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

Zhym · October 16, 2022

On 10/2/2022 at 3:34 AM, Darmian said:

Well, it achieved what I intended then! ROFL. Not everything is HORROR and MISERY!

I just ran this (prompted by @TerroirNoir's excellent and hilarious reviews) and was likewise wondering what was going on with the lawyers. I assume they're custom hostiles with no attack powers, so they just follow you around with no way to hit you. Clever. The mission intro text says something about trying not to hurt the lawyers, which added kind of a TPN-trial flavor and made the mission interesting for my AoE-heavy blapper. I think I managed to avoid killing any lawyers, but I'm curious—does anything happen if you do lay waste to enemy and civilian alike?

Darmian · October 16, 2022

34 minutes ago, Zhym said:

I just ran this (prompted by @TerroirNoir's excellent and hilarious reviews) and was likewise wondering what was going on with the lawyers. I assume they're custom hostiles with no attack powers, so they just follow you around with no way to hit you. Clever. The mission intro text says something about trying not to hurt the lawyers, which added kind of a TPN-trial flavor and made the mission interesting for my AoE-heavy blapper. I think I managed to avoid killing any lawyers, but I'm curious—does anything happen if you do lay waste to enemy and civilian alike?

Hi @Zhym. The intro text is there for two reasons, (a) narrative, since these are supposed to be unarmed civilians (you just can't get normal wandering civilians in the AE so you're right about how I made them) and (b) if you attack them while Axios is with you, HE joins in and while that's hilarious you might need him later on but he's still behind you beating up lawyers. And as pointed out elsewhere, they play hell with someone using tab targeting in any of the fights. They DO provide sustenance though if anyone is playing a Warshade!

And this is one of my earlier arcs (second ever) so I was experimenting with the form, how far I could push things beyond the usual Explore/Click/Defeat that lots of missions are.

TerroirNoir · October 16, 2022

41 minutes ago, Zhym said:

I just ran this (prompted by @TerroirNoir's excellent and hilarious reviews)

Thanks! I wasn't sure anyone besides the authors were reading these. I was still going to do them because I'm having fun with it though.

cranebump · October 16, 2022

Okay, so Doc Buzzsaw. She is NOT supposed to hop in. But sometimes she does, sometimes she doesn’t. I’m pretty sure she’s set to just stand there. But since Hollow Pursuit is a recognized arc, I can’t fiddle with it anymore (I don’t think).

Edited October 16, 2022 by cranebump

TerroirNoir · October 16, 2022

Arc 4 of from our third writer on "TerroirNoir's Cable Channel of AE" Reviews is @Darmian's Darker Deeds: Part One.

So following a brief trip to Icon for some head gear Engineria gets to it. I get a video call from Halox Von Horn of the Meteors SG. And a curious one it is too. Longbow has "Lord Richter", who we took down in Steel Canyon a while ago, in custody but he'll only talk to me or to Axios, and Axios is on another mission right now. So, can I go to a Longbow facility and have a chat with the villain, see what sort of a deal he wants or what information he has. Oh this is going to go well, I just know it.

Mission 1: The Prisoner's Dilemma. Ok, I need to sign into the security system to get on the White List, i.e. the list that means the auto guns won't just shoot me.

Right then. All signed in. System is rebooting with me on it.

Then a brief stroll past some Longbow as I go to find this "Lord Richter" guy and see what he wants. You know, I thought he'd be in a cell rather than standing here all friendly with his guards.

OH NO! The GUARDS attacked me! This isn't at all good. Mr. Von Horn and I are going to have words!

Something tells me these are NOT Longbow, but here they are inside the Longbow base, all dressed up in the Longbow JimJams. Well, I'm not having that!

Oh, there's ALWAYS some cockroach of a survivor who makes it out to make my life difficult again. I should write a book about it. Then again, I'm a mid range nobody supe in a whole CITY of more famous supes, so who would buy it? He just ran off!

I'll get to him in a minute, first I have to get to a console and lock the base down! AHA! There it is!

Ok, Richter, let's get you back in your cell. AND there's more fake Longbow around too.

But it looks like regular Longbow is handling them. This is going to get a bit confusing I think. Back the way I came and ...an Arachnos Psych Commander with a Longbow friend. I'd better deal with you then.

And there I go! What? you thought I might make it through a mission without landing on my ass? Think again!

But I usually get back up and give the flattener a stern talking to. Show them the error of their ways. Something like that. Ok, I hit them a lot until they stop. Hmm, this guy has a piece of paper in his pocket with a lot of numbers on it. Something for the SG to look at.

So that's where he ran off to! The Longbow armory or evidence room or whatever. Not good. I fought a fully armored Richter before, but with help from Madame Maven, and he was still TOUGH. Nothing for it though.

I round a corner and manage to get in a shot on Richter, and while he gloats, so do I. YES! For once someone else is flattened! Go me!

And then, totally calmly, apparently in absolute control of this fight, he picks himself up and is going to kill me. Oh dear.

@Darmian, starting an arc with an END BOSS? Oh wow. I wonder what Mission 5 will be like.

Oh dear god that hurt! How did I not notice he had Radiation powers too? I mean in the last fight. Maybe because Madame Maven was obscuring everything in shadows I suppose. But back to the hurting. OW!

But this is still a Longbow controlled base, despite Richter's Fakes, and help arrives! Oh sweet wonderful help as I have no green inspirations left and my Kinetics Heal keeps missing on this guy.

We fight Richter across the upper floor and down the stairs, when more Fake Longbow show up, but I get the drop on him! His last words are "...Over...brook"

(I left in my health bar to show I'm nearly dead, no inspirations left and no heals working. LUCKY.)

Turns out Richter is actually dead dead. Oops. Well, it was him or me and given that choice I'll always pick me.

Time to talk to Mr. Von Horn again after that craziness.

Von Horn isn't judgey, he's glad I'm alive. He reckons that some of the disguised PPD members from Steel Canyon were the surviving Arachnos that tried to spring Richter. And Overbrook is Faultline. Since Richter is from the 1960s he'd call it that. When Von Horn looks at the numbers on the bit of paper he says they look familiar and does a little research. They're construction codes for Faultline!

[Mission 1 = CRAZY! Out of the gate crazy. Liked it a lot. Never seen a previous end boss thrown at someone like that in a first mission. Good stuff indeed.]

Mission 2: A Crack in the Earth. Halox Von Horn informs Engineria that the area laid out in the codes is off limits normally. So we have to get a boat to get to the site. Faultline has a previous record of hidden Arachnos bases so this may be an old one. He tells me to look for a hole knocked in the side of a building. As for what happened earlier, we're getting no help from Longbow as they're undergoing a review since they were infiltrated. Then we get a call from Madame Maven, a signal matching one of those from the trucks we saw in Siren's Call has been traced to the Faultline site. Time to get on a boat then.

Arachnos everywhere! Hard to believe we're in the middle of Paragon.

I think I'll take the better part of valor here and just stealth by these guys. I need to find Freight Lift J.

There we go. Ok, up to the next level and let us see where the way in is.

Ah, guards! Well of course. I should have expected guards. They're dealt with rapidly though and there we are! The way in to the base!

Oh, the entire building is off level. It makes moving peculiar.

Hmm, a barrel. Let's have a look at you.

Empty apart from some traces of fluid. Engineria gets a sample of that to bring back to the Meteors' laboratory for analysis. On we go. Finding a few more of those barrels along the way.

And that's the source of the signal. I'll need to examine that thing. Cue a fight coming then, where no doubt I will end up on my back. Oh well.

Right! Take that you spidery menaces! I need to have a look at that machine and you're in the way.

Ok, examining the machine I find that it's a distress beacon...from one of the Spectra! Ah, hell. Those guys are lethal! And there he is. Hang on, he's a prisoner of Arachnos. No wait. That makes sense. Let me get this straight. Spectra is 1960s Arachnos, but they're no friends of the present day Spiders, especially ones working for Ghost Widow. So...I rescue him? Well, let's see what happens when I do. I am gonna regret this, I'm sure of it.

Ok, looks like I'm rescuing a Spectra!

Take that, lady spider! You are REALLY tall! And I am not short.

Ok, Spectra, what do you have to say for yourself?

Ah, a response force! And friend Spectra is taking the fight to them! I'll just trail along behind and see how this plays out.

All done! Time to get out of Faultline and back to Mr. Von Horn.

Engineria gets the Spectra to the Meteors' base where she and Halox Von Horn examine him in the med bay before popping him in a cell. I'm thinking a much more comfortable cell than where he was is Faultline. Von Horn calls Bullet Streak to come back to the SG base as he's up to speed with interrogation methods.

[Mission 2 = This is a straightforward rescue, well mechanically it is. Who and how is the odd bit. The plot is moving somewhere, with more callbacks to Dark Deeds in Galaxy City. Good stuff.]

Mission 3: Reading the Entrails. Several days later Engineria is called to the Meteors' SG base where she meets with Von Horn. He's set up a meeting in Weber Labs with a Dr. Portia who has been examining the traces of whatever found in the yellow barrels. Meanwhile he and Bullet Streak are still interviewing the Spectra.

Off around the corner to Weber Labs. On entering Engineria sees a flashing light on an intercom. She gets a message from a Dr. Tessitore saying he needs help and that Arachnos are in the facility! Well now, those guys are either fast or are tailing us.

There you are. And your spidery friends are in need of one of Engineria's special talks. Ok, that's those guys dealt with, now what do you have to say for yourself Doctor?

Right, security maintenance it is then. Let's find your mainframe and then maybe I can find Dr. Portia in all this mess.

We proceed through the lab, dealing with the intruders as we go. I say "we", it's just Engineria doing it as Tessitore is a total civilian here. And there we have the mainframe. Wait here Doc, I need to take out a Mu Adept first.

Ok, coast is clear. I return and grab the doctor and get him to the mainframe.

That's it? Deal with the intruders and you run off? What's with people just running off on me these days? Ok, I palmprint the mainframe and move on. With a bit of luck Dr. Portia will be around here somewhere.

Ok, what are these tube things beside the Bane? Nerve gas maybe?

You know, Bane Spider Scouts are a complete pain in the neck. Complete. I mean they're no Lord Richter but they can really cramp a girl's style. And that mace thing packs a punch.

He doesn't like having his health and speed and power ripped from him with Kinetics though, and a gentle Radiation Blast finished the deal!

Ok, let's have a look at the cylinder thing.

Ok, refined samples of the stuff I found in the barrels is what the label says, but the tube itself is empty.

OHO! Found our missing doctor! Seems she got the same treatment as Tessitore did. Right, time to rescue her.

That didn't take too long. Those guards weren't Bane Spider Scouts. Operative Sariss! There's a familiar name. Wait! Dr. Portia has no idea who Dr. Tessitore is? That's going to bite us in the ass later I am sure.

Ok, Portia is heading for the exit. I have to deal with this Sariss guy.

And there he is with a Fortunata to provide psychic back up. He looks a bit glowy. No idea why.

Oops! Cover is blown! It is time to get down and dirty!

Jeez Louise this guy is fast! That's not me moving him, that's him in mid spin to crack my head open with a mace! The Fortunata is constantly hitting me with psi too!

I knock him back, turn and drop the annoying Fortunata and then face Sariss again. I do not believe this guy!

Since when did Arachnos start recruiting English Majors? Who are you, Bane Spider Shakespeare?

Ok! Whew. I finally take this guy out. He wasn't like Richter but he kept getting back up!

Time to get back to the SG base and sort out what's going on. Dr. Portia comes with me.

Von Horn and Bullet Streak are waiting for us. Lots of questions. How did Arachnos know about Weber Labs and bypass the security? Who was that Tessitore guy? And he stole data from the mainframe. And Dr. Portia says the fluid we found was mitochondrial. (To the Googlemachine!)

[Mission 3 = Fun mission with misdirection and twists, and some hard fights. The plot continues to evolve. Good stuff]

Mission 4: Another Faded Letter. A couple of days later Engineria is back in the team's base where Von Horn is asking her to do some breaking and entering, but apparently it's fine because it's only Crey. Ok then. Dr. Portia has explained some more about the fluid. It matches mitochondrial fluid from Blue Spectrum and produces vast amounts of energy. Old Bluey is an Energy user so yeah, I suppose. And Portia recognized Tessitore from the CCTV scans as a guy she saw from Crey at a scientist meet 'n greet a while ago. So off to Crey! This time Super Charger is going in ahead of me to act as a diversion while I search. Sure.

Ok, off we go. Just clear out some Crey security as I go. All nicely unconscious. Can't have a wrongful death here or they'll sue!

For guys who are essentially mooks in suits (and now that I think of it, most Mooks I see ARE in suits) these guys are very persistent in trying to kill me. Ow.

Ok, you're down. Where the hell is that data? Aha! Come to mama!

But no, that would be too easy. Ok, on we go on the quest. Take down a few more Crey Vigilants along the way and a few more consoles with nothing I want on them.

Ah, one of these has to have something. And it does. It's ALWAYS the last one though, isn't it?

Seems to be some sort of a fight going on down below! Arachnos have attacked this lab. Protectors have been called in to respond to the threat.

Well, I lead off strong and blast him across the room, knocking his guards away too. Gotta keep Kinetics Repel up. If that Protector lands one on me it will hurt!

This guy thinks I'm Arachnos! Ok, Von Horn! We're in the clear for being sued by Crey since they think the spiders are behind this little heist of ours.

OHO! Sounds like Super Charger has been captured! Time for a last rescue and then the two of us can scoot!

So I run around the corner and straight into a Crey on Arachnos fight. At which point it becomes a three-way fight, with quite a lot of the hits landing on little old Engineria! No fair!

Flattened again. I should be keeping a count of this. If only I could use these as little naps, to recover, you know? Ally-oop! And back into the fight.

Uploading? Nope. No time for this, I have spiders to smash and an ally to rescue. Hang on, Super Charger! I'm a comin'!

Found you! What in the hell are you wearing?

Now, my friend! Let's get the hell outta Dodge.

We get back out to the SG base and report in. Von Horn is pleased we recovered the stolen data. As for the Arachnos presence, we're reminded that Burgh the scientist is still in Arachnos "custody" and is probably telling them everything, and he used to work for Crey apparently. So there's a link there. The guys have had a breakthrough with the Spectra though, but had to hand him over to Longbow so he could be properly charged for previous crimes. And then Von Horn asks Engineria if she's ever been to Dark Astoria. WHAT?

[Mission 4 = That was a fun breaking and entering + rescue. More misdirection seems to be the key, with Crey thinking Arachnos is attacking. Good stuff]

Mission 5: Do Not Go Gentle. So, Dark Astoria then. Spectra has told them that his fellow Arachnos renegades have a base there. Von Horn is amused at this since the 1960s Arachnos must have been surprised at the present state of Dark Astoria compared to when THEY last saw it! Meanwhile Von Horn and Super Charger are following up on the data from Dr. Portia.

Into Dark Astoria I guess. Oh boy.

And we get into the place using the sewers, which is safer than walking the streets I suppose. Abandoned building. Weird green fog and faint howling! Time to wipe out this final nest of Renegade Arachnos and their last supplies of tech.

Jeez Louise! Why are they so determined to fight to the death?

Also, I really really really have to invest in some Knockback protection. Or heavy boots. Anyway.

Moving through this godforsaken place I pick off a few more guards and destroy their generators. Hang on, this one is different. Anything happen when I destroy it? Nope. Small mercies I suppose.

And then I overhear some useful chat. Seems like it's not only these Arachnos gimps that are here.

Tsoo AND Banished Pantheon. Tsk, as if my life wasn't complicated enough. On we go exploring.

And lookee here! There's that thieving little rat Tessitore! He's just told his guards he's on their side. So why is he a prisoner then? Time to find out!

Oh for pete's sake! This CANNOT be hygienic. I mean really.

I climb back up and ...he did it again! Oh you total piece of ****!

Come back here!

The little punk makes it to an elevator before I can catch him! But by now I've run around a bit and straight into Richter's possibly last surviving commander, so Tessitore will have to wait.

Surrender? Honestly I do not see that going well for me. Not one bit. Gimme a sec, I'm a bit winded but I'll be back to kick your ass in a moment.

Look buddy, I admire your persistence but there's something I should probably TELL you about Lord Richter...

So I don't see me paying any time soon, or at all for that matter. Let's get this over with and I can get out of Dark Astoria. I really hate this place.

Oh, you too I see. Well, at least we had some common ground in the end, yeah?

Ok, deal with the minion and back through the damn sewers and out of here. One final nest of Spectra Arachnos dealt with.

I'm being premature, aren't I?

So Engineria returns to the Meteors' SG base to find it surrounded by PPD and cordoned off. There's a Captain Hartigan there and he starts questioning me. Where was I last night? Do I know anything about the explosion that rocked this SG base last night? Do I know the whereabouts of an Axios? He hands me a card and tells me to get in touch if I think of anything.

Hoo boy!

[Mission 5 = Well, I was thinking that starting with a previous end boss would mean this would be an explosive finale, but not like this. It's a bit Empire Strikes Back, and leading straight into the next one. Good stuff]

Verdict: Loved it. Really feeling the connections while more stuff is added. Right now I don't know where the Meteors are, apart from the fact Axios wasn't in the building when it was attacked. Not sure where we go from here! Anyway, our next episode will be Darker Deeds: Part Two.

Next up on TerroirNoir's Cable Channel of AE Reviews, again after the commercials, is @Ankylosaur's All that Glitters 2.2: Fortunes in Faultline.

Edited November 5, 2022 by TerroirNoir

Darmian · October 16, 2022

34 minutes ago, TerroirNoir said:

starting an arc with an END BOSS? Oh wow. I wonder what Mission 5 will be like.

Well, look at it from a movie or TV perspective. The next installment has to up the ante and move the plot forward, or should. I chatted to @Ankylosaur and @cranebump about how the entire series was designed to be three "seasons" of 15 episodes each. I was very much going for a TV/Movie feel in advancement.

TerroirNoir · October 17, 2022

On 9/26/2022 at 2:55 AM, cranebump said:

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

@cranebump, I'm starting to get that feel actually. I wasn't sure what you meant at first but yeah, getting it now. I think!

Zhym · October 17, 2022

1 minute ago, TerroirNoir said:

@cranebump, I'm starting to get that feel actually. I wasn't sure what you meant at first but yeah, getting it now. I think!

I just wish AE gave us the option to experience some of the things first-hand that can only be described. I want to see the repurposed Arachnos Flyer, physically visit the Meteors' makeshift base in the Geneva Hotel, etc. Ah, well. AE is what it is. I've been impressed with how @Darmian has used various maps for different purposes (although I think I've done ITF too many times for me to see the final map from that trial as anything else).

Darmian · October 17, 2022

2 minutes ago, Zhym said:

I just wish AE gave us the option to experience some of the things first-hand that can only be described. I want to see the repurposed Arachnos Flyer, physically visit the Meteors' makeshift base in the Geneva Hotel, etc. Ah, well. AE is what it is. I've been impressed with how @Darmian has used various maps for different purposes (although I think I've done ITF too many times for me to see the final map from that trial as anything else).

Well, you DO see the flyer! It's what you step out of in the Steel Canyon mission at the end of that arc. I knew I was using that map at the end and retrofitted the intro to explain why you're landing in an Arachnos flyer! Sadly there's no hotel interiors. YET!

Zhym · October 17, 2022

23 minutes ago, Darmian said:

Well, you DO see the flyer! It's what you step out of in the Steel Canyon mission at the end of that arc. I knew I was using that map at the end and retrofitted the intro to explain why you're landing in an Arachnos flyer! Sadly there's no hotel interiors. YET!

Oh, right! We just don't see it in action (then again, I guess we usually don't).

Am I right that the meteor hitting Atlas Park in 1966 was also part of the plot because of the AE map choices?

Darmian · October 17, 2022

16 minutes ago, Zhym said:

Oh, right! We just don't see it in action (then again, I guess we usually don't).

Am I right that the meteor hitting Atlas Park in 1966 was also part of the plot because of the AE map choices?

That is absolutely right though a bit of serendipity too, since it tied into the Galaxy City attack tutorial with the meteors and the whole Blue Spectrum thing.

Zhym · October 17, 2022

1 minute ago, Darmian said:

That is absolutely right though a bit of serendipity too, since it tied into the Galaxy City attack tutorial with the meteors and the whole Blue Spectrum thing.

It works out really well IMO.

ETA: BTW, I really appreciate how the mission objective text highlights where those objective should be (i.e., [back], [front], [middle]). It makes hunting the objective so much easier. Well, usually, anyway. In the mission in the ship, the generator that was supposed to be in the back was closer to the front (and hidden behind a stack of shipping containers). Again: AE gonna AE; not much to do about it. But it's helpful to know where the objectives are supposed to be, anyway.

Darmian · October 17, 2022

36 minutes ago, Zhym said:

It works out really well IMO.

ETA: BTW, I really appreciate how the mission objective text highlights where those objective should be (i.e., [back], [front], [middle]). It makes hunting the objective so much easier. Well, usually, anyway. In the mission in the ship, the generator that was supposed to be in the back was closer to the front (and hidden behind a stack of shipping containers). Again: AE gonna AE; not much to do about it. But it's helpful to know where the objectives are supposed to be, anyway.

That mostly helps, but sometimes as you can see it gets shunted elsewhere.

TerroirNoir · October 17, 2022

Arc 5 from our first writer on "TerroirNoir's Cable Channel of AE" Reviews is , @Ankylosaur's All that Glitters 2.2: Fortunes in Faultline.

Mission 1: The Robopal Unveiling. Delia Huntley is happy to see Engineria again. It looks like Big Brother Construction/Langston are moving on up in Paragon. After Boomtown and Steel Canyon they've got a contract for work in Faultline. Still using Goldbrickers as security however and that's just asking for trouble, or at least for Delia and Wyvern to investigate. Plus the protestors are still around, and the PPD and so on. It's one big cherry bomb waiting to go off. Now they're unveiling a whole line of bots a bit like the Mr. Security we saw before.

Ok, over to Faultline to have a looksee.

And straight out of the gate I run into Ms. Cuisine.

Now that sounds ominous. Trust me, I'm from Langston. Right, sure. Let's move along and see what else is going on while I search for some Goldbrickers to put the shakedown on.

Oh hi, Faultline! Jim Temblor here in his best togs. Looks like getting a few local celebrities is meant to have credibility rub off on Big Brother/Langston I suppose.

You stay there, Jim. I'm going to continue on with my search. Lot of people around. Plenty of protesting workers too actually. AND PPD. Yeah, they're probably on edge and expecting trouble here.

No one hostile to Engineria yet though. Makes a change! I might enjoy this little stroll after all. I'm getting blasé, aren't I? Yeah. Any minute now some power armored creep is going to try to put me through a wall, or set me on fire, or whatever those sonic guns the Goldbrickers use do.

Oh, there's definitely a variety of types of these Robopals. Here's a firefighter variant!

Oh, hello? No, I don't know you. Do I? There's something familiar about you but I can't place you. Sorry, friend!

And here we have a Mr. Fitness. You know, peaceful and all as this is, the constant refrain of "Trust me, I'm from Langston" is ramping up in the creepiness stakes.

Sorry, Rhonda. We may have met but I'm drawing a blank. I could pretend I remember but that would be more awkward. So, let's go see Doc Delilah up there. Her I know.

Hey, Doc. How are ya doing?

You never said a truer word. And there's a Mr. Butler up ahead. Seems like Langston are covering the market with all these types.

Oh, but the massively strong and potentially uncontrollable, bots are fine, yeah?

Rhonda and Engineria meet Fusionette along the way, and decide to head back to Jim Temblor to see if there's any fun to be had. Fusionette has threatened to kill Jim because he told her it was a dress up affair, and here we are wandering around the street! LOL.

Well, that's gonna go down well later with that particular couple! Your girlfriend shows up and you talk to the other girl! OHO!

WAIT! I spy a Goldbricker called Bam Bam! Let's give him a visit.

Heist plans you say? Sounds like criminal activity. Sounds like criminal conspiracy at the least! One for all and all for one! Come on, gang!

That's fine. That's fine. You two stand there while me and Fusionette do all the work. I can see her blasting another Goldbricker from where I'm lying.

UNPROVOKED? I think not my shiny foe! You very much VOKED!

Go Fusionette! That's her energy blast hitting Bam Bam from the side there!

Ok, Bam Bam and his friends are happily unconscious. Time to find that heist plan we heard him talking about. I seem to have picked up Mirror Spirit along the way too, or one of the others has maybe. Or she was hiding in a puddle. She's normally around here anyways.

HEY! What do we have here, my friends? Definite heist plans, with the location marked. No idea WHAT they're going to steal though.

Time to report back to Delia then. Later gang! Drinks are on Jim Temblor! Fusionette says so!

Returning to Delia she examines the find and is puzzled. The Goldbrickers appear to be raiding an old ruin usually inhabited by the Lost. Very odd. Next stop for Engineria is get to that site!

[Mission 1 = A very relaxed mission of investigation and interaction, easing us into the story. I have to hand it to @Ankylosaur, he populates a zone like no one else using the AE. Good stuff indeed.]

Mission 2: Lost Technologies. Okay, time for Engineria to check out this ruined raid spot. Oh, sounds of battle here, and Lost and Goldbrickers in the midst!

@Ankylosaur, just a heads up!

Spoiler

An extraneous "and" here.

Moving around in the ruins I immediately come across the raid leader, Sparkles. HA! Bam Bam is warming the inside of a cell somewhere by now I think, that's why he didn't show up. And Rikti weapons! Well, this gets more interesting by the minute. Time to have a chat with you, Sparkles!

Got it in one, Sparkles! Your "friend" was very helpful, if a bit sticky from Drenched Donuts!

I'm afraid so, my gold compadre. You and your lot are...well, I don't actually know if you're trespassing but SOMEONE who isn't you must own this place, so yeah. Necessary. And I do not mean the Lost.

Now to have a look around. There's a console to check, and some tech and crates and...and a big guy called Yemeth with no fashion sense! Oh ho! And he goes down like a ton of bricks!

Yeah, yeah, threaten me some more why dontcha? Rue the day? Maybe I will, but in the meantime I have reveling to do!

Ok, I discover a bunch of ConDev files, a crate full of Rikti weapons and, most interestingly, these doohickies!

Three in total, one is a personality scanner, one is a personality adjuster and the final one is a body scanner. According to notes they don't work properly. Might explain some of the weirdness about the Lost now that I think about it. Ok, time to get back to Delia and report in.

Turns out maybe Sparkles and his shiny bros were NOT trespassing, since this lab, and the other one Delia's other team were checking out, actually originally belonged to ConDev, which later became Langston. Meh, I hit him, he went down. AND...gloaty gloat, at least once in my career as a mid level super I did not land on my back in a mission! Sorry, Delia, I'll pay more attention, I promise! Just relishing not being a punching bag for once 🙂

[Mission 2 = A short investigation mission that is one of @Ankylosaur's trademarks by now. Incremental world building again and attention to detail. Good stuff.]

Mission 3: The Hive. Delia and her cohort have worked out where the Goldbrickers are operating out of in Paragon. It's a damaged building in Faultline the Goldbrickers call "The Tower". Seems they've been spotted jetting about on their jetpacks around the upper reaches of the building. Perhaps if they disgusied themselves as Sky Raiders? Anyway, time for Engineria to pay a visit.

Big Brother Bots ahoy! And with these mechs around the GBs are sure to be nearby!

Ah, they've spotted me! Got too close for my own good. I just wanted a look at the supplies they had next to them.

Ok, that's those bots dealt with. There are plenty more working away around the base of the building. I'll just stealth by them this time. Hang on. I spot a familiar but annoying figure up ahead!

Now what in the blue blazes is that idiot up to? Scalious Stone? I'd better go and see what's going on. As if I didn't have enough to deal with right now, Duke Mordrogar and his delusions of whatever are ...I dunno what they are but they're damn annoying!

And just when I was getting used to NOT being set alight. I have to hand that to the Goldbrickers, they don't immolate their foes usually. Apart from what I've heard about Smelters, but I've never actually met one so...never mind!

The Duchess? She's a demon, you lunatic! I'm only surprised she hasn't already eaten your soul or something. Frankly me kicking seven shades out of you every time we meet is doing you a favor!

I vex you? SERIOUSLY? Ok, we're done. Next time I am just sniping you from a distance and walking away. I won't even tell Wyvern you were there, I'll just shoot you.

Ok, up to the top and around we go....ah typical. Arachnos in Faultline. Actually, right now I have the STRANGEST feeling of deja vu. Whatever, it'll pass.

So, the spiders don't trust Langston. Or Dr. Aeon doesn't at least. Well, I'm going to leave you to sort out any that pass you by, while I head into the building. Later, spider bud.

Making my way inside I find crate after crate of Rikti weapons. This place is a damn armory! You could stock a Mothership with all that's here.

Goldbrickers everywhere so a bit of judicious blasting and stealthing gets me up a few more floors, until I see a room full of crates and GBs. And, heh, they see ME!

Those weapons they're using are brutal! The only thing keeping me up is Kinetics Repel, as you can see bouncing them away from me, and Kinetics Heal. I'm reduced to circling them and trying to pick them off as they keep on coming! Half my green inspirations are gone already, as well as most of the blues since Repel is an Endurance drainer.

I make it though. And rest.

Then up another elevator and into a large sort of hexagonal room. And there's that chatty Mainframe again. Ok, stealth is useless, as they seem to know I am here. Must have been all those grenades I used earlier I suppose. Well sometimes you just have to throw a grenade in a structurally unsound building. Can't be avoided.

Well, I need to tackle Ben Da Bomb...ok, time out. You guys have a great look, some killer equipment and freaking JETPACKS! So get a PR person to sell you better, yeah? Well, after I've hit you a bit more.

Shrapnel? Nooo, I'm on a strict no shrapnel diet these days. Thanks all the same. Grenade?

You betcha! (barely hanging in here, no restocks of inspirations left. Note to Self: Get free inspiration power from the P2W lady)

And it's...actually I still don't know if you're some sort of connected AI thing or just some guy with CCTV and a microphone lurking in a base elsewhere. Must ask Delia.

Either way, this particular version of you is getting 'sploded!

Wait, what? Oh, that does not sound good. So, this is a diversion. No, they didn't know I was coming here. Did they? Worry about that later. Now I have some heist plans to check. Ah, there we are. I walked by them on the way in. Ha.

Ok, that's "The Tower" cleared out. Let's get back to Delia for a debrief.

Delia is also curious about the Mainframe but puts it to one side. Ten minutes after Engineria entered the Tower, a squadron of Goldbrickers attacked a convoy carrying Praetorian tech and forced a chopper to crash. Parts of upper Skyway are still a battle zone as they continue their looting.

Looks like Engineria is getting no rest, apart from grabbing inspirations from the medbay as she runs out!

[Mission 3 = Deceptive! This starts out like the previous lab mission but turns into a deadly fight across slanted and dangerous rooms. Plenty of pace and great fun. Plus that pesky Duke!]

Mission 4: My Way or The Skyway. Engineria is mostly solo on this. Delia has sent in what few Wyvern agents she had to help, and there's some Longbow there too, but neither group are on site in any numbers. Commander Sinclair of Longbow was coordinating things but she's been cut off. So, time to saddle up and get to Skyway. (I grabbed an Inner Inspiration P2W on the way. You never know!)

Ok, my team buddies are here! That's a relief. Now to track down the caches of Praetorian tech and stop the Goldbrickers from getting away with them.

Just loading up your ill gotten gains, aren't ya? Well not today Mr. Shiny! And down you go.

And for good measure, completeness, call it what you want, your truck is going too. Bye bye!

Engineria moves along the streets of Skyway, down below and up above. There are fallen crates of Praetorian tech and vans and trucks being loaded by Goldbrickers. With the aid of Wyvern and Longbow we take them out one by one.

There's Commander Sinclair! Let's get to her.

The two of us continue along, clearing as we go. Down below we can hear Wyvern fighting the Goldbrickers in different places.

Then up ahead I can see one Boom Boom Bono. Looks like a raid leader. Time to give that man a sharp visit from Rad Blast town.

He's tough though. Sinclair is battling Boom Boom's minions behind me and stopping me getting shot in the back, and for that I seriously owe her! So far I've stayed upright this entire mission!

Nope, but if I have to then I have to, BBB! And you are not getting out of this.

Sinclair arrives to heal me up! Oh, I love that girl! And then blasts BBB. He is DOWN! BOO YA!

Now we just have to mop up the remaining Praetorian tech and I can report back to Big Cheese Delia. Glad I'm not the one clearing up all the exploding trucks and so on though! Have to tell Delia that I found a map in the cab of one of the trucks with directions to a warehouse here in Skyway. Probably where these guys were going to stash the loot.

Delia is pleased at the result and immediately broadcasts the location of the warehouse to Longbow and her own agents. I'll be joining them.

[Mission 4 = Now this was a straightforward find and destroy/rescue mission. But again the place is populated well and it seems organic. On a higher level it could be manic!]

Mission 5: Gold Market. Wyvern and Longbow have breached the entrance of the warehouse and Engineria's old pal Ollerus is leading. Time to get in there and help out!

Oh wow, that's a BIG fight. (I am glad I don't have this on +4/8!!)

I activate flight and get above the crowd, scanning for Ollerus as I go.

Those Goldbrickers are putting up a hell of a fight! But Wyvern aren't taking it lying down. Oh, there's some guy talking behind me. Not Ollerus though. Who are you, my friend?

Seems like the Goldbrickers are in over their heads. Which is odd considering they have jetpacks, but I digress. Time to get into the fray, Engineria, and kick some heads in!

Bombastic Joe, eh? Ok, Mr. Bombastic, totally fantastic, Mr. Lover Lover, let's see what you got!

Cavalry? Well, air corps is modern cavalry so maybe! Sorry, Joe, but you're going on the floor, not me! And there's Ollerus. Damn it. I flew by him on the way in. Duh.

So the entire warehouse is full of crates of Rikti tech and Praetorian tech, along with the mobs of Goldbrickers fighting our side.

We're looking for any clue as to who the recipient of all this stolen tech is.

In the meantime Ollerus and Engineria make their way through the Goldbrickers, "arresting" them as we go. And let me tell you again (yes, I am getting repetitive) there are a LOT of them.

But then what do we see at the end of this corridor? Not a clue but at the least a hint of who is buying all this equipment. See that Ollerus? THAT is one of the Family. Verandi in fact. Looks like this is a Mob deal.

So we round the corner and take them out. It has to be done. Circling around we come to a side room, and there against the wall is a desk. Looks like we've got some evidence beyond all the stolen stuff.

We found a shipping manifest. Most of this stuff was due to be sent to Striga and the Rogue Isles. Perhaps the inter Family war is heating up for some reason. Well, beyond what we experienced with Bloody Vicious a while ago.

And there at the end of that corridor is our Primo Culprit. Smokin' Joe. Mr. Family here himself. Ollerus my friend, we are about to do our City a service by kicking his criminal ass.

Of course he gets up. I concentrate on him and thankfully Ollerus tackles the minions. That's the sort of team work a girl can appreciate.

Well, no, I don't want a challenge, but you ain't leaving here outside of a catch wagon, so let's do this!

Nah, that was local politics, Joe. Vicious had what we needed, we scratch his back and so on and so forth. You understand.

And Joe hits the floor.

Ollerus and Engineria head back to Delia to see what's what.

Delia informs me that Longbow is doing the clear up work. A lot of the tech was possibly earmarked for Council use while more was heading elsewhere. Aside from that Delia is still antsy about the entire Robopal rollout. To Engineria that looks like people paying to have Warworks in their home. Warworks that could be switched to kill in an instant.

[Mission 5 = Rocking good mission. Plenty of rolling fights and back and forth. Loved it.}

Verdict: Loved it. The expansion of the politics continues. There's a bigger picture here that is slowly rising to meet us, like a mountain out of a clearing fog. Anyway, our next episode will be All that Glitters 2.3: Terawatts in Terra Volta.

Next up on TerroirNoir's Cable Channel of AE Reviews is, after the commercials, @cranebump's Leviathan 2: Hollow Ring.

Edited November 5, 2022 by TerroirNoir

Zhym · October 18, 2022

On 10/16/2022 at 6:51 PM, TerroirNoir said:

Operative Sariss! There's a familiar name.

Yup! I confess to using this thread (or the story-specific thread) to remind myself where I'd seen that name before. Pretty cool callback.

BTW, a note for @Darmian: it looks like the "Info" box for Operative Sariss has the text for Bane Spider Hugo.

Edited October 18, 2022 by Zhym

Ankylosaur · October 18, 2022

Jim the Merit Vendor and Rhonda Jones the Inspiration Vendor are the vendors in that part of Faultline. 🙂 I also have the Pocket D contact wandering around there, (though could not recreate his outfit)and several other Robopals. Another little Easter egg is a Recycling bin that has directions to the hidden Cryptic Lounge in Faultline.

Edited October 18, 2022 by Ankylosaur

TerroirNoir · October 18, 2022

12 hours ago, Ankylosaur said:

Jim the Merit Vendor and Rhonda Jones the Inspiration Vendor are the vendors in that part of Faultline

I KNEW I knew them! I just haven't spent enough time in Faultline to really know them though. Cool!

Ankylosaur · October 19, 2022

Originally Sparkles was female back when I needed custom Gold Brickers, but I kind of love a big Boomer called Sparkles.

Historical note:

Spoiler

Also, originally, this served to introduce the rebooted ConDev mob in M5, who I removed from the story for a variety of reasons. I will replace the Rikti Weapons crates they have from the Lost with more Praetorian tech (since the Gold Brickers aren't wielding Riki blades/Blasters as ConDev did).

In this instance, ConDev was replaced with the Mooks, who make more sense for a variety of reasons too - not the least of which is - as you discovered - that they are supplying the Praetorian tech to the Council (which is inclusive of the UPA cause of the whole Calvin Scott thing).

And Bombastic Joe is now renamed to Mr. Bombastic - obvs. 🙂

Edited October 19, 2022 by Ankylosaur

TerroirNoir · October 19, 2022

Arc 5 of from our second writer on "TerroirNoir's Cable Channel of AE" Reviews is, @cranebump's Leviathan 2: Hollow Ring.

Engineria has been listening to the radio, and looking at billboards, and then TV and then switching off. NewsAnon are everywhere with their constant whining about whatever. Apparently the City and the Country are going to hell in a handbasket and it's all because of the lizard people. Ok, no. But after a while it sounds like that. (No offence to Lizard People or others of different skin texture intended!) so it's a relief when Grumpy Joe Freitag calls her.

Mission 1: Old Business. Freitag has heard the news too but that's not why he called. There's an attack on a warehouse by of all things, Cage Consortium. Units are on the way but Engineria will get there first. The foreman, Aaron Ruegad, got everyone out but then went back in. So find him too if possible.

@cranebump? Timers again?

That's Cage alright but why on earth would they be here?

I mean apart from just making my life difficult in general that is.

Well you're an eager one, ain'tcha? Nimble too.

But at the end of the day still security guards versus someone using Radiation Blast. So, down you go. AHA! Someone from my side! E-SWAT? Tech SWAT? Whatever. Let's go help her out.

A thing you say? Well, there's a raid leader to find for a start, then the foreman obviously. A the thing is Ruegad's son is here too! So that's why he went back in! And they're intent on blowing the whole place sky high. Why for pete's sake? What does that achieve? Never mind. Let's carry on.

Round the corner and up the stairs and aha! Raid Leader! Zapity zap!

The fact that a fully uniformed Cage Consortium is here doing this is downright peculiar. There's something else going on here. Good job I have Grumpy Joe to explain stuff to me.

Call for back up? Yeah, my new E-SWAT friend is dealing with your back up!

At least I hope she is!

The raid leader goes down, along with his assistant there. He raves about the foreman double-crossing Cage on something. Explains why they're here, kinda. Briggs-Hughes and Engineria then go looking for the foreman, as well as 4 sets of explosives!

And of course I get flattened. I had gone a while without it happening but I shouldn't get complacent! That's our foreman over there too!

Scrambling back up Engineria is joined by her new partner and make short work of the Cage guys. The foreman is

Ruegad says he sent Henry, that's his son, to hide somewhere. Ruegad then runs off to find him. In the meantime we have explosives to deal with.

We continue through the building, me getting my ass handed to me while Briggs-Hughes looks all professional. Yeah yeah, we'll see.

Who the hell is this guy?

Oh, he's a nasty piece of work! OW. And even nastier than I thought! A smart Briggs-Hughes stays at rifle distance and keeps firing at him, good woman!

Anarchy and down with the pigs? There's a lunatic up there! There's a lunatic here! It might be me for agreeing to do this job!

Have who? Does he mean Henry the foreman's son? He does! Don't have time to find out more right now, that clock is still counting down! C'mon, Briggs-Hughes!

So, explosives then. We deal with them and the Cage guys around them.

1, 2, 3 and 4. Done. And then there's a broadcast over the loudspeakers about us helping capitalist pigs. Doesn't sound like Cage actually. And there's another bomb? And a switch?

"Comrade"? Who the hell are you? And no, not gonna happen.

The two of us take him down, along with someone called Heathen and Pagan. And cue a desperate run to find the last bomb!

Got it! Whew!

WHAT? It's a dummy! A fake! And the kid Henry is kidnapped. Time to talk to Joe Freitag.

Joe is pleased with the success of the new E-SWAT program. So is Engineria! We're still in the dark as to what the double-cross was, but the kid is in the wind and Comrade is still out there.

[Mission 1 = A mad rolling fight against time to save a kid, and fail! A good start to this part of Joe Freitag's career of sending Engineria into danger! Enjoyed it!]

Mission 2: New Business. The "news" on NewsAnon is full of it. Full of the mention of the attack on the warehouse, in fact SIX attacks across the city. Aaron Ruegad is depicted as a Rogue Isles criminal "allowed" to peddle his evil here in Paragon, plus mention of other "criminals" at the other sites.

Freitag is fed up because the announcer is not helping, just stirring up panic. But he somehow has an inside scoop. The PPD never announced there were former Rogue Isles residents at the Braintreach warehouses, but NewsAnon still knows. So there's a leak in the PPD or...well, we don't know yet.

Freitag has signed off on a visit to the Rogue Isles. Engineria is to have a "chat" with Kirk Cage of Cage Consortium.

Off I go then!

After politely asking around Sharkhead I find Cage is at one of his offices, but he knows I'm coming and has hired extra security. I'm going to get flattened again. Or set on fire. (Still not got Knockback protection)

Well, from the uniforms I'm in the right place.

Well, I have these guys' number so I drop them fast and move on.

Ah, so that's what my informants meant by extra security! Critical Mass! Big boy, ain'tcha?

Big and DANGEROUS boy! Jeez Louise! He's light on his feet! And about to drop the hammer on me!

KINETICS REPEL! And fling him the hell away from me. Recover fast, Engineria. Pop a Break Free to clear my head and hit him with a Siphon Speed, then follow up with Radiation Blast. Push him back and into the wall. He takes a beating and a half but he still drops.

Okies. Hands on knees and catch breath. Let me see who else is waiting for me.

2 more of these people are out there laying in wait to ambush little Engineria. I'm not feeling wanted at all. Never mind. I take a few more Cage Consortium guys down along the way.

Savage Siren. Heard of you. Not met you before.

On the phone to your mother? Well, even criminals have mothers. Apart from that Robot guy I assume. I never did ask.

Me in the Freedom Phalanx? You gotta be kidding me! I'm not even in the Shining Stars!

What the? Rascals and Redcaps and other Croatoa pests! OW, those arrows are nasty. GET OFF ME YOU TINY MENACE!

Really starting to dislike Savage Siren's choice of ally. I mean really.

But with her down that leaves one last super powered security person to deal with. It'll be someone who sets me on fire. I just know it. My luck is about to run out on that front.

HA! I knew it! Pyrelord. Well, if I can hit him fast enough and hard enough he won't have time to set me alight...I hope!

Got a shot in and he starts babbling!

(Note to self: adjust color of Repel as it's blurring things)

I manage to get Pyrelord down without getting burned myself. If it wasn't for the fact I still have to find Kirk Cage I'd call that a victory and go back to my motel and eat chips. Anyway.

Ok then. That's not Kirk Cage. I suppose I'd better investigate.

He's not? So you're what, a chief goon or something? Goon Extraordinaire?

This Wesley guy tells me that Kirk Cage had nothing to do with any of the attacks, all of whom were on Scrapyard criminals. As far as Cage is concerned the matter is closed. He hands Engineria a burner phone and says his employer too is a father, like Ruegad. And then he saunters off.

Right, time to call Freitag.

Seems Joe has heard of "Wesley". Cage seems to want to help. Well, not help exactly but do what suits them. Meanwhile the NewsAnon reports are raving about unsavory elements in the department, in government, everywhere, and are stirring things up.

[Mission 2 = This acts as a sort of bridging epilog to the first mission. Some good fights and the introduction of this Wesley guy. Good stuff all round.]

Mission 3: Questions Pending. We have a lead on the Sacco-Vanzettis. They're part of the whole shmear here, tied in with the Fawkers and so on. They're planning another hit now so we can round them up in one swoop. Freitag hands me a Gatorade. He's getting weird. I head to the location while Freitag rounds up some back up for me. In and out, no biggie.

Ok, off we go.

Into the sewers. Again. "Go to these coordinates, Engineria", because if he says "Go to the sewers" he knows I'll not go.

And straight into a fight!

And some of the Sacco-Whatevers up ahead too.

There's Briggs-Hughes. Oh did he? The Gatorade? I knew that was weird. Didn't I say that was weird?

We move through the tunnels, mopping up anything and anyone we see. And there are plenty I can tell you.

Oh look! There's Willie Sullivan. Cool. And I'm on fire. Of course I am. Whatevs. Getting used to it now.

Now we are three. And a fine little team we make. Why hello there, Mr. Cell Commander. You seem to be in need of arresting. Or something approximating that at the least. Have at ye!

Well, that's the problem with secret societies, no one can really keep a secret. Not really, Especially when a plea bargain to not spend the next 25 years in prison is on the table.

So you get betrayed. Tough.

Apparently he dies for the cause. I wonder what that cause is? No time for that right now because around the corner of this weird central dais thingy is the Cell Liaison. And he too needs to die for the cause. I'm sure he's just as committed as his friend who is currently lying in sewer water.

So the three of us get stuck in and boy is this guy tough, he just really wants to make US die for his cause, rather than himself. Surely that can't be right?

But the rest of Freitag's back up arrives! A squad of power armor PPD! Excellent stuff. So Mr. Cell Liaison takes a bath in the sewer, as is his right I expect. It's probably in a manifesto for life or something, next to the right to eat cookies in bed and not clean up after yourself.

Then we check out a rather damp console and it goes into wipe+crash mode as a failsafe. But before it does we get the location of a Fawkers base we had not known about previously!

Time to chat to Freitag. And refuse all offers of food or drink.

[Mission 3 = Another rolling set of fights and combat, back and up and around! Good stuff indeed. Willie and Briggs-Hughes are excellent support characters.]

Mission 4: Quorum. Minutes later Freitag has Engineria running across town to the freshly discovered site, so as not to give those there any time to get out I'm assuming. A chance to catch them flat footed. Still no news on that Henry kind though.

Engineria is heading in with an agenda: 1, Knock out their base comms, 2, Set explosives (self explanatory) 3, Arrest any Leviathan dudes we find and 4, on the offchance the kid is there then get him out.

No pressure, Joe. Nope. Ok, in we go!

Got lucky, objective 1 is near the entrance. So I get rid of that and its accompanying operators.

Ok, comms are down. These guys won't be able to summon help. or a Rydeshare Car.

In between eliminating the thugs opposing me I'm priming these babies, objective 2.

When these go off then this place will cease to be of use to the Fawkers and Leviathan.

Seems the enemy have cavalry too. And Jeez Louise, they're nasty! I took a beating from this guy before I dropped him. And then a bunch of Heathens and Pagans showed up mob handed to try to finish the job he started. Health was low but Repel and grenades kept them off me. Dropping a smoke flash helped too!

See? Here they come racing around the corner to try shivving me! RUN!

OHO! That's not on my list but I'm still gonna take it out. And done. This place is definitely a major hive of activity for these quasi cultists. I'm half expecting them to rant at me about them being FREE MEN OF THE LAND, and SOVEREIGN CITIZENS.

What's next? Oh yes. Some more explosives planted. Only one left to do.

And Leviathan Augie. Yeah, you and me are going downtown to chat to Joe Freitag, and he might even take his hat off and roll up his sleeves when he's talking to you. You won't like that.

Yep, I do. Because for once in this mad City of weirdoes and so on you need to be told you're wrong. And have it stick.

Also, you just set me on fire. Now you may have not been following my progress in my career as a super, but suffice it to say, I don not like being set on fire. Nuh uh.

And of course you had a bodyguard in reserve who flattens me. Or were you just staying out of the big fight, Mr. Guard, because you don't get paid enough? Maybe you should join a Union.

I get the final bomb and clear up some canisters and then I am out of here. BOOM! BOOM, BABY!

Back with Joe, he's fairly happy about all this. The regular PPD are mopping up stragglers and so on. I have to WRITE A REPORT. Joe said debrief but it'll be WRITING A REPORT. (Really need to advance my Hero Corps membership further than chatting to Henry Wong when I'm in Atlas Park)

[Mission 4 = This felt like a finale episode. Very much so. Much going on, all against the clock. Loved it.]

Mission 5: Motion to Adjourn. Chatting to Freitag a week later and he's pissed. The perps are giving up nothing. Not a damn thing. And their DNA is screwy, their prints are smoothed off, god knows what their dental is like. So Joe and the gang are wading through mughsots. Thousands of them. Sloooow. (Nope, I can't do that. Not been trained for you see. Special expertise needed.) No sign of the kid either. Freitag thinks he may be dead. And then Engineria gets a phone call. On the burner phone Wesley gave her.

An unknown number. An address and a single line of text. "PROOF. COME ALONE." Back in a while Joe, just a thing I have to do.

A warehouse in the King Garment District. There's a weird beeping noise up ahead.

Looks pretty deserted. Time to have a look around then. Wesley should be here somewhere. Maybe with intel on the boy. Don't know why he didn't just call.

Ah, perhaps that's why he didn't call. Some of the Sacco-Vanzettis are here. With a small robot? What?

Jeez Louise! Can't anyone just say "hi" anymore? Flattened. And frozen this time as opposed to being set on fire. Well, that's different I suppose.

GET THE HELL AWAY FROM ME! Right, I am going to murderize every single one of you, so help me.

Ok, that's those dealt with. Now, little robot. Omnidrone is it? What are you?

Holographic interface? What? Oh, you're just staying there and not following me? Ok then.

Ok, what do we have here? Just your average warehouse. No sign of Wesley. Oh, a crate. It's got weapons like the ones the Saccos had.

And a terminal. Well, here goes nothing.

Ok, a mysterious message for me. Seems I've been of great use and I'm going to be famous. And a hint about the boy. But it breaks off.

Ok, time to...WTH?

Why are the PPD attacking ME? Ok, I know I didn't tell Freitag I was going here but come on! They should know what I look like by now. (Mainly filthy and smelling of burned hair but hey)

I don't have a choice here! I either fight back or they take me down! Sorry boys, but Engineria is not going quietly.

There may be a lot of screaming in pain though.

Ok, after leading my former companions a merry dance and being judicious with the old power set, most of those boys are going to have one hell of a headache tomorrow. (Or cracked ribs, torn ligaments, you get the idea)

Still looking for what's going on here.

Wesley! With PPD on him!

It's a trap? Sorry, Wes. I twigged to that already. Oof, springing back up is SOO undignified. Wait a minute. Comrade? I'm not Comrade you idiots. Is that who those guys downstairs thought I was?

Holo emitters? So that little robot guy. And the PPD see me as Comrade? Or Wesley as Comrade? Whatever. Not happy about that. Not one bit.

It was all a set up.

I head out and am confronted by Freitag, who is surprised to see me. Time for that debrief now, Joe.

Oh, it's even sneakier than I thought! Those PPD I fought were holo'd up too! They were Leviathan stooges pretending to be PPD, fighting me, looking like Comrade. And I crippled them all. And it was all caught on camera.

NewsAnon is having a field day with this one.

The leadership in the City must go. Oh hell. These guys are in it for keeps.

[Mission 5 = wonderful bit of misdirection there. Honestly did not see that coming. Even though the Omnidrone TOLD me what it was doing! Great!]

Verdict: Loved it. The expansion of the politics continues. Grim and gritty Kings Row gets politicked up and nothing will be the same again. Our next episode will be Leviathan 3: Hollow Victory.

Next up on TerroirNoir's Cable Channel of AE Reviews is, after the commercials, @Darmian's Darker Deeds: Part Two.

Edited November 5, 2022 by TerroirNoir

cranebump · October 19, 2022

Obviously, you had way too much time in that first mish (sets timer to 45 seconds).:-)

Edited October 19, 2022 by cranebump

TerroirNoir · October 20, 2022

Arc 5 of from our third writer on "TerroirNoir's Cable Channel of AE" Reviews is, @Darmian's Darker Deeds: Part Two.

Previously on Darker Deeds Engineria had returned from wiping out a base of Spectra Arachnos in Dark Astoria to find the Meteors' base cordoned off after an explosion. No sign of any of the team, although Axios wasn't there when it happened. And a suspicious Captain Hartigan of the PPD attempting to interrogate her.

Now what?

Mission 1: Clandestine Meetings. The PPD spent a while questioning me, but their Psi guys say I'm telling the truth. Small mercies. Several days later I get an invite to the Hotel Geneva in Atlas Park, go to Room 420.

I show up and who do I see but Blue Spectrum. Ok then. He informs me that Axios is in the Vanguard building across the street. Ok, that makes sense. Vanguard won't hand Axios over to the PPD, they're a little French Foreign Legion-y like that. Then he asks for my help in finding out what happened the Meteors. For various reasons (like being mind controlled earlier I reckon!) he can't do it himself.

Sure, sure. Ok. Let's do this. Old Bluey called Von Horn on the night of the bombing and got a garbled answer, something about Arachnos attacking the place and then the line went dead. So they were in there. And the PPD took bodies out of the building and have them in a makeshift PPD warehouse elsewhere, away from prying eyes. Time for me to check if those bodies are our friends.

Ok, off I go. There's a Captain Donovan on duty in here somewhere too.

The place is packed with PPD. More than I was expecting for a temporary morgue.

I avoid a lot of them, no need to have the PPD on my back really. Sneak into the center room. What's this then?

Apparently it's part of a Superadine converter rig. Confiscated no doubt. I hardly think the PPD are brewing up their own Superadine. Well, I certainly hope not. Right, time to snoop around some more.

And here we have a body bag. Let's see who is in this.

Not one of the Meteors! That's good. Three more to check but it is encouraging so far. No idea who is actually in the bag though. Maybe one of the attackers?

I keep looking around. Wait a minute! There's that little creep Tessitore! What the hell is HE doing here? Same thing as me probably. Let's go find out. Afraid I'll have to render the PPD guards unconscious.

Wait what? He's with the FBSA? The Federal Bureau for Super-Powered Affairs? But that would mean he has oversight of DATA, ELITE, SERAPH, and all the rest of those organizations. If he's telling the truth of course. Which I don't believe he is!

Oh no, don't you dare!

He dared. GRRR!

Ok, you'll get what's coming to you, Doctor. Wait and see. In the meantime I have three more body bags to find. There's a lot of this Superadine stuff lying around too actually.

So I try the raised office area on the far side of the room and....hello Captain Donovan. You're looking particularly mechanical! And of course you've spotted me.

I'm a what now? Skull thug? I dunno what's going on here actually but either way he seems intent on arresting me with some force!

OHO! There ARE Skulls here! They're attacking the place and shouting about raiding the Superadine! Donovan thinks I'm one of them. I look NOTHING like a Skull! Idiot! Well, idiot or not our fight has spilled back into the main area and others are joining in!

That sounds like a call for back up! I need to take the Captain down fast. And the Skulls, because they've taken a dislike to me too. Can't please everyone I suppose. Or in Enginera's case, anyone!

@Darmian, what the hell are these Skulls talking about?

Fighting off the Skulls and PPD, Engineria drops a Smoke Flash and retreats to rest. Smoke Flash is great like that. Rest over, checking the remaining body bags reveals that none of them are the Meteors. WOO!

Searching this filing cabinet reveals a set of files marked "1966", in Spanish or French perhaps. 1966 is a vital year for the Spectra Arachnos gang.

Avoiding the remaining PPD and Skulls I vanish into the night and back to the Hotel Geneva to see Blue Spectrum.

Old Bluey is baffled by the Skulls' being crazy enough to break into a PPD warehouse to get Superadine. Not our problem. So, the Meteors aren't there, so where are they? If the PPD didn't recover them then someone else has them. And he doesn't believe that Tessitore guy is actually from the FBSA. Nor do I. Bluey is going to get those files I found translated and he'll get back to me ASAP.

[Mission 1 = This starts off like a sort of midseason return from the previous cliffhanger. I like it! And the change in contact to outside the team is interesting. Good stuff.]

Mission 2: Another Fine Mess. Old Bluey wakes Engineria with a phone call in the middle of the night. What a monster! A girl needs her sleep! Especially after all the madness I've been wading around in lately. Anyways, this is time sensitive and needs to be done ASAP. He has a location that needs checking out. He found it in the set of 1966 files he's been having translated. Turns out they're in Italian.

And this is a doozy 🙂

Spoiler

The address is for a boarded up mansion in Croatoa. Seems it was a gentrified spot back before it became spook central. We have to move tonight because Tessitore has been seen. Logging a flight plan out of Paragon at a small private airfield, and there's a chance he's at that mansion. It's slim but better than nothing.

Time to get to Ghostville then.

Into the mansion. Pretty upmarket despite being boarded up. And there's cables for a security system. That has to be turned off.

And these guys are, well not new but have different versions of the uniform I suppose. I'll just stealth by them for now.

There we are, one Arachnos issue computer. All red and black and grim looking. Don't these guys have nice things?

Viewing the CCTV recordings Engineria sees that BULLET STREAK is being held in an underground part of the mansion. Accessed through a hidden door in the library. Ok, looks like I'm going there then.

I just have to deal with those guys I saw earlier, they came back!

Ok, spider goons nothing, Engineria 3. Now, where's that hidden door? Ah, there you are!

And on we go into a cave or cavern. Plenty of those Psi Stick guys around. I decide to pick them off from a distance rather than get down and dirty with them.

Until finally I get to where I think I need to be. Just an Arachnos Psyker here. Dangerous mid power coming off these guys though so a grenade for you, my little 8-legged friend!

That got a mite rough so a small rest to recuperate before heading into the prison area.

There's my boy! Dontcha worry none, Bullet Streak, I'm a comin'! Those guys around you are about to be introduced to a world of hurt.

Three on one? Yeah, I can handle that. Be with you in a minute, Bullet Streak. You just lay there and recover from what ails you! A little of the old Nemesis Staff won't go amiss either!

Oh he is? Blue Spectrum was hoping he would be. Now, you little running away nuisance, let's take you out once and for all. (If he manages to get away again I will be SOOO pissed.)

Hey Doc! We're coming for you! You better not run this time!

And we meet a little resistance on the way but Bullet Streak lives up to his name. He'd probably give Twinshot a run for her money in the old Dual Pistols I reckon.

There you are, you little ****! End this charade? Me? You're the one being all mysterious every damn time we meet!

He's a damn Mastermind! Here come his thug minions now, along with the regulation White Spiders. Jeez Louise! What in the hell did he just hit me with?

Thing is HOW do you know that? Also, thanks Bullet Streak for taking out the rest of the spider gang.

ROFL! Oh you do, do you? Well, we will see about that!

And wouldn't you know it, Bullet Streak and Engineria get rushed by regular present day Arachnos...who have cut down more Spectra Arachnos while getting to us. Those sides really don't like each other, do they?

Leaving some smoking spider bot bits behind, we leave with our prisoner and make our way out of Croatoa and back to the Hotel Geneva in Atlas Park. Bullet Streak stops of at the PPD station to make a statement about the attack on the SG base, and effectively clear Engineria and Axios's name.

Blue Spectrum says we probably should turn Tessitore over to the PPD or Longbow, but he doesn't trust either group at the moment. We may have to hire Chris Jenkins! (Oh hell, I see another visit to a law office in my future!) Right now it's time to rest up and regroup tomorrow.

[Mission 2 = An infiltration and rescue mission that plays really well, with the various types being very agile and dangerous. Also, finally capturing the slippery Tessitore felt good! Good Stuff]

Mission 3: Once More With Feeling. So the following day Engineria goes back to the Hotel Geneva. She's met there by Axios, back from wherever, and Bullet Streak. Blue Spectrum is about to give us all a lesson!

Tessitore has been spilling the beans, and yes he's Arachnos. Just not the Arachnos we know. Arachnos has been around a LONG time, and Lord Recluse wasn't always the leader. That was a guy called The Weaver. Recluse had him killed. So, Weaver is dead, boo hoo. But his faction in Arachnos wasn't and went undercover. That was the faction that tried to capture Blue Spectrum (or one of him!) in 1966. And then time travel forward to now. And here's the crazy bit. Only half time travelled. The other half stayed hidden and went "the long way round". Tessitore is one of THOSE ones. Tessitore and his gang have been waiting years for the others to show up!

Oh man. That's insane!

Tessitore's gang bombed the SG base, and has told us where the others are. And Blue Spectrum thinks Richter is a clone of LORD RECLUSE! Like Spectra is a clone of Blue Spectrum. (I'm assuming without the Well of the Furies powers otherwise I'd have died a looong time ago!)

Anyway, time to rescue the rest of the Meteors.

Axios goes in ahead and scouts.

A graveyard. In Dark Astoria! Not far from the other Spectra Arachnos base. Hmm. Engineria may need a vacation after all this if I'm honest. And it's down there we have to go.

Ok, I've met up with Axios. It's time to bring our lost team members home! Hi ho! (No, not singing a dwarven song while underground, more of a Long Ranger thing. Except there's two of us. Shut up.)

And there's the Boss Lady herself. Let's go get her, Ax my friend! Feel free to punch as many Arachnos as your heart desires! I know I will.

I literally just said that! LOL.

Ok, Madame Maven. Gotcha. Now for Von Horn and Super Charger. They're around here somewhere. And there are boxes of tech too, like these guys were definitely planning a move.

Well lookee here. That is majorly handy. Less running around caverns and getting attacked by Arachnos since the guys are both here. Let's go get them! Hi ho!

Halox is with us now. Just Super Charger left and then we go looking for that Commander Mr. Von Horn just mentioned. Back in the Hotel Geneva for coffee and cigars later 🙂

You know, I had heard that Bullet Streak was the vain one of the team. Talking about entering a costume contest at the time of the Galaxy City attack and all. Seems I was misinformed!

Now, where's that Commander? Ah, found you. Well, Tessitore sold you out, my friend. Otherwise me and Axios wouldn't even know to come here in the first place.

And what a great shot of Madame Maven's boot as we charge down the slope! Swords on the anvil? Oh hell, a zealot! Those are always trouble. At least Tessitore was out for his own skin in the end.

We find pass codes to a Tech box on the Psyker. He was trying to hide them so this box must have different contents to the others.

We've just had to wade through a few Banished Pantheon to get to it. Of course they would be here in Dark Astoria.

More files from the 1960s written in coded Italian. Another job for Blue Spectrum's friends to translate. Let's go home, gang. Well, the hotel.

Blue Spectrum and Bullet Streak are happy to see us all back. We're going to meet up in two days after some rest. Old Bluey has booked us SUITES(!) next to his room. Oh, Engineria is having a bath!

[Mission 3 = Totally straighforward rescue mission but lots and lots of fun anyway. The Meteors are all back together and the plot is heading forward. Good Stuff.]

Mission 4: Troubled Waters. Back in the Hotel Geneva Blue Spectrum steps aside and lets Maven take the lead. She's in a feisty mood! She's thinking about Bluey's theory that Richter is a clone of Recluse. Put a pin in that for later. Now Longbow is compromised, as we've seen, so Engineria has to go to Striga and liaise with them as they transfer Spectra to a more secure location. Striga? She doesn't know but the transfer point is a weak spot and Tessitore's gang want him badly, so something will happen there.

Striga it is then.

Off I go.

As soon as I reach the complex of buildings near the bridge I hear gunfire and energy weapons! And shouts about Arachnos. Ok then.

Hang on! You're not real Longbow!

And now I'm on fire! That's just not on.

So it is looking like I can't trust Longbow anymore! My earlier enthusiasm for their help is diminishing by the second! But right now you don't have Spectra, so who does?

And you're willing to kill him yourself. That's...weird. I don't understand that. Though he was pretty woozy when I found him in Faultline, enough to actually help me at the time. I get a set of pass keys for a Longbow distress beacon, which these fakers have disabled! I can turn it on again if I can just find it!

I cross over the bridge and pass some REAL Longbow. I'm assuming they are real since they didn't try to kill me. And then I find Spectra, and it looks like present day Arachnos have captured him. Can't have that.

I spend a few moments and take out his guards. He's still a bit woozy. You sense your lord nearby? Nope, buddy. I killed him....oh wait. Clones. Yeah. Well that's my assumption but I don't like it.

Well for now Spectra is fighting alongside me and we're clearing through more Arachnos. And there's more fighting Longbow around the entire site. This place is under a huge attack.

Oh! And there's Lord Richter. A new one. (Old one? I dunno which one I killed actually) Oh, this is gonna hurt sooo bad. He's making short work of whoever is up there. Me next.

Oh great. He's killed those Longbow, and flung Spectra to the ground. And now the dictatorial ranting. Yep, there it is.

OH NO!

NO NO!

He turned the Spectra back to his side! I am gonna die here!

Told you. And he walks slowly away. Ok, mediporter is activating. I'm stocking up on inspirations and I need to separate those two or I won't have a snowball's chance in hell of stopping them.

Right. Back in the fight. I have a plan. Planette. A bijou plan. Ok, it's a hail mary and stop looking at me like that. I come back around the bridge and snipe Richter from the air then retreat to where I know there's a squad of Longbow to help me fight him. It's already off to a bumpy start as he hits me with a temporal slow power. At least Spectra isn't coming too.

Ok, hit him now, Longbow! While I blast him with radiation!

And crazily, madly, luckily, it WORKS! Also, I flung more grenades at him! He is down! Now, my clever plan to take out Spectra is...yeah, it's the exact same plan. Whatever, it worked so it could work again. Shut up.

Except I was not expecting him to go full aerial flying god and blast us from the sky! He's just dropping my Longbow buddies here!

And he stays up there in full messianic mode! Jeez Louise!

I just have to hope I can outlast him as the last of the Longbow go down. Farewell soldiers, you fought bravely. In the meantime I'm popping greens and blues like crazy because that energy blast is burning my Endurance down!

Nearly! YES! Oh yes! And I have literally nothing left. Ok, I have a single Break Free and one Rez. (You never know). But he's down.

Hands on knees time. Definitely.

I find the Longbow distress beacon and turn it on. The red and whites can come tidy up this mess. Then I call Madame Maven and head back to the Hotel.

[Mission 4 = Well, that went from "normal" fighting of fake Longbow and real Arachnos, to just a crazy crazy near epic fight with two seriously dangerous foes. Great stuff.]

Mission 5: Kearny Lansing. In the spirit of trusting NO ONE outside of the Meteors, Blue Spectrum and Engineria, Madame Maven hands out jobs to people. Axios is heading to the Rogue Isles to find out where Tessitore was flying to, Bullet Streak is "talking" to Spectra again, Super Charger is collecting translations, Von Horn is getting a check up in hospital (not a job obviously) and I have to go to the Kearny Lansing law offices to lodge a record of everything we have found and know, as insurance. Another law office. Ok, not Jenkins but still. (Bluey is gone to see Penny Yin for his mental check up)

Off I go.

Ok, I arrive in to Kearny Lansing and a secretary tells me that Jim Rufus is who I need to see.

Oh wonderful. Clients talking about how Jenkins has BOUGHT this place! LOL.

And there's Jum Rufus.

Go to the end. Lodge the papers. Avoid clients and lawyers and secretaries and maybe cleaning staff too. Right, ok.

Ok, using the codes Rufus gave me I open the safe and stick the documents in.

And there's a weird noise a bit like a mediporter and the documents just vanish in front of me from inside the safe!

Ok, time to go have a sharp word with Mr. Chris Jenkins, the new owner of Kearny Lansing, and get this nonsense sorted out.

Oh, you really are a nasty lawyer! Call the PPD? What the hell?

Who is this WE you're talking about? (Also, officially a member of the Meteors! Whoa!)

Ah, so the WE is Arachnos! I might have guessed. Chris Jenkins works for Arachnos though? Isn't his grandmother a super? Then again Lord Recluse was Statesman's brother-in-law so maybe that means nothing.

OK! So another double! It's Doppelganger City lately. I'm surprised Protean hasn't made an appearance. Then again, how would I know?

Jeez Louise! I am having more trouble with this guy than I had with Richter! Of course Richter didn't have an army of guys with him all shooting me at the same time.

And I stagger up, stunned. And fall.

"Jenkins" and his guard head back around the corner. No mediporter this time. I'm going to take that grinning little **** down.

Any minute now. Any minute. What are you looking at, Mr. Secretary?

And Mr. Jenkins DOES get what's coming to him. Well, "Jenkins". Now I have to deal with the PPD! Since that faker called them to deal with me!

Sorry Kade. I am going to have to give you a bit of a headache or maybe a few cracked ribs. And you know, when asked later I'll say that there's a criminal out there impersonating me. And I'll sigh.

So, I knock Kade out and vamos out the door. Only to get arrested by an entire SWAT team. After some persuasive phone calls, Madame Maven gets me released. She sums it up best herself, so I'll let her do it.

[Mission 5 = well, that was different! The plot thickens further! Rogue Isles Arachnos is back in the picture properly and kicking over the game board. Good stuff]

Verdict: Loved it! What started off as rescue turned into god fights and then another plot twist! Our next episode will be Darker Deeds: Part Three.

Next up on TerroirNoir's Cable Channel of AE Reviews is, after the commercials, @Ankylosaur's All that Glitters 2.3: Terawatts in Terra Volta.

Edited November 5, 2022 by TerroirNoir

Darmian · October 20, 2022

1 hour ago, TerroirNoir said:

@Darmian, what the hell are these Skulls talking about?

Yeah, ok that's me sliding in an in joke about one of my own characters 🙂

TerroirNoir · October 20, 2022

On 10/17/2022 at 4:36 PM, Zhym said:

I just wish AE gave us the option to experience some of the things first-hand that can only be described. I want to see the repurposed Arachnos Flyer, physically visit the Meteors' makeshift base in the Geneva Hotel, etc. Ah, well. AE is what it is. I've been impressed with how @Darmian has used various maps for different purposes (although I think I've done ITF too many times for me to see the final map from that trial as anything else).

AND I just got past that part about the Hotel Geneva! Have you finished this entire storyline @Zhym? I'm enjoying it immensely at the moment! (mind you I'm also enjoying @Ankylosaur and @cranebump's arcs immensely too, just different styles!)

Zhym · October 20, 2022

18 minutes ago, TerroirNoir said:

AND I just got past that part about the Hotel Geneva! Have you finished this entire storyline @Zhym? I'm enjoying it immensely at the moment! (mind you I'm also enjoying @Ankylosaur and @cranebump's arcs immensely too, just different styles!)

I just finished it in the past day or two! It's a great arc. It does get a bit complicated, though. I need a recap.

Heyyyyyy, look at this thread! Handy!

Anyway, I'll save further comment until you're done with "Darkest Before the Dawn" pt. 3, except to say that there are still some threads that @Darmian left open for a sequel. So when's that gonna happen? ;)

I may do @Ankylosaur's stories next. I'll be honest, the timed missions are putting me off of @cranebump's arc. I'm just not a fan of timed missions.

Edited October 20, 2022 by Zhym

Darmian · October 20, 2022

2 minutes ago, Zhym said:

there are still some threads that @Darmian left open for a sequel. So when's that gonna happen? 😉

Well, there's always the small prequel, The Meteors (in my signature) to tide you over. As for a sequel? I was waiting for some proposed additions to the AE that haven't arrived yet, but when they do...we will see.

As a dedicated fan of Gold side I started writing pre Praetorian War arcs (Loyalist and Resistance) that fit into the canon storyline as best as I could make them. But I do have notes on a return to Maven and her team.

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