I liked this tale a lot. It had enough elements to be its own entity without apeing 40k overly much. Viktor seemed to at least appear to have some respect for those he had to work with, and even a little time to spare to hear out the enemy before executing them. I appreciate that. Even his spitting on a ratmen corpse felt a lot more restrained than some of the more foamy psychopathic ranting main characters I've seen in fiction.
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Yeah, for me subverting expectations is what makes it fun.
While he did seem like a dick who maybe had some hold over Zahir, he doesn't come across as too moustache twirly bad guy despite it. So many adventurer manga arcs feature bullies and cocky types with barely any dimensions appear, with their sole reason for existing being to spotlight how the hero can resort to violence to put them in their place. Often with ease and in as humiliating a way as possible.
I went into this tale with the plan that 'What if these two forces were trying to finish each other off, but circumstances conspired against them at every turn?' It was then a matter of finding a plausible excuse for it to be true, and for some reason a night fight in a torrential downpour popped into my head. It's made even funnier that not long into my writing I think it started raining outside. Making them both 'sort of' the same faction (before Acton went Guerilla) also made it initially have a more 'local' scope. At least until I hinted at the possibility that the undead might be happening over a much larger scale.
This conjured up memories of Modest Medusa, only with a more adult human age level. The ability to shapechange between Giant Snek/Lamia/Teeny Hooman forms was a mood too. Would have been good to be shown why she thought Paul was 'the coolest human' than just be told. Show don't tell is a good rule to follow. It also makes stories feel less like an author just singing unfounded praises for their characters like some awful movie and television lines out there.
You'd think the ratties and beasties might get along better. Guess not when they pop up and attack both sides. A few typos here and there occasionally distracted from this great screenplay, but not enough for me to love this tale a lot. Pharaoh Zanakht being slowly revealed as a mounted hero attached to undead cavalry was also a cool way to drip feed details as the story grew.
Oh no! You named the theme in story through a character quote! lol
Great Goblin tale. +9,999 Pluck Points to Gargle for his mix of cunning, charisma, chutzpah and gall. I was partly expecting him to come up with a more permanent solution to the automata not being able to sense ghosts, but the drugged lunatic targeting plan was awesome!
'What? What galaxy would a stoic Dorf and brave Owk wun fwom a fite?
Thiiiis oneeeee.
Some great humor in this tale. I love that the Dwarf's 'culture' and 'education' meant almost every escape plan revolved around their perceived Dwarf Society value in riches and thus gold. That and the Orc counter culture of 'I don't really have any attraction to this shiny crap like you weirdos do.' Great stuff.
See what you meant about the different feeling coming across from the title versus the tale, but don't think it really took anything away from it. If anything, to me, it made me more likely to read this story. Good cliffhanger ending too. Does Ivya and her new housebat ally live to talk another day? Warm (bat) fuzzies all round.
An alright tale, but what was the unlikely allies part? I mean Donoghue was already part of their platoon, so if anything he should be a likely ally, right? I did enjoy this story though, even if its 'ending' just sort of stopped abruptly rather than end on a proper cliffhanger. I would be keen to see it fully play out into a proper chapter or something.
I could see someone like Donoghue being a no sh*ts given type who gets in trouble a lot, so seeing him charge in after badmouthing his peers made him seem either not a total d-bag or one who has already had warnings before and didn't want to get another one.
Yay! I like this tale, cos it could have easily just gone for the usual cosmic horror trying to kill everything schtick, but instead did a tentacle E.T. compassion piece instead. The ending was even more awesome.
'Oh sure, I fought Ogres and helped some shadow spawn thing get home through a void gate, but that don't get my crops sowed, my gardens weeded or peace of mind secured tellin' everyone about it, do it? No it don't, so that's enough of that lark, Corrin my old salt.'
A lot of writers doing some really good 'movie moments' for their stories. Good stuff! I like the fact that the older robot made the visitor wait hours before paying their message any heed. Though, from a machine intelligence perspective that could have been an eternity. Though I guess Robots might not experience boredom and impatience like the flesh-bound do. I also like the device used where the reader isn't completely clear on who or what the laughing one is. Keep the audience wanting more/asking more.