TerroirNoir3 Posted October 6 Posted October 6 (edited) Araminta's Adventures. Hello gang! Araminta here. I generally have a quieter life than Engineria, spending time tinkering with the Bots and attempting to power them better is how I spend many an evening. That and reading through a lot of material salvaged from the ruins of Praetoria. Some of which can be converted to AE for a virtual experience! Amazing how that works. But right now it's Halloween and a call just went out for aid. Engineria is off helping out Professor Dafriend in Paragon U on something. No idea what. I'll find out later no doubt. So I got the girls all polished up and decided to see what the trouble in Paragon was. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Revenge of the Undying by @SirArthurIV (@Blazing Pyre on the AE console) Mission 1: Zombie Invasion. Azuria sends out a Code Red for all Paragon heroes to attend! Atlas Park is being overrun by zombies! City Hall was surrounded and broken into. So far authorities are unable to discern what they wanted in there. And a part of me is thinking do they want anything? Or is there some controlling Master Master Mind in charge of all of these undead people and they want something in there? Spoiler @SirArthurIV, The contact is Azuria but she's currently listed as Contact Hologram. I'd best investigate! I don't say it often enough (Shut up, Engineria) but I LOVE my girls. They can really lay waste to a horde of zombies when you need them to! Several more rounds of that sort of thing and me and the girls have made our way to City Hall and forced our way inside. And wouldn't you know it, they DO seem like they have a mission that they're on. They're heading down the stairs to the hero offices of D.A.T.A., G.I.F.T., E.L.I.T.E., S.E.R.A.P.H. and M.A.G.I. And there's a lot of valuable and frankly dangerous stuff down there that you wouldn't want a zombie (or its Master) getting their hands on. So we do the only thing we can do. Lock and load and fire until...well, until nothing is moving. Seems to work. I do have to jolt the girls with Electrical healing every now and then to keep them going but that is to be expected in a mass firefight like that. Deadwalker? Well, the dead bit is definitely correct. It ain't walking anywhere soon though! I follow down the stairwell an lo and behold the throng of undead is gathered around the G.IF.T. doorway. And that room is one of the entrances to the Hero 1 vault! If there's anything in there a zombie should not have...well, I don't have high enough clearance to know what's actually in there but neither do these guys, so I'm going to stop them! Clearing these guys took a while. Had to retreat a few times and regroup! But the bots know their job and do it well so finally I made my way down to the vault door and stepped through, to be attacked by zombies already in there! Which was not conducive to my peace of mind. I don't know, you would think that Halloween would be a time that the undead stay away or take a little vacation in Croatoa or something. I mean, we half expect to see them! Now we are getting somewhere! The Undying King, huh? My first proper lead and/or clue as to what's behind all this. Uttered by a Lich too. Maybe my idea about a Master Mind isn't that far off the mark after all. The next few minutes get a little bit frantic for me as the Lich targets me personally, but my girls take aim and leave that guy's undead hide perforated. You could, if you were weird enough, make a Lich-skin rug out of him now. Although maybe a small one so as not to have holes in it. I'll take this nugget of information back to Azuria and see if she's ever heard of an Undying King. Azuria is going to look into it, as well as organizing an inventory of anything missing from the vault. [Mission 1= Lots of fun! @SirArthurIV advised setting Team size to times 8 to really fill out the space with a zombie horde and it does make a difference. Light intro mission but very enjoyable.] Mission 2: Seeking Knowledge and Wisdom. Azuria finishes up her inventory checking and comes back to me. Undying King? No information on him yet beyond what I've discovered, that he's a necromancer. But the inventory shows a missing tome, the Liber Factotum Exaltatum. The what? Azuria does some more 'splaining. You want to know about angels? It's in that book. How many of them, their organization, how to summon them and so on. Plus lots of spells on repelling the undead. Weird. Why would a necromancer want that? So this Undying King is looking for copies of this book. There are seven. And Azuria knows the Council have a copy so she wants me to go and get it from Abyss Towers. Right, I'm going I'm going. I seem to have attracted attention from the get go. Then again it is VERY hard to sneak around with seven robots clanking along beside you. So I don't really do the stealth thing. Engineria says it's very handy but, you know, the girls are loud. Ok girls, rack it up and get ready! We're going in hot! And that's that corridor cleared of Council. Moving on I wonder does Engineria have more problems because she doesn't have my kind of firepower? Oh she calls Buddy in for help sometimes but I'm not all cozy with the PPD like that and frankly I don't need to be. No matter. On we go. Somewhere here in Abyss Towers is that book and I'm getting it. I mean what are the Council going to do? Report me to Freedom Corps? We move through the Towers hallway by hallway and the Council are pretty insistent on saying I should not be here. I could argue the point but I'm just going to shoot them until they go away. Finally I rock up at a door, still no sign of the book, and ...does that person in the middle of those Council guys have wings? I think they do! So someone here is already using the book! Laura! Door! And the door goes down and we're in! The Council charge us and we get pushed back into the hallway. They really do not want me getting near that winged person! This may take a few minutes to deal with but I'm confident we can handle it. And my confidence was paid off. There's some seriously bruised, shot up and moaning Council members lying nearby. Some are attempting to crawl away. I know that because I can here the bots sporadically shooting at them. So, who are you then? Zagzagel, is it? Well, that's not really an answer to my question but ok, sure. Let's get you out of here. I'll double back and continue my search for the book once you're safely outside. Deal? Good. Come on then! Of course it's not that simple. Somewhere a Council Necromancer is very annoyed! Ok, they haven't noticed I don't HAVE the book...unless Zagzagel IS the book? Could that be...nah. But we have company! Lock and load ladies! Oh, you're already firing. Ok, then keep doing that! So shortly after that, stepping around plenty of bodies, we, that's the angel person and the rest of us, make our way down to the main entrance. Getting her outside that matrix she spoke of. I suppose it's some sort of magic force field. What? I don't know from angelic stuff! And she drops the hammer with her wisdom. That. Does. Not. Sound. Good. Imagine Good. See that sign waaaay over there in the distance? Yeah. That's where Good is. We ain't there anymore. Now with Zagzagel on her way I turn us around and head back into Abyss Towers to find the thing I came here for in the first place. Considering the amount of misery and mayhem we've already caused the Council it doesn't take that long this time to find where the book is being kept. There we go. Now we retreat all the way back to City Hall to see Azuria and see if she has found anything to add to what I now know about the Undying King. Azuria informs me that Zagzagel is the patron of wisdom and knowledge. Perhaps they will aid further in gratitude for their rescue. I hope so, they were quite useful in there against the Council. So, Azuria, what now? [Mission 2 = ROFL. Having forgot to take my difficulty off times 8 from the first mission, this map was FILLED with Council, leading to fight after fight with Galaxies and Darkwolves and guys with grenades. I had far too many combat pics to choose from! And the mass ambush after the rescue of Zagzagel was a bit epic! Good stuff there.] Mission 3: A Tangled Web of Death. Azuria has done some bargaining with Zagzagel (I don't want to know!) and the angel (is she really one?) has given us the location of two more copies of the Liber Factotum Exaltatum. One of these is in the Rogue Isles. Arachnos has it! Typical. I wonder if it's the Mu or some of Ghost Widow's people? Whatever. I've been authorized to assault the base and retrieve it before the "Servants of the One" get their mitts on it. Oh, seems Arachnos may not know its value and it is simply stored in a general arcane depositary. That's good. Mu play havoc with my Endurance levels. So me and the girls get to the Rogue Isles and head for the depositary. On entering we find, well, it's going to be fun in there. Not. A minute or two to load some new bot protocols, get Floaty Keri online to heal and protect us, and we're off. Ah. They're still using their novices. Ok, girls, target the necromancer and the zombies will fall. Let's go! Well, that plan seems to hold up under field testing at least! Now to move further into the depositary and find this book. Along the way I run into a Student of Bone. A former Skull who abandoned his gang to follow the Undying King. Well, the Skulls have been a little off since their leaders were imprisoned a while back so joining another thing that promises power isn't totally weird I suppose. Up ahead I meet a Lady of Shades who used to be a Death Doll. Seems this Undying King is picking the Skulls clean of followers! Hmm, what's in here? Some random mystical stuff but no Liber. On we go. I find a few more of those Arachnos mystical safes along the way, all the same. Mystical junk - well, to me - but no Liber Factotum Exaltatum. And who might you be? A Wight Lord? What's a Wight Lord? I thought Wights were some sort of Undead...or are you a Necromancer who controls Wights? I don't have time to think about this because a fight starts. And as you can see, the girls are adept at knowing what their job is! Take him down! Oh my but he's a gloater. Even when he's been beaten he's lying there gloating at me. Well, ok then. You lie there and gloat and I (that's the person who beat you by the way) will carry on my search. Spoiler Just a couple more of these safes to check and...blast it. Nothing in this entire base. Looks like the Servants of the One got what they wanted and made their escape. I reckon these guys I met were actually the clean up crew rather than the initial thieves. Back to Azuria then. Time to get a flight home to Paragon City. Once I arrive she swears (Oh! Not like you, Azuria!) and tells me to get over to the Midnighters pronto because that is where the other copy Zagzagel told us about is located. You'd think the Midnight Club would have its own protection though! [Mission 3 = More fun sweeping through corridors blasting zombies. Very good seasonal feel to this entire arc so far. Liking the little bits of Lore dumped in with the defecting Skulls and so on. On to the next mission!] Mission 4: The Lich, in the parlor, with necromancy. Of course there's MORE bad news. Azuria can't make contact with the Midnighters, so more than likely they're already under attack. Time to rescue them and if possible get that book. Up, up and AWAAAY! Or you know, just go there normally. Oh, I've not been in this part of the Midnighter Club before! Seems that certain parts are off limits to "regular" members. This is very nice. I bet there's a wine cellar and everything! Ok, wine cellar later but for now we find the Midnighters and do some derring do. Whatever that is. It sounds heroic. Ah, there's one. Prof. Plum? Why does that sound familiar? Well, me and the girls rescue him and he runs off asking if there's going to be a cover up. Of what? What the hell are you talking about? No idea. Ok, on we go. Then we rescue a Mrs. White, who runs off too! Phoned your costume in? What? Hang on. Plum and White. Are you guys dressed like people from Clue? You are, aren't you?! Sheesh. Although she does leave through a secret door that might have taken me a bit to find. Useful. We follow. Carefully. Although to be honest rather loudly. I think I've said it before but it's really hard to be stealthy when you're a Mastermind. Ms. Scarlett now. Ok, this is getting a bit weird, even for Midnighters. In your other dress? I...ok then. After that we find a Mr. Green. And I hope his wife loves him very much or he'll be on the couch tonight. Then Col. Mustard. Finally we end up at a modern security door. And in we go! Peahen? Peahen. Sure, why not? Peahen. Yeah, try it on for size, take it for a spin around the block. What other weird stuff is going on here anyway? And finally we see, no not another member of Clue...although who could be left? The victim? No, the Lady of Grief. She's one of those former Death Dolls advanced further along on her worship of the Undying King. Of course mass robotic gunfire leaves her in much the same state as everyone else I've met along the way so far. Well, apart from the Clue Gang because, you know, they weren't trying to kill me! But I do finally get an answer to what the hell was going on here tonight. Spoiler A thing of fun, gone awry. But now we may have a lead. Back to you, Azuria. [Mission 4 = ROFL. Ok, this one caught me off guard. Liked the entire premise of it. Good choice of map too for an alternate section of the Midnighter Club. On to the finale!] Mission 5: All are One. One is All. Ok, there's seven books. We have one of them and they have all the others. And rather than wait for them to come and take it, Azuria has gotten a method of using ours to track theirs. So I can take the fight to them. Because if I don't then that's bad. So Azuria performs the ritual of sending me into danger (no, it's not actually called that) and throws a Vaya Con Dios after me as I leave. Thanks, might need it. And I think I will. WE descend into grim tunnels and take out Students of Bone and their minions along the way. The folks in here are definitely more powerful than the ones I've met up until now. Definitely. An Ancient, huh? Oh, what's that altar there? I'll get to that in a minute. Girls, kill that thing. And they kill it good. It's so killed. Although with all the necromancers around here, is it going to stay dead? You have to wonder. So this altar has a book on it. One of the Libers! Ok, now we're getting somewhere! That's two for me and five for them. Let's increase that count on my mini library. Go me! Another one! Excellent. Ok, I had to de-alive a few more of those Ancient Servants to get to it but that's a fair exchange, I think. Yeah. Fair. And of course I had to go and get overconfident, didn't I? Yes I did. I am beginning to see why Engineria used to stagger into our old apartment reeking of sewer and smoking from damaged armor. Oh well. I do have an advantage though. While I might be Held, the girls are not. So bye bye Ancient Servant! And I trawl through the tunnels and finally, finally I have all of the Libers. Of course I then climb some stairs and straight into a waiting ambush (or I was just very unlucky) by the Undying King himself! Fire! All guns on that guy! Like now! We force him down the stairs and back through a doorway, hitting him all the time. He is tough! And like many of his minions he likes to gloat. Even when I'm riddling him with holes! Bow? Me? Nah, you have the wrong girl to be asking that of! And he goes down! Araminta for the win! (Great costume on that guy, @SirArthurIV) Oh, you have got to be kidding me! Didn't I just say this? Ok, not about the Undying King in particular, but the whole thing about people staying dead when there's damn necromancers everywhere? Yeah, I totally did say it. The Eternal King. Ok, he got carried away with himself calling himself "Eternal". He too went down under a hail of robotic gunfire. My girls are the best girls. And you, sir, are looking like an old shower curtain right now! And we are done! He is dead. I spend a few minutes checking for another king to rise to challenge me, but no sign. Plus I have all the books. It's time to return to City Hall and see Azuria. How do I get out of this place? Right back to the entrance I came in it seems. So we do that, and have some target practice with a few Deadwalkers along the way. Back with Azuria. [Mission 5 = Great fun. Perfect map for this sort of thing and the appearance of the Eternal King worked very well.] Verdict. An excellent Halloween arc. Go and play this if you want your fix of necromancers and zombies and a great romp. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Signing off of now. Araminta Levin's Adventures are not so regular as her friend Engineria's. Edited October 7 by TerroirNoir3 2 2 Regards from Engineria and Araminta!
SirArthurIV Posted October 6 Posted October 6 (edited) Heck yeah! Excited to see what this looks like from the perspective of someone who hasn't been playing it 50 times over in the building process. EDIT: lol, by taking angel zaggy to the entrance before getting the book from the safe you were able to leave without fighting a custom boss. I think that one is on me, or I should have just made the book a boss encounter in the same room. Edited October 7 by SirArthurIV 1 1
TerroirNoir3 Posted October 7 Posted October 7 15 hours ago, SirArthurIV said: Heck yeah! Excited to see what this looks like from the perspective of someone who hasn't been playing it 50 times over in the building process. EDIT: lol, by taking angel zaggy to the entrance before getting the book from the safe you were able to leave without fighting a custom boss. I think that one is on me, or I should have just made the book a boss encounter in the same room. OR..Sometimes Araminta gets lucky! HA! 1 Regards from Engineria and Araminta!
cranebump Posted October 7 Posted October 7 "See that sign waaaay over there in the distance? Yeah. That's where Good is." Hehehehehe...Classic. 1 1 I have done a TON of AE work, both long form and single arc. Just search the AE mish list for my sig @cranebump. For more information on my stories, head to the AE forum sub-heading and look for “Crane’s World.” Support your AE authors! We ARE the new content.
Zhym Posted October 7 Posted October 7 (edited) 23 hours ago, TerroirNoir3 said: Revenge of the Undying by @SirArthurIV (@Blazing Pyre on the AE console) I've added this one to the "Holiday Specials" section of the TV Guide, given the seasonal feel. But if @TerroirNoir3 isn't going to do other Halloween arcs, maybe I'll move it down to the Interludes, Side Trips, and One-Offs section. 23 hours ago, TerroirNoir3 said: Then again it is VERY hard to sneak around with seven robots clanking along beside you. So I don't really do the stealth thing. Just as well, given that it turned out to be an escort mission. I still had my team size set to x8. 70s Man could handle it. The angel, however, could not. (You'd think an angel would be tougher than some guy with guns. Even if he is an incarnate. Maybe I'm underestimating the protective power of polyester?) Edited October 7 by Zhym 3
TerroirNoir3 Posted October 7 Posted October 7 10 minutes ago, Zhym said: I've added this one to the "Holiday Specials" section of the TV Guide, given the seasonal feel. But if @TerroirNoir3 isn't going to do other Halloween arcs, maybe I'll move it down to the Interludes, Side Trips, and One-Offs section. I dunno. Are there many other Halloween arcs? Regards from Engineria and Araminta!
Zhym Posted October 7 Posted October 7 2 minutes ago, TerroirNoir3 said: I dunno. Are there many other Halloween arcs? Good question. If not, I could always create a new section for Araminta's Adventures. 1
TerroirNoir3 Posted October 7 Posted October 7 1 minute ago, Zhym said: Good question. If not, I could always create a new section for Araminta's Adventures. Araminta is a bit...random. Much more so than Engineria! So while her own section would be nice, maybe not needed. 1 Regards from Engineria and Araminta!
SirArthurIV Posted October 7 Posted October 7 (edited) Some creator commentary: Mission 2: I tried so hard to get the captive lines to go off at the right time, But I could not find an office map that worked. I figured it wasn't essential, but Here it is for those that missed it. Mission 3: Not much to add here. It was meant to be a simple mission here, The battles with arachnos I put in are swinging one way or the other. And yeah, this is definitely cleanup/recruitment. Mission 4: Oh that's interesting. In the 5 or 6 times I've run that one the hostages never spawned in the first part of the map. I always got the Student of Bone carrying the body bag first. who drops the corresponding clue In hindsight she should have been assisted by a "Mr. Boddy". I was scratching my head for things for them to say on rescue so I went for movie quotes. But, yeah, I was thinking about what kind of thing the midnighters would do for fun on holiday parties and this was it. Mission 5: This one was tricky. You're supposed to face undying in the last room and Eternal in the middle, That's an error on my part that I failed to catch since all the bosses are set to "back" the wrong one got kicked out. Which is weird since there are four circles in the last room for spawns. Also when you fight him as an AV he's able to revive himself with soul transfer, Maybe he doesn't have enough energy as an EB I will fix what I've seen, but thanks for a super fun review this was nice to read. Edited Wednesday at 10:11 AM by SirArthurIV 1 1
TerroirNoir3 Posted October 7 Posted October 7 10 minutes ago, SirArthurIV said: I will fix what I've seen, but thanks for a super fun review this was nice to read. Had fun running it! Thanks for writing! Regards from Engineria and Araminta!
Jiro Ito Posted Wednesday at 12:28 AM Posted Wednesday at 12:28 AM 3 hours ago, TerroirNoir3 said: I dunno. Are there many other Halloween arcs? Some people may have done a Halloween arc 2 Play my AE Adventures, listed under @Jiro Ito, including award winners: "The Headless Huntsman of Salamanca" #43870 **Scrapbot AE Contest Winner May 2022** "On the Claw-Tipped Wings of Betrayal" #43524 **November 2021 Dev's Choice** "The Defenders of Talos" #44578 **Mission Architect Competition Winner for October 2021: REBIRTH**
TerroirNoir3 Posted Wednesday at 03:25 AM Posted Wednesday at 03:25 AM 2 hours ago, Jiro Ito said: Some people may have done a Halloween arc AHA! Well, we will get to that in a while! 1 1 Regards from Engineria and Araminta!
TerroirNoir3 Posted Thursday at 01:28 PM Posted Thursday at 01:28 PM (edited) Arc 26 from our first author on "TerroirNoir's Cable Channel of AE" Reviews is @Ankylosaur's All That Glows 2: Nictus Exodus. Mission 1: A Zag in the Zig. So after finally wrapping up stuff at Paragon U I meet up with Hornet for a coffee. He seems fine mostly. A bit tired. The Wyverning is a 23 hour a day job it seems to me. And that's when I get a phone call from Buddy Bolton. I cover the speaker and whisper to Hornet who it is. He nods and proceeds to put what appears to be eight sugars in his coffee! How does the man have any teeth left?! It seems Bolton got a promotion after our last adventure. He's a captain in the PPD now. Excellent. Heading up a tiny unit investigating more Nictus activity across the city. He's following up the sole real lead they have though, Stardust, and wants to know if I want a front seat at the interrogation at the Zig with him and Orthas. Sure. I'll just have to speak to a Zayas once I get there. I gesture at Hornet to get the bill but he waves me away, covers the tab and tip and says something about his boss being loaded. Do I want a lift over to the Zig? Why not. So we wander over to Hornet's parked Arachnos flyer - honestly, do Arachnos not know you have this? The Meteors have one too - and we take off. As we approach the radio squawks something about a car ramming the Zig's walls, Council flooding in, prisoners flooding out, and that's not good. I get Hornet to drop me down and while he guards the flyer against escapees I head into the chaos. Maestro is free? That's not what I wanted to hear at all. Not sure exactly what I wanted to hear but that is definitely not it. That's Ascendant Archon De May. And he gets his comeuppance from me, and some swiftly arriving back up from the PPD's psychic force. You stay down, you maniac. Now, I wonder is Maestro here or actually out in the city. Time to find out. Well, I should find Bolton and Orthas and Zayas first I suppose. Up ahead as we get closer to the sewer entrance, we run into Dark Equinox Archon Breque. "Dark Equinox"? Honestly, the Council and their fellow fascist Cosplayers, the 5th Column, are so full of overblown titles that I'm amazed they can get their heads through doorways. But.. Breque takes a knee to Engineria and her PPD buddies all the same. Bye bye, Breque. You came to the Zig, you get to stay for a while, hopefully a long while. He WAS ranting about Nosferatu being free though. So Maestro and Nosferatu. Well rats. Who's next then? Ah! One of Breque's gang transformed into a Darkwolf! Down! Does anyone have a rolled up newspaper? Or some spray? No? Rad blast it is then! With the Darkwolf dealt with I scoot ahead and into the main sewer entry of the Zig, up a rank tunnel and through a hole in the floor. It's smoky and grim in here and I run into a Mindstorm called Kaya. Nope, no idea who she is. (I may have to peruse my case notes later). Where I go she watches? That's sweet. Have some radiation powered blasts! I don't have time for your fangirling. Down she goes. Up around the corner I find Bolton and Zayas and free them before going looking for Orthas. And it figures that he would be held by Void Hunters! Yeah, I'm here and I'm mad. You've captured my friends and that does not put you in my good books. No siree. You two take a long nap now, y'hear. You ok in there, Orthas? Good. Found him, guys. Now, let's get out of Dodge and gather the troops, gird our loins and circle the wagons...I'm running out of clichés here so one of you help me out! I'll be veering into "Fish swim south for the winter", and if you know that reference then kudos! Wait, Raze? Do I know you? You seem to know me. Oh hell, I'm still in the wrong time era after that Cimerora thing, am I? Or are they referring to one of my doppelgangers? Well, whatever it is we're not on the same side now. Amazing how all this "forging a new way" involves hurting the innocent, yeah? Ends justify the means, do they? Not on my watch, bucko! Not on my watch! Raze goes down. Kinda had to against 4 of us to be honest. Now to deal with someone mentioned earlier by the Void Hunters, a Suarez. Haven't seen him or her yet, so I assume they're arriving to pick up their prisoners. Let's give them a big surprise! There he is! Welp, he's noticed us! Pile on, gang! Don't let that guy get away! Orthas! QB! You're up! Oh, he's tough! But again there's 4 of us and he takes a beating! I'm trailing smoke out of my armor and my HP is heading into the red. Bolton is looking shaky too. Orthas and Zayas just jeep hitting Suarez though. And we all live to tell the tale! (a) go us! (b) whew! The Dark Comet is coming, is it? Yeah, I've been hearing that for a while now. And we're gonna be there, my friend. And then it's over. The PPD have regained control of the Zig. The rest of my little gang stagger out and sit down heavily. I look across at Bolton and wait for him to speak. So Maestro and Nosferatu are definitely gone. And so has Stardust. That's when Zayas chips in with an interesting fact (that might be illegal but this Vig is saying nothing!) It seems that the Zig is in the habit of slipping short life span tracking devices into the inmates' food, and that could help track Stardust at least. [Mission 1 = As usual the Zig yard map is a great map for some excellent encounters and once again @Ankylosaur is doing some deep world building here. Looking forward to see how this plays out.] Mission 2: Freakout. Bolton fills me in on details here. The new Council are building up their forces. Still got the UPA and the Awakened are on board too it seems. Orthas is more interested in the Void Harbinger. Being Kheldian he would be. And at that point Zayas informs us that they found Stardust! He's in the Freaktown part of Crey's Folly. Well of course he is. Couldn't just book himself a room in a motel quietly. Looks like I'm off to a run down warehouse in Crey's Folly then. In I go and...hold up! What in the blue hell are you? A Shadow Freak? That does not bode well. (Not 100 percent on what boding really is but I feel some boding going on) On top of the boding I'm having a definite "Running for the bus and watching it pull away" moment here. Offworld to the Dark Comet? Oh no. Dammit! I got too close trying to listen and was spotted. Yeah, it looks like I'm doing well here. Well, I had not appreciated his several friends hidden among all the warehouse racks and shelves, who then proceeded to back shoot me. Cue the end result of aforesaid back shooting. Ow. That's right. Walk away. A bit further. There we go. I get up, he goes down and I move to tackle his companions. And they get a severe radiation burn. Oh I'm sure their implants will heal them up rapidly but for the meantime them lying there moaning is sweet music to me. Now, I know there are smart Freaks, we all do. But these guys? You have to wonder. He seems particularly pleased with the new toys the Nictus bestowed on them. I bet there's a cost to that you don't know about, my friend. Mind you, you've removed most of your original body to be like that so ...nah, forget the cost. You don't care, do you? But while we're here, I need your Endurance. Why? Because it refills mine, and because it stops you being able to hit me. Simple. And down he goes. He lets me know I have just missed Stardust. I was about to say "And you expect me to believe you?" when I overheard this nugget. I come around a corner to find the speaker and some friends clustered around a Shadow Shard. And promptly take out them and the Shard. It seemed like the right thing to do. On we go! Hmm, someone was working out the Dark Comet's path here. Maybe smart Freaks? Maybe. Maybe not. Either way part of it has been erased so I don't have the whole picture yet. Examining a nearby PC shows me an open account with a blog on one of the tabs. Lots of it look like conspiracy-speak but there's mention of a thing called a Shadow Rupture. Something bigger, possibly much bigger, than a Shadow Shard. Oh oh. No Stardust though. He and the others have vamoosed. Time to leave. Back with Bolton we go through what I've found. And Orthas chips in with the question we've all been thinking about: where did they go? [Mission 2 = Oh, that was surprisingly tough! Those Shadow Freaks pack a punch! But like I said above, I missed the bus there and was gathering follow-on clues. Worked well. On to part 3!] Mission 3: Radioactive Escapes. Bolton informs Engineria that Raze is the key here. They kept talking about Engineria being involved in the evac of Praetoria, saying that they only survived until the evac due to Engineria. Ah, what in the what now? So we get to Vanguard and talk to Gaussian. He maintains that the Nictus fled through time to Praetoria before the Fall. ARGH. More verdamnt time travel! Raze's evac records say that they fought off the Devouring Earth with the help of Metronome, Purplies and Engineria. Everyone thought "purplies" was just some Resistance-speak. Seems like they were Nictus. Yeah. Ok, but me? I was there? Apparently it's related to the TUNNEL system, which always transports people to a time before the Fall. Oh, ok. Gotcha. Fixed point Time Travel then. However we are approaching paradox time. I have to go back because if I don't then we're not having this conversation and...ok I'll go, I'm already getting a migraine. Trouble is I can only stay 45 minutes due to heightened radioactivity levels, so I had better be good at what I do over there. And then I'm tooled up and crossing over/back/to...one of those. Oh thanks a bunch, Stardust! You're a real piece of work, you know that? Oh, I'll help you out with a boot to your ass if you give me any lip! Right! Where the hell are you then? Oh that's nasty. Very much so! And there's Stardust. Right, you great lummox, let's get going...human free? What am I, a wasp? Or them? You, sir, are not right in the head. In the meantime however we have that thing behind you to deal with. Then we find the others. And I'm on a clock here. Why? Nunya Bidness! Hit it! Ok, Old Stardust here actually IS good in a fight...well, so far anyway. Did they get weaker later? Their later, my earlier. Whatever. Hit it again! Right, that ...thing, went down hard. Stay down! Let's keep moving. I have 30 minutes left or near enough. No, still Nunya Bidness, Stardust. Just...oh my god. That does not look like anything I wanted to see. Now or ever. But we're in combat now so let's go! Hit him! Stardust and Engineria stagger away from that fight leaking blood and my armor is cracked and burned. Somewhere up ahead is Metronome in a War Walker Body. We're gonna need him if we want to finish this. Especially me in the limited time I have left. No winking out of existence due to paradox. Ah, found him. There were Kheldians in the Primal Earth forces that ended the Praetorian War but no part of the history mentions this. Interesting. What else has been carefully airbrushed out of the official records? We carry on, battling Infected everywhere and Devouring Earth Hamidon beasts. The streets are full of them. Then I spot Raze! Looks like I'm getting the timeline all sorted out! This is where he remembers me from. And we clear the streets. I heal Resistance fighters with my Kinetics as we pass them and they fight on stronger. Finally the time has come and I have to go, but I've been successful, at least in what I set out to do. Back to the portal! Gaussian congratulates me. Thanks, all I did was aim and hope! He's going to confer with Dark Watcher now, while Orthas is going to talk to Sunstorm, the leader of the Peacekeepers on Primal Earth. [Mission 3 = Great street fight! I didn't have it at times 8, thankfully! But I can imagine it being crazy. So that solves part of the time conundrum at least. On to the next mission!] Mission 4: Surprise Reactions. [More ASAP] Edited 50 minutes ago by TerroirNoir3 3 Regards from Engineria and Araminta!
cranebump Posted Friday at 02:53 PM Posted Friday at 02:53 PM Is Maestro here? Pft. Maestro is always here. In our hearts! (swoon) 2 I have done a TON of AE work, both long form and single arc. Just search the AE mish list for my sig @cranebump. For more information on my stories, head to the AE forum sub-heading and look for “Crane’s World.” Support your AE authors! We ARE the new content.
TheOneTitan Posted Saturday at 04:55 PM Posted Saturday at 04:55 PM On 10/2/2025 at 1:47 PM, TerroirNoir3 said: Verdict. All round a really great arc. I feel like I missed a few things here and there because it felt like I had come in part way through a longer story, and that's on me. No reflection on the quality of the writing and presentation. Tachyon was a great contact and very well developed. Recommended. Great review! So to clarify some things which can explain why some stuff was odd here, I started working on this on my laptop, at the time I didn't have access to my PC. I ended up transferring everything I've made to my PC when I got it back, but messed up/forgot to change some things, like the Council showing up in Mission 3 (should've been Apex). There was also another earlier bug where somehow Lord Ectral turned from an Arch-Villain to a Lieutenant, but I managed to patch that up at least! Also I do think I rushed the Lord Ectral stuff a little as I left some clues blank so I could fill them out later, I thought I made some to elaborate on that more but might've forgotten, since at that point I was going to stop playing for a while anyway And yeah this is also Part 3 of a 4-part saga I'm working on, it's definitely part of a larger story (David Drake is a character in these last 2), you don't have to play these last 2 but it does help to get the big picture at play. But yeah thanks for the awesome review I really appreciate it a lot! I didn't expect anyone to play this one especially since no one did my last one, also big shoutout to Jack, Overman and Robo, borrowed some of your characters for this I imagine you'll enjoy the free advertisement lol 1 1
TerroirNoir3 Posted Saturday at 05:18 PM Posted Saturday at 05:18 PM (edited) 29 minutes ago, TheOneTitan said: Great review! So to clarify some things which can explain why some stuff was odd here, I started working on this on my laptop, at the time I didn't have access to my PC. I ended up transferring everything I've made to my PC when I got it back, but messed up/forgot to change some things, like the Council showing up in Mission 3 (should've been Apex). There was also another earlier bug where somehow Lord Ectral turned from an Arch-Villain to a Lieutenant, but I managed to patch that up at least! Also I do think I rushed the Lord Ectral stuff a little as I left some clues blank so I could fill them out later, I thought I made some to elaborate on that more but might've forgotten, since at that point I was going to stop playing for a while anyway And yeah this is also Part 3 of a 4-part saga I'm working on, it's definitely part of a larger story (David Drake is a character in these last 2), you don't have to play these last 2 but it does help to get the big picture at play. But yeah thanks for the awesome review I really appreciate it a lot! I didn't expect anyone to play this one especially since no one did my last one, also big shoutout to Jack, Overman and Robo, borrowed some of your characters for this I imagine you'll enjoy the free advertisement lol Thanks for sharing, @TheOneTitan! I can't promise I'll get to the other episodes but now I know they're there I'll stick them on my list. Alas it's a big list. And glad to shine some light on your work as well as others'. I started this entire thing concentrating on, I hope they don't mind me saying this, a kind of "Big Three" of writers, who seem to have somehow (hard work!) gathered a following along the way, but I'm enjoying the branch out into my "Interludes" section very much. Keep writing! Edit: And now Tachyon/Prof Dafriend is part of Araminta's and Engineria's back story! Edited Saturday at 05:25 PM by TerroirNoir3 1 1 Regards from Engineria and Araminta!
Darmian Posted Saturday at 05:29 PM Posted Saturday at 05:29 PM 8 minutes ago, TerroirNoir3 said: I started this entire thing concentrating on, I hope they don't mind me saying this, a kind of "Big Three" of writers, who seem to have somehow (hard work!) gathered a following along the way, Well, I hope @Ankylosaur and @cranebump don't mind me saying this, not taking away from their (or my own!) writing, but sometimes you just get lucky and people spot your stuff and then go back to see if you've done more. 1 1 2 AE SFMA Arcs: The Meteors (Arc id 42079) | Dark Deeds in Galaxy City: Part One. (Arc id 26756) X | Dark Deeds in Galaxy City: Part Two. (Arc id 26952) | Dark Deeds in Galaxy City: Part Three. (Arc id 27233) Darker Deeds: Part One (Arc id 28374) | Darker Deeds: Part Two. (Arc id 28536) | Darker Deeds: Part Three. (Arc id 29252) | Darkest Before Dawn: Part One (Arc id 29891) | Darkest Before Dawn: Part Two (Arc id 30210) | Darkest Before Dawn: Part Three (Arc id 30560) | Bridge of Forever ( Arc id 36642) | The Cassini Division (Arc id 37104) X | The House of Gaunt Saints (Arc id 37489) X | The Spark of the Blind (Arc id 40403) | Damnatio Memoriae (Arc id 41140) X | The Eve of War (Arc id 41583) X | Spirals: Part One. (Arc id 55109) | Spirals: Part Two. (Arc id 55358) | Spirals: Part Three. (Arc id 57197) I Sing of Arms and the Man (Arc id 42617) | Three Sisters (Arc id 43013) | Give Me Liberty (Arc id 69444) (Pre War Praetorian Loyalist. Pre War Praetorian Resistance. Pre ITF Cimerora. Post ITF Cimerora. X = Dev Choice/Hall of Fame )
Ankylosaur Posted yesterday at 07:44 PM Posted yesterday at 07:44 PM (edited) Ah - the daring tale of Engineria and the energy-beings-that-live-on-stars-and-take-the-shape-of-beings-they-have-cohabited continues! And with such a large serving of boding! Forboding of the dark comet! (And maybe even some backboding because of the ever persnickety time-travel.) Tidbits and spoilers and the like. Will add in more as you share more of your tale! Spoiler Police vs Aliens Redo - This was quite a departure from the Police vs Alien original story, but the Shadow Freaks were one of those Nictus things in a narrow level range that fit with Bolton's promotions in that series. All the Nictus stuff is pretty spread out - but fortunately, the Nictus themselves are 1-54, so while Stardust in Human form can't show up at these levels, he can in other forms. Bolton and Orthas' story is definitely a main through line, though, that came from that. The Awakened and the Council and the 5th - The Awakened mention is a nod to All that Glints - the psi/Penny Mayhem story you played. Both these series are about the post-fall of Striga and rebuilding, though that was about The Council primarily; this is more about the Nictus Arakhn/Requiem Council/5th schism. Raze - in M1 you have not met him yet in your timeline, but he has in his. <--backshadowing? a "call forward?" Hornet - He does work hard! A nice little device to account for maps with an Arachnos flier as the door. One of my favorite little Hornet encounters someone shared was from @Darmian, who, after spending so much time with Hornet in Glitters was surprised to run into him in the Isles. They took a breather to watch a sunset together while reminiscing... Or that's how it went in my head.🙂 (Hope you don't mind me sharing Darmian) TUNNEL - yet another device - the ole "Tunnel-network-takes-you-back-in-time-because-of-Neo-Tokyo's-wards-preventing-you-getting-to-the-real-present," that explains away why you can get to old Praetoria, but not the post-fall of Praetoria world. At least most of the time. You do visit it occassionally as you know. As with each of these All That G... series you travel to Praetoria at least once - and now for the evacuation! All irradiated because Antimatter blew up the reactors of course. Edited 4 hours ago by Ankylosaur 1 1 AE Arcs: Search for @Ankylosaur * denotes Dev's Choice Adventures in Lit: Adventures in Wonderland - 25-54* | Adventures in Oz - 40-54 | Adventures in Neverland - 45-54 Notable One-offs: Rularularian - 41-54* | The Serpent Beyond the Horizon - 46-52* | Robolution - 25-34* | The Genesis & Geneticists of The Coming Hamiggedon - 41-54* | Spycraft and Spidermen - 40-47 | Return to Faultline - 40-54 Post-Praetoria Series: All That Glitters: Gold Brickers, Mooks, & Praetorian tech proliferation - 9 Arcs | All That Glimmers: First Warders relocation in Astoria, the Mu, & Praetorian magic - 9 Arcs | All That Glints: The Awakened, The Council, & psionics after Mr. G and Striga collapse - 3 Arcs | All That Glows: Nictus & 5th Column after the Nictus schism/Striga collapse - 3 Arcs* | All That Gleams: Epilogue (Neo Tokyo) - 1 Arc | Neo Praetoria: Parallel Goldside escape from Night Ward post Diabolique - 3 arcs | Monkey Fight Club: Takes place after Glitters - 2 arcs
cranebump Posted 7 hours ago Posted 7 hours ago 20 hours ago, Ankylosaur said: And with such a large serving of boding! Forboding of the dark comet! (And maybe even some backboding because of the ever persnickety time-travel.) Reminds me of the Richard Pryor joke about foreplay. "I had time for one or two plays. That was it. Three and four was dead!" I have done a TON of AE work, both long form and single arc. Just search the AE mish list for my sig @cranebump. For more information on my stories, head to the AE forum sub-heading and look for “Crane’s World.” Support your AE authors! We ARE the new content.
Darmian Posted 2 hours ago Posted 2 hours ago No issues with sharing, @Ankylosaur. 1 AE SFMA Arcs: The Meteors (Arc id 42079) | Dark Deeds in Galaxy City: Part One. (Arc id 26756) X | Dark Deeds in Galaxy City: Part Two. (Arc id 26952) | Dark Deeds in Galaxy City: Part Three. (Arc id 27233) Darker Deeds: Part One (Arc id 28374) | Darker Deeds: Part Two. (Arc id 28536) | Darker Deeds: Part Three. (Arc id 29252) | Darkest Before Dawn: Part One (Arc id 29891) | Darkest Before Dawn: Part Two (Arc id 30210) | Darkest Before Dawn: Part Three (Arc id 30560) | Bridge of Forever ( Arc id 36642) | The Cassini Division (Arc id 37104) X | The House of Gaunt Saints (Arc id 37489) X | The Spark of the Blind (Arc id 40403) | Damnatio Memoriae (Arc id 41140) X | The Eve of War (Arc id 41583) X | Spirals: Part One. (Arc id 55109) | Spirals: Part Two. (Arc id 55358) | Spirals: Part Three. (Arc id 57197) I Sing of Arms and the Man (Arc id 42617) | Three Sisters (Arc id 43013) | Give Me Liberty (Arc id 69444) (Pre War Praetorian Loyalist. Pre War Praetorian Resistance. Pre ITF Cimerora. Post ITF Cimerora. X = Dev Choice/Hall of Fame )
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now