More than Nothing: Back to Partopia

[Part of the Party Time journal]

Soon a messenger bird arrives with orders that splits the team. Ughh and Aah stay with the dig team who uncover a giant hand behind a stone door that squishes 12 of the miners before it is defeated, while Mamita and Jerghonson along with half the soldiers go to the mining town of Jellyroll which is in threat of being overrun by Bhir'Beli forces. They are to hold the line until reinforcements arrive.

Upon arriving the mine leader tricks them and locks them in one of the mine shafts though, saying they've already made a deal with the Bhir'Belians and handing them over to the invaders (due to arrive soon) will do much to foster relations with them. Leaving them there Jerghonson prays to his moon goddess Luna (chosen upon character creation) who hears his call, appearing as a giant wolf that occupies most of the tunnels. She mauls a lone guard and opens the gate before wandering off. 

Rather than escape, the team digs pit traps in the mine and waits in hiding along side passages. The ambush is successful when the mine leader and Bhir'Beli advance party arrive, and only one Bhir'Beli soldier manages to escape to his horse and flee with incredible speed. Jerghonson then takes the mine leaders head and threatens the remaining Jellyroll citizens who then all scatter and flee, knowing the punishment for treason: it's a lot more than nothing.

Soon enough a new regiment from Partopia arrives and after ascertaining the situation decides its not worth dying over a dead town. They torch it and collapse the mine, sending the PC party back to Partopia where they regroup with the expedition team who have also returned with a good haul of artifacts. It is at this time that Captain Tamir informs all of them that Emperor Julian has been assassinated, and the previously allied lords of Aeternea are now making claims for the throne. They will back their patron, Praetor Artorias, and their new duty is to collect funding and support from as many people as they can. Aah easily convinces her stepfather Governor Quintus to help.

On their way out of the city they defend a young girl being pursued by stake wielding assailants and the last attacker, a man named I'lbakstabyo who works for Numero Uno ("god" of the very oppressed Numerologist religion) claims the "girl" is a vampire who has taken the form of the child which it killed. A house guard of the girl recognizes her and takes her back to her family though, and while the team try to warn the guard of potential vampy-ness he remains unmoved and they are unwilling to do more - apart from take I'lbakstabyo to jail.

They're also approached by a woman who claims to be the widow of thief King Autolycus who asks them to get the gem of the Crocagator located in his vault, be returned to her. She's afraid she'll be killed if she goes after it herself and gives the team instructions how to get there via a secret door in the sewers. Beyond they are surprised to find a Crocagator temple with worshipers that Jerghonson manages to befriend with tales he heard about their predecessor Testikles of the fisher people. They opt out of the mission deciding the widow is too shady for their liking.

Blades in the Heart: The Emperor

[Part of the Party Time journal]  

In trying to convince the Lord Governor to do something about the cruel Warden Pope, Juris accidentally blurts out (possibly due to his constipation) that they were going to kill him (the Lord Governor) in their previous encounter which naturally angers him. He tells Pope to deal with them as he sees fit and leaves while the demonic Warden grows in size and starts attacking the chains of the lift they are still standing on but its a short fight as Juris creates a domain of chaos with things randomly floating around with all the party riding chaos bears for some reason and in his madness the Warden falls into the hole to whatever lies beneath.

Our heroes then return back to base and rest up fully, but then are drawn outside as the city's barrier is eerily off for around five minutes before turning back on. A handful of the Emperor's Quicksilver guard start appearing (they move like the Flash) followed by the Emperor himself who steps out of a ghost door shrouded by a sphere of ghosts who announces he is there to eat them. DL and mom kill some of the guards with really good rolling but as more appear it's Juris that nullifies them with a lava domain, causing the speedsters caught within to die. And everyone is on fire bears immune to lava now. Lol. He does lightning bolt the flying Emperor (of course he can fly) which only shaves off a few of the ghosts and the Emperor laughs, saying his shield can never be broken as the ghosts in the ghost field hate it there. This unlocks Rose's final kamikaze ability Queen of Dreams, which we'll get back to shortly.

Juris opts to turn off his domain as DL does a massive kage-bunshin to really whack the Emperor's shield off (though all the 20+ clones die in the process) so the Emperor orders his Quicksilver guard to start killing everyone in the city so that he can rebuild his shield with their souls as he steps back through a ghost door. Mom jumps through trying to slap him with her Death Manifest but misses, followed by Rose and Juris who preemptively makes a domain of slippery ice (back on polar bears) in case any of the Quicksilvers arrive but it isn't necessary as DL stays outside with a new set of Kagebunshin clones to fight them AND the Lord Governor AND Lady Freya Orlais and her goons.

Rose then activates her Queen of Dreams ability: she becomes the ruler of the ghost field and can turn it into whatever heaven she decides, drawing all but the most determined of ghosts from the regular world to it. The cost is that she can never leave (and basically retires her character), but her very first command is to make the Emperor kneel - and then mom slaps him with her Death Manifest, killing him instantly (and almost killing herself). This frees the sun god imprisoned inside of the Emperor and Rose lets everyone go back to Duskwall where the sun god rises to the heavens to reignite the sun.

As there are still loads of Quicksilver scum running about so Juris uses his kamikaze ability too and turns into a giant winged bear to smash what's left of the bad guys, some extras like Lord Elon, and nom of the almost dead Lord Governor Kotar. He then lands near Matt Demon who is looking after his dog(s) and explodes into a forest once his clock runs out (character retired). While DL did gain his ultimate kamikaze move to turn into music that spreads world peace to all but the most evil, crazy or deaf he choses not to use it and instead bring peace with the edge of his blades. Cabrita (mom) on the other hand never unlocked her ultimate skill, but given she was the one that slew the emperor and reignited the sun the odds of her becoming the next ruler of the city and/or the nation (her goal) are at least much improved now, but still not guaranteed.

And that is the end of Blades! If I run another TTRPG it will be one of my own making but I'll definitely be borrowing a lot of ideas from this system. Thanks for reading!

Blades in the Heart: A Powerful Alliance

[Part of the Party Time journal]  

Before returning to base, the team visits a haunted hospital where they find documented proof that the Lord Governor signed off on creating a disease to target specific heritages but it got out of control leading him to choose to abandon the district and those left in it.

After resting, they confront him about it at the town hall where (vampire) Lady Freya Orlais has just won the election for High Seat which was once Lady Drake's throne of power. Rose minorly alters reality to have scheduled a meeting with the Lord Governor and they do so in a back room where Juris tries to blackmail him with the evidence, however he reveals that when he did try to stop it the Emperor himself maimed him, and so pushed forward with his lead scientist Elon.

They then try convince him to help them stand against the Emperor to which he makes them prove themselves first, transforming into a demonic form that catches Cabrita's (mom's) rifle bullet, throwing it back at her and easily dispatching DL's three clones - a skill he just recently learned (and a direct copy of Naruto's kage-bunshin). Juris manages to weaken the Lord Governor by putting him into a domain of sunless snow, and for some reason all the party is riding polar bears, and Rose capitalizes on this by forcing him to kneel (power word), which is tough for a cripple - demon or not.

Defeated, Lord Governor Kotar agrees to assist them should the time come and warns them that the Emperor will come for them should he learn of their godling powers as he has an appetite for eating gods (which is how he got so powerful). Happy with this result the team then head to the last ritual site that Lord Elon had mentioned to them previously in the farmlands of Barrowcleft, but it turns out the missing farm hands were being fed to monstrous plants by an unscrupulous gardener who bought strange seeds from a prison guard. After feeding the crook to her own plants they decide to visit the best information agent in town, Matt Demon.

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..." 

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.

Blades in the Dark: Against the Undead

[Part of the Party Time journal]

As Juris hadn't heard from his pal Nyryx for awhile the team sets off to find her, attuning her location to be in the previously wealthy but now left to decay sector of Six Towers. There they break into the mansion of the Dimmer Sisters but are caught almost immediately and are split up with Rose and mom stuck indoors with the two sisters and a mechanical hull spider while DL and Juris are outside with a tree that summons spirits and eight hulls (spirits animating armor), all of whom are Nyryx in spirit (she was chopped up)!

DL holds off the ghosts while Juris convinces all of Nyryx to stand down and put her back together in a bottle again. Rose KO's one of the sisters and disables the spider while mom accidentally kills the other sister with a warning shot... right between the eyes. Using his new tempest ability, Juris lightning bolts the tree (on his second attempt) to destroy it, sealing the ghost portal. They then take two of the now empty hulls and the prisoner sister before the Spirit Wardens arrive.

Juris then busies himself putting Nyryx into the remaining Dimmer Sister as well as training some of his other captured spirits to inhabit the hulls before experimenting with more Lure on a rat, witnessing it go right into the Spark Grounds carnival where someone is making a large force of... hollows (aka zombies)? While this is going on DL, Mom and Rose try get to the orphans at the club again but this time the carriage takes them near an underground tunnel where they are ambushed by a large group of vampires! Unfortunately for them, sound carries rather well through the tunnel and Rose commands them to sleep, which all but one does.

DL and mom take down the leader pretty easily before the rest can wake which means they are easy prey for the vigilantes. Once again, the team returns to base to regroup and head next to the circus where Juris remembers his time mind-melded to a rat to get to the secret basement of currently dormant zombies. Here they KO the "necromancer" who is just pulling souls out, but are pinned when the remainder of the clowns now allied with the Old Crows enters the basement.

They don't hesitate to ambush these evil doers but are suddenly out numbered when the leader activates the zombies just before she gets beheaded by DL. Fearing that the Spirit Wardens will arrive before they can get out of this quagmire, Juris pulls out the hand of Kotar and uses it (eating one stress / insta KO) to blast all the zombies into the next dimension. In this game, that's the ghost field. With the basement now empty of threats, the team quickly carry Juris out of there and escape unseen!

Blades in the Dark: Duels of Fire and Iron

[Part of the Party Time journal]

During their downtime, Mom and Rose take the spirit bottles found at the Crow's Tower to Celene, mom's Bluecoat friend who assures them this will force justice into action, DL gets an invitation from Mercy his ex, a member of the Red Sashes, to talk to their master at Tangletown, and Juris decides to take a new drug called "Lure" and finds himself waking up at Silkshore where he talks to the Gondoliers amassing there about the demon cat problem and volunteers to help. Luckily the cat is a demon that feeds of feelings of pleasure, so the plan is for Juris to distract it long enough for the Gondoliers to conduct their ritual.

Juris does his work perfectly and the demon cat is chain lightning-ed to death! The squad continue up to the top of Fogcrest to ensure the ritual is stopped and this time it is they who are caught unaware by the ancient vampire Scurlock who makes half of their number vanish with his staff (the end of which is a hand) and slays the remainder with his claws and incredible strength and speed. Juris successfully begs for his life, and agrees to fetch more demon blood for the vampire who "marks" him with a burning hand and sends him on his way.

Meanwhile DL, Rose and mom are spotted scoping out Tangletown but Rose manages to set a truce between them and the Old Crows of leaving each other alone. The Old Crows also mention there are no Red Sashes there tonight (it had been a trap to make the two factions fight), instead seven Red Sash swordsmen ambush the trio on their way home and while they manage to cut DL a bit - all of them are violently slain as the dice dictated that they didn't run.

The next day DL receives a written letter and accepts to duel the Red Sash master at their dojo, with mom shadowing from sniping positions and Rose talking her way in. Master Shido turns out to not be a swordsman at all, but a whisper who uses ghosts to make swords fly on their own. DL takes minor damage before killing him, and since his remaining students attack they too are mostly wiped out. Only Mercy manages to escape with a bullet wound and a throwing knife stuck in her (both thanks to Rose, as mom missed her snipe here and DL had no more load for a ranged weapon). No doubt Mercy fled to the Iruvian consulate where her parent works.

Juris on the other hand manages to create another batch of powdered fire and returns to Scurlock's house in Fogcrest when the vampire is away (he can reverse "the polarity" to detect him using the hand mark and his whisper skills) and sets up a trap. Then he manages to (critical) summon Scurlock (as vampires are just spirits in corpses) to his location. The next bit doesn't go so smoothly as the ancient vamp breaks one of Juris' arms, but ultimately the vampire is tricked into the powdered fire trap and is incinerated to death (critical again, and since he's "bonded" to the body his spirit is destroyed too. Weaker vamps can just ghost outta their skins but strong ones like Scurlock get this mortally dangerous trait, which I thought was pretty cool balance trade off). Only his staff, which ends with a someone's decaying hand, remains - untouched by the fire. Juris takes it and while recovering learns it is the Hand of Kotar... whoever that is.

Baldur's Gate 3: Trading Up

[Part of the Cursed story line]

The trap is not a very good one and the Stone Lord is revealed to be... Minsc!? Didn't he die in some sewers before? And he's here with Jaheira no less. Seems the worm guys have wormed these two as well. At this point Catharina's patience is wearing thin so she just annihilates them all and the thieves guild thanks her by loaning out their highly skilled hireling Varanna to join the crew. Catharina then locates a hidden Bhaal Murder Tribunal run by Sarevok (whom Catharina killed before) and the ghosts of other Bhaalspawn as well!

They are quite pleased with Catharina's actions thus far - giving her directions to the underground temple of Bhaal, deep down past the grease filled sewers. The place is well guarded by other Bhaal cultists who manage to push poor Kerz into a yawning chasm of instadeath. Beyond is Orin who duels with Catharina (in slayer form) and Orin is literally ripped a new one as Catharina forcefully removes her netherstone then loots that sexy blood armor of hers.

Before going back to Gortash the team visits Cazador, Astarion's vampire master, who it seems was expecting him as he immediately yanks the assassin into being part of the helpless sacrificial victims that explode into giblets when Cazador completes his ascension ritual. Catharina isn't impressed as even the ascended vampire can do little against her slayer form and her friends. Wtih all the vamps dead, the vampire hunters are happy and offer their aid when the time comes, which will be real soon...

Baldur's Gate 3: Training

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Despite not being on the itinerary the party investigates the temple finding it to now be home to drunk kobolds and magical cats. Underneath it however is a Githyanki training facility which the team end up wiping out, especially when it is revealed they are after an artifact (looks like a D20) Shadowheart has been holding this whole time - and the reason they've not yet undergone ceremorphosis (turn into mindflayers).

The Gith-lich queen, only present via magical hologram, swears vengeance but is unable to really do anything. It occurs to them afterwards that the Gith might have the means to remove the parasites, being sworn enemies of the Illithid and all, but having failed to ask any of them about that Wyll just gambles on one of their devices which nearly makes his head explode. The device breaks, and his tadpole remains.

With a sigh the party returns to the shadow-cursed lands and after beating a shambling mound find their way to a magically shielded inn known as the Last Light, protected by a squad of Harpers led by Catharina's old acquaintance Jaheira! I guess that dragon at Suldanessellar didn't melt her to death after all! Also present is a blacksmith who tunes up Karlach's infernal heart to make her live again and the devil Raphael who loans them his assassin vampire servant Astarion, for the lols. Councillor Florrick is also here briefly, but runs off to try "get reinforcements from Baldur's Gate". Yeah - that's not coming.

Drifting Dragons and Castlevania: Nocturne

A pair of animes with great art.

Drifting Dragons (Season 1)

In a world where dragons are just wild animals people have taken to dirigible "draking" (whaling) ships to hunt them. This one season story follows the crew of one such vessel and their trials not only against their prey, but also against the ship's budget and occasionally each other. There's also a lot of focus given to the butchering of said dragons followed by strangely specific cooking and eating sequences that involve dragon parts that have convinced me the dragons there taste great most of the time! The series starts of slow and gives almost all the crew on the draking ship some screen time and by the end it was getting some good emotional payoffs. That said I am not sure how some of these people haven't died a few times over already but I guess it's just not that sort of anime. Recommended if you don't mind a slow burn with very little thinking.

Castlevania: Nocturne (Season 1)

Set hundreds of years after the first series this one continues with the excellent art style and action pieces of its predecessor while introducing a new band of heroes to face off against more vampires and creatures of darkness. Getting used to the new protagonist might take some time, especially since his will and power levels fluctuate wildly over the course of the series and the main villain seems super bland when they appear because of the "they are in the background, so lets develop all the lieutenants instead" approach. 

Lastly wokeness seems to really be the theme inserted here with a true rainbow cast of characters and nary a weak female with a speaking role in sight. Alas, with all those powers combined that leaves this first season in a pretty weak state. Hopefully season two can bring out the big guns and focus more on a good plot rather than real life politics. (Spoiler: season two is much better)

Decluttering Day 9: Four broken umbrellas.

Elden Ring: Why is it always monarch?

[Part of my Elden Ring journal]

Instead of chasing the falling star I return to Volcano Manor and get a new mark from Lady Tanith. As this one is up in the plateau I explore a bit, dodging hands and slaying evil tree spirits and a vampire in a cellar before Anastasia invades me again, and loses again. Heading towards the capital I also come across a windmill village of dancing ladies who are very violent when I slay their godskin apostle before dodging more siege weapons to get to the capital outskirts.

Here I get Tragoth and my headless ally to help in defeating the draconic tree sentinel knight guarding the gate bridge, finally allowing me passage into the capital itself, which happens to be a no-horse zone. Rooftop parkouring and sewer sprinting (from giant hands again) are the best way to avoid most of the heavily armored knights here, until I'm eventually jumped by the golden axe-wielding spirit of Godfrey, the first Elden lord! It takes me a few attempts to finally beat him, but the next boss King Morgott who is nearby proves to be way too challenging for now. His move set is really beautiful though, I wonder if they gave him some capoeira?

These horrid hands lie in wait everywhere!

After a short interlude back at the Roundtable hold to upgrade my stick I discover that Corhyn has left and that free hugs Fia murdered undead hunter D. I opt to retry the giant ant caves I skipped before and manage delve deep to the point of finding more barnacle men ruins, a giant moth thing which I can't hit, and a surprise dragonkin soldier boss hiding right at the back that I defeat. With no other paths (that don't involve a suicidal jump) forward, I decide to finally check the crater left by Radahn's fallen star and discover it leads right into the city of eternal night, Nokron!

Skyrim: Adventure Game (Board Game) - The Traitor

[Part of the Party Time journal]

Now officially on the run, the team decide to split up and go to their various contacts for assistance: DL helps a suicidal bard get through some Hagravens, mom helps the Black Briars torch their opposition in Riften, Rose helps some cannibals defeat some vampires (huh?) and Sky helps some Talos worshippers, now illegal due to the White-Gold Concordat, obtain his helm from a crypt. Each of them indicate that there's a traitor in the Blades, but before they can work out who it is they are invited to a meeting by the local Blade grandmaster. Luckily they arrive late, as they find everyone else dead. By process of elimination, the only one whose body they don't find among the dead is the traitor.

As Thalmor agents begin becoming more and more prevalent, the team split up to go undercover again while still trying to glean information about Moivva's whereabouts. Rose does this by peacefully rebuilding Rorikstead and acting as a healer, mom becomes a performing artist (and pickpocket) in Solitude, and Sky listens to the daedric prince Mephala in trying to assassinate a local Jarl in exchange for information - but he fails in this task. DL goes the completely opposite way and tries to face Mephala on her own plane of Oblivion where she takes his likeness. That does not go well at all and DL ends up trapped in Oblivion for a long, long time (which is a seriously terrible design decision because its basically, on your turn roll 3 "6"s on a 3D6 to continue playing, and that's not fun at all).

Somehow, he manages it eventually while the other three simply keep the random events at bay (its a long session) but at least by that time they have the location of Moivva. The trio fight her, her goons and the traitorous Blade in a pretty easy battle and end up executing her. With sweet vengeance dished out, the four decide to split up again to continue hiding from the Thalmor in semi-retirement.

For some reason all the combats in these particular chapters was really boring / easy. Possibly because we leveled up so much while DL was stuck in Oblivion (can't complete mission without all players being at X location).

Resident Evil: Village

Welcome to Barovia?

Having some bad experiences in the USA (what with all those horrors set lose), Ethan Winters moves his family to Europe where they find a short period of peace before being abducted and taken to a run down village beneath the shadow of a looming castle in a valley full of monsters! No, there's no Strahd here but it's pretty close!

Expect to do a lot of running.

It's a strange setting for the Resident Evil series, but its done very well. There are shocks, scares and awesome terror especially at the start of the game. Later on when you can fight back effectively, the horror level drops a fair bit but its still quite enjoyable. Honestly, the only thing I didn't like is that the protagonist monologues a little too much at the worst times but otherwise, I highly recommend it!

Morbius and The Tomorrow War

Where science is magic!

Morbius

A brilliant doctor (played by Jared Leto) suffering from a blood disease uses the magic of science on some vampire bats which cures his condition, but in exchange he also becomes a blood thirsty vampire! While there aren't any surprises in the story, the scary segments are decent but in a surprise fail it's actually the CGI that lets this superhero (*cough* villain *cough*) movie down. They really need to end CGI brawl fests altogether. All up an average movie that my wife enjoyed a lot.

The Tomorrow War

In this sci-fi movie that stars Chris Pratt, time travelers from the future convince world governments to help them by sending people from the present into a future war (that they are losing badly) against alien beasties. The critters look really great and menacing, the action scenes are good, and the pacing is quite quick (except for one bit in the last part where someone thought another "walking through a dark interior lit only by flashlights" would be a good idea, even though there's no more suspense by that point).

Still a very enjoyable watch, even though the plot itself must have been mangled by one of the aliens due to all the logic holes in it, and not just from the timey wimey stuff. There are many points I thought "why didn't x do y?" And the answer was always: because that would make the movie too short. Lol.

Warframe: Atlas and Inaros

Powerful, sturdy, and slow. That's what these two have in common.

Atlas

Supposedly once one-punched a doomsday asteroid into dust, you can get his blueprints from the Jordas Precept quest and subsequent golem assassination quests. Do note that without a super strong archgun killing the HP sponge golem is going to take a long while. I made sure to get a Velocitus from the syndicates to make this go faster.

The Atlas is pretty sturdy unless he is punching, which for some reason takes him from sturdy to invulnerable. As long as he isn't jumping he cannot be knocked down and his other abilities include turning things into stone (and then punching them for more damage), making a rock wall which he can then push into a boulder and summoning stone elementals because... why not? Ultimately you'll probably want to be boxing the entire time though, which lowers his utility in many missions for me except one: he is the perfect opponent for the melee focused teleporting bastard Tyl Regor on Uranus, who you will need to grind if you want an Equinox warframe.

Inaros

You can get this Egyptian themed vampire from the Sands of Inaros quest, which is a bit tough especially towards the end as you need to fight an Inaros with a toxic bow. Easy peasy for a patient and invis Loki though. Your reward is a terribly hungry monster who almost literally cannot die. Even when he is downed, he doesn't go into bleedout pistol mode like the others - he gets into a sarcophagus that does TRUE damage (no resistance against it) and should he kill two targets (friend or foe) he returns to the fight fully rejuvenated.

His main abilities also focus on taking health from his enemies for himself, and using devour lets you eat something (slowly) while completely invulnerable, which is spammable if you have the energy to do so. Finishing an enemy this way also turns it into your minion which is neat. I felt this did make his gameplay kinda slow though - fight through an area, eat eat eat. Repeat. Who knew being immortal wouldn't be much fun? If you like blocking nukes with your face and then just laughing insanely because even that didn't kill you - this might be the warframe for you.

TYOV: Plague Bearer

[Excerpts from Thousand Year Old Vampire]

Something is wrong with this blood. Is this another trick by the people after me? No, its not them. It's me, and I soon learn I’m the one spreading the disease. I don’t even have to touch the humans, just walking through a crowd soon makes them gag, cough up blood, and get violently ill. This is a perfect time to visit the Iscariot Divisions local headquarters.

Yep, I'm a Hellsing fan.

With my pursuers dealt with I can take the time to enjoy feasting on some villagers during a storm. One of them catches onto me and organizes a posse to chase me down, forcing me to hide in the mud at the bottom of a river. During their victory celebration I sneak back in and steal this hero's sword and his wife.

It is only later that I realize the entire episode with the village was just my imagination. While the village itself was real, none of the inhabitants survived my disease. Nor my hunger.

Finally realizing that I can only truly be free of the rot if I return to being mortal, I spend the next few years searching for a cure and find one offered by a wandering gypsy, suspiciously immune to my illness, in the form of a magic potion. Will this actually work or will it instead destroy me entirely? There is only one way to find out. I uncork the bottle and drink.

And that's the end of Gabriel Sol's story.

TYOV: Sylvie Cote

[Excerpts from Thousand Year Old Vampire]

With the fur trade booming, it is easy to shadow and prey on foolish hunters that either wronged me or have the misfortune of being vulnerable when I’m hungry. In doing so I inadvertently made young Sylvie Cote an orphan and decide to raise her myself, teaching her defenses against creatures like me. When she comes of age, I give her an old Aztec axe for her own protection – even if she one day must use it on me.

After so many years I am surprised when an elderly Cantor Infierni arrives in town on some church business. With all my hate resurfacing, I can’t help but drown the old man in the river. When the murder investigators begin asking questions, Sylvie works it out and after a brief battle forces me to admit my guilt. I am arrested and sentenced to hang, but before I can see if that actually can kill me a simple bribe is enough to get me out of gaol.

Feeding on woodland animals is barely enough to satiate me anymore and in my weakened state I am set upon by a cloaked hunter who must have had a terrible teacher. The thirst gets the better of me as I fly into a deathy frenzy and when I come too, I find the hunter to be a familiar woman that lies bleeding out in my arms. For some reason I feel that she is precious to me but I cannot remember why. Unable to let her die, I turn her into a vampire.

When I saved Mariana from the thugs I didn’t know she was Cantor Infierni’s grand niece, nor did I realize she was a member of the Iscariot Division. She knew what I was. Who I was. I decided to flee once more – this time across the sea to England.

Despite giving them the slip numerous times, the Iscariot Division led by Mariana Inferni was onto me. She taunts me by saying they destroyed my “daughter” Sylvie. I don't know who that is.

TYOV: Gabriel Sol

[Excerpts from Thousand Year Old Vampire]

We were hunting for the creature that destroyed the village, but it found my squad first. I managed to only wound it before it used its incredible speed to crush my chest with a simple punch. As I crumbled before it, I remember looking up at its terrible visage as blood from its wound dripped onto my face.

After learning about the incident from Cortes, Catalina sailed across the sea to try save my soul. She didn’t accept what I had become, kept wishing for her old husband back, kept calling me a monster. It was too much, so just for her I became the monster she saw me as.

No way I'm getting anything historically accurate. :P

Now I set forth alone to track down the beast again, abandoning Cortes and the rest of the conquistadors in hopes that succeeding in this quest would absolve me of my trespasses in the eyes of God. The duel was more  more even this time until the beast broke my blade and fled the battle, leaving me equally broken. The only thing I gained in this fight is that I now can more easily blend into the shadows. A new gift from my sire.

I use it to defeat Ohtli, an Aztec warrior who was as equally cursed as I - taking his axe and eating his heart in victory. As my humanity continues to fade the church sends Cantor Infierni of the Iscariot Division to investigate. It is too dangerous to stay so I slip away far to the North and join a New French colony called Canada (now known as Quebec).

Thousand Year Old Vampire

Prepare to forget.

Now here is a very different take of a single player game (though there are options to multiplayer it) where your main activity will be... writing! The book (or handy PDF file currently free on itch.io) also recommends writing on a word processor / laptop / computer over a diary for good reason. There will be a lot of strike-throughs and erasing. Ideally you also need a D6 and a D10 but you can just google "roll a D6 and D10" if you don't have the physical dice.

As the title suggests, you create a vampire and then simply follow prompts through the book to write about what happens to you. These are stored in almost single line sentences called "experiences" and you can put three similar experiences together to form a memory. Which you can only have FIVE of. Once you need more, its time to begin forgetting... which is great. And crazy. I love that the entire tone is set by the player. It can be as hilarious or dark as you want.  

Another excellent quirk is that prompts tell you to gain or lose skills, resources, and characters which you define yourself. Gain a skill and a resource might mean the vampire is now "incredibly handsome after falling on his face (skill) and has an umbrella (resource)". Create a character means just that. You then can write these things into your experiences - but beware, almost everything and everyone is lost in the passage of time.

Prompts can and will just as easily say lose a skill. Lose a resource. Kill a character. If you run out of skills or resources, you basically die / game over too. Definitely a strange one, but if you like creative writing you should definitely give this a try.

I'm putting up some excerpts from my vampires to give you an idea of what it might look like (though I think I'm actually too wordy):

Excerpt 1 - Gabriel Sol
Excerpt 2 - Sylvie Cote
Excerpt 3 - Plague Bearer