Vikings: Valhalla and The Fall of House Usher

TV shows with blood and killing!

Vikings: Valhalla

This three season show is a sequel to the Vikings TV show but set enough years forward that none of the original cast are around anymore and only get name dropped on occassion. Acting wise the new cast aren't any worse and the story still involves a number of decent fight scenes and court intrigue, though this time it also spans much greater distances. While the ending certainly feels like they "ran out of time" its still an entertaining enough watch - especially if you liked the original. That sword cuts both ways though, because if you didn't like the original series you're better off staying away as this is pretty much more of the same.

The Fall of House Usher

This modern single season horror series based on the work of Edgar Allan Poe follows the rise and, as per the title, catastrophic fall of the Usher family who are both criminally wealthy and very much on borrowed time. Nice cinematography and there's a good amount of blood and gore, but the early part of the story relies more on disturbing jump scares for its injection of horror which (apart from one excellent one) isn't really useful, because the audience is told from the get go who is dead, how they died and that there's a character "seeing things". The nature of the antagonist is what kept me watching though, and the writers really dangle that hook out there with each passing episode. If you like horror then you might enjoy this one, but you need to stick with it as it gets stronger the more episodes in you get.

Dragonheir: Sailing Away

[Part of the Cursed story line.] 

Getting to season two for this game is a unique process where people who have "finished" all the content of season one at the allotted time are whisked away into a new server and are rewarded currencies based on how well the did in their previous season (and there are apparently four seasons of this now). 

While you keep all your RNGesus picked companions, all of them and your main character are back to level one with no gear so that you can grind up once more not only by doing the new stuff which involves saving an island of elves from some frisky sahaugin merlings but also by returning to the mainland to grind previously cleared combat zones which now feature different (and much harder) challenges. The elemental pairs also rotate to keep you on your toes which means my main party changed to be Fire Main / Horrus / Journ / Ripekas / and Estella for some heals.

The actual season one end boss is an illithid dragon?

The restarting thing is a bit annoying but could have been ok if the leveling back up was done better or differently (which I believe is something they mentioned in their road map). Not that it matters though as the game just issued a "Termination of Service for the US Region" for sometime in September, furthering angering the players who have paid real money on the game (already angry since the pay to win stuff they bought doesn't carry over to this season). This supposedly ties into USA's ban of Tiktok, as the company that owns Tiktok just bought Dragonheir and have a dispute with some US laws. I guess its best to bury this one now

Midnight Suns: The Big D

[Part of Superhero Stories]

The creepy castle was right where Deadpool said it would be, and while Blade was slightly disappointed that the merc gave the information freely he was still surprised by the sight he beheld as soon as he stepped inside. Hemalisks, bulky table sized egg sacs that these vampires hatch from, littered the main hall between which patrolled a good number of the already hatched blood suckers. Upon the throne sat a dark skinned beauty with long white hair who was instantly recognizable apart from the blood red color in her eyes that carefully followed the daywalker's every move.

"I heard the X-men are having it rough these days since the passing of Professor Xavier," Blade said loudly, "but it looks like you went straight to the bottom of the barrel, Storm. What's the matter? Needed to find a new daddy with a big 'D' to teach you how to suck?"

"My master Dracula will be most pleased when I bring him your head," she replied angrily as she rose into the air. "Storm is dead. I have been reborn as Bloodstorm!"

Don't ask how she spawns those Hemalisks...
Also I'm surprised Dracula does exist in the Marvel Universe!

Blade quickly dodged to to the side as she began sending tornadoes at him, destroying many of the Hemalisks and vampires as they gave chase. The ones missed by the tornadoes were caught by the vampire hunter's sword and glaive. Bloodstorm hissed as she changed strategy and nailed Blade with a lightning strike, sending him crashing into the throne. His response was to visibly click a detonator in his hand which triggered all the bombs he had been throwing near the supporting pillars during their clash.

As the entire structure began to shake, Bloodstorm glanced up briefly with worry. This distraction is all the time Blade needed to quickly boost forward and drive a stake into her heart as the castle started to crumble all around him. A harshly whispered "You lose bitch," was the last thing Bloodstorm heard as she died.  

Confident that the destruction would flatten all the remaining hemalisks and vampires, Blade sheathed his weapons, adjusted his shades, and calmly walked out the front door over Bloodstorm's ashes.

Midnight Suns: Sticky Fingers

[Part of Superhero Stories]

Hearing his name spoken in a heavy, threatening manner Dr. Morbius groggily opened his eyes to find he was still bleeding out on the floor of his secret underground laboratory. A vampire, bleeding out? The irony wasn't lost on him as he recognized the figure looming above him. "Just my luck that the daywalker finds me today," he spat. "Why were these other vampires attacking you?" questioned Blade menacingly.

"They weren't the problem," Morbius replied weakly while gesturing to a number of mangled vampire corpses strewn about the place. "It was that arsehole mercenary who took my freshly made sunlight vial... can you believe he actually tried to finish me off with a steak?" he chuckled, the rotting ribeye still next to him. Blade wasn't in the mood for laughs and picked him up by his collar with one hand. "You were making a serum to let vampires walk in the sun!?"

"Couldn't let you have all the fun could I?" Morbius could barely finish grinning before Blade beheaded him to finish him off for good. The daywalker then used his keen sense of smell and incredible speed to track down this merc who as it turns out, hadn't gone very far yet as he was sauntering down a narrow alley in his red spandex. "Hey, ass-clown!" called Blade with his weapons drawn. Deadpool turned around in surprise. "Blade!? I didn't know you did compliments!"

Swords, guns and leather. They've got a lot in common.

"Hand over the sunlight vial now," hissed the vampire hunter as he pointed his Uzi at Wade. "You mean this little thing?" taunted the mercenary as he pulled out a yellow looking vial to display. "Nuh uh, I'm not..." before Deadpool could finish that sentence the vial broke as Blade shot it out of his hand, peppering Deadpool's arm with bullets. "Oh you've done it now," grumbled the merc as he drew his own two blades and charged. "And if this idiot typing the story knows anything at all, its that you have no chance against... WHAT THE F...!?"

Deadpool's movement and train of thought was interrupted as he was covered in a sticky white substance. "Oh, its WEB. Phew, I thought this was going someplace totally different for a second there..." exhaled Wade as he harmlessly fell over and Spiderman descended while hanging upside down behind the daywalker. "I had him," grumbled Blade angrily, causing Parker to apologetically keep quiet after a weak "I'm sorry..?"

Blade didn't hear it. Instead he turned back to the helpless Deadpool while cracking his knuckles. "Now you're going to tell me all about your employer..." 

Midnight Suns: Coming Doom

[Part of Superhero Stories]

By the time Blade, Illyana Rasputin and Nico Minoru found Tony Stark's body, the sun had set and the battle was long over. Screams and a familiar scent from below caught the Daywalker's attention. "Vampires," he muttered to his companions, clearly eager to do his job. "Go get them dude," approved Nico, the defacto leader of their little Midnight Suns group. "Illyana and I have got this." With a nod, Blade put on his shades and leapt off the building.

"I didn't know he could fly," said Nico in disbelief. "He can't," replied Illyana cooly. "I just opened a gate for him over the edge to help him land safely. Now are we going to get the name or what?"

Game wise Nico starts pretty weak where as Magik is consistently strong.

Nico nodded. Due to the Darkhold seemingly always falling into evil hands there was a fail safe: the final page was ripped out and given to a guardian care taker whose name only two people knew: the sorcerer supreme Doctor Strange, of whom nothing was left, and Tony Stark. "Who has the final page of the Darkhold?" she asked Tony's corpse, followed by planting her Staff of One between them like a microphone. "ANSWER!" she commanded. In a sickly fashion Tony's corpse opened its eyes and responded with a whispered "Johnny Blaze" before being still once more.

"Looks like we're going to the circus," said Illyana non-nonchalantly as she used her sword to open a portal there and right into danger. The Quentin Carnival was already on fire and Johnny - an ex-Ghost Rider - was already having the Darkhold's final page extracted from his body by Wanda/Lilith herself, guarded by a mind controlled green giant who angrily looked their way. "HULK SMASH!" he yelled but before he could do anything, Nico used her staff once more. "SLEEP!" Overcome by the magic, the brute transformed back into Doctor Bruce Banner and collapsed limply at Wanda's feet, just as she finished retrieving the page from Johnny's fried corpse.

Not wasting a beat Illyana then warped herself right beside Wanda and stabbed through the Darkhold right into her with a special dagger. "It's made from a piece the dark god you were trying to summon," she explained with a wry smile to the perplexed villain. "You little bi.." started Wanda as she grabbed hold of Illyana's arm. Suddenly the space around the Darkhold warped, sucking in Wanda, Illyana, Johnny's corpse and the sleeping Doctor Banner into it. "NO!" screamed Nico as she moved forward to the book but suddenly took a bullet to the head, killing her instantly.

"Amateurs," spat Doctor Doom dismissively as he calmly holstered his Mauser pistol and picked up the Darkhold. Everything was going according to plan.

Midnight Suns: For the Mother

[Part of Superhero Stories]

"Impossible," muttered Doctor Strange as he fell to his knees on the marble tiles of his Sanctorum, a gaping bloody hole through his chest. "Foolish sorcerer supreme," taunted Wanda as she gently floated towards him, clutching the Darkhold in one hand with her eyes glowing an unnatural hue of green. "I am Wanda no longer! You now face Lilith, the mother of demons!" With a horrible realization Doctor Strange screamed as he let loose one final spell that exploded into a swarm of butterflies.

"For the Mother!" screamed a mind-controlled Hydra soldier as he foolishly charged Iron Man with a stun baton, only to be blasted off the roof of the Avengers tower. "Where is Hydra getting all these clowns?" asked Tony over the comms as he continued to blast more Hydra soldiers away while launching rockets at the helicopters that were taking turns in either dropping off more troops or firing directly at him. In the distance he spotted "the Chimera" a SHIELD helicarrier also under Hydra assault when suddenly it exploded in a massive green cloud that fell upon the city. Tony Stark had to take a moment watching that, fighting every urge to go help as he knew he couldn't leave the Avenger's tower defenseless. "Jarvis, please tell me there are survivors!"

But it wasn't Jarvis who replied, instead it was Doctor Bruce Banner: "Tony, the Sanctum is gone." This had to be some terrible nightmare - who on Earth could take down the Avengers so easily? As usual Tony moved quickly from panic to shoveling blame barking "Where are you Bruce!? Things are falling apart over here and you're god knows where not even helping!" as he continued to battle the seemingly endless Hydra soldiers who seemed determined to simply overwhelm him with numbers.
 
"I am helping! I'm quite surprised your password for everything is still 'I AM IRONMAN' though," replied Banner. Suddenly the kill switch in the Iron Man suit activated and the armor self-stripped from the billionaire just as more Hydra troopers arrived with assault rifles drawn, mortally wounding him under a hail of gunfire. Collapsed in a pool of his own blood, Tony could only ask one thing as Hydra forces moved in to finish him off... "why?" Banner replied coldly. "For the Mother."

Bullets work just fine if he doesn't have his armor.

Trigger Warning and Under Paris

Movies with strong female leads?

Trigger Warning

When a military level operative (Jessica Alba) returns home due to her father's suspicious death, she decides to investigate for herself. There is a fair bit of action but the quality is only of ho-hum level, putting it just slightly better than the story itself. The part that most annoyed me but also made me laugh is just how "stealthy" the main character is (she isn't) but no one can freaking see her if she crouch walks apparently, regardless of what she is wearing and/or if they're staring right at her. Not really recommended unless you want to be "triggered". :P

Under Paris

Due to pollution (I guess?) sharks are mutating / evolving and one huge shark finds its way into the Seine and as per the title says "Under Paris". While the CGI and premise are ok, the plot details and acting aren't the best. I really hate the animal activists / environmentalists lens on the whole thing as the "saving the shark" thing is what causes the most problems and gets people killed. That said, I do like that the shark isn't the "bad guy". Sure it eats, defends itself and can get mad but its all usually reactionary to something people did (usually our -inept- strong female characters). I also think this movie features the "cleanest garbage in ocean" shot I've ever seen and I really enjoyed the ending. Even with all that I'm still not recommending this one as the bad still outweighs the good.

Sweet Tooth Manifest

Two TV series that have endings!

Sweet Tooth

When babies start being born with animal traits and a deadly pinky-shaking virus spreads among the remaining pure blooded humans it spells the end of the world, but somehow in this bleakness there is also hope and integrity thanks to a little deer boy named Gus (excellently played by Christian Convery) as he is forced to venture out into a dangerous world but still makes many friends in the process. Good writing and good characters make this three season show easy to watch and to recommend! Something here for everyone I think. :)

Manifest

This four season show follows the passengers of flight 828 who for mysterious plot device reasons arrive 5 years later than they are expected to and begin experiencing hallucinations and instructions that need to be followed... "just because"! The hook is interesting enough to get started but the gimmick really is an odd one that barely makes any sense. However the series as a whole does get stronger as it goes along despite characters taking turns with the idiot ball. An OK show and one you should at least try out, but if you are only going to watch one of these then Sweet Tooth is the winner.

The New Mutants (Movie), Freshly Frosted & Redout II

A throwaway trio.

The New Mutants (Movie)

Taking place almost exclusively in a facility where (very few) teenagers have just begun manifesting their mutant powers, the teens begin experiencing their worst fears after their newest arrival. This might work for a standard horror but since it's X-men based its very hard to be scared for them as they each have freaking supernatural abilities to defend themselves. Outside of the very brief moments where they do, the rest of the film feels really slow which is bad given it's only got a 1.5 hour runtime. There are ways to have made this scarier and better, but this end result is not something I'd recommend watching.

Freshly Frosted

One of the strangest production line building puzzle games given that its just someone imagining it while staring at the clouds, I do like the simplicity of at least the first few levels especially since its all just about laying conveyor belts with super easy controls and nothing else. Very chill too, but obviously I'd prefer to be eating donuts than playing this. :P

Redout II

This futuristic roller coaster racer is the improved version of Redout as it now offers training courses, a campaign and competitive head to head racing against up to 12 players online. Obviously still not for me as I'm terrible at racing games and am still confused at the difference between turn and strafe and the combinations of the two, but I do like that they removed the explodey "temp death" for the virtual training tracks at least.

Guardians of the Galaxy: The Split

[Part of Superhero Stories]

The trip back to their unofficial headquarters at Knowhere (a colonized severed head of a giant Celestial floating in space) was a quiet one with Gamora upset at the loss of Nebula, Peter upset at the loss of Drax, Rocket upset at the loss of the treasure and Groot saddened by the state of the team. As soon as they landed, Gamora was the first one off with all her things slung over her shoulder and Peter not far behind, chasing her.

"I want nothing more to do with any of you!" she yelled angrily behind her, but Peter wouldn't be dissuaded so she turned around to look him in the eyes. "I'm joining the ravagers. Goodbye Peter, next time warm your bed with the rodent!"

"Yeah, that ain't happening Quill," piped in Rocket having over heard from the base of the gangway.

"Rocket, just wait for me while I talk some sense into Gamora OK?"

Rocket nodded and gave Peter the thumbs up, and as soon as he was two hundred meters away immediately pulled Groot back into the Milano and took off. "See you never, suckers!" Rocket yelled as he could see Peter mouthing "Oh, come on!" below. "I am Groot?" asked his tree friend. "Well, he's the one who said he'd give me the ship okay? Besides maybe we can form our own Guardians or maybe just do some bounty hunting again for a bit like we used to? I've got just the mark too - just look at him: 'Doctor Spectrum', what a joke. All I see is an easy payday!"

This does not go well for Rocket and Groot.

Back on Knowhere Peter found himself drinking alone a bar having been abandoned by his friends. "What happened Peter Quill? You smell so sad," came a familiar voice echoing in his head as a cold nose nuzzled his hand. Peter looked down to see Cosmo the space golden retriever-labrador looking up at him inquisitively. "I screwed up," Peter sighed. "I was thinking maybe I should take a break and head back to Earth. Maybe my life wouldn't be so messed up right now if I was there."

Cosmo's tail wagged slowly as the dog's voice once again came through telepathically. "I'm not so sure about that. The grass isn't always greener on the other side, da?" Peter couldn't help but pet the good dog on the head.

Guardians of the Galaxy: Table Turning

[Part of Superhero Stories]

With the cup artifact now in his hands, Peter listened closely to Nebula. "You need to put it on that circular altar in the center of the room, and if you turn it right it powers up the artifact. If you turn it left, it will destroy the artifact."

"It's too powerful for anyone to have. We should destroy it," advised Gamora, who was backed by an "I am Groot".

"No, we should use it to revive my family," countered Drax. "And my friends," continued Rocket. "And ... even your mom, Peter."

Peter thought about it for a moment then put it on the altar. "I'm with Rocket and Drax, we can really make use of this," and turned the artifact causing it to begin to shake, crack and glow. "Peter! What did you do!?" yelped a dismayed Rocket. "I turned it to the right! Wait... was it your right or my right?" At this moment the Kree main force arrived, blasting away with their rifles and damaging Peter's jet boots and hitting Nebula multiple times as she moved forward to shield her sister.

Mid-fight the very ground began to shake violently as the cup artifact exploded into tiny pieces, encouraging the remaining Kree forces to flee. "Earthquake!?" yelled Peter. "Unlikely, as we are not on Earth," replied Drax from behind cover. With no feasible exit for the team, Groot encapsulated them all with his branches to cover them as the very floor gave way sending them falling to some large tunnels below and right into the nest of some voracious tunnel worms!

Telltale's delisted game didn't have the best graphics but it was OK.

With an endless assault of the monsters it was clear they needed to get moving, but Gamora wouldn't leave the already expired Nebula's side. "Gamora! She's dead weight, you gotta leave her!" yelled Rocket as he blasted away another batch of worms just as his gun jammed. With little time to let her process her feelings, Peter decided to give an order: "Groot, carry Gamora!" The tree obliged, gently taking the furious assassin into a basket cage on his back while Peter picked up Rocket who was too slow with his little legs.

While it looked like they were making some distance from the little worms, the sudden roar of a huge mother worm alerted them to the new threat that they couldn't outrun. "Oh flark, we're not gonna make it!" cried Rocket as Drax decided to turn around. "Drax, what are you doing?" asked Peter as he ran past him. "I will cherish the time we had, Peter Quill." With both blades out and not looking back Drax leaped at the mother worm with a mighty yell as it came around a corner, knocking it and himself off into a deep and seemingly bottomless abyss.

Guardians of the Galaxy: Holy Grail

[Part of Superhero Stories]

"Guardians of the Galaxy," crackled a transmission on the comms as the Milano's engine's suddenly came back online. "This is Nova Corps, we require assistance and have remotely deactivated your engine disabler. Please respond." Peter stuck his head out of his room and called out "Rocket! You hearing this?"

"Yup! We're all systems go. I say we flark off and leave those cops to whatever trouble they're in; serves em right for keeping us adrift for a week!"

"No, we need to go help them," demanded Gamora as she left Peter's room wearing only his blanket, much to Peter's chagrin. "What?" she asked him defiantly, "It's not like they don't know what we were doing." Without looking up from the book he was reading Drax, lounging on the couch, agreed. "Indeed, we could all hear Peter Quill's squeals the entire week. He was very loud." Groot nodded with a smile.

Quill, you lucky dog.

"Send us your coordinates and we'll be right there," Gamora said into the comm link, having shoved Rocket away and in no time at all the Milano was touching down outside an abandoned temple on a dusty barren planet - remnants of Nova Corp ships and corpses of troopers littering the surroundings and the interior. "Sheesh, it doesn't look like it went well for the Nova Corps," said Rocket, stating the obvious as he kicked one of the bodies.

They followed some dusty stairs down to what looked like a treasure vault, still literred with gems and baubles with a squad of Kree infiltrators standing guard. The Kree opened fire immediately but they were no match for the combined skills of the Guardians of the Galaxy (especially as they had just finished fighting the Nova Corps guardsmen) and as Gamora moved to take care of the last hostile she stopped mid-swing. "Nebula? What are you doing here?"  

"I was hired as a translator for ancient Kree. The pay is good," she responded cooly. "Are you going to raise your weapon and fight us with honor now or stab us in the back later?" asked Drax gruffly. "The pay isn't that good," Nebula replied with one eyebrow raised. "You need to hurry though, their main force will be here soon to retrieve this," holding up a strange cup-like artifact. "Oh yeah? What's it supposed to do?" asked Rocket.

"According to the text, it can raise the dead."

Guardians of the Galaxy: Dead in Space

[Part of Superhero Stories]

"Look whose come crawling back to us," grumbled Rocket having watched the latest transaction take place. Groot, as always, was far more welcoming - offering a beaming smile and a wave as Peter made his way to them. "Guys, I'm sorry," said Peter earnestly. "I could really use your help." Rocket waved him off. "It's always 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry' - until you screw everything up again! What makes you think we're even going to help you this time?"

"Because I'm going to give you the ship." Rocket's ears perked up at this. "No kidding? What do you need?"

By the time the Milano returned to the Nova Corps cruiser there was there was a sizeable fleet around it but none of them stopped what they assumed was more worshipers on the pilgrimage to their new god. With Quill flanked by Groot and Rocket, they walked like the other converted did - a bluff that fooled almost all onlookers until they reached the old man with the worm. "Halt," said a familiar muscular form that blocked their path. "We come to join the promise," Peter said. "I hear your lies, Peter Quill," grumbled Drax as he unsheathed his blades.

"It's pronounced Star-Lord," said Peter as he used his jet boots to hop up and let Groot's roots grab Drax by surprise to toss him into the crowd where Rocket began launching smoke grenades. The old man lifted his robotic arms to fight back when suddenly a blade sliced right through his head, causing his limp body to collapse to the floor. "Gamora?" asked Peter joyfully. "A good assassin waits for their moment to strike," she replied with a smile. Peter couldn't enjoy it though as the black space worm angrily raised itself behind her. Boosting forward he grabbed the burning gem from what was left of the old man's head and rammed it straight into the dark creature before it could strike Gamora from behind, somehow sealing it back into the stone.

Some really good graphics in this game!

With it gone, all those previously mind controlled by it were suddenly released again - the only damage a brief headache. "We need to get rid of that thing," said Gamora as she wiped the blood off her blade. Peter agreed, "I know just the place." With that, the stone was unceremoniously dropped on the dead planet of Vormir where no one would ever think to look for it.

"So uh, when are does this ship become my ship?" asked Rocket as Peter took the captain's chair once again. "Uh... soon!?" was all Peter could come up with. At that moment, the engines suddenly cut out leaving them drifting in space. "Peter Quill, did you forget to pay off the Nova Corps fine?" asked Drax much to the groans of all on board.

Guardians of the Galaxy: A Big Deal

[Part of Superhero Stories]

It was quite the sight from the metal cat walk, a whole platoon of Nova Corps troopers on their knees worshiping a "floating old guy" as Mantis had described, but Peter could see that the strange worm he had accidentally released earlier was hugging the old man's back like a leech, and the orange gem was implanted in his forehead. "Did you really need to see it for yourself!?" hissed Mantis angrily as she snuck up beside him with Drax and Gamora not far behind. "Yeah... I..." stammered Peter before he noticed Drax suddenly stand upright as if possessed, a purple glow eminating from his eyes. "My friends!" announced Drax while addressing the Guardians and catching the attention of all those below. "Come join us in the promise!"

Of course Drax would beat Gamora.

Catching Gamora by surprise, Drax grabbed her by the back of the neck like a kitten and threw her over the side but her assassin reflexes let her twist into a position that took both of them over to fall to the level below. "GAMORA! DRAX!" yelled Peter but Mantis quickly grabbed his hand and led him back the way they came, all the way to the hangar bay where other ships had begun to dock - their crews mindlessly shuffling forward towards worship with the same purple glow in their eyes. As if by instinct Peter just powered up the Milano and took off out of there, dodging the other ships arriving around the Nova Corps cruiser.

Once they were out at a safe distance, Peter killed the thrusters and put his head in his hands. "We have to go back," he said as Mantis put a hand on his shoulder. "Peter, they've got an ever growing army over there and we just have the two of us. Even if we could ask for help from anyone, who is to say they wouldn't be affected too?" Peter sighed. "This is my fault Mantis. I've got to fix this."

"I understand... but could you maybe drop me off somewhere first?" asked Mantis sheepishly. "Don't worry," Peter replied with sudden confidence. "I've got a plan. What do you say to being an advisor to a powerful ruler?" Mantis blinked her big eyes in confusion as she soon found herself in the throne room of Lady Hellbender.

"Peter Quill, I am not running an Earth pawn shop. All transactions are final," spoke the leotard-clad giant of woman. "Lady Hellbender, I'm offering you all your units back plus this empath to serve as your advisor." She looked at Mantis from head to toe, appraising her value. "And you, little one. Is this what you truly want?" Mantis took a minute to think.

"Well... at first I was like really scared, but I can tell you really are passionate about your collection. And you have really cute pets too, so yes - I think this benefits all of us."

Lady Hellbender smiled at this. "Very well, Peter Quill. You have a deal."

Guardians of the Galaxy: It's not Fine

[Part of Superhero Stories]

"NO," was the chorus of Rocket, Gamora and Peter to Drax's suggestion. "But Lady Hellbender's planet is close by and she will pay handsomely if we can capture Fin Fang Foom for her." Rocket rolled his eyes, "Yeah but we also want to live you big lug. There ain't no way we're surviving a fight against that dragon." Drax nodded. "It would be an honorable death," much to the groans of the others.

"I am Groot," suggested Groot which shocked Rocket. "No, no way. Groot... Groot's volunteering to be sold to Lady Hellbender so we can pay the fine. But we're not even going to be considering that right?"

Lady Hellbender does love her animals...

 
Drax, Quill and Gamora looked at each other in silence... and at the twelve thousand units now on their mess table that Lady Hellbender paid for their 'flora colossus'. Rocket decided to stay with him - though as a guest of the Lady instead of as a new pet. "We'll get them back," said Peter quietly to himself for the hundredth time. "Let's just go pay off the fine," said Gamora, disgusted at both at herself and her companions. Only Drax was more positive, musing "At least now it is just the three of us using your toothbrush, Peter Quill."

It wasn't long before the Milano re-docked on the Nova Corps cruiser but this time the hustle and bustle of the Nova Corps crew was noticeably absent. "Where is everyone?" asked Peter out loud as they entered an empty reception area, and all three are surprised to hear "Shhhhh..." in reply from underneath a counter. "Mantis? What are you doing here?" asked Gamora upon discovering their friend. "And why are you whispering?" asked Drax loudly.

"Guys, keep it down!" hissed Mantis. "I was learning how to fly a spaceship and... well... I crashed into some other spaceships and now I'm here to pay my fine but something's not right - I've seen Nova Corps killing each other and worshiping some floating old guy, and I can't leave since all the ships were put into lock down."

"Your ship must be weak. Ours was not locked down," said Drax proudly. "Probably because we arrived after the lock down order was given," explained Gamora. "Really? That's great!" beamed Mantis. "We need to get out of here right n... Peter? Peter! Where are you going?"

Guardians of the Galaxy: What the Flark

[Part of Superhero Stories]

Peter Quill recoiled in pain as he let go of the orange gem sending it clattering off on the metal deck of the abandoned space mining rig, the burning sensation in his hand immediately dissipating as he did so. He quickly drew a blaster with his other hand as he watched a shadowy worm ooze out of this "lucky find" and out a nearby grating and after just five tense seconds the entire (already unreliable) structure began to shake. Without missing a beat he turned tail and ran, back to the hallway where the rest of his team shot him quizical looks while trying to keep upright.

"Peter... what did you do!?" asked Gamora in an accusational tone. "Nothing, I swear! Come on - we need to get back to the Milano before this entire place falls apart!". With more than a little bickering Peter, Gamora, Drax, Groot and Rocket made it back aboard their ship, boosting off the collapsing heap of space debris, out of the illegal quarantine zone and right into a patrolling Nova Corp cruiser just as their engines conked out. An authorative voice came over the comms: "Guardians of the Galaxy, you are under arrest for trespassing into the Quarantine Zone. Prepare to be boarded." The Guardians could do nothing but groan with Rocket muttering "again?" and Groot imparting an unhappy "I am Groot."

Peter named his ship after his childhood crush.

To their surprise, their incarceration only spans a matter of hours before they find themselves back on the Milano, albeit with a new piece of Nova Corps gear attached to the helm. "What did they do to my ship!?" questioned Rocket as he poked at the newly added device. "My ship," corrected Peter. "And that's a disabler. I managed to convince the captain to let us go with just a fine that we need to pay in three cycles. Yeah, she and I go way back."

"What the flark Quill, you sleeping with cops now?" asked Rocket, but Drax's more direct question of "How much is this fine?" is what they all paid attention to. "...seven thousand units," replied Peter with a squirm. "SEVEN THOUSAND!?" exploded Gamora. "Where are we going to get that kind of money!? We'll be lucky to find forty units on board right now." Peter shrugged. "I'm open to suggestions..."

Superhero Stories

Because I'm annoyed at how much filler there is in some of the superhero games I've been playing, I decided to make a cut down version of the stories with my own spin just for fun. AKA fanfiction yerp? :P

Guardians of the Galaxy (2021 game)
Chapter 1: What the Flark
Chapter 2: It's not Fine
Chapter 3: A Big Deal
Chapter 4: Dead in Space
Chapter 5: Holy Grail (delisted 2017 Telltale game)
Chapter 6: Table Turning
Chapter 7: The Split

Midnight Suns (2022 game)
Chapter 8: For the Mother
Chapter 9: Coming Doom
Chapter 10: Sticky Fingers (DLCs)
Chapter 11: The Big D

Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy and Marvel's Midnight Suns

Two marvelous games!

Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy (2021)

This very fun and very beautiful (graphically) take on a Guardians of the Galaxy adventure caught me by surprise a bit as it's quality is truly fantastic with top notch writing and voice acting to boot. While I do enjoy the "huddle" mechanic too (mid combat you can just call a time out to rally your team as the bad guys just stand around I suppose? lol) the fighting and QTEs are actually the weakest part of the game - yet the designers felt that throwing more and more fights was the best way to get filler to pad it out.  Still recommended, but expect a bit of a slog in some parts as wave after wave of the same enemy you fought before gets in your way of experiencing the next part of the story.

Marvel's Midnight Suns

When Hydra somehow raises the mother of demons it's up to a lesser known hero team to step up and save the world, but they've got help from more famous characters from the Avengers and X-men too. While the graphics in this one aren't the best it does also have a decent story, some excellent card and turn based combat, and a customizable "player hero" so that you can really feel you are with the more established ones. That might sound corny but it's actually done really well as it also ties into the story. Again the designers felt forcing you to do a "general" (extra) mission in between each story one was a good way to pad this out but I don't mind it so much here as the combat actually is very good. For long time readers who know how much of a scrooge I am with money, I actually enjoyed this so much that I bought (and finished) all four DLCs. Highly recommended!

Glass (2019), Hit Man (2023) and Blue Beetle (2023)

One of these is not like the other.

Glass

M. Night Shyamalan's "third chapter" of Unbreakable and Split has all the main characters rounded up and put in a psychiatric facility to try be cured of their notions of being "super human". It's definitely a change of pace to your standard superhero fare and the ending might even piss you off, but the tale being told is a good one with the extremely talented James McAvoy actually stealing the show over both Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson's title character. Recommendation for this one is a bit tricky, but I'm pretty sure if you are a fan of James McAvoy and/or Split, you will enjoy this. Also recommended if you just like all of M. Night's movies anyway. :P

Hit Man

If you were playing the "which one is not like the other" game in this post, this comedy movie is the answer. In it a regular but pretty smart guy (played by the exceptional Glen Powell) moonlights as an aide to the police department by pretending to be multiple "Hit Men", catering the "Hit Man" per client and then getting them to admit via recording their intenet to murder people which leads to their arrests. Shenanigans occur when one of his fake personas become better than his regular persona. Unlike Glass, this one is easy to recommend as it is very light hearted and entertaining. Go see it if you haven't yet!

Blue Beetle

Jaime Reyes (Xolo Mariduena doing the best he can with the script) is just trying to get a job to support his poor (but incredibly annoying and obnoxious) family when he becomes selected by an alien Scarab and sentient weapon to turn him into the titular superhero Blue Beetle. I'm going to assume this was made for the younger Mexican audience as the plot really caters to them but boy do I have issues with it. Like, is Jaime really the hero or are all his "heroics" controlled by the scarab anyway? Sure he doesn't want to kill, at the start anyway (and then what happens?). This doesn't stop the rest of his family from totally murdering those generic bad guy soldiers though. Getting grandma to chain gun a whole bunch without taking any hits in return really must get the laughs right? So... yeah. It's that type of movie and despite having the DC budget is the worst of this trio.

Blades in the Heart: Beyond the Barrier

[Part of the Party Time journal] 

A mess of derailed trains ends the track for mom, Rose and DL who follow tracks in the sand up a hill to find all the draftees dead and arranged in a ritual circle with a lone cultist in the middle, guarded by a ghost train. As Rose is flying and holding  her companions, the idiot cultist doesn't notice as DL drops down from right above him, cleaving him in two. DL then deftly dodges the ghost train while shoving a batch of TNT up its choo-choo destroying it in the explosion (as the anchor was on board) - gaining "I am the night" ability which lets him just appear in any scene he wants to (at a cost of stress).

They then take their train backwards to a Snake like cave opening and encounter in a large cavern below, a great Snake demon who had been feasting on cultists that previously sought to take its treasure. It wants to be entertained and play a game but mom says "No, we don't have time for that" which leads to battle. Dodging its acid spit, Rose manages to fly up and hit it with trance powder - making it fall from the stalactites it is hanging from to the floor. Mom then touches it with her Death Manifest power (ticking her clock) and it immediately dies. Closer investigation nets them a voice activated bomb that was actually inside the snake, with the activation word "Ungala-boonga".

They then return to town to pick up Juris and the Pink Fart which they sail to the next ritual site, a cultist ship! Rather than mess around Juris uses all of his ghost powered torpedo TNTs to punch holes in that vessel but its not enough to sink it. Instead Rose uses her new "Ultimate Lie" abilitiy (which can bend reality at the cost of stress) to further open the holes and sink the vessel! Afterwards they dock at the Lost District where Juris asks a swarm of mimic mice (they try complete the shape of things that they're eating) for directions and reach the Old Lord Governor's palace.

Here, DL, Mom and Rose deal with exploding spike ghosts while Juris enters a pitch black force field to face his mistress Quellyn in her own domain. He almost breaks again with traumatic memories such as "remember all those after class times we enjoyed with one another" and "we experimented on our child together!" but is ultimately victorious in electrocuting Quellyn to death, shattering her domain and learning how to make his own (yes, totally stolen from Jujutsu Kaisen :P).

Blades in the Heart: Gluttony and Pestilence

[Part of the Party Time journal]

The following session the team is split up early - mom accepts a challenge from the assassin Steiner who has kidnapped Mother Narya (and put a bomb around her), DL is tricked by Father Yoren (who is actually possessed with his murderous ex Mercy) to go have a drink at the tavern where Grace (his current girlfriend) works, Rose is convinced by her friend Klyra to give herself over to the Ironhook guards as an exchange to get Klyra's brother Harker out, and Juris pursues Roslyn Dimmer (who was once Nyryx's vessel) through a ghost door as she dog-naps Nyryx the second.

Mom wins her duel and disables the bomb, DL one punches to KO and disables the suicide vest of Father Yoren's Mercy, but s/he gets a shot off that injures Grace, Rose simply lets the transfer happen then closes her eyes (turns invisible) and flies away (LOL I forgot she could do that), and Juris gets his corgi back but is left by Roslyn in the ghost realm with some zombie hollows and the demon Master Slane. Alas, zombie hollows can be controlled by his Lord of Nature ability and Slane fights so poorly that the demon is quickly overwhelmed by them and Juris' lightning. Juris then helps the zombies devour him before escaping out of the ghost field and taking Mercy out of Father Yoren, anchoring her to a bottle which he returns to DL (a bottle of Mercy). He also then tinkers with the TNT explosives DL and Mom recovered.

While the others then regroup to take down more ritual sites (as that is the driving tension I'm using with the timer ticking down), Juris decides to go off on his own and gets Matt Demon's help in tracking down Roslyn (who seems capable of ghost field hopping) for some payback. They eventually corner her in the basement of the now defunct Cathedral of the Ecstasy of the Flesh and using a single stick of TNT collapse the structure on her. She almost dies, so Juris bottles her spirit and devours her body.

Meanwhile at the Gaddoc Rail Station, DL, Mom, Rose and Mara go to find all the station staff dead including the passengers on the now parked train from Tycheros. The victims include mom's contact, Veleris, whose journal details a deadly plague spreading in that Northern nation. Following his journal, the heroes (immune because tier VII armor) collect and burn the corpses while Mara informs the authorities. As this is the first train available to them (the previous ones were all ferrying drafted soldiers to the war in the South), they then commandeer this one with DL driving to reach the next ritual sites further out from the barrier.

Blades in the Heart: The Pink Fart

[Part of the Party Time journal]

The next day the team meets Mara, their new liaison to Lord Governor Kotar, who goes with DL and Rose to Bellweather crematorium which had been flagged as another ritual site. The Spirit Wardens within haven't been doing their jobs as they're still being "repaired" by the new master builder Bob, but obviously this is a ruse as Bob is working with the cult. While Bob (in his robot suit) is easily defeated, Rose manages to convince the remaining wardens that they aren't bad and succeeds. Mara is super impressed with this and wants to be her student. As this is one of Rose's dream goals, she gains the ability to fly.

Meanwhile, Juris and Mom work for Lord Elon to find his cousin (Fartinghard) who he believes is in danger. In exchange Elon will divulge a possible new ritual site that's cropped up. While his child workers really do intend to kill him, they haven't yet and they find the slouch blind drunk on his new pink barge. After convincing the murderous kids that they'll "handle it", Juris helps Quill pull Fartinghard's spirit out and put the spirit of Quill's deceased brother in the body. Juris then anchors Fartinghard's spirit to the barge which they rename "the Pink Fart" and take it as their own then succeed their bluff to Elon that Fartinghard's "ok, just drunk". Elon reveals the new location to be near the eelfarms but the team ignores it to first go to the site at the North Hook Lighthouse (via their new boat).

There they encounter a humorous lighthouse keeper hull who is very forthcoming by telling them "don't disturb the ritual upstairs and definitely don't look at the bombs in the basement", so DL disarms the bombs, mom disrupts the ritual site and Juris tries to free the hull of his master's control - but fails. Instead in his mindscape Juris encounters his teacher Quellyn, who reveals she has been keeping him safe by blocking out traumatic memories. Due to his continued interference she lets one return: "Did your best friend Flint ever forgive you for experimenting on his girlfriend's soul?"

This breaks Juris and puts him in a trauma coma so the team grab him and Rose, who decided to check out the nearby masquerade street party being held by (vampiress) Lady Freya Oriolle who wishes to unseat Lady Drake from her magistracy seat, before getting back on the Pink Fart and sailing back to base to recover. For her actions today mom also gains a new ability - she can now "eat" trauma. Hers or anyone else's (for a mystery penalty). Juris doesn't like the sound of that so just prefers to take the trauma hit normally.

Jujutsu Kaisen (Seasons 1-2) and 0 (movie)

It feels like Naruto, but better and bloodier.

This anime features some of the best combat animation I've seen for awhile. Where other series have slow story episodes so that the animators can make some epic fight scenes later on, this one throws that formula out the window with some crazy combat happening almost every single episode! The flip side of course is that the story does dip into silly territory often, to the point that it might be two minor characters you don't actually care about but they're having an epic animated fight. :P

The main premise of the show is a nice one though - our high school protagonist joins a secret group of sorcerer / martial artists to try kill an ultra powerful curse who he happens to be the host for. Thumbs up so far, though on my first watch I did not actually get that the main character is being possessed by the main villain. There are also awkward humor bits (Naruto does this better), and it did take me longer to warm up to the character roster here despite them even making the bad guys have silly and funny moments.

But the best part of this show is that it isn't afraid to kill its characters left, right and center. Things always pick up when that happens and this, along with the aforementioned animation, earns two thumbs up from me. Recommended, and I'm looking forward to season three!

Piracy in the Age of AI

I'm very late (as per usual) compared to others talking about the feats AI can achieve these days, but given that I've now got a chatGPT level spam comment on one of my posts its a good time to get into it. Sure, making essays and stories might be one thing but what impresses me most is chatGPT is able to handle stuff like "make an HTML webpage with a form that lists these countries as a radio set, have character fields for name, email and comment and a submit button" and it will generate the code for you. I wouldn't be surprised if it could handle heavier programmatic requests either!

Then of course there's the AI art side of things where you just type in what you want to see and it makes it for you. For this one I'm using Night Cafe which has some excellent free to use capabilities (but pay for an expanded range of options). It certainly feels like cheating when you get an amazing artwork in under five minutes. This side of things still has obvious limitations especially when it comes to fingers or some requests like: "a spider wearing boxing gloves" which almost without fail produces some form of friendly neighborhood Spiderman. What I want to know is... are these almost-instant codes and artworks plagiarism and piracy? Should be no but also... yes? Regardless, I might start using some of these AI pics on this site just for laughs.

Speaking of actual sea faring piracy, the Chinese coast guard are keeping that alive when they harass Philippine soldiers at sea with swords and axes. Keep in mind both sides have firearms but I assume to keep things from escalating they just stick with medieval level weaponry. This practice isn't just for their ocean forces either as modern Chinese soldiers armed with spears testing their borders with India.

Four more Epics (Sail Forth, Orcs Must Die 3, Circus Electrique and The Big Con)

Tried and skipped, but maybe these are what you are looking for?

Sail Forth

This is a cute sailing game with one major problem for me: I didn't like the sailing controls. That's a pretty big issue since the entire game is sailing, and I never got to the cooler ideas like managing a fleet and such. It might just be a me thing but if you are faced with the same issue I can recommend Windbound which is much better (but a little different since there's a survival component to that one).

Orcs must Die III

In this tower defense game you (and possibly a friend in two player co-op) need to stop the steady waves of orcs from reaching the thing they're not supposed to reach! Place deadly traps and upgrade them and your own weapons between levels to keep them out. Decent graphics but solo tower defense is dull for me. Two player would be better, but with that frame of mind four player would be even better by simply switching game to Dungeon Defenders which is really neat (and we really got into it back in the day). That said Dungeon Defenders is more traps reliant so if you like fighting things yourself, you might prefer this one.

Circus Electrique

The reopening of your local circus has caused the local robot / android populace to go mad. Now it's up to you to continue to hire performers and send them out into combat ala Darkest Dungeon style while also running the circus, because apparently everyone else doesn't care about this strange turn of events and still come in droves to be entertained. An unexpected union of genres with some decent art and easy to understand mechanics but for those who have already played Darkest Dungeon this might not be "the next best thing". That said it is easier than Darkest Dungeon so if you wanted that type of "row of four of your guys fighting a row of four bad guys" type thing that isn't so punishing, this might be your jam.

The Big Con

Faced with the prospect of losing property to debt, you set out to make money the best way you know how: by making other people lose property through swindling and theft! Not sure what the game is trying to teach people here and it has an art style that you might other dig or hate, but because it is the most unique of these four I spent the most time with it especially since it rewards exploration and there are a ton of optional things you can do to reach your target dollar figure faster. Not a bad game in the entertaining sense but it might pose some moral issues? Haha, yeah if they let me kill the people before/after robbing them then it would be ok right? I think my compass is broken. :P

Mad Max (1 2 3 and Fury Road)

Driving in the wasteland!

Mad Max (1979)

It's a grim future in the Australian outback, but hey at least there are still police around right? One said copper is Mad Max (Mel Gibson) who is decent at driving and gets at odds with a drugged out of their brains criminal bike gang. The story isn't great and its obviously dated badly. There are even shots where characters walk farther away and start to have to yell because there is no mic following them away! Really its just the physical stunt work that this has going for it as after watching it I was amazed that anyone would have green lit a sequel! Not recommended.

Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981)

The future from the first film just got a lot darker with a great war really screwing up the world. This time Mad Max (still Mel Gibson) is just looking for some fuel and instead comes across a convoy being harrassed by bandits. With a welcome guest star of scene stealer Bruce Spence, this is a huge step up from the first movie as not only do the amazing stunts persist here but the story is actually a very decent one. It's the best of Mel Gibson's Mad Max movies for a reason! Recommended!

Mad Max: Beyond the Thunderdome (1985)

After getting robbed Mad Max (Mel Gibson again) needs to trade his skills for gear in the huddled trading post of Bartertown where things just go from bad to worse. Not just for Mad Max, but for the audience too! The story seems to go off the rails and into Peter Pan land with a focus on child actors who are neither endearing or useful, especially when they intentionally speak "broken Australian"? At least there's an interesting finale and Tina Turner gets to flex her acting chops (she should have been in it more) but unfortunately, its not enough for me to recommend this to anyone.

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

This film continues the trend of Mad Max (this time played by Tom Hardy) getting a shitty start, being enslaved by the War Boys as a blood bag before fate manages to get him behind the wheel of his own life again. A good (albeit simple) story backed with awesome stunts and an increased level of violence make this a very entertaining spectacle to behold. Easily the best of these four movies which should be no surprise given the amount of technological advancements film wise since the previous one. Recommended!

Blades in the Heart: The Old North Port

[Part of the Party Time journal]

As soon as our heroes exit the faux light cycle within the barrier into the cold and unforgiving darkness they are set upon by ghosts but Juris simply commands them to fight each other and succeeds. They do notice that the lighthouse here is strangely active though so they make their way towards it and through some fluff ball filled space which DL recognized (for being a Severosi) at a form of attack by a pair of giant fluff ball centipedes lying in wait (yah, just like the one in Scavengers Reign)! Again though, these are no match for Juris whose Lord of Nature ability simply lets him order these bugs away.   

Approaching the light house they discover the light to actually be burning, AND it's stopped randomly turning and instead trying to target them - but with good rolls they all make it to the door and spot Priestess Aranna here manning a ritual site. Mom lands a head shot with her rifle but the Priestess simply shatters like shards of glass into hundreds of little cockroaches that begin climbing up to the top of the light house. Since the ritual site is right here they decide to step out while Juris lightnings it to destroy it, which is successful but doesn't damage the structure.

They also come face to face with a gigantic rhino / ape summoned horror who is impervious to DL's sword and knocks Rose away, but Rose gets her revenge by succeeding to command it to "just die already", at which point it breaks its own neck and collapses into a pile of quickly evaporating goo. For this Rose unlocks her first dream power - given to her by the man of her dreams (I'm kind of hoping thats me lol) - which is the invisible blink: she turns invisible if she closes her eyes (much to the amusement of the table).

While mom hides below (to complete a dream task), Rose starts climbing up the lighthouse with her eyes closed but DL beats her to the top using circular breathing, reforming right behind the priestess and kicking her off the tall structure to her death (and Juris starts eating her)! The light then slightly burns DL but then is shattered when Rose blinks in at point blank to destroy it with her pistol. With this spirit anchor destroyed, the anchored burning spirit is gone too. Not willing to waste any more time out here the team quickly return into the barrier to recover and regroup.

Blades in the Heart: Ritual Smashing

[Part of the Party Time journal]

Mom, DL, and Rose pass by the Bellweather Crematorium within a huge park whose trees are toxic for people to touch as it was marked as a ritual site but are stopped by a door sized hull who dutifully tells them that they are not permitted inside and to return "never". Since DL doesn't want to hurt this thing just doing its job, he takes the team on to the same club in Nightmarket where they find a handful of drunk cultists guarding a messy ritual site. The drunks are easily disposed of, except one who mom keeps alive (he happens to be a simpleton) so they decide to take him to Ironhook personally.

This act unlocks mom's first dream power, guided by a vision of a giant owl - the "death manifest". She got a vision of her death (which mom surprisingly described as "violent") and now she has a clock to use this power with. Whenever she touches something or someone and wills it, it will die her exact death on the spot. Then her clock will fill based on a dice roll. Should the clock fill up entirely, then she will die in the very same manner.

DL actually also unlocked his first power in the previous post after performing an autopsy on the eel man's head, his guide - Kenny V - taught him "circular breathing" where he can simply transform into air and slowly float around like a ghost (for 3 stress) then reform whenever and wherever he desires. To keep things simple, this technique also magically makes his gear air too, and it comes with him when he reforms.

Anyway, while passing through Coalridge the trio encounter a young girl named Quill who works at the factory, along with other children due to labor shortages. Her eight year old brother Sten had recently been killed in a workplace accident and she wants help in kidnapping the new foreman Fartinghard (previous boss of the fire brigade), to talk to him - also mentioning that some of the other kids are planning on killing him. They ignore this for now and continue to drop off their prisoner in jail before running into a sizeable mercenary force that escorts them to Lord Elon who is slightly upset that they didn't level his bank but at the same time is agreeable in helping them stop the potentially city destroying rituals.

He loans them some heavy barrier crossing kits, and even sends some men to go pick up Juris from Fogcrest who right at that moment was just finishing a battle against a pair of john killing hoes who were also manning a ritual site. Juris called upon birds to distract the women before finishing them off and the gunfire and lightning blasts could be seen from a long way away. When the team reunites they make their way to the barrier's edge to the next ritual site just beyond it, at the old North Port.

Blades in the Heart: The Lord of Nature

[Part of the Party Time journal]

While the others are clearing the docks, Juris decides to head to Lord Strangford's house at Charhollow to follow up on his cult connections and runs into Matt taking care of the butcher's death dogs. Since this is the first time he's encountering Matt I can finally reveal the Matt is a demon. Yep, "Matt Demon". The cringe almost kills Juris IRL but he rolls a 6 to not die. LOL.

Anyway, Matt says the dog's owners - Coran and the other butchers have been drafted into the army, while Adda and the Inkrakes (journalists) were arrested and taken to Ironhook for siding with Strangford. For some coin Matt reveals he's a demon that eats "trade", so he has no quarrel with anyone. He also tells Juris where to find the door his ancient key will open - in the tunnels far beneath the Shield of Dawn district!

Juris thanks him for the into and continues to Strangford manor where he neutralizes and recruits a hull and dodges a trap before finding correspondence that the cult has a fall back plan to nuke the city via luring a leviathan from the ocean with "targeting" rituals. Along with a handy map of where these sites are (some are outside the barrier), he recognizes the handwriting and signature to be Quellyn's - his teacher whom he hasn't seen in years.

As one of the ritual spots is nearby, Juris pays it a visit and sees that its on a barge in the middle of the canal which he boards and encounters cultists led by priestess Aranna. Thanks to good dicing, Aranna spills the beans that the clan hopes to revive the Burned King to defeat the Immortal Emperor and reveals Quellyn is their leader and is in one of the exterior sites. Thanks to Quellyn's desire to recruit Juris, Aranna lets him go and once he is safely back on shore he lightning bolts the barge until it sinks, killing all but Aranna who gets away.

Afterwards he meets up with the others back at base and tells them of his findings and they agree that taking out all the ritual sites is of high priority. While they others head out to do just that (with NPCs Eisele the last gondolier and her new student Jennifer taking care of the one in the bank at the docks), Juris follows Matt's instructions and heads down beneath the district to open an ancient door beyond which he battles a hungry Glazerbu looking like demon and wins (at the cost of a hull bodyguard). Beyond it he finds an ancient box with a broken stag horn within, and following the voice in his head, jams the horn into his own skull.

This is all because it ticks off things on his "dream" sheet, and his visions - guided by what looks like a gigantic Norweigan forest cat - rewards him with some special abilities. He can now eat freshly killed sentient beings to reduce stress (in fact, he has to as he is now addicted to it or suffers stress penalties) and also gains the "Lord of Nature" skill in which he can command low intelligence fauna and flora to do his bidding!

Blades in the Heart: Kicking the Bank

[Part of the Party Time journal]

Just over a week after the Lord Governor's visit, the extremely brief civil war ended with a whimper and the remaining rebels rallied at the docks. Due to the Iruvian and Dagger Isle secession that was announced over this period the military has since shifted focus to a massive draft and are now training new recruits at the closed off Six Towers district. For their previous efforts the Shield of Dawn was granted access to supplies usually restricted to the military forces and are now TIER VII, which is actually higher than the local military forces. While that makes them really tough, it also means gaining XP is going to slow to a crawl as you gain much more when going up against things leagues more powerful than you (and somehow surviving).

I'm also experimenting with something new this "season" with an idea pilfered from Heart RPG (hence the new title) and have made each of my players have a fading dream which states a goal and contains random tasks they vaguely remember doing to reach that goal. Mom wants to rule a nation, Juris seeks to kill the emperor, Rose hopes to rule the ghost veil and DL is somehow going to achieve world peace. I mention that they hear their own voice in their head suggesting they "follow their dream" and then provided them with their dream list. Also, Juris' corgi (whom he names "Nyryx the 2nd") inexplicably shows up with an ancient looking key and drops it at his feet.

Colonel Sanders, liaison to the Lord Governor, again re-iterates the rebel threat at the docks which Rose, mom and DL decide to look into, especially since Rose's tavern keeper friend Klyra has gone missing ever since some Ironhook Prison guards (who are now doing double duty as police since the original police force has been wiped out) came around looking for her and that is one possible district she fled to. En route a cloaked Lord Elon Dalmore bumps into the trio, saying that the rebels have taken his bank, and to please just level the whole place as he has some secrets within. DL says "we'll see what we can do" and Elon just trusts them to get it done as they proceed into the docks district.

The Colonel, who is disappointed to not be going with them, asks they first kick down a rebellious flag in the square which they totally ignore and instead proceed to the bar where Rose thinks Klyra may be, but it is empty. They then cross the street to Elon's bank and out of the forty rebels within capture 16 thanks to Rose. The rest are obliterated by mom and DL who then scout out the place, finding a corpse and ritual circle they don't touch, and a secret passage down to some laboratories where it seems someone was combining humans (listed as "in debt") and eels!? At the very bottom they slay an eel man and a number of eels in a flooding tunnel before returning topside where Rose is dealing with a handful more rebels whom mom just guns down immediately.

They don't blow up the bank and instead return to Colonel Sanders with prisoners (and five rescued captive women) and then let him and his troops move in to sweep out the district, and the first thing he does is to proudly march up to that rebellious flag and kick it down himself - triggering the frag grenade attached to it and killing himself. The Colonel got fried!

Dragonheir: Better than Before

[Part of the Cursed story line.] 

With the holy river restored its time to destroy the source of the corruption down here in the Underdark which leads through many team based fights that need much swapping of line ups and many attempts before I manage to get through to the corrupted boss, an big ugly drider mama (level 165) who enjoys summoning adds. Fortunately the trick with her is rather easy, just turn off auto combat and make sure to use the ultimates on the adds before they get too overwhelming! The winning team was Fire Main / Garius / Voresh / Heksandra / Sigrid. Yes, I finally got the blonde archer on my roster and she is a freaking powerhouse if paired with a debuffer like Voresh who debuffs everything as her ultimate hits ALL debuffed enemies, and prevents them from healing!

It turns out destroying this creature is the last step in restoring my memories - I am also a child of Tiamat! Aka The child of chaos who tried to kill her so long ago but failed so she ripped my soul into two pieces (and the reason why this belongs in my "Cursed" journal). Obviously the next step is to reclaim my other half from the death lands but he isn't very happy to see me. To my great surprise this level 170 boss is the FINAL one (you mean there's an end!? yep!) and his phase two is not easy at all since he has a move that captures one of your team mates and if you don't destroy the hand before time runs out its insta-kill time for that person!

It takes me a few goes before eventually finding the winning team (but that's ok because he has some pretty nice boss music) of Fire MC / Horrus / Heksandra / Sigrid / Journ, all fire based heroes to get the "inspirational" damage bonus which is required for this boss. In addition, Journ - the legendary gnome inflicted with crystal disease, also debuffs with his AoE flamethrower and ultimate mine field abilities. Upon completing myself (and the game really), I run into Tiamat who this time - lets me go to continue adventures since "I've changed". The end! I know there's a season two coming / available but I just felt this was such a decent and unexpected end to this story so I'm stopping here. Thumbs up Dragonheir! You turned out to be a much better game than I originally thought you'd be.

One last arena flex because I doubt I'll reach this rank again. Big step from 15+k!

Atlas, Industria and Ninja Kamui (Season 1)

Where future tech makes plot holes!

Atlas

In a world where AI had advanced so much they look a lot like people, then warred against their human creators and fled the planet, a random lead falls into the hands of the world government who call in a specialist scientist who hates robots (played by Jennifer Lopez) to team up with a force of humans riding robots to go fight the bad robots on bad robot planet. The opening narration kinda sounds as tacky as my sentence there, but this turned out to be an enjoyable but predictable film.

While the CGI is ok and the main plot points are decent, I feel the creators added things that they thought would be "cool" which puts many devils in the details. How exactly does an oxygen -mask- necklace provide air? THROUGH SCIENCE! How does this character achieve with almost zero training what the legion of trained extras failed to do? SCIENCE!? Control two extra arms made from 10 minutes of scrap metal bending? SCIENCE!!!! Seriously though, you need to like or at least not hate Jennifer Lopez if you watch this as she carries 3/4ths of the movie. I don't mind her acting so it's fine with me, but if for any reason you don't like her then definitely give this a skip.

Industria

This is a decent, albeit short first person shooter about messing with technology and getting transported to another world full or hostile machine men and machine dogs. Easy controls and simple enemies won't really challenge an experienced gamer but it is still good nonetheless thanks to the voice acting, the atmospheric maps, and the plot - which has some very strange bits that make no sense at all and leaving many questions unanswered - possibly to hook you in for the sequel. Thumbs up for this one.

Ninja Kamui (Season 1)

It is the future and the way of the ninja has gone global but due to a rift based on their code the loyalists brutally hunt down their rebel bretheren which leads to a John Wick scenario if John Wick was a futuristic ninja. Yes, the protagonist is pretty flat here as is the plot but the smooth and violent action scenes coupled with a decent sound track almost make up for it. I say almost because apparently since this is the future, ninjas eventually get mecha type armor suits then it becomes a bunch of robots fighting each other with martial arts. While that's ok-ish it really breaks the excellent combat streak that this show started with making season one finish with a "meh". If there's going to be a season two then this will really need to up its game.

Surviving the Cat of Salem Islets too?

Catching up on some epic freebies.

Surviving the Aftermath

A post apocalyptic game that focuses on two different maps - the first is your home map where you construct your base which includes things like tents and outhouses for your dirty survivors and remember to actively tell them where to harvest things because by god, they morons. Your lumber camp might be sitting idle once they've deforested the nearby area and if you don't tell them to go find more trees "here" it simply will go unused. Once you build a gate you can send your specialists (hero characters who you occasionally can recruit - you start with two) to the world map to do quests, fight bandits, and salvage... science? Yes. That's a thing. With enough science you can pay for crowbars or something. Note that your home map can and will still be attacked by bandits, plagues and stink clouds regardless of what's happening beyond. Very management heavy and lost my interest after one session.

Cat Quest II

Is exactly like the first game, except now you can two player it (or play two characters) as a cat and dog adventurer. It's just as cute and just as grindy as the first so for the same reasons I've given up on it.

Islets

An action platforming game with some pretty decent art that tasks you with reconnecting a bunch of floating islands. Alas it features the same problem most of these types of games have for me which is if you leave a screen and come back, all the enemies respawn. When you add that backtracking is almost mandatory, that just gets an immediate thumbs down from me.

Town of Salem II

The worst of this lot for me. Basically a digital version of the Mafia or One Night Werewolf party games where a group of players are trying to reach their randomly given, secret winning conditions by eliminating other players through voting (or murder!). They could be townsfolk trying to execute the secret witch coven and vice versa or perhaps you're of the jester faction and you win if you can get yourself executed? Some odd design decisions here killed this one for me - the first is "go to youtube to see a tutorial". Really? But the second one really sucks and that is the "waiting to have fun". Not enough players? Guess you'll have to wait. Got killed early? Guess you have to wait. Or quit, join another game and wait for enough players. I hate idling. Still, I guess there's a market for these sort of games as this one even has the audacity to have a cash shop!

Pathfinder: Missing in Magnimar

[Part of the Party Time journal] 

Following the clues, the team heads off to Magnimar to track down Aldern's boss and learn that this city too has been going through a spate of recent murders. Investigating Aldern's house here they are surprised to find both he and his wife alive and well, only for the pair to shapeshift into annoying faceless humanoids with a penchant for grabbing and a damage reduction quality that kind of draws out the fight. Once victorious, Merisiel locates a deed in a hidden place that details a shared purchase and to a local sawmill which the team checks out next.

The worker who answers the door is a bit iffy, but lets the party take a look around until they go upstairs at which point he and his colleagues don evil looking masks and outing themselves as bad guys! They and their boss have negative energy auras which Kyra basically balances out with heals, and while the regular scum are just fodder the boss himself is a bit problematic when he makes the party insane - except Valeros, who by all rights had the worst odds on that save. With Ezren and Merisiel just randomly attacking the closest target and Kyra idling while talking to a wall Valeros and Kyra's summoned eagle keeps everything busy enough until they are about to regain their senses. It's at this point he's hit by a drow poison bolt and falls asleep! At least his companions can take down the boss guy though... but he's not the BIG boss as messenger crows fly out to a distant clock tower.

After resting and picking up a pair of city guards as well as some new magic gear (mainly higher level magic missile wands) they head there next and, after getting hit by a falling bell, beat up a flesh golem on the ground floor, a trio more faceless things near the top and a lamia matriarch on the roof who is a SUPER annoying fight. Not only is she hard to hit, at one point she casts sanctuary which forces a will roll before even a "to-hit" roll while she heals herself. Kyra's eagles can do nothing and really, almost everyone needs a natural 20 to land a hit on her. Lucky Ezren's magic missiles always hit and after a really long and frustrating fight, she is defeated with no casualties for the good guys. The heroes then locate a letter from the lamia's brother nearby saying his method of sacrificial murdering is much better and invites her to see at some distant location.

Before going anywhere else, the heroes first report to the fat governor of the city who was actually mentioned as a target in the letter and after he faints and comes to again he gives the team a sizeable reward. A good portion of this Valeros gives to Morgamer Pug, the local halfling tinker, to create for him a flamethrower. Because screw rolling to hit!

May 2024: War... War never changes.

It's day 827 of Russia's two day special operation to take Ukraine and while they are gaining ground slowly through sheer numbers, a few countries have finally given the green light for Ukraine to use their weapons into Russian territory. That's a strange handicap to have originally been placed on the clear under dog, but lets see if this shifts the momentum into Ukraine's favor.  

Meanwhile in the Middle East, Egypt had warned it might withdraw from its mediator position in the (so far failed) Gaza ceasefire negotiations because of recent doubts that "offend" them. These doubts are mainly center around getting caught red handed mediating in bad faith, secretly changing terms before handing them to Hamas after Israel had already agreed and signed to it. Not sure how the parties involved feel but I for one would say "good riddance" as it's clearly pointless to put your trust in these lying snakes in the first place.

Now Israel is taking out some serious revenge to the tune of around 35K dead Palestinians so far for the instigating October 7 Hamas raid which killed around 1.2K people (for comparisons sake 9/11 killed around 3K with a 3.6M retaliation). It's clear where the loyalties of some folks in Mexico are, burning down the Israeli embassy in Mexico City right as they are being hit by a water shortage.

Worth noting Hamas are now singing their old song (on replay apparently) of "we're willing to negotiate as long as Israel completely stops fighting". Israel would be stupid to accept that and let them regroup, given the Hamas charter  (#4) explicitly states:

“Initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences, are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement…. There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad”

Next it's over to China where they've developed some pretty cool gun toting automatons, but somehow they're still not as scary as the drones that can simply drop grenades on you. Then we have North Korea, trying to stay relevant by sending in explosive balloons of literal shit to South Korea. Are they trying to say all their septic tanks are full and are in dire need of help? Or simply that they're just full of shit?

Firestone: Online Idle RPG

You don't have to do anything.

Since there was a promo on on Epic a few weeks back I thought I'd give this a quick try, and quick is an understatement. Upon loading in you immediately get thrown into the endless grind, so this plays less like Dragonheir and a lot more / almost exactly like Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms (I call it "Idle champs"), which means there's a direct competitor to compare against. Alas this comparison does not go well for Firestone as it has worse character art, worse options, worse hub, and much less refinement all around. If anything this game might be the "kiddie" version Idle Champs, but I'm not sure why you'd want your kids getting into this anyway. And if you aren't a kid but like Idle games, give this one a miss and go straight for Idle champs from the get go.