Dying Light: Junk Collectors

[Part of the Dying Light diary - spoilers ahead!]

Side quests continue, as we clear a motel, unlock caches and pawn shop supplies, fetch chocolates and movies for Gazi the hilarious retard and help General Jeff at the makeshift Fort Jefferson to turn on the gas for his "firewall" defense (which results in his entire safe zone exploding).

Shields keep you alive against explosions. And bullets.

Their usefulness drops as you level up though.

We also climb a freaking high bridge to collect the bridge lights which doesn't result in fun times for Jim, but we certainly all have fun with a gun challenge provided by a zombie movie producer who gives free temporary firearms and unlimited ammo to kill zombies in a time limit.

Eventually we make it back to the Tower where Brecken is losing his people and his morale. Jade suggests we go raid one of Rais supply dumps at a nearby school so we do, arrowing the thugs inside and find a supply of dynamite. Almost as good as antizin I suppose?

We are rewarded with a grapling hook which makes travel faster exponentially, though not so much for DL who likes to loot every single corpse. On the flip side, this means we have an over supply of junk that clears some of the lesser fetch quests. What Dr. Zere asks for next though is something we don't have... the insides of a "bolter" zombie.

Insight: The grappling hook trivializes escaping from volatiles, as long as you remember to have it equipped and aren't caught in an open field.

Dying Light: Team Arrow

[Part of the Dying Light diary - spoilers ahead!]

Despite the whole, "we're out of antizin and turning into zombies soon" issue - we collectively decided that it was side quest time - saving some woman from a rapist, helping the loon who calls himself Gas Mask Man (guess why) to retrieve his treasure from a lake, and supplying a "pregnant woman" with way more booze than required.

At one of the fishing settlements I also finally get my hands on a bow and some arrows, and after discovering it can silently one shot zombies and brigands if you hit the head - both my brothers quickly followed suite and we basically became Team Arrow.  Suddenly, the city got a lot safer, easily cleaning out the Stuffed Turtle shopping mart quarantine zone with our new weapons.

Oliver Queen would be proud.

We even got kill these pushers of "fake antizin" while screaming "YOU HAVE FAILED THIS CITY!". Ok, maybe I was the only one saying that. In my head. The arrow dodging volatiles were still a threat though, and proved it when we attempted to turn on the main power generator at night. Having a horde of walkers in the way didn't help, but we were forced to retreat until morning.

The next day we cleaned up all the walkers in the surrounding area, then just camped the power switch until night fell, making this a much easier task than previously thought. Afterwards, Jim decided to gift us Ranger Bows - an even stronger upgrade to what we already have.

Insight: Bows are ranged, silent, and are one of the best weapons in the game.

Battle Brothers: Warriors to the End

Part of the Fate of Heroes series - spoilers ahead!

While at the tavern, a contingent of House Grimmund soldiers arrive to announce that the war is over! The main horde is retreating into the wild lands, and any clans that remain can be wiped out without the need for mercenaries. Gander is still relieved, and when Sunbro jokingly asks for a raise for all the troops Gander happily agrees.

Despite the news, the Spears are given clean up duty - destroying an orc base in the rainy mountains where Hanke and Adam Chaplin are slain and one of the magic shields is cleaved in two! Gander returns the company to hunting thieves, dire wolves and easier escort missions for a bit - even enjoying a stint with a caravan of women offering the oldest profession. For 300g it's a bargain!

Escorting the caravan up the mountain the team fights off goblin raiders as well as large bands of brigands led by Ingolf the Red. Sir Lancel manages to slay Ingolf, but he and Gander fall in battle, leaving the monk Sahkarov now in charge. Upon arrival at their destination a rotund Grimmund knight named Sir Winfred Steinhart makes fun of the company, leading to a jousting contest between him and Sunbro Forever.

Sunbro easily puts him in his place.