TerroirNoir's "Cable Channel of AE!" Reviews. Part 2.

[TerroirNoir2]

9 hours ago, Darmian said:

That is in fact a nod to "The Origin of the Remote-Control Man" by @Shockstorm. Arc id 29309.

I'll have a look!

[TerroirNoir2]

Ok, got the message @Darmian. Intrigued now.

 

 

So, I'll swap that out and do Noble Mettle after.  Can you change the listing please @Zhym?

[Darmian]

On 5/9/2023 at 1:25 PM, TerroirNoir2 said:

  ( @Darmian I spotted a typo, but I think that it being a Dev Choice you can't do anything about it, yeah? Something the GM said.)  On to the finale!]

Yep. I know the one you're talking about.  And yep, I can't change that unless I happen to have a Dev Choice GM on at the right time to reinstate it or something.  So, I leave it.

[Zhym]

2 hours ago, TerroirNoir2 said:

Ok, got the message @Darmian. Intrigued now.

 

 

So, I'll swap that out and do Noble Mettle after.  Can you change the listing please @Zhym?

Done!

[TerroirNoir2]

12 minutes ago, Zhym said:

Done!

Thank you!!

[Zhym]

On 5/9/2023 at 12:25 PM, TerroirNoir2 said:

This is not good.  Not good at all!  That thing is monstrous. Literally.  And VERY close to this node.

(Also, Shroud City?  That's cool!)

 

 

The "Spirit of Shroud City" thing is very very cool.  I remember when I played through this the first time I tried to fight it.  That was...not a good idea. 

 

I wonder if a team could successfully take it on, though.

[Darmian]

On 5/9/2023 at 1:25 PM, TerroirNoir2 said:

Next from @Darmian is Spirals: Part One.

Hopefully I'll have Spirals: Part Three done by the time you get around it!

[Ankylosaur]

On 5/9/2023 at 8:25 AM, TerroirNoir2 said:

 

Great pic (and arc). Always loved this arc, and particularly the mothballed robot prototypes warehouse map. Something very memorable about that scene and super-clever use of these mobs that fit so well into a great story.

Edited May 18, 2023 by Ankylosaur

[TerroirNoir2]

Damn it!  I forgot to wear my Runesoldier outfit in that last Praetorian arc!

[TerroirNoir2]

Arc 17 from our first author on "TerroirNoir's Cable Channel of AE" Reviews is  @Ankylosaur's All That Glimmers 2.2: Banished in the Spirit Realm. 

 

Mission 1: The Thinning Veil. Well, look who it is!  My old friend Nadia. We chew the fat and catch up.  Well, I do a lot of listening but she's up to speed with the events of Croatoa and the Hunt and Arachnos. There's magic infesting the entire zone of Astoria and Desdemona/Vanessa has shunted off to the Spirit Realm to investigate stuff. Time to return to Astoria and give a hand.

 

So off I go.

 

Here I am again in Rami Arcade.  And there's Tsoo to deal with.  Those guys are usually up to magic shenanigans, I mean check out Talos where they're known for swiping relics and so on from people. Noble Savage is here somewhere, so team up with him and deal with whatever is going on.

 

AH!  I've run into someone BEFORE I found Noble Savage.

 

 

Okay, I'm still going to Rad Blast you in the face because you're trying to kill me, BUT I get why you're here.  Looks like the Carnies and friends are kidnapping (Ghostnapping? Spiritswiping?) the Tsoo's Ancestor Spirits!  I can see how that would rile them up. It can't be Nadia's friends though.

 

 

So trudging around past tents and so on, getting hit by Tsoo and aiding the Astorians, I finally meet up with Noble Savage.

 

 

And then Engineria and Noble Savage look over the nearby fence and whaddaya know?  That's convenient.  Let's go get him!

 

 

He, like Scorpion earlier, is convinced that the Praetorians are thieves.  Have to get to the bottom of that.

 

 

Apparently spell components have been stolen, and then he mentions waxmen, which have to be the Drudges.

 

 

Ok, back to Nadia to report in and see what the hell is going on.

 

Having dealt with the Crocodile and the Scorpion, Nadia goes all a bit voodoo. Noble Savage has gone to visit the Tsoo for a chat.  Not sure I'd want to be on the other side of that "chat"!  And Nadia is thinking Astoria is more trouble than it's worth.  Come on!  More trouble than a Hamidon infested ruined homeworld?  Exaggerate much?

 

[Mission 1 = Back to setting the scene in Astoria and building up the refugee community of Praetorians and their attempts to fit into their new lives on Primal Earth. And the conflicts with elements within them being unsatisfied as well as conflicts with the locals continue.  I suppose the Drudges are "elements".  I'm still not sure how they got here.]

 

Mission 2: Beyond the Veil. Well, Nadia has the skinny from Noble Savage, though we'd figured out most of it already I feel.  The Tsoo thought the refugees took some sort of magic dust from them, not to mention that ghostnapping thing, as well as some sort of Oranbegan pillar item left in one of their warehouses. Nadia is thinking it's the Harbingers, and as far as Engineria recalls those are one of the cult gangs who were partaking in an End of Days Doom Competition. 

 

Rightfully though the BIG issue is the Ancestor Spirits being taken.  The Drudges never went that far in First Ward/Night Ward.  Nadia thinks the Veil here is a lot thinner though. So the Midnight Squad, the Tsoo and the Carnival are crossing into the Spirit Realm to find out what happened.  And little ol' Engineria is going with them. Hooray!

 

While I'm over there I'm to look for Desdemona too.  She's been gone a while now.  No pressure at all!

 

 

And there's Noble Savage.  For a powerful ally he gets caught flat footed a lot.  Maybe some sort of refresher course or something.  Then again, it's not like he's the most stealthy of people so it is probably easy to ambush him when he's alone.

 

 

Ok, that's you rescued Noble Savage.  And Des is in the sewers.  Sewers?  Wonderful. Just wonderful.

Ok, and we rescue some spirits?  Check.

 

 

There's one!  Let's get him! Her! It! They!  

 

 

And as we head down to the graveyard we find another trapped spirit, one of the Tsoo Ancestor Spirits.  

 

 

Turning around in the graveyard Engineria spots a Mystical Beacon.  And an enemy.  Well now that seems interesting.  The Banished are bringing the Night Ward to Astoria.  Unpleasant.  I suppose that's an understatement.  Time to get jiggy with it!

 

 

Noble Savage and Engineria deal with both and move on.  The plot thickens indeed!

And we have recruiters to deal with. First one here!

 

 

With that one down we move to the second and then go on the hunt for the third, releasing trapped spirits as we go.

So that's the Wizard of Frost and the Prophet of Storm.  Let's see who is the final threat.

OH!  There's a Field Marshal Weldon here too!  And he's a hefty guy powerwise.

 

 

Not sure what his deal is but with the combined might of Noble Savage, Engineria and the allied spirits we take him down. Not fast but we do!

Along the way looking for the final recruiter we run straight into a Drudge called Taskmaster Burroway, and he wasn't fun at all.  But here's the final Recruiter! Anca, Mistress of Sorrow.

 

 

With Anca down we free the last of the trapped spirits so it is time to return to Nadia.

She's intrigued that the Harbingers are now going by the name of the Banished and hiding out in the spirit realm. Nadia thinks they've been sucking in the power/mojo of The Banished Pantheon, explaining the name.  

 

[Mission 2 = Slower paced but filling in a lot of the corners and edges of the plot.  World building galore!]

 

Mission 3: Plots Upon Plots. Ok, Nadia lays it all out. Noble Savage is unhappy.  You know, the sort of unhappy that equates to "you wouldn't like me when I'm angry", yeah.  Desdemona is in the hands of the Banished/Harbingers. And we don't know where. Noble Savage is going full JW and door to dooring it in the spirit realm. Everyone has their assigned place to go to, and Engineria just got handed her location.  Time to find Des.

 

 

There's chests literally everywhere.  Let's crack a few open and see what we can see.

A full set of Circle of Thorns robes.  Ok.  Weird.  More magic stuff I get but these guys need to settle on a theme I think!

 

 

I open about four more of these with the same result.  Then I run into Lorena the Mistress of Magic! Seems Engineria is insufferable!  Well, it's nice to be wated I suppose.  Or not.  Let's go with not.

 

 

This is her chance to show off her new magic, which she does to a tremendous set of OWs from Engineria!  OW OW OW!

And furthermore, OW!

 

 

OW OW OW OW deaded.

Hit the old TP and boot myself into the hospital to be force healed and jacked up on adrenaline and sent back into the building.  Oh lovely.

 

 

Now, where were we?  Ah, about here!  Pop Red insps and hit her with all I have! Not to mention ripping her Endurance out with Kinetics.  That'll slow her a bit. I HOPE.

 

 

JEEZ LOUISE!  Will you just die? I mean what the hell?

 

 

Finally.  After much chugging of inspirations and stealing health from her minion to keep me alive, they're done.

Whew!

 

 

Staggering away from the fight with Lorena, Engineria now has to find several whiteboards.  Hopefully without running into any enemies beforehand, because I'm low on insps and so on.  Ah, found one.

 

 

Three more of these and they reveal a set of workshops for renaming, stealing magical obelisks, controlling demons and testing one of the obelisk thingies in a warehouse owned by the Tsoo.  That anchors in the Tsoo being hella pissed at them/us/whoever.  Ok, the Tsoo ALWAYS seem pissed at someone, but this time they were directing it.

 

Now THIS thing looks important.  So important I'm going to crack it open with radiation blasts and see what happens.  The "scientific" method!

 

 

The thing is filled with the "waters of transformation".  I'll need to talk to Nadia about this, it's all magic nerd stuff to me.

 

Getting back to Nadia she goes through the list.

 

 

[Mission 3 = TOUGH FIGHTS!  And further filling out of the plots (upon plots) as we go along.]

 

Mission 4: Plots Upon Plots. (@Ankylosaur, this mission has the same subtitle as the previous one)

 

Nadia is fired up now.  Talking about landing a big catfish or something. I dunno, I'm not big on gumbo voodoo.  However, she informs Engineria that Noble Savage is intent on finding Desdemona and is heading into the spirit sewers (I didn't know that was a thing and furthermore I'm not particularly happy it IS a thing). So he's off there.  Ah, I luck out.  He wants me to investigate a cave (not a sewer!). So off to a cave nestled up against the War Wall.

 

 

Well worn, huh?  Looks like our enemies are embedded in here. Dammit. Cold cocked to the back of the head!  Not cool!

 

 

She's not a happy lady.  I sense issues. Maybe some therapy or a sort of aromatic bath to relax in?  Or I could just rad blast her until her molecules vibrate?  Last option it seems!

 

 

Oh, there's a lot of obelisks here.  A hell of a lot of them.  Magic stones ahoy!

 

 

A few more caverns filled with these things.  And finally out to some sort of base...with Arachnos! Mu'Lokutchun.  I dunno, did their mothers not love them?  Who gives them these names?  

 

 

Bit ironic saying that to me just as I burn your nervous system out of your floaty body, Mu'Lok-whatsit.  Is that irony?  Whatever.  He's sucking floor now.

 

 

I proceed to examine several devices after taking out the Mu and his Mu'Nions. (HA). Transformation Goo, a terminal for tracking the obelisks (Ok, so who stole them from the CoT then?  Arachnos?  Or what's going on here?) There's mention of a stray woman in an email from Mu'Lokwhatsit to someone.  Apparently this woman is taking to to the Mu magic like a duck to water. And mention of a submarine going to Nerva.

 

Time to get back to Nadia. And she's not pleased to hear about the spidery ones. She knows nothing about Nerva other than the CoT have a big tree there.  Well even I knew that!  But she's going to contact Jaena of the Midnighters to see what's going on. 

 

[Mission 4: Some definite tough fights in here.  Some nice gloaters too, LOL.  The plots are definitely plots upon plots.  The Mu are using the Banished, who may not know they're being used, or maybe they do but don't care. And the Circle of Thorns are being blamed for this, I think?  Anyway, on to the finale!]

 

Mission 5: Stray Plans. Nadia says her heart is thumping because the Loas in this world are the spirits of the masks, the Banished Pantheon masks.  (I wonder if that makes Vanessa DeVore a sort of Loa then?) But the Loas are telling Nadia that Vanessa is free of the mask and free from Desdemona somehow.  So, time to investigate that! Time to enter the spirit realm.

 

 

Of course it had to be sewers, I mean where else would it be with my luck?

It's nasty in here and I figure I'm gonna get ambushed so I call Buddy in.  I do not ask how he got here.  Probably learned this from Hellewise way back I suppose.

 

 

What do you know?  We found Desdemona!  Now Noble Savage can calm down a bit.

 

 

We run into the Ancient of Frost and Buddy gets flung in the air!  Armor will protect him.  And where is that knife coming from?  Who threw that?

 

 

We wrestle her down and then do the same with Chris, Ancient of Sorrow. 

After that my little ragtag band find Noble Savage AND ... dun dun dun! Vanessa DeVore.  Not sure how that works but go with it.

 

 

So, the gang's all here. Desdemona, Noble Savage, Buddy, Vanessa and Engineria.  Time to find this Stray.

HEY!

HEY!

I know you!  You used to work with Hellewise in First Ward doing the shunting thing to Night Ward. How did you end up on the other side? Suckered by Arachnos by the sound of things.

 

 

The Stray is TOUGH, but we have the numbers and she eventually drops.

 

 

Or so we thought!

She's in the wind, gang!  This ain't over yet.

 

 

We all head back to the real world, well excepting Vanessa.  Here she gets to have a sort of "life".  Nadia is tsking all over the place.  She knows who the Stray is too, and tells Engineria that everything is leading back to Nerva.  Nerva's a big CoT/Mu place.  Looks like this definitely isn't over.

It's time to call Pendragon.

 

[Mission 5 = Will the world building never end? Sketching out and around the entire Praetorian resettlement on Primal and their attempts to craft a normal (hahaha, normal) life there.  Just like before the war when both Primal sides were stealing Praetorian tech to boost themselves, it continues here with even more manipulation.  Interesting stuff!]

 

Verdict. @Ankylosaur loves to fill in all the nooks and crannies of the possibilities they're exploring in these post Praetorian War AEs.  I'm just surprised Engineria hasn't been invited to a traditional Praetorian Sunday dinner! But it pays off and we see such a lot going on here, with seemingly incidental characters from before gaining importance in the new world. Good stuff all round.

 

Next up from @Ankylosaur is All That Glimmers 2.3: Incursion in Oranbega.

And next up on the schedule in TerroirNoir's Cable Channel of AE Reviews is @cranebump's Potter's Field.

Edited August 9, 2023 by TerroirNoir2

[TerroirNoir2]

Oh jeez!  Just hit 263 missions played in this long set of review-plays!

[Ankylosaur]

On 5/30/2023 at 8:48 AM, TerroirNoir2 said:

 

 

This was me trying to do what I could to enter the spirit realm. In this case, one of the carnie maps and one of the city maps are identical except for the back - carnie tents vs graveyard - so tried to use that to my advantage to indicate the shift. 

 

(And Noble Savage being captured in the spirit realm again was me just acquiescing to the AE constraints. I have played around with empty maps and empty allies so you can avoid the "they are captured" conceit.  But then you get no nav text and have to manually populate lots of stuff. So yeah - it's that he's not stealthy I guess 🙂 )

Edited May 31, 2023 by Ankylosaur

[Ankylosaur]

On 5/30/2023 at 9:58 AM, TerroirNoir2 said:

Oh jeez!  Just hit 263 missions played in this long set of review-plays!

 

Impressive! Most impressive!

With Glimmers at least, the 2.x stuff set up the "magic potential" for the 3.x stuff, and like Glitters, the x.3 arc is always a big finale to the little trio of arcs. This one, 3.2, has a big reveal of a key player in the plot. The next arc is a big turning point where everything that they have been building up comes swinging into play. 

 

• Who needed all this magic potential to thin the veil?
• Who lured the Drudge here, and really, why?

Excited for you to see it really unfold!

 

On the edge of my seat to experience Engineria's experience of it.

Edited June 2, 2023 by Ankylosaur

[Ankylosaur]

On 5/30/2023 at 8:48 AM, TerroirNoir2 said:

Mission 4: Plots Upon Plots. (@Ankylosaur, this mission has the same subtitle as the previous one)

 

Hmmm - perhaps I was not feeling inspired? Maybe it will become Plots upon Plots upon Plots... 

 

And M5 would clearly be Stray Plots.

 

Edited June 5, 2023 by Ankylosaur

[Ankylosaur]

On 5/30/2023 at 8:48 AM, TerroirNoir2 said:

 

 

 

So, the gang's all here. Desdemona, Noble Savage, Buddy, Vanessa and Engineria.  Time to find this Stray.

HEY!

HEY!

I know you!  You used to work with Hellewise in First Ward doing the shunting thing to Night Ward. How did you end up on the other side? Suckered by Arachnos by the sound of things.

 

 

The Stray is TOUGH, but we have the numbers and she eventually drops.

 

 

Or so we thought!

She's in the wind, gang!  This ain't over yet.

 

 

We all head back to the real world, well excepting Vanessa.  Here she gets to have a sort of "life".  Nadia is tsking all over the place.  She knows who the Stray is too, and tells Engineria that everything is leading back to Nerva.  Nerva's a big CoT/Mu place.  Looks like this definitely isn't over.

It's time to call Pendragon.

 

[Mission 5 = Will the world building never end? Sketching out and around the entire Praetorian resettlement on Primal and their attempts to craft a normal (hahaha, normal) life there.  Just like before the war when both Primal sides were stealing Praetorian tech to boost themselves, it continues here with even more manipulation.  Interesting stuff!]

 

Verdict. @Ankylosaur loves to fill in all the nooks and crannies of the possibilities they're exploring in these post Praetorian War AEs.  I'm just surprised Engineria hasn't been invited to a traditional Praetorian Sunday dinner! But it pays off and we see such a lot going on here, with seemingly incidental characters from before gaining importance in the new world. Good stuff all round.

 

Next up from @Ankylosaur is All That Glimmers 3.3: Incursion in Primeva.

 

 

 

So great to see Enigineria's journey here. Great pics and storytelling as always - poor thing stuck in this magic plot when its really outside her area of expertise but she's a trooper!

 

Some thoughts...

• The Stray - I needed someone to fill the role she does, and when I thought of her - well it all fit together so well! She knows the Night Ward and the Drudge and magic and seems like the type who would put what she knows to use to gain an advantage for herself in a new world. Definitely not the last you'll see of Ksenia. Was fun to try to capture her personality here.
• Desdemona / Vanessa - There is a version of Vanessa in AE that does not have the mask, so managed to work her in here and get her free of it - even though she's just a disincorporated mental essence trapped in the Spirit Realm (or something). Having Vanessa split from Desdemona was half to make the story telling easier so I didn't have to identify which of the two voices was speaking when you encounter her/them. But as you might expect, she plays a role in the All That Glints story that focuses on the Seers in Prime Earth. 
• The Spirit Realm maps - both the office and sewer Astoria maps served as a great way to represent the spirit realm in Astoria. If memory serves, and not that anyone would ever notice, but I think I managed to find the equivalent or very close non-Mot office and non-red sewer for the maps in 2.x where you entered the Astoria versions, but don't hold me to that. I know I looked for them at least. 🙂

And the New Praetorians will definitely have a little traditional Praetorian feast after this is all over and Engineria is top of the guest list.

 

[TerroirNoir2]

Arc 17 from our second author on "TerroirNoir's Cable Channel of AE" Reviews is @cranebump's Potter's Field.

 

Mission 1: Perdition Catch My Soul. So Engineria meets with one Henri Dumont.  Suited guy, seems a bit stiff but has a job for her.  Let's hear what his spiel is. And he apparently spends a while rambling about love and so on, which obviously is nice but doesn't buy me Krispies for my morning cereal, so get to the point already!

Which he does.  Kinda.

 

Oh hang on, he mentioned a bomb.  I should have been paying more attention I suppose.  No, all good, it was a dud.  Except it wasn't.  Say that again, Dumont? So he lost his job because he hired a dead guy (wait, what would a dead guy spend money on anyway?) to make a bomb. Ah capitalism at it's best.  Blame the Circle of Thorns for blowing up Potter's Field, then Cage Consortium offers to "clean up", taking all the bauxite under the ground and voila, profit. 

 

Wait.  This idiot hired Tarixus? Oh boy. And the bomb only affects the spirit world and you set it off in a GRAVEYARD.  Oy.  You don't need me, Dumont, you need therapy. But now those enemies want Dumont to get payback, and he's hired me to...I dunno why I get up in the morning some days.

 

 

So, let's find Nomaris then.  How hard could it be in an area still on fire from the bomb?  Why not hard at all!

 

 

Although he IS surrounded by Tormentors and suchlike, so let's take it nice and easy.

Ok, the nice and easy approach is definitely NOT working.

Nope.

 

 

Ok, Round 2 went a bit better.  Hello Nomaris, what's the skinny then?

 

 

Yes yes, handshakes and back clapping later, what's going on?

 

 

Derlyn Clame, huh?  Well, I'll take to the air and scout around this place, see what I can see.

Found him! Her!  Whatever. A living soul?  Feast?  Oh that doesn't sound good at all.

 

 

Power?  Maybe, but I definitely have debuffs from Radiation and you are SLOOOW from Kinetics!  BOOM!

 

 

And he's dead.  Again.  I think.  I may have to ask Dumont about that.  Or not, since the answer might take a week.

 

 

So, back to see Henri and let him fill me in on all the stuff I probably should have paid attention to the first time around.

 

So Henri waxes lyrical, mind you he could be full Mr. Miyagi here and waxing on and waxing off for all the sense he's making.  Seems Nomaris wasn't close to capturing Tarixus back in the day. Old Spooky T saw him coming and prepared. Though there's a certain unknown artifact involved that is now missing.  (Bet I know who has to find that!) 

 

[Mission 1 = DECEPTIVE.  Seriously dangerous set of NPCs in this, especially when they act together.  The main villain himself wasn't nearly as tough, well he WAS, but not in a phalanx kind of way.  On we go!]

 

Mission 2: The Dangers I Had Passed. And didn't I tell you?  There's an artifact that has intrigued Dumont. Oh.  Looks like he's checking that out himself.  So what am I supposed to do?  Calpurnia List?  Does she?  Oh, she's not a boat, she's a person who worked for Crey. And she told Dumont of a Psychometric Scanner that can be used to further his quest.  So I have to find this thing.  Right. Right. 

 

 

And that list is mainly THIS.  I mean I should have brought a basket or something.

 

 

Bots. FinnCo Security.  FinnCo.  Why is that familiar?

 

 

Ah Jeez!  It's Whippy!  He's going to be really unhappy with me later.  On we go though, a job's a job. (LOL, Private Darmian!)

 

 

Sorry, Whip. Best you stay unconscious for the rest of this.  At least this way you're out of harm's way for a while.

 

 

Ok, who are you then?  Day off?  Oh, I'd love a day off.  Being a mid level super though, you don't get days off. 

 

 

Yeah, well I'm watching you, Mister.  So there.

 

 

More of FinnCo's bots to deal with, and then I find a safe.  And of course it's a decoy.  Cue more bots trying to fling stuff at me and fry me alive.  That takes a few minutes of time and then I wander over to what should be the real safe.  I'm hoping it's the real safe.

 

And finally there's this floaty thing. Let's have a look then.

 

 

So only a hired hero to defeat and then I'm outta here and back to Dumont for a debrief.

You. Have. Got. To. Be. Kidding. Me.

WTH.

JEEZ LOUISE.

That's me.  And Buddy. And WTH.  (@cranebump you evil man! Even the bio is right!  Single typo there though!)

 

 

Bad luck for ME?  This entire day has been weird, Missy!  The ENTIRE DAY.

 

 

You know, Engineria and Buddy make a pretty good team.  I'm just not usually on the OTHER side of that equation.  OW.  I'm gonna need therapy after this.  Lots of it.

 

 

(Another pic here, because you know, how often do I end up in this position?  Hmm, those doppelgangers in @Darmian's arcs maybe, but this feels different!)

 

 

Ok, TP out and come back in, and THIS time, I'm bringing MY buddy with me.  Oh yeah, two can play at that game!

Or four.  Whatever.  Shut up.

 

Right.  Round 2, seconds NOT out. Let's do this!

 

 

And the fight continues!

 

 

But Engineria 2, or however she is classing herself, is tough (Is she tougher than actual Engineria?  That's ME by the way.  I dunno.)

Buddy has seen off his doppelganger and is steaming in like a train towards her.  Unfortunately for my best Bud, he's already injured!

 

 

So she takes him down while I'm blasting her.  TP to safety my friend!  I'll see you on the flip!

 

 

JEEZ LOUISE. Caught by a stun and reeling, she just rad blasts the bejeezus out of me!  WHOAH!

 

 

Looks like I'll be waking up beside Buddy in the hospital's TP ward.  Ow ow ow.  I'll let him sit this one out, I'm riled up now.  Very much so. Heck with it, I ain't going to the hospital, I tap Return to Battle and rez right there.  Told you I was riled!

 

 

Take that, Missy!  Oh, nearly!  Next shot for the win!

 

 

HEY!  That's MY LINE!  I was totally gonna say that!

 

 

And I'm down!  I mean SHE'S down.  And I limp and stagger away, trailing smoke from my armor as I do.  Dumont is gonna get a piece of my mind when I find that daydreaming weasel of a man.

 

 

Oh HE'S happy.  We have all the stuff he needs and Calpurnia List can build the maguffin.  OW OW OW. Except she can only supervise because she's blind?  I...what now? 

 

 

[Mission 2 = @cranebump you are an evil madman.  I loved that though.  LOL.  Well played. Well played.  One question here, she seemed to be using my powerset but is she more powerful than me or what?  Because she hit like a truck sometimes.  Also, the multiple Buddies, the Buddy Squad, nasty.  Loved it.]

 

Mission 3: Smoke Made of the Fume of Sighs. Dumont is CHIPPER now. Chipper.  Well hooray for Mr. Chipper.  Ok, out with it, what madness awaits me after the last whoozit of a mission?  I mean c'mon. He should have mentioned...he should have mentioned that Tarixus had blinded and entire...Oh, you weasel. I mean at least Westin Phipps is consistently a douche, this guy.  Ah, carry on. So I need to perform some scans.  Under the radar.  Is that it? Scans?  Well, I'm holding you to that.

 

Let's go.

 

 

Caves.  Ok, not those crazy railroad mining caves, so that's good.

But there's CoT all over the place in here.  And they do not like me.  Ow.  Spiky things!

Wait, those seem to be from this Tormentor dude.  Oh, these guys.  Great.

 

 

Ok, deal with them and get to scanning some old bones.

 

 

Dumont sends me to the BEST places.  I must write a YELP review or something.

 

 

Hmm, lots of "friends".  And not just CoT, there's some Banished Pantheon dudes over there in the corner.  And the by now regulation Tormentors.  Well, let's introduce ourselves.  Keeping Buddy's Speed dial TP at the ready!

 

 

Ok, that went better than I expected!  Groups stayed separate so I could pick them off one by one.  Now, a final set of bones to scan and let's get the hell out of this place.

 

 

And done.  Back to see Henri Dumont. 

See it turns out Tarixus' daughter is buried in Potter's Field and that's his anchor I suppose.  Dumont isn't happy about that.  He's complaining that it humanizes Tarixus.  Me?  I do not care what Dumont thinks right now.  He does mention putting him out of his misery.  (I'll put YOU out of MY misery if you're not careful!)

 

[Mission 3 = Good break point for an excellent arc so far.  Gives you a chance to "catch your breath" and sort through clues and so on.  On to the next one!]

 

Mission 4: It Pricks Like Thorn. So back with Dumont.  He's sure as jiminy taking his time (I'm never getting paid for this job) and proceeds to "gather his resources" as he calls it/them/whatever.  And I'm still her kicking my heels.  I mean after that surprise with the other me, who knows what I'll find when Dumont finally gives me the call.  But he does eventually.

 

So we (he means he but I'm doing the legwork obviously) need a spell, a big one. A SPELL in fact. And that means using the Circle of Thorns.  As if I didn't have enough trouble.  Ok, spill it. What do you need, Dumont? So, we have a mole on the inside, a person called Prosperia.  So find her, yeah?  Ok then.

 

 

So here I am plodding through a set of tunnels that ISN'T Oranbega for once.  So no danger of falling off ledges and such at least.  On I go. Oh, they're still going to try to kill me though, that's a given.

See?

 

 

But I deal with them and climb the hill.  Now why is there a hill inside an underground tunnel when you could use, I dunno, earth magic to level stuff out?  These are the things that occur to me when I'm sitting in my tiny base making enhancements and cleaning my armor after a long day.

 

 

Well lookee there.  See who I see?  Prosperia.  And she's in trouble.  Seems our mole is not as mole-like as she thought.  Time to effect a rescue.  Or get zapped.  Let's GOOOO!

 

 

Just in time it appears.  So, they have the spell location.  Well, better give it to me too and skedaddle, lady. Your cover is totally blown.

 

 

And there we go.  Legacy Chain though.  Man, I didn't even spot that!  I was so wrapped up in hitting guys in robes I thought it was still the CoT!  So maybe her cover isn't blown, or at least not with the Circle.  

 

 

Well, looks like I'm doing some searching of various cabinets and chests and whatnot, and thank the great whahoozy I have Infiltration on, or I'd be a hot greasy smear from the amount of wizardly dudes in here having a chat about who knows what.  

 

 

And I've got the SPELL! Well, stones.  And...wait, I have to defeat the Legacy Chain douches to get away because they also got the location from Prosperia, and wouldn't you know it, they've arrived to find it in my pocket.  Dunno what kept them getting here before this, maybe some sort of philosophical chat about chains and padlocks or something.  Whatever.  

 

OMG! It's Tellus Ralentisseur! (No, I dunno who he is but I figured it would do his ego some good if I appeared to have heard of him)

 

 

Nope, he's still going to try to get all Chainy on me.  (Oh, that sounded bad.  I should write a memoir.  I mean after all the stuff I've been through it might be fun.  And I could do with the cash.  I could retire, or take that security job with FinnCo I saw advertized....waitaminute.  Did I actually fight my future self?)

 

Oh, got blindsided there by a Legacy Chain ambush. Mustn't daydream about future employment.  Anyways, I scrap my way through them and back out to find Dumont.  Now I have the thing he needs let's see what his master plan is.

 

 

[Mission 4 = I'm thoroughly enjoying this little arc so far.  And I confess that I'm not cataloguing all the events because due to the nature of the writing it has a lot of mood, and that's very subjective so I'd recommend people to play through and see for themselves.  On to the finale!]

 

Mission 5: Spurred to What it Loathes. So Dumont lays out his plan, and he's a flake totally if you ask me.  We're gonna bring the ghost mage to us by threatening his daughter.  Oh what have I got myself involved in? Threatening kids? Ok she's dead but...meh. (Is threatening dead kids worse? Better?) So it's off to the spirit world for this adventure. Use her as bait once we have her and then banish him, all so Dumont can have his Bauxite, which presumably he'll use to make aluminum or something.  Whatever. Let's go then.

 

 

Easy enough.  Yeah, I've been hearing that a LOT lately.  

 

So I meet up with Prosperia, who promptly says she's not hanging around and with a loud "TAH!" just wanders off.  Not as dramatic as she wanted perhaps, but the end result is the same, I'm on my own dealing with this crock of Dumont's lunacy.

 

And it doesn't take more than a moment for some guys in ghostly dusters to start laying down the law to me.  I ramp up the old rads and set to.  

 

 

And I make my way down into the center of this place and find some sort of obelisk thing, but ah!  Sleepy time!  Frantically trying to shake myself awake here because I stupidly haven't loaded up on Break Frees.

 

 

So I snap out of the Sandman's grip and take him out before activating the obelisk, and then people are revealed to me through whatever spirit veil covers this place.

 

 

Yeah, seems I may have to challenge that "protection".  Ok, time to do this thing and earn my money.  I should ask for a bigger fee.

Got lucky there, caught them on the back foot and a few well aimed Rad Blasts took them out.  Stealing their power and speed helped a lot too.  Have to say Kinetics has a lot going for it if you manage it well.

 

Now, time to get John Waggoner, or whatever he's calling himself.

There you are!  Ok, Round 2, seconds out.  (Well, I haven't summoned Buddy so that's a moot point, seconds not in yet I suppose.)

 

 

Ok, what do YOU have to say for yourself?  (I gotta tell you, I wasn't paying complete attention to Dumont's explanations of things because he sure does ramble, so I've been relying on who I've been meeting along the way)

 

 

Now I really should have guessed this would happen.  Ok, it WAS the plan, but I thought there would have been a bit more, you know, planning put into it by Dumont.  I know I know, I'm a fool. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me...you get the idea.

 

 

Okay then. That went south fast.  I suppose that I got complacent, despite all my misgivings.  Anyway, port myself out and time to call Buddy.  Yeah, that's what I'm gonna do.

 

 

Right then, let's try that again, shall we?  And I do mean WE this time!  Buddy?  Get over here.

 

 

We fight our way through an ambush before getting back to Tarixus. And that goes well with Buddy alongside me!

 

 

And there he is again!  Ok, let's take him out Buddy!

 

 

And it is OVER.  Time to get out and find that weasel Dumont.  

What?  THAT'S all the thanks I get for all of this?

 

 

 

[Mission 5 = Finally we reach the conclusion of Dumont's crazed plan to mine Bauxite out of the Potter's Field graveyard. Tarixus is dealt with and Dumont is having conniptions about things.  Great little finale. ]

 

Verdict. @cranebump once again delivers the goods in style in a noirish feel. If it seems that Engineria is having difficulty with Dumont, or dissing things as she goes along, that's all supposed to be in character POV and I've skimmed a lot so as not to spoil any reveals or knowledge gained over play. Thoroughly recommend a play through of this.  And of course getting my OWN cameo was a lovely thing to see. Thanks very much for that!

 

Next up from @cranebump is Noble Mettle Part One: The Colossus of Rose.

And next up on the schedule in TerroirNoir's Cable Channel of AE Reviews is @Darmian's Spirals: Part One.

 

Edited August 23, 2023 by TerroirNoir2

[cranebump]

Hehehehe. I had the idea, but @Darmian did the legwork getting the data. I’ll have to fix the typo though. AFAIK she has the same powers.

Edited June 7, 2023 by cranebump

[TerroirNoir2]

When I finally complete all this and take a well deserved break and you know, just play the game for a bit, all this madness will be here as a record of...of the madness.

 

 

[cranebump]

I wanted to make Engineria the next head of the Wards, but she’s got too many responsibilities already.:-)

[TerroirNoir2]

12 minutes ago, cranebump said:

I wanted to make Engineria the next head of the Wards, but she’s got too many responsibilities already.:-)

You can have her when I retire her from this 🙂

[TerroirNoir2]

I saw a @Zhym mentioned in there as well!  

[Zhym]

Yay!  We finally got that hot Engineria-on-Engineria action we've been waiting for!

 

...I mean the battle, people.  Jeez.  Where are your minds?

 

Anyway—that did rather add something to the playthrough, I think.

 

Also, that's Corporal Zhym to you. :)

 

Edited June 7, 2023 by Zhym

[Darmian]

On 6/7/2023 at 3:46 PM, Zhym said:

We finally got that hot Engineria-on-Engineria action we've been waiting for!

"We"?

 

 

[Zhym]

On 6/10/2023 at 3:04 PM, Darmian said:

"We"?

Oh, sure, try to deny it.  But I've seen how many clones and duplicates you've put in your AE plots. ;)

[TerroirNoir2]

Slight delay in posting.  Work got hectic. Someone left so gaps to be filled until a new hire is "on boarded".