Darkest Dungeon: Battered and Broken

Reports from Darkest Dungeon - spoilers ahead! You can follow the rest of the story here!

With the manor cleansed all that was left was to break through the army of brigands surrounding the hamlet lured by the promise of easy riches. I knew what they pinned their hopes on that damned 16 pound cannon which claimed the lives of yet more of our number. Blunder Buss, Quark, Zermu Terlu, Techno Viking, Gigal, Yarnheim and that dark elf Valaria, each of them slaughtered by the oncoming foe.

Then the gods heard our cries of help!

Ultimately it was Yuria, her Paleshade, Skrmischa and Dr. Vahlen who managed to reach the dreadful weapon and in a marathon of a fight filled with suppression techniques, destroyed it and all the entire battalion of brigand scum that accompanied it. With the way now clear, most of our number are taking advantage to leave this accursed place. Not I though, I am too old and weary - there is nothing left for me to see. That might sound ironic coming from a blind man, but I think I shall stay on as the new care taker of this place. As they say, to fight the abyss, one must know it.

-Corynx

Darkest Dungeon: Destroy. Them. All.

Reports from Darkest Dungeon - spoilers ahead! You can follow the rest of the story here!

As Catharina expected the brigands returned to lay siege to the town again at 0800 today, but this time my team composed of Elvis, Gwyndolin, Catharina and myself which was specifically waiting in the wings for this moment surgically removed the terrorist leader and explosives expert Vvulf - using "stunning" uppercuts no less. The many remaining tangos then fled back into the forest where no doubt they will regroup but probably not for sometime.

The brigand leader: slain!

Afterwards, teams sent to the cove and ruins have successfully cleared both locations of hostiles. The "cats", Sunbro Forever, Rocket Man and Catharina took down the final drowned crew - which I'm told was an easy task since the "cats" could resist their magical anchor somehow. They then went on with Dr. Shen, Techno Viking and Lu Lingqi to eliminate the gibbering prophet at the ruins.

Our focus now turns to the so called "Darkest Dungeon". While most of the veterans are gearing up to recon that site, Zermu Terlu has been elected to manage forays against the remaining enemies in the Weald with our latest batch of recruits. Supposedly he has experience in this sort of thing. Honestly, they don't look like much right now, but I'm hoping they prove me wrong.

-Big Mike

Darkest Dungeon: Leave Nothing Unchecked

Reports from Darkest Dungeon - spoilers ahead! You can follow the rest of the story here!

Field Report A85 - Examining the source of reanimation is proving difficult with the equipment available here and the old laboratory is certainly being missed. Resorted to more basic chemistry instead. Accompanied Elizabeth, Gillian and Lee into the ruins earlier where we defeated the Necromancer Lord. Strangely, he like all the other necromancers are also cadavers already, meaning the dead were resurrecting the dead in an endless cycle. His decomposition did not make him immune to the stunning effects of my potions however.

Charming to those she calls.

A beguiling siren at the cove also suffered injuries incompatible with life when Elizabeth, Techno Viking, the "cats" as well as the very creepy Londor Paleshade hunted it down. At the weald, Big Mike led a team comprised of Gwyndolin, Agdan and Catharina to destroy a larger brigand cannon before it could threaten this hamlet. The low morale after the bandit raid has improved greatly after these events. Considering taking up Dr. Shen's offer of trying whatever liquor the local tavern holds to join in the celebration.

Maybe after I finish this autopsy...

-Dr. Vahlen

Darkest Dungeon: The Tragic Extent

Reports from Darkest Dungeon - spoilers ahead! You can follow the rest of the story here!

My concerns of any leadership challenges have been abated this week with the death of Lenigrast. He was laid low by a small pig man named Wilbur who everyone assumed he had previously slain. They could not recover his body, no doubt he is now food for those hideous creatures. God rest his soul. We also lost Bill and the spy Mina Petrova who fell (or rather, had crushing debris fall on them) while hunting a fulminating prophet in the ruins.

They're always filled with disgusting bile.

Fortunately their allies Hunter O'Harrah and Don Pez managed to find victory thanks to their sacrifice. They then had a much better run when hunting another hag in the weald with Alpha, a soldier from another time, and the cats Alvinia and Shalquoir. Apparently the old crone was no match for them at all.

Soon after Lenigrast was avenged by Melisandre, Don Pez, Ian and Da Qiao, a young vestal who can't be older than her teens. Despite Ian getting hacked in two, they defeated the Swine King in the warrens, and Wilbur as well - though after the battle they claim the little pig was nowhere to be found. I have a feeling this isn't the last we've seen of him. Da Qiao also accompanied the barbarian Zhurong, Techno Viking and the shaman Katunga to slay an Unstable Flesh afterwards. This girl shows much promise.

-Abbess Feeva

Final Score

Part of my XCOM: Defenders of the Earth series!

And so came to an end the great war, and with it my position as commander due to the politics that followed soon after. Bradford was killed in a fluke base accident after Dr. Vahlen, overjoyed to learn that she herself had the psionic gift, put him inside the containment unit which suddenly activated on its own accord. Big Mike took my position as commander and with Dr. Shen's help began fielding armies of SHIV units across the globe reducing the need of human combatants in the field.

Still, Techno Viking stayed on as a close quarters advisor while Blunder Buss returned to the UK to train more snipers in predicting alien movement. Due to extensive injuries Rocket Man became the first cyborg soldier in the project, often deploying with the SHIV units at crisis zones, this time fighting terrorists, looters and profiteers instead of extra terrestrials. He's now known as Iron Man
.
After discovering her ... relations with pretty much ALL the staff at the XCOM project, Party Girl was given a dishonorable discharge and was headed to Los Angeles to seek employment there. Elvis went with her, retiring from the soldier's life to start up his music career. Alpha also retired. She returned to her home, a little cottage in Germany, where she continues to practice her marksmanship skills. Some say she now hunts werewolves. As for me, well I've got places to go and things to do - and you'll probably read all about it on this blog. ;)

Final Score: 9390 (Classic Mode)
Days: 290
Countries Supporting XCOM: 16
Countries that Left XCOM: 0
Aliens Killed: 451
Soldiers Lost: 39 (1 pilot)

Till the next alien invasion!

Back to how it all Began

Part of my XCOM: Defenders of the Earth series!

Alert: Terror attack in Kolkata! With the SHIV still damaged and some other people wounded I sent Alpha, Sledge, Bondi Vet, Techno Viking, Big Mike and Elvis to handle the threat at some public office. Looked like a swarm of chrysallids were in the area - a horror for any other squad but these experienced troops wiped them and their zombie bed buddies out easy. One zombie literally got the drop on Alpha as he fell from the roof and whacked her, but Techno Viking alloyed its face and Bondi Vet fixed her up. This was immediately followed by a sectopod who stood in a bad spot and got triple rocketed to death before it could do anything. The last muton squad was in terror themselves when my team coldly executed them. 9 our of 18 civilians saved, and promotions all around - Sledge has now reached the Colonel rank!

Next up was a mission to disable a bomb at a German train station. Sent Party Girl, Elvis, Alpha, Big Mike, Techno Viking and Bondi Vet to deal with the large thin man unit trying to commit suicide. Again it was so much easier than the first bomb run we had in France. Bondi Vet really proved his usefulness by saving the life of a downed Big Mike and Elvis, and again on the next mission to clear a crashed UFO where Bald Witch and a SHIV replaced the two injured heavies - he resuscitated Party Girl from an early death to elite mutons.

With that came the end of another month, and I got another grade of "A" from the bald man. Also, with all foundry projects complete and an army of SHIVs under construction it was finally time for my "volunteer" Adolf Hitler, equipped in Psi-Armor to enter the Gollop Chamber and establish a link to the alien mother ship... erm... temple ship. Despite all of the psi-testing it seemed I only had two psionics - Hitler and Gravedigger. Dr. Vahlen warned that this would be the final mission (seriously, with a big red lettered warning prompt). It didn't matter - it was time to end this!

Soldiers Lost in the Ninth Month: 2
Campaign Total: 33

Where's the Gallop Chamber?

A Nasty Surprise

Part of my XCOM: Defenders of the Earth series!

So I finally built a foundry - turns out there's a bit of useful tech in there (alien grenades get a big thumbs up) which I get Shen and his team researching right away. In the meantime Captain Whiskey is leading a team composed of Techno Viking, Blunder Buss, Reloader Jones, Buster Downs and Derka Derka to assault an abductor ship in the UK. Decided to let the snipers hang back while the others advanced to the loading bay. A cyberdisk thought it could take advantage of this but the snipers downed it and its drones easily. Next up was a berserker and some heavy floaters - again no issues there. Then it happened... a frigging sectopod teleported in the middle of my squad. WTF!

Sectopod Surprise!

Scattered the forward guys but Reloader Jones was stuck under suppression fire. Half the team hit the mech meaning it had a second turn, almost killing Jones with rockets then vaporizing Captain Whiskey with its beam laser. Fortunately it was destroyed soon after, and Derka Derka flanked and killed the suppressing muton with his pistol - only to have its buddy show up and ice him in return.

Once he was dealt with the team had a free run to the control room where another ethereal and his two elite guards waited. First elite was killed via overwatch fire. Then the ethereal came forth and reflected Reloader Jones' missed plasma shots back at him resulting in his messy death. A lucky critical from Blunder Buss followed by a grenade from Buster Downs freed Techno Viking from the mind control just in time to alloy cannon that last elite muton to death. Mission complete!

With that, another month came to a close - now I have full satellite world coverage and all countries are still on board. I got a grade of "B".

Soldiers Lost in the Eighth Month: 6 (including 1 pilot)
Campaign Total: 31

Walk like an Egyptian

Part of my XCOM: Defenders of the Earth series!

After our last encounter I decided (finally) to deck out my troops in the best gear I could afford, raising funds by selling corpses and debris (seriously). Another titan suit with a few plasma sniper rifles and heavies. Wish I could sell the 52 scientists and Dr. Vahlen too since they are out of things to research, but there's some law against slavery so I'd have to kill them first for my corpse purchaser. Before I could give the order to do just that, the bald man interrupted with a call asking to get some important data from a building in Egypt. Possibly the Matrix Trilogy. With my high ranks in hospital I sent Buster Downs, Blunder Buss, Techno Viking, McCarthy, and Reloader Jones led by super-chick Captain Alpha. Surely superior equipment will make up for their lack of experience!

Mr. Anderson, welcome back. We missed you.

And it DID! Ofcourse it helped that the twelve idiot thin men liked to cluster together, giving an easier time to eliminate bunches of them with explosives. They managed to land some hits too, but in the end Alpha rallied her panicked team to complete the mission with no casualties. They also rescued Major Sledge, a techxpert working at the facility who now joined the team. Feeling cocky (for a chick) Alpha then went with Hitler, Okada, Derka Derka, McCarthy and Airhead to stop abductions on a major highway in Brazil. A squad of elite mutons combined with a cyberdisk and heavy jetpack team put the hurt on early. Airhead opted to stay out of cover to provide sniper cover against a flanking floater, blowing his brains out. An elite then did the same to her, making her live up to her name. McCarthy got a lucky shot against the cyberdisk, downing it before it could fire but then one of the elites grabbed his head and shoved its heavy plasma down his throat and fired, the shots tearing out of his rear.

The rest of the team fought back and eliminated the remaining elites, advancing cautiously with Alpha taking high ground on a bus. A second squad of heavy floaters attacked, critically wounding Alpha as she fell off her perch and panicking Okada into doing a rambo-like move and blasting the hell out of one of them. Unfortunately this put her in the open and she was cut down soon after. Luckily Hitler and ex-terrorist Derka Derka saved the day, eliminating the remaining foes. Mission complete!

The Titan Project

Part of my XCOM: Defenders of the Earth series!

Soldiers Lost in the Sixth Month: 1
Campaign Total: 21

A large UFO appeared over Egypt just as the month came to an end and despite the best efforts of my Firestorm and Raven interceptors stationed there the crafty craft got away, leading me to get a grade of "B" at the end of month six. With almost all the world having satellite coverage now and good funding coming in (everyone still backing XCOM) I put in an order to get more Firestorms out there and to outfit them all with plasma cannons. Also, I finally decided to buy some armor for the troops now that there are people worth protecting - getting three suits of heavy titan armor constructed, which would see near to immediate use as a large UFO had landed in Mexico (maybe the one that got away from Egypt).

Sent Gravedigger, Techno Viking, Guy Smiley, Blunder Buss, Buster Downs and our second Psionic - Adolf Hitler to investigate. After eliminating the thin men and heavy jetpack boys guarding outside I got the team to circle around the craft to try something new. Buster Downs lobbed a grenade at the control compartment, revealing a pair of sectoid commanders who were easily gunned down by the surprise attack. From that position they also then exploded the opposite wall from which some wierd noises were coming from, revealing a muton team standing beside an alien powersource. A rocket from Hitler followed by good shooting put them down quick... and then came the cavalry in their blood red armor.

Not quite.

These elite muton bastards had armor to match our titan suits and put up a huge fight, injuring a number of the team and killing Guy Smiley with a ridiculously distant grenade throw. Eventually Techno Viking managed to flank them and really pour on the hurt, with Gravedigger mindflaying one to death. They were the last enemies on this site. Mission complete!

Authority Equals Asskicking

Part of my XCOM: Defenders of the Earth series!

Soldiers Lost in the Fifth Month: 7
Campaign Total: 20

After a combat filled month it was time for another council meeting where I still netted a grade of "A". Due to my lack of troops I recruited five more (all I could afford since the rest of the funds went into base and firestorm construction). I should point out that I'm just using alien tech from captured aliens, not creating my own yet. Also, all my troops are only using the basic armor, again due to funding cuts! :P  Anyway, the five new squaddies (thanks to the new guy perk at the Officer Training School): Buster Downs, Guy Smiley, Techno Viking, Blunder Buss, and Reloader Jones were led into their first sortie by Panicman to stop abductions from a graveyard in Australia. Aliens and corpses again... I'll not speculate. Despite some morale breaks they handled the "light" level enemy force of mutons and floaters pretty well and with no casualties.

Their reward was being joined by the local graveyard keeper, Captain Whiskey, who got tested right away as he was sent to Vancouver with Alpha, Big Mike, Bald Witch, Hitler and the Italian to handle a terror attack there. Squads of mutons, a new heavy floater type (sounds like a big poo), and a deadly cyberdisk were the enemies and due to them all coming one after another the team was hard pressed to stay alive... let alone save civilians. Unfortunately the Italian took a face full of gatling laser fire sending his flaming and charred corpse into a nearby car (which then exploded). The others took damage too, but they methodically cleaned out the threat and saved 11 out of the 18 civilians in the area. Thankfully there were no chrysallids!

Upon their return they had one more shock, learning that one of their team mates was psychic (thanks to the new Psionics Lab in the base). Gravedigger has more than a big rifle it seems, he also has a big head. Bondi Vet and Panicman, who also underwent the testing were found to be not as gifted. I then sent our first Psi-voodoo guy with his two fellow psi-test compatriots along with Airhead, Whiskey, Derka Derka to stop abductions in a small Nigerian shopping strip. All aliens were neutralized WITHOUT any of my team taking damage! Better yet, Panicman has reached the highest rank of Colonel.

Psychic =/= Psionic.