TerroirNoir's "Cable Channel of AE!" Reviews. Part 1.

[TerroirNoir]

I said a while ago that I wanted to play through several of the long form stories that are available in the AE and do a little (mostly spoiler free) review of each. I say review, and there will be a bit of that, but mostly it's going to be a sort of in character playthrough of all of these.

 

The plan is to play Part One (or equivalently named) of the following stories, alternating through them as though having your own TV channel.  So the stories lined up so far are "All That Glitters" by @Ankylosaur, "Ordinary People", "Leviathan" and "Mobius" by @cranebump and "Dark Deeds in Galaxy City" by @Darmian. (I may add more by each writer in an attempt to even out the number of arcs, we will see)

 

Each writer has put extensive work into these things, spanning 40+ missions in some cases(!)

 

---

So without further ado, let's begin with @Ankylosaur's "All That Glitters 1.1: Missing in Mercy".

 

Mission 1. Showing Mercy.  Well, here I am, little Engineria, a Rad Blast/Kin Science Corruptor, recruited by Hornet of Wyvern to extract a famed contact, THE Matthew Burke no less, and get him out of Mercy Isle.  What could go wrong?  Hornet HAS just warned me about Hellions and Skulls and Snakes, oh my!

 

Off I go.

 

 

And already I hit snakes!  Nasty, spitty, stabby things!  Fortunately they do not like Rad (who does?)

 

Already @Ankylosaur does a nice little thing here.  I just defeated a boss and their clue drop is marked as a "Sidequest", giving a link to another of their AEs, building a larger shared world where all this happens.  Apart from the larger shared world we're already in that is.

 

Still no sign of Burke though, but this map isn't big so he's probably around the next corner!

 

 

And there he is, being menaced by a Viper.

 

One rescue later and off we go to the Mission Exit.  Fortunately Burke seems pretty speedy and I didn't lose him.  Kinetics' Siphon Speed, when still in effect on you, can easily cause you to lose an escort or ally.

Time for a debrief with Hornet.  Burke seems thankful and hands out some info on a super scientist who also might be in need or rescue or a sponsor group.  That'll be Mission 2 then.

 

[Mission1 = short and small and sets up the rest of the arc, at least that's how I'm reading it.  Immediate intro to the murkier side of CoX via Wyvern's not 100 percent legal operations and so on.  Nicely done.]

 

Mission 2: Mercy Slaying. Hmm, complications already! Burke has not been entirely truthful!  He doesn't know where the super scientist is but he knows a guy who might.  Time to find THAT guy then.  If that guy then knows another guy who knows another guy...LOL.

And we have a little bit of subterfuge too, since Wyvern is on the downlow here.  Anyway, off we go!

 

Okay then, straight away I meet some Longbow who are friendlies.  Well, not enemies yet let's say!

 

 

I'll just mosey on and find our guy, since he's been yelling stuff since I got here.

 

And just ran into a fight between some Infected and Snakes.  By some I mean about 8 of them, so that got a little rough.  Poor Infected though, me using Rad Blast on their already frazzled forms seems unfair.  I have to say that I always carry some P2W Hand Grenades on me and they're very effective at lower levels, even if it is just for "get the hell away from me!"

 

Follow that up with a Hellion attack, and ROFL, these guys have social issues I think.

 

Still no sign of our contact who may know where the missing scientist is.

 

There's our man!  It's Mongoose! And no, he does NOT know where the target is.  He's suggesting someone else knows!  I know a lot of investigation is footwork and paperwork, so let's slog on!

 

Cue more interrogation of various folk and we discover that our missing scientist was really interested in Dr. Aeon and Candy Bars!  Time to report back to Hornet, leaving my contact to have fun with some Longbow!

 

[Mission 2 = looks like I'm in for the long haul! We're continuing the investigation and proceeding on foot.  Don't get me wrong, this isn't a bad thing. Another fast mission that fills out the world a little more.]

 

Mission 3: Mission of Mercy. Well, Hornet's my main contact but now I'm getting instructions/help from Mongoose.  With a change of text color I know I'm no longer chatting to Hornet (as well as Mongoose  identifying himself).  Hornet is following up another lead while Engineria goes hunting elsewhere.  Definite moment of a larger plot at work.

 

In we go!

 

Lots of Infected in this place!  Had a little issue with them last time, let's be more careful now. I meet up with my Mongoose (one annoyance of AE is having to "rescue" your ally every time as opposed to meeting them inside the door as in a normal mission. Can't be helped though.) Mongoose is going to introduce me to Biopulse, an Infected super.  I suppose we can blame him and the few like him for the others.  He's the one where drinking the infected water actually DID grant super powers!

 

Found him.  He seems to be doing paperwork!

 

 

Nice little hand off of the player from one Escort to another.  Mongoose heads off to, I don't know, kill more snakes?  Leaving Biopulse to lead me to another guy who should know where our initial missing scientist is.

 

Ok, this is a nice touch!  After meeting Biopulse and being vouched for by Mongoose, the next bunch of Infected I meet all scan as friendlies.  

 

Along the way I find several clues and then meet with a Dr. Creed, who informs me that Desslock will help with the next part, since he himself sent our missing scientist to Desslock.  Where he went after that is anyone's guess.

 

Okay, due to the nature of AE spawn points I found two clues BEFORE I met Dr. Creed. That happens but they're written as if I had already spoken to Creed.  Plus a little bit of missing text here for you @Ankylosaur

 

 

And Mongoose is outside waiting in his truck for me.  Useful!

 

[Mission 3 = Ok, my notion as to the long haul seems accurate.  So far the arc is driving investigation as opposed to combat, not a bad thing, Let's see if there's a resolution by the arc's end.]

 

Mission 4: Finding Mercy. Off to find Desslock, a character known to VEATS across the Rogue Isles.  Stepping in I get someone called Psicicle calling me for help.  Odd, I don't know anyone called Psicicle!  A trap!  Or not!  On we go.

 

No sign of our possible psychic icicle yet, but I find Desslock in trouble.  One rescue later and I have to now deal with Olivia Darque!  It's getting hectic around here!

 

I get Desslock to the truck but Olivia Darque is preventing our escape and she's not a pushover.  Needed to pop several green insps to get through this one!

 

 

It seems that while our mystery scientist is interested in Dr. Aeon, Dr. Aeon is also interested in our mystery scientist.  And now I've also pissed off Marshal Brass somehow.

 

We escape but I never found Psicicle.  

 

[Mission 4 = Things are definitely starting to heat up now. Desslock is recovered and we're heading into the finale of this arc.]

 

Mission 5: Merciful Good Byes. We learned in Mission 4 that Desslock had secured a Longbow uniform for our missing guy, who then presented himself at Fort Darwin.  I don't know whether this guy is really a genius or an idiot.  Let's find out.  

 

This one is simple.  We need to inspect flight manifests to find where the hell our fugitive vanished to.  The theory is he just donned a Longbow uniform and boarded a flight out of Mercy.

 

And that was fast.  Everyone was friendly, I grab the manifest from the correct flier and head off with Hornet.  We still haven't found our elusive scientist but it looks like we'll be heading to Port Oakes for Part Two, and a meeting with another Wyvern agent named Ollerus.

 

[Mission 5 = Fast and to the point.]

 

Overall I've enjoyed this arc.  It spreads its detail out over the entire 5 missions, with snatches of world building and meeting of contacts, some of whom I'll probably meet again along the way.  Other arcs would have covered the same amount of investigation in perhaps one or two missions.  I can't say which is better, that will be a matter of personal taste for each player, but @Ankylosaur doesn't have long winding maps and so on to drag out the information drops further, so there's no frustration at not finding a contact or clue as time passes.  Despite this I would pace things a little faster myself though. 

 

Verdict: Good introduction and our next episode will be All That Glitters 1.2: Piracy in Port Oakes.

 

Next up on TerroirNoir's Cable Channel of AE Reviews is, after the commercials of course, @cranebump's Ordinary People 1: Standard Operating Procedure.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 24, 2022 by TerroirNoir

[cranebump]

Wow, TN. This is some good stuff! Gonna be a commitment, for sure. Dark Deeds is an immersive, detailed, Epic. It’ll feel like a Netflix series, fer sure. As for Ordinary People, that was among my first efforts at anything AE, so…watch out for the bumps (namely typos I never fixed, and my insane love of timed missions and ambushes back then). We salute you, hero!

[TerroirNoir]

14 hours ago, cranebump said:

Wow, TN. This is some good stuff! Gonna be a commitment, for sure. Dark Deeds is an immersive, detailed, Epic. It’ll feel like a Netflix series, fer sure. As for Ordinary People, that was among my first efforts at anything AE, so…watch out for the bumps (namely typos I never fixed, and my insane love of timed missions and ambushes back then). We salute you, hero!

I'm also doing "Leviathan" by you to match the numbers of missions with @Ankylosaur and @Darmian's work.  I was going to do "Mobius" but some of the parts are missing!

[Darmian]

16 hours ago, cranebump said:

Dark Deeds is an immersive, detailed, Epic. It’ll feel like a Netflix series, fer sure.

Very kind words there, @cranebump!

[cranebump]

4 hours ago, TerroirNoir said:

I'm also doing "Leviathan" by you to match the numbers of missions with @Ankylosaur and @Darmian's work.  I was going to do "Mobius" but some of the parts are missing!

Didn’t realize any Mobius entries were even there. I’ll have to strip them. It was huge, but perhaps too big. Thanks for doing what you’re doing. Appreciated.

[TerroirNoir]

Our second show on "TerroirNoir's Cable Channel of AE" Reviews is @cranebump's Ordinary People 1: Standard Operating Procedure.

 

So let's dive in to it and see what's on offer.

 

Mission 1: We meet Joe Freitag.  That's Detective Freitag of Kings Row.  Engineria has just been dragged from her breakfast to investigate a break in/hostage situation at Nandelu's Antiquities.  Ok, seems an odd place to have a hostage situation. A break in I can see, valuable stuff in an antiquities store definitely.  I open the door and step in.

 

 

Ok, first things first. This guy does NOT look like a regular hostage, but he runs off like one so who am I to judge?  Maybe a cosplayer of some kind?  Either way these villains are playing for keeps.

 

 

And we also have...Skullionz?  In some infernal lab is some modern day Saruman crossbreeding Skulls and Hellions to create a new, tougher form of low level thug?  They ARE tough by the way, needed to pop a few insps taking out those guys!

 

A couple more hostages to rescue and then I need to check on some safes.  Knowing my luck they'll already be empty by the time I find them.

 

Did I mention this mission has a 15 minute timer?  So I can't really dawdle here.  Every fight that lasts that little bit longer than you expected is chipping away at possible success.  15 minutes seems long, it isn't.

 

That's the hostages freed, and safes checked, safes that still have most of their valuables in them.  Weird.  However now I have a "special safe" to check.  I ran by this earlier, so back upstairs I go!

 

 

Now, that looks a mite Arachnossy to me.  Everyone agreed on that?  And bingo, a missing necklace, with a centerpiece of a Shivan crystal.  Ok, now we're getting somewhere!

 

But we have a gang boss to deal with, Cyrus.

 

 

And there you are.  Let's do this!  Ok, ambush!  And some interesting chatter from Cyrus.  I'll not spoil that for future players though!  And he's down!  

 

And I get handed one of those moments where you finish the mission in time, get all the objectives done, but there's still a few of the enemy left and...

 

Takes the wind out of your sails a bit.  Let me say again that these Skullionz are no pushovers!

 

So I TP out to the hospital...no, I'm not wasting a rez on getting up here...and get patched up and stagger off to see Joe Freitag again.

 

"Well done, Engineria" he says. Although now I have to go write up paperwork.! Not impressed, Mr. Freitag.

 

[Mission 1 = Despite my slowish description here this mission races along at a good speed, powered by the constant checking of the 15 minute timer, and generally leaves you a little breathless.  We've uncovered the theft of a valuable item and met some new type of gang (or are they a sub part?) that cleaned my clock at the end.  Good solid stuff.]

 

Mission 2: Time to go check on Nandelu's estate. Cyrus has spilled the beans on what he knows and part of that is stealing the largest known diamond in the world.  That's a LOT of glass! Nandelu's estate is in a surviving part of Galaxy City but fortunately we're getting a chopper to drop us on the roof or something, which is good because I am not keen on a war zone full of Shivans.  Hang on a minute!  There's a Shivan crystal in a missing necklace!  OH!  Or I may just be adding 2 and 2 to get 5.  We'll see.

 

In we go! And wouldn't you know it, there's a timer.  Have to rescue some captured security and Nandelu himself.

 

 

You had it covered?  We'll let that slide for now since you're following me and helping out. And there's your partner, now I have TWO assistants, ho ho ho.

 

There's the man himself, with some Skullionz captors.

 

 

One rescued guy later and we're off to find that diamond thing.  Oh, hell, final boss fight here is a real doozy, and then I get ambushed.

 

 

The ambush was well done!  I got blindsided and then the boss made a run for it and made it to an exit in time.  So chalk that up as a win for the bad guys. 

 

 

[Mission 2 = Another pacy mission (the timers, while I HATE timers usually) really add to the sense of tension as you tear around trying to get things done in time while the mystery unfolds.  Good stuff.]

 

Mission 3: Joe Freitag calls Engineria back in to discuss a veritable TSUNAMI of break ins across Kings Row that coincide with the one we just investigated.  Seems its mostly jewels that these heistmeisters are after and you'd be hard pressed to find a single diamond in the place outside granny's engagement ring.  If she still has it.  (Must call her and tell her to check).  Anyways, two people I've never heard of (so I checked the HC wiki and there they are!  Cool!) have been doing some research on old Arachnos stuff (I knew that safe earlier was Arachnossy!) and have found one of the heist gang's hideouts.  Time for me to check that out, and anything else I might find. 

 

Off we go.  ARGH.  A 30 minute timer!  Well, @cranebump did warn me so there's that.

 

First things first, I meet up with Whipsmart. Again.  I forgot to mention that for Mission 2.  He was helpful, though I fell victim of my own speed boost via Kinetics and left him behind when I met the final boss.  Hindsight is a wonderful thing.  Ok, he's with me now so we proceed. CAREFULLY.  I am susceptible to fire damage and Hellions and these newer Skullionz like using it. A lot.

 

 

This time we have to check for any clues at all and find a mainframe.  Simple she said.  Sure, sure.  But Mister Whipsmart and the Bot Gang are a nice liitle backup team, so while we take some punches, we also roll well with them.  Until the Skullionz start throwing fire.  Or the Hellions.  There was a lot of fire, ok? 

 

Anyway, we drag our sorry asses out of the probably by now INFERNO of a building, having collected as many clues as possible, and Whipsmart goes off to BLOG!

 

Who BLOGS these days?  Is he new?  He must be new.

 

 

So, we have encoded messages about a "Project Equinox" and we found a sealed box, and a bunch of other thingies that Freitag's gang will need to decode for me.  And he assigns me more paperwork.  Sometimes you'd be tempted to go Vigilante just to avoid all the red tape.  Not for the "street justice" of it, just to avoid filling out forms!

 

[Mission 3 = A fast mission with plenty of tough enemies.  Don't let the fact that you're facing Hellions and their cousins, the Skullionz, make you complacent, they WILL hurt you!  Good stuff!]

 

Mission 4: The final timer! Freitag informs me that his contacts have pinpointed where the Skullionz (who the hell ARE these guys?) are taking their loot to a dry dock in Port Oakes.  Because going to the Rogue Isles is exactly what I need right now.  Uh huh. Ok. Grab what I can, arrest all I find and get that rare diamond back.  (Diamondback?  That's a snake isn't it?)

 

 

Let's just remove methods of escape, especially after the last mission! One truck destroyed!

 

@cranebump, there's a few discrepancies on the spelling of Skullionz/Skullion here and there.

 

 

And I've made a new friend too. Let's see what he is ....oh boy, this guy is frikkin Dare-Devil!  Hard as nails and that staff packs a wallop.  I'm still getting third degree burns from these baddies though.

 

 

Don't know who you are Pyranna, but you're getting arrested in a very severe manner!

 

That's everyone arrested and the loot recovered.  One final thing to deal with and that's some sort of giant portal device!  And done.

 

We got the giant diamond back but the necklace with the Shivan thing in it is still missing. (I KNEW that was important!)

 

[Mission 4 = @cranebump has another speedy mission with plenty of ambushes and tough enemies.  A good finale to this first arc.]

 

I've enjoyed this arc.  I could do with less timers though! Despite that niggle the timers aid in the near desperate race against time feel, and that is hard to get across in a contact's speech, so it works well in that regard.  I'm looking forward to tracking down that missing necklace.  Some of the text (not spoiling it for future players!) seems to hint at something bigger behind the Skullionz/Skullions, other than just an offshoot of the Hellions+Skulls. 

 

Verdict: Good introduction and our next episode will be Ordinary People 2: Hope and Bullets.

 

Next up on TerroirNoir's Cable Channel of AE Reviews is, again after the obligatory commercials, @Darmian's Dark Deeds in Galaxy City: Part One.

 

Edited November 5, 2022 by TerroirNoir

[cranebump]

Yep. Timers and ambushes. My apologies. I think the douche baggery was strong in me on that one:-)  

 

As far as the hostages go I set it on Random so you get some very weird stuff in there. I probably should’ve paid more attention to that since the nature of the hostages are clues in and of themselves right?  
 

derrrrrrrrr

Edited September 28, 2022 by cranebump

[Ankylosaur]

On 9/25/2022 at 6:49 PM, TerroirNoir said:

Okay, due to the nature of AE spawn points I found two clues BEFORE I met Dr. Creed. That happens but they're written as if I had already spoken to Creed.  Plus a little bit of missing text here for you @Ankylosaur

 

Wow! Very ambitious to take all of this on!

 

I'll get to squashing the bugs and typos... Appreciate you finding them and letting me know.

 

Adding this much detail to your review, well, you have a long, but I hope exciting, road ahead!

 

The gist of each of the little trilogies in Glitters is that the x.3 is a big finale before the next little trilogy.

 

One of the nice things about doing something longer is that as an author, you can use the tiny maps like a casino, without feeling like you are squandering a mission that could fill in a lot of detail or action.

 

1.1 was also sort of a "where are they now" arc, for those that recall the original Mercy island.

 

Edited September 28, 2022 by Ankylosaur

[TerroirNoir]

So far I've seen some great game lore references in both @Ankylosaur and @cranebump's arcs.  I think I will have to keep the HC wiki open in a separate tab to try to keep up with everything!

[TerroirNoir]

Our third show on "TerroirNoir's Cable Channel of AE" Reviews is @Darmian 's Dark Deeds in Galaxy City: Part One.

 

First things first, I meet with Madame Maven.  And I'm sure I've seen her before somewhere.  Hang on.  Taking a pre mission detour to Atlas Park.  And there you are!  Interesting. Hanging out around City Hall talking to reporters.

 

 

Ok, I've not worked with Madame Maven before but she's visible and around.  

 

Mission 1: Through the Ashes:  Ok, Madame Maven, what do you have for me?  Two of her SG have gone missing while investigating an Arachnos safe house in Kings Row apparently. They were investigating weird things reported by survivors of the Galaxy City event, again involving sightings of Arachnos.  And another of the SG is waiting for me to arrive.  Looks like she has her plan all worked out.  Not sure why I'm even here!

 

In we go and there's my contact, right inside the entrance, with no guards to defeat.  That's unusual for the AE actually!

 

 

Right then Bullet Streak, let's go find your buddies and defeat this Arbiter Fornax.

 

Engineria and Bullet Streak continue through the ruined safehouse until we sight Arbiter Fornax and his minions.  Those are definitely odd looking Arachnos outfits.  I've not seen these before. 

 

We take Fornax and friends out and then rush off to find Super Charger, one of the missing SG members, who Fornax has just ordered killed! 

 

Got to him in time!  However the other missing member has been taken away elsewhere, and the Arachnos were moving crates around.  So we find one of those and it has a bag in it.  A bag that contains part of a skeleton, just missing the skull!  Ok, definitely have my interest piqued now!

 

[Mission 1: Short mission that gets right to the point and leaves enough hanging for me to want to play Mission 2, and I think all the NPCs I've met so far are hanging around Atlas Park.]

 

Mission 2: Azuria's Bones. Madame Maven has sent the bones to Azuria for examination, that and a metal plate retrieved from Fornax.  So Azuria is over in a quiet section of Trident Base examining them.  I'm being met by The Invincible Axios.  Such a name! Majority of Longbow are apparently out answering an all officers call in Siren's Call, so it'll be quiet.

 

In I go!

 

Hmm, have to sign in so that the automated systems recognize me as a friendly.  Seems reasonable. And there's my contact.

 

 

In danger here?  That's NOT good.  Nuh uh.  Ok, off we go, looking for Azuria and her files.

 

More weird Arachnos...units, I suppose.  Axios and Engineria make short work of them. Axios IS pretty tough actually.  I don't know about invincible but he has a killer punch.

 

Weird overheard chat from the Arachnos guys about "Richter" wanting to do something.  Is that Lord Recluse?  Who calls Lord Recluse that?  Who in Arachnos I mean.

 

Ok, found Azuria's files in a box.  Which also contains a partially read romance novel.  LOL. Gotta find her though.  On we go.

Axios found her first!  And immediately went to rescue her.

 

My Lord but he's tough, I barely got a few hits in before he put them down.  Then again on a higher difficulty level a player might be very glad of his skills and strength and so on.  Let's see what Azuria has to say for herself when we dust her down.

 

OH BOY!.  I hope I'm not jumping to conclusions but I can see why Arachnos is interested in things.

 

Spoiler

Azuria says those bones appear to be those of Ghost Widow.

 

I was not expecting that!  Anyway, Azuria heads away to talk to Madame Maven while Axios and I go to deal with the Arachnos commander, who is apparently still on site.

 

We find him.  He holds the title of "Chrono Leader", whatever that is.  Oh, he's using time powers.  Everything slows down a bit as a temporal field opens up around him.  Him and his minions are tough, but part way through Longbow start arriving back in the base and rush to our assistance.  Just in time to see Axios put his foot through the Chrono Leader's helmet!

 

Job done!

 

 

I don't like that "DNA sample acquired" thing!  Engineria or Axios?  Hmm.

 

Out to talk to Madame Maven, who seems entirely puzzled by the revelation about the bones (see spoiler). And we still haven't found the missing SG member, Halox Von Horn.  

 

Oh! Halox Von Horn = HVH.  Gotcha, @cranebump.

 

[Mission 2 = This is a fun mission with little asides popping up in the chat bar from wandering NPCs.  There do seem to be a lot of patrol type things, which makes it interesting for getting around in that you can't just run down a known empty corridor.  The mystery deepens, I think!]

 

I think this was written before Trident Base was moved/combined with the new Freedom Corps building in Atlas Park, so the layout is of the older, lakeside version.  That can't be helped though.  Just wondering where the Freedom Phalanx are!

 

Missions 3: Grime and Rust. Madame Maven has been doing some research based on Engineria's adventures so far.  The theory is time travel.  What with the Chrono Leader plus the strange uniforms seen in the Kings Row mission.  Seems those are 1960s Arachnos uniforms. (Anybody want to tell me where they appear elsewhere?) So the next job is to access an abandoned Arachnos base that dates from that time.  Her reasoning being a time jumper would go to somewhere they know exists in the 60s.  Ok, I'm getting it. Those guys would be out of luck if it were a Walmart these days though!  Unless they've already gone through that!  ROFL.  

 

Oh, on accepting we see she has more information.  Halox Von Horn's comms have been pinged in this so-called abandoned base.  Ok then, let's go kick spider ass.

 

In we go.  Have to access a computer.  That does not go as well as expected.  But now I'm looking for another computer, which tells me HVH (see, I'm doing that now!) is on the third floor along with another prisoner.

 

Place is really abandoned.  A few patrols on floor 2 but I stealth by them and head for the elevator to 3. And around the corner is our missing SG member.  With a lot of guards!

 

That got a bit zesty, but I kept them off me with Kinetics' Repel and some P2W hand grenades, long enough to pick them off. But still tight since they're using some sort of beam rifle.  Nasty.

 

Well Mr. Von Horn is just a whole bunch of happy.  But eager to help now he's finally rescued.

 

 

The other prisoner is a small woman. We grab her and drop the enemies but she's spouting nonsense at me while I check another computer.

 

Okay, THAT's what she was talking about.  I don't like it. That Chrono dude totally stole my DNA!  Hang on!  We meet again??

 

 

Why does my double have better control of our powers than me?  That hardly seems fair.  However Mr. Von Horn promptly shoots her in the head with an explosive tipped arrow.  Problem solved!

 

Or not!  Normal looking Arachnos appear and have a go at us and we have to fight our way out!

 

Reporting back to Madame Maven, who now has a full team again, tells me she has to consult with someone on what we've learned so far.

 

[Mission 3 = Crazy mission! But fun.  There's a lot packed into this in terms of information and stuff to decipher.  We've got the two SG members back but odder things are uncovered.]

 

Mission 4: Another Time. Ok, it's gotten odder.  Chrono Leader is using temporal powers, but it looks like the 1960s Arachnos are ACTUALLY 1960s Arachnos.  Strange little woman we found along with Mr. Von Horn seems to think yesterday was 1966 and she works for a company called Weaver Corp.  Sooo, I'm spoiler tagging this next bit.

 

Spoiler

1960s Arachnos seem to be interested in the skull of Ghost Widow, which is still missing, but present day Arachnos are not happy with 1960s Arachnos because it might unwrite their history.  I think. 

 

Anyway, Madame Maven has had a chat with Blue Spectrum and he's arranged for Portal Corps to fling Engineria, Von Horn and Axios back through time to 1966 to discover what's going on.  What went on.  Is now not going on?  Ok, whenever it's happening it is still happening to Engineria, so I focus on that!

 

Ok, OLD Atlas Park.  I should have expected that for 1966.

 

 

Have to find my two companions.  And there's an announcement from the PPD about Arachnos in the area, and a meteor strike! In 1966?

Found Von Horn.  He looks far too loungy and comfortable, LOL. He's just sitting on a Scherezade box!

 

What the hell are these things? Oh, I've read the bio.  NASTY.

 

 

Right, just found Axios, so now we have two Chrono Troops to deal with and beat some answers out of them.  That's the rule, yeah?  Oh there's one.  We take him down and...and I stop here as I go "I honestly did not see this coming."

 

 

And archer or not , he is TOUGH.  Doh!  I need to read my clues and not skim them.  Axios mentioned to me it was weird that Von Horn never said the base commander looked exactly like me, in the previous mission.

 

Some Psychic PPD arrive and help us take out the FAKE Von Horn.  Hang on.  That means the real one is still missing.  And we have a last Chrono Troop to find.

Got him.  And a key to a Weaver Corp warehouse.  Engineria and Axios are still stuck in 1966 though.  Hmmm.

 

[Mission 4 = A lot going on here, even though we're on an outdoor map and have only a few objectives. This feels more like part 1 of a two part finale as opposed to a mission in itself.  That's not a complaint actually.]

 

Mission 5: Full Spectrum.  Madame Maven is trying to contact us using Portal Corps comms but there's temporal static.  Something about a warehouse. Ok, we know about that.  Something about Ghost Widow. Ditto. But mainly Engineria and Axios are on their own for this next one.

 

Ok, Axios goes in first.  Gives Engineria a little pep talk about being a bit tougher than she is.  Sure, knock yourself out.  Maybe not yet though!  

There's a caretaker to rescue too.

 

 

Found him and rescued him.  Nice old guy who seems to know me!  So it looks like this is the BEFORE, after I met my double in the future when they said "we meet again".  No, that works.  It just sounds mad.  Oh, found a temporal generator too.  And let's blow you up.  All done. Found Axios, now to find a Filing cabinet the caretaker mentioned.  

Axios just informed me he's seen GHOST WIDOW in the building.  ARGH! Is she even alive in 1966? When did she die?  (HC wiki all this later)  Although the Nav Bar says "Meet Ghost Widow", so we might survive.

 

Some of the Arachnos were talking about Nemesis too.  That doesn't sound at all good!

 

Ok, there she is.  She's reading as friendly.  Then again, so did Fake Von Horn, so....

 

Let's go meet her. Seems she and us are temporarily allied against whatever is happening here.  That's good, because my evil double showed up!

 

 

And brought a friend!  WTH??!!

 

Oh no no no no.

 

Axios, never mind the minion!  HIT THE BOSS!  I am sooo going to die! All that red light is an energy blast walloping me!

 

 

Help.  Anyone.  A little help, yeah?

 

 

Ok, help arrives!  Ghost Widow gets her bony ass in gear and seizes Blue Spectrum (I thought he was on OUR side! I'll need to investigate that.) in a floaty tentacle thing. Axios returns from cracking heads and joins me in tackling the big bad, and we have some other allies, but I'll leave their identity secret so future players can enjoy that.

 

We take down Blue Spectrum.  He apparently TPs out when unconscious or something. Grab the filing cabinet and get to a pre arranged Portal Corps point where Engineria and Axios get pulled back to the present day.  Before we go Ghost Widow tells me she will see me again!  Lots of threads left hanging. 

 

[Mission 5 = that was a damn good finale to the arc, it sort of built and built and right now I am thankful that Axios is as tough as @Darmian made him.  On a higher difficulty or with a team of 8(!) that mission could be intense. Good stuff.]

 

I enjoyed this arc a lot.  It's deceptively dense.  I mean that in a lore/information way.  And I'm definitely getting a feel for the ally characters, Madame Maven and Axios, as actual people. 

 

Verdict: Good introduction and our next episode will be Dark Deeds in Galaxy City: Part Two.

 

Next up on TerroirNoir's Cable Channel of AE Reviews is @Ankylosaur's All That Glitters 1.2: Piracy in Port Oakes.

 

Edited November 5, 2022 by TerroirNoir

[cranebump]

The Meteors! Running joke between @Darmian (or just my joke, because I'm the only one who laughs) is how much HvH sucks, the lame-o.:-) (P.S. If you haven't met him yet, you will [hint: THWIP!]).

[Darmian]

3 hours ago, TerroirNoir said:

on a higher difficulty level a player might be very glad of his skills and strength and so on

Exactly, @TerroirNoir. You ramp that arc up higher and even Axios will go down, but he'll take a few Arachnos with him along the way.

[cranebump]

50 minutes ago, Darmian said:

Exactly, @TerroirNoir. You ramp that arc up higher and even Axios will go down, but he'll take a few Arachnos with him along the way.

I can attest to this. Or rather Acrobattle’s ass can.

[TerroirNoir]

1 minute ago, cranebump said:

I can attest to this. Or rather Acrobattle’s ass can.

Hey, Engineria just fought alongside BOTH those guys, Acrobattle AND Axios.  Obviously not at the same time!

[cranebump]

Vanity, vanity—Acro and Whippy are both based on my own chars (though Whips as an MM is not the same AT as any of my own versions—and I’m not quite as obnoxious as he is…not quite).:-) 

 

ps: you suck, Halox!:-)

[Darmian]

2 hours ago, cranebump said:

ps: you suck, Halox!:-)

You have issues!

[TerroirNoir]

So far I realize that Dark Deeds in Galaxy City: Part One seems to be taking up more space than the first two arcs.  That's a product of (a) me remembering to take as many screenshots as I can as I get relatively better at this, and I'll be rectifying that when I hit the second parts of both @Ankylosaur and @cranebump's arcs,  and (b) @Darmian has managed to wedge a LOT of stuff into this arc. Without feeding us walls of text.  Which is odd!

[TerroirNoir]

@Darmian, I have to ask this.  "The Meteors" AE in your signature, have I started on the wrong AE?  I went for what was marked as Part One.  That seemed sensible.

[Darmian]

Just now, TerroirNoir said:

@Darmian, I have to ask this.  "The Meteors" AE in your signature, have I started on the wrong AE?  I went for what was marked as Part One.  That seemed sensible.

No, you started in the right place.  "The Meteors" does involve Madame Maven's team but is set before the one you're on and isn't connected to that story.

[TerroirNoir]

9 hours ago, cranebump said:

The Meteors! Running joke between @Darmian (or just my joke, because I'm the only one who laughs) is how much HvH sucks, the lame-o.:-) (P.S. If you haven't met him yet, you will [hint: THWIP!]).

Ok, now I've met him and he doesn't seem lame so far.  Unless you mean he's an archer in a super group!  

[cranebump]

5 hours ago, TerroirNoir said:

Ok, now I've met him and he doesn't seem lame so far.  Unless you mean he's an archer in a super group!  

Nothing like that. I love archery. I just decided to talk shit about him. Don’t know why. As Darm said, issues.;-) 

[TerroirNoir]

8 hours ago, cranebump said:

Nothing like that. I love archery. I just decided to talk shit about him. Don’t know why. As Darm said, issues.;-) 

Apparently, I have NOT met him yet.  Having just finished Dark Deeds in Galaxy City: Part One.

[cranebump]

I see you got to dance with blue spectrum. I remember that moment well. He is not particularly fun, is he?:-)

[TerroirNoir]

6 minutes ago, cranebump said:

I see you got to dance with blue spectrum. I remember that moment well. He is not particularly fun, is he?:-)

He is not, no.  Hits like a mack truck.  I've only met him once before in my tutorial in Galaxy City.

[TerroirNoir]

Arc 2 of our first show on "TerroirNoir's Cable Channel of AE" Reviews is  @Ankylosaur's All That Glitters 1.2: Piracy in Port Oakes.

 

So let's dive right in.  I can always check my above notes to see where I've been and what I've done already. This time Engineria is talking to Ollerus of Wyvern, and we're moving to Port Oakes.

 

Mission 1: Arrrrangements. (I thought that was a typo at first but now I see it's a pirate reference!) Ollerus tells Engineria that Hornet has good words about her work on Mercy and recommends her to him.  So, we're looking for pirates who have stolen some Praetorian tech.  Or rather the ENTIRE ship it was on has gone missing. I need to get along to Blackbeard's and meet a criminal who may have information on that for us.  Simple. In and out.  It usually isn't though!

 

ROFL.  A lovely little text pop up when you enter Blackbeard's.

 

However the clientele seem a bit on edge.  

Never mind, let's go and talk to them.  I may have to talk to them the hard way. "Maca" Ronny?  Oh you guys and your goofy names!

 

 

Actually yeah, I do think I'm all that.  So stay down.  Now, where's my contact?

 

Bloody Vicious.  Ok, you people really need to have a better social circle.  Maybe a movie or book club or something like that. Oh, that attack was to see if I was "worthy" of them or something.  Well isn't that nice?  What happened to just buying the information?

 

 

And that was fast!  

 

Reporting back to Ollerus it seems that the missing ship is in dry dock under a different name.  That will be where I'm going next I believe.

 

[Mission 1 = Short but right to the point.  And @Ankylosaur gets across the point that while these people are helping me, they are certainly NOT my allies.  This no doubt benefits them in some way. ]

 

Mission 2: Smugglers' Blues. Time to visit the Port Oakes docks and find that ship.  It's currently going under the name Golden Sphinx and there's Family about, and I have to find a "Bada Boom".  Honestly, the Family need to up their name game, LOL.  Oh, Ollerus tells me Coralax have been sighted too.  

 

Let's go find out what's happening.

 

The FIRST thing I see is Goldbrickers!  Ollerus never mentioned those!  Flying pests!

 

 

Time to find this Bada Boom then.

 

Oh, I HAVE found some Praetorian tech though.  Guarded by aforesaid Goldbrickers.  What's with that?

 

 

Instructions are to destroy it, so that I do!

 

 

Still no sign of this Bada Boom Boy.  Hang on, chatter in the chat box.  What?

 

 

There's a turn up for the books!  What the hell is he doing here?  Also, books?  Praetorian tech I got.  Books?  Nada.

 

Well, I am just a friend making MACHINE, I tells ya!

 

 

Where the hell is Bada Boom hiding?  The dry dock is not especially big.  Oh, and no sooner do I say that than I find him.

 

 

By "find" I mean get shot at a lot.  Such an easy mistake to make in these places.

 

Ok, a few grenades and he is down and I am out to see Ollerus.

 

With the papers I took from Bada Boom, Ollerus and Wyvern can reclaim the ship.  He's pretty pleased about finding out about the Goldbrickers though, seems tech theft is definitely one of their MOs.  And apparently I can ignore Duke Mordrogar.  Ok, I'll put him on the back burner, but I'm paranoid about things that throw fire at me!

 

[Mission 2 = @Ankylosaur is pacing out the jigsaw for us here.  I can't see a bigger picture yet but from what we saw in Arc 1 and now so far in Arc 2, there is going to be a coming together of Praetorian tech (because there had to be more than what I destroyed!) and a missing super scientist.]

 

Mission 3: Yo Ho Ho! Ollerus seems to think that the Family and the Goldbrickers are not entirely on the same page, and Dr. Aeon's name crops up again.  We get interrupted by a phone call from Bloody Vicious.  Seems there's another raid going down but Vicious won't give out details over the phone, so Ollerus is sending me back to Blackbeard's.  I might even buy a drink this time!

 

In we go.

 

Vicious is having a little bit of trouble with some of Emil Marcone's mob.  We'll sort that out and then he can just give me the info like a normal person.

 

 

Done.  Ok Vicious, spill the beans on the raid.

 

 

You have the goods?  It was me who rescued YOUR ass, punk!  And you've kept the heist details in your safe.  You are seriously paranoid.  Then again, you are dealing with the Family day in and day out, so maybe not paranoid enough!

 

As a little aside, I LOVE the rocking (literally) cannons in this place!

 

So I grab the heist details.  Looks like the Goldbrickers are aiming to take another ship, "The Independence".  How much do you bet there's more Praetorian tech on that tub?  Oh, I have company!

 

 

Now, it becomes apparent that when you do dealings with anyone associated with the Family, then you may end up caught between various opposing factions.  The Marcones and the Verandi are beating the tar out of each other for control of Port Oakes, and I have cluelessly wandered into this.  NO! I haven't!  Ollerus sent me into it.  Well, that preserves his cover or something.  Can't say I'm happy about that!

 

 

[Mission 3 = Another slice of criminal life in Port Oakes.  We get our intel and the world fills out around us a bit. But we're getting closer to something.  Next time hopefully we get to the raid BEFORE it is over!]

 

Mission 4: Avast Ye! So, here's the working theory.  Goldbrickers fly on to a ship, rob it of whatever and then sell it on to the Family, who do a repaint/false flag number on it and keep it for themselves.  I get in and take out a sentry or three then radio for Ollerus and the Wyvern gang to come aboard, rather then us arriving mob handed and getting immediately spotted.

 

I arrive up to The Independence in a little tug boat thing and hop aboard.  Oho! It's not just Praetorian tech on this ship.  Well, it is, now that I think of it, if you count Clockwork as tech.  Which you should.  Nevermind!

 

 

Nasty things, Clockwork.  That electricity of theirs is bad for Endurance levels.

Oh, it's not just tech, it's biotech too.  That does not sound at all good.  (None of this sounds good!)

 

 

Actually the Goldbrickers, while tough and carrying those crazy weapons, don't seem as outright murderous as the Family.  See Exhibit #1, your honor!

 

 

Ok, I find a place to signal Ollerus and he arrives with the Wyvern cavalry.

 

 

There's just the Raid Leader to take out, a Mr. Rivers.  He is not pleased to see us, and he packs a punch.  Curious all gold face, not a helmet like the others.  Maybe a mask.

 

 

Privateer? I'm not the one hijacking a ship, buddy!  Meanwhile Ollerus is giving me great support, pinning down Rivers with a net and then raining arrows on him.  

 

 

And that is one bad guy pasted for now.  Time to get off this tub and get back to Port Oakes!

 

[Mission 4 = that was fun.  I lowered the difficulty on this one for myself because you can get seriously mangled on a ship mission.  Maybe that's just a me thing. 

 

Ollerus has his suspicions about the Clockwork, but it's hard to say exactly where they came from since everyone from Longbow to Arachnos, even the Family, are using Praetorian stuff now that the Praetorian War is over.  He reckons Dr. Aeon is involved, considering Port Oakes is on the same island as Cap Au Diable.

 

Mission 5: The Pirates' Code.  It's time to pay our debts, or Ollerus's debts/Wyvern's debts actually.  Mr. B. Vicious Esquire helped us out in finding these raids so Wyvern (i.e. ME) is going to help him out.  Vicious is allied with Guido the Mooch (really?) and they're going to see if they can finish off Emil Marcone once and for all.  Ok then, but this is proving that Wyvern really DOES act outside the law.  Mind you, I'm not exactly sure WHAT passes for law in the Rogue Isles other than "Don't piss off Arachnos because they own the place".

 

So off we go to "The Hook and Anchor" for our meeting. There's Guido.

 

 

And it is ON! The Family don't waste time cutting each other down to size, that's for sure!

 

 

Emil is a big guy and has just mangled someone while I had my back turned.  That was fast!

 

 

Apparently we are taking you out, Mr. Marcone.  Guido calls his henchmen out from hiding in the back and Emil goes down, but he takes plenty of henchmen with him along the way.

 

So, it looks like the Verandi side of the Family is in charge for now.  Time to get back to Ollerus.  Ollerus seems pained at having to deal with the Mob, but that's the nature of the beast in his line of work. He's going to contact me for more work later.

 

[Mission 5 = SOOO short, but cementing a bit of the background of Port Oakes.  And I dunno, maybe building some allies in the Verandi mob for later?  Interesting.]

 

This arc continues the jigsaw, definitely.  Right now I feel we are circling towards a central player, and we cross through the lives of others when doing so. I'm interested to see who that player is. So far my money is on Dr. Aeon but you never know!

 

Verdict: Fun arc, no time wasting. Our next episode will be All that Glitters 1.3: Capitalism in Cap Au Diable.

 

Next up on TerroirNoir's Cable Channel of AE Reviews is @cranebump's  Ordinary People 2: Hope and Bullets.

 

 

Edited November 5, 2022 by TerroirNoir