TerroirNoir2

Come to think of it, @Darmian, I've never seen this happen in your missions. Nor yours @cranebump and @Ankylosaur. Is there a secret to this?

Apologies to all on my severe delays in updating my playthroughs. RL work really hit me recently and finding the time to play.

TerroirNoir here is no AE author, just a player, but I've seen plenty of writers talk about this particular one.

Oh hell. Time to grab Buddy and Marcus when I eventually get to it.

Some day...in the far future(!)...I WILL get to this, @Ankylosaur! I absolutely definitely will.

Damn you! I was only one arc away from finishing the Praetorian pre war stuff! Just joking. I'll get to it too!

More arcs to run before getting a Blue Side Patron Unlock? Definitely. Another set of things where you can join right at the end and just snag the badge and unlocks? No thanks.

Depending on where you set this in the timeline.

Nearly done! I only have "The Eve of War" to do and then I have all your Praetorian stuff reviewed/played through. Looking forward to it after I finish @cranebump's seriously heavy Mobius finale!

HEAVY GOING, @cranebump! Very cool. Callbacks and what not!

I'm currently playing through @Darmian's Praetorian arcs on my huge playthrough here, and I thoroughly recommend them. They're set at level 20 to 25 and are set between Neutropolis and First Ward. You have to play them in order.

Arc 16 from our second esteemed author on "TerroirNoir's Cable Channel of AE" Reviews is @cranebump's Mobius 5: Auguries of Fate and Time. Mission 1: All Heaven in a Rage. Paula Dempsey has called Engineria in for a talk. It's been a month since Dis' organization was decimated by the Autumn Wards. Dempsey is the new director (Fame! Sorta.) We're barely past the reintroductions when an alarm goes off, and so off to Skyway I go! Timespikes appearing across Skyway. With all the fallout that that might entail. Seems there's people already on the ground but they'll need back up. That's Engineria. Right. Shadow Supers. I've met some of these before, and they were a total pain. Well, time to find my ground team, Hollow Point too I suppose, and shut down these timespikes. Lady MacDeath? Ok then. And I'm held! Gah. And there's a Raymond Barnes and a Rose Ruin moving fast to my position. My non moving position! Sez you, Lady MacDeath! We'll see who gets to go through that particular door! And it wasn't me, Lady MacDEATH. No ma'am. Now however I'm getting hit by some sort of sonic attack by Rose Ruin, and yes, held...and immobolized! This is turning out to be a shitty day. Which is a pity because I got promoted in the office just before all this kicked off. Special Assistant to the Director. Isn't that nice? I might even get a badge. In the meantime, OW OW OW. I punch through Rose's defenses with Proton Blast and take her down. A moment to recover before looking over the edge of the flyover to my right....and what now? How is that possible? Rose Ruin? Again? And Street Angel. Well this time I'm expecting a sonic attack, so I snipe her and stun her before mopping her and Street Angel up. A few moments to take down the Timespike and then move on. Still no sign of Hollow Point though. (ROFL) I run into a variety of Shadow Supers, Gunbone, Tidal Townes, Kestral ( and they were another major pain) Hey, there's Hollow Point! Help (of a sort) finally. Or not. Oh you total ...remind me why you're not just a villain again? Shortly after taking down the last few Timespikes the remaining Shadow Supers just vanish. And back to Dempsey to file a report. So what's happening is Dis' is reversing the process that pulls people out of the Mobius Strip. Supers that respond to these 911s are getting pulled into this other dimension. That's not good. I wonder why I wasn't dragged in? Or Hollow Point for that matter. Though I can see why he vamoosed outta there. We need to find out who Dis is and apparently Engineria is the key! Eh, what? [Mission 1 = Straight into the action! Time to bring Dis and their gang of miscreants down. Mystery laced through the fight, love that. Good stuff! On we go] Mission 2: Eternity in an Hour. Paula Dempsey shows Engineria the largest Interlinked Time Portal Network in the world. Yep, impressive. (Secretly thinks "largest...that you know of, Paula"). And there's various technobabble that goes completely over my head. The big dealio is a thing called the "Resequencer" apparently. We simply (simply!) slide some of Dis's "chrono-DNA" into it and...what? Boil it like a kettle on the stove? Ok, from the top then, and this time I PROMISE I'm listening. PROMISE. So Dis places an overlay of her own consciousness on all her minions. Ah, so like that's a near hive mind thing? No? Ok, carry on. Whatever. Dis gets full control until the recipient goes mad. What if they're ALREADY mad? Never mind. I'm listening. So Dis herself is broadcasting like a timespike, almost. And if we can tap into that then we can find out who she really is. But we may go mad. Hang on, you mean me? The me that I am, that me? I may go mad. I may go mad? No, it's ok, I may go mad, but I also may not. Well, I'm sooo glad that's settled, you know with science and everything. Yup. Settled. (Note to self, stop working for these people) And the resequencer boots up and Engineria is elsewhere. And now I'm in a building. Ruined and damaged. There's a visitor log to find. And that's tucked into a corner upstairs in a mezzanine area. Got it. So, there's a Reichart Von Gehirensturm here so see Natascha Gressman. Von Gehirensturm AKA Dr. Brainstorm! Well, that's a thing. And I answer a phone call. So I attach the thingy to the other thingy and wait for a bit. And then an image or ghost...maybe a memory? Of Johann Parker appears, and I go chat to him. He of course has company. Honestly, this is all a bit Inception right now! I mean the mind's defences are trying to kick my ass! And I do NOT have the option of imagining bigger and better weaposn! I wish I did! OW OW OW! Oh dear mippety me! Even when I clear around him I'm still getting attacked! Activated dormant chronostrands you say? Well, I'm defaulting to Engineria Mode #1: Shoot them with radiation until they stop moving. Then shoot them some more. Plan? Plan. Ok, now what the hell are you doing? I really should have listened more to Paula Dempsey. Ok, I did listen, but I'm not a science geek here, so some of it was above my mental pay grade so to speak. Although that looks more like magic than science. Is there even a difference at some point? Now I have to face the First Phantom, whatever or whoever that is. Time to go exploring then! Found them! More pain. Maybe another armor upgrade is needed. Or a new job. Still waiting on my medals from Freitag, so I'll stick a request in there! Well now, the First Phantom is ...well, I'm not going to spoiler this! So check below. That's interesting anyway. Is the First Phantom a part of Dis? Or is Dis actually some sort of hybrid mind/gestalt? There's now a Second Phantom to meet. In similar circumstances they are heavily guarded by these chronostrand things...at least I think that's what they are. Either way they're getting slowed with Kinetics and blasted with Radiation. (I mean is this even happening? Are people outside the biogel chamber getting hit by my powers going off or is it all in my head?) No time for that! Second Phantom, pleased to meet you. Let's hope that's not jumping the gun! And you are? Well hell. Something outside. That sounds hella Lovecraftian. Well of course there's Nazis. I mean how else is my day going to go? Third (Reich) Phantom come on in, your time is up. I might have guessed. I'm surprised others didn't. Did they though? I'll have to re-read my notes. So A Supers version of Operation Paperclip I assume. Stands to reason that such a thing would happen. Look at Von Braun and his cadre. And a Final Phantom. Ominous. And some odd ritualistic items, like altars or whatever. Well the first three have been interesting, let's see who you are and how you tie in to Dis. And how this gets us any closer to finding her. What now? Oh that's not good. Not good at all. Ok I carefully take out the Chronshards around them and...oh I think I need to report back in to Paula Demspey about this. How the hell do I get out of this biogel chamber? I should have REALLY asked that question. Maybe they told me but I was busy getting covered in biogel. Oh, that's how... Followed by four days being comatose and then a few more in recovery before Engineria can even speak. Paula lays out what she thinks happened [I had to re-read back a bit but whoo!] As a result of Engineria's actions with John Knox, all this ensued. Sheesh. [Mission 2 = Well hell, that was an eye opener! Not spoiling it, just play the thing! Whoo!] Mission 3: Gold and Gems Adorn the Plow. So I get some explanation explanated to me. I am explained at. Explanatee is me. I might as well be a manatee for all the good it does me! So I managed to pass through the Mobius Strip somehow, rescued Teknique after I left, because absolute time isn't linear and now thanks to me having the same instances of chronoDNA that Dis has, it's driving her mad. It's not doing me any favors either. Anyway, part of Engineria's issues are, well, all the parts of the gestalt are warring amongst themselves in Dis, causing the madness. And Engineria has been infected too! Oh, that's not good. So is there a solution. Kinda. Cold turkey for Dis. Cut her off from connection to the Mobius Strip. And with a good headwind that should help Engineria too. No pressure. Just have to find a source of power that will allow us to do that. Sheesh. So I'm off to Oranbega to steal the Azh Gadur from Baron Zoria. Angevin will be coming along, so that's good. Because this will get rough I'm thinking. It begins. And it seems that not everyone in here is Circle of Thorns, or at least not yet. Let's hope he gets out safely because I can't go back with him. Ah, what the hell are these hound things? My armor is full of holes now! That's going to be a pain to buff out! Also, OW! Although - ha ha ha - I'm not the only one having trouble with those things! And there's Angevin! Now we can get somewhere. Ok, let's go find Baron Zoria and get this Azh thing. Getting out will be an issue? Ok one thing at a time then. And we find Zoria. I get jumped by Hounds and whatnot and Angevin chops his way to Zoria and seems intent on beheading him! I manage to fight my way to Angevin to back him up and zap Zoria with Kinetics, slowing him down and pulling health into myself and Angevin. And Zoria goes down cursing us. We're dung beetles or something. We grab what we have to and run for a portal to get the hell out of here before the reinforcements arrive. And we are out. Time to talk to Paula Dempsey and see where we're going now and what the hell the next part of the plan is. Paula orders Engineria to get rest. It seems (oh doesn't it get better by the minute) that using the portal has sped up the condition. Let's hope it spreads back along the chain to Dis too! Then she gets interrupted by the phone and it looks like Engineria is NOT getting rest. Pep Becktrees has seemingly spotted Dis in Kings Row! [Mission 3 = A straightforward fight through Oranbega at the side of a sword wielding MANIAC. Lots and lots of fun. Loved it, LOL] Mission 4: The Fruits of Two Seasons. And Paula Dempsey via Brainstorm confirms things. An old 5th Column base, and they were some of the ones Dis first coerced/converted to her cause. I suppose I should say "their" cause, since Dis is a gestalt. And hey, the sewer is our way in. Go us! (sigh) I'm going in team handed this time. Acrobattle (I remember him!) and Giogre (oh, him too!) along with Whipsmart (Blogger Boy!) plus a local Vig called KR Devil. Yeah. Let's do this. Well this place is a whole passel of fun from what I can see here. Oh yeah. And it begins I suppose. Or begins to end? Whatevs. Time to kick some ass. Also, FIRE! OW OW OW! Not cool. In all sorts of ways. Engineria fights her way down through various foes, Tidal Townes being one, and Soldiers and time spikes, to reach an elevator. Ok, let's go further! Oh yeah, you're all alert NOW but a moment ago I was watching you sleep! OH HELL. I haven't linked up with my allies and I've run into Dis already! OH BOY. JEEZ LOUISE! This woman wants me erased! Well, that went like I imagined it would. OW. TP out and maybe bring Marcus and Buddy if I can't find my allies. This ain't over Dis! I arrive back in and long distance blast Dis this time. She's taking some serious damage! And...who the hell are these guys? And Dis is DOWN! However don't let me standing fool you, I'm dead. I just haven't fallen yet. My armor has probably temporarily locked. Those guys... Mister Liberty. JEEZ GAWD DAMN LOUISE. Who the hell are you? Some sort of alternate Statesman? And your friends? I didn't even get hit by them, they just arrived to gloat at me after he dropped me. There's a TP on my suit here somewhere. OW OW ...et cetera. Back in and I do something I've never done before, I don't call Buddy or Marcus, I call my Vanguard allies (Lores) and just go for it! I know I know, I should have found the allies but my dander is up now and I'm finishing this! Tough tough tough but we make it through! And we're done. I need PT and a vacation and some wine. Or whiskey. And some advil. And maybe a new head. Paula, talk to me. So in the fight with Dis, poor Annika (supported by her gramma) rose to the surface and she's dominant now. So we have her. There's only one thing left. There's a thing left? The Strip itself is sentient and it's activating to destroy us. ADVIL!!! And maybe a duvet to hide under. [Mission 4 =HOOO BOY. I rushed through this like a damn noob. And paid the price. I mean the allies are there for a reason, folks. And Mister Liberty hit like a damn Mack truck. I ache from playing it, never mind poor Engineria herself. Great mission!] Mission 5: Finale: Made for Joy and Woe. This is it. Mind you I thought taking out Dis was "it". But this is the BIG IT. The Mobius Strip needs to be destroyed or sealed off or whatever. Locked into stasis in the void forever or the heat death of the universe, whichever comes first. We've got the magic doohickey in the form of the Azh Gadur we stole from Baron Zoria. We've got a device called a Reverse Bridger built by Reichart and Hans that will use the energy to fuse things together. Sort of melt the lock? Hey, I'm not technical! After that we have Aaron Ruegad. (OMG, that guy!) [There's a bit of spoilering here that I refuse to do, so you'll just have to play this!] Aaron is brave and has volunteered but he's new at this, so Richard Cory and Angevin are going too. Only room for one more. Engineria straps on her burned and battered armor and pushes the medic away. Lead on. Arrivederci amore. I enter and up ahead I can hear Angevin. He's probably stabbing someone or something. Yep, makes friends quickly, that man. They don't last long though. Mysterious much, Angevin? Well, out with it. I figure we know each other pretty well now, seeing as I spent a lot of my time trailing around with you. Nope? Ok, let's get going then. We battle our way forward until we find Cory. Honestly, he makes Angevin look positively friendly sometimes. Gotta find young Aaron Ruegad now. And there he is. Quikling has lent him his suit to act as a Chronoshield or something. (I'll need to repair this armor myself at some point) Ok Aaron, let's get going and finish this. And we trudge on. Hang on, I have a thing for this. "To every man upon this earth Death cometh soon or late. And how can man die better Than facing fearful odds, For the ashes of his fathers, And the temples of his gods." Well, yeah. I reckon. I probably wouldn't have said it as fancy, I'd be more JL Picard, the Line is Drawn here! Anyway, we're here gang. We get Aaron to the focal point to do his thing and then we get attacked by an Eternal Guardian. And they look a lot like the late Sister Psyche! I'm flat on my back! That hasn't happened in a while. Aaron holds off my attackers while I stumble up and join him. We clear them down and then seal the second focal point. But they keep on coming and we keep on fighting. And then we're done. Finally. The Mobius Strip is sealed forever. And it looks like we're stuck here too. But we saved everyone else. And then.. Engineria gets to go home. Richard Cory doesn't. It's not right but it's needed. Paula fills me in on everything. And then Engineria goes for a long sleep. [Mission 5 = SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER and this is a great finale] Verdict. WHY AREN'T YOU ALL PLAYING THIS? IT'S GREAT! Seriously, treat yourselves to a long involved story with life or death consequences and plenty of feels. Next up from @cranebump is The Bleed 1: Insecurity Measures. Next up on TerroirNoir's Cable Channel of AE Reviews is @Darmian's The Eve of War.

Agreed! Though I'm told that some writers have a way of mitigating that.

Sorry, I'm blanking here! I'm only on Mission 1 of Mobius 5 and I've not posted anything yet.

Well, ol' TerroirNoir here is not a writer, just a player of SFMA arcs, but I reckon that more maps would be the first thing anyone would ask for. I reckon.

Will have a look ASAP.

Welcome back, and hell with the speeders who think everyone knows everything, and will never admit that they don't know a thing. There's a lot of fun to be had. You've probably found this already but check for the P2W lady in Atlas or Mercy, because there's a bunch of handy freebies you can pick up there, for, you know, FREE. And get at least one starter zone's exploration badges, like that's Merits right there plus it should unlock some stuff. The rest will come back to you or it'll just be fun finding out again!

I've been reviewing their stuff, and it's like one of the ones in an arc near the end of a long line of arcs, so it'd be tricky to find. @Darmian? bit of assistance here?

@Darmian has this crazy mission where the last thing you do is meet one of your allies and you need to lead him to the exit. So he goes through and says something like "I'll scout ahead, see you inside", and then you take the next mission and he's already ahead of you. I liked that a lot, though it kinda can't be used all the time.

Well, maybe I got lucky then, because I hella enjoyed it, and didn't get a fail message. Go Engineria!

This was brutal...but in a good way, ha ha. A good follow on from Part 1 I thought.

I have to say that old TerroirNoir here doesn't make any arcs but actually playing them is a major part of what I play in the game, so many good SFMAs in there, so many. I encourage people to look for them and to try them out, and because they are so diverse don't get put off if you hit one you don't like, keep looking!

Arc 16 from our first author on "TerroirNoir's Cable Channel of AE" Reviews is @Ankylosaur's All that Glimmers 2.1: Shunting in Croatoa. This one starts off with Engineria meeting up with Archmage Hellewise. We all remember her, yeah? She gives us a little mission in First Ward that allows us to shunt between First Ward and Night Ward, flipping between the two realms. I suppose "realms" is a reasonable word for it, since Night Ward is a peculiar semi non-place. So that's her. Mission 1: Into the Spirit Realm. Hellewise seems a bit ditzy, scattered in thought. She can't remember if she met me in First Ward or not. She didn't but I'm not going to bring that up in case she cries or something. Either way she knows about my role in the Doomsday plots malarkey and is thankful for my help there. Whoo! Go Engineria! Or whatever. Anyway, she has a theory about what Arachnos might be doing collecting all that magical power, and that is attracting denizens of the Spirit Realm to Primal. As to why? Well that's to be discovered but Arachnos aren't known for their social awareness programs. So she wants my help. And she's given me a link to her blog where she details how lots of things work. Bookmark that on my phone. So I'm to visit Croatoa and she'll shunt me to the Spirit Realm where I'll look for things drawn to the magic like iron filings to a magnet. This should be interesting. And it begins. Oh it definitely begins! These guys are persistent and tough, but not unbeatable. Now, I have to rescue someone. And somewhere out here is Finn MacCool. He needs taking down, whoever he is. So after dealing with several packs of Shadow Hounds and assorted Tuatha I spot Mr. MacCool. He's doing some sort of ritual. Right, rolling up sleeves, let's go have a talk with him. Way to make a gal feel wanted, yeah? OMG this guy is crazy tough. I mean seriously. (I wasn't expecting THIS tough from an enemy conning as Orange) I'm a gonna have to have a little think about this...once I get out of the hospital and Hellewise shunts me back here. A little think. Might need to call Buddy in to help. Ok, in the end I had to call Buddy AND Marcus. (And if you check my health I'm still getting hit badly here) until finally Finn MacCool stops being so dangerous because he's lying on the ground nursing his busted head. Let me just say OW. OW OW OW. Still have a person to rescue though, and I've not seen them. Time to go looking in the woods I suppose, like you do in a horror movie. Oh great. Hey, it's Percy Winkley! Excellent. So I rescue Percy and he proceeds to summon zombies to serve him. You know, I really should have rescued you FIRST. You would have been kinda helpful against old MacCool back there. Now Percy and Engineria have to destroy a magical beacon of some kind. Which we proceed to do despite some opposition. Those Grave Knights really pack a punch I can tell you. With that I have to get back to Hellewise and report in. I assume Percy is coming with me. Maybe not. Hellewise tells me about Shadow Hunter from Praetoria and how this Finn MacCool guy seems to be a version of him from here. Or there. Not Praetoria there, but Croatoa there. Forget it, I know what I mean! As for the beacon, well we don't know if those guys placed it there or it was calling to them, however thanks to rescuing Percy, I may have mended some fences with the Midnight Squad, and they may be able to help in the next part of this investigation. [Mission 1 = Oh so deceptive! This one is a hell of a lot tougher than you might think. Finn is brutal if you're not a heavy combat character. But the mystery deepens and on we go!] Mission 2: Policing the Archives. So Hellewise informs Engineria that Archivist Jaena is back on board and to meet her in the Midnighter Mansion for tea and cookies. (Or maybe not tea and cookies, but we'll see!) Percy has filled Jaena in on what happened in the spirit realm, and MacCool's shenanigans, so she's up to speed on that at least. Just need to go see her. Now that is NOT a good sign. Power up Infiltration and shields and tread warily onwards I think! Oh boy! Yeah, the place is under attack from what look like Drudges and so on. Hang on, that spectre is on OUR side! Odd. Not complaining though! I move on and look for Jaena. No sign of her yet but the entire Mansion is infested with Drudge people. And like Hellewise was talking about, they are folks that exist on the far side of the shunt. Rad Blast to the head, Patrolman! And your floaty lamp friend! Found Jaena! She's still alive thankfully and I'd better make sure she stays that way. Ok, rescued her. So why do these attackers want spectres of all things? Is there something special about spectres? Note to self: Are spectres even ghosts of the dead or are they something else? I've never known. And yep, I was busy expelling them while searching for you, Jaena, so happy to continue on that. Now who the hell are you exactly, Taskmaster Carrington? And unchain the souls? Hmm. Oh I totally would. And I absolutely will. Let's dance, Taskmaster! What the hell is he hitting me with? I think I've gone blind! And he's still speechifying at me. I have some help from nearby spectres though he seems lethal to them. (What IS lethal to spectres though? I mean aren't they already dead or something?) And he goes down but it looks like he and his kind are not stopping in this mission of theirs. Jaena strolls in after the fight to "help" me, LOL. Well, oddly for once I'm the combat monster in this place. Take it as it comes. I suppose I'd better talk to Hellewise after all this. Hellewise confirms the entire Drudge thing. Their mission is to shepherd souls to some nebulous next life (no, I don't know how) and expelling them has definitely mended any breach we had with the Midnighters. Hellewise is now going to confer properly with Jaena, so we have an idea of where to go. [Mission 2: Simple mission but thematically right. Fits right in with the fallout we had earlier with the Midnighters and doesn't just hand wave it way. Like that a lot. On to the next one!] Mission 3: Old Haunts Around Town. Hellewise just got off the phone with Jaena. Seems that mended breach with the Midnighters is patched up nicely. Anyway, the Drudges and the Spirit Stalkers are running around Croatoa rounding up spirits and ghosts for their own ends. Something to do with wax my failing memory tells me. Need to check that. The village of Salamanca has been targeted so that's what needs to be dealt with. More shunting to the spirit realm is going to happen and then we'll see what sort of trouble I get myself into. And that's not a great start as Engineria steps through into the spirit version of Salamanca, is it? And that's Taskmaster Worthington. I think I'll leave him for a bit and hunt for my allies before tackling him. I got caught on the backfoot with Finn MacCool like that before and I'm not doing it again! Wandering up to the right I get in an altercation with some very thin people and some floating lamps, neither bunch seem happy to see me though how a lamp can (a) see me or (b) convey happiness is entirely up for discussion. I inferred it from the fact that they were blasting me with things. That normally in my line of work as a mid range super indicates people don't want me around. I'm lucky I stay off social media then I suppose. Having dealt with those guys I proceed to crack open a sort of stone beacon thing. Let's hope that's what I was supposed to do. Magic is...not my thing. I just try to listen to the experts and nod along. Like Sam Rockwell's character Guy in Galaxy Quest. Of course a final Hooded Lantern floated out to try to stop me, but obviously failed, or else this recounting would have come to a stop already! And down there is Amy Jonsson! I reckon she needs a little help. Let's go to it then! Time to rescue Amy then. And while I take a few nasty hits here it goes reasonably well (popped a few greens because I didn't have the space to hit Kinetics) Anyway, Amy rescued! Go Engineria! Amy and I...and a ghost friend we seem to have picked up along the way...spot War Witch, also ensnared in those green flames or whatever it is being used to bind people in place. Another new friend to make! And War Witch seems spicy. I like her! (And thanks to the joys of AE I've now worked alongside Apex AND War Witch!) She's intent on taking the fight to the Drudges and their friends. Can't argue with that. Still have a few more people to rescue PLUS that Taskmaster to deal with. Oh hell! That happened sooner than I wanted! Still, with the three of us he goes down fast. Well, faster than me solo anyway. And here I was worrying about the Taskmaster, when his BOSS is also here. Not good. Plus War Witch and Amy are particularly riled up at him, so all I can do is follow them and hit him as hard as I can! For some reason - maybe it's the two very irate witches hammering him with magic, who can tell? - Marshal Billingsly makes a run for it! But he doesn't get far! After him girls! And then he's down! Well done all. Time to go see Hellewise and, you know, report or something. Is she a full time research witch or something? I mean compared to War Witch and Amy here. Apparently the marshal will be back...for my wax. Creepy or what. Hellewise seems impressed. Thank you thank you, all part of TCB, Takin' Care o' Bidness. Now, what's striking Hellewise here is that the beacon I took out seems to be Oranbegan. So it's time to have a chat with an expert on that, because Hellewise isn't one. At least on Oranbegans. [Mission 3 = VERY atmospheric little mission here. Plus anchoring further into the plot and the world as we move forward. Plenty to think about. And on we go!] Mission 4: What Lies Beneath. So Hellewise has been speaking to Jaena, who also believes the beacons are Oranbegan, which means the Circle of Thorns are involved. And these beacons are probably what drew the Spirit Stalkers and Drudges to Croatoa in the first place. So, it's time to gird the loins (which apparently has nothing to do with beef or lamb) and find out their locational origin. Percy - helpful but hapless Percy - has found an originating signal. In Salamanca itself. Somewhere underground, and hurray, I get to do my favorite thing and visit some sewers. I love my job. In the meantime the war across Croatoa continues and Finn is back. He'll have to be dealt with at some point. Sheesh. And absolutely right from the moment I set foot in these stinking sewers the fight is on. Hydra! What the hell are Hydra doing out in Croatoa? Ok, lots of water...fair enough I suppose. These guys are literally everywhere! And I've wandered into what seems to be an Arachnos base! So, let's see if the Spiders have anything interesting to say. No sign of any Circle of Thorns yet though. GAWDAMIT! GET THE HELL OFF ME! Ok then. And take a breath. Right. Right. Now that's a bit odd. Definitely strange. Ah, Mu' Khulkan! I should have guessed you would be involved in this situation. Well, let's see what you have to say for yourself. You Mu folks have a little trick you like to do, so I'm just gonna reverse it on you! I love my Kinetics! Voila! Hit me now, when you have no Endurance left! Well that sounds rather ominous, doesn't it? And I see another one of those stone beacon things tucked in behind him! I'm running out of power myself here, so I have to take him out ASAP! I drop Mu' Khulkan and his allies and then move to destroy that beacon. Takes a moment or two but it is done. Now to get back to Hellewise and report in. Hopefully SHE can make sense of all this. She's glad to see me. Looks like mystic beacons were also deployed in the Nerva Archipelago and in Astoria, but we can't do much about those right now. On top of that, the Midnighters and the Cabal teamed up and routed some Drudges. Go Team Not The Bad Guys! But the enemy has retreated to Croatoa, and isn't actually beaten yet. In fact it may be gathering its strength. So I know where I'm going next. [Mission 4 = Short mission but definitely filling in the through line on a long plot. Interested to see where this goes. Mu are always up to something magically nefarious.] Mission 5: Saving Croatoa. Hellewise is definitely sending Engineria to Croatoa again. She forwards me a link to a blog post of hers concerning Finn MacCool and the gods. He's possibly a version of Shadowhunter. Looks a lot more like Woodsman to me, and now I'm maybe recalling that those two are sort kinda maybe the same person. Praetoria has a lot of mirrors of Paragon after all, and this would be like, a third? So a splinter version? Anyway. Amy has witches of the Cabal with her and Percy has Midnighters, so meet up with them before anything else, and that seems like sense, because Finn MacCool handed me a whupping last time I met him. I'll have Buddy and Marcus on speed dial too! So I step into Spiritoa (I know, I know!) and the first thing I see is War Witch in need of some help, and once I get her onside then the ball begins rolling! Way to go on making things complicated, Clarissa! I have heard that story, yeah, but your version will keep for now. We have Percy and Amy to find. So, do you see who I see, WW? Let's go get him! Agent Percy of the Midnighters seems a little overwhelmed there. I dunno, what is it with Masterminds? Fer Gawd's sake, summon your minions BEFORE you get jumped by the enemy! I mean how hard is that? Nevermind, you're here now so let's find Amy. And I reckon that's Amy over there. Let's go see. Yep, totally was. However, Percy? I need you, yes you, to keep your undead friends under control or we are all totally dead. Like for real dead and not you rezzing us to throw at people. Why? LOOK OVER THERE! I'm warning you, you get close to that guy and the rest of us, mainly me, is leaving you behind. Ok, that worked. Apart from a few zombies getting stuck in bushes and tree roots, oh and being attacked by shadow wolves and what not, but still better than getting my head caved in by Jack in Irons, yeah? Ok Buddy, you're up to join the main team! Let's get to it! Finn MacCool is going down! Oh, he's as tough as ever. So as a leftover from Christmas I have a Snowbeast and decided to bring him on instead of Marcus. And that definitely turned the tide for us. Engineria & the gang 1, Finn MacCool 0. Let's get back to Hellewise and finally see what was going on in this rurally weird place. Hellewise is delighted that balance has been restored to Croatoa (Jaena filled her in on some other stuff that helped that), but the mystery of Arachnos remains. What's with the beacons that look Oranbegan/Circle of Thornsy? Why Nerva and Astoria? Time to get back to Nadia in Astoria and talk to her. [Mission 5 = Several tough fights across this mission, with the option of fighting a giant monster no less. Very much a middle point in the bigger story but with more to come!] Verdict. Fleshing out the long game for this entire magical section of Glitters/Glitters et cetera, it's worth following all the way through for all the threads and hooks revealed. Nice. Next up from @Ankylosaur is All That Glimmers 2.2: Banished in the Spirit Realm. Next up on TerroirNoir's Cable Channel of AE Reviews is @cranebump's Mobius 5: Auguries of Fate and Time, the finale to the epic Mobius saga.

Yeah, well I do my best but there's SOOO much stuff in there that's actually great. And even better, I can't wiki it to find out what is waiting for me! It's NEW NEW NEW!

Yeah, I know I'm a bit slower than I was before the holidays, but sadly work time etc ate into my enjoyment life here! I'll try to make it up when I can.