Vertical Lines.

Vertical lines represent strength, action, masculinity, power, aggression, courage, danger, brutality, severity, structure, order, and dominance. The meaning of  a vertical line is emphasized when in combination a horizontal line.

Horizontal lines.

Horizontal lines represents rest, relaxation, the floor, stability, security, silence, tranquillity, stillness, peace, weakness, femininity, calm and serenity.

Diagonal Lines.

Diagonal Lines represent  movement, violence, energy and action.

Curved Lines.

Curved Lines represent movement, rhythm, femininity, happiness, generosity and pleasure

Sharp angular lines.

Sharp angular lines represent energy, youth, movement, life, kinetic energy, violence, speed, anger, rage, dynamism and movement.

]]> http://hazethenut.wordpress.com/?p=27 Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:24:50 +0000 hazethenut http://hazethenut.wordpress.com/?p=27 My photos dont want to load today but there is more to come..... so ive enrolled at RMIT, i get to do printmaking, yay!! I made three new friends, Laura is from france, But she looks more Mexican, She half Mexican, She my best bud, we went flat hunting tooo, and then my other friend is called Ian, he is British, he wore a soft toy squid around his neck and science eye goggles as glasses and did experiments with a dishwasher crystal a jar and alcohol in the lecture, he is a performance art student, go figure, and my other friend is Mathias from Germany, he let me use his name tag so i would fit in, you see there is 56 exchange students from Germany and 1 from NZ!! ohhh and this beats unitec being a mental institute,  part of rmit is and old jail, there is this cell that the terrible Ned Kelly had to get locked in!! lol

So went flat hunting, it really couldn't have gone worse, i caught a tram to the 31st stop on the #19 line took like half an hour, then i rung the lady i had arranged the meeting with and said i would be there soon, as we had arranged, she sounded confused and started rambling about a house in Richmond, Evans st... so i rung the other number,  same response, different person, so i rocked up to the house number 35, seemed nice enough, i knocked,  an old Greek couple came to the door!!, i explained how i must have the wrong house, they then said there was another 35 along the street, seriously what kind of fucken street has 2 number 35s!!  i got a tad pissed off so started walking back along the street, i was going bonkers and reading out the house numbers like a KENO presenter on speed!!, anyway, i visited Brunswick, and decided i really really don't want to live that far out!!

All those goals I had. Why is it that "35" is the age we set all these time limits on things for? "By the time I'm 35..."; if I had a dollar for every time I thought that!  

I decided today to do something totally NOT planned;

A Glass paper weight and marble collage...these are a few of the things I have accomplished (before 35 ;) .

Enjoy!

(Oh, BTW! That 2nd part of my sketch book study...I hope to find some time for it soon. I have lots going on right now...maybe by the time I'm 40 ;) ...just kidding...)

Though not near as sound-bytable as 1 TB, Seagate's announcement of the world's first 1.5 TB drive is big news.  The newest Barracuda  7200.11 adds 500 gigabytes to each drive in one fell swoop. It's the biggest capacity jump in the history of disk drives. 

Expect to see 1.5 TB and 3 TB solutions start popping up in all those high-capacity hot spots: high end destop PCs, backup drives and home entertainment systems. 

UPDATE: What others are saying:Engadget, ZD Net, Daily Tech, Blocks and Files and PC World.

Next: the exabyte drive

As era-changing milestones go, the next big one will be the exabyte drive.  Extrapolating surprisingly stable historic drive capacity growth trends, an exabyte drive could be here in 2020. 

Sound crazy?  The gigabyte drive appeared as recently as 1995.  Can you remember how crazy a terabyte drive sounded then?

What are your predictions for the exabyte drive?  Form factor, speed, power, name?

En pages 4 et 5, on retrouve un article, signé Stéphane Tremblay, et reproduit sur le site Canoë, dans lequel on raconte que le coroner André H. Dandavino en a littéralement soupé, des accidents mortels qui surviennent sur la route 133. C'est que ce coroner a enquêté sur un accident, survenu en octobre 2006, qui a coûté la vie à un couple, alors que leurs deux enfants en sont sortis indemnes. Le véhicule dans lequel prenait place la famille a été violemment heurté par un autre véhicule, qui lui, effectuait un dépassement illégal, sur la route 133, à la hauteur de Henryville.

Le projet de construction de l'A-35 est déjà sur la table, au MTQ, et un porte-parole, cité dans l'article, dit que le MTQ n'attend qu'une évaluation environnementale du fédéral pour commencer les travaux, ce qui devrait se faire à l'automne. On sait également que sur les 300 millions$ nécessaires à la réalisation de ce projet, dont près d'une soixantaine sera versée par le gouvernement fédéral, 38,5 millions$ seront investis pendant l'année budgétaire en cours, dont 18,7 millions$ du fédéral. Cette autoroute, à moins d'un changement de cap, devrait donc être ouverte aux usagers de la route d'ici 4 ou 5 ans.

Reste à savoir si les délais seront maintenus.

Confiram as novidades:

A sexta edição da União do Vapor começa de modo emocionantemente triste . Em homenagem ao pai do RPG, Gary Gigax, falecido neste último quatro de março, o editorial é dedicado a este grande sonhador e gerador de sonhos. Fuga de Scharde, conto que é capa desta edição, detalha a fuga do guerreiro Zargon das terríveis Ilhas Scharde. Para amenizar o clima sinistro do conto, temos a cômica série Garganta Mekânica, com mais um sucesso musical convertido aos Reinos de Ferro. A edição segue com a tradução das famosas adventure seeds do site americano Buccaneer Bass, e com um preview exclusivo, gentilmente cedido pela editora Jambô a nós, do espetacular Monstronomicon.

Duas classes de prestígio e regras alternativas para magos-pistoleiros formam o material para jogadores dessa edição, o Sabotador Mekânico é um espião especializado em destruir equipamento Mekânico, enquanto o Gatilho Rápido é um pistoleiro à John Woo, capaz de entrar em "Tempo de Bala" como nos filmes! Para combinar, os magos-pistoleiros ganham novos talentos, sendo agora capazes de converter suas magias em projéteis de força para suas pistolas!

O Funcionário da Vez dessa edição é Devar Polaro, o misterioso e poderoso protegido de Gruhn, magnificamente ilustrado por Leonel Domingos. Em seguida, a história moderna dos Reinos de Ferro é esmiuçada em uma vasta linha do tempo.

Right, on to Stargate Atlantis. Didn't really pay any attention to Atlantis during season three and then caught up near the end - really like some of the episodes. Same goes for season 4. Only started watching after about the first 16 episodes had aired. Really liked what I saw, most of the time. Todd, obviously, is the great addition that the show needed. Carter worked out okay, Ronon was rather so-so (I thought Ford offered more potential as the viewers' link to a world that we don't understand - but they didn't use him that way and I guess they had a reason (turkey sandwich jokes do get old after a while), Keller, again, okay. The Genii - let's be honest - aren't the best addition ever either and the Wraith had plenty of weaknesses. Michael - in my opinion - didn't work out and the Replicators, well, they just weren't that great either (even though the new ones might be fascinating).

So, finally, they found what they needed. Their Ba'al, their Apophis, their Anubis - you name it. Todd works. Todd isn't one-dimensional, Todd isn't just a good guy either. Todd's exciting, Todd makes you look forward to the next episode that he's gonna be in. Oh, and that wasn't all - Larrin's a great addition as well. Sure, that's mostly my love for cute faces and T&A talking but Sheppard really can use a female counterpart that makes him work a little harder (and the sexual tension obviously doesn't hurt). So, I was rather disappointed to see Michael come back for the season finale.

I'll start with random observations:

• McKay actually has quite the triceps. Considering how he's supposed to be a semi-fat guy, that's remarkable. Congrats, Mr Hewlett.
• Either there's a terrible, terrible, terrible logic mistake or I missed something: how the hell did the jumper leave the ship without the shields being lowered? That would obviously have ruined the whole "they won't see this coming" approach but from what I can tell a) the shields need to be lowered for a jumper to leave the ship, b) the jumper left before the fighters did and c) the shield wasn't lowered when it did. What am I missing?
• Teyla totally sucks. She's pussified. She doesn't do any good anymore. The whole love anlge and her getting a baby didn't really EVER work out but this episode made it abundantly clear: this isn't going to work. No more tough Teyla.
• Picardo's character - yeah, I'm not gonna like it. It's occasionally good for an episode but I don't want to be annoyed every single episode. It's funny once or twice but then it just pisses me off. Get back to proper business already. Sure, we could theoretically do that - but that wouldn't work with the way the character's been set up right up until now.

Now, the random observations have already said most of what I wanted to get out. It's, overall, a rather weak start into the season. Not terribly weak and accetapbly enjoyable. I understand the necessities of the TV business (actually, I don't but I understand why Carter had to leave) and there are some exciting things going on as well. Vega could be a great addition (obviously the T&A already won me over - for now!) and the rest of that all-female team that Joe Mallozzi is occasionally talking about on his blog could be great as well.  Michael still doesn't really work - and in addition to all that, he appeared rather weak in this episode (what with having his ship blown up and looking like a whining bitch) and I guess I'm rather sad that he isn't dead (didn't really see how he survived (puddlejumper?) and I consider this to be Stargate's one worst flaw: the total lack of any kind of clear decision ("they're not really gone, as soon as we run out of ideas we wanna be able to bring them back!), no finality whatsoever).

I'm looking forward to the rest of the season though. It'll be good to see Larrin and Todd back, the female team will be a great addition and hey, it's still Stargate! More excited about Stargate Universe when looking at the situation as a whole but I guess that's life - and maybe, just maybe, they'll once again really surprise me and come back with a couple of awesome episodes (probably in the back half of the season? who knows). I have every confidence in the writers that they'll succeed.

Bottom line: Meh, but an optimistic meh.

3/5

I approached this one with mixed feelings (and didn't get through it in one go - possibly a bad sign). I really like Abrams - at least I think I do - and think that Alias was great (still haven't finished watching all five seasons though) and even enjoyed MI:III (only went to the cinema after it became clear that it'd be a commercial failure - not like I'm gonna support Scientology...). Lost, on the other hand, never caught my attention. Sure, gave it a shot once or twice (once, that I can remember - some season one episode and I left after about five minutes). I'm just not that into mystery. Never liked X-Files. More recently, I stopped watching Heroes after three episodes. That one's quite undeniably a great show but I just don't care to watch. I don't like the "horror"-y episodes on shows that I do like (when I started re-watching Star Trek: Enterprise a couple of years ago, I stopped about ten minutes into season two's "Dawn". Last episode I ever watched - that's how much I dislike the genre).

So, keep all that in mind when reading what I'm gonna say. Once again, let's start with characters - and I'll go right into the negative b

efore saying a few positive things. First one: Philip Broyles (Lance Reddick). I'll be honest and give away a bit of cultural background: he reminds me of Bruce Darnell. Very first thing he does and I never got rid of that feeling throughout the entire pilot. Why is that a bad thing? Because, ladies and gentlemen, Bruce Darnell is a flaming homosexual (no idea whether he's actually gay but it doesn't matter) and a (former?) co-host of "Germany's Next Top Model". More to the point: very much NOT a tough, secretive guy. Lance Reddick just isn't convincing enough to make me forget about that - at times, I actually feel he reinforces that image.

Anna Torv's Olivia Dunham - I can't remember why she wasn't open to love, can't remember what made her change and she isn't that pretty (even though she's prettier than I thought at first). See, this is a terribly sexist thing to say but I like my heroines to be all cute face and T&A. Having a great personality written for you sure as hell doesn't hurt but the rest is a MUST (unless you're Glenn Close or something). She seems too weak as a personality to be the lead.

John Scott (this one's the last wholey negative, promise!) - well, you just fucking know he's gonna be a bad guy as soon as she says "he'd do the same thing for me", yadda, yadda - instead of a truly interesting, truly different dynamic at the core of the show (a, you know, functioning couple!), we get the same old, same old stuff. This isn't all bad though as we'll see later on. On the whole, this character's just total bullshit - I guess he serves some purpose to set up the larger mythology (which, btw, sucks as well) but you could certainly have done that better.

Which leads us to the better characters. The man and the woman who appear to be friends/partners of Dunham's - yeah, they're okay. The male one even got one or two interesting lines.

Dr. Walter Bishop - I'm just gonna say one thing: I'm damn glad they stopped having him be fucking mental. That gets annoying, real fast. And not in a funny way. Good to give him a nice shave, proper hair and decent communicating skills. Don't even dare to go back to the old one!

Finally, the one truly interesting character. Peter Bishop (Joshua Jackson). Sure, having him be a gambler in debt is fucking bullshit (it's so imaginative even Knight Rider did it!) but that's not the point. He's likable, he's interesting, he's driven. His background might actually be interesting, the whole romance angle between him and Dunham's worth noting too (that's why having Scott dead is good after all). Plenty of potential and Jackson does a good job.

Now, the story. You obviously can't expect too much (even though it's a two-hour pilot!) from a show introducing this many characters but it does fall rather flat. The plane-plot is rather boring filler material, the story about setting up the laboratory is okay. Overall, decent but not phenomenal. More problematic: The background mythology. Some guy stole stuff from Dr Bishop and probably made sure he went to jail for a crime he didn't commit. Evil corporation, secret stuff going on no one knows about, yadda, yadda, yadda. Been there, done that.

Bottom line: a lot more positive than you might expect from what you've just read. If you're into this kind of story, it's probably a solid 4/5, if you aren't (just like me!) it isn't. I hope Abrams doesn't fuck up Trek and I'll probably watch another episode of this to see if it improves and moves in a direction more to my liking (it probably won't) - a not-too-daring prediction though: if this show's gonna be featured for a longer period of time, dq will have to do the writing. ;)

3/5

Two sisters who shared everything. One unforgivable moment. And a second chance...

Once, Kerry and Eve Barnard did everything together: sailing the Block Island harbor with their father, listening to their neighbor Justin's magical fairytales, and all the while longing for their absent mother. They were twin girls arm in arm, secrets entwined between two hearts. Until the summer of their seventeenth birthday, when their extraordinary bond was shattered. And thirteen years later, it will take all the courage they can summon to put the pieces back together--at a time when it matters most...

Kerry hadn't heard from Justin in years--and his news takes her breath away: her sister is ill. And so Kerry must return home to confront Eve, to heal their old wounds, and to build a relationship with Eve's young daughter, who sees in Kerry the mother she once had. But most of all, Kerry must try to forgive her sister for her crimes...and both must forgive themselves for the one tragic night that changed everything...

Sono passati tredici anni da quando Kerry se n’è andata, senza mai riallacciare i contatti con sua sorella gemella Eve. Fin da bambine erano unite da un legame profondo, era come se avessero un solo viso, un solo corpo, un solo cuore… e un amico speciale, Justin. Poi, a diciassette anni, accade qualcosa di terribile e questo legame si spezza dividendole per sempre. Kerry da allora ha intrapreso la sua vita cercando di dimenticare e convivendo con la sofferenza causatale, ma una telefonata la catapulta di nuovo indietro nel tempo: Justin, l’amato Justin, amico d’infanzia, fidanzato, amante… e ora marito di Eve, la informa che Eve è malata di cancro e sta morendo, e la prega di andare da lei.
Inizia così per Kerry un viaggio in quel passato che ha cercato di seppellire, ricordando tutte quelle cose speciali che le avevano unite e rivivendo il percorso drammatico, i terribili fatti che le hanno divise.
Mentre assiste la sorella, divenendo testimone dell’amore che la unisce a Justin e alla figlia, ripercorre la loro vita, mettendo insieme i pezzi della loro relazione e trovando alla fine la forza di perdonarla.

Questo romanzo è l’esempio di come si possa scrivere un libro in grado di catturare l’attenzione del lettore e mantenerla viva fino all’ultima riga, coinvolgendolo e facendogli vivere emozioni, nonostante i personaggi siano sgradevoli e la trama sia incentrata sugli aspetti negativi delle relazioni umane, dove egoismo e tradimento assumono toni protagonisti, tanto forti e inaccettabili quanto stretto è il legame che unisce i personaggi.
Un debutto coraggioso che sicuramente si distingue. Per certi versi mi richiama alla mente “Il piccolo amico” di Donna Tartt, alla quale va solo il merito di aver scritto un romanzo atroce in modo divino, al punto che pur detestandolo non si riesce ad abbandonare. Alla Arnold va in più il merito di svelare alla fine il segreto che unisce, e allo stesso tempo divide, le protagoniste del suo romanzo (cosa che la Tartt non ha saputo fare).
E’ scritto in prima persona – la voce narrativa è quella di Kerry, nella quale il lettore si identifica fin dalle prime pagine e della quale condivide ogni emozione, ogni delusione, dispiacere, sconfitta  – e alterna passato e presente, ci porta indietro nel tempo, facendoci conoscere il mondo idilliaco ed esclusivo Kerry ed Eve bambine, e poi accompagnandoci man mano lungo un sentiero che vedrà questo mondo, questo profondo legame che le unisce, avviarsi verso l’immancabile e preannunciata frattura.
I temi fondamentali affrontati in questo libro sono due, entrambi a mio parere sviluppati con attenzione e, benché a tratti assurda, profondità. Il primo riguarda la relazione tra gemelli identici – l’esclusivo, complicato rapporto che si instaura tra loro, dove amore fraterno e simbiosi, ma anche gelosia e competizione sono vissuti con una intensità eccezionale – e le ragioni, o gli eventi, per cui, in amore, si sceglie un gemello invece che l’altro.
Il secondo tema è in realtà anche il messaggio del libro: il perdono. Leggendolo e vivendolo insieme a Kerry, non si può fare a meno di sentirsi indignati di fronte all’egoismo, all’ambiguità, alle menzogne, ai ripetuti tradimenti; non si può fare a meno di chiedersi se e quanto si può realmente perdonare, quando le persone che più ami al mondo ti hanno distrutto la vita. Una domanda che potrà dividere nettamente il pubblico dei lettori, i quali, dopo più di 400 pagine di emozioni negative, si ritrovano a fare i conti, insieme a Kerry, con la forma di espiazione più definitiva: la morte, e con l’unica occasione di perdono, anche quando l’egoismo non cede il passo neppure di fronte alla fine.
I giudizi su questo libro sono in media molto positivi, ma non mancano eccezioni, basate sostanzialmente sulla mediocrità dei personaggi – mediocrità intesa come qualità caratteriale e non come deficienza di descrizione o introspezione psicologica da parte dell’autrice, che anzi, è talmente accurata e ben fatta, da farceli addirittura vedere nelle loro meschinità. Non si può fare a meno di detestare Eve, e di sentirsi traditi, come Kerry.
Il pregio di questo libro è che non lascia indifferenti, può piacere o meno, lo si può amare o odiare, si può condividerne o no il messaggio, ma rimane un romanzo molto ben scritto, capace – seppure suscitando emozioni e sensazioni non per forza positive – di arrivare al lettore. 

rating : 3/5

Susan Michaels was once the hottest reporter on the Beltway Beat until a major scandal ruined her life and left her writing stories about alien babies and Elvis sightings. Life as she once knew it is over, or so she thinks until she gets a lead on the biggest story in town: The Seattle Slayer. She heads to the local animal shelter, expecting a tip on the latest rash of killings. Instead, she gets a story about the mayor feeding citizens to a ring of vampires... yeah. Just another day in her life.

Then she gets talked into adopting a cat she's allergic to. Her first thought is to neuter the cat. But when he turns out to be a gorgeous shapeshifting man who claims to be an immortal vampire slayer she thinks: not so fast. Next thought: seek professional help.
Susan doesn't know what to believe, but as she's drawn into a paranormal world, she comes to realize that the story that could bring her credibility is too unbelievable to expose. Now it's no longer a question of bringing the truth to her readers, it's a matter of saving lives and souls, and her only ally is a man she's allergic to.  In the world of the Dark-Hunters, it's always dangerous. But never more so than when one very human woman can shatter their entire world with just one story. The only question is... will she? Dark Side of the Moon is full of Sherrilyn Kenyon's trademark sexy humor and breathtaking imagination

Dopo quasi un anno da "Unleash the Night" ho ripreso in mano un romanzo della Kenyon, e non so se a causa di questa lunga pausa, o perchè questo libro si discosta un po' dai precedenti, ma non ho ritrovato lo stesso affascinante incantesimo che mi aveva conquistato negli altri.
Dark Side of the Moon sembra quasi un romanzo di passaggio, ci presenta nuovi personaggi dimenticando quasi i vecchi, e sembra delineare una svolta decisiva che riguarderà in futuro Acheron.

Il mio giudizio questa volta è piuttosto tiepido,  i protagonisti di questo romanzo non mi hanno convinto molto, anche il fatto che Susan è allergica ai gatti e che Ravyn E' un gatto... secondo me avrebbe potuto essere sviluppato con un po' più del tipico humor della Kenyon.
Speriamo che i prossimi siano migliori, e speriamo di rivedere in azione i "cari vecchi" Dark Hunters.

rating : 3/5

I saw The Incredible Hulk at the Clairemont Town Square 14 on Sunday June 15th. After the problems that beset the first Hulk (2003), and the mass rumor mill circling the new effort, I was curious to see the reboot/sequel. I must say, I was pleased with the results.

I was concerned with the casting of the new film, with reservations as to Norton and Tyler's appropriateness for the roles (moreso Tyler), especially since I felt that while Jennifer Conelly had been largely wasted on the forst film, she still sets a high bar fopr follow on performance. Luckily I need not have worried, both roles were well cast, with Norton's ability to inject humor into the Banner character, and Tim Roth as Emil Blonsky/Abomination being unexpected pluses.

The plot and pacing were tru to comic book style. The true success of the movie I think comes from keeping a reasonable scale and scope to the visuals and the range of the story. The South American sequences were a clever way to reintroduce the Banner character and update his situation, before bringing the action home.

I tried to watch with an eye for story more so than technicalities. Looking too closely at special effects in a movie is a bit like picking apart the typography in a novel. That being said, the visual effects in the new Hulk were well done with a few minor odd moment exceptions. One of the hardest hurdles in doing graphic work for the hulk I've realized is that none of us has ever seen a nine foot tall grotesquely muscle-bound man creature in real life, so the mind is left reaching for points of comparison for achieving a "realistic" look.

As part of the building Avengers cabal, The Incredible Hulk measures up well.

Rating: 3/5

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Puedes bajar este episodio vía torrent.

Happy Birthday Dan!!!

Today my (generally) lovely husband turned the ripe of age of 35, which, as I've very kindly been pointing out or the past week, is only five years away from forty, before we know it he will be claiming his bus pass :D

We spent the day partying hard... at my nephew's party in McDonalds. Not quite the rock and roll lifestyle Dan would hope for, but it certainly kept Declan happy, and Dan enjoyed his one day a year of me being nice to him without demanding fabric, KFC or lifts in return.

While Casimir takes care of paying the air taxes an other matters with the dock's representative a group of twenty city guard march up. The leader presents himself to Casimir, calling him by his given name and saying that he has orders to take "Ibid of Ptah, the xixchil known as Xring Ke Kadu, and the warrior adept Lemmy Sorpic" into custody. "The order is signed by your mother, sir." When asked what the charge is the guard tells Casimir that the three were seen by eyewitnesses delivering a shipment of devilweed to parties unknown.

Lemmy starts to reach for his sword and suddenly there are twenty starwheel pistols pointed at him. Casimir stays his hand. "We'll get you out, I'll talk to my mother," he says. Cas then goes to the leader of the guard and impresses upon him that the prisoners are to be treated well. Single rooms, good food, a moddicum of beer, etc. Their gear confiscated the three leave the docks surrounded by guards and heading towards the dungeon.

Meanwhile, as everybody except Casimir has noticed, there is an illithid nautiloid parked two slips over. It is surrounded by work crews busy painting it pink. Violetta asks the half orc in charge of the work crew about it. He tells her that it was recently bought by "that Lucille woman," who immediately had them begin painting it this color. Casimir speculates about her "taking her show on the road."

Ibid and the others are taken immediately to prison and put in solitary room with no visitors.

While the group make their way to Lucille's House Casimir splits off and makes a side trip to the prison bringing only Violetta. Discovering that they cannot visit he distracts the guard while Violetta uses a message spell to talk to Lemmy, whose face she can see through the barred window of the door. Lemmy knows only the change and that he is locked up with his gear confiscated. The bard reassures him that they will get him out.

Casimir meets with Roland, that Commander in charge of the dungeon. He leaves a liberal amount of gold to cover food, wine ad whatever his jailed compatriots might need, "Feel free to keep anything left over, but make sure that they do not lack." He also distributes more gold amongst the guards on duty.

Then Cas head to the Manor his mother reserves for her visits to the Rock. Told she is not there he eaves a message asking that she meet him at ten bells at the Voidskimmer on a matter of utmost urgency.

Off to Lucilles. When they enter Angel comes running through the common room and leaps into Violetta's arms giving her a big kiss to welcome her back. The group moves into the common room for a few drinks and to get caught up on current events on the Rock. Angel tells them that Lucille recently accepted the salvaged nautiloid in payment for "a very large tab." They also hear of increasing scro activity and a commensurate increase in Elven Fleet presence. Other than that the only notable news is a series of killings on the downside that has had the city guard puzzled for weeks.

Off to Lavinia Vanderboren's next, where they are greeted by the old butler. From what he says Lavinia now owes a favor to the Temple of Ptah for having him brought back after being killed when the manor was taken during the Wyrmfall Festival.

Lavina tells them that there are five or six eyewitnesses including the Capt of the city guard, who saw Xring, Ibid, and Lemmy unloading three tons of devilweed from the Hamership "Streaker". She has reached out to family connections in order to spring the others, but since the House's fortunes are still questionable it is a slow and unsure process.

Lavinia also tells them that she has found her mother's journal in the family vault they heped her access. It details a colony off to the south of the Mhair Jungles on Toril that her parents started. Located inside the zone of atmospheric turbulence that covers much of that area of the planet just south east of the Chult on the so called Isle of Dread.

The resources and exotic woods from this colony could fix her house's financial ills. There is also a small chance that Vanth may know about it and be down there plundering. She says that the Star Wyvern and the Blue Nixie are being re-outfitted now for a departure in a week. "In the meantime, despite your protracted absences, your rooms are as you left them."

Casimir finds a messenger and pens a quick note to the Order of Ptah teling them that he knows for a fact that Ibid is innocent as he was with him at the time of the supposed sighting.

Taking leave of Lavinia the group pays a gold enhanced visit to the docks. Financial lubrication gains them entrance, guard escorted, to the Hammership Streaker with its three tons of devilweed. As they enter Moswen catches the eye of what is obviously the guard-mage and flirts with him as they head into the ship. Moswen and Casimir head for the Captain's quarters wile Hissarmau and Violette check the crew quarters.

Moswen immediately notices the soft glow of magic around several items in the Captain's cabin. A pillow, an inkwell and quill, and a severe looking painting of a harsh desert landscape with a huge red sun filling more than half of its sky. After a moments study she determines that while the painting radiates abjuration/force magic there is something else beneath it.

While Violetta and Hissarmau find (but cannot open) a secret compartment in the doorframe of one set of crew quarters Moswen accidentally sets off the explosive runes trap on painting. The blast blows her across the room and into the wall leaving her in a smoking heap on the floor against the baseboards.

The bard and the feline come running in. Seeing Moswen obviously quite hurt Hissarmau pours a healing potion down her throat. As the mulan regains consciousness Violetta says "here, smoke this" and hands her a small pipe loaded with silverleaf (halfling pipeweed of healing). As she puffs on the pipe her burns and bruises fade. The girly, vindictive facade drops for a moment and Moswen offers her obviously sincere thanks.

Sidling up to Casimir Violetta whispers in his ear "we need you to open a lock." While the guards are distracted by the injured woman with the large bust the rest of our heroes (except Hissarmau) duck out and go across the hall. Hissarmau tries to help distract the guards. Pulling out his lockpicks Casimir is successful for a change. Inside the compartment is a two ounce bag of devilweed.

Distracted by Moswen's heaving bosom the guards fail to notice the depopulation of the room. Playing it up a bit Moswen begins to wail about having broken her ink well. "How will I write my honored mother now?" Falling for her ploy exactly as intended, one of the guards passes her the inkwell from the desk, the one that radiates magic, and says "here, this won't be missed. Now you can write home all you wish."

Realizing suddenly that some of the group are unsupervised the guards run into the hall when they are met by Casimir who points over his shoulder to the now open secret compartment. "You missed a spot," he quips. It is at this point that Moswen realizes that where the painting had been there is now a map in its place in the frame. In addition a huge scorch mark covers the wall around and behind the picture frame. Sharply angular lettering labels the map in an unknown language, while the scenery it depicts is stark and bleak.

Violetta notices the map as she enters the room and takes a moment to use her eidetic lock to commit it to memory permanently. "Thats enough excitement for one visit, we will have to escort you off of the ship now" says the guard, and does so. On their way out Moswen sees the guard-mage she was flirting with earlier and winks at him. He walks over and squeezes her hand, "My name is Cyrus and I'm off at ten bells."

The group head off to the Seeker's Library where they purchase a private room and guest privileges through Hissarmau. As the catfolk monk begins looking for info in the library stacks Violetta projects a minor image of the strange map for Casimir who creates a perfect copy of it. As Casimir studies the text he realizes that it seems to share traits with both ancient Suel and ancient Thorass. Dead languages from two different spheres. The planetary name on the map reads simply Athas. At about 9 bells Moswen excuses herself and leaves to meet Cyrus at the docks.

Moswen and Cyrus find a moderately quiet tavern and have a few drinks. Moswen asks him all about his style of magic and how it works. She shows him a tiny example of her eldritch blast arcing between her two outstretched hands. As the conversation continues and the alcohol takes its toll she tells him her curse ad basicaly spills her guts (without naming names) about her past. When he seems genuinely concerned and solicitous of her welfare she decides to take him home. Sex on the ceiling is one great advantage of having an invocation that mimics spider climb. After a few hours of this, she goes to Lavinia's where she finds the crew debating in the library.

Extremely drunk, and wearing that freshly f*cked look Moswen drunkenly spills her guts to our heroes. Her curse is that "she shall love no man." She also tells about her sloppy break up with Vanth and infidelities all around.

Having become paranoid about duplicates and future selves running around under foot Casimir and Violetta make arrangements at both the docks and at Lucille's that service or running of a tab can only be done if a password is provided.

Absences: Ibid, Xring, Lemmy: The Jalbirds.