations still made things seem so easy.

Especially, for instance, "Father Time". He made the daring sneak into the nest of the Vlagh like a walk in the park.

Well, let's just assume that the gods helped make the impossible possible. Whenever the mortals meet a dead end, the gods would walk in and break the wall.



Apart from the setbacks, the Pilgrim saw (or read) some very interesting things:



- Aracia's madness maybe a subject of scrutiny here - the base problem, the elder gods' main weakness. Yet, the Pilgrim can't help feeling sorry for her. Well, even Greek, Norse and mythological gods have their flaws too.



- The fission between "Big Me" and "Little Me" is another fascinating thing. They shared one body at first, so the logical split should be one in body, one in spirit. Well, where logics can't explain, as long as it's in realms of fantasy we'll just assume it as the work of the almighty.



- As explained in the ending solution, the human counterparts, especially the "mercenaries" didn't retain the memory of their "tour of profit" in Dhrall. They only became more mature, wise and knowledgeable without knowing how.

That's good because, if their memory was intact, we can predict what happen next: The Trogs, Malavis and Maags would unite and invade Dhrall, bringing their gods with them. "You cheated! Give us our gold back!" They'd say.

The Pilgrim must agree that he found the time-manipulating ending is logically hard to believe. Some said that right out: it's plain stupid.



- Among the notable new characters is Alcevan, the crafty little priestess. If only she wasn't at all "buggy", she would be a perfect mate for Rabbit.



All in all, this last work of David Eddings is worthy of appreciation and regarded as "The Treasured One", if not for entertainment. Just consider the condition Eddings was in when he wrote this novel and the magnitude and flair of his works in his prime.



Farewell, David and Leigh. We'll always remember you and learn from your legacy.



Review by: The Pilgrim of Everna

As written in: http://fireheart-vadis.blogspot.com/2011...



View all my reviews

The four elder gods Dahlaine, Zelana, Aracia, and Veltan have ruled over Dhrall for eons. Every 25,000 years, the siblings pass on their duties to a quartet of young gods so that they can rest. But as the next changing of the gods approaches, the elder gods are faced with a potential catastrophe: an enemy has arisen from the vast wasteland in the center of Dhrall and is bent on conquering the entire realm and using all its inhabitants as nourishment for its minions. The Vlagh, as it is called, is a wellspring of evil, continually birthing nightmarish insectoid monstrosities to make up her army. But as the final battle looms closer, one of the elder gods begins losing her sanity. As the gods desperately search for ways to stop the Vlagh -- and rein in their unstable sibling -- heroes turn up in the unlikeliest places.



A word of warning: Fantasy fans who are looking for a truly epic fantasy saga -- like Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth or Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time -- will not find it here. Unlike the Eddings' classic Belgariad series (Pawn of Prophecy, Queen of Sorcery, et al.), the Dreamers tetralogy is decidedly light, featuring a more intimate cast of characters, all-age-encompassing themes, and not overly complex plot threads. That said, hard-core Eddings fans should thoroughly enjoy the husband-and-wife writing duo's world of Dhrall, where the godly couple Ara and Omago are arguably extensions of the authors themselves. Paul Goat Allen(less)

Mass Market Paperback, 432 pages
Published March 1st 2007 by Warner Books (first published 2006)
ISBN 0446613320 (ISBN13: 9780446613323)
edition language: English

Friday, December 23, 2011

Angry Birds Videos



Source: http://youtu.be/Tjl9tg9smgc

Uploaded by on Jul 20, 2011

Rovio proudly presents: Angry Birds in Summer Pignic! Who can save the eggs from the trickiest of pigs? You guessed right, it's everyone's favorite bird!






Angry Birds & the Mighty Eagle


Big and exciting things are happening in the Angry Birds world! The enigmatic Mighty Eagle is lurking in the shadows, waiting to make his debut in an Angry Birds update later this Fall.

Mighty Eagle will help you skip the toughest obstacles, but there's a limit: you can only use the aid of Mighty Eagle to pass a level once per hour. In other words, when you pass a level with Mighty Eagle, you need to wait an hour to use him again to pass another level.

Is that all? Far from it! Mighty Eagle includes all new gameplay goals and achievements! In each level that you already cleared using the regular birds, you can smash away freely and try to fill up the destruction gauge! If you want to smash your way through every level leaving nothing behind, you have every incentive to do so!

http://www.angrybirds.com

Get Angry Birds Seasons:

- Download for iPhone or iPod touch http://bit.ly/ni2I2Q
- Download for Android http://www.amazon.com/Rovio-Mobile-Angry-Seasons-Ad-Free/dp/B004SBX112
- Download for iPad ‪http://bit.ly/oc710R

- Download for Symbian^3: ‪http://bit.ly/hzYCAr
- Download for Palm WebOS: ‪http://bit.ly/fG9vXC

Get the original Angry Birds:


- Get the iPhone version from ‪http://bit.ly/r3KTGX
- Get the Nokia version from ‪http://nokia.angrybirds.com
- Get the Palm OS version from ‪http://palm.angrybirds.com
- Get Angry Birds for Android from ‪http://www.getjar.com/mobile/43600/angry-birds/



Get Angry Birds Rio:


- Get the iPhone version from ‪http://bit.ly/mXzGwA
- Get the iPad version from ‪http://bit.ly/qmINtP

Become a Facebook fan: http://facebook.angrybirds.com
Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.angrybirds.com
Buy Angry Birds merchandise: http://shop.angrybirds.com

[GALAXY Note] Angry Birds Winter Wonderland



Source: http://youtu.be/pK8tiUBbQAE

Well, it's FireHeart's way to say "Merry Christmas 2011 & Happy New Year 2012" for now!
More greedings later on!

Uploaded by on Dec 4, 2011

Would you like to have a "Chirpy" Christmas with all the best Samsung technology in your hands? Yes? Welcome to the wonderful wintery world of the Samsung Angry Birds Christmas Nest!

Here you will find all your favourite Angry Birds characters playing in a world and in a way that you have never seen before. Yes, that's right, a brand new Angry Birds Advent Challenge which will get you "chirping" with delight and send your high scores "soaring" to the top of the tree.

And its been created just for you as a special Christmas bonus.

You will also be able to send your favourite Angry Birds "frequent flyers" a super special Christmas "Tweeting" that will have them "owling" with laughter!

Find more exciting news and updates on the official Samsung Mobile Facebook Page (http://www.facebook.com/SamsungMobile) and on the Winter Wonderland (http://note.angrybirds.com).

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Corsair

A female corsair, in FireHeart Saga is Sheena Mekh'ta from Meshallah
Image borrowed from: CreativeUncut.com

Corsair

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Source for updates in Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corsair
Cossacks of Azov boarding the Turkish corsairs.

Corsairs (French: corsaire) were privateers, authorized to conduct raids on shipping of a nation at war with France, on behalf of the French Crown. Seized vessels and cargo were sold at auction, with the corsair captain entitled to a portion of the proceeds. Although not French Navy personnel, corsairs were considered legitimate combatants in France (and allied nations), provided the commanding officer of the vessel was in possession of a valid Letter of Marque (fr. Lettre de Marque or Lettre de Course), and the officers and crew conducted themselves according to contemporary admiralty law. By acting on behalf of the French Crown, if captured by the enemy, they could claim treatment as prisoners of war, instead of being considered pirates. Because corsairs gained a swashbuckling reputation, the word "corsair" is also used generically as a more romantic or flamboyant way of referring to privateers, or even to pirates. The barbary pirates of North Africa as well as Ottomans were sometimes called "Turkish corsairs".

Contents

[hide]

[edit] Etymology

Statue of the corsair Robert Surcouf

The word "corsair" comes directly from the French word corsaire, itself borrowed from the Italian corsaro. This derives from the Latin cursus, meaning "course" (as in journey or expedition).[1][2] The French word corsaire may also come as a mispronunciation of the Arabic word "corsan", yet the term pirate had been in use in French since the Middle Ages.[3]

[edit] History

The corsairs were privateers working for the King of France attacking the ships of France’s enemies. In France they did not need to fear punishment for piracy—being hanged—as they were granted a licence as combatants, the Lettre de Marque or Lettre de Course, a document which legitimised their actions to the French justice system and which they hoped gave them the status of a war prisoner in case they were ever captured.

The corsair was ordered to attack only the ships of enemy countries, theoretically respecting "neutrals" and his own nation's ships. If he did not respect this rule, he was then treated as a pirate and hanged. The corsairs' activities also provided the King with revenue as the licence required them to hand over a part of their booty to the King.

In common with privateers of other nationalities, however, they were often considered pirates by their foreign opponents, and could be hanged as pirates if captured by the foreigners they preyed on.

The "corsair" activities started in the Middle Ages the main goals really being to compensate for the economic problems in war periods; and the ship owners did not accept that the war was an obstacle to their trade. Jean de Châtillon, who was a bishop, in 1144 gave the town of Saint-Malo the status of rights of asylum which encouraged all manner of thieves and rogues to move there. Their motto was "Neither Breton, nor French, but from Saint-Malo am I!". Saint-Malo however, progressed and in 1308 the town was made into a free commune to encourage the commercial activities of craftsmen as well as merchants and ship owners. This did not really work out and later in 1395 the town became a free port. This situation continued until 1688.

Between the early 1500s and 1713 when the signing of the treaty of Utrecht effectively put an end to the French corsair raids in the Caribbean, the Guerre de Course, as the French called it, took a huge toll on the Spanish Treasure Fleet's efforts to ship the gold and silver from Peru to Santo Domingo and La Havana and then on to Spain. During this period, there was a very intense drive to improve, not only the speed of the ships involved in this contest, but also their maneuverability and ability to sail into the wind (the close haul). It was a matter of life or death, and immense wealth was at stake. Jean d'Ango, father and son, came to be among the wealthiest and most influential men in France. Giovanni da Verrazano (of Verrazano-Narrows fame) and Jean Fleury are among the unsung heroes of this epic saga about which so little has been written.

It is not a coincidence that during this brief span of 200 years, almost all the modern sail configurations were developed; more than in the 2000 years before and 300 years since. We see the spritsail (maneuvre) come and go, the topsails appear (speed), and the gaff rig (both) evolves from the voile au tiers dear to the corsairs. Flying jibs (very close reach) start to fill in the spaces between the masts and will eventually consolidate into the great Genovese sail. The Bermuda sail makes its appearance and with it the fore and aft rig is poised to definitively take over from the traditional square rigs. Greater speed and nimble handling are the key to surviving the bitter combats that occurred between Cartagena on the Spanish Main and the great Caribbean islands of Hispaniola in the beginning and later Cuba.

The activities of the corsairs were so profitable that the Minister of the Navy used this in his strategy to make money. Moreover, the King used to take one quarter and even one third of the booty. The corsairs' activities weakened France's enemies; indeed, the English trade losses were very important from 1688 until 1717.

The relationship between the corsairs and the State changed depending on who was leader. The rules became stricter and State control more and more present. At the end of the 18th century, the "course" started to decline until its legal death in 1856. The "course" disappeared in France with the Empire in 1815, but was officially ended only in 1856 during a meeting in Paris, where every major nation except Spain, Mexico and United States was present during the Congress of Vienna.

[edit] Famous corsairs

[edit] Female corsairs

In the 14th century Jeanne de Montfort, nicknamed "The Flame", sailed in the English Channel plundering French ships, fighting with the English for Brittany's independence. She played an important role in the Battle of Morlaix. Another woman, Jeanne de Clisson, was known as "The Lioness of Brittany".

[edit] Male corsairs

[edit] Jean-François Roberval

Jean-François de La Roque de Roberval (c. 1500–1560) was a French nobleman and adventurer who, through his friendship with King Francis, became the first Lieutenant General of New France. As a corsair, he attacked towns and shipping throughout the Spanish Main, from Cuba to Colombia. He died a Huguenot martyr.

Jean-François Roberval (c. 1500- 1560) was a lifelong friend of King Francis. When his appointment as the first Lieutenant General of New France did not work out, he attempted to pay off his debts through privateering. The Spanish Caribbean was his main target, since at that time France and Spain were at war. Known to the Spanish as Roberto Baal,[4] in 1543 he sacked Rancherias and Santa Marta, followed by an attack in 1544 on Cartagena de Indias.[5] In 1546, ships under his command attacked Baracoa and Havana. The next year, he retired from pirating.

[edit] René Duguay-Trouin

René Duguay-Trouin was born in Saint-Malo in 1673, and the son of a rich ship owner took a fleet of 64 ships and was honoured in 1709 for capturing more than 300 merchant ships and 20 warships. He had a brilliant privateering and naval career and eventually became "Lieutenant-General of the Naval Armies of the King", i.e., admiral, (French:Lieutenant-Général des armées navales du roi), and a Commander in the Order of Saint-Louis. He died peacefully in 1736.

[edit] Robert Surcouf

Robert Surcouf was the last and best known corsair of Saint-Malo. Born there in 1773, his father was a ship owner and his mother the daughter of a captain. Ship's boy at 13 and corsair captain at 22 years old, and then — very much against his licence — for several years attacked ships including those of the French East India Company, or Compagnie Française des Indes. During the French Revolution, the convention government disapproved of lettres de course, so Surcouf operated at great personal risk as a pirate against British shipping to India. Surcouf was so successful that he became a popular celebrity in France. After a brief early retirement Surcouf again operated against shipping to the Indies. Surcouf became a ship owner himself and died in Saint-Malo in 1827. There is a statue of him on public display.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Dictionnaire de L'Académie Française, 9e edition en ligne
  2. ^ http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=corsair
  3. ^ Template:Ouvrage
  4. ^ Gerassi-Navarro, Nina (1999) Pirate Novels: Fictions of Nation Building in Spanish America Duke University Press, Durham, p. 22, discussing real pirates;
  5. ^ Lane, Kris E. (1998). Pillaging the Empire: Piracy in the Americas, 1500-1750. Armonk: M.E. Sharpe. ISBN 0765602571.

[edit] See also

[edit] Weblinks

vadisworld - my way, my world

FireHeart Blog List

Vadis' Technorati Favourites

Pyr Publishing

Pat's Fantasy Hotlist

Sources and Studies Lookup

Online Reference
Dictionary, Encyclopedia & more
Word:
Look in: Dictionary & thesaurus
Computing Dictionary
Medical Dictionary
Legal Dictionary
Financial Dictionary
Acronyms
Idioms
Wikipedia Encyclopedia
Columbia Encyclopedia
by:

FireHeart Most Wanted!