TerroirNoir3

Ah. No it wasn't 100% clear to me. That is probably on me though. I read it more like Engineria and her team had entered the building and then been staggering through the missions with her memory fogged to hell, not sure how she got there and hearing the voice through her headset. It's why I never mentioned the contact at all. I think it worked though! And I had to reread my post to find the Yeats thing! I see it now. Sadly that was not intentional 😞

The next arc on "TerroirNoir's Cable Channel of AE" Reviews will be part of the Interludes, Side Trips, and One-offs, and is @LordRassilon (@Valeyard on the AE console)'s Heart of Words Part One. After some serious decompression and off-loading some of my weirder jobs to Araminta (ask her about her virtual time travel to Praetoria some time!), I finally got around to meeting up with Professor Skeffington Lewis. Well, I grabbed a coffee on the way out after picking up my armor from Icon. All buffed out! Mission 1: A Race for Answers. Professor Lewis works for C.A.B.A.L. Oh, another one of those. You know, I always thought there surely must be more than just the ones we see in City Hall. And here we are. He and his team scour the planet for arcane artifacts and relics, making sure that they are kept out of the hands of...the unworthy? Hmm. Okay then. Who decides the worthiness? You do. Hokay. I bet you butt heads with the Midnight Squad on your travels, not to mention the...what are those British ones called again? Dawn Patrol? Possibly. Ok, Professor, what's the deal here? Psychics are falling into comas? Anything to do with the amount of Awakened trooping around Kallisti Wharf these days? No? And the more powerful ones, Numina, Penny Yin, are so far untouched. So people my level (according to my security status with City Hall I mean! I'm no psychic!) The comatose are registering no synaptic activity at all, as if they were truly emptied of consciousness. Ok, that's weird. And you've...with an 8 Ball?...narrowed it down to a building in Boomtown. Ah man. Boomtown. Well, at least it's not Crey's Folly or the sewers. I have learned to really hate getting my feet wet when working. So I get the address. Not that that does much good. I'll have to take a detour to City Hall to get the old maps of Baumton to get an idea of the area. As I head out the door he mentions I should look for a potted plant. And to think I thought I handed off the weird cases to Araminta! Well, here I am. Boomtown. No sign of Council War Walkers or Babbage so far, so that's a plus. In I go. Door isn't locked either. I stealth my way through the building, up some stairs and along a hallway until...ok, Clockwork. Not unusual considering I'm in Boomtown and I did just mention Babbage. And Lewis talked about Valkyrie fighting the Clockwork King near here. Wait, those voices. Turn up the gain on my headset. Crey. I can hear Crey Tank armor. And they're talking about the Countess and share prices? Dammit! I was so busy trying to hear what those Crey were saying I totally missed seeing the Clockwork patrol that I just walked into! Rads on and take that, you wind-up toy! Of course it all goes even further south when those two Crey tanks I was trying to eavesdrop on come around the corner and decide that, you know, I'm not welcome. Oh, I was feeling unwelcome BEFORE you two got here so don't think you're original in that! I do manage to drop the pair of them though. SOOO glad I had my armor repaired. It's like new! Now, where the hell were they going before they ran into me? Time to have a little scout around. Nope. Nope. Just lots of Clockwork intent on frying me. No thanks and down you go in bits, amigos. Wait, that looks interesting. What pray tell is down there? I decide to investigate, ridding the world of more Clockwork as I go. I think I've disassembled every single one I've met in this building so far. Which is fine, it's not like they're alive anyway. You know, I've been expecting a bigger Clockwork thing for a while now. I remember that from one of those courses Positron did for newbie heroes when I started out. Although he did spend a hot minute complaining that Synapse was supposed to be doing that one and he was just filling in. I have news for you, my clanky pal, you are going to be disappointed. Well, maybe your master is as I'm not sure emotion is a thing for you. Psychics and the Clockwork King? Yeah, that rings a bell. Object did you say? It's not a potted plant, is it? OW! This guy is one tough tin can! Hey buster! I literally just had this armor fixed so lay off on that, wouldja? Nope. Grind up the Rads then! And BOOM! Oh, and lemme just rip some speed and power from you with Kinetics. Kthnxby! JEEZ LOUISE! Will you drop already! He is wearing me down! I'm holding out against him but he's relentless. Still I hammer him with Rads and his health starts to slalom downhill rapidly. Thankfully for me because I'm clean out of Green Insps. Oh thank the stars! Whew! Okies. Now, where is that object he was talking about? Time to do a little spelunking. I find a pile of rubble nearby where the big guy had been standing before I interrupted him so rudely. And what have we here? Some sort of rune stone. I reckon this is the source of the psychic disturbance here. Time to head back to Professor Lewis and check in with him. The professor doesn't recognize the glyphs on the stone but he says he'll do some divination magic on it. In the meantime he has somewhere else for me to investigate. [Mission 1: Great start! Wacky contact (Read the bio!) with a mysterious yet entirely plausible organization for Paragon. Psychic and Clockwork. Good stuff! On to the next mission!] Mission 2: Old Enemies. [More ASAP]

Arc 26 from our second author on "TerroirNoir's Cable Channel of AE" Reviews is @cranebump's Fallout 3: Reassembly. This adventure continued on from my work with the Autumn Wards. It's tricky to explain and even now I'm not 100 percent sure how much of it actually happened and how much was a nightmare or a dream of something else. If you remember we had some issues with bleed over from what the Wards refer to as the Mobius Strip, and then it got hella meta. Lobart teamed up with an alternate version of his daughter, and we were aided by an alternate version of her mother, and in the end there was mention of someone standing behind all that. Someone with the code name of Papillon. Clear as mud. So we'd captured Lobart and in his files there was mention of Chrysalis, a comms app. The Wards traced all this to a location in Crey's Folly and there we ran into oddity. Yeah, oddity. I'll leave it like that. Mission 1: Zero to One. My team and I entered the abandoned Freak warehouse...well, we all entered the door but when I set foot on the other side I was alone. Already off to a good start! Oh boy. A grim place lit only by the light of braziers. Not exactly sure what the Freaks used to do here. Not sure I really want to know either. That might be mental bleach time. But there's a signal coming from somewhere in here. I just have to find the source. And there it is. It's oddly translucent, opaque, like it's not quite here. Oh hell, more bleed through from the Mobius Strip? Because that always goes well! OH! Well, maybe I should have expected that to happen. I didn't, but maybe I should have. Then another signal and another! The final one reveals that it's more of a holo-emitter. So anything in here while conjured from thin air, could have actually killed me. I had better not be complacent! Time to leave and have a think. Still no sign of my team. Were we all in separate realities in here? Each of us thinking we were abandoned and alone? We will see when I get out of this place. If I can get out of this place! [Mission 1 = Intriguing! A different start to what I was expecting but I'm all in now! Bring on the next mission!] Mission 2: Deep Work. A matrix constructed by another that I entered, that the whole team entered, but were kept apart in. All confusing. What next? An introduction to the Sacred Flame. Or a reintroduction perhaps. Dis tried to harness it but she was flawed in herself so it fell apart. Everything falls apart I'm told. And they had to shut it down but this guy I remember (Why is my memory so bad? is it because of that holo matrix or the so-called Sacred Flame? More Mobius Strip bleed? No idea) telling me that he was close. So yeah, he couldn't just let it go, could he? How did I get here? I really need to get some psi protection if possible. Who from though? I mean with all the Awakened in Kallisti Wharf these days surely someone in the Freedom Corps must be advising on how to defend yourself against that? You'd think that, wouldn't you? Or would you? Where the hell am I anyway? It looks like Eden. Oh that's not good at all. Emitters. I have to disable the emitters. Holo emitters I'm assuming. How do I know that? Got me there. I just know. I wish I'd brought Araminta with me. I think she's in Croatoa right now but I can't be certain. I think I'm back in my own timeline again too but again I can't be certain. All this not being certain is not conducive to investigation. Let's find those emitters and disable them and then see what happens. Ah, there we go. Arachnos style model it appears. Or the shell of it is at least. Oh, emitters plural. There's more of them. Hmm. My Nemesis? As in Engineria's nemesis? Rather than Capital N Nemesis? Do I have one of those? I don't think I do. Statesman/Lord Recluse, that sort of thing? Oh, I'm not the baby super I was once but I'm not on the level of having a nemesis yet. So, am I still in a holo scene or actually in Eden? Is this my memory or that of the maker of the holo scene? Am I overthinking all this? I might be. There's another emitter over there. Disguised this time. Ok, let's keep going on disabling them and see what happens. And another. And another. And finally this one. And with that they are all destroyed. Then I'm not there any more. I'm out. Where? I dunno. But that voice I keep hearing tells me I'm getting closer. As close as they got. I wonder is there a good therapist I can talk to later. Or now? Hero Corps probably has some on staff. I bet Whipsmart's people have one too. [Mission 2 = More opaque goodness. A very different style of AE, but intriguing. On to the next mission, if it really IS a mission!] Mission 3: The Undefeated Mind. I'm delusional. Memories that I am damn certain aren't mine flood in. How do I know? Because I know how old I am and what gender I identify as, and these are from an older, apparently male person. The age is the key though, plus expertise in things I know I as Engineria never had or learned. (I wonder if this is what it's like to be psychic? You imagine that it's all "Sister Psyche saves the world" when you're a kid, but what was it like for that young woman who maybe couldn't shut all the voices and memories out? How did she retain a sense of herself at all?) A name pops up. Tracee Deimos. Nope. I see a face and information flows in to attach to that image but the remaining bit of me that I recognize as me is also asking the question "Who?" She had a touch of the Sacred Flame but was pushed through a process to accelerate her power. I don't think she came out of it right. I'm definitely in need of a vacation. I might let Araminta handle a few of my cases going forward, although I still have some work booked with a Professor Skeffington Lewis, not to mention Buddy Bolton has more work for me and I'm not letting him down. Lobart was the key here. (How do I know that?) It seems that a virtual laboratory was needed (the holo scenes?) so that's what was built. What was built was the Chrysalis. Except things emerge from a chrysalis, don't they? Hmm, an overcast, almost bluish light to the sky, The kind you get on a rural road with no street lighting, and it's a dry summer night with a bright moon. Except I appear to be in Cap Au Diable. There's more emitters. These ones are disguised too. What happens when I shut them down. Am I lying somewhere in an AE suite with all this going on? What exactly happened to me after I got back to Earth from dealing with the Dark Comet? Ok, deal with the problem in front of you as my dad always said. Ok, one down. Let's find the others and see what's hidden by all these things. And I am almost instantly attacked by aerial drones and bots that are VERY intent on perforating my armor with lasers! Not good. I dive and swoop, pulling health from them with Kinetics and slowing them by stealing their speed. It barely works! Ok, after the last two excursions into what I've been calling the holo scene I got complacent. This is a wake up call. Also, I notice that when attacked I'm definitely ME. It's only when there's a period of calm that the influence of the implanted (I don't know if that's the right word) memories have a chance to work on my psyche. Adrenaline burns them out? Maybe. I'm still in here though so I'm not sure. More disguised emitters to find though. I'm definitely not my usual happy-go-lucky Engineria self right now though. Oh wonderful. There's someone IN the damn truck shooting at me. How does that even work? Or are they just sitting inside the emitter field and staring out? You know, like those hunters that sit for hours in a blind waiting for a target. That's that one down. Plus its defender. I take out a third and then somewhere there's a master control console that I need to find. I take to the air and start scanning and....CRAPPITY! ZOOM! As in AWAY! Oh, they follow. Because of course they do! I'm trailing smoke from my armor and my endurance is bottoming out. Can't seem to rip any from them at all, and I'm out of Blues. Finally I finish off the last of those flying bomb things and destroy the console. And then I'm out of this place. But the Chrysalis has cracked. Ah, how stupid am I? PAPILLON!! [Mission 3 = This entire arc so far is steeped in mood and tone, and I might be repeating myself there. I really like it but it's very different.] Mission 4: The Hard Thing About Hard Things. A mad dream about Unity. The creator of the chrysalis and Papillon combined to create something new. Honestly I'm going to need a week off after I figure out what the hell is going on here. I hope my insurance will cover it! All you non supers, let me tell you that unless you're Manticore or someone like that, being a super is expensive and I'm not just talking about getting yourself new enhancements. There's that name surfacing again, Tracee Deimos. Nope, still don't know who they are or were, other than things went BAD for them. Are they going to go bad for me? We'll see. Papillon has fused many aspects within itself to become what it is now, and it has reached across the dimensions and will seek to "upgrade" everyone, whether they want it or not. And then? Don't like the sound of that at all. Engineria 2.0 fighting in some sort of war world for supremacy? Nope. I'm cutting that right out. Check utility belt. Buddy and Marcus on call. If they're even really here. But if I'm here why can't they be here? Let's go with that hope for now. I find myself in an office/lab space. And ahead of me, finally, is one of my team! Not seen them since...however long this has taken. It could be days, it could be minutes. No way to measure time. Experience, yes. Time passed? Nope. I proceed to free them. I can't even remember their name! Oh, there's gonna be a reckoning at the end of all of this! Get out and get help. Hopefully we're not in Crey's Folly or somewhere equally awful. Further ahead I find another team mate. At least they're alive. I suppose that's a silver lining. It's a GOOD silver lining but those clouds are still hanging over us. I free them, and then another member in an adjoining room. Every step is taking me closer to the fiend behind all this, this Papillon person. If it is a person. From the mysterious voice over I've been getting I'm not so sure anymore. Oh. Johann Parker. Not seen him since...Chalikar? I think we were hunting those back then. He was a bit squirrelly even then I have to admit. Squirrelly or not he's one of us so I wade in and start cutting down his captors. These guys really do not like me. And I've not had time to repair my armor so I'm getting hammered here. However, you are still going down, mon brave! Parker! Are you ok? Wait. Your voice. It's you! You're the one I've been hearing this entire time. How is that possible? Also, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE? He collapses without explaining further. Only one way to end this he said. So, take out Papillon then? Ah. Is THAT Papillon? I think I'm gonna call in Marcus on this. No offence to Buddy at all. BOOM! Well, I hit him at least. Now we've got him angry. Maybe. Does he get angry? Or is it just a calculation where he assesses the danger and removes it? The "it" in that equation being me. Let's find out. Is that your only wish? Mine is for a nice hot bath and a glass of wine and a good book. Betcha I get mine first, buster. Hit him, Marcus! Nope, old Marcus here is known for not complying. Not quite his calling card, but it's pretty high up the list of things he doesn't do. And he's got you facing away from me so you're getting as much Rads as I can hand out. Either we take you down or I burn out my gauntlets. (Gotta do some serious work on these things later!) And he goes down. Not without incident. I've never seen Marcus reeling before. Oh, he's vanished when I get taken down, that's part of the deal with the amulet I'm told. But to still be upright and so injured? Nope. Not much better myself. Ok, counter intuitively, Marcus, we need to find some more of these guys so I can heal us by ripping out their health and transferring it to us. C'mon. And we do that. Feeling a mite better I open up a console and check it for details. In it we find Parker's confession. And a warning to leave fast because there's a self destruct about to happen! Go go go, Marcus! Say, you couldn't like pick me up and fly me out of here? Like in the old cartoons? No. Ok, run! There's the door! No, I don't know what the timer is set for but I'm not waiting around to find out! And I'm out. The rest of the team are recovering. I'm going home. No debrief given here because MAJOR SPOILERS. [Mission 4 = Great ending to a thoughtful arc. Loved it.] Verdict. @cranebump is an author that ventures into narrative spaces that others don't and I think the AE is better for it. It's a delicate balancing act yet they pull it off. My biggest issue is trying to find a mode of recording it here that (a) doesn't spoiler things and (b) shows how Engineria would experience it rather than me as a player at one remove. Definitely recommended. Next up from @cranebump is The Bounce House. And immediately next up on "TerroirNoir's Cable Channel of AE" Reviews as part of the Interludes, Side Trips, and One-offs, will be @LordRassilon (@Valeyard on the AE console)'s Heart of Words Part One. AFTERMATH: Engineria recounts her adventure to Araminta. Armor is being repaired!

Going to post this because it's the season! Happy Halloween everyone! Love, Araminta.

Araminta's Adventures. Hello gang! Araminta here. I generally have a quieter life than Engineria, what with still reading through a lot of material salvaged from Praetoria. When that that is converted to AE data by Neil over in Steel Canyon then I'm going to have a look at it properly. Having just come back though from checking out a zombie invasion I check my messages to find one from the mayor of Salamanca over in Croatoa, Gordon Bower. I've only been out to Croatoa once or twice so far. Seems lovely but I tend not to drag the girls around open countryside because I then spend hours scraping dirt out of the metal. But I won't refuse a call for help. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Headless Huntsman of Salamanca by @Jiro Ito Mission 1: A Call From the Mayor's Office. So I get the train out to Salamanca and head over to the town hall. No sign of Gordon Bower though. I meet Councilman Larry Vaughn instead. He tells me that my services aren't needed and I can just turn around and go home and take my robots with me. Suspicious much? I don't like how this is going. He insists though and I leave. I decide to have a look around Salamanca myself while I'm here. What's Vaughn gonna do, arrest me? He's a Councilman, not the police. He's not even the mayor. Let's have a wander around. And I'm glad I did! Down one street I can see a Mr. Polk held captive by the Tuatha! Those creatures look as big as some of the Council Soldiers! Or the Council Soldiers are on some steroid to make them as big as the Tuatha! Both are much bigger than me is what I am trying to say! Well, I'm going to rescue him. C'mon ladies! Everyone lock and load! Ok, these Tuatha are tough. I was thrown across the street at one point! But the girls took them down all the same. Now, Mr. Polk, are you ok? A headless ghost you say? That's a new one for me. Just the one headless ghost? No accompanying ghostless head? No. Ok. Ok, I've read a lot of the news reports that have come out of Croatoa over the years and I really shouldn't be surprised that a headless ghost would appear here of all places. Nor should anyone else really. But there are other citizens in trouble so me and the girls go looking for them. If this is what Larry Vaughn calls normal then I don't want to live here. Coming around a corner in Salamanca we run into a similar situation as Mr. Polk, except this time it's a Mr. Posner. Ok, girls, you know what to do now. Let's get to rescuing! We free him and he claims that the headless ghost drew all the other creatures here. Ah. Well, I don't know what to do about that. Yet! All I can do right now is save the rest of the citizens currently being terrorized by the Tuatha. Oh hello, who are you? Scruffy. And you are? Oh! Sorry. I was just about to offer you a treat. I keep a small supply in one of Laura's utility boxes. Oh you still want one? Ok. So Scruffy here is a shapeshifted member of the Midnight Squad. They heard the commotion and came outside to help. Nice to meet you, Scruffy. What say you and me work together here? There we go, Scruffy! Mrs. Kintner is our last rescuee! And Scruffy, I know you're a professional and all but don't run in front of the girls when they're firing. Hang on Mrs. Kintner, we're coming! So yeah. Mrs. Kintner reaffirms the whole deal about a headless ghost. The streets seem clear. For now. Scruffy vanishes off in the direction of the university. I've been meaning to have a look at their library actually. They have lots of books that haven't been digitized yet and some that they claim can't be digitized. I head back into the town hall and Larry Vaughn meets me at the door and once again tries to get rid of me! Says there no such creature as a headless ghost here and even if there is, well I must have brought it with me! What? In some sort of vacuum thermos? On the train? You're either hiding something or you're an idiot. Or...I finish the thought outside. Or you're really scared and there's more to this than a headless ghost. Hmm. C'mon girls, let's go sit at the train station and have a think. [Mission 1 = Simple mission but very well executed. I really liked the concept of the bait and switch with the contact and having a contact that really doesn't want you there.] Mission 2: Children of the Pumpkin Patch. So after some thinking I head back to the town hall and Vaughn is almost surprised I'm still in Salamanca. He has some words for me on that! Then he gets frustrated and admits that yes there's rumors of some sort of creature in town. Something without a head. I let the next comment ride because the people here need my help more than Vaughn needs Laura to hang him out the top window by his ankles. And then he tells me again to get lost. I tell him I want to speak to the mayor but apparently Mayor Bower is with the Agricultural Committee and is busy. Then there's some more hate from Vaughn concerning "city folks". Whatever. Girls, we're going looking for the mayor. Very countryside here. All seems passably quiet until I see some Fir Bolg over in the pumpkin patch. Field? How big is a patch supposed to be anyway? They look like they crawled up out around their bigger siblings, and that's a scary thought! Like the actual pumpkins are sleeping bigger Fir Bolg! And it turns out that maybe it's exactly as scary as it sounds because Keri makes some beepity noises and I turn around in the pumpkin patch to see....yeah, I am NOT going over there. Engineria might be mad enough to tackle Eochai by herself but I sure as hell ain't gonna! Time to do some circling. Looks like the Agricultural Commission may be on temporary lunch break right now if that monster is stalking the farmlands hereabouts! But I've got some company again! And this time I dig out the treats! Hey Scruffy, over here! Let's go find Mayor Bower! So Scruffy joins us and fits right in with the girls, and I am really gonna have to dig out the wire brushes and cleaning solution once we get out of this place. Mud in all the vents. First up we find a Mr. Walters. I reckon he's one of the Commissioners. Yep, you saw the Headless Huntsman. Did you see the mayor? Hey, come back here! He's gone. But that doesn't matter because after carefully navigating my way around the spot where Eochai is standing, doing whatever things like him do - hey, I'm not gonna just go and ask him - we find the mayor. We rescue him and he hightails it out of there. As he leaves he says we have to talk because these attacks all began two weeks ago. So at the start of the October then. Interesting. There's still more members of the Agricultural Committee to find though. Can't leave them to the mercies of the Fir Bolg. There's a Mrs. Posner! Lock and load, girls! Scruffy, ah...you do you. Whatever works. Go Full Mailman on them if that's a thing. She's scared as hell and while delighted to be free runs off nearly hysterical. The Headless Huntsman brought this on us she says. You know, if it wasn't for the fact that Eochai is standing RIGHT OVER THERE, I'd be thinking there's a Scooby gang ending to all this. I'd prefer that actually. Easier to get "Old Man Smithers" in prison than a 12 foot incarnation of Halloween that can throw fireballs at you. Finally we rescue Mr. Borwood. He's adamant that Eochai didn't show up until after all this nonsense started. Well, that's the mayor and the committee accounted for. I want some explanations so I'm going back to the town hall. I collect the frightened mayor on the way back. [Mission 2 = Atmospheric! And I gave Eochai a poke AFTER I'd completed the mission and he very nearly one-shotted little Araminta! So I hit the exit button fast! Good stuff!] Mission 3: Season of the Witch. And why am I back talking to this moron Vaughn? Where's the mayor? Oh, Vaughn says good job on rescuing those people, but what about the Headless Huntsman? He doesn't exist probably. Maybe it's something made up by some outsider to cause panic in the country bumpkins! (I swear on Keri's shiny little head that I will hide your shoes, you idiot!) As for all this happening two weeks ago? Well, two weeks ago some of the land was put up for rezoning as commercial and that caused a fuss, but Vaughn doubts that had anything to do with a Headless Huntsman. (It's you, isn't it? You're my Scooby gang ending. Oh, I can't jump to conclusions but I've got a feeling about this.) I need to talk to the other Council members. But Salamanca comes under attack from the Cabal of witches! And those Council members have scattered! There's Councilwoman Hooper! Surrounded by witches of the Cabal too. I'd better rescue her. No sign of Scruffy yet. I'm getting used to him being around. Which reminds me, I must go find Gloryhound while I'm in Croatoa. I've always wanted to meet them. Right, that's her freed from the witches. Councilwoman Hooper informs me that a witch told her that the Salamancans had somehow summoned the Headless Huntsman. She has no idea how though. Me neither. I'm still suspicious about Vaughn though. Anyway Hooper runs off to safety. I have to find the rest of the Council members now. Up next is Councilman Gardner. He does not look happy. And I can't blame him when the cabal are telling him that the pain will stop when he gives them the answer that they want! I'm coming, Mr. Gardner! Ladies, do your thing! Not you witches! MY girls! Boom! Ok, that's as clear as mud. No real enlightenment there. Maybe the next Council member will have more of a clue as to what's going on. If indeed they haven't been tortured by the Cabal already. And that next Council member is Councilman Brody. I find him standing alone, but there's dead and injured Cabal nearby and some dead Redcaps. Looks like another battle happened here before I got to Brody. Brody says they kept asking him where "it" was. "You took it, where is it?" Ok, the plot is thickening. More like fog than soup though, considering where we are. You go on home now, Brody. Hey, there's my pal Scruffy! No, don't say it! It can't be the dog who is behind all this! Shapeshifted or not. Anyway, he looks to be in a spot of trouble so I'm going to help him out. Once Scruffy is with me we have a bigger fish to fry! Because up ahead is Mary Macomber! Yes, THAT Mary Macomber. And she, that's right, MARY DAMN MACOMBER, knows who I, ARAMINTA LEVIN, is! I bet it's some psychic witch power. No way am I famous enough to be known. Engineria maybe, me? Nope. Most I get is "that girl with the robots who hangs out with Engineria." How am I involved? Ah, would you believe a phone call from the mayor? Apparently she didn't believe that. There goes the mind reading thing I was betting on. Summoned by a person here in Salamanca? I believe you. I wish you believed it wasn't me though. And if you're going to keep zapping me with magic I totally AM going to shoot you. So THAT'S what was missing! That's what they kept asking about! Mary ports away (or whatever the Cabal version of that is) and I'm left pondering. Who would have the Huntsman's head? I need to get back to town and have a chat with people. I'd prefer it to be the mayor but it's probably going to be Vaughn. Sigh. Especially since he's the only one that has not been killed or terrorized in the last two weeks it's him, isn't it? What do you think, Scruffy? Hmm, I have a dog with me. It's totally a Scooby case. [Mission 3 = Plenty of fun here! The Cabal vs Redcap fights I backed away from mostly because Redcaps are a total pain with all their tiny arrows! On we go!] Mission 4: Night of the Huntsman. Vaughn is there. And I call him on his BS. (I have no proof, I'm bluffing!) And he denies it! Argh. I need proof. Ok, I'm gonna find proof, Mr. Big Shot Council Man! Oh yeah. C'm girls, we're going investigating. Here's the thing though. I might be wrong. But we will see, won't we? Worst that happens is...I don't know actually. The Huntsman kills everyone? I was more going with "Araminta goes back to Paragon after a few days in Croatoa", but that's nowhere near what the worst could be now that I actually think about it. Ok, forget all that! Vaughn or not the Headless Huntsman has to be defeated. Or even found! Ah, that's a no from me. Nuh uh. Let's go this other way, girls. Down the hill and over there. It looks nicer over there. And on our way down the hill we meet Katie Hannon! I've heard of you! You're famous. Like actually famous. Not like Mary Macomber who is infamous. Hey, you haven't seen a dog called Scruffy around have you, Katie? Well let me know if you do. He's a friend. We have to deal with Redcaps. I mean they are literally everywhere. I've heard you see a lot more of them around when Jack in Irons is present. So maybe that's why. They're still a total nuisance though. Hmm, what have we here? Let's have a look. Right. So there was a binding ritual done here. And I've been spotted by Vaughn! He says to wait right there because the police are on the way. To arrest me for what? Trailing around a wood in Croatoa? That's not a crime. Is it? There isn't some sort of weird Croatoan HOA is there? Wait, even if there was I don't live here so...nope, I'm losing it. Ah! More damn Redcaps! Well, have some stun grenades! Enjoy your pressure-induced migraine! KaBoom! And in the middle of all these Redcaps I find Amy Jonnson! Another famous person that I have totally heard of! Yay! Still no dog 😞 Ok, Amy, you and Katie do your witchy thing while me and the girls provide basically artillery, ya? Cool. Let's go! And Mary Macomber? She's a lot friendlier than the last time I met her! Might be something to do with her knowing we're on the same side here, might be because Amy and Katie are with me right now so I must be ok, yeah? Either way I'm not fighting a powerful witch right now and that's good. What's also good is I now have THREE, count them, THREE powerful witch ladies on my side for whenever I do find the Headless Huntsman. Nope, I'm still not going near Jack in Irons. And then we find SCRUFFY! Woot! Excellent news. Meanwhile up ahead we can see Larry Vaughn. He's surrounded by Redcaps and it looks like HE needs a rescue. Much as it pains me to do it, I'm going to have to do it. Let's go rescue that guy. And he's thoroughly ungrateful. Thoroughly so. Now we have a Headless Huntsman to send back to Hell or wherever he's supposed to be. Wherever it is it isn't here. Tally ho! Come on, Witchy ladies! All girls together! Oh wait, Scruffy! Sorry boy! Shortly afterwards we find him. And with the combined firepower of my girls, plus three powerful witches, and...I actually don't know what Scruffy does but he definitely does something, we force the Headless Huntsman back against a large rock in the stream. He's mad though! Well, I think he is. It's hard to really tell with someone who has no head. But we defeat him! His body lies cooling(?) in the stream and pretty soon the witches head off in their separate directions. Me and the girls head back to the town hall, being careful to avoid Jack in Irons along the way. I was about to say it must be weird living in a place that has Eochai and Jack in Irons just walking around, and then I remember that when I first had an apartment in Paragon it was in Kings Row, and at one point I could see THREE PALADINS from my window. I didn't leave the apartment that day. So back in the town hall I get to talk to the mayor finally. Vaughn is definitely off the Council. The Headless Huntsman is gone...for now! In the meantime the mayor gifts me the Huntsman's axe for our Super Group trophy case! Awesome! (I don't tell him I don't have a trophy case but I know where I'm gonna put it.) Take care, Croatoa. [Mission 4 = Great little ending to a tight set of missions. Really fits the seasonal vibe too. Everyone have fun playing this!] Verdict. Had so much fun! Well put together and very spare in the writing, but not missing anything. That's a skill in itself. Recommended. Signing off of now. Araminta Levin's Adventures are not so regular as her friend Engineria's, but before I do, I do two more things! First of all I went and found Gloryhound and stared out at the forest of Croatoa with them. Then me and the girls went home and I had a really good cup of coffee from my new pumpkin-shaped mug. And yes, that IS an axe on the counter behind me. 🙂 Maybe I'll get a real trophy case some day but this will do for now.

This player confused me for a moment, @Ankylosaur!

Ah, he plays the President of Boravia in that movie.

Thanks for sharing, @TheOneTitan! I can't promise I'll get to the other episodes but now I know they're there I'll stick them on my list. Alas it's a big list. And glad to shine some light on your work as well as others'. I started this entire thing concentrating on, I hope they don't mind me saying this, a kind of "Big Three" of writers, who seem to have somehow (hard work!) gathered a following along the way, but I'm enjoying the branch out into my "Interludes" section very much. Keep writing! Edit: And now Tachyon/Prof Dafriend is part of Araminta's and Engineria's back story!

Arc 26 from our first author on "TerroirNoir's Cable Channel of AE" Reviews is @Ankylosaur's All That Glows 2: Nictus Exodus. Mission 1: A Zag in the Zig. So after finally wrapping up stuff at Paragon U I meet up with Hornet for a coffee. He seems fine mostly. A bit tired. The Wyverning is a 23 hour a day job it seems to me. And that's when I get a phone call from Buddy Bolton. I cover the speaker and whisper to Hornet who it is. He nods and proceeds to put what appears to be eight sugars in his coffee! How does the man have any teeth left?! It seems Bolton got a promotion after our last adventure. He's a captain in the PPD now. Excellent. Heading up a tiny unit investigating more Nictus activity across the city. He's following up the sole real lead they have though, Stardust, and wants to know if I want a front seat at the interrogation at the Zig with him and Orthas. Sure. I'll just have to speak to a Zayas once I get there. I gesture at Hornet to get the bill but he waves me away, covers the tab and tip and says something about his boss being loaded. Do I want a lift over to the Zig? Why not. So we wander over to Hornet's parked Arachnos flyer - honestly, do Arachnos not know you have this? The Meteors have one too - and we take off. As we approach the radio squawks something about a car ramming the Zig's walls, Council flooding in, prisoners flooding out, and that's not good. I get Hornet to drop me down and while he guards the flyer against escapees I head into the chaos. Maestro is free? That's not what I wanted to hear at all. Not sure exactly what I wanted to hear but that is definitely not it. That's Ascendant Archon De May. And he gets his comeuppance from me, and some swiftly arriving back up from the PPD's psychic force. You stay down, you maniac. Now, I wonder is Maestro here or actually out in the city. Time to find out. Well, I should find Bolton and Orthas and Zayas first I suppose. Up ahead as we get closer to the sewer entrance, we run into Dark Equinox Archon Breque. "Dark Equinox"? Honestly, the Council and their fellow fascist Cosplayers, the 5th Column, are so full of overblown titles that I'm amazed they can get their heads through doorways. But.. Breque takes a knee to Engineria and her PPD buddies all the same. Bye bye, Breque. You came to the Zig, you get to stay for a while, hopefully a long while. He WAS ranting about Nosferatu being free though. So Maestro and Nosferatu. Well rats. Who's next then? Ah! One of Breque's gang transformed into a Darkwolf! Down! Does anyone have a rolled up newspaper? Or some spray? No? Rad blast it is then! With the Darkwolf dealt with I scoot ahead and into the main sewer entry of the Zig, up a rank tunnel and through a hole in the floor. It's smoky and grim in here and I run into a Mindstorm called Kaya. Nope, no idea who she is. (I may have to peruse my case notes later). Where I go she watches? That's sweet. Have some radiation powered blasts! I don't have time for your fangirling. Down she goes. Up around the corner I find Bolton and Zayas and free them before going looking for Orthas. And it figures that he would be held by Void Hunters! Yeah, I'm here and I'm mad. You've captured my friends and that does not put you in my good books. No siree. You two take a long nap now, y'hear. You ok in there, Orthas? Good. Found him, guys. Now, let's get out of Dodge and gather the troops, gird our loins and circle the wagons...I'm running out of clichés here so one of you help me out! I'll be veering into "Fish swim south for the winter", and if you know that reference then kudos! Wait, Raze? Do I know you? You seem to know me. Oh hell, I'm still in the wrong time era after that Cimerora thing, am I? Or are they referring to one of my doppelgangers? Well, whatever it is we're not on the same side now. Amazing how all this "forging a new way" involves hurting the innocent, yeah? Ends justify the means, do they? Not on my watch, bucko! Not on my watch! Raze goes down. Kinda had to against 4 of us to be honest. Now to deal with someone mentioned earlier by the Void Hunters, a Suarez. Haven't seen him or her yet, so I assume they're arriving to pick up their prisoners. Let's give them a big surprise! There he is! Welp, he's noticed us! Pile on, gang! Don't let that guy get away! Orthas! QB! You're up! Oh, he's tough! But again there's 4 of us and he takes a beating! I'm trailing smoke out of my armor and my HP is heading into the red. Bolton is looking shaky too. Orthas and Zayas just jeep hitting Suarez though. And we all live to tell the tale! (a) go us! (b) whew! The Dark Comet is coming, is it? Yeah, I've been hearing that for a while now. And we're gonna be there, my friend. And then it's over. The PPD have regained control of the Zig. The rest of my little gang stagger out and sit down heavily. I look across at Bolton and wait for him to speak. So Maestro and Nosferatu are definitely gone. And so has Stardust. That's when Zayas chips in with an interesting fact (that might be illegal but this Vig is saying nothing!) It seems that the Zig is in the habit of slipping short life span tracking devices into the inmates' food, and that could help track Stardust at least. [Mission 1 = As usual the Zig yard map is a great map for some excellent encounters and once again @Ankylosaur is doing some deep world building here. Looking forward to see how this plays out.] Mission 2: Freakout. Bolton fills me in on details here. The new Council are building up their forces. Still got the UPA and the Awakened are on board too it seems. Orthas is more interested in the Void Harbinger. Being Kheldian he would be. And at that point Zayas informs us that they found Stardust! He's in the Freaktown part of Crey's Folly. Well of course he is. Couldn't just book himself a room in a motel quietly. Looks like I'm off to a run down warehouse in Crey's Folly then. In I go and...hold up! What in the blue hell are you? A Shadow Freak? That does not bode well. (Not 100 percent on what boding really is but I feel some boding going on) On top of the boding I'm having a definite "Running for the bus and watching it pull away" moment here. Offworld to the Dark Comet? Oh no. Dammit! I got too close trying to listen and was spotted. Yeah, it looks like I'm doing well here. Well, I had not appreciated his several friends hidden among all the warehouse racks and shelves, who then proceeded to back shoot me. Cue the end result of aforesaid back shooting. Ow. That's right. Walk away. A bit further. There we go. I get up, he goes down and I move to tackle his companions. And they get a severe radiation burn. Oh I'm sure their implants will heal them up rapidly but for the meantime them lying there moaning is sweet music to me. Now, I know there are smart Freaks, we all do. But these guys? You have to wonder. He seems particularly pleased with the new toys the Nictus bestowed on them. I bet there's a cost to that you don't know about, my friend. Mind you, you've removed most of your original body to be like that so ...nah, forget the cost. You don't care, do you? But while we're here, I need your Endurance. Why? Because it refills mine, and because it stops you being able to hit me. Simple. And down he goes. He lets me know I have just missed Stardust. I was about to say "And you expect me to believe you?" when I overheard this nugget. I come around a corner to find the speaker and some friends clustered around a Shadow Shard. And promptly take out them and the Shard. It seemed like the right thing to do. On we go! Hmm, someone was working out the Dark Comet's path here. Maybe smart Freaks? Maybe. Maybe not. Either way part of it has been erased so I don't have the whole picture yet. Examining a nearby PC shows me an open account with a blog on one of the tabs. Lots of it look like conspiracy-speak but there's mention of a thing called a Shadow Rupture. Something bigger, possibly much bigger, than a Shadow Shard. Oh oh. No Stardust though. He and the others have vamoosed. Time to leave. Back with Bolton we go through what I've found. And Orthas chips in with the question we've all been thinking about: where did they go? [Mission 2 = Oh, that was surprisingly tough! Those Shadow Freaks pack a punch! But like I said above, I missed the bus there and was gathering follow-on clues. Worked well. On to part 3!] Mission 3: Radioactive Escapes. Bolton informs Engineria that Raze is the key here. They kept talking about Engineria being involved in the evac of Praetoria, saying that they only survived until the evac due to Engineria. Ah, what in the what now? So we get to Vanguard and talk to Gaussian. He maintains that the Nictus fled through time to Praetoria before the Fall. ARGH. More verdamnt time travel! Raze's evac records say that they fought off the Devouring Earth with the help of Metronome, Purplies and Engineria. Everyone thought "purplies" was just some Resistance-speak. Seems like they were Nictus. Yeah. Ok, but me? I was there? Apparently it's related to the TUNNEL system, which always transports people to a time before the Fall. Oh, ok. Gotcha. Fixed point Time Travel then. However we are approaching paradox time. I have to go back because if I don't then we're not having this conversation and...ok I'll go, I'm already getting a migraine. Trouble is I can only stay 45 minutes due to heightened radioactivity levels, so I had better be good at what I do over there. And then I'm tooled up and crossing over/back/to...one of those. Oh thanks a bunch, Stardust! You're a real piece of work, you know that? Oh, I'll help you out with a boot to your ass if you give me any lip! Right! Where the hell are you then? Oh that's nasty. Very much so! And there's Stardust. Right, you great lummox, let's get going...human free? What am I, a wasp? Or them? You, sir, are not right in the head. In the meantime however we have that thing behind you to deal with. Then we find the others. And I'm on a clock here. Why? Nunya Bidness! Hit it! Ok, Old Stardust here actually IS good in a fight...well, so far anyway. Did they get weaker later? Their later, my earlier. Whatever. Hit it again! Right, that ...thing, went down hard. Stay down! Let's keep moving. I have 30 minutes left or near enough. No, still Nunya Bidness, Stardust. Just...oh my god. That does not look like anything I wanted to see. Now or ever. But we're in combat now so let's go! Hit him! Stardust and Engineria stagger away from that fight leaking blood and my armor is cracked and burned. Somewhere up ahead is Metronome in a War Walker Body. We're gonna need him if we want to finish this. Especially me in the limited time I have left. No winking out of existence due to paradox. Ah, found him. There were Kheldians in the Primal Earth forces that ended the Praetorian War but no part of the history mentions this. Interesting. What else has been carefully airbrushed out of the official records? We carry on, battling Infected everywhere and Devouring Earth Hamidon beasts. The streets are full of them. Then I spot Raze! Looks like I'm getting the timeline all sorted out! This is where he remembers me from. And we clear the streets. I heal Resistance fighters with my Kinetics as we pass them and they fight on stronger. Finally the time has come and I have to go, but I've been successful, at least in what I set out to do. Back to the portal! Gaussian congratulates me. Thanks, all I did was aim and hope! He's going to confer with Dark Watcher now, while Orthas is going to talk to Sunstorm, the leader of the Peacekeepers on Primal Earth. [Mission 3 = Great street fight! I didn't have it at times 8, thankfully! But I can imagine it being crazy. So that solves part of the time conundrum at least. On to the next mission!] Mission 4: Surprise Reactions. Ok, it's still confusing, the time travel I mean. So Gaussian's people sent a probe through the TUNNEL, and it ended up in the past (their "present") and before the probe was destroyed it collected intel on Metronome. He has control of most of the city's robots and he and the Nictus are holed up in the Keyes reactors. And the crazy thing is those reactors have been repaired! Wow. I read that Anti-Matter destroyed them. Another thing left out of the official records. Only robots and Nictus can survive there and the Devouring Earth, even they cannot enter. Makes you think. However Sunstorm wants to negotiate...wait, with who? Metronome? Why would he...no, carry on. I'm listening. Negotiate to find the position of the Dark Comet so as to prevent the Nictus from returning and attacking us. Gotcha. And now it gets stranger! Sunstorm doesn't want non Kheldians going, so Bolton and Orthas are going to merge and accompany him. Bolton and Orthas? Borthas? Bolthas? Orthon? Hey, I'm not merging with anyone thank you very much! Oh, I don't have to. Gaussian is sending me 30 minutes later as "back up", because he's as anxious/paranoid about this as me. I see you, Gaussian. I see you. Orthas is expecting them to be captured and made prisoner. Well, I stare at the clock for another half hour after they leave and then I suit up and get ready to rescue them. I make my way down to the reactors and carefully sneak inside the periimeter and who do I see? Well, not anyone I actually know but a TYPE of person I know! Hello you! We've met before, kinda. I cut him down and we "catch up". He's one of a contingent of Neo Tokyo bots here to sort out a Nictus problem it seems. Well, my bot pal, let's see what we can do about that! And then! And then myself and my new Robo-Friend run into Stardust. He confuses me here. You want me to stop you? Why the hell do you want that? Ok, I appreciate the gesture but a bit of enlightenment would be helpful, no? He's a bit, what's the word, verbose? Yeah, amidst trying to take our heads off he tells us that effectively he needs the Dark Comet but only for a short while, otherwise BAD THINGS WILL HAPPEN. To the Nictus. That's ...why didn't you just tell us? We would have helped, you idiot. Why did you have to make it so damn awkward and complicated? Stardust and then Shadowfall further along. He's confused by all my actions. Hey, buddy, I'm living my life in what appears to be the wrong order, so you're not the only one confused here! I really am going to have to sit down with Araminta and plot exactly how my adventures slot into any sort of coherent pattern. She's very order orientated like that. Not that I'm chaotic, it's just getting some outside perspective might be good. And no, I don't 100 percent trust the Hero Corps therapists! We take a breather. Well, I take a breather, little Robo Friend just waits patiently while I do, before pointing out that someone is ahead, That someone is Buddy Bolton/Orthas. We run forward and free them from their bonds. You're definitely in the running to join the Peacebringer division of the PPD now, Captain Bolton! What say we find Sunstorm and get this entire situation dealt with? Deal? Good. C'mon then. You too, Mecha NC-3000! Friends are friends, especially in this place. The noise of the reactors is a constant hum in the back of your head. I'm surprised people didn't go mad working here. I don't have Tinnitus but I can imagine it might like that. Then again Praetoria used a lot of Clockwork workers...Clockworkers? Which one is it? Doesn't matter. A lot of mechanical people to do the jobs around here. Another of our "foes". Dark Matter. Assume the form of a Greater Devoured? You've never come across the notion that form defines function and idea? It's one of the theories behind cloning. Sure, you could clone a fully adult me (and apparently some have!) but it would only be genetically me. My mind needs to have lived all my experiences to BE me. That's why there was all that nonsense with mind uploads and so on. I think Crey was involved. Or they sued someone for saying they were? They're always suing someone. Who arrived to consume you? That sounds bad. I've heard mention of that Battalion before. The Autumn Wards mentioned it. Well, it ain't happened yet. Hang on, I'm living my life in a mixed order! Has it happened and I was elsewhere? I need to check that pronto when I get back! Dark Matter takes a knee/tentacle and is out of the fight. We still have to find the coordinates though. Up ahead we see Sunstorm. Yeah, could have told you that back in Vanguard. Too close to see, mon ami. Defer to my judgement? Ooookay then. On your head it is! You all heard him say it! We're still on a countdown here! Or rather I am. Everyone else is a Kheldian or a robot! I've got about 19 minutes left before everything goes south. And there is a console! Excellent! Coordinates found. Now one thing remains. Metronome. He's concerned with winning the fight against Hamidon. See, you don't. How do I know that? I honestly have 15 minutes left and that's not enough time to explain all this and you, Mr. Digital Presence, are in our way. We're going home, capice? So we all pile in and while Metronome simply moves his consciousness to another body elsewhere in Praetoria, this particular iteration that was stopping our escape is now a pile of scrap and we make our way to the escape point. And we're back! We have the coordinates and we can prevent an attack. [Mission 4 = Well that was a very enjoyable run around the Keyes reactors! Plenty of back and forth and being kept on your toes as the fights rolled around! Loved it. On to the finale!] Mission 5: The Dark Comet. The pressure mounts! After only 30 minutes or so waiting in Vanguard, but it feels like an eternity, Gaussian returns with confirmation of the Dark Comet. It's huge. And yes, it's a Shadow Rupture. Yes, Sunstorm confirms that Nictus could definitely invade from there. Ah rats. So we're going full Armageddon on it. Controlled detonations to shatter the thing and put it beyond use. Ok, because that's gonna go well. I've not been in space since the Galaxian thing and THAT, well that HURT. Still have scars from that. It'll be defended so we have to port to it and do it by hand. My life just gets better and better. Right, why not? I'm in. I've come this far. Let's do this. We're gonna land, clear the defenders. Once that's done the warheads will follow. We defend them and then get the hell out of Dodge. Then Vanguard kabooms the entire thing. What could go wrong? What could go wrong? I had to ask, didn't I? Jinxed myself. Ok, where are the guys? Right, that's Captain Bolton freed from the energy. Sunstorm is probably in the same predicament so let's find him and move on. Plenty of the Nictus floating around here already! Gotcha! Oh, you don't look the best, Sunstorm. That energy has fried you a bit. Well, walk it off. We're on a deadline here. Ah hell. Now we see the magnitude of what we're up against! That does not look good. I'm getting the boding again. Much boding. Sounds like an old English village. "Why yes, we vacationed in Much Boding. lovely place." Ah. I'm losing my mind! Space is BIG.! Get a grip, Engineria! On we go. The three of us proceed to deal with the Dark Comet's Nictus defenders. Not easy but we're coordinated and we're succeeding. All to the good I suppose. Finally we get to activate the homing beacon. Now we just have to wait for the warheads to arrive. It's like calling in an air strike on your own position! Just not immediate destruction. But equally dangerous. Then the warheads start dropping. We watch for each drop and run to defend it and beat back the Nictus as they seek to destroy it or render it inoperable. Finally it looks like we have succeeded. Time to port out of here and for Gaussian to detonate this death rock! We crowd through the portal and stumble back into Vanguard. There's a brief bit of decontam but we can see the following. And it's done. WHEW! And I damn well knew it. I damn well knew it. It's not over yet. However, I don't have to do it immediately. So I can deal with some outstanding matters I have elsewhere before returning to this. How? Time Travel. Gawdamn Time Travel. I need a special sort of calendar to keep track of what day it is anymore. Oy! [Mission 5 = Excellent space borne finale to this arc. Map was perfect for it and every spawn fell perfect. Can't praise this enough.] Verdict. The Ankyverse continues to grow and expand on the known history of Primal/Praetoria...and beyond! For those who love Kheldians but want a different slant then play this. Great stuff. Next up from @Ankylosaur is All That Glows 3: Nictus Evictus. And next on the schedule in TerroirNoir's Cable Channel of AE reviews is @cranebump's Fallout 3: Reassembly.

AHA! Well, we will get to that in a while!

Had fun running it! Thanks for writing!

Araminta is a bit...random. Much more so than Engineria! So while her own section would be nice, maybe not needed.

I dunno. Are there many other Halloween arcs?

OR..Sometimes Araminta gets lucky! HA!

I'm only two missions in so far. I'll get to the rest when the shards are back up. It does need a pass for a few typos here and there though, just a heads up. Lots of fun so far!

I'm on it!

Araminta's Adventures. Hello gang! Araminta here. I generally have a quieter life than Engineria, spending time tinkering with the Bots and attempting to power them better is how I spend many an evening. That and reading through a lot of material salvaged from the ruins of Praetoria. Some of which can be converted to AE for a virtual experience! Amazing how that works. But right now it's Halloween and a call just went out for aid. Engineria is off helping out Professor Dafriend in Paragon U on something. No idea what. I'll find out later no doubt. So I got the girls all polished up and decided to see what the trouble in Paragon was. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Revenge of the Undying by @SirArthurIV (@Blazing Pyre on the AE console) Mission 1: Zombie Invasion. Azuria sends out a Code Red for all Paragon heroes to attend! Atlas Park is being overrun by zombies! City Hall was surrounded and broken into. So far authorities are unable to discern what they wanted in there. And a part of me is thinking do they want anything? Or is there some controlling Master Master Mind in charge of all of these undead people and they want something in there? I'd best investigate! I don't say it often enough (Shut up, Engineria) but I LOVE my girls. They can really lay waste to a horde of zombies when you need them to! Several more rounds of that sort of thing and me and the girls have made our way to City Hall and forced our way inside. And wouldn't you know it, they DO seem like they have a mission that they're on. They're heading down the stairs to the hero offices of D.A.T.A., G.I.F.T., E.L.I.T.E., S.E.R.A.P.H. and M.A.G.I. And there's a lot of valuable and frankly dangerous stuff down there that you wouldn't want a zombie (or its Master) getting their hands on. So we do the only thing we can do. Lock and load and fire until...well, until nothing is moving. Seems to work. I do have to jolt the girls with Electrical healing every now and then to keep them going but that is to be expected in a mass firefight like that. Deadwalker? Well, the dead bit is definitely correct. It ain't walking anywhere soon though! I follow down the stairwell an lo and behold the throng of undead is gathered around the G.IF.T. doorway. And that room is one of the entrances to the Hero 1 vault! If there's anything in there a zombie should not have...well, I don't have high enough clearance to know what's actually in there but neither do these guys, so I'm going to stop them! Clearing these guys took a while. Had to retreat a few times and regroup! But the bots know their job and do it well so finally I made my way down to the vault door and stepped through, to be attacked by zombies already in there! Which was not conducive to my peace of mind. I don't know, you would think that Halloween would be a time that the undead stay away or take a little vacation in Croatoa or something. I mean, we half expect to see them! Now we are getting somewhere! The Undying King, huh? My first proper lead and/or clue as to what's behind all this. Uttered by a Lich too. Maybe my idea about a Master Mind isn't that far off the mark after all. The next few minutes get a little bit frantic for me as the Lich targets me personally, but my girls take aim and leave that guy's undead hide perforated. You could, if you were weird enough, make a Lich-skin rug out of him now. Although maybe a small one so as not to have holes in it. I'll take this nugget of information back to Azuria and see if she's ever heard of an Undying King. Azuria is going to look into it, as well as organizing an inventory of anything missing from the vault. [Mission 1= Lots of fun! @SirArthurIV advised setting Team size to times 8 to really fill out the space with a zombie horde and it does make a difference. Light intro mission but very enjoyable.] Mission 2: Seeking Knowledge and Wisdom. Azuria finishes up her inventory checking and comes back to me. Undying King? No information on him yet beyond what I've discovered, that he's a necromancer. But the inventory shows a missing tome, the Liber Factotum Exaltatum. The what? Azuria does some more 'splaining. You want to know about angels? It's in that book. How many of them, their organization, how to summon them and so on. Plus lots of spells on repelling the undead. Weird. Why would a necromancer want that? So this Undying King is looking for copies of this book. There are seven. And Azuria knows the Council have a copy so she wants me to go and get it from Abyss Towers. Right, I'm going I'm going. I seem to have attracted attention from the get go. Then again it is VERY hard to sneak around with seven robots clanking along beside you. So I don't really do the stealth thing. Engineria says it's very handy but, you know, the girls are loud. Ok girls, rack it up and get ready! We're going in hot! And that's that corridor cleared of Council. Moving on I wonder does Engineria have more problems because she doesn't have my kind of firepower? Oh she calls Buddy in for help sometimes but I'm not all cozy with the PPD like that and frankly I don't need to be. No matter. On we go. Somewhere here in Abyss Towers is that book and I'm getting it. I mean what are the Council going to do? Report me to Freedom Corps? We move through the Towers hallway by hallway and the Council are pretty insistent on saying I should not be here. I could argue the point but I'm just going to shoot them until they go away. Finally I rock up at a door, still no sign of the book, and ...does that person in the middle of those Council guys have wings? I think they do! So someone here is already using the book! Laura! Door! And the door goes down and we're in! The Council charge us and we get pushed back into the hallway. They really do not want me getting near that winged person! This may take a few minutes to deal with but I'm confident we can handle it. And my confidence was paid off. There's some seriously bruised, shot up and moaning Council members lying nearby. Some are attempting to crawl away. I know that because I can here the bots sporadically shooting at them. So, who are you then? Zagzagel, is it? Well, that's not really an answer to my question but ok, sure. Let's get you out of here. I'll double back and continue my search for the book once you're safely outside. Deal? Good. Come on then! Of course it's not that simple. Somewhere a Council Necromancer is very annoyed! Ok, they haven't noticed I don't HAVE the book...unless Zagzagel IS the book? Could that be...nah. But we have company! Lock and load ladies! Oh, you're already firing. Ok, then keep doing that! So shortly after that, stepping around plenty of bodies, we, that's the angel person and the rest of us, make our way down to the main entrance. Getting her outside that matrix she spoke of. I suppose it's some sort of magic force field. What? I don't know from angelic stuff! And she drops the hammer with her wisdom. That. Does. Not. Sound. Good. Imagine Good. See that sign waaaay over there in the distance? Yeah. That's where Good is. We ain't there anymore. Now with Zagzagel on her way I turn us around and head back into Abyss Towers to find the thing I came here for in the first place. Considering the amount of misery and mayhem we've already caused the Council it doesn't take that long this time to find where the book is being kept. There we go. Now we retreat all the way back to City Hall to see Azuria and see if she has found anything to add to what I now know about the Undying King. Azuria informs me that Zagzagel is the patron of wisdom and knowledge. Perhaps they will aid further in gratitude for their rescue. I hope so, they were quite useful in there against the Council. So, Azuria, what now? [Mission 2 = ROFL. Having forgot to take my difficulty off times 8 from the first mission, this map was FILLED with Council, leading to fight after fight with Galaxies and Darkwolves and guys with grenades. I had far too many combat pics to choose from! And the mass ambush after the rescue of Zagzagel was a bit epic! Good stuff there.] Mission 3: A Tangled Web of Death. Azuria has done some bargaining with Zagzagel (I don't want to know!) and the angel (is she really one?) has given us the location of two more copies of the Liber Factotum Exaltatum. One of these is in the Rogue Isles. Arachnos has it! Typical. I wonder if it's the Mu or some of Ghost Widow's people? Whatever. I've been authorized to assault the base and retrieve it before the "Servants of the One" get their mitts on it. Oh, seems Arachnos may not know its value and it is simply stored in a general arcane depositary. That's good. Mu play havoc with my Endurance levels. So me and the girls get to the Rogue Isles and head for the depositary. On entering we find, well, it's going to be fun in there. Not. A minute or two to load some new bot protocols, get Floaty Keri online to heal and protect us, and we're off. Ah. They're still using their novices. Ok, girls, target the necromancer and the zombies will fall. Let's go! Well, that plan seems to hold up under field testing at least! Now to move further into the depositary and find this book. Along the way I run into a Student of Bone. A former Skull who abandoned his gang to follow the Undying King. Well, the Skulls have been a little off since their leaders were imprisoned a while back so joining another thing that promises power isn't totally weird I suppose. Up ahead I meet a Lady of Shades who used to be a Death Doll. Seems this Undying King is picking the Skulls clean of followers! Hmm, what's in here? Some random mystical stuff but no Liber. On we go. I find a few more of those Arachnos mystical safes along the way, all the same. Mystical junk - well, to me - but no Liber Factotum Exaltatum. And who might you be? A Wight Lord? What's a Wight Lord? I thought Wights were some sort of Undead...or are you a Necromancer who controls Wights? I don't have time to think about this because a fight starts. And as you can see, the girls are adept at knowing what their job is! Take him down! Oh my but he's a gloater. Even when he's been beaten he's lying there gloating at me. Well, ok then. You lie there and gloat and I (that's the person who beat you by the way) will carry on my search. Just a couple more of these safes to check and...blast it. Nothing in this entire base. Looks like the Servants of the One got what they wanted and made their escape. I reckon these guys I met were actually the clean up crew rather than the initial thieves. Back to Azuria then. Time to get a flight home to Paragon City. Once I arrive she swears (Oh! Not like you, Azuria!) and tells me to get over to the Midnighters pronto because that is where the other copy Zagzagel told us about is located. You'd think the Midnight Club would have its own protection though! [Mission 3 = More fun sweeping through corridors blasting zombies. Very good seasonal feel to this entire arc so far. Liking the little bits of Lore dumped in with the defecting Skulls and so on. On to the next mission!] Mission 4: The Lich, in the parlor, with necromancy. Of course there's MORE bad news. Azuria can't make contact with the Midnighters, so more than likely they're already under attack. Time to rescue them and if possible get that book. Up, up and AWAAAY! Or you know, just go there normally. Oh, I've not been in this part of the Midnighter Club before! Seems that certain parts are off limits to "regular" members. This is very nice. I bet there's a wine cellar and everything! Ok, wine cellar later but for now we find the Midnighters and do some derring do. Whatever that is. It sounds heroic. Ah, there's one. Prof. Plum? Why does that sound familiar? Well, me and the girls rescue him and he runs off asking if there's going to be a cover up. Of what? What the hell are you talking about? No idea. Ok, on we go. Then we rescue a Mrs. White, who runs off too! Phoned your costume in? What? Hang on. Plum and White. Are you guys dressed like people from Clue? You are, aren't you?! Sheesh. Although she does leave through a secret door that might have taken me a bit to find. Useful. We follow. Carefully. Although to be honest rather loudly. I think I've said it before but it's really hard to be stealthy when you're a Mastermind. Ms. Scarlett now. Ok, this is getting a bit weird, even for Midnighters. In your other dress? I...ok then. After that we find a Mr. Green. And I hope his wife loves him very much or he'll be on the couch tonight. Then Col. Mustard. Finally we end up at a modern security door. And in we go! Peahen? Peahen. Sure, why not? Peahen. Yeah, try it on for size, take it for a spin around the block. What other weird stuff is going on here anyway? And finally we see, no not another member of Clue...although who could be left? The victim? No, the Lady of Grief. She's one of those former Death Dolls advanced further along on her worship of the Undying King. Of course mass robotic gunfire leaves her in much the same state as everyone else I've met along the way so far. Well, apart from the Clue Gang because, you know, they weren't trying to kill me! But I do finally get an answer to what the hell was going on here tonight. A thing of fun, gone awry. But now we may have a lead. Back to you, Azuria. [Mission 4 = ROFL. Ok, this one caught me off guard. Liked the entire premise of it. Good choice of map too for an alternate section of the Midnighter Club. On to the finale!] Mission 5: All are One. One is All. Ok, there's seven books. We have one of them and they have all the others. And rather than wait for them to come and take it, Azuria has gotten a method of using ours to track theirs. So I can take the fight to them. Because if I don't then that's bad. So Azuria performs the ritual of sending me into danger (no, it's not actually called that) and throws a Vaya Con Dios after me as I leave. Thanks, might need it. And I think I will. WE descend into grim tunnels and take out Students of Bone and their minions along the way. The folks in here are definitely more powerful than the ones I've met up until now. Definitely. An Ancient, huh? Oh, what's that altar there? I'll get to that in a minute. Girls, kill that thing. And they kill it good. It's so killed. Although with all the necromancers around here, is it going to stay dead? You have to wonder. So this altar has a book on it. One of the Libers! Ok, now we're getting somewhere! That's two for me and five for them. Let's increase that count on my mini library. Go me! Another one! Excellent. Ok, I had to de-alive a few more of those Ancient Servants to get to it but that's a fair exchange, I think. Yeah. Fair. And of course I had to go and get overconfident, didn't I? Yes I did. I am beginning to see why Engineria used to stagger into our old apartment reeking of sewer and smoking from damaged armor. Oh well. I do have an advantage though. While I might be Held, the girls are not. So bye bye Ancient Servant! And I trawl through the tunnels and finally, finally I have all of the Libers. Of course I then climb some stairs and straight into a waiting ambush (or I was just very unlucky) by the Undying King himself! Fire! All guns on that guy! Like now! We force him down the stairs and back through a doorway, hitting him all the time. He is tough! And like many of his minions he likes to gloat. Even when I'm riddling him with holes! Bow? Me? Nah, you have the wrong girl to be asking that of! And he goes down! Araminta for the win! (Great costume on that guy, @SirArthurIV) Oh, you have got to be kidding me! Didn't I just say this? Ok, not about the Undying King in particular, but the whole thing about people staying dead when there's damn necromancers everywhere? Yeah, I totally did say it. The Eternal King. Ok, he got carried away with himself calling himself "Eternal". He too went down under a hail of robotic gunfire. My girls are the best girls. And you, sir, are looking like an old shower curtain right now! And we are done! He is dead. I spend a few minutes checking for another king to rise to challenge me, but no sign. Plus I have all the books. It's time to return to City Hall and see Azuria. How do I get out of this place? Right back to the entrance I came in it seems. So we do that, and have some target practice with a few Deadwalkers along the way. Back with Azuria. [Mission 5 = Great fun. Perfect map for this sort of thing and the appearance of the Eternal King worked very well.] Verdict. An excellent Halloween arc. Go and play this if you want your fix of necromancers and zombies and a great romp. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Signing off of now. Araminta Levin's Adventures are not so regular as her friend Engineria's.

Might be another day or two before I continue on. As per usual(!) work interferes with all the "important! stuff!

Oh cool, thanks!

I'm assuming you've played it then. Still just part way through! Organizing some of the rest of my list as I go.

The next arc on "TerroirNoir's Cable Channel of AE" Reviews will be part of the Interludes, Side Trips, and One-offs, and is @TheOneTitan's Divinity Quest. Mission 1: Zero Hour. When I was growing up there was a hero called Tachyon operating in Paragon. He was never Freedom Phalanx level but you'd see him on the news doing good deeds. And like plenty of others his time came and went and then, well we just didn't see him around anymore. And I didn't think much of it. It's a thing. Like, whatever happened to Jeanette Vesey? Ok, that one is me using the net to make my point. Pretty much everyone has "seen" Jeanette Vesey even if they didn't know it, seeing as Luminary's look is based on that actress. Anyway, I got a call from Teddy Dafriend, a lecturer at the Steel Canyon campus of Paragon University. That name seemed familiar so I asked Araminta, who had attended PU. (I just took the Inventions module which was part time). And she filled me in. "Oh, Professor Dafriend? Yeah, he used to be Tachyon back in the day. My mom thought he was kinda hunky." Huh. So, why is Tachyon calling me? So I scoot over to Steel Canyon to check it out. And I get shown to his office and...there he is. Standing in his full hero gear. He fills me in on why he is. One of his students has gone missing, Elliot Ealing. Missing persons? Ah, not really my thing but I'm listening. Go on, Dr. Dafriend. Seems Elliot was a brilliant honors student, a great physicist. And other heroes were on the case. Hero Corps probably. I'd lay money that they have a contract with the university. Except no one could find anything so Tachyon here decided to do something himself. That old hero instinct kicking in I reckon. And he triangulated Elliot's location based on some creepy looking surveillance footage. And now the (semi) retired hero needs a hand. And from someone who hasn't already written this off. So Tachyon has pinpointed the location to an outpost in the Appalachian Mountains. What? That's like nearly 600 miles from here! Ok, I've been to space on other missions, and the Rogue Isles is far away and Cimerora is in Europe (although technically I went from just around the corner in Steel Canyon), ok, sure. I'm in. Tachyon has a teleporter. He has to stay and monitor it to get me back, and Elliot when I find him. (I wonder if the PPD TP will work that far?) And as for the kidnappers/abductors? The Circle of Thorns. Yikes. Ok, Doc. Boot it up and let's go! Alrighty then. Snow. Lots of snow. And demons and wizards. Just what a gal needs of a Wednesday morning. Let's have a looksee. Well, they know I'm here now! And let me tell you that skating around a frozen lake fighting magic-wielding wizards might seem like a walk in the park when you see it on TV, it very much is not. Trying to Rad Blast one as you slide by him is not conducive to accuracy! Especially when they are using Ice Magic! I'm thinking that the Batman and Robin movie had some good things in it, like ice skates! Ok, don't hate me for that! After searching for a while I find a doorway to a cave system. No sign of Elliot outside so might as well check here. Oh great, a Behemoth Overlord. (You know it marks a point in my career where I can just recognize these monstrosities as almost a "normal" part of what I do. I say "normal", I'm still nervous of them to be honest.) But I sneak by the frikking huge demon thing and along some tunnels. Nada. Another one? Some wizards who are now nursing radiation induced headaches. Until finally I find Elliot and his captors. They're talking about him like he's got a weird soul or something. Odd. Ok, most of what they do is odd to me! Of course this goes well. I'm joking. You do remember me mentioning the Ice Magic earlier, ya? Course you do. Wish I'd remembered it. But one of the advantages of Radiation powers is heat. So, I'm soon out of that block of ice and taking down the kidnappers. Elliot is pleased to see me. Ok, I reckon he'd be pleased to see anyone who isn't a wizard or a demon right now. Time to get him back to the teleportation point and hope Tachyon can get us both back to Paragon! Come on, Elliot, time to get out of these caves. Stop shivering. Yes, scared, cold, not helping. Keep up. I'll cover you if we get attacked. Along the way we run into ...this thing. An Apex Alpha. Definitely didn't want me rescuing Elliot. Never seen anything like it with the CoT before either. Covered in techno-organic material. Yeah, I shot it in the back. Chivalry or whatever it's called only works if both sides adhere to it and 99.99% of villains do not. (Sirocco is the exception). And with the Apex thing laying smoking on the snow myself and Elliot Ealing head for the TP zone. And we make it. Skating along frozen streams and under a bridge of wizards flinging fire at us, Elliot got hit a few times but my Kinetics healed him as we fought through. Always tricky healing civilians like that. Have to keep them close to me for it to work, yet that brings them further into danger. Oh well. We're here now. And zoom, back with Tachyon. Hopefully he turned the TP off! Tachyon examines Elliot and then sends him off to the infirmary for a thorough going over. Tachyon knows about the Apex ambush. He's more interested in why the CoT wanted Elliot though. There's more to this and Tachyon still needs my help. In the meantime, back to the SG base and to scrape snow out of the vents of my armor. [Mission 1 = Lovely little intro mission here. Good start with a retired hero and definitely filling out the "real world" of Paragon more. I love that. Those into their RP could use this arc I feel, even from just seeing the first mission. Nice!] Mission 2: Into the Void. Well, I went back to the university to talk to the professor and he was a mite agitated. The results of Elliot's tests came back from the infirmary and the readings were very peculiar. Dr. Dafriend says they are similar in some ways to cosmic radiation. Except Elliot seems to have a parasite of some nature. Ok, I'm interested and horrified at the same time. What upsets Dr. Dafriend the most though is that Elliot apparently already knew about this parasite thing! Of course in the middle of this he stops as he gets a message on his earpiece. More of those Apex things have been seen in an old Crey lab. Reckon it's time for me to investigate. Before I go the professor tells me that David Drake, the CEO of META, reached out after Elliot's DNA had been tested. And it seems he knows about the parasite too. Ok, suspicious. Off to the Crey lab! Who on Earth are you guys? Legionnaires from the Imperium? Whose Imperium? I stealth by them and keep moving. No sign of those Apex things yet but plenty of these Legionnaires and what appear to be Soul Magi. Magi? Maguses? Whatever. Not to mention winged people called Scarabs. Are they alien? Or just a form of super power some of them have? I know a few supers with wings. Dunno how they sleep though, must be awkward. I keep the stealthiness going and sneak through the lab until eventually I see this guy. And, let me say that doesn't sound good to me. In any form. That guy is called Void. He looks like a Void person would. Well, ok in MY head. And this is me saying this. And of course I got too close and was spotted! Power up the Radiation Emitters on my suit! (So glad I have armor these days rather than my original flimsier uniform!) And his minions keep coming! Oh I'm starting to flatline on everything here! Inspirations? Oh, I have a Break Free and a Rez. And that's it. Haven't the breathing room to TP Buddy in either. The most I can say is I'm giving Void himself here some serious bruising. And then he's down but his goons gather around him. That's good for me as I proceed to run like the bejeezus, discretion being the better part of valor and there's the line from Shakespeare about leaving pursued by a bear! And I have plenty of those chasing me. I outdistance them though after heading down some elevators before I get a major charley horse in my calf! I don't remember this bit of heroing being discussed in the orientation material I got when I went to that seminar held by Freedom Corps. Back to Steel Canyon then to see Dr. Teddy. The Prof gets it right away. I suppose that's why he's the prof. Yep, another cosmic parasite, this time in the body of that Void guy. Or the parasite was the Void and the body was just some thing to carry it around. Either way, yes. The answer is yes. Of course Elliot has filled in some gaps. His parasite is called "Null". Right. Right. Null and Void. And? And all these other things are after them for some reason. And the Imperium? Sorry, Prof, you can't speculate on that. This David Drake guy already knew about Null though, and that's hella suspicious if you ask me. [Mission 2 = Nice little mission where you learn some relevant backstory while getting your ass almost handed to you! Simple but very effective!] Mission 3: An Empire Annulled. Dr. Dafriend has been in contact with this David Drake guy. Drake seemingly knows all about Null and Void, AND the Imperium! Oh yeah, Engineria's suspicion radar is pinging madly now. He's confirmed the Prof's idea that they're symbiotes of alien origin. He also says that the Imperium mean to kill them. Why? No idea. And there's more. Drake says he's discovered where a faction of the Imperium are operating from on Earth. It's an old Arachnos warehouse on Mercy Island. Ah, Mercy Island. Such happy memories. That was obviously sarcasm. So, the plan is to cripple their forces before they can kill anyone, especially our young friend Elliot. The only complication is Drake wants to tag along and he's going to tag along. Dr. Dafriend can't stop him. So, I'm gonna be minder for this guy when I see him. Right. Of course, in the middle of all this we discover that Elliot took off! Reports are that he flew through the ceiling! The Prof thinks maybe the symbiote took over the body. Maybe. Same result either way though, kid is AWOL. The Prof will monitor Elliot while I go to Mercy. And next thing you know I'm stepping out of a TP beam into an Arachnos warehouse. Go me! Of course Drake has already been spotted and detained by Imperium folks. Ok, bodyguard mode. I deliver a sound beating to the captors and free Drake. So Drake informs me that we have company in the form of one Sora Ceres and she is a user of dark magic. OOOKAY. Good to know. Hmm, this place is one of the bigger Arachnos warehouses. And of course there's actual Arachnos here. THEY'RE probably investigating these Imperium guys too. If it were anyone else (well, not anyone else) I'd attempt to team up with them. Nothing for it but to put my foot down on their picnic and ruin their sandwiches. Stay back, Drake! Oh, he is. That's good. Might live longer. In the meantime, some carelessly applied Radiation and we'll soon be moving further into the warehouse to see what's what. So we continue on. Ah. Hmm, no signal to talk to the Prof. Because that's Elliot up there, isn't it? Or maybe the Null part of him is in control. Either way he's here. Since we're here, and he should recognize me, let's go get him. At least he does recognize me. Now, I wonder how he managed to get himself captured by the Circle of Thorns in the first place? Was the symbiote not awake at the time or what? Doesn't matter. It happened. We continue on accompanied by Null/Elliot. (Nulliot? Nah, that sounds terrible). Between the two of us we mop up a fair amount of Imperium stooges, including a few of the Soul Magus people. Drake keeps a little behind us, safely out of range. And then I feel a terrible sense of deja vu. Is it deja vu if you've actually experienced it before? Ok, it must be because I haven't experienced before here. Anyway. Suffer the consequences? I suffer them daily, friend. Otherwise I wouldn't get up every day and put this armor on. At least she didn't gloat and think I'd be surprised by seeing myself. Have to give her credit for that. But I have something she doesn't have. I have a Null with me and he's actually quite powerful. So, while this fight might have descended into a drag out, knock down, crawl across the floor panting and hitting each other kind of thing if it was just the two of us equally matched, that isn't the outcome here. As she falls to the floor she tells me that I will fall before the Empire and to "Face me then...if you dare!" So, did she port out of that body at the last moment or what? No answer from Null. Hmm. We still have the Imperium commander to find and even if we do will they TP away too? And there she is. Sora Ceres. Well, no time like the present I always say. Ok, I don't always say it because sometimes I'm in the future and sometimes in the past, but relative to where I am I always say it. Go with me on this or I'm just going to keep talking and confuse everyone, but mostly myself. Mantlers? Pretender? There's a lot going on here that remains a mystery to me. And probably everyone else too, except maybe Null. Don't have time for that right now, Ms. Ceres. So have at ye! (Yes, it was recently Speak Like a Pirate Day) Oh, this one is strong in the force or whatever she powers herself with. Nasty. Null blasts her from the side while I tackle her straight on. But she's weakening! Wonderful news, everyone. She's summoned Phantasms to help her. Just thought you all should know that. But she underestimates us and she too is defeated. We hand her over to the PPD once we get out of Mercy and then head back to see the Prof. SPOILER [Mission 3 = Like this one a lot! Plenty of twists and turns and I've always loved that particular map. We're on the way to finding put what is actually going on. On to Mission 4!] Mission 4: The Revelation. We've got trouble! Dr. Dafriend went to confront Drake about his uncanny knowledge of Null and Void...and he was gone. Along with Elliot! Elliot was ambushed by the Apex in the Infirmary and taken. It's possible that Drake was ambushed too but the Prof seems to think that may not be the case here. It's too much of a coincidence. We have to find Elliot Ealing. The Prof operates several sections of a nearby console, the same one he used to track Elliot before, and hey presto, he's got a trace on him! A Portal Corp facility on Peregrine Island. And this time Tachyon is coming with me. So I get to Portal Corp and yep, there's Apex all over the place! Including Undead! Tougher than some of the earlier ones I met but still defeated it. On we go. Little bit of stealth here. I wish I knew where Tachyon had got to. No sign of him yet. Oh, they have supers too. Well that just makes my day, doesn't it? I ignore him and stealth further ahead looking for Tachyon and Elliot. And there's Tachyon but he's got company! And NOT the Apex or Imperium either. There's a lot of plot thickening around here at the moment and I may need to have a good sit down and a think about this. After the upcoming fight of course. Once I've dealt with Tachyon's "friends" we start working together. I give a Speed Boost and Density to him from Kinetics. Always useful. Especially when we run into another of those Apex supers! After dealing with a few more of these we encounter Void, who is held captive! We wade in and attempt to free him. Which we succeed in doing. But he flees the scene. "He", whoever that is and personally Tachyon and Engineria think it is David Drake, couldn't take Void's power yet. Probably by using that Merge Machine. When Void runs for it we proceed to destroy it. We still haven't found Elliot or Drake so the hunt continues. And in this line of work there are times you wish you weren't right. Oh, I'm often, frequently, crazily wrong about things but on a day like today, I wish I was wrong. Elliot Ealing is dead and his power, his Null side, stolen by this thug in a suit. Except he hasn't merged with Void yet so despite a few rants about godlike power, he doesn't have that godlike power. Oh he's strong, true, but Tachyon has his measure and proceeds to hand him his ass on a plate! Go Prof! Where am I? Cleaning up all the minions while Tachyon steamed by and straight into Drake! But despite our best efforts he escapes. Damn it. To make matters worse than us losing that guy, and losing Elliot, The Imperium under a Lord Ectral are about to invade! [Mission 4 = Plenty of back and forth on this. Some excellent fights and Tachyon is a great ally to have. Slightly unclear on where we learned of Lord Ectral despite rereading all my clues though. Perhaps this could be clarified @TheOneTitan? Other than that, great little mission.] Mission 5: They Are Legion. David Drake has murdered Elliot and absorbed Null. And escaped. And to make matters worse, that's not the worst! Drake will have to be dealt with later. If we all see a later! Right now the Imperium have landed and have a small bridgehead in Paragon City. Their invasion has begun and we have to nip it in the bud. So it's up to Tachyon and Engineria to do just that! Off we go. Tachyon is eager and rushes ahead. Wait up, old timer! Ok, first things first. I need to link up with Tachyon. Ah, there he is. Kicking a Scarab creature in the head. Repeatedly. Well, start as you mean to go on I suppose. Lord Ectral has several Imperial Guards and an Emissary here. Time to cut off the head. Hopefully it's not like a Hydra and spawns several more each! There's the first one! Go get him Tachyon! And one down. Three to go. Or more. This place is literally crawling with Imperium. Scarabs and Soul Magi everywhere! We have a fight on our hands but we hold it together and keep going. Jeez Louise! The old man ain't holding back! He's giving it his all. You can see why he was a known hero back in the day! We battle on. Another Imperial Guard falls to our combined strength, and then another. Now the Emissary remains. I don't anticipate this being an easy fight either. Scouring the blasted zone we find him. And there's the Emissary. And he's making a speech too. Always with the speeches these guys. Well, not these guys in particular but invaders in general. Anything for a gloat. Once Engineria and Tachyon finish listening to the Emissary we launch ourselves at him. We take out his body guards fast and then pile on. He's tough, very tough. And Tachyon's armor starts to smoke a bit and some motors whine. Oh no, old man! We've got this far and we're going out together! I rip Health from the Emissary and pour it into Tachyon! And Tachyon pulls back from the edge and straightens up! We hammer into the Emissary and take him down! YES! YES YES YES! We take a moment and catch our breath. We've been a little hasty in assuming victory though. With the Emissary's defeat at our hands Lord Ectral has come to the battle personally. Oh that's not good. I pause and rummage in my utility belt for my PPD TP device and summon Buddy. Three Musketeers, Tachyon. One for all and all for one! And up ahead Lord Ectral waits. One of his minions flies straight for us! We blast the Scarab from the skies and close in on Lord Ectral himself! And the three of us are managing to hold him! He does NOT like Tachyon for some reason. Says he's killed multiple variations of him across the dimensions. Seems like Prof Dafriend in every universe rises to the occasion and fights to the end. Like I said, old man has the Right Stuff. I can see him giving the "I can do this all day" speech. The thing is, Ectral, those other Tachyons didn't have an Engineria and a Buddy with them! And Ectral goes down! YES! Lord Ectral is banished back to the realm he came from. The Imperium is beaten back from Paragon. This one goes in the memoir for sure! Battered and all our armor smoking the three of us hobble back towards a nearby portal and make our way to Steel Canyon's campus. As usual I thank Buddy and send him on his way. Dr. Dafriend, for this moment once again the hero known as Tachyon, does a final debrief with me. Ectral is gone. For now. How long will he be away? We have no idea but monitoring will happen. Alas poor Elliot is dead, and David Drake is still out there. Probably hunting for Void. That'll have to be dealt with too some time. For now? Time to rest up. [Mission 5 = Great final mission. Tough tough fights and as before Tachyon/Teddy is a stout ally, especially when Speed Boosted! Good stuff indeed!] Verdict. All round a really great arc. I feel like I missed a few things here and there because it felt like I had come in part way through a longer story, and that's on me. No reflection on the quality of the writing and presentation. Tachyon was a great contact and very well developed. Recommended. Next up on "TerroirNoir's Cable Channel of AE" Reviews as part of the Interludes, Side Trips, and One-offs, will be @LordRassilon (@Valeyard on the AE console)'s Heart of Words Part One. And immediately next up is @Ankylosaur's All That Glows 2: Nictus Exodus.

Arc 25 from our second author on "TerroirNoir's Cable Channel of AE" Reviews is @cranebump's Fallout 2: The Puzzle Box. Mission 1: Noble in Reason. So, one call later and I'm talking to Teknique. And that's not a fun proposition. Last time we really interacted she betrayed us for "the greater good". But all is forgiven it seems. She's still a PITA though. Mr. Finley says jump and she jumps but she grumbles about the jumping, the height, where she has to jump, is there a rope, landing. All the good stuff. I'll just wait for her to calm down and tell me what the hell is going on with the Autumn Wards these days. So after the...can't believe I'm saying this, and I was THERE...transdimensional cyborg Skulls hit the Wards' warehouse and pilfered a lot of stuff, the Wards tracked things down and tidied up all the loose ends. Seems whoever broke in knew every aspect of their security. Ah, inside job, Teknique? Just saying. So, here I am. A rare trusted outsider...ah, I get it. It couldn't have been me so that's why I'm here. Go ahead. So we have a lead involving a symbol of three stylized spheres, like a pawnbroker. You do know there's a guy in the Rogue Isles goes by that handle, yeah? Did you check him? Ok, you need me to check a place. I'm on it. Snakes. Why did it have to be snakes? Well this place is just the best. On we go then. Here snakey snakey. Here...boy? Girl? Enby? Ok, I deal with a few of the slithering kind along the way and then I run into this guy. I mean...you're not seriously telling me that's your real name, are you? Ooop. Held. You bet it's a punch! Your scaly henchsnake can take a nap. Time for you to fess up, "Beau". Sheesh. I need a new line of work. I wonder if City Hall is hiring people for tours and things? I considered that teaching job with Hero Corps but I dunno. Ok, Beau fesses. I mean there's definite fessing going on. I just don't know his jargon, you know. Leech Lizard? Anna? Are those people? I hope so. Time to move further into these scale-infested caves then. Further on I find Anna. Anna Cohnda. Yeah. You thought Beau was bad. And she's a real piece of work too. (Check her bio when you play this) Nope, I don't give a rats ass what your finances are, Anna. I'm just gonna beat the tar out of you until you stop moving. Capice? (Speaking of rats, you never see any...oh wait, snakes eat rats. Never mind.) She's never met any pawnbroker. She did meet some mysterious woman in a trench coat though, who was disguising her voice. Ah, the classics. I wonder is Shadowy Figure still hanging out in Nerva? Where was I? Oh yeah. There's a Leech Lizard to find, or Ms. L as Anna called her. Of course the next person I meet isn't Anna, it's some hired muscle called Ales. Ales? Like the beer? Is ale a beer? Whatever. So, he's a pain too. In fact everyone I've met so far, including my contact, is a bit of a pain. Maybe it's me. You know the saying? If everyone you meet is an asshole, maybe you're the problem? I'm gonna ignore that and carry on with my sterling investigation work. So this Ales. He too is having a bad day. All the more so for meeting me! Snakes? I understand, honestly I do. Oh. Oh wait, it's SCales. As in Scales. Doh. Why me, lord? Why me? And somewhere in here Anna still waits. So you see, things get odd. I'm wandering these damn caves looking for Leech Lizard, and I must have circled back on myself because who do I meet? ALES! Again. Except he's got up and serum boosted himself this time. Oh Jeez Louise. I am never getting out of this hole of a place, am I? Beat you a second time? Well, I'm gonna give it the ol' college try, that's for sure! And I do put him down. A second time. And stay down this time! Wouldn't you know it? Leech Lizard is far more reasonable than anyone else here. She's not exactly polite but she's willing to talk and that's a bonus. 30 seconds, huh? Ok then. So we chat and she fills me in. Finally. The sooner I get out of this scale-infested pit the better. At least Paragon doesn't have snake dens/pits/whatevers. Time to go to see "resting traitor face" Teknique in person I suppose. No, I don't trust her. See my previous interactions with the woman. Though unlike many others she never actually pretended to be nice. I'll give her that at least. And finally, Leech Lizard gave me a name. Rose Ruin. A crazy lady obsessed with Michael White. Not BABs, the OTHER one. Oy. And Teknique says that ...wait for it...someone on the inside must have sold us out. Told ya. [Mission 1 = Despite my in character moaning that mission is a lot of fun. Well done! I recommend it. Now, on to the next one!] Mission 2: Infinite in Faculty. Teknique does lay things out clearly though. She lists all the supers who have worked for the Autumn Wards and their contact/security levels. It can't have been them. None of the PPD liaisons had the right access either. A few names are thrown around, Paula Halmos, Milos Lazkovich and Johann. But access would have changed after their tenure. So that leaves? She doesn't know. So Engineria here is going hunting for Rose Ruin. Seems that woman is obsessed with Marauder from Praetoria. Except HER Praetoria. Wait...oh no, there's more than one Praetoria? Great. Just great. So to put the icing on the cake, Michael White AKA Back Alley Brawler, is AWOL. Yikes. Time to go looking. I thought snakes were bad. But no, back in the sewers. Lucky me. Lucky lucky me. I go stealthy and sneak my way through. I do not see the need to get covered in sewer water just because some punk wants a trophy of a super. Nope. And what's this? A spectral scanner! Let's have a looksee at this beauty. Oh, that looks technical. I'll scribble that down and hope some of the Wards folk have a notion what the hell it means. Although...CHLKR? Chaliker? Those gimboids? Oh I hope not. They were such a pain before. Further on I find a console with various coordinates logged into it. They all seem to be pointing to the same spot. And it looks like Michael and Rose are the targets! Seems like Rose Ruin is intent on getting her man! Well, I found BABs. He's got some Family goons around him but I can deal with those guys pretty quickly. With BABs free he staggers off, saying that I (Engineria) have got this. He's still not 100% recovered after that beating he got from Deadlock. Dunno if he ever will be either I suppose. And there's Rose Ruin herself. Or rather not herself. The real Rose Ruin died years ago, this...this is an echo from the Mobius thingy that clung on to existence after that whole thing went kaput. Didn't go kaput. Never happened. Always happened. Damn but I hate warped timelines. Anyway, yoohoo, Rose! And then I question her. Or I try to. Sheesh. (I can't do this justice so check in the box!) Teknique actually agrees with me! SHOCK! HORROR! AMAZEMENT! The tech was confiscated from the Chalikar. As for the cute little bots and the mention of a witch? Further investigation is required. I'm gonna change my armor and see them in the morning. [Mission 2 = Lots of fun. The "love" story was a nice touch and even captured it's good to see Back Alley Brawler turn up anywhere in an AE, he seldom does. On to the next adventure!] Mission 3: Angelic in Action. Oh, now we're getting into the deep dive of alternative reality. FinnCo has been hard investigating the alt-people who keep popping up, and one "Gunbone", apparently a Skull who deals in magically powered weapons, is on our radar. This popped up because it relates to "The Five", a group of people who saved their reality from something called Battalion. Apparently that was a biggie. So, Gunbone. Time for Engineria to wade in and find him. Pounding the streets and interrogating the ones who didn't manage to get away, I find that he's the junior partner in a duo selling magic style weapons to the gangs. And their latest warehouse sale is on! Ah rats. Spotted. Well, I have to deal with the guard and his companions and I do. Now to go a little stealthier in my hunt for Gunbone. And there he is. And a one and a two! BOOM! How did I find you? Maybe stop taking out ads in the Yellow Pages? Or at least the criminal version of that? And that's Gunbone defeated. Teknique's team can collect him later. I need to find out who this Lady M is. Ah. Lady MacDeath. Now Rose Ruin's Shakespeare in the Park rants are becoming clearer. (Dunno why I thought that to be honest, they're really not.) Poisonous sponge-backed toad? What? I mean what? I've been called plenty of things by villains in my short career as a super, but that's a new one. That goes in Engineria's Big Book of WHAT? Of course she calls in the back up of nearly every single patron of her and Gunbone's little warehouse sale. And it does not go well for me. OW! I'll just lay her for a moment, yeah? Yeah. I could mediport out but they're moving away so I'll give it a minute or two. When they've gotten far enough away from me I sneakily (and painfully) get up and make it to a corner where I rest for a bit and gather my strength. Now, where was I? Element of surprise is back on my side I think. Yep, totally. Totally this again! And she's down. Now to raid her files and find out what the hell is going on. I get them and right in the middle of all that is "PB", which hopefully is the Pawnbroker. Time to get back and report in to Teknique. [Mission 3 = Deceptive! Nice stroll through the earlier parts of the mission and then WHAM, you get hit with a mack truck of enemies that trounce you. Still, good mission! On to Part 4!] Mission 4: Godlike in Apprehension. And Teknique's team have cracked it. I think. One Hans Lobart. With a "legally acquired! warehouse hidden in the books. If they weren't specifically searching for something like that it would never have been found. Lobart. I know that name. Another Mobius era person if I recall correctly. so Lobart either is the Pawnbroker or is connected to them. We will soon find out I suppose. Another warehouse then. This time with all the correct documentation and not some hastily put together yard sale. Oh, that sounds ominous. Ominosity permeates it. On I go! So, the Sorceress. WAIT. WAIT. I am sure I met some called the Sorceress WAAAAY back when. Oh man, I really need to keep a record of...WAIT. I DO! HA! There was a Spectral Sorceress involved in the case I did for Paula Dempsey back in....and Hans Lobart was in on that too. I need to reread my own notes! Anyway, plenty of bots and what have you in this place. I scoot around picking up evidence that will tie things together later and keep looking for our mysterious lady. Oh hellfire. These bots really ruin a gal's day. Electrically caged and my endurance capacity fried. Not a good look for the photo album there. So I just weather it and hit back. Should have stocked some more Break Frees. I normally carry a bunch of Greens and Blues, with a Rez tucked into my boot just because. And a Break Free to use after the Rez to knock me out of the stun. Which is why I'm not using it here! Might need that later! Further ahead ...aha. Well, you must be the Sorceress. Can't say as I remember your actual name being Morganna Mandragora but hey, whatcha gonna do? And in the spirit of things, seeing as you have plenty of friends, I'm calling in mine. Buddy, get yourself in here now. Activating PPD TP! Good to see you, pal. Let's do this! Moments later Morganna is lying on the floor of the warehouse and muttering to herself. She seems to know nothing of thefts and so on and only took employment with Hans because the Wards had cut her loose, leaving her with nothing. Ok then. That's a thing needs addressing I feel. But first I'm gonna check the files here. Yep. Looks like Lobart set her up. And we may have a new ally on our side. Time to chat to Teknique. This thing is going the distance I feel. Talking to Teknique we find that Morganna is on the up. 100% on the up. She's telling the truth. She ain't the magic lady we heard about earlier. Or rather she is but...wait, what? [Mission 4 = Timely mission that does a good info dump without it feeling like one. Good use of the technique here. We're finally starting to see the light and it is all coming together. On to the finale! Great stuff.] Mission 5: A Quintessence of Dust. Now as to the wait, what? that I finished off with after the last warehouse mission? Ok, now it gets META. NOW it gets meta, she says. Sheesh. Deep breath. Okay, See Morganna that we have here is from beyond, the other dimension(s). As is Hans Lobart. But it turns out that the Hans Lobart of -- I'll use the Praetorian term -- Primal Earth (that's us by the way), had a daughter. And ...you're ahead of me, good. Yeah, THAT daughter is Clarissa Mandragora. And her mother was...Primal Morganna. So...Alt-Hans and Primal Clarissa are working together. I ...yeah. No, no idea what's with that. Is is the chance at some sort of familial bond? I dunno. What would you do in that situation? There's also something called the Sacred Flame, but I don't have the clearance to know more than the name, so I dunno why Teknique brought it up, unless she is starting to trust me? Maybe. Anyway, Our Morganna (Alt-Morganna) had been working with Azuria for a while, so chatting to her we find that the Legacy Chain (oh, those guys are so damn annoying no matter what side they are on), have been chasing Clarissa for literally years. And they've given us the likeliest spot of Clarissa's HQ. And off I go. What is it with former Arachnos bases? Or Council bases? For that matter, what happens to all the supergroup bases of retired heroes? Especially the ones who never registered? Are they just sitting out there waiting to be discovered? Note to self, have a chat with Araminta about beefing up our security on the SG base. I rendezvous with Morganna and with have a brief altercation with some of the guardians of this base before proceeding. Seems the bots are confused by Morganna's very existence. Might be to our advantage. GOOD GIRL! Teknique said she would have trouble sending support. So she came herself instead. That's what I like to see! Let's go get these criminals! WE move through the base dealing out pain and misery to any that cross our path. Ok, not really pain and misery since pretty much everything we meet is a bot, but I like the sentiment. Am I a vig? Yes I am. But I'm not a bad person. And then we find Clarissa. She's instantly on the alert and calls for back up. Oh hell, Lobart is on the way. I remember him, he's a total douche. I mean nasty. Even when we were on the same side I remember thinking he was just not right in the head. Lobart appears but between the three of us, me, Teknique and Morganna, we take him out. Although he goes down screaming some serious threats. I don't like the sound of those one bit. We download his database and then we have to search for 3 remote detonation devices. After that it's a matter of using a repurposed Arachnos device to initiate the countdown. And then skedaddle! This base is a goner. As for what we found in the database? Teknique goes over the end result with me. Clarissa is happy to sing like a bird in exchange for some leniency. And Lobart? He's going away for a long time. Snag is, he ain't the one who did all the hacking. He just strolled in after. This Papillon is possibly the real hacker. And that Sacred Flame data is still missing. Engineria here is thinking that she'll be back working with the Wards again in the future to track down this person. Well, let's see. In the meantime, I need a hot shower and a glass of wine. [Mission 5 = Wonderful romp of an end mission. Having Speed Boosted Teknique and Morganna, the three of us sped through the base and mopped up almost everything. Both of the allies are very tough without being uber, which makes for some thrills. Nice.] Verdict. Great follow on from the Mobius arcs (plus some of the Leviathan material). @cranebump is definitely leaning into his own craneverse here and it is paying off. Liking it a lot. Recommended! Just play the Mobius material first if possible. If not, still great. Next up from @cranebump is Fallout 3: Reassembly. And immediately next up on "TerroirNoir's Cable Channel of AE" Reviews as part of the Interludes, Side Trips, and One-offs, will be @TheOneTitan's Divinity Quest.

Well, you're going to have to wait a bit before I get around to this one 😄 Not that I won't, but I have a list I'm working through.

Well, if you're picking up any tips from Engineria (and Araminta) then it should be how not to land on your ass or get set on fire!

It'll probably be the weekend before I can get to anything new at the earliest. Apologies to all!