For the King: Gnarly Seamen

[Part of the Cursed story line]

The A Team had already destroyed a number of chaos devices when they entered the Obsidian Keep which was guarded by Ferghus and his Royal Droll skeletal band. Baracus easily KOed the fugitive and in an epic rock battle (skele bards are my favorite fight) the A Team destroyed the skeletal band once and for all. Unfortunately the wizard had sent reinforcements to defend the chaos device here, and weakened from those boss battles Hannibal and Murdoch were both relieved of their hearts by a wraith while Baracus was felled by a most terrible foe... a wizard crab!

Yes, it's a bearded crab with a wizard's hat... :P

Meanwhile back at the demon cave, the vampire was just about to finish drinking Dijaam when a harpoon suddenly burst out of his chest, killing him! The stripped captive had been his meal for days now and couldn't quite make out the trio of sailors that had come to her rescue. One of them also was carrying the equally nude and equally alive Esme, and both were taken for a ride aboard their ship and delivered to the safety of Parid.

Queen Rosomon and Hildebrandt were more than concerned at the state of the women but had to ask about the safety of the realm first. "What news of the Sea King?"

"Aye its as ye said," nodded Ahab. "Th'wizard be usin merlings to summon'im to drownusall!"

"It is a good thing these heroes already slew their Kraken," added Nemo, referring to the two women they rescued.

Davy, standing behind them blew out some pipe smoke while scratching his beard. "Wreckin tha temples is only delaying tha ine.. inevite... delayin tha water though."

"Then your task is clear gentlemen," said the Queen rising with regal composure. "You must face and defeat the Sea King."

Insight: "Into the Deep" is my favorite mode in the game which replaces chaos with tides. While more chaos makes things harder, maximum tide is a game over which forces you to be fast. Shutting down the temples delays the tides, but there is only one way to actually win: defeat the Sea King.

For the King: The A Team

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Now with a clear target, Calia, Dijaam and Esme were sent from Parid into the hot lands to find fuel for an airship - the only method available to directly attack the wizard's dark spire. A demon cave was their first stop, and it also turned out to be their last when they unexpectedly encountered a vampire! He caught Calia by surprise, shoving her right into the maw of a giant carnivorous clam whose jaws shut fast upon its new meal.

His merling assistant easily clobbered Esme and dragged the bard deeper into the darkness while Dijaam fought a losing battle against the bloodsucker. Finally exhausted and disarmed, she was helpless as he sank his teeth into her neck... and everything went black.  

Queen Rosomon was no fool though. A direct attack would be the most obvious one for the wizard to counter, which is why she set that task for the B team. She had another team already attacking secretly, via the destruction of more chaos devices at the bottom of dungeons. Elsewhere at an ancient quarry, the elemental scourge Deimos cried out in horror as it fell to this trio of adventurers, their white haired leader grinning while saying "I love it when a plan comes together!" Hannibal, Murdoch and Baracus are... the A Team.

Getting rid of foolish scourges all across the land!

Insight: The "Dungeon Crawl" variant follows the same story and rules as the base game using chaos as time pressure. I believe the only difference is that you don't have to go attack the dark spire at the end.

Enderal: Kidnappers

[Part of the Cursed story line]

As the graduation ceremony will take time to prepare I head on back to Arkham and find card-shark Esme in the district, and give her the log book from the Morning Dew which indicates her girl, Tara, disembarked early to meet a noble in town. I help her snoop a bit in the absent noble's residence until she gets a new lead to follow.

Afterwards we part ways as Tharael makes contact and wants to take me to the Rhalata temple to meet the First Seer. Goes without saying they are a strange bunch, and the First Seer assigns me a test to kill a defector hiding among savages and return her heart.

This is pretty easy, and the defector herself asks for death as she suffers from prosopagnosia (can't see faces) so I oblige. This impresses the First Seer who says words of my deeds will reach The Father's ears. Just as planned. While that happens Tharael and I revisit his childhood orphanage deep in the Undercity which is now crawling with Lost Ones.

Prosopagnosia as depicted in Hannibal.

There he spills the beans on how the Father bought children, his friends, from the caretakers. Those children were never seen again.

Insight: Can't get by through archery alone anymore as the mob density just keeps going up. To this end I'm using a sword and shield when an enemy horde draws near. It also means I open by sniping the hardest hitters first - enemy mages and those carrying two handed weapons.

Hannibal (TV Series)

Artsy and tasty at the same time.

Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) has a unique gift that helps the FBI catch some deranged killers. Alas, using this talent also pushes him closer to his mental breaking point so he is assigned a psychologist to keep him in check. Unfortunately for him, that psychologist is none other than Dr. Hannibal Lecter (a very suave Mads Mikkelsen) who secretly enjoys pushing his patients to their limits. He also secretly eats people.

Why don't you come over for dinner?

This is a very dark three season series, with lost of gore and buckets of blood (and cooking!?) but also a great script and fantastic artsy cinematography. Alas the third season goes a bit overboard with the artistry and the "dark" bits - literally dark that is, making it hard to see what's going on. There is a sharp decline in quality at that point but at least it ends with a decent showdown.

If you like procedural police shows, thrillers, the two main stars or simply are a Hannibal fan then you should give this a watch. The first two seasons are especially great.