2012-11-05

Originally published at a denizen's entertainment. You can comment here or there.

Level 29: "You feel a little lucky"

Calmer? Not so busy be this area. Only a hill giant and a human druid for evil in the area.

The giant is downed easily, even with a giant spider at her back. The druid however, insists on fighting Marash among the columns of a large hall, summoning animals to eir aid.

She does her best to force a path to the druid direct, focusing on the major threat here.

Druid beaten down, focus shifted to the next-greatest threat - the giant tick that smokes and burns with heat in its attack.

Too much on all sides. She forces her way back into the corridor she emerged from, hoping to keep each summoned animal focused on her long enough to put down, rather than the carousel she'd been facing out there.

It worked well enough. With the druid's allies down Marash is free to roam most of the area with little incident.

Wereworms, werewolves and now werebears? Morgoth has been up to something, clearly.

Khîm, Son of Mîm and Angamaitë of Umbar. Some 'luck'. Time to leave.

Level 30: "This seems a quiet, peaceful place"

Looks like any other level. Quasit just south, Marash protects herself from evil and steps out to squash it.

Something in the darkness breathing nexus at her, making the quasit scream in collateral. Blessing herself, calling upon the Phial's light, there is a vortex of nexus in the chamber. Not evil. Must remember things that aren't evil can still be dangerous.

Frost bolts down a killer red beetle for convenience, don't damage the vortex much. It's immune to having it's life drained... vortices don't live. Acid bolt from her gauntlets, not much either. Crossbow bolts finish the job, one more vortex destroyed.

Her prize is a battle axe she hasn't room for. Up north she destroys a giant white ant, a green naga and a pseudodragon to secure a wand of fire bolts, with which she hopes to replace her frost bolt wand after it is used up. And now there is a group of gnome mages awaiting her.

A gnome summoned blink dogs. Perhaps Marash has not thought this rampage through.

All fun and games, waiting for a break in the bouncing to hit the nearest blink dog and slowly whittle them down, until eventually one of the gnomes summoned Angamaite of Umber to the fray. Time to start thinking exits.

Marash is blinded by a surge of power from her wand of wonder; she hears the dungeon collapsing around her but is herself untouched

Wand of Wonder time. She activates it and is instantly blinded by a surge of power, the sounds of the earth twisting and buckling around her. When her eyes clear, she sees she is now encased in solid rock. The entire surrounding area has been reshaped by the wand's power. No sign of any foe.

The walls have collapsed around her. Marash is trapped in a pocket of air barely larger than herself.

Marash at last emerges from the large circle of shattered terrain she has inadvertently created

No desire for sticking around, she uses her last scroll of identify to verify that she has no interest in the axe from earlier, grabs the fire bolt wand and looks for a way down. Surprisingly elusive, that.

Originally published at a denizen's entertainment. You can comment here or there.

A Piece of Ground by Helen Nielsen

Originally published 1957 in Manhunt; this edition 1995

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Collected in: Hard-Boiled: An Anthology of American Crime Stories (ed. Bill Pronzini & Jack Adrian)

 

M (not recommended 15 years and under, no legal restriction)

(D, V)

Drug Use {G} {alcohol}

Violence {M}

 

Representations

Gender:

One woman as major character, implicitly presumed sex worker by the male lead; malevolent manipulator along with her partner in crime. Off-screen, the patient, hopeful wife.

Sex:

Heterosexuality only.

Race & Ethnicity:

Unmarked presumed white US only.

Disability, Physical Diversity and Health:

No mention

 

Awards

None found

 

Notes

Dreaded doing this one because I remembered it being so depressing the first time around. Makes me feel sick with upset for the protagonist being so taken advantage of.

Originally published at a denizen's entertainment. You can comment here or there.

The Merry, Merry Christmas by Evan Hunter

Originally published 1957 in Manhunt; this edition 1995

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Collected in: Hard-Boiled: An Anthology of American Crime Stories (ed. Bill Pronzini & Jack Adrian)

 

M

Not recommended for persons under 15 years of age, but no legal restrictions

(D, L, V)

Drug Use {PG} {alcohol}

Coarse Language {M} {homophobic and misogynistic slurs used as calculated taunts}

Violence {M}

 

Representations

Gender:

No women present. Stereotyped aggressive protectiveness of men toward the good name of their mothers used as a weapon.

Sex:

One character accuses another of being queer in a hostile, suspicious response unwanted generosity. Homophobia used as tool of provocation and to express dislike.

Race & Ethnicity:

No mention; characters apparently white + US citizens.

Disability, Physical Diversity and Health:

Victim dismissed by witness, murderer, and officer on the scene as a nut.

 

Awards

None found.

 

Notes

Another story of the impersonal injustice of violence, found it more strikingly crafted than many of the others. An apparently perfect murder committed motivated by irritation with the victim, with speech used as the weapon as much as any physical violence.

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aesmael

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