More than Nothing: Skunks

[Part of the Party Time journal]

Years of peace living at Belesia has seen our heroes honing their abilities rather than idling by and doing nothing. Now Ughhh (Juris) can command a single target with one word for a short duration at conversation range, Moomba (mom) can turn herself and her gear invisible for as long as she holds her breath, Raah-min (Rose) can teleport "sprint" distance, and Jerghon G (DL) can use... smooth jazz? Ooookay. To balance all these a little they cannot spam these powers, each having a one turn "cool down" to keep it simple.

Eventually they are summoned by Lord Valois to a war council where they learn his cousin the King of Belesia passed away without an heir, and because the King married a Nakatskuni (a race of giant sized Japanese people, also derogatorily called "Skunks" ) noble woman the closest male relative to the crown is now Edo Wardthri, the current king of Nakatskuni! As the Belesian lords don't like that they've elected Lord Valois to be the new king instead which has upset King Edo who has launched an attack to claim "his lands".

Deployed with Marshal Poi deNa, their first battle is to hold Saint-Omer against the invading "skunks" where Ughhh simply opens the gate and walks out to accept a duel challenge that turns out to be a trap... for them, because that puts him into conversation range and he convinces their leader to basically surrender.

They then pursue the forces of Prince Yushun (Edo's son) in the North who hold a high hill and make use of their giant bows to annihilate much of the Belesian cavalry before Raah-min can get close enough to teleport up there and take them and the Prince out, while ambushers from the woods are stunned and confused by Jerghon G's "smooth jazz" which proves to be their undoing. 

The next mission involving stealthily poisoning enemy supplies during a storm at Black Pool sands is easily handled by the invisible Moomba who times her power to dodge the patrollers. Summoned by King Valois to bring forces across the Bergerac bridge the team loses only a small portion of cavalry men against the flanking archers and blockades to reach a massive field battle where both kings are present.

Casualty rates are high as half of King Valois own soldiers turn against him due to bribery but our heroes still come out on top, though they are all badly wounded and the last soldiers standing. 

[Inspired by the Hundred Years' War]

More than Nothing: Blood Hex

[Part of the Party Time journal]

(Using Jenga) The prisoners get the key from the dead fat guard who choked on his tea then fight their way out of the guard house to find themselves at the courtyard patrolled by a bunch more guards whom they sneak past to get to the West Wing of the manor where they sneak into the stables and knock out the stable hand, take a bunch of horses and try to flee. But no, they do not get far enough as the bell rings out and an explosion follows killing them again and restarting the loop.

This time around they move quicker as the things they've succeeded in are already auto-successes. They get out, cross to the West Wing and beat up a pair of hall guards before breaking into Duchess Verona's room, Ughhh KO-ing her, finding a silver blade and Moomba KO-ing the guard captain in his office - finding he's the one who set the trap (hating having his friends been drafted into a crusade which they didn't return from ). They also get into a messy library where Raah-min convinces the old librarian to help them find the Bridgerton Blood hex (he was sleeping on it) and learn how to disarm the "bomb". They need a silver blade, blood from a fresh corpse and leviathan blood to pierce the bomb made of six baby hearts (anything else sets it off).

So they KO the stable hand again and get blood from the recently beheaded guy stored there then sneak to the East Wing kitchens, dodging the busy chefs to get to the pantry where there's a bottle labeled leviathan blood. With everything in hand they sneak up to the bell tower and disarm the bomb just as Papa Smorfonof and his entourage arrive. Then, as before, they get to the stables to steal the horses and flee - escaping both the palace grounds and the time loop with more than nothing, especially as having been etched with mystical tattoos has improved each of their powers a little bit!

They ride hard for Belesia (back to normal rolling encounters), and bypass many injustices done by the Numerologist Inquisition "to save time". Good thing they help out a medicine woman about to be burned by an angry mob calling her a witch though, as she points them towards a shortcut. A lone Inquisition agent catches up to them but is easily beheaded by Jerghon G before he can do anything.

Soon enough they reach the border, and Belesian sentries take them in while the remaining Inquisition pursuers back off, not wanting to start a war with another nation. Soon they are taken to Lord Valois who welcomes them and gives them residency and citizenship in his lands in exchange that should the need arise, they be available to be called upon for service.

[Inspiration from Long may she Reign and Suffer Not]

More than Nothing: Captives

[Part of the Party Time journal]

Years after their victory at Skydagger the Numerologist zeal has grown oppressive and our heroes are seeking other answers to life. Surely there is more than nothing in the fields of science and magic!?

Ughhh works on the power of convincing
Moomba works on the power of invisibility
Raah-min works on the power of teleportation 
Jerghon G works on the power of... jazz? wtf? 

Too bad for them before they get far in their studies they are arrested as heretics by the Inquisition and with burlap sacks on their head are taken to the courtyard of Duchess Adele Verona who beheads another prisoner ahead of them. Due to time constraints they are taken away to a prison pit while the rest of the court prepares for the arrival of Papa Smurf. 

In prison pit they meet a tattooed guy who is concerned about their presence there and says the future itself depends on them listening to him. A powerful blood hex is in the bell tower, a trap to eliminate Papa Smorfonof and everyone within a few miles. To have any chance of survival they need to disarm it before it explodes and escape North to Belesia where they won't be persecuted.

As the chubby guard above dies from drinking tea, the tattooed man continues "there's no time to explain. It's called the Bridgerton Blood hex and everything they need to know is in a book in the library in the West Wing." He needs to do one more thing to give them a chance to survive this and proceeds to violently kill himself with a rock while chanting, splattering his blood and tattoos onto them!

Then there is a sound of a bell ringing and a moment later an explosive sound erupts from the grounds. A red wave of energy passes through the walls and quivers with heat distortion as they feel their blood boil and flesh drip away from their bones. Then all is darkness... and then the burlap sack is removed from their heads and they find themselves back in the courtyard as they arrive, now caught in a time loop. Only this time the tattooed man is gone, and they already have pieces of his tattoos.

Moomba gains a bird tattoo
Raah-min gains a unicorn tattoo
Ughhh gains a possum tattoo
Jerghon G gains a tattoo of "an anthropomorphic wolf playing clarinet"

For fun all skill checks here use Jenga now, and any collapse of the tower reset the time loop but the "difficulty" (number of pieces to pull) reduces as their characters gain knowledge from each loop.

[Inspiration from Long May She Reign]

Neagley and Mr Inbetween

Two good TV series that somehow involve Damon Herriman.

Neagley

This spin off from the Reacher TV show follows the titular Frances Neagley (played by Maria Sten), a private investigator who comes across a case involving a personal connection to herself. The pacing, writing and action sequences here are all really nice - comparable to Reacher actually, and while the big man does have some cameos here Neagley quickly demonstrates that she's not really one to be messed with either. Recommended and off to an impressive first season start. Definitely worth trying if you are enjoying the Reacher TV series.  

Mr Inbetween

This three season Australian dark-comedy crime drama follows the life of Ray Shoesmith (played by Scott Ryan) who "works in security" (he's a hit man). It's a very down to Earth affair that's as likely to show Ray looking for some "dimmies" drowned in soy sauce and having a hilarious or heartfelt time with his friends and family as it is showing him hunting people down and forcing them to dig their own graves in the dead of night. While not a big budget production, the writing, acting and cinematography is top notch. I especially enjoyed the violent bits that add a level of realism compared to the standard fare. This one is definitely worth watching! Highly recommended! 

The Librarian: Quest for the Spear, Return to King Solomon's Mines, Curse of the Judas Chalice

The first three Librarian movies!

Easily described as a low budget but funnier Indiana Jones, these campy adventure films all share a comedic slant, dated special effects, kinda bad action sequences but have decent plots, and star the charismatic Noah Wyle as protagonist Flynn Carsen.

Flynn is a "perpetual student" who is really smart but doesn't do so well with people is finally "kicked out" of college and is forced to look for work. A letter for a job in the Metropolitan Public Library sounds like a good fit for him except this isn't any ordinary library... no, this one stores and protects magical artifacts in its basement complete with campy old special effects to go with them. He quickly learns that part of his job is retrieving other artifacts out in the world before "bad guys" can get them. 

While I really liked these flicks I think the easiest way to see if you like it is if you enjoy the first one: Quest for the Spear, because the other two are in the exact same tone and hilariously, seemingly in the exact same budget effects wise. They do each continue to grow Flynn's character and are not "the same movie three times" which I do appreciate. Thumbs up from me!

Wildcat, Terror on the Praire and Deep Cover

Where bullets never hit unless the plot decides they should.

Wildcat

This action film follows ex-spec ops Ada (played by Kate Beckinsale), who calls on her old comrades and buffoon of a brother to pull off a heist to save her young daughter. Why didn't they just go rescue the daughter directly and why does the already small team split up to do their individual side-quests? To fill/pad out the runtime! One of those said side-quests could have been cut out all together and it would have improved the film. Also Kate's no longer the action-vixen she was in the Underworld movies (now she's just a vixen :P), and her melee skills now detract to the whole thing. There's also friendly fire incident is also pretty bad as is the way the film tries to handle Ada's brother's character who definitely should have been left at home as he just puts everyone in danger all the time. Not recommended.

Terror on the Praire

This Western has Gina Carano starring as a normal wife trying to eke out a living on the inhospitable frontier, and that's before a band of bad dudes shows up at her door! While the boiled down main story of this is ok, they sure put a lot of filler scenes to the point I think the movie runtime could be cut in half and still be able to tell its story. Also while I do like that our protagonist really is not very bright and definitely terrible at shooting, that just makes it harder to fathom why the bad guys have such low morale in shootouts, continually being pushed back after what seem to be decent enough tactics to close ground. You outnumber your cornered and unskilled prey. WTF guys. Not recommended.

Deep Cover

When a trio of stand up comedians are recruited by law enforcement to act as undercover operatives it puts their improvisational skills to the test as they quickly find themselves getting into deeper and deeper trouble as what's supposed to be a superficial job somehow gets them deep into layers of organized crime. There are some decent laughs to be had in this comedy, but to make it work it is filled with silly bad guys and plot armor saves like you wouldn't believe. All up an OK flick if you have nothing else to watch.

Drowning in too many things

Hmm, that's actually a good title for a de-cluttering type of post but it's actually just the continuation of my work overload. On the plus side, I've found a good set of youtube tracks to listen to that gets me in the working mood. AI generated cyberpunk synth music? It's pretty cool.

Here are a few of my regulars:
1999 - Drift into Memory 
2088 - Protocol: Airstrike
1999 - Momentum Over Fear 
1996 - Neural Link Broken
1989 - Walk Through Fire

The Friday night game sessions are currently Ready or Not, which is a FPS law enforcement game that reminds me a lot of SWAT3. DL has a video of one of our play throughs of that for those who prefer a more visual stimulus. :)