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

[Zhym]

Woo hoo!  Welcome back, @TerroirNoir2!

 

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

Edited Tuesday at 11:38 PM 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.  

 

 

 

Edited 8 hours ago 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.