The Adventures of Karriya the Wizard - Origin Story

The Adventures of Karriya the Wizard is a series based on the main character I play in Everquest. Though most of what I write actually happened, many events might be embellished and exaggerated to create a better story. Happy hunting (and reading)!

❦ On the hot summer day of August 17, 2004, Kariya (yes, one R here - not a misspelling!) the Wizard was born in Everquest. OK, I'm not actually sure what the weather was like, and she wasn't so much born as created because let's face it, not many MMOs take characters through childhood. But that's beside the point. Suspend that imagination of yours already!

Karriya, 2006, With Epic Weapon 2.0

Now, Kariya was a haughty little High Elf, roaming the Greater Faydark, close to her home of Felwithe. Though the mobs she faced were pathetic, to her they were monumental. Until she grew up and could mass kill the whole zone with a single spell... That may just be the haughtiness showing through, though.

Anyway, she took up with a berserker named Yushuv -- a scarred Barbarian of few words. Together they eventually found a home in the guild Hands of Prophets. That guild changed to Legacy of Prophets before it faded completely, but I think I'm getting a bit ahead of myself.

While in Hands of Prophets, Kariya met many friends, most of which have disappeared into the ether. A couple, though, she still cavorts with today. One such being a well-mannered druid by the name of Rondor, and another an uber paladin called Eaiana. And she of course can't seem to shake that sometimes grouchy Yushuv. Never!

And then came a day of doom, where all those in Prophets feared for the outcome of all of their friends. A server merge. See, Kariya started out on Morden Rasp, a rather young server, and Morden Rasp was to be merged with Povar, one of the oldest servers. If someone had the same name as you on another server, the person who had the most time played would get to keep the name. The other person, would receive the dreaded X.

Kariya didn't get by the server merge unscathed (nor did several other of her family living on the same account -- that's how Leera the Beastlord became Maeve... and then following another sever merge, Maevve). The X of doom made her weep. She didn't want to be known as Kariyax! Those who received the evil letter were allowed to change their name, and so Karriya (who thankfully didn't get the X again in a future server merge) had her name legally changed. She still hates the extra R, though.

Time passed quickly in the land of Norrath. Prophets dissolved, she joined a guild called Valheru, which eventually changed to Sanity's Edge, and then she left that guild as well. And then, she made a guild of her own -- Dark Possession. I mean, haughty High Elves need to be in charge, right? Yushuv, the stubborn berserker, eventually joined her, as did some of Rondor's and Eaiana's aliases (*coughs* alts -- the name we give to characters that aren't mains).

It was an active guild for a while, but as we've seen, things always change. Dark Possession is still Karriya's guild, and she's littered the guild hall with cats, dogs, gnolls, and birds. There just aren't as many other active people in the guild aside from her aforementioned cohorts who often switch between many alts.

So, there you have it. Wait. I'm forgetting something? Oh, someone. Of course.

Karriya is the clear hero of the story, and every hero needs a sidekick! On March 5, 2006, Downpour, the Halfling druid who loves to hug everyone in her path was born. She's neglected once in a while, being left behind on occasion when Karriya wishes to venture out on her own, but for the most part Karriya makes sure to drag her along on her adventures, especially since the little druid can track mobs wherever they go.

Downpour, 2007 - No, I don't have any better screenshots of her

And so is the origin of Karriya the Wizard (and Downpour the Druid)! Now, over 11 years of adventuring under her robe, Karriya's happy to share her most recent adventures in Norrath. Who knows what she'll find with the stoic Yushuv or dragged into by the fastidious Rondor (who often plays his alt Wondora, a Dark Elf shadow knight, when wandering with Karriya).

Watch for the latest adventure! Maybe she'll even slay a dragon! Or just a bunch of blobs. Not all adventures are glamorous.

Suicide Squad - Fun But Could Have Been Better

No catchy title this time. I think that part of my brain may be on vacation. Sorry about that. Anyway, here's your warning.

Warning, warning! *turns on the flashing red light* SPOILERS ahead!!! If you haven't seen Suicide Squad yet and don't want it ruined, don't read on. If you don't care, well, dive right in.

❦

Suicide Squad (2016) Movie Poster

I could probably go on and on about a lot of things in this movie that could be improved, but I'll try to keep this post under novel length. Promise. ;)

First, I do want to say that I don't think Suicide Squad is a horrible movie by any means. It was fun to watch (though my poor husband missed nearly half of it because the toddler decided she wasn't going to be cooperative in the theater), but it's not one I'm crazy, excited about to see again.

I was looking forward to this movie. But I was also scared they were going to botch things up. Personally, I was mostly looking forward to Harley Quinn - forget all those other bozos. Heck, this should have been a Harley movie (and I hope we get one in the future, as long as they take some lessons on the mistakes of this movie to improve on their delivery). And Harley was fun. Best part of the movie, of course. Margot Robbie played the roll well (which is why I'd love to see her in her own Harley movie).

That said, I think there were several things that could have been improved. I have a pretty long list, too, which I think I'll have to shorten for this post!

The beginning. Oh, the beginning. It was a bit too disjointed for me and contained massive info dumps. Why couldn't they have done briefer story flashbacks as they were pulling the team together? I think the beginning suffers from the Started the Story Too Early Syndrome. The story really starts when this band of misfits is pulled together. Kind of like with Guardians of the Galaxy. Guardians wove the backstory into the movie (aside from the brief beginning when Star Lord was nabbed by aliens), instead of dumping it all at the beginning. And when they were taken to the prison and had their dossiers read, it was brief. Suicide Squad was long-winded with the backstory. Not to mention they told rather showed. It's a freaking movie - we should see more, not just have it all fed to us!

Another thing that bugged me is that none of the characters clicked well. At the end they have this big thing about how they're now a family. Diablo says, "I already lost one family. I'm not going to lose another." Aside from that being overly melodramatic and a tad cliche, I didn't feel it. These characters still felt like merely individuals forced to work together. That little "bonding" scene in the bar wasn't enough for me to make them feel like they were family or worked well together. Not like by the end of Guardians (yes, I'm a Guardians fan girl - I can't wait until the next one). I wanted to see them mesh better, but they just didn't.

Oh, and the whole Slipknot thing (you might be asking yourself, "Who?" - I don't blame you). How was it not clear that he was going to be the example for if they got out of line? They plop him in with no backstory at the beginning like all of the others. I mean, really? You knew his head was going to be blown off rather quickly.

I know some people didn't like the villain in the movie much. Honestly, I didn't think she was that bad of a villain. I liked her as a villain. What I didn't like were her zombies. And you can say all you want that they aren't zombies. They are - mindless creatures intent on killing (you don't need a thirst for brains to be a zombie). I did enjoy the fight scene at the end with Enchantress though. That was fun.

Now, I mentioned I loved Harley. Sadly, her backstory with Joker wasn't done enough justice. It could have been much better. The way they presented it all was very disjointed. The best scene though was when Harley jumped into the chemical vat and Joker followed her. I loved that scene. It had a lot of emotion in it and it showed people not only how much she loved Joker but also how much he loved her. But. You knew there was a but coming, didn't you? That scene was horribly out of place. It's triggered when she looks down a stairwell because she thinks of the drop to the chemical vat, but the placement still felt off with what was happening before and after in the movie.

I'll leave this review on a positive note, though. Or maybe a positive bullet? Heh. Oh, I'm not funny? Fine, then. I loved Harley's revolver. At the end when Deadshot uses it, you see the LOVE and then the HATE etched on the cylinder. I thought that was awesome. Sometimes you just got to smile at the small touches.

Void of Intuition Excerpt

The fourth Fortunes of Fate title released this past weekend! Yay! Interested in seeing Tilly again from Dreams in Shadow? Well, you're in luck because she makes an appearance in Void of Intuition. Right now, you can find Void of Intuition on Amazon, and near the end of November, it will be available at other retailers as well.

Oh, but you'd like to see a snippet of the story, wouldn't you? An excerpt and the story blurb is below. Happy reading, and may the cards reveal a bright future.

❦

She opened the door.

A movie screen blocked the entrance. The white screen wavered, then showed crackly gray, like an old projector filmstrip. Was there a tinge of purple to the gray?

Numbers counted down, 10, 9, 8... delaying the inevitable. The dream had a wretched sense of humor. It knew she wanted this over as soon as possible but it dragged things out, taking every second it could from Cece’s life.

“Come on, already.” Her voice echoed through the house, tinny to her ears.

The filmstrip stopped on 5.

“Sorry,” Cece whispered, so as not to hear the weird echo again.

The countdown continued and finished.

The image of a little girl in overalls appeared on the screen. She skipped down a dirt road, laughing and chasing a cat. The gray cat from the stoop. At least Cece thought it was -- hard to tell in a black and white film.

She studied the foliage on the side of the road. Nothing odd about it really, but she had the sense she’d never seen plants like these before and that she couldn’t find them even if she scoured all of Earth. There was that hint of purple again. Surely her eyes weren’t playing tricks on her if she’d seen it so often.

Who knew with these dreams.

The girl seemed happy, carefree. Cece wished she could be like the child. It had been a long time since she’d experienced that kind of joy.

But as in most dreams, the first picture she saw wasn’t the true one, not if she only looked at it on the surface. And there it was, trailing behind the little girl -- a long shadow, longer and darker than a shadow had the right to be.

And as Cece watched, the shadow grew larger, stretching across the screen, eating away at the scene. It morphed into something misshapen, unrecognizable -- a puddle of ooze seeping along the edges. Until it swallowed the cat whole.

❦

A woman whose dreams come true.

Cece’s tried to ignore her prophetic dreams all her life – they’ve caused nothing but heartache, starting with the death of her grandmother. But now she’s dreamt of a lost child. And the dizziness that only plagued her in her dreams starts seeping into the real world. When she begins hallucinating, she fears she’s losing her mind. There’s only one person she can turn to – an ex-boyfriend who told her he never wanted to see her again. Will he be willing to help her now?