Saturday Serial: Jenna of the Jungle

Continuing Don Hudson's "Jenna of the Jungle" (and including a random bonus jungle girl afterwards). Click on any panel for a larger version, and come back next Saturday for Part Ten.


JENNA OF THE JUNGLE: PART NINE
By Don Hudson

To Be Continued...

Girls of the Jungle

By Frank Cho

Two Artifacts from the Love Collection

In the early 1920s, Bessie Love was one of America's most popular movie stars, known for playing charming and energetic young women in everything from bizarre comedies to dark dramas. By 1925, however, her life became increasingly consumed with a secret battle against supernatural evil. (You can read the background details here.)

   Love acquired a number of magical artifacts during the 25 years she protected the unsuspecting world from darkness, which experts in the field of the occult and supernatural have dubbed the Love Collection. Today, we describe another two artifacts from the Love Collection. As is our habit, we also provide d20 System rules so you can use them in your games.

DIMOND'S COMPASS

Named for Edward Dimond, an American sorcerer and investigator of crimes who lived in 17th century Mass., at first glance this appears to be a malfunctioning compass with a magnetic needle that jerks from pointing in one direction to another without cause, which seems to point anywhere but North, and may even start spinning wildly without warning. It is rendered even more useless by the fact that what can be assumed to be the cardinal compass points are marked with curious symbols that are dissimilar to any earthly civilization, current or extinct. It radiates a faint aura of Divination magic.

   Although it bears his name, Dimond did not know where the compass came from. It was given to him as payment, when, as a young man, he proved a ships' captain innocent of murder by uncovering evidence that proved the merchant accusing him was the true killer. The seaman claimed he had found the compass in a ruined city, on an uncharted island that he had never been able to find his way back to since. Dimond carried it on his person from that day forward, as he believed it was imbued with a spirit of justice and that God had meant for him to have it and to guide him on his quests for truth. 

   Dimond's Compass passed through many hands before coming into the possession of Bessie Love; it was gifted to her, as it had been to Dimond, by a young werewolf whom she had proven innocent of murder in 1928 by exposing the witch who had been using magic to control him. All who have owned it have stated that it has either shown the way to great treasures, stores of lost knowledge, or evidence that exposes villains set on harming the innocent. 

   The fact is that Dimond's Compass can do all things those who have possessed it claim it can. It was created by Lemurian artificers, in the Time Before Time when the dark gods and their servants wrecked havoc across many planes.

   Using Dimond's Compass: A being must hold the compass in his or her left hand. It performs one of three functions related to directed the user to finding items, magical or mundane. All the would-be user has to do is hold the compass and focus his or her mind for one round one what he or she is seeking. The compass remains set by "default" on whatever it was last used for. It has a range of 3,200 feet, and if the object sought is not within range, the compass jerks between several directions, spins wildly for a moment, then stops. The compass cannot find items that are inside extra-dimensional spaces like a bag of holding. There is no limit to the number of times a character can try to use the compass to find the direction to an item. 

   The functions of Dimond's Compass are as follows:

   * Detect Magic: The compass points to the object or being with the most powerful magic aura or abilities within range that is closest to its current location. If there are multiple objects or beings within range, it prioritizes the closest item or being. (For example, the compass will point to a 3rd-level spellcaster over a 1st-level spellcaster; a +2 sword over a +1 sword; an artifact like the Silver Key over a +4 dagger, even if the dagger may seem more powerful if subjected to an analyze or detect magic spell; and a succubus over a 13th-level spellcaster. But if a man carrying a +1 amulet of protection is standing across the room, and a demonlord is across the street carrying the Sword of Dimensional Sundering, the compass will indicate the +1 amulet of protection.)  

   * Find Magic Portal: The compass points to the nearest magic portal within range. For the purpose of Dimond's Compass, a "magic portal" is a permanent gateway between one location and another, whether the remote location is 12 miles or 12 realities away. Such portals can appear to be doorways, pools of water, wells--anything that someone might pass through or dive into and emerge from.

   The compass locks onto the closest portal first, followed by the most powerful, so the indicated direction my change if the user is in an area where several portals are close together. (For example, the compass will prioritize a portal that takes those who pass through it to Valhalla over a portal that goes to Vermont if they are an equal instance from the user; but it will indicate a portal that goes to a place in the Dreamlands over a portal that can go to anyone of 100 locations depending on the will of whoever steps through it if the portal to the Dreamlands is closer.)

   The compass does not reveal any objects or command words that are needed to open a portal, or to control where it leads to if it has various destinations.

   * Locate Object: The user visualizes a general item or a a specific object that he or she is familiar with, has been described to him or her, or was an important part of an event with which the user is familiar, through personal experience or detailed witness accounts. The compass points unerringly in the direction of the nearest general item sought, or the location of the specific object. If the user is standing exactly above or below the item's location, the compass needle twitches, swings to the opposite cardinal point, twitches again, then swings back to the original direction. If the item moves out of the range of the compass, the needle begins spinning wildly, but it will indicate the correct direction again once the item is within range.

   Note: There is an overlap between the detect magic and find magic portal functions. The compass will detect a magic portal as a magic item if one is located nearby while it is trying to find magic items. Bessie Love never realized that Dimond's Compass could not distinguish between the two, as it's a weakness that rarely becomes a factor.

ASHER'S PEDESTAL

This artifact comes in two parts--a square pedestal made of lacquered oak and African blackwood that stands roughly four feet, and a two-foot-tall alabaster statuette of a handsome woman in ancient Egyptian garb and striking a twisted dance pose. Both the pedestal and statuette exude a strong Art Deco ascetic. 

   Asher's Pedestal was created by sculptor-turned-wouldbe-movie mogul Grayson Asher. He came to Hollywood in 1920 and began making movies featuring elaborate sets and costumes. Although not an attractive man, he was known for always having a starlet on each arm. He also had an uncanny ability for turning rivals and outright enemies into friends with surprising ease. The secret to his charm could be found in the pedestal and the alabaster statuettes he would display on it in his office at Asher Film Company.

   Asher's initial effort to get established in the film business was not as successful as he wanted--he had money, and skill as an artist, but he lacked charm, so he could not convince top talent to work for him. One night, the demon Orias appeared to Asher and showed him how he could have all the most talented men and women at his beck and call, as well as at his feet. In exchange for Asher's soul, he showed the demon showed him how to create and enchant Asher's Pedestal and the statuettes that function with it.

   The top of the pedestal contains a well-hidden secret compartment that is two square inches in size. The statuette also has a secret compartment, the opening to which is under the bottom of its base. When certain items belonging to a person are hidden respectively in the pedestal and in the statuette, and the statuette is placed on the pedestal, the person to whom the items belonged falls becomes infatuated with the person who hid the items. This infatuation can be developed into full-blown love and undying loyalty with even the smallest kindness or hint of returned affection. Even if the statuette is later removed from the pedestal, the person remains under the magical influence until the item tied to him or her are removed from the statuette and pedestal or the statuette is destroyed. The affection the enchanted victim felt gradually fades.

   It is possible to have multiple people under the sway of Asher's Pedestal. The pedestal's compartment can be packed full of small items, but each victim enchanted by the artifact must be represented by a statuette.

   In 1926, Asher tried to get Bessie Love to star in a big-budget, costume comedy set in Ancient Egypt. He wanted Bessie to play Cleopatra. The offer and the role both seemed attractive to Bessie, but as she looked into Asher and his personal life (as had become her habit since taking up her fight against supernatual menaces), she became suspicious: too many actors and crew associated with Asher's productions had either killed or tried to kill each other, or had suffered mental breakdowns. Her investigations let her to a chance confrontation with Asher in his office--as Dimond's Compass pointed her to the Pedestal and the dozen statuettes on display in his office--while he was meeting with the demon Orias. During the ensuing battle, most of Asher's statuettes were shattered and Asher himself killed. Orias claimed his soul as he lay dying, and Bessie rebuffed the demon's offer to pick up where Asher left off. She took Asher's Pedestal and the statuette that had been prepared to dominate her, and she added them to her collection of occult trophies and souvenirs. 

   Using Asher's Pedestal: Asher's Pedestal is used to subject targets to a permanent effect identical to the charm person or charm monster spell. The user must spend at least 10 minutes within 10 feet of the target, and manage to obtain a small object that they have carried on or close to their body for at least six hours at a time, as well as some of their hair, a nail-clipping, or some bodily fluid. The user must then create a statuette that represents the target. This statuette need not be a literal representation of the target, nor particularly skillfully made, but it must represent how its maker views the target on some level. It must be made with a compartment that can contain the hair or other part of the target, or the piece of the target can be incorporated directly into the statuette.

   The small item belonging to a target must be placed in the secret compartment in the Pedestal, and the statuette containing the actual part of the target's physical body must be put on top of the Pedestal. The magic is then activated, and the target must roll a successful saving throw (Will save DC28, magic resistance does not apply but any saving throw bonuses do). The saving throw must be re-rolled every day at sunset where the Pedestal is located until the character either fails it, or the statuette is removed from the Pedestal or is destroyed. Once the saving throw is failed, the target is subjected to a charm person or charm monster spell (whichever is appropriate for the target).

   The effects of the Pedestal remain permanent until the item belonging to the target is removed form the Pedestal or the statuette, the statuette is destroyed or moved more than 100 feet from the Pedestal. The target is freed from the enchantment and the feelings toward the user will gradually fade. If the removed statuette is once again put on the Pedestal, the target must once again make successful saving throws or come under the item's sway again.

   To locate the secret compartment in the Pedestal, searchers must make a successful DC18 Search skill check, or DC28 Spot skill check to notice the covering and figure out how to open it.)

   Drawbacks to Using the Pedestal: If a victim is kept ensorcelled for three months and/or at the point the third victim is put under a user's sway, Orias appears (in his favorite human form as a very handsome and fit black man) and informs the user that he must either release the target or allow Orias to corrupt them to serve his wishes. He promises the user that no harm will come to the victim--other than their soul may damned forever. If the user refuses, all enchantments immediately end and anyone who was under the sway of the Pedestal comes to hate the user deeply and with near-fanatical intensity.

   Destroying the Pedestal: No special requirements are needed to destroy this artifact.

--

If you enjoyed this post, you can check out more tales of Bessie Love's secret adventures here. Also, if you REALLY enjoyed it (or find the roleplaying game rules useful or inspiring), consider getting some of the booklets we've released through NUELOW Games. It will encourage us to make more!)

Wonder Woman Wednesday

By Ronnie Del Carmen

We're offering up another batch of portraits of everyone's favorite Amazon by great artists. There's a unifying theme this time around. See if you can figure out what it is!

By Sebastien Dardenne

By Rebeka Hann

By Michael Netzer

By Ramona Fradon

It's International Nude Day...

... and we're getting as close to celebrating it as we can get away with here at Shades of Gray!

Musical Monday with Daisy Gray and Chris Isaak

In 2015, a young singer named Daisy Gray uploaded her cover of Chris Isaak's 1989 "Wicked Game" to YouTube. It became popular, and she followed it with several more songs. Five years later, in February of 2020, she uploaded a rather nicely done video for the song that she described as a tribute to the one that supported the original Isaac song back. But, instead of focusing on Gray's beautiful voice and the artistic photography in the video, many YouTubers of 2020 instead went into hysterics over the fact that she's--GASP!--smoking cigarette in the video!

Personally, I find it far more troubling that she's gone to the beach in her underwear... but then I'm not prone to hysterical outrage over every little thing. Here's Gray's beautiful cover, as well as her new video to go along with it.



Here's the original video and Chris Isaak's original song. Personally, I find that I prefer Daisy Gray's version, but take a listen/look and tell me what you think.

The Return of the Tuba Tooter

The Tuba Tooter (1932)
Starring: Uncredited Voice Actors and Singers
Directors: John Foster and George Stallings
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

The whole city celebrates, with Tom and Jerry leading the festivities, when famous tuba player Schultz returns to his hometown in Germany.

"The Tuba Tooter" is one of the best "Tom and Jerry" cartoons. It's got the catchy music that most of them have (I find myself humming the main song, "Schultz is Back Again", as I type these words), it's got some cute bits... but, more importantly than almost anything, the animators seem to have actually put in the time and effort to move this from merely good to excellent. All the characters in any given scene are moving, very few are in obvious loops, and the backgrounds are detailed and also animated in some cases. If this much care had gone into all the installments in this series, maybe it wouldn't be a mostly forgotten relic and commercial failure.

(The rest of my review swerves into "spoiler territory" as I comment on the ending. As is my habit with these "Tom and Jerry" posts, I invite you to watch the subject I am commenting on. In case you want to enjoy the wacky cuteness without me ruining the fun by overthinking it, I am embedding the cartoon right here. My comments continue afterwards.)



As good a job as the Van Beuren crew did on this outing, it wouldn't be "Tom and Jerry" if they didn't drop the ball in some kind of major way. In this case, following five minutes viewers watching cheerful and/or surreal scenes of an community setting aside differences and coming together in celebration of music and the musician who creates it, the police show up, break up the celebration, and arrest Schultz. There's no logical reason for this that I can see--even if authorities were upset with the noise, I would think they'd appreciate that everyone in the city--including those who should be fighting or preying upon each other like dogs and cats and mice--are united in harmony and love of Schultz's music. Perhaps I'm naïve, or perhaps I don't understand the totalitarian mindset that is probably being mocked with this film's ending, but I just can't wrap my mind around how it fits in with what has gone before. The police officers even appear to be sad that they are arresting Schultz, based on the look on their faces as they drive away with him. (And yet, Tom and Jerry are as cheerful with Schultz being hauled off as they were with him coming back...).

Perhaps I'm just looking for meaning where there is not--this IS a "Tom and Jerry" cartoon after all. Maybe I would have been better off just enjoying the spectacle of a singing dog and his tuba-tooting owner who can bring everyone together in harmony. (Well, until a bunch of sad-faced cops break it all up...)

Saturday Serial: Jenna of the Jungle

Continuing Don Hudson's "Jenna of the Jungle" (and including a random bonus jungle girl afterwards). Click on any panel for a larger version, and come back next Saturday for Part Nine.


JENNA OF THE JUNGLE: PART EIGHT
By Don Hudson

To Be Continued...


   Girls of the Jungle

By Dave Stevens

Firearms Friday with Brigitte Bardot

Born in 1934, Brigitte Bardot was in her teens and training to be a ballet dancer when she, over her parents objections, turned to fashion- and photo-modeling. Around that same time, also over her parents objections, she began dating a much older man. She soon turned to acting, and by the early 1950s, she was well on her way to being one of Europe's most celebrated movie stars... and known for her roles as sexually liberated women. And, yes, you guessed it... it was over her parents' objections.

By the dawn of the 1960s, Bardot was a world-renowned actress. Over the next decade or so, she appeared in a range of genres opposite a galaxy of top American, British, and French male film stars, while also launching a successful musical career. In 1973, just shy of her 40th birthday, she retired from acting and performing, still at the height of fame.

Since retiring from show business, Bardot has devoted the past several decades to animal rights activism, and the Brigitte Bardot Foundation for the Welfare and Protection of Animals remains one of the world's leading forces in the animal rights movement.

It's early movie magic with 'The Magician'

The Magician (1898)

Starring: Georges Méliès

Director: Georges Méliès

Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

An old magician (Méliès) turns himself into a young clown... and then things get really weird.

"The Magician" is one of groundbreaking filmmaker's Georges Méliès early efforts, and it's more of a vignette than a proper short film. As with many of his efforts, it's made primarily to be a magic show up on film, creating the illusions primarily with in-camera film editing and other trick photography instead props and sleight-of-hand. I usually find those to be among the least interesting of Méliès' efforts, but there's an exception to every rule... and this is that exception.

As is my habit with these Méliès reviews, I'm embedding the film I'm talking about in this post. Unlike my usual habit, it's going to be here in the middle instead of at the end, because I'm going to "spoil" the film with the comments that follow. (Watch it now if you want to watch the surprises unfold as Méliès intended, and then continue reading below.)

As I've already mentioned, "The Magician" is one of those plot-free offerings where Méliès is mostly (and joyously) showing off his special effects trickery, using stage magic as his point of departure. and However, it's slightly more interesting than most of them.

First, the trick photography effects here are executed with amazing precision, especially taking into account how early this film comes from, both in Melies time as a filmmaker and the art of filmmaking in general.

Secondly, because he includes elements of fantasy here. As this vignette unfolds, we watch a gray-bearded wizard turn himself into a young, starving harlequin. He is then transformed by an artist by the devil--an artist who creates living sculptures whom he falls in love with. Ultimately, the devil returns and, literally, kicks his ass. And that's where it ends.

 And with that sudden non-ending ending (the devil kicks the artist, he flies off-camera... and we have no wrap-up or even a hint as to what happened to the magician ultimately), it occurred to me that maybe there IS a plot in this film. Maybe it's a story about an old man who tries to recapture his youth through magic, but as he relives his life and grows from a foolish child into a worldly man, the devil and even death--and final oblivion--catch up with him anyway.

I could be reading something into this film that's not there--sort of like a cloud might look like a dragon, or an ink blot test might look like two men with hammers--but maybe it's the exact story/message that Méliès was trying to convey. What do you think out there? What's your take on "The Magician"?

Musical Monday with OMD

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (or just OMD) is a British band whose focus has mostly been on synthesizers-driven pop  music. They achieved great popularity in the 1980s and early 1990s, disbanding in 1996 and reforming ten years later in 2006. They continue to crisscross the globe on tours to this day, wowing audiences everywhere they play.

In 1991, OMD recorded one of their greatest songs, "Pandora's Box". The title was drawn from a 1929 silent movie, and the song was a touching tribute to that film's star, Louise Brooks. These facts, plus the spectacular video made to support the song on its release--with all of its genuine footage of Brooks interwoven with new material of OMD front man Andy McCluskey engaging in Louise Brooks-oriented scrap-booking--makes it a perfect selection for our Musical Monday series here at Shades of Gray. We hope you enjoy this beautiful song and masterfully crafted video.


Pandora's Box (1991)
Starring: Andy McCluskey and Louise Brooks
Director: Andrew Doucette
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars