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 by Ankylosaur

[TerroirNoir2]

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

[TerroirNoir2]

Arc 17 from our third author on "TerroirNoir's Cable Channel of AE" Reviews is  @Ankylosaur's All That Glimmers 3.2: 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. (MORE ASAP)

 

 

 

 

Edited 9 hours ago 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 Wednesday at 09:30 PM 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 Friday at 07:48 PM 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... 🙂