TerroirNoir2

@Ankylosaur, did you rename All That Glimmers 2.3? Or have I just confused myself.

Well, let's hope he tries Glitters/Glimmers!

Did you comment on his feed? Hello by the way! I'm hoping to get to your next one this week!

I've wondered about that particular thing myself. Might have been intended for something but never finished.

Great to see! I'd recommend they do all of yours! Of course I'd recommend they do @Darmian's and @cranebump's too, but then I would, wouldn't I?

Apologies on the delays but work is very busy right now!

Sorry to hear that. @mega. Condolences.

Happy New Year all! Arc 14 from our third author on "TerroirNoir's Cable Channel of AE" Reviews is @Darmian's The Spark of the Blind. (Caveat. I have played these before but never reviewed them. Although it has been a while, considering the number of other AEs and stuff I've been getting through!) The Spark of the Blind is subtitled "(Neutropolis Warden, Ch, 5)" which means it is meant to follow on directly from the in game "To Our Health (Neutropolis Warden, Ch. 4)". (I've adjusted Alternate Engineria's costume to reflect her changed allegiance) Mission 1: Codename Zenith. Here I am reporting in to Belladonna Vetrano, the Resistance's (in)famous assassin/strategist. She has a job for me so hopefully I don't get on her wrong side. BV (I'm going to call her BV, not Bella like a certain Mr. Flores!) informs me that while the Resistance is still a valid threat to Cole's Praetoria, they're losing. There's not enough of them and they're not strong enough. I suppose that makes sense. Apart from BV herself there's few who could challenge Sinclair, never mind the other Praetors, and as for Cole himself? Jeez Louise! That guy. But a lifeline was given to the Resistance when an alternate Earth, named Primal Earth by Cole's side, was discovered. And this Primal Earth was classed as an enemy. So, with the old "The enemy of my enemy is my friend" ringing in their ears, the Resistance saw an opportunity. One of the organizations of that place is called Vanguard, and the Resistance has been working with one of their operatives here for a bit. It's time for him to go back and report but he's missing. Guess who has to find him? Uh huh, ok then. Last known location is an office building. Time to find Zenith. Straight out of the gate and things are...odd. (Ok, I've never seen Gwendolyn Lee in an arc but let's go with that.) A weather girl? Here? Ok, let's move on! Ok, I find a computer and access the CCTV logs. Hmm. Well, I know T.E.S.T. are on site, and the CCTV definitely proves that. Moving on! And there's one of Zenith's team. Cally. I do believe a rescue is in order. Oh yes. And one rescue effected Engineria and Cally catch up...or chat. I don't think you can catch up if you haven't met before. Can you? Never mind. So Cally was here with Zenith because Jennifer Flores had intel that Cole plans a surgical strike on Primal Earth, but she's sent someone in her place because she thinks she's being watched. So..the weather girl? So Cally and I move further through the building and have to rescue Gwendolyn Lee, and she seems quite happy to be rescued. So TPN's weather girl is connected to the Resistance! Interesting. She had intel but has hidden it because Zenith was captured before she could get it to him. All she knows about that is a place called Schaeublin Avenue was mentioned. Let's get that intel then. No time for autographs? AWW. She hid a data strip behind the frame of a painting. Well, ok then. And then we have company! A Commander Hecklin. It seems he thinks that WE have kidnapped Ms. Lee! That's good though, because her cover is maintained. But for us? Ah, we have to deal with him. So we take out Hecklin and Cally and Engineria make their escape. Time to get back to BV with that data strip. Zenith still missing. BV muses for a moment at the mention of Schaeublin Avenue before remembering that there WAS such a place in First Ward. First Ward. Oh that's just great. Guess where I'm going to now? [Mission 1 = Good and tight little intro. Typical @Darmian mass of information packed into so little space, a bit like a Matryoshka doll, just things inside things. I mean I've played a bit of Goldside, and a tiny clue just references a major plot thing from there with Interrogator Kang. If you know you know. Good stuff.] Mission 2: Schaeublin Avenue. This place is not far from the D.U.S.T. facility in First Ward it seems. So near the old CTA building then I assume. So Zenith was brought there. First Ward is a dangerous place indeed so BV has arranged for me to have back up, and that's a guy called Vagabond from the Imperial City branch of the Resistance. Ok then. Back up is back up I suppose. And watch out for Seers. And if the Seers are involved then Mother may be involved too. Well my day just gets better and better, doesn't it? Kiddo? Big Cheese? Well, he's got character at least. We just need to see what Vagabond is like in a fight. Well, good start I suppose. He's ALREADY in combat when I get to him. And winning. Not bad for a grizzled old veteran by the looks of it, considering he's fighting psychics through a ruined building. We find a set of prisoner logs as we move through the facility. Seer Warder Thetis is who we're looking for. She should know where Zenith is. All official Seers are female or present as such. The only male psychics I've seen are the burnouts or whatever they're called. No idea if that's something to do with misandry on Mother Mayhem's part or if it's more complex than that. Never mind. On we go. And there she is. And Seers always seem to come in 3s, so I'm expecting 2 assistants with her. At least. I can see 1 of them. Hell, they have a lot of range on their psychic powers! OW! However, so do I with my radiation. So boom back atcha, Seer Gal. And the Awakened are here? Yeah, me and Vagabond already know that, we downed a few. Say, how do you NOT know that, being Seers and all? We still drop her and wrench some intel from her. Zenith is being prepped for transfer to the Mother of Mercy Hospital. Oh that's not good. Along with another prisoner, designated 779. All of this under the orders of someone called Lourdin. But Zenith hasn't been moved YET! Still time to rescue him. And there he is. Ok Vagabond, let's save our Primal Earth friend then. Ah, dang it. He's not amenable to being rescued. The Seers have done a number on him and he seems hella confused. So Engineria and Vagabond go for it and ... he's a TOUGH SUNOVABEACH! Oh hell is he tough. He just dodged a point blank shot from Vagabond! What?! We pull around and across the room, Vagabond gets sideswiped by Seers and turns to face them, leaving me to hit Zenith on my own, so that's not the funnest thing I've done today, but the old Rad/Kinetics/Plasmatic Taser/Grenades/Pray really hard combo pays off in the end. I look around to see a redlining but still upright Vagabond standing over the bodies of several Seers. Way to go, old timer! Zenith is unconscious so time to get him back to BV. So we somehow get him out and across First Ward and into the Imperial tunnels and then to Belladonna Vetrano. She's pleased about this. Zenith gets put in Vanessa DeVore's care to sort his mind control issues out. Good. Next issue. There's always something else, isn't there? Next issue is the data strip we got from the weather girl still hasn't been cracked. There's some sort of psychic hoojie on it, and it looks like it was placed there by Jean-Pierre Lourdin according to BV. Same guy as mentioned prisoner 779? Looks like. And this Lourdin is better known as Malaise. Oh. THAT GUY. The psychic thing on the datastrip needed a talisman of some kind to place it there, and DeVore has sourced that talisman thing to, wait for it, the Mother of Mercy Hospital. Guess here I'm going next. Sigh. [Mission 2 = Fun and lore filled extraction mission. And really nice to see who Zenith actually is! And mention of his old partner too in passing. Good stuff.] Mission 3: Mother of Mercy. While Apex (yes, it's APEX!) recovers BV goes over things with Engineria and details what she knows. We need that talisman from Mother of Mercy Hospital, and no we can't just send him back and let his side decipher it because it's linked to Praetoria's Malaise somehow, so it is side specific. Plus BV is puzzled by this. The main plan is a large strike against Primal Earth but this bit doesn't feel like that at all. Anyway, time to visit the hospital, and I've been given a special bag to put the talisman in. Well what do I know about magic? This place is a ruin. Or at least the part I am in is a ruin. And lookee, Awakened. Time for some fun with mad psychics then. Wouldn't you know it? they're not as much fun as you'd expect. In fact they're positively grumpy. I'd even say they were angry about something. I search some drawers and desks and find a key. Not sure what it is for but you never know. And a series of gas canisters marked Preventative Psi Vapor F08, whatever the hell that is. No inhaling and doing helium voices I think. Though it couldn't make fighting crazed psychics any weirder I suppose. And looks like I've found Patient 779, the one who was being transferred here with Apex. Let's free him and see what his story is. Ok, "Darrin". You're sticking with me then. Darrin has a peculiar tale to tell. Can't make sense of it. Reckon that's a job for BV and Vanessa when I get out of this place. Although Darrin does prove himself useful in a fight at least and I'll take any help I can get against psychics. Moving on through the building we find patient files. Interesting. Shortly after that I find the talisman! Carefully putting it in the bag or pouch given to my by BV, we prepare to leave but of course there's a problem. There always is in this line of work. We run into a detachment of D.U.S.T. troopers led by Commander Jarvis. And now I see what those canisters of gas were for! They're to eliminate any of the roaming wild psychics in the place. I have no objection to that in principle but Engineria and 779 appear to be caught between the two factions! Surrender and prepare to be destroyed? Oh no, I don't think so! You know, despite being on Cole's side, Commander Jarvis here seems relatively sane. He's going to try to kill us because of course he is but he's not here to do that and seems to pity us. It's all irrelevant anyway since we have to take him down in order to make our escape. Hit him, Darrin! We drop Jarvis and his henchmen and search them and find a file. And this is very interesting! BV will definitely want to see this. It seems her hunch that this entire thing felt a bit off was correct. Engineria drags Darrin 779 out and we make our escape from First Ward. Reporting back to BV, Darrin is taken to Vanessa DeVore to have his mind soothed and so on. BV herself is happy the talisman has been recovered and people will get to work on unwinding its powers so the datastrip can be properly decoded before Apex goes back to Primal Earth. As for the other files? Well that got an odd response or at least I thought so. When the datastrip and Apex are ready I will be escorting him to his crossover point. So time for some well earned rest. [Mission 3 = A simple mission but riddled as usual with @Darmian's by now almost signature lore snippets, all building into a bigger background patchwork. Good stuff!] Mission 4: War Initiative Facility Beta. BV informs me that the initial plan to just escort Apex to his transdimensional portal, or whatever way he gets back to Primal Earth, has been postponed. It turns out the datastrip contains details of two sites important to Cole's attack on Primal Earth, designated Alpha and Beta. And we need to check them out before Apex goes home. They're in Neutropolis and I'll be going to Beta with Apex while BV leads her team to Alpha. So that has to be done. In other news Wade 779 is settling in but seems frankly very disturbed. Not my problem! Off to Site Beta. Stepping in I get greeted by Apex who is already here. And he apologizes for his behavior earlier. So that's good. And this place is a replica of the Faultline power station. It stands to reason then that site Alpha is a replica of another place on Primal Earth and both are training facilities for the upcoming attack. (I'm thinking that if Praetoria had an AE facility then they wouldn't need to do this, just run a set of simulations through the AE!) Yep, figured that out, Apex. Let's go find it then. Holy heck but Apex moves fast! He's into the fight before I can unlimber my rad blast. Well, here we go! And he keeps speeding ahead, he must have really high perception. Hmm, am I supposed to keep him alive to get him back...I am, aren't I? I better follow in then and support him! So I catch up and we (I say we, I'm just blasting from behind) clear our way to the tactical computer. And on it we find what we suspected. Yeah, what the hell is an Incarnate Prism? Ah, that is. Ok, let's break it! I can only assume that BV and her gang are finding similar things at Alpha/Terra Volta. So Apex and Engineria set about destroying the prism, and it's tougher than you'd think for an inanimate object. And of course there's going to be a response team on the way when we destroy it. That's how security works. And there's the Commander! Yep, get us now. (In case anyone is wondering where Apex is here, he's already beating the tar out of Allack's troopers!) Before joining Engineria in fighting Commander Allack himself. Have to hand it to Apex, he's tough. So, we finish off Allack and make our way out of the facility and back to Vetrano. Mission accomplished. BV spends the first part of the debrief just agreeing with me. Yep, they found the Terra Volta site replica, and an Incarnate Prism, and so on. And no, she doesn't know what that is either. But Wade 779 seems to have heard of it, or at least what Incarnate means. And then had to be sedated or something when he started ranting about his dreams and Greek islands. Finally, I'll be seeing Apex to his exit point because by now the datastrip had been decoded. [Mission 4: This was a fun little mission, and seeing Apex in actual ally mode was great. He just rocks through things. On a higher difficulty he's going to be a vital ally, especially soloing. Nicely done.] Mission 5: Homeward Bound: Now it's time for Engineria to escort Apex to his destination. Vetrano gives me the directions and I head there. Apex is waiting for me to arrive and send him home to Primal Earth. Apex calls to me when I enter the small building containing the transference device. (No, I'm just making this up, BV never told me what it was called!) He's been in a terrible war before? Interesting. Ah, there's Apex. So this isn't the way you came? Dunno what to say to that really. So we continue on to the activation computer, where I have to do the deed. Well, the power up is slow. I suppose sending someone across a dimension does take a lot of power. Again, just supposition on my part there. And then there's an intruder! It's Darrin Wade! He seems rather agitated about something. Oh, he wants to go to Primal Earth. Why the hell would Darrin Wade want to go to Primal Earth? And he's going to destroy me he says. Of course I still have Apex here with me, so I draw Wade back into the final chamber and we tackle him together. With Apex tanking him I blast Wade with radiation until he drops. We're done! Apex can go home now. I leave and Apex goes to Primal Earth. Time to report in to BV. And her "debrief" of Engineria? Well, I can't do it justice myself so I'll just paste this in here. Jeez Louise but that woman is ruthlessly cold. [Mission 5 = A tiny timed mission, only 5 minutes, but OMG is there so much packed into this. References to Malaise and Rularuu, Darrin Wade references his Primal Earth self, or at least that's my read of it when he talks about being shown his "own" face. And BV's ruthlessness is, I don't know, somehow admirable? Necessary perhaps. Great little ender.] Verdict. This entire arc is deceptively complex. Everything that @Darmian did in the Dark Deeds long form and the Loyalist trilogy seem reinforced and even more layered than before. I recommend playing it. Looking forward to the next one. Next up from @Darmian is Damnatio Memoriae. Next up on TerroirNoir's Cable Channel of AE Reviews is @Ankylosaur's All That Glimmers 2.3: Destruction in the Shadow Shard.

Also, let me know when Devil Bat and Engineria can do a team up/crossover! I'll temp migrate her from Excel.

Liking Devil Bat's "journey". He has the advantage on Engineria in being able to show a lot of open world stuff, as well. And the Snow Beast? Heh, if Engineria didn't have Buddy, and sometimes Marcus when it gets BAD, she'd be in a lot more pain.

Would that involve rebuilding Galaxy City and unwinding all the migrations of its contacts and so on into Atlas Park? The return of Sister Psyche and Statesman to IP to run their TFs? Old Calvin Scott TF back in place? Whatever about the last three, that first one is a big ask if the code that allowed that isn't there. How do you roll back to an issue you probably don't have? Now personally I'd love to see Psyche and Statesman in IP NOW, and they only get changed out for you when you've done Who Will Die? But even that is fiddly because I've heard phasing is kinda buggy. Still a no thanks though.

There's a few SGs that exist to run stuff in a "classic" style. Finding one and joining it is is a much easier ask than getting an entire shard, whatever the population, converted, or even spinning up a new one. I mean you can do it yourself but finding one of those SGs means you get to team. Or if you can't find one, start one.

As of today I have family things to attend to, so I'll be finishing out the review of The Bleed 2: De Pulvis Rediit (From the Dust Returned) by @cranebump, but I won't get to The Spark of the Blind by @Darmian until after the holidays, so in the New Year. Hope that's ok with everyone.

Yep. If you have HC you need to click Settings -> General Settings -> Allow Multiple Instances.

Arc 14 from our first author on "TerroirNoir's Cable Channel of AE" Reviews is @cranebump's The Bleed 2: De Pulvis Rediit (From the Dust Returned). Mission 1: Dust Shaken from Broken-Winged Angels. Well, here I am with Aurora Borealis. She's impressive actually. (Alternate self notes distinct Praetor Tilman likeness!) So, we're following up on the events of Croatoa. The Croatoan Bleed they've named it. Like it needs that. And Cheng and Bocor think it's something bigger than the (ahem) normal attempts of the Redcaps to pull Croatoa into a spirit realm. Normal. Gotcha. Aurora tells me Bocor made some deal with a spirit called Kaifu, which is why he was in the Rogue Isles. Ah, didn't that guy ever have fairy tales told to him as a kid? Never make a deal with a magic creature. Or eat the food. Or drink. Or...just no, ok? In the meantime Cheng has asked that the first warehouse be reinvestigated, but this time he's giving us a device to help with that. I have to run interference for him because he's not 100 percent. Ok, back we go! And it takes him an hour or more to set his kit up. While waiting I ponder what AEs are playing in the AE Building for the holidays. Ah, he's ready. Now where the hell has he got to? So he's met me half way and we have to go back to his equipment. Honestly, I wonder about these people some times. And Cheng tells me that when he summons the spirits using his device they may appear as shadows drawn from our memories. Oh, well that might be odd! I have a LOT of memories to deal with. You know Cheng, YOUR definition of "device" is a bit more old fashioned than mine. This is a pot. An actual pot. I know at one point this was cutting edge tech, but that was a while ago. And now I have to speak with "The First Spirit". First implies there will be further spirits. Lovely. Nothing like getting hit with toxic ectoplasm to ruin a girl's day. Right, here spirit spirit spirit. Where ARE you? Ah, there is is. And Cheng was right. It has a familiar shape. Bound in spirit energy and with captors. Better get rid of those then. Fuzzanglong? Nope. Nope. Not understanding a word of that. Let's hope Cheng can translate all this malarkey later. He's till muttering incantations back around the corner. Ok, as foretold, I now have to speak to the Second Spirit. And there it is. She is. Looks a bit like Fusionette actually. Hard to tell with the washed out complexion. Once I'm done liberating the Second Spirit from her captors and her bonds she too is pretty cryptic. Oh you do, do you? Well that's clear as mud. Old Cheng will need a talking to later. Or I'll ask Aurora to poke around in his head maybe. So off to find the Third Spirit. Now I find her and she seems more lucid. I mean I still don't know what's she's talking about but that's just because I don't know her story, rather than she sounds all mystically vague. Of course liberating her has caused 4 of those reality tears to open up in the warehouse. So I'll have to deal with those before things start coming through. First one done. Then two more and lastly...there we go! Although getting Taunted by a hole in reality is definitely strange! Right, we're done here and Cheng is all shook up. We wait for a Team Transport and then I report in to Aurora. Aurora puts it together from what I saw and Cheng's explanations. Components for a spell are being sought for a "dark, dangerous ritual". Well that's made my day. Neither Cheng nor Bocor will explain further but they're very worried about something. And Bocor is insisting on performing his own rituals. Not much I can do to help there, Aurora. Ah, you know that. So we're investigating the shipping company next. Gotcha. [Mission 1 = Good atmospheric intro to this. Nice bit of scene setting. Looking forward to the next bit.] Mission 2: Shadows on a Ruined Wall. There's a conspiracy afoot according to Aurora. Fancy that! A conspiracy in this city. Next thing you know there'll be weird tiny robots building a big robot in Kings Row for some reason. Amazing. Anyway, the Coldwell records went from the PPD to the Coldwells to the Midnighters to their special vault. Probably covered in mystic daubs or what have you. So rather than stare bleakly at the mound of red tape that going through that involves, Aurora has recruited Miriam Bloechi to do some psychometry on the old warehouse for Blackstone Shipping. Sewer time it seems. So Engineria and Aurora head into the sewers and we run into Nemesis. Which leads to a change of plan on the fly. So I'm off to find Miriam on my own and then guard her back while she does her hoodo whatsit. I really should take a course in all this from MAGI. Do they still offer those or were they permanently shut down after Azuria was reputed to have gone on a date with Duke Mordrogar? Hiya Miriam. Yeah, don't blame you. Ok, let's get to it. Ah, is there a reason, well one that I would understand, for you standing in that pool of sewer water? Yes? No? Well, just holler if you need me. Something behind me! Those are 5th Column! Except they look...wrong. Uniforms are off. Oh god, 5th Column cosplaying at being the Council, and now what is this, a 6th Column? And they're ranting about destroying the fleet. What fleet? Sutter is retired now, surely? Still dangerous though! So I deal with those guys and find several caches of arms around the place. And when finding those I come across these guys again, with rather large piles of explosives! Let's see how your explosives like having a grenade added to it! Oh yeah! BOOM! So Miriam and I contact Aurora, and the PPD are sent to collect the weapons and bodies. Except when the PPD arrive those weapons and bodies are simply gone, like they were never there. Spooky. Aurora explains it to me. Those were shades or echoes of the original 5th Column from 1941. Well, shades or echoes they still hit hard! I've got bruises on bruises here. Maybe Miriam's psychometry called them forth or something. Nor do we know why they'd be connected to Blackstone Shipping. Yet. As for Nemesis? She's contacted the FP to deal with that particular thing. [Mission 2 = Total mystery X-Files vibe to this one and it feels great. Lovely lore work. Good stuff] Mission 3: The Names of a Shape. Well now, turns out Miriam's readings are confusing. Hell, I thought here getting them was confusing with that whole hanging around in sewer water thing she was doing. But anyway, Aurora says that back in 1929 the Blackstone building burned and took the business with it. And according to the records Harold and Dolores Blackstone died in that fire. Except Miriam's readings showed Harold but not Dolores. So, item one. A missing spook. Or it would be, except somehow she WAS there, just not ...dead. Her and someone called Madeleine. This Madeleine was around in 1941, same time as the OG 5th C. And she's not dead either. Well kudos for not being dead I suppose. Plenty of good folks didn't manage that. However, what does all that mean, Aurora? But that all goes by the wayside when Aurora gets a call saying Cheng and Bocor are on the lam. Bocor said "Somnia" to Cheng and then, poof! TP'd outta there. Now what? Thanks to Aurora's Independence Port colleague, Penny Yin, we have a lead. So it's off to Wave Landing to round up the wandering flock. Ah Kerrapp. More sewers. Possessed Tsoo. So it's gonna be one of those days then. And this guy is DEFINITELY under some malign influence. He just stood there and never tried to shoot me or anything. I'll leave him alone then. Sometimes you gotta watch for karma along the way. Oh, there's Cheng. Now my friend, what the hell have you got yourself into? That looks like some sort of energy cage. You'll probably say it's magical though and give me a lecture on the essential nature of salts or something. So Cheng explains that Samuel (That's Bocor to you and me) is trying to contact this Kaifu person-spirit-whatever. Now, I thought that was a bad thing? No? Oh it IS a bad thing. So why is...? You'll explain on the way, we have to rescue Bocor. If you two knuckleheads had TOLD someone what was going on EARLIER, then maybe two mighty powerful psychics like, I dunno, Aurora Borealis and Penny Yin, could have helped you. Instead you're stuck with me and I have the psychic ability of horse glue. I mean if you want radiation then I'm your gal, if you can't find Positron say, but ...lead on then. There's Sammy Bocor. All trussed up in one of those green smoke magic cage things. So we get him out and he's all chatty for once. Sounds a bit scared actually. And that's not like him. So Bocor has been linked to Kaifu for a Looooong time. But now things are changing. And the things changing seem a lot worse than the olden days, according to these two. We've got to render the objects inert, whatever that means. I usually just break stuff. Or fry it with radiation. I mean perhaps there's some cockroaches left behind after I go through a place but it's not like I check on these things. Plus there's an altar to mess up too. And it has flitting spectral company ALL around it. And some of the Possessed Council. And some Tsoo. Yep, definitely one of those days after all. So we break the altar and render the objects inert. There's several clay pot urn things that seem to glow, and now they don't. Thing is, that actually brings Kaifu here. Sort of in person. I say sort of, because he/she/it shows up wearing the body of a Vahzilok reject. I suppose it's an off the peg look. Pret a Porter for Spooks? OH HELL I AM BLIND! What was I hit with? I mean what?! I know that Cheng and Bocor are still here but I can barely see anything. Cheng is doing some holding hoodoo so Bocor and I hit Kaifu with all we have. From further up the tunnels we can hear help on the way, help that Penny Yin promised us would come. Of course that help has to get through the legions of Possessed to get to us, so for now it's still just Engineria + Cheng + Bocor trying not to die. Kaifu says he serves another. A she. And she serves him too. Sounds like a partnership deal. But we lay him out in the sewer in the end. Well, we destroy his rotting Vahzilok host body is technically what we did but let's not quibble. (That sort of thing is best left to Super-Unknown's nemesis, The Quibbler!) So we ALL go back to see Aurora. She's miffed. Peeved. Not at all in fine fettle. She puts the knuckleheads in lockdown and then vows to get the actual records from the Midnighters. So, time to get along to the Mysterious Midnighters. [Mission 3 = I mean, this is fun stuff. Wonderfully atmospheric and mysterious and I'm as confused as hell. I have lots of theories but am waiting to see what happens, plus I don't want to spoiler anything! 🙂 ] Mission 4: Skulls Beneath Nailed-Shut Lids. And you know, sometimes you get lucky. Or sometimes being intimidated by one of the most powerful psychics on the planet helps that luck along. No, not me. No, Bocor and Cheng. They fessed up what they were at, so we didn't need to get the intel from the Midnighters after all. Seems back in the day (so 1920s for those of us who aren't immortal and weren't there) Bocor and Cheng, along with Darkvine and a few others, like this Somnia they mentioned, were all part of the Night Brigade. From the sound of it they were, well if not rivals of the Midnighters at least fellow travelers. And they defeated a great evil and then it fell apart due to affairs and I bet there was embezzling. And of course the Wall Street Crash happened in 1929 too, so a hell of a time to be around that lot. But mainly it was infidelity. Darkvine had an affair with Madeline (Ah, I remember that name from Miriam's jiggery pokery) and old Dolores AKA Somnia - look, I'm picking this up as I go along, ok? I'm just happy it's being explained to me in a clean place rather than knee deep in who knees what - where was I? So ya, Somnia loses it and summons a great power out of the void and it took the rest of them to take her out. And THAT is why the building burned down. I knew I'd get there. And it's come back to bite us in the ass. Because of course it has. All the magic hoojie is sailing over my head, so I'm getting sent to see Ashwin Lannister, because he's an expert on the Council. See what intel he has on the 1941 version I suppose. Ok then. Deep breath, crosses fingers. Please don't be a sewer please don't be a sewer please don't be a sewer. IT'S NOT A SEWER! Ok, Ashwin. You have a shift to do? What exactly do you...never mind. I don't really want to know. Ok, where's those files? Upstairs. Gotcha. Hey! ESWAT! Hiya. If you see Briggs-Hughes tell her Engineria says hello. Ah hell. I was expecting things to be, you know, filed. In a filing cabinet. Filed. Not cosplaying my way through an episode of Storage Wars. I mean really? Oh well, rifling through the stuff in these boxes. AHA! And there's an entry that says an equivalent of some RKO Pathé News is here somewhere, a film reel. Now if I was a film reel where would I be? It's in a box beside the copier. Because of course it is. These guys need interns. I wonder does Hero Corps have an intern program? Never mind. Transferred to CDROM. Well, I suppose that's old school now. Kinda. Or wait, this is not a CDROM but some sort of proprietary Council tech. Ah, I passed a thing earlier! Ok, let's see what we can see. JEEZ. The narrator says the dead soldiers' skins looked like funeral shrouds. Grim. Very much so. And that all links to...a PPD record detailing the "Shroud" murders in the 40s and 50s. And an old photo with "looks like Madeline Jules" written on the back. Ok, I'll just stuff some of this lot in my pockets. (Note to self: Get a backpack for this sort of thing) and head back to see Aurora. Aurora is puzzled. Well, that's two of us. So dead but not dead. Trapped but not trapped. Time to question Cheng and Bocor again, see what they left out of their spiel. [Mission 4 = Great little non combat investigative mission. Good use of props and clues. Loved it.] Mission 5: Finale. Kin to Autumn Rains. So after Aurora and her team go through the documents I brought back she sums things up. Back in the day it wasn't only the 5th Column who ran into this Shroud person. A gang called the Horde did too. Most of them died but one of their affiliates, A Calamity Jane (there's a name with history!) shot Shroud with some sort of magical bullet. Presumed mortally wounded she vanished, and the killings stopped. At least in Paragon. In the Rogue Isles though. A Family hit left a body with identical features. And that was TWO YEARS AGO. And once things were looked at the pattern was there. Plenty of hits with similar MOs, only stopping about a month ago. So, if this Shroud IS Jules, she may know about the Conjuror...I'm going to the Rogue Isles to get my skin shriveled, aren't I? Oy. So, time to find Mikey the Ear. He's a general contact for lots of things. A dead drop you say? Well, let's have a poke around in here then. AHA! Hmm. Ok, time to go exploring. A stack of old journals dating back to 1947. So 6 years after the 5th Column got turned into drapes. Creepy. Very much so. But how does that explain the long gap in years from then to recently? Hibernation? Or just a very careful serial killer? And more of the same, expanding upon it all until one day a voudoun priest comes on the scene and the snake eats its tail. Or something. Life isn't simple like people want it to be. Wait! I just saw a thingy. Yep a definite thingy. Not good. So with a thingy around that usually means there's some possessed folks about too. Or the Conjuror herself. Well that might simplify things I suppose. Conjuror or Shroud? Well that answers that question at least. Now to see what she's up to. And hopefully walk away from it! OW. OW OW OW. And furthermore, OW. I had temporarily forgot I hadn't actually fought her before, just met her. So there's a definite OW moment going on right nOW. But I drop her. I've gotten stronger after going through all my recent adventures, that's for sure. Still a mid level super with imposter syndrome but I do ok if I'm careful. And apparently her master's vengeance is at hand. Does that mean she set up vengeance for him, or he'll be along presently to make me eat my words about being stronger? No time for that! Get lost, Fearful Spirit! Laser eyes go! Then I finally find Mikey, who to be fair had been very sensibly hiding from things. Cannot blame the man for that. And then Shroud appears. Wait ...I thought Pretes was someone else entirely. Ok, this got even more intriguing. And time to get back to Aurora. [Mission 5 = More wonderful atmospherics. Great stuff. A1] Verdict. This entire arc is simply great. I haven't done it justice because I really don't want to spoiler things for people. Just go play it. And remember to read all the clues and text. Next up from @cranebump is The Bleed 3: Wave, Landing. Next up on TerroirNoir's Cable Channel of AE Reviews is @Darmian's The Spark of the Blind.

I'm a little slow at the moment given the time of year and all, and I'll be off radar next week until January, festive family feasts and frolics, you know how it is. But never fear, Engineria is not finished yet!

Must not read!!

Oh, that's very cool! I really should you know, read some of the lore sometime. Mine is mostly gathered through game play and so on.

Arc 14 from our first author on "TerroirNoir's Cable Channel of AE" Reviews is @Ankylosaur's All That Glimmers 1.2: Drowning in The Vigilant Isles. Mission 1: The Temple of the Waters. Time to talk to that enigmatic oddball, Candlestick. He's a strange one. Anyway, with one DOOMSDAY contest thwarted we still have another two to deal with and Old Candlestick thinks the best lead is the Coralax, or Coral Men as he calls them. Noble Savage is investigating something but keeping his cards to his chest, so at least the Forlorn are on side. And there's been contact of a sort with the Legacy Chain. Candlestick hands me his phone to show me what Faerun of the Legacy Chain said. Well, there's a map of their temple there, and that's useful, however most of the intel is what we know. Coralax aren't pure anymore, they're people who have become infected by the coral. Hmm. Candlestick's big issue is the Harbingers of Drowning want to summon Primal Merulina to do what Praetorian Merulina already did. Drown Sharkhead. That's a lot of sacrifices. He hands me an amulet to protect against infection. Thanks, Candlestick. Now to go and get my feet wet. The things I get myself into. And we're off already. Coralax people. Well, after a few minutes I'm picking shards of coral out of my knuckles and wandering through this dank and salt smelling cavern. It's a bit ugh. But I have company! Hiya Barracuda. Whatcha doin'? The calling? Ah, sure. That's exactly what I'm doing. Investigating the calling. Yep yep. The Coralax have captives, 3 in fact. So we need to release them and find out what's actually going on here. Apart from the DOOMSDAY thing that is. Well, here's hoping! Come on, Barracuda, let's go exploring. And we find a Coralax captive and free her. She runs off, also talking about "the Calling". Not as strong willed as Barracuda I suppose. 1 down, 2 to go. And there's another one rescued. This place is HUGE. You could get seriously lost in here. You know, seriously. Not like "I turned a corner and got turned around" but ...anyway. And there's the final captive freed. Oh, well that's encouraging. Look at all of these guys. Virtea and coral shards, and some mad Doctor over there. Ok, let's get stuck in, Barracuda! Dr. Wilbiby? Touch of the Wilbur Whatelys about THAT name I think! End our kind? I suggest you have a word with my friend here about that. Barracuda and Engineria put paid to the doctor before destroying the tall shards or spikes or whatever they are, surrounded as they are by floating thingies. And what's this? Wilbiby's notes. He's looking for a way to make the red coral grow above water, and even sort of spore in the air. Ugh. Grim. Ok, Barracuda, I'll leave you to finish kicking yout relatives' teeth in, I have a Candlestick to report back to. Yeah, it does sound a bit "Beauty and the Beast" but you know the weird lives us supers lead. Oh, she's just gone. Not even a word of thanks. So Candlestick says these Virtea, or fish men(!) were/are slaves of the Coralax. But it now looks like they are in charge in that temple. And the rest of the intel is very troubling, you know, the air borne thing and all. Sheesh. Candlestick is gonna contact Faerun and fill him in on all this, get the Primal knowledge to back up his own Praetorian knowhow. [Mission 1 = Fun run through that terrible temple of the waters map! It is what it is though, thematically perfect. And the attacks from the Virtea are NASTY. Good start to this arc. Let's see where we go!] Mission 2: Interview With A Coralax. Candlestick has the intel! He's been talking to Noble Savage, and the man lives up to his name. Trouble is not everyone does, and he was afraid that the Forlorn, or some of them at least, had joined the Harbingers of Drowning. And he was right. Tsk. Not even that, it seems the Hargingers are entirely composed of ex-Forlorn. Suffice it to say, NS ain't happy. Ok, he never seems what I'd call happy, but now he's definitely NOT happy. Faerun of the Legacy Chain has quite the email correspondence going with Candlestick too by the way. I reckon he's using Candlestick for info. Not that Candlestick ain't canny, he is. But he's not used to tech wielding wizards of the Legacy Chain persuasion maybe? I dunno. Faerun knows a guy. Well, "knows" is strong, is aware of a guy who is...a bit like Barracuda. And the plan is we go talk to him. Faerun setting himself up as the bait and me as the hook. Fittingly we're meeting in The Chum Bucket! Off to The Chum Bucket then. Oh, this place is ..ugh. I'd nearly prefer the sewers. Oh nice one, Faerun. Just get me into a fight from the get go, why don'tcha? Seriously? What happened to all that noble wizard crap you lot always go on about? Is the greater good me pounding some poor schmo in the face? Is it? Faerun! Oh, he does not waste time. We've worked together before but I may need to have words with him! A call to Astoria? Is Sl4g H0rN hearing the same thing Barracuda did? Heh, sounds like it! So we get into it with Sl4g H0rN and his friends, and the blows are traded back and forth and then! See, this is what we could have done at the beginning, Faerun! Well, while he's all compliant now, let's see what the man has to tell us. Stop kicking him! Yep, old Sl4g H0rN here has definitely heard the call, same as Barracuda and the Coralax we freed. He's an ornery sort so has been able to resist going to the sewers of Astoria (still not used to calling it that) but it's still in his head. Faerun seems content with that and hands me a dossier to read before heading off. Looks like I'm reporting in to Candlestick then. Candlestick says it adds up. This calling is emanating from the sewers in Astoria (again, weird!) and the Forlorn/Harbingers are down in the sewers. Time to get in touch with Noble Savage. [Mission 2 = Short intel grabbing mission. Narratively good. No fat on it. And on we go.] Mission 3: The Sewers of Drowning. Bad news first I fear. So, the thing with the Astoria sewers, Noble Savage went investigating himself and has not returned. He was tracking an Arachnos squad, most likely connected with Barracuda, and ...no sign of him now. Desdemona/Vanessa has told Candlestick himself to stay out of it, so it's on me to go find him, and anything else I can find. On it. You know I said I'd prefer the sewers to The Chum Bucket? Yeah, not so much really. Well, you didn't get far, NS, didja? Come on down out of that then. I'll just deal with your Harbinger acolyte friends here. Why? It's surprising what people latch on to when they're in pain, NS. There doesn't need to be any real logic to it, as long as they see the "reasoning" for it. Come on, let's get you up and we'll continue on. Hang on, did you say the Forlorn are immune to the calling? How does that work? Nevermind the explanations for now, meet Andre! Wizard of Frost and so on. Oh, you see this a lot. People with grievances giving themselves weird titles. Compensating is what it is. We get to it with Andre and his minions, yeah, we're here to stop the call, Andre. Hang on, what? Bring Praetorian Merulina here? Oh, so Primal Merulina is dead (for a given value of dead, according to Faerun in his chat about gods and so on), so you're...well that doesn't sound good at all. Ok, none of it sounds good, but now it sounds worse! Whatever. We'll burn that bridge when we come to it. For now the calling is kaput. Up ahead we see a lone Arachnos trooper surrounded by Coralax and we head towards them. The Coralax attack us and NS does his thing, his impressive thing, which mainly involves, well it might be termed "clobberin' time" in a different world! The Arachnos Agent makes a run for it! Ok. Looks like it's grimmer down here than even we had thought, if an entire Arachnos squad was nearly wiped out like that. Right then, NS. Let's see what caused this mayhem. Well, their mayhem, you sorta do your own mayhem as you go along. Well bingo bongo voila, NS. Tell me that doesn't look ominous. Immediately in the corner there's another shardy spikey thing that I've taken an instant dislike to, that and the airborne whatzits that are floating around it. I hope that Candlestick's amulet works! So, let's lay waste to this lab! Wait, NS! I need to look for intel before we do that. Oh, we're going to be busy before that too, Dr. Corral of Pain, is it? Ah, it's actually Dr. Korral. Well, you've gone off the deep end, into the sewer. He's ranting about the Red Corral and how everything will be different. Ah, no. NS, get him! Engineria goes through his notes and then we finish up the lab and the remaining coral tower. Time to go and see Candlestick then. Ah, I missed a whiteboard. What's on this? Oh. Well, we'd kinda figured this out but even so. Right, here I come, Candlestick. Candlestick goes over the notes. He's grim. He needs to talk to someone. [Mission 3 = Great sewer run. Further development of the plot. Looking forward to seeing more.] Mission 4: Destroy the Red Coral Farm. Candlestick seems a bit rattled to me. Mainly because Desdemona isn't back. I may be reading too much into that, we will see. Anyway, Noble Savage is organizing this next operation instead. And hoo boy, is it a doozy. So, we're going to the drowned version of Sharkhead on Praetoria. Yeah, exactly. A doozy. And the Legacy Chain are crashing the party. And apparently Arachnos is doing something major on Praetoria too. And....I am not invited. Ok? I mean it actually is ok, but why? Ah, to quote NS, their world, their responsibility. Gotcha. So what else is there for me to do? Ah, I'm to scoot over to Primeva and take out the final infestation of Red Coral Spires. Ok, off to Nerva I go! Hmm, these guys have an advantage over me in the water. So let's even the odds a bit! Alley Oop! And into the air I soar. Laser eyes for the win! Take that, Blibibluub! It seems the oceans will have their revenge on me. Well, it's more revenge than you're gonna get, Mr. Blib! With Blibsy down I just have to destroy the remaining Red Coral spires and probably not get infected by the airborne things. Ah, there we go. And a further and final pair and we are done. Time to get back to Candlestick and see how the others have been getting on. That wasn't so bad after all. Normally Nerva is a hellhole. Candlestick hasn't heard back but he'll chat to Nadia and see what's going on. They should have either returned or at least reported in by now. [Mission 4 = Expanding the plot further. Good narrative, no time wasting on this. Nice.] Mission 5: Stop The Drowning. Turns out the team in Praetorian Sharkhead are up against it. The Harbingers of Drowning have rallied their forces and a battle is raging. However, I've fulfilled the thing I was asked to do, and Candlestick is almost winking at me here, or has a very kinetic facial twitch(!) and says I'm free to do what I like now, and no on is preventing me from going to the party. Oh, Engineria, you SHALL go to the Undersea Ball! So he opens up a portal for me and off I go. Right out of the gate there's battles to be seen all across the place. Arachnos are here in some strength too. Now I know there's 5 powerful allies I need to find. And since we have to stop Merulina herself manifesting here, I reckon I'm a gonna NEED them. So I take to the air and go a hunting! And there's Ryan the Smouldering. I remember him from the demon infestation on Cap. Let's see what's his deal today. Hiya, Ryan. Let's gather the troops! Oh! Well, I wasn't expecting one of those allies to be Barracuda, but never look a gift fish in the mouth I say. Come on, Ms. B, join me and Ryan here and let's find the others. What happened your Arachnos guys by the way? In short succession (And frankly on this map I simply got lucky!) we find Noble Savage, Faerlun and Simon the Brilliant. Soo, that leaves us having to take on a Coralax Shaper Priest-wizard and a goddess. A goddess?! Why the hell do I even get up in the morning anymore? Well, gang, there's a Shaper. He seems a tad irritated by our presence. Shall we? Oh, he's summoning Merulina! Not good! Nope! Not good. And we have to deal with a witch too as well! We take him down though and he falls pretty hard. Almost dissolving into.. I dunno what that is. The Red Coral throughout him? Oh lookee there! It's a Wicked Witch! Ah, keep it together team, we need all of us for Merulina when we find her, so no wild nonsense when we take this one down. Well, obviously I spoke too soon. They've got caught up in a fight nearby. Ok, I call in Buddy and he and I tackle the Witch of Frost. Is that "Let it Go" I can hear on your armor's sound system, Buddy? Apt I suppose. Take her down, my friend! Ok, the others have caught up to us just as we finish off Elsa. Just Merulina herself left now. And I think I know where she is. Call you forth? Oh, wasn't me, ma'am. But you're gonna have to go back. Your time here is over and you are not taking your dead doppelganger's place on Primal Earth, we intend to see about that! And at this point, the plan is simply hit her. So we hit her. Here's hoping! Flattering? Sure. go with that. Frankly it's terrifying from our point of view. And...wait, what? Ah, thanks I think. Finally, a vastly powerful foe who isn't actually insane but thinks things through. Better remember this one, those are rare. Also, those Harbingers are gonna be soooo disappointed. I mean hard core disappointed. Thanks Merulina. Let's hope we never meet again, no offence. We've done it! And the team split up and go their separate ways. I assume Barracuda has her own methods of getting back to Primal Earth, as for me and Buddy, it's back to see Candlestick. He's well pleased with the result. That's two of the three Doomsday plots thwarted. Third time's the charm they say, but for who? [Mission 5 = Excellent gather the team mission. Like I say, I got lucky in finding my allies, but @Ankylosaur gives a warning about this on the mission send off screen, so it's not like you won't know. Good stuff.] Verdict. Excellent mid point of the Doomsday Plots trilogy, as I'm thinking off it at the moment. Great team work and plenty of lore to dig into. Plenty I didn't share. I don't want to spoil everything for people. Next up from @Ankylosaur is All That Glimmers 1.3: Destruction in the Shadow Shard. Next up on TerroirNoir's Cable Channel of AE Reviews is @cranebump's The Bleed 2: De Pulvis Rediit (From the Dust Returned)

Ok, hit 217 missions at the end of the Holiday Specials. I'll be back to regular channels shortly 😄

I did! But I try not to spoil everything for people LOL.

Happy Holidays Everyone, love Engineria!

Next on the channel for Engineria's Holiday Specials is Christmas Comes to Oranbega by @Takel (@TakelGryph on the AE console) Mission 1: Now I Have a Machine Gun. Ok then. Engineria meets with Detective Rogers. It appears that the Circle of Thorns has kidnapped Santa. To be fair to Rogers, he can't believe it either, so that's two of us. Well, not exactly. A hero called Magic Bullet was dressed as Santa and the CoT kidnapped him. Last seen being dragged by robed folks into an office building here in Steel Canyon. Sheesh. The things I do for Christmas. Mind you I have collected a few Snowmen allies from checking out all the gifts lying around the city, so that should give Buddy and me some back up. I mean look at these guys, standing around like they own the place. Maybe they do! Does anyone ever check? I mean suppose some day a "vill" pulls a castle defence on one of us? You know, because it's actually their property and so on. Never mind. I'm still bullet proof. Resistant. Thick skinned? Whatever. Ah damnit, sometimes you just gotta PUNCH them. Brawl for the win! Take that on the chin, my robed foe! And while you're at it, stop firing crossbows at me! And up ahead is NOT SANTA. Hiya, Magic Bullet. What are you up to, trussed up in a festive green light like a floaty decoration? Not much, huh? Ok, let's get you down out of that. You ain't not tree top star. So, what's that? Naughty list? Oh hell. Well, look at us! We make a great pair, don't we? Santa and his helper off to stop the bad guy. Come on, Magic, let's find the vill and kick his robe in. There's an Arch Mage Aleus to find, so we need to make tracks through this place. See some CoT, blast some CoT. Easy! I wish. Although...watching them get bowled over like that is VERY satisfying. Gotta tell ya. No he's not alone! His helper is here too! Got some reindeer on the way, and a jet powered sleigh out the front waiting for us. Or something. You guys do know that this isn't the real Santa, or Santa-man, yeah? No? Your loss. Oh I do NOT like the sound of that! Magic! Shoot this bum! I mean a lot. Shoot him a lot. And me and Magic Bullet tumble him to the bottom of the stairs where he lies moaning about it being impossible that he was defeated. They all say that you know. Ok, let's go Magic. I gotta get back to Detective Rogers. Rogers is pleased Magic Bullet is alive and well, but he needs my help on something else arising out of all this. Well, what could that be I wonder? [Mission 1 = Fun bash the Circle in the face mission. What more need be said? This hits all the right spots and keeps going. Good stuff] Mission 2: Christmas is a Big Commercial Racket. Well, as we expected the CoT haven't just stopped their nonsense because I rescued a lone Santa impersonator. No, they're attacking a warehouse. Weird thing is that there's nothing intrinsically magical or valuable there that anyone knows about. It's stocked with fake snow, plastic decorations, nativity sets, and various other festive bling that...well, who knows what they're up to. I mean if the CoT wanted to jazz up their look they could hire Gene Doucette maybe, for a little of that "Aloha in Hawaii" feel. While Engineria is checking out the warehouse, Detective Rogers is going to speak to MAGI and see if they have any clues as to what's going on. Well, I'm at least in the right warehouse. Unless they're attacking all the Christmas bling warehouses? Damn Ice Thorn Casters! I know it's the winter, and seasonal and all, but this getting frozen thing is annoying! I really should have invested in a flamethrower or something I suppose. Cut it out you robed muppet! Ok, somewhere in this warehouse is Arch Mage Onutarum. I need to get him over my knee and give him a sound spanking. I hear that the Circle of Thorns are old school traditionalists, so that should meet his approval. Unless he wants to do something uber old and nominate a whipping boy, but I'm not going for that crap! Hold on, what do we have here? Some sort of shopping list of items to be stolen from the warehouse. All festively themed. Tree ornaments, plushie Posi (with Santa armor!), reindeer magnets. Odd. So they ARE robbing the place of Christmas bling. What the hell? Is he doing a Mall Santa shtick for Oranbega? Sleigh pulled by Behemoths? Lots of elves AKA Hordeling Lashers, rushing about putting up lights? That would be a hell of a thing to see, wouldn't it? Never mind. Let's question him. ZZzzzzz. This can go badly wrong, so badly wrong. Come on! Shake it off! (Yes, I could use a Break Free if I had one. I don't.) He's not the strongest guy I've faced but I am having an unlucky fight here. I'm missing, or he just keeps managing to stun, sleep, mind hold me every single time. My only chance is to outlast him. Fortunately the three behemoths with him didn't come over! No idea why but I'm thankful for small mercies. Also, closer to victory? WHAT victory? Stealing Plushie Posi dolls is a victory is it? I mean you could have just ordered them online...now that I think of it I have never seen a computer in Oranbega. Forget that. Go to an actual store and just buy in bulk. You can't be arrested for that. Yet. I outlast him and he falls, saying they already have what they need. Like I say weird. Tidying up the remaining minions I return to see Detective Rogers. He checks out the list I found and it matches intel received from MAGI. And? And it's a bad thing. Ok, I'll wait. This should be interesting! [Mission 2 = Fun romp through the CoT again. Well done and adhering to the theme and story. Like it!] Mission 3: Snow Goons are Bad News. So, anyway. We're really not much further on, really. MAGI thinks the Santa kidnapping, the bling toys like Plushie Posi etc, is all part of an attempt to use some sort of sympathetic magic to summon...someone. Who that someone is? That's the $64,000 question, isn't it? A frost demon? The Krampus? Someone else worse? So there's a nearby cave that will get me into Oranbega and to this ritual. I have to stop it because it'll destroy the season of goodwill entirely if I don't. Maybe not 100 per cent stop it? I could do without the muzak! And into the cave I go! And I think I have a HINT as to what they're doing! Oh hell. I was wondering about the snow on the portal when I stepped in here. And they do NOT want to come quietly! I really really wish the P2W woman sold flame throwers. Or even one of those external patio heater things. Yeah, yeah, my uniform is going to be soggy at the end of all this, I can just see it now. Drip dry. Ok, wading through the slush I turn the corner to find the Binding Crystal of Nature, along with its guardians. So, they're pulling the power of nature itself into this to, what, bind the Winter Lord to their will? I mean he does his seasonal thing and causes trouble but ultimately he's not goal oriented I'd say. Not that he has a Twotter account or does press releases to let us know. And of course there's alarms going off and echoing throughout Oranbega when I drop the guardians and destroy the crystal. I mean I should expect this sort of thing by now, shouldn't I? I should. Time for Engineria to roll up her soggy sleeves and rad blast this robe wearing maniacs. I stagger clear of their massed attack and rest. And hello! That's very handy indeed. You guys really need to decentralize things if you don't want people like me sticking a wrench in your engine. Oof! taking these two out summons MORE First Responders. (Or is is second and third responders, since I already destroyed the first crystal?) More magic shenanigans and acolytes with crossbows ensue and I have to deal with them Right now I'm kinda lost in these tunnels and just wandering from room to room. But I think this is the main man himself! Arch-Mage Xiqium. Power of the Winter Lord, huh? Well his minions aren't so happy with you doing that, nor are the rest of us, me in particular since I'm right here. He's tough though, more holds and stuns and mezzes and so on. But even he can't fight off getting rad blasted in the face and having his health pulled from him via Kinetics. So close? Nah, I had your number, friend. Once you stole the Plushie Posi you were going down. (Engineria tucks one of those into her jacket for her niece) I report back to Detective Rogers. He's obviously heard of the Winter Lord and is damn happy that the crisis is averted. Christmas in Oranbega? Get a proper mall Santa and do it right, you robed weirdoes. I'll leave the last comment to Rogers himself. [Mission 3 = Well, the theme continues and never lets up. Another fun romp against the CoT. What more do you need? Good stuff] Verdict. This is a fun little arc from start to finish. Play it and enjoy. Next up is...next year! Or until a new set of seasonal AE arcs is added, whether Valentine's Day or whatever.

Hmm. This is just me now, but it looks as though Patty Jenkins' WW3 is canned, not that WW3 in some form isn't happening. And after WW1984 I'm not 100% surprised at that, As for other sequels and so on? Who knows actually. It seems to be forgotten by these commenters that Gunn himself is a part of the "previous set of filmakers", and specifically with say "Peace Maker" fought to get that set of cameos at the end, even if two were in shadow. So there's a lot of speculation mined out of literally nothing in most of that. Again, I could be entirely wrong! On a personal level the only thing I would literally want cancelled immediately is the sequel to Joker.

Entirely depends on where you check. I've seen other reports where it's in the black. Not majorly but definitely in the black.