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

[Zhym]

Woo hoo!  Welcome back, @TerroirNoir2!

 

Also, @cranebump: Nixon, Agnew, and Haldeman?  ISWYDT...

Edited July 29 by Zhym

[TerroirNoir2]

1 hour ago, Zhym said:

Woo hoo!  Welcome back, @TerroirNoir2!

My timetable is STILL awful, but I'm trying!  I promised to finish this and I'm aiming to do exactly that!

[cranebump]

2 hours ago, TerroirNoir2 said:

My timetable is STILL awful, but I'm trying!  I promised to finish this and I'm aiming to do exactly that!

Welcome back! And as far as finishing stuff, not to worry from my part—I have nothing in production. (Though I evidently have the usual errors).:-)

[TerroirNoir2]

Arc 20 from our third author on "TerroirNoir's Cable Channel of AE" Reviews is @Darmian's I Sing of Arms and the Man.

 

Taking a brief break to research things in the Midnighter Club I answered a call to visit Cimerora and meet with Imperious.  Imposing Imperious.  Imperial Imperious. Impactful Imperious.  Talking to him is...wait, no.  I didn't talk to him, I got talked AT.  A lot.  And it was kinda Shakespeare in the Park. So anyway, bad things are happening.  I THINK. He's prepared for war and wishes to see the usurper driven from his lands.  Ok, got that.  Even this little super has heard of Romulus. But now he's telling me my help was foretold.  ACK.  I shy away from predestination malarkey. 

Wait.

I THINK he's asking me to retrieve his stolen property.  His gladiators.  Who are slaves.  His property. Stolen by the forces of Romulus.  His "property."

This is a tricky one.  I know we're engaged in helping this guy overthrow Romulus but does anyone do background checks on our allies?  Oh it's a different time!  That's fine then!  

Right.

But I'm not happy about this AT ALL.  And I'll be having words with the Midnighters or whoever is in charge there.  Dream Doctor maybe?  Or Montague Whatsiface.

Because if I can't retrieve them I'm not to let them live.

Sheesh.

 

Mission 1: Munera. So I head in to a series of caverns where the Traitors were last seen dragging the gladiators with them.  Imperious's slave(!) Tullio is waiting for me. He's a bit pompous but leads me through the caverns.

 

 

Along the way we find barrels and amphorae containing supplies and marked with the sign of the Ludus (I checked this, gladiator school!), so we're on the right track.

Then we find some bones with scraps of cloth. Scraps of cloth that are also from the gladiator school.  Ok, some nasty people ahead.

There's someone else hunting these gladiators too, a Publius Cato, whoever he was originally he's now one of Romulus's stooges.

 

I take down several of the traitors along the way before finally finding Publius Cato.

 

 

SITUATIONAL AWARENESS ENGINEERIA!

 

Sigh, I walked right into that one.  They were just around the corner to the left and did I check?  Nope.

 

 

But we...I deal with them.  Tullio is strolling around like he's on a Sunday School picnic!

Now for Publius Cato!

BOOM!

Tagged ya!

 

 

And oddly this Cato gets taken down fast.  That bothers me.  Anyway, no sign of gladiators but we found a stone carved by someone named Crixus in what Tullio says is some sort of Ludus battle sign.  So the gladiators are SOMEWHERE.  (Still free of Imperious then!)

Time to go back and talk to him.

 

Imperious knows of someone who can read these signs and sends Tullio off to get him and not to take no for an answer.

And now I am to rest.

 

[Mission 1 = Ok, definitely not the hardest mission @Darmian has thrown at us but also possibly one of the trickiest morally.  Ok, it's not Phipps but then what is?  Let's see what comes next.]

 

Mission 2: Until Turf is Cast Upon the Bones.  So Imperious introduces me to Gallus, a rather old man who once was a gladiator but won his freedom and was given a wooden sword.  Right right.  Uh huh. WOODEN sword.  Hmm.  Go on. Gallus can read the battle sign.  There's a series of caves along the coast and Crixus has gathered his brethren there.  Or as Imperious calls them, "property".  Sigh.  Really gonna have to have words with the Midnighters.  Even Recluse frowns on actual slavery.  Yeah yeah, I saw the History Channel.  Not chattel, it's tooootally different.  Yeah.  Still treating people as things and that's wrong in my book.

 

(Oh, I should write a book!  "Engineeria: A Life of Confusion")

 

Anyway, it's all going soooo well already that Imperious is planning to buy MORE slaves/gladiators.  Jeez Louise.  You weren't talking about this when we stormed the castle against Romulus.  Oh no, that was all "Liberation!  Freedom!  Down with the evildoer!"  This lesser of two evils thing is tricky to navigate.

 

So Gallus says Crixus will have left a marker allowing others of the brethren to locate him.  Find that and you find Crixus.  Plus Gallus doesn't seem to like Imperious much even though he's quiet about it.  I see you, old man.  I see you.

 

Well that was easy.  Sometimes you get lucky.

 

 

Again with the situational awareness!  So much for lucky!

 

 

Having dealt with this guy I look closer at the stone.  Deciphered it reads "Meet me in the back".  Simple and to the point.  Then again who writes long messages on stone?  

 

Then I run straight into Scipio.  And he has my number.  Luckily for him I think, going by what he just said!  And I have seen some charred bones along the tunnel floors.

 

 

I'm attracting these gladiator dudes like flies!  Don't know what that says about me!  OH!  I'm gonna get my head caved in with that ax! And yes, I have an arrow lodged in my back armor plate.

 

 

HOWEVER...you guys don't get much radiation in this century so it's highly unlikely you have any protection against it.  So, alley-oop!

 

 

And there we go.

 

Heya, Crixus.  In the back I see.

And you are really not fighting fair here!  Pulling the heart strings!  But if I step back you'll cut me down!  ACK.

 

 

And he's got company!  More brethren are on the way.

I'm having trouble holding these sword-wielding madmen off so I stick on Repulsion and hope for the best.  Seems to work.

 

 

And I've captured Crixus!  He asks only that his brothers are freed from Romulus's evil.  That seems and entirely reasonable request to me.

So back to Imperious.

 

Imperious agrees!  He wouldn't wish that on his worst enemy never mind a slave.  I'm not pointing out that Romulus IS his worst enemy though.  Don't confuse the locals as it may offend.

Time to get some rest and then off to rescue the last of the Ludus.

 

[Mission 2 = Nice little plot explainer here.  Fast moving too.  And those gladiators are damn dangerous!  Fortunately I was not running this at 4/8!]

 

Mission 3: Ave Imperator, morituri te salutant.  So Crixus has told us that Agrippa Cato is the culprit behind kidnapping the gladiators. Imperious is still calling it theft though (grrr). Imperious tells Crixus to accompany me so that he might gain greater glory than he ever would in the Arena.  I mean Crixus is coming but I don't think that's HIS reason.

 

So off we go.  Crixus is eager and we arrive at the temple and pretty soon we are rescuing Crixus's gladiators.  So far so good.

 

 

Although Romulus and his minions, in this instance the aforementioned Agrippa Cato and his goons, are heavily in cahoots with the 5th Column and their otherworldly allies,  Which all told is not great for the kidnapped gladiators.  I'm not saying stolen!  They're not property, Imperious!  Bah!

 

 

But we make our way through the temple, rescuing as we go, and outside where we find that there's a CYCLOPS working for the enemy!  These things are dangerous!

 

 

But Crixus is battle hardened and with a combination of his sword work and my rad blasts (not to mention siphoning speed, speed boosting Crixus and stealing health from the Cyclops to keep both of us up) we finish him off before facing Agrippa Cato himself. He seems annoyed by having to ally himself with...vampires.

 

 

He's easier to take out than the Cyclops though.  Now we just have to meet Imperious and....GAWD!  GAWD DAMMNIT!  Why couldn't you just be a noble ruler?  Just and fair to all?  Jeez Louise!

I mean really.

 

 

And then he ignores me and tackles Crixus himself!  Crixus has identified me as an enemy too so I can't even help him!  But I refuse to help Imperious.

 

 

I'm leaving.

Imperious, in an imperious way, seems oblivious to how I see things and just rants at me.

 

 

Right.  I need a very sharp word with Montague Thingy in the Midnighter Club and I'm not taking "historical differences" as a legitimate answer.

 

[Mission 3 = Tight little mission that finishes up the arc.  Good stuff with no extraneous material.]

 

Verdict: @Darmian has surprised me here with a shorter arc (but I think if this was stretched to five parts it would have padding) that really pushes at some of our notions of what it means to be heroic in different times as opposed to the present. You could rush through this and just hack and slash but when you don't and have a think about it, it's different.  Like I said earlier, it's not Westin Phipps but it definitely could be his Cimeroran ancestor!

 

Next up from @Darmian is Three Sisters.

And next up on the schedule in TerroirNoir's Cable Channel of AE Reviews is @Ankylosaur's All That Glimmers 3.3: Gods in the Planes.

 

Edited Monday at 09:20 AM by TerroirNoir2

[Darmian]

16 minutes ago, TerroirNoir2 said:

Ok, definitely not the hardest mission @Darmian has thrown at us but also possibly one of the trickiest morally.  Ok, it's not Phipps but then what is? 

I was attempting to write a Cimeroran arc as though the Cimerorans were real Romans, inasmuch as we know how their society worked. And no, it wasn't nice.

[TerroirNoir2]

7 hours ago, Darmian said:

I was attempting to write a Cimeroran arc as though the Cimerorans were real Romans, inasmuch as we know how their society worked. And no, it wasn't nice.

Ok, interesting!  I've seen Rome (the TV show) and that's grim.  And to be honest much as I love Cimerora, we don't interact much with the people.

[TerroirNoir2]

Hmm, I've been getting "Sorry, an unknown server error occurred when uploading this file. (Error code: - 200)" when attempting to upload a screenshot.  Otherwise I'd be on to the next arc.  Anyone have any ideas.

[Darmian]

15 minutes ago, TerroirNoir2 said:

Hmm, I've been getting "Sorry, an unknown server error occurred when uploading this file. (Error code: - 200)" when attempting to upload a screenshot.  Otherwise I'd be on to the next arc.  Anyone have any ideas.

I just tried adding a pic to this.  Not just you.

[TerroirNoir2]

I'll get more up when this error thing is resolved.

[TerroirNoir2]

On 8/2/2025 at 3:47 PM, TerroirNoir2 said:

I'll get more up when this error thing is resolved.

And the error thing seems to be resolved.

[TerroirNoir2]

Arc 21 from our first author on "TerroirNoir's Cable Channel of AE" Reviews is @Ankylosaur's All That Glimmers 3.3: Gods in the Planes.

 

So after my brief sojourn in the past of Cimerora (grr @Darmian) Engineeria gets a call from Marchand, formerly Provost of Praetoria.  Things down Brickstown way are not rosy.  Well, not exactly Brickstown way but that's where his New Praetorians base is.

 

So anyhoo, I stop in to see him and it turns out that Pendragon and Desdemona are missing.  Not good.  Marchand fills me in.  The Mu (remember them?) under the command of Mu'Drakhan, are intending to summon Hequat.  And that sends a shiver down the spine. Our two pals set off to stop him and are now MIA. With the aid of Hellewise, Jaena and Nadia, Marchand has a plan.  And oh sweet baby back ribs what a plan. 

 

Mission 1: An Aspect of Death. Anyway, I'm currently laden down with tiny voodoo-style dolls (do not ask!) that will link me to the TUNNEL system.  I just have to...recruit...some people along the way.

I say people.

The first is Adamastor.

Yeah.

Which is why I'm currently in what appears to be a ...brain cavity?

 

 

Yep.  Brain cavity.

 

So I place a doll on a focus point and Adamastor is summoned into this place somehow.  Now to free him from his captors.

With the aid of a twinkly ball thing that leads me to him, I find the big lug looking a bit forlorn.

 

So I take out his captor beings(?) and off he shuffles.  Job done.  And then I'm magicked out of this weird place and back to Gerald T. Marchand.

(Ok, I am not sure this goes in my autobiography.  Who the hell would believe it?)

 

Marchand tells me that Nadia has shooed Adamastor off to Primeva in Nerva, and with any luck Mu'Drakhan will take him into the fold, like some sort of Trojan Banished Pantheon Thing^TM. 

Next up?  Oh let's see!

 

[Mission 1 = A classic @Ankylosaur starter mission.  Clear goals, in and out, job done.  Good stuff.  The plot continues.]

 

Mission 2: An Aspect of Life.  [More ASAP]

 

 

 

[Zhym]

On 7/30/2025 at 3:14 PM, TerroirNoir2 said:

Wait.

I THINK he's asking me . . .

I kid you not, when I first read that I thought it was going to end in, ". . . on a date."  Which would have been a very different adventure (but probably involving less slavery).

 

On 8/4/2025 at 3:28 PM, TerroirNoir2 said:

So I place a doll on a focus point and Adamastor is summoned into this place somehow.  Now to free him from his captors.

With the aid of a twinkly ball thing that leads me to him, I find the big lug looking a bit forlorn.

Look, if you got summoned every hour just to get beaten up, you'd be a little glum too.