Tyranny: The Bane

[Part of the Cursed story line]

With the armies back in their respective camps, Tunon summons both Shelumu and Lucia to his court for a debriefing all while under the watchful eye of the executor, Bleden Mark, Archon of Shadows. When questioned why he sided with the rebels, Shelumu argues that peaceful subjugation is better than outright conquest - a concept Tunon agrees with, thus the Archon of Justice allows him to continue helping them, for now.

Tunon then tasks the pair with investigating both Graven Ashe and the Voices of Nerat for any broken laws they or their forces have committed before sending them on their way with Lucia travelling to Sentinel Stand to help the Disfavored reinforce their base there while Shelumu heads to Lethian's Crossing to secure supplies for the rebellion.

In the small town Shelumu encounters Sirin, the Archon of Song, who has defected and is hiding from the chorus. It is an easy task to convince her to join his party as they end up exploring the nearby Old Walls - ancient structures that normally are forbidden by law to enter, mainly because they house magical "spirits" known as the bane. While doing so, Shelumu manages to activate a second spire.

Any time you see a bubble, it means boss fight!

At the same time, Lucia also deals with the bane in walls that have been breached by the Edict of Storms in an effort to claim an artifact that will help break the edict once and for all.

Insight: The Old Walls are the combat orientated "dungeon" section of the game with a small set of puzzles while the overland areas are mostly dialogue choices peppered with optional combats. So yes, there is A LOT of reading in this game!

Tyranny: The Battle for Ascension

[Part of the Cursed story line]

In a drastic move - Eb, one of the leaders of the rebellion, secretly met with Shelumu and asked him to join their cause. Having heard the edict, the rebels believe that by swearing fealty to Shelumu and letting him take their base of Ascension Hall will cancel it out. Shelumu agrees to this, though it does mean now requiring to defend the hall against both Graven Ashe's Disfavoured and Nerat's Scarlet Chorus.

Fortunately, their chances are greatly increased as the two archons declare war on each other the night before he attack which results in both sides fighting each other during the siege! Outside the walls Lucia and Barik join the Disfavored to face down Nerat's song bird, Sirin, the 15 year old Archon of Song whose ability is to control the minds of others. Despite this, they soundly defeat her and force her to retreat in humiliation.

Without that dampener Sirin is probably the strongest Archon.

It is the Scarlet Chorus who manage to enter the keep and with their impressive numbers manage to take Lantry down and spirit him away from the battle. Shelumu, Eb, Verse and the remaining rebels fight off the horde and Shelumu claims Ascension Hall for himself. This breaks the edict and somehow also awakens the ancient spire above them with magical light!

Both the armies of the Disfavoured and the Scarlet Chorus scatter at this sight, but it does not save old Lantry who is taken back to the main Scarlet camp in the Stone Sea and devoured by the Voices of Nerat.

Insight: This is Lantry's scripted death if you don't save him from the Chorus Camp. While he is a "sage" I used him more as a skirmisher/warrior as he can be decent with a sword. Just be sure to give him a throwing weapon too so that you can make use of his quill throwing skill tree.

GTFO: R5A2 - Recollect (Normal)

Retrieving Hi-Sec cargo is the goal this time around and our loadout is almost the same: DL with the Double-tap Hanaway, Sniper and mines, I still have the Raptus, HEL Gun and c-foam while Jim brings Burst Rifle (which he disliked), a Hel Sniper and sniper sentry.

This isn't such a big map so just push forward to find the bulkhead key and controls then unlock the "main mission" one and face a class II cluster alarm. I don't think we even bothered setting up for this one and just fought well. Through the door is a most important central chamber... with those yucky sac things on the roof. There's also a scout in here so we bop a few sleepers quietly before DL snipes the thing, and we use the long straight firing position back through the bulkhead door to hold the rest.

With the objective behind a key-locked door, we make use of the terminal to pick the correct blood door to open next. DL puts double mines pointing into the door and I open it, and we all fall back to the previous firing position to handle the wave which includes a pair of barrage hybrids.

Now, because we're not keen on getting a scout respawn in the central chamber I opt to stay inside to see the respawn mechanics while DL and Jim proceed through the blood door to find the key - luring things back to my line of sight if things go loud. DL swaps out with me when he runs low on ammo, and nothing respawns.

Key in hand its time to open up the locked door for a regular non-alarm scan into a big dark room. Can't have someone hang back in the central chamber here since there's a class III cluster alarm door to unlock so we all go in, clear, and prep the single bridge with the sniper sentry facing inwards, followed by all my cfoam, followed by rows of mines. In addition, Jim and DL use their sniper rifles from numerous vantage points here which actually results in an easy hold.

Once done, DL waits back in the central chamber where nothing has respawned while Jim and I continue to the objective room that holds a lot of gear. We hand that out before Jim picks up the cargo because as expected - this triggers an endless, but slow and light sleeper spawn. Thanks to DL camping the central chamber NOTHING RESPAWNS FROM THE SACS. So it is a pretty easy escort the cargo back to the entry site, hold and GTFO. Another first attempt win - huzzah!

GTFO: R5A1 - Floodways (Normal)

The first map of Rundown 5 brings us to a zone of large hallways and rooms where we must end the shutdown by finding a particular terminal and entering the code "OVERRIDE_LOCKDOWN". Our loadout this time was as follows: DL with the new Double-tap Hanaway, Sniper and mines, Jim testing the Heavy SMG, Machinegun and sniper sentry and I brought the Raptus, HEL Gun and c-foam.

As the "tutorial" level, it is quite light on sleepers and is a great place to joust them. Also introduced are the annoying invincible ceiling sacs which is a new mechanic for this rundown. If you clear a room of sleepers with the sacs and move far enough away when you come back they will all be back too - so try to maximize your searching per zone.

Searching for what? Artifacts! Another new thing that counts for the whole team when someone finds a piece. You can equip up to three assembled ones that give you a one off boost for one mission which is a nice bonus I guess? You'll still mainly want the big three though: ammo, tools and health so use terminal pings for that.

Back to the mission, EAST is the correct direction to go and when in doubt always pick the door that leads to the highest letter value printed on the door. This will lead to a non-alarm team scan and eventually to a huge room with an unpowered security door whose generator is in the deep pit in the center of the room. Find the nearby cell and behold the first Class II cluster alarm of the mission.

With only one door in, this is a simple hold (even if the horde introduces a giant striker or two). Foam the door once (10 shots) and one mine is more than enough to clear the circles. After clearing the wave proceed through into Zone 63 where the objective terminal is which for us is guarded by a scout! DL sniped this one since we bopped the room already, but even if you goof this up just hold your nerve and JOUST as it won't be summoning more things than you've already beaten to this point.

Type in the code at the terminal and nothing bad happens. YAY! Now you just need to get to the forward extraction point all the way to the WEST of the map. Remember those ceiling sacs? Yep. You will probably run into things you've already killed. Just kill them again. It's the simplest solution. The security door that would have blocked your path (because we actually went West first LOL) will already by open so just calmly proceed through.

Only one more security scan is in your way and this one if a class III cluster that has three doors in. We cfoam grenaded two and I foamed the third while DL mined all (pointing the laser light into the door is preferable). Also we rightly guessed that the horde arrives from the smaller door downstairs, so Jim's turret is placed in the hallway and I'm on door duty (continuous cfoam of the door) while the other two scramble for circles.

Once done we held the top of the stairs to kill... one little sleeper? GTFO. DL's mine and Jim's turret got everything else. The forward extraction spot is just beyond the door, and despite setting up for a final zerg rush nothing came once we stepped in so it was a really easy end to a pretty easy mission, won on the first go. We've improved a lot! Note this also already unlocks the B level for this rundown.

Tyranny: A True Monster

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Before departing the camp, each Fatebinder was assigned a body guard. Barik, an elite Disfavored soldier who had become fused with his armor when he was hit by the Edict of Storms (previously proclaimed by Shelumu) understandably chose to go with Lucia.

Verse, a murderous fury of the Scarlet Chorus, volunteered to be Shelumu's escort and took him to their side of the camp. While Graven Ashe's Disfavored elites were few, well equipped and orderly this place was teeming with warriors, and with filth, chaos and barbarism - much like their leader, the Voices of Nerat.  

While there Shelumu went out of his way to rescue the sage Lantry, from execution as well since the old man had ties to the rebellion. In trying to avert the loss of life, Shelumu slowly helped the rebels by letting them escape the advancing armies and treating them with dignity.

I also like that you can sneak past enemies instead of having to fight everyone.

Elsewhere Lucia mostly killed every rebel she could get her hands on (the Disfavoured way), with only few occasions of capturing some for the Scarlet Chorus and their "Join or Die" motto. In reality some died and joined anyway, since the Voices of Nerat's ability as the Archon of Secrets is simply to devour people to gain their skills and knowledge. That is a true monster.

Insight: It is actually hard to unintentionally lose party members through combat (or traps) in this game since often times if they die it most likely means you are about to lose the battle you are in anyway. And since any battle loss is an immediate Game Over, you are pretty much required to load the save and do better or come back later with more XP/Gear. :P

Tyranny: The Fatebinders

[Part of the Cursed story line]

With Kyros' power extending across the continent, Shelumu took it upon himself to learn how the overlord's magical "Edicts" worked by gaining employment under Tunon, the Archon of Justice, as a Fatebinder - those chosen to read out these powerful words.

After years of service, he now stood in the commanders tent in Vendrien's Well as he finished reading out the second of Kyros' edicts he ever proclaimed.

"...Unless Our representative holds the Hall of Ascension on Our Day of Swords, all in the valley of Vendrien's Well shall perish."

These words shook those present to the core and forced the Graven Ashe, the Archon of War and his rival the Voices of Nerat, Archon of Secrets to stop squabbling among themselves and to prepare their forces to attack one of the last remaining rebel strongholds.

Graven Ashe and the Voices of Nerat.

Only fellow Fatebinder Lucia wasn't taken a back, instead wearing a wry smile on her lips as she twisted her dark locks around a finger. Shelumu always thought there was something wrong with the girl, and that made her dangerous.

Insight: As this story will be an amalgamation of two playthroughs I had expect there to be a lot of artistic / dramatic license to it! Well, more than usual anyway. And yes, I liked it that much to play through twice! ;)

The Frankenstein Chronicles

Raising the dead because they can.

The discovery of a composite corpse (one made of many people) at an ill opportune time for the scientific community prompts an secret investigation by John Marlott (Sean Bean) to track down where this thing came from and more to the point: who made it.

Decent cast, questionable plot.

The suspect list is long and the detectives aren't very good, especially since Marlott suffers from tedious hallucinations at least then percent of the time. This makes for some slow viewing at times in this two season show but its not terrible. The plot goes to interesting places but ends leaving more questions than answers. Not one I'd really recommend unless you are a Sean Bean fan, I give it two and a half Galvanists out of five.