Flintlock Burnfur

The History of Seven Years of Blood - International Women's Day and Girls With Guitars - In December of 2019, Kerrang! published an interview with the women of Seven Years of Blood, focusing on Dominique, Jacqueline and Raven, but also including snippets with Michelle. The titled interview was dubbed "Girls With Guitars." For Dominique, the title felt like a slap in the face, and in January of 2020 she remarked on it. The feeling was shared by the other the women in the band, and after discussions behind closed doors, Jacqueline decided on a way to answer. On March 8, 2020, International Women's Day, Jacqueline, Dominique, Michelle and Raven announced that the four of them would be forming a third band with just the women of Seven Years of Blood. Calling themselves Secord, after Laura Secord who is a heroic figure in Canadian history during the War of 1812. They released their debut album to high acclaim. With Jacqueline and Dominique sharing vocal duties, their music was still harder edge, but more akin to Veruca Salt, Hole, Melissa Auf Der Maur and Bif Naked. The debut album received as much reaction as it was reactionary. With alt-right groups decrying the album and the formation of the band itself, Michelle joked that the reviews from the alt-right were some of the best promotions they could ever get. Even the album title was a reactionary one. But "Make Your Own F**kin' Sandwich" ended up on the top ten of several charts. Jacqueline stated in a press release that sales of the album would go to support several women's groups throughout Canada and the United States as well as backing groups such as NoDAPL and BLM. Jacqueline's reasoning was simple enough. During October, November and early December of 2020, as Seven Years of Blood finished their fifth album title "Red Side, Blue Side" in studio, the four women began preparations for Secord's second album. Titled "Keep The Apron," the album would drop in March of 2021.

New update to Brentwood! The ball diamond is almost complete.

The latest addition to Brentwood. And now, everyone can have this in their head.

And here's part 2!

In the same tradition of Myst Have I've made another "village" style base called Brentwood. Nestled between Kings Row and Brickstown, Brentwood has a larger population than Myst Have (about 250) of 2600. Currently working on different shops such as an automotive shop, a bank, ice cream shop (because yes, there needs to be an ice cream shop), a recreation facility with basketball court and baseball diamond, and a few other shops. Here's what I've got so far. As I only have a limited space to post pics, this is part one! Part two is coming!

I think they mean that both Veelectric and the team leader set off their LRT at the same time.

Comparing pvp with getting exploration badges are two very different time sinks. What you're just explaining is that you're too lazy to get exploration badges.

@ForeverLaxx what I was getting at really was the time sink that's involved in getting those exploration badges. By level 50, it shouldn't take any time at all, really. This morning I took my level 26 stalker through IP to get badges and it only took 12 minutes. At higher levels, that should take less time. And even with the base portals in more convenient locations, one can easily slip into a base and move onto some zone they might not have. And getting access to a base shouldn't be hard, there's tons of bases with base codes listed in the base builder's section. For example, FISHINGHOLE-13711 or MYSTHAVEN-16373 are two bases I have made which have teleporters to each zone in the game (outside of Praetoria, and Myst Haven doesn't have Shadow Shard portals). Myst Haven also has an ice cream shop, so that's a bonus.

Let's talk about grindy for a second, because a lot of people are talking about how "grindy" it is getting exploration badges (which, it really isn't). Yesterday, I went with my stalker into Striga Isle. Never been there before with her. My sole intention was to get the Atlas Medallion Accolade power. All I needed was the Silver Bullet and Slayer badges. I had everything else already. Taking out 200 warwolves and 200 vampyre took about two and a half hours. During that time, I also got every exploration badge and history plaque in Striga. Did that at the start. That took me all of five minutes. Literally, five minutes as opposed to two and a half hours taking out warwolves and vampyre. My character going into Striga was level 23. Came out of Striga at level 25. The badges gave me a bit of xp, whereas taking out 400 enemies got me two levels (and, aside from the eight exploration badges, one history badge, an exploration accolade badge and the two needed for the Atlas Medallion, I walked out of Striga with four additional badges for taking damage, dealing damage, getting mez'd and the gladiator Omega Wolf). What I'm getting at is the exploration badges weren't a grind as opposed to taking out 200 warwolves and 200 vampyre. Fighting those enemies was grind.

Stalkers are the best for that. Level 1, head to the tram, hit Talox and then onto Peregrin Island. Without having to fight a thing. It's the best!

I've always been a badge collector in this game, now and back on live. And I honestly don't know why people think it's a grind, yet they don't complain about plowing through hordes of Council for hours on end. Sure, I pretty much know where every badge is without Vidiotmaps help, but I still go to each and still get a memory sparked from getting to the southern most badge in Kings Row or the badge to the east of the Icon in Steel Canyon. I have good memories of just finding badges from back on live, and I'm making new discoveries now that HC has brought it back. And there's stuff here in Paragon and the Rogue Isles (and Praetoria, sure) that I have honestly missed back on Live, and I've run across it now. It's like playing Skyrim for the umpteenth time, and discovering there was a quest in one location that throughout every other playthrough you've never done. It's refreshing and brings new life to things. I'm very much more of a casual player, and while I play casually, I still trick out my toons so they can survive and fight. And I've done pretty darn well with my two level 50s (and three more who are quickly making the trek to that level cap). Badge hunting is just a part of that entire gaming experience. Atlas Park is a breeze to get all the badges for. By the time you hit Kings Row, you should have a travel power. Skyway City may be the more challenging of the zones to collect badges in, but I always collected them in Skyway as part of completing missions in that zone. My mission's here at this door and there's two exploration badges and a plaque nearby, gonna pick 'em up. The changes to the way we all teleport are entirely fine as far as I'm concerned. I never used them that often unless I had to go through a base. And any time I needed to go through a base during a mission sweep involved going to the base teleporter in the zone, not using the /ebfp command line. I've said previously that I have used it, but that was to show off base construction. There's a lotta things to see in this game, and just teleporting around without actually exploring tends to miss a lot.

And the powers are in the context menu. Just... mmmmm, not gonna say anything about.... nope.

Never once said they weren't. You should read what I said. There are still those powers, but now tied to ONE button on the power tray. Whereas before you had three (or more). But now, there's one power that contains all the other powers. So no, we don't agree, because you apparently didn't read what I said.

No one said that the powers in the context menu didn't have to be earned. They totally do have to be earned. But once they're earned, they're on the context menu (or menu of other buttons).

But it is ONE BUTTON on the tray. And there's a context menu! That's what it is!

How is that oversimplifying? That's exactly what entails with the power. Yes, you have to get the Ouro portal, the Pocket D portal and the Base one. That hasn't changed. No one's handing them out like candy. But you can get Ouro at level 1 now instead of level 14. And once you get it, everything is in one power and a context menu. Each of your portals is listed in the context menu. And once you've collected badges from zones, those zones are accessible in the LRT. Everything on the context menu is pretty clear as to what it's used for. Don't have team teleport? That's fine, you had to buy one at the P2W before anyway, and you're buying one now which gets added to the context menu. Get an Ouro portal, that's on the context menu. Pocket D, on the context menu with all the other zones under LRT. Everything is pretty much spelled out in the context menu.

I do exactly this. And now with base portals in hazard zones like the Hollows or Perez Park, I can get to my base with ease so I can go to a contact in Peregrine Island without having to zone to Steel Canyon, take the tram to Talos and hit the ferry to Peregrine. Or even zone to Steel, hit the base portal and then onto Peregrine. Now there's one step less (two steps if you go by the first example). It's awesome, and make for quick travel from one place to another, as opposed to what we had before. Not all zones are hard to get to, but this will definitely make it easier, plus you don't have to activate the Teleport to Base power in a hazard zone anymore. But you're not juggling more than one power. It's just one power, with a context menu. Whereas before the changes, it was several different powers that ended up cluttering you trays. With Ouro, Pocket D, the Base Teleporter all taking up their own slot in the tray, it meant juggling powers around just to make those teleporters fit. Now, there's one power, and you not only have access to Ouro, Pocket D and your base with convenience, but you've also got access to every zone in the game, which we did not have before.

Maybe it's the fact that I'm 50 years old, but I just don't find the changes made to the way you teleport to a base that big a deal. I kinda like 'em, and to be honest I would walk to a base porter before using the exploit (there's been a couple of times I used the exploit, but often that was to show off a base when I wasn't on with a character that was in that SG). Overall, I don't mind the changes. The only real issues I had was with A) teleport abilities in Mystic Flight and Speed of Sound and both of those still work as before B) the fact that Myst Haven has Echo: Galaxy City as a teleport point and all I need to do is remove that one C) the teleport travel power and I quickly respecced outta that one.

Ah, so he would have celebrated back in October... wait, do British have Thanksgiving in October as we Canadians do? I think the set up of colours is great.

It still works, in a fashion, you just need to be at a base portal to use it. Back on live, there wasn't even that option at the base portal. It was just your base and any SGs in coalition.

I'd dare say Ouro needed the investment of being at least level 14, which now you can get at level 1. I'm all for encouraging exploration, which is what the LTR really does. And packing all the teleport powers into one menu seems far more simple than having your Wentworth's transporter, base teleport power, Pocket D teleporter and Ouro portal all taking up slots on the power tray bar. It's now in one location, which is far more simple than the clutter that it was.

Or click on the base portal and there should be an option in that menu I'd wager. As far as putting the Ouro and Pocket D portals in a menu, thank god! I can finally get those things off my powers bars. I'm assuming the Teleport to Base temp power from logging off in the base would end up here as well?

Highwayman's Rock - 150 kilometers off the coast of North Carolina Things were going to shit fast. Alysia McBride hadn't thought the Circle of Thorns would want their island back so badly, but they did and they were here. She just had enough time to get the employees out of the Rebel's Helm and to the speed boats before a conflagration of mage fire destroyed the building. How did things go so wrong? She'd have to figure that out later. For now, her only concern was getting everyone out. By boat, by helicopter, or by the Vanguard teleportation grid. She already knew the Midnighters were working as fast as they could in transporting the mystical objects recovered from the washed up pirate ship. But everything else, the garden, the house, her magical trophy room, all of it might have to be lost. Alysia jumped over the hedge rows near the quiet little gazebo at the back of her house and watched as a blast of mage fire destroyed the glass walls. "Well fook!" she hissed out and took a deep breath. "Was just gettin' used ta seein' star light at night." Her thoughts were diverted as she heard the barking of a dog. "Howitzer!" she called out and was soon met with an excited, bounding German Shepard. She took to her knees to give the dog a good petting and a hug. "At least yer still here, lad. Good boy. Now we haveta get out o' here. An' quick like." As she turned, faithful dog at her heels, they were met with the appearance of four mages and three guides. "Alysia McBride," one of the mages called out. "Now it is time for you to pay for your disservice to us. We shall reclaim this island, and send you to the depths." "Like hell," she sneered. Howitzer began to growl in response as he crouched low, ready to pounce. Alysia drew her pistols as her eyes began to glow with blue fire. "I'm not goin' down without a fookin' fight." Central London, one day earlier, MI-5 Headquarters The director of the overseas branch of MI-5 took her seat at the head of a long conference table. She was surrounded by a gathering of technicians, intelligence officers, and other responsible for bringing new recruits into the fold. "Good morning, gentlemen," she said as she slipped on her glasses. A gentleman nearby placed a tea cup and saucer in front of the director, to which she nodded her appreciation. She took a sip and sighed, letting a small smile cross her face. "Earl Grey, a good start to the morning." With that, she focused her attention to those gathered. "Reports for this morning?" "We have located and apprehended the Russian hackers involved in the 2016 Presidential election, ma'am," one of the intelligence operatives said as he brought up a dossier on a large view screen in the conference room. "All alive and counted for." "Their equipment?" "Recovered," the operative stated with a firm nod. "Old mid 1990s computer technology was used as the primary systems." "Of course it was," the director said with a sigh. "New technology can't be relied upon to recognize an older system. Let's keep that in storage and wave in the Russian president's face whenever he comes out of his hole to threaten the world, shall we. Anything else?" "Lord Recluse is making the standard moves in the Rogue Isles," one of the operatives spoke up as he opened a manila folder. "It seems he has been sending his... minions into an area of Paragon City called Dark Astoria. There is a large conflux of magical energy that has been detected there." "The rising of Mot, yes I am aware of this," the director stated with a nod. "Keep our field agents informed and ensure that they continue to observe. So far the only good news out of that situation is the destruction of the Knives of Artemis." "Speaking of the Knives of Artemis, ma'am," another agent as he motioned to a man standing near the doorway. "We have made contact and brought in a person of interest." The director perked an eyebrow and motioned for the agent to continue. The agent nodded to the man, and he opened the door, waving his fingers as though motioning for someone to come in. A woman entered the room, still dressed in the garb of the former Knives of Artemis, though the patches on her arms had been ripped off quite a few years before. "Sister White," the director said with a smile. "I don't use that name anymore," the woman stated flatly. "Indeed," the director said as a man handed her a manila folder. The director opened it, reading through it as she spoke. "Marianne Wallcott, born in Manchester, England. Your father has done great work for the Labour Party. I wonder what he would think of you working for a band of mercenaries." "I doubt he would think very much of it," Wallcott replied in an even tone. "Though, I do not work for a band of mercenaries anymore." "No, I suppose you don't. You trade that in to live in a standing of warehouses in Port Oakes," the director sat back as she took off her glasses and looked directly at Marianne. "Above a small city in an abandoned sewer system. My, how the mighty have fallen." "Your agents took care of that, as it would happen," Wallcott replied with the hint of disgust in her voice. "What happened to the people? The children?" "They've been taken care of," the director replied. "Relocated throughout the British Empire. The children placed in orphanages in Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom. They'll be looked after. But that is of little consequence. We actually have need of you." Marianne scoffed as she let her emotions show. "You really want me to trade in one band of mercenaries for another." "Miss Wallcott," the director said as she sat forward in her chair. "You'll be working for Queen and country." Wallcott just stared at the director. "At present, our agents in the field have observed the movements of an organization called the Circle of Thorns." "I am familiar with them, yes." "Good," the director said with a nod. "It would seem they would like some of their property back. I'm sure you are equally familiar with a small island chain in international waters off the coast of North Carolina. You aided a person called..." an operative was at the ready to bring information up on the screen in the conference room. A photograph appeared, picturing Marianne Wallcott in her gear next to a woman in red hair who was carrying a pair of pistols. "Alysia McBride. Also known as the Ballistic Witch." The director paused as though to give Wallcott a chance to respond, but none came. "It seems the Circle of Thorns wants their island back. They're about to make a move on the island." "Forgive me, Director. But how exactly does this concern me?" "You helped Miss McBride before," the director stated as she sat forward in her chair, fingers steepled together. "You are going to do it again. You are going to bring Miss McBride into the fold." "She's Irish," Wallcott said. "She'll hate the idea." "Well, no one's perfect," the director stated with a small smile as a murmur of laughter ran through the room. "You have less than 24 hours to reach the island. Before then, you must find and destroy five soul gems. They are connected to this man." The director picked up a remote and a new picture showed up on the console. "Magus Envertus. He is leading the group that is attacking Highwayman's Rock. You will lead a team to find the soul gems and destroy them. Any and all Thorns are to be dealt with quickly and quietly. Once you have achieved that, you will go to Highwayman's Rock, retrieve Miss McBride and all her intel she has gathered over the past few months. And then you will bring her here." "For what purpose?" "For Queen and Country, Miss Wallcott," the director replied as she sat back in her chair, raisin her tea cup. "For Queen and Country." Highwayman's Rock - present day A mage's duel is never a pretty sight. But Alysia was finding she was holding her own against Envertus. So much so that she completely ignored everything else around her. Her pistols hung in the air, shooting instinctively as they were imbued with a very specific spell. Howitzer was dealing with any stragglers, taking them down with ease. Alysia didn't hear the churning of the chopper blades behind her, the only indication she had was the sudden retreating of the other guides, thorn mages and spectres. And then, they were quickly dealt with. She heard the sound of rapid gunfire, and watched as Envertus fell to the ground, his leg bleeding profusely. Alysia stopped casting her spells as she looked to Envertus. The mage was attempting to activate a spell that would send his soul to a new body. And another gunshot rang out. "We won't be doing that today, Envertus." a woman called out as she stepped beside Alysia. Sudden realization filled Alysia's eyes as she recognized Sister White. Wordlessly, Wallcott handed Alysia a package. "There's a soul gem inside. I think you know what to do." Alysia ripped the package open, holding the precious soul gem in her hands. Destroying these items of power was difficult at best, but fortunately Alysia had studied just how to do it. The gem floated between her hands as her eyes glowed more brilliantly with magical blue flames. Envertus just watched as the soul gem began to crack and break, finally shattering with the pressure placed upon it. "So ends the story of the great Magus Envertus," Wallcott said in the most unimpressed way possible before taking her Walther PPK and firing a bullet through the mage's head. She kicked the body once out of habit, nudging it to see if there was some life left. Satisfied there wasn't Wallcott holstered her pistol and turned to Alysia. "Come on, then. We have places to be." Alysia watched as armoured and armed men rushed to the hovering helicopter, each of them holding pieces of Alysia's life here on the island. Computers, tablets, tomes. Even her coffee pot and collection of Arachnos mugs she'd acquired. "What the bloody fuck is goin' on?" Wallcott held up a badge before Alysia. It read MI-5. "We have business to discuss. There are people who wish to have your services." "And just why exactly would I wish ta work fer the British government?" "Oh, it's not the British government, Miss McBride," Wallcott said as she placed a hand carefully but firmly on Alysia's arm. "It's for Queen and Country." The above was written as inspiration from the following.

Made some spooky interiors for the mausoleums in Myst Haven. They can be found in the Moth Cemetery pretty much dead (pardon the pun) centre of town. There's one small interior and one larger one that has spooky shadow doggos guarding a defiled crypt. Both the Moth Cemetery and the Amish cemetery on the outskirts of town have spectral ghosties hovering around the graves. Will be adding the village lockup and drunk tank under the Myst Haven Police Department next. Long term plan, underground sewer system. Check it out at MYSTHAVEN-16373

My apologies, I forgot that. It's on Everlasting.