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handsome-john · 3 years

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Community Gardens

Guess who’s finally dragged themselves out of writer’s block hell and is using this energy to fix the terrible lack of Hanahaki fics in this fandom! Check reblogs for ao3 link if you prefer reading that way

Relationships: Rhack, with some Timoxxi in the back ground

Words: 3621

Warnings: Blood, vomit, strong language, and sexual humor

Summary: It was a rose, complete with a thorny stem. It was soft, delicate, beautiful, and drenched in blood.

Handsome Jack did not fall in love. Sure he slept around, maybe had a few candle lit dates, once even playfully kissed a co-worker on the cheek while a little tipsy. But he did not fall in love.

Sure Jack fell in love plenty of times. Even married twice and almost got married a third time before Nisha had the common sense to walk out the door. But Jack died long ago, in a godforsaken vault on that godforsaken moon.

All that was left was Handsome Jack. Powerful, rich, and sexy CEO of Hyperion. Who did not fall in love with anyone! No one at all.

Handsome Jack told himself that every night. But that did not stop the soreness in his throat or the tightness in his lungs. It didn’t stop the constant flow of rose petals he coughed up each night.

Handsome Jack did not fall in love. He plunged head first into it, just like Jack plunged into that vault all those years ago. And just like that vault, the only thing Jack would gain from love is disappointment and permanent scars.

He didn’t realize he’d been zoned out for the past half-hour until the hot piece of ass Jack called his PA snapped him out of it. “Your coffee, sir.” Rhys said, handing him a mug with Jack’s face on it. “I made it as sweet as you, sir.”

The coffee was black, just how Jack liked it. He gave him a smile that was all teeth. “You’re lucky I’m too lazy to find another personal assistant as good as you, pumpkin. Anyone else would be getting an up close and personal look at my airlock for that kind of sass.”

“I know sir,” Rhys said with the tone of someone who knew exactly how important they were, and the smirk to match.

Do you really? Jack wanted to ask. Do you have any idea how important you are to me?

Rhys made Jack feel vulnerable, and he had the charm and personality to make Jack not even mind. He had Handsome freakin’ Jack wrapped around his little cybernetic finger and there was nothing Jack could do about it.

Well there was one thing. But Handsome Jack didn’t do that. Even if he wanted to.

He was snapped out of his thoughts once again by another coughing fit. His throat had been killing him all morning. It’s the worst it’s ever been and the strangest part was that there hadn’t even been any petals yet. Sure he was grateful, wouldn’t want to spit bloody sunflower petals all over Rhys’s stupid asymmetrical shirt, but it was odd.

“Are you alright sir?” Rhys said with concern so genuine it made Jack’s stomach twist into a knot.

“I’m freakin’ fine-” He wheezed, sounding like a dying dog. He gripped his desk for support, coughing his throat raw.

“I’ll go get some cough medicine!” Jack didn’t want to be alone at the moment, but he’d rather Rhys not see what happened next.

Blood leaked from the corner of his mouth, definitely seeping under his mask and splattering across the desk. The burning in his throat made his eyes water, like he ate a cup full of razor blades. No scratch that, a cup full of razor blades would be preferable to this.

He jolted forward, retching when he felt something tickling the back of his tongue. It was soft, like a tissue. It was also very good at hitting every single one of his gag triggers.

He knelt over his trash can and shoved two fingers into his mouth. He was desperate to get whatever the fuck that was out of him.

The pain intensified tenfold as he tugged. Black spots danced in his vision. God he was pathetic.

Finally there was a soft snap and Jack threw the wet thing onto the floor with a soft splat. He grabbed the bin and hacked up petals and whatever he ate for breakfast. With his stomach emptied, Jack laid down on the floor, the cool tile nice against his burning face, and examined whatever the hell he just coughed up.

It was a rose, complete with a thorny stem. It was soft, delicate, beautiful, and drenched in blood.

Of course it was a fucking rose.

The door opened with a whoosh, alerting Jack that Rhys was back. He quickly threw away the rose and whipped his face. Hopefully Rhys wouldn’t notice all the blood on his desk, or floor, or in the garbage can, or leaking out the side of his mask, or…

Okay so he was screwed.

“What the hell happened!? Jack! Jack, do I need to call anyone!?” Rhys knelt by his side, gently shaking the man on the floor.

“I’m fucking fine kiddo.” He grimaced, his body screaming at him to shut the hell up. He tried to sit up, but a firm hand on his chest stopped him.

“You should lay down. Rest your head. What happened? Is there a doctor I can call?”

“No!” Jack growled. He hated doctor’s. Last time he went to a doctor for anything more than a shot or a regular check up was when he was getting a mask grafted to his face. He hated their pitying looks and how they treated him like glass. He could never trust a doctor.

But he trusted Rhys. Rhys had only worked for Jack a little over five years. But in those five years Rhys had gotten closer to him than anyone else. Jack trusted Rhys enough to open up about his daughter, his sweet Angel that was off with another pair of sirens learning to use her Phaseshift powers.

Could he trust Rhys with this? It wasn’t like he had much of a choice because the more he thought about Rhys, the itchier his throat felt, until he was sputtering out sunflower petals.

Rhys’s expression was hard to read. A mix of horror, realization, and sympathy. “Oh… Oh no.”

Oh no was a pretty good way to describe hanahaki. It wasn’t contagious, but it was extremely easy to catch. There was no cure, at least no cure that was worth it, but with advances in modern medicine it wasn’t deadly.

There were three levels of severity. Tier one which was common in kids with schoolyard crushes that would really go anywhere. It usually only involved petals. Tier two is what you had to worry about, coming from the kind of crushes you could actually see yourself marrying. Sore throats, difficulty breathing, and small flowers.

Tier three was the worst kind. While the flowers and vines themselves won’t kill you, suffocation and blood loss will. There were medicines that could get rid of the stems, and small surgeries to help the lungs, but completely removing the flowers could be extremely detrimental to both your physical and mental health.

Tier three hanahaki came from deep love that was surly unrequited. But that’s just what the ECHOnet told him. And what did the ECHOnet know. Handsome Jack did not fall in love.

Sure his doppelgänger fell in love, but Tim wasn’t Jack, even though Jack was paying him to be. Tim was actually where he learned about hanahaki. It happened after they met Moxxi on Concordia.

***

“Does anyone have a bottle of bubbly I can smash against this thing?” Jack asked as they prepared to launch the Meriff’s statue-head into Pandora’s asshole. “Ah nevermind. Go ahead and fire!”

Nisha cackled as she slammed her hand onto the launch button. The remix played as it zoomed off.

Jack glanced around, noticing one of his vault hunter’s missing. “Say have any of you seen Timmy around? He was supposed to be here for this!?”

“Lost track of him after we spoke to Moxxi.” Wilhelm said, which was probably one of the longer sentences he’s said yet.

“I think I saw him run to the bathroom. Probably to deal with a ‘little problem’ of it,” Nisha said with an exaggerated wink.

“He’s going to have bigger problems in a minute.”

Jack made his way over to the bathrooms, fully ready to chew Timothy out. “Tim! You better not be Jacking-off in here!”

He heard Tim groan in pain and ran over to his stall. He found the doppelgänger kneeled by the toilet, face first in it. Jack let out a low whistle, feeling a twinge of sympathy.

“Moxxi rope you into having one too many drinks?” He paused, noticing a trial of magnolia petals.

Tim looked at Jack and coughed, spraying petals across the floor.

It wasn’t hard to figure out it was hanahaki. Looking up “coughing up flowers” really only has one result, not including weird fetish porn.

“It better not be Moxxi.” Jack said, threat emanating from his voice.

Tim had a bashful look on his face that Jack would never be caught dead with. “She’s just so pretty. And smart! She’s a mechanic and she looks cute even witho-” he whimpered as more petals filled his mouth.

It only seemed to be a tier two case, still it would be annoying if Tim was kept from work just because of some flower petals. Though it would also be annoying to watch his ex and his doppelgänger get all mushy and gross together.

Somehow the tiny little piece of him that felt bad for the doppelgänger won out.

“Okay fine. Go for it.”

“Huh?”

“You’ve got my charm and good looks. You can win her back no problem.”

Tim smiled, wiping the drool and petals off his face. “Thank you sir! I won’t disappoint you sir!”

That night Tim fell in love. But Jack was not Tim. Handsome Jack did not love.

***

After Jack refused to see a doctor, Rhys decided to assign himself the role of caretaker, starting with getting Jack home. Handsome Jack wasn’t sure why Rhys insisted on supporting him as they made their way up to Jack’s penthouse. It wasn’t like his legs were broken.

Rhys laid Jack onto the couch. “Stay here and rest. I’ll make tea, it'll help with your throat.”

“Fine fine.” Jack wasn’t even sure if he had tea. He was more of a coffee man.

He didn’t usually bring people up to his penthouse for social calls, if you could call whatever this is a social call. Actually he never let anyone in here that he wasn’t planning on fucking or killing. The more he thought about it, the more likely he would probably end up doing one of those things to Rhys.

Rhys returned, handing him a teacup. “This will taste bitter, but it helps with the sore throats and the thorns.” He smiled at him. A soft smile that made Jack feel weirdly vulnerable, like Rhys could see right through him and still wanted him.

Jack shuttered, his throat burning when he thought of Rhys. It was coincidence of course, Jack was not in love with Rhys.

He took a slow sip of the tea and forced back a gag. “God you weren’t kidding when you said bitter!”

Rhys winced. “Normally people add a bit of honey to help with the taste, but I couldn’t find any and I was in a hurry.”

Jack stared at the swirling grey-green liquid and decided a bad taste was better than a sore throat.

“How do you know so much about this shit anyway?”

Rhys sat down and rubbed the back of his neck. “I had a friend that had a chronic case of it. I learned a lot helping them out.”

“Oh… How long did your friend have it?”

“Five years.”

“Damn. How does someone live that way.”

Rhys shrugged. “You get used to it. Eventually taking pain meds and hiding flower petals in your shirt becomes as normal as waking up every morning and going to work. You adapt.”

Jack wasn’t sure what to say, which was probably a good thing since it was killing him to hold a conversation this long. Rhys stood up, signifying that this conversation was probably over anyway.

“I’ll make dinner. Something soft. Do you have ice cream? I guess obviously you probably do. I’m going to walk away now.”

Jack pretended he wasn’t staring right at Rhys’s ass as he left. Rhys always seemed confident at work, when he was making phone calls and chewing someone out for Jack. But the few times Jack had caught Rhys outside of work he was a whole different person. Jack could certainly understand putting on a mask.

Speaking of masks, god his was itchy. He trusted Rhys, but he didn’t want to take his mask off around him. Rhys would be disgusted, probably be asked to be transferred to a different part of Helios. Jack would probably have to kill Rhys in case he tried to use his secret against him.

No, the reasonable side of Jack protested. Rhys never once tried to manipulate Jack. Sure sometimes he would hackle Jack about a raise, but he never once used Angel against him, or slipped a little alcohol in his drink so he’d be more agreeable. Hell the kid hasn’t even tried to get in bed with Jack. And at this point, shooting your shot with the Handsome Jack, might as well be in the job description.

Jack wheezed as he coughed up hyacinth petals into his now empty glass. Why hadn’t Rhys ever made a move on him? It wasn’t like Rhys was afraid of Jack. Is it possible Rhys just doesn’t see Jack that way?

No that’s impossible, Jack’s vanity said. Everyone in the ship, no matter the sexuality, wanted a piece of Jack. And Rhys’s feelings didn’t matter either way, because Handsome Jack did not fall in love.

Rhys, the pure angel, returned with a bucket and a tub of chocolate ice cream just in time to catch the hyacinths Jack puked up.

***

“You know this would be easier if you took off your mask,” Rhys said softly.

“You’ve said.” Jack growled, plucking petals out of his drink. Jack didn’t remember when Rhys dragged him over to his bed but that’s where he’s been the past couple of days.

“I just want to help you. I promise I won’t tell a soul. It just can’t be good for you to wear it this long.”

Rhys had been up in Jack’s penthouse for a week. Jack refused to see a doctor and his condition was slowly getting worse. Rhys did what he could, but what Jack really needed was a doctor or to confess his feelings.

It hurt watching his boss and friend, at least Rhys hoped they were friends, in so much pain. For many reasons. His most selfish reason was that he was sure that whoever Jack loved, it definitely wasn’t him.

Jack gave him a cold look that made Rhys’s stomach twist for many reasons.

“Fine I understand. I’m going to go make dinner.” Rhys got up and made his way over to the bathroom instead. He kneeled over the toilet, jacarandas spilling out of his mouth. At least they aren’t roses, he thought bitterly.

Jack insisted that he could eat solid foods just fine, but Rhys knew from experience that probably wouldn’t be a good idea without proper medication.

Proper medication that Rhys hadn’t had access to in a week because he’s been at his boss's beck and call ever since he watched Jack hack up three bloody roses on the floor.

His condition was getting worse, he could feel it. He’s had to step out more and more to deal with his problem. And just being around Jack in itself made his condition worse enough.

It was only a matter of time before it slipped out and Jack threw him out. God if only he could just get over his stupid crush.

Rhys was careful not to get kalmias in the smoothie he was making. He’d have to go shopping soon too, they were running out of supplies. Though Jack probably got everything delivered.

Jack glared at the cup in Rhys’s hand. He was tired of eating out of a straw. But at least Rhys seemed to know what he was doing.

He was running out of time and he knew it. It was only a matter of time before he suffocated on petals, or the roses and sunflowers fucked up his throat beyond repair, or worst of all, he accidentally confesses his feelings and scares Rhys off.

Why was Rhys staying with him anyway? It wasn’t like Jack asked him too, and Rhys wasn’t getting paid for any of this. Is it possible Rhys could like him back?

Jack immediately regretted letting himself go down that train of thought. He could feel a sunflower pushing his way up his throat. Sunflowers were the worst. Sure less thorns, but god were they huge and seemed to come up the most.

Rhys frowned sympathetically, reaching out to massage his throat. Normally Jack would murder someone for getting so handsy, but he wasn’t in any position to snap at him. Besides it was helping. Has been helping for the past few days.

“Jack! Please let me remove your mask.” Rhys said, trying to be soft. This felt big and it would certainly help if there wasn’t a mask in the way.

Jack glared, trying to push Rhys away against his better judgement. In his defense he was loopy from oxygen deprivation.

Rhys sighed, future him could deal with the consequences of reaching out and undoing the latches and throwing the mask onto the floor. Rhys tried not to let his gaze dwell on the deep scar running down Jack’s face. He focused on soothing Jack and keeping him calm. He could feel his own throat tightening with petals.

Slowly he helped Jack up, bringing him down the hall to the bathroom. Petals were already seeping from Jack’s scarred lips.

Jack could feel the sunflower’s head hit the back of his mouth, making him gag. Rhys brought him into a kneeling position over the bowl. Jack shoved his hand into his mouth, trying to yank it out, also against any logic.

Rhys winced as he pulled out a sunflower the size of his head. It would be beautiful if it weren’t covered in blood.

“Remember to breathe through your nose. Doesn’t try and force anything out. Just relax your throat and let it all fall out.” Rhys kept his voice calm, an emotion he absolutely did not feel. He grabbed his stomach, suddenly going into a coughing fit. Shit not right now.

Jack wasn’t sure what he felt as he watched Rhys spit out kalmias. Well he didn’t know what he felt besides pain and envy.

“Shit!” Rhys said, once he got it out of his system. “I’m sorry!”

Jack grabbed the front of Rhys’s shirt and pulled him in, locking their lips together. Rhys froze, his brain lagging behind everything else. Was Jack kissing him or was he finally dying and his brain was making him happy before he goes.

Jack wasn’t thinking at all. It wasn’t a kiss out of love, Handsome Jack did not love.

Okay fuck it, Jack was stupidly in love. Stupid, stupid, stupid feelings! Rhys already loved someone else and was probably going to run off as soon as Jack let go.

So just never let go, Jack’s possessive side said. Jack hugged Rhys tighter, kissing him harder.

So this was real. Rhys melted, having trouble keeping up with the kiss. Tears spilled down his cheeks, he wasn’t sure if they were his or Jack’s. He felt his lungs twist and he shoved Jack back.

Five years of roots were coming up all at once. Rhys braced himself, grabbing Jack’s hand hard enough to hurt.

Jack was about to say something but was interrupted by a sudden lurch as his own roots forced their way out. They weren’t as deep, but it still hurt like a bitch.

After several minutes of hacking up repressed feelings, they both collapsed on the floor.

“So…” Rhys said, cringing at how his voice sounded. “How’d you get that scar?”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Jack said, voice squally scratchy. “I don’t want to talk at all.” Jack cupped Rhys’s cheek and pulled him into a kiss, and Rhys happily let him.

Maybe Handsome Jack could love, just this once.

***

“There you two are! I’ve been trying to contact you for days!” Timothy said, glaring at his boss. “You can’t just say you need me to take charge of Helio’s for a while and then not give me any information! And where have you been!?” He points at Rhys. “You’re supposed to fill me in on what’s going on. I’ve been winging it for a week!”

Rhys gave him a nervous smile, taking Jack’s hand. The action didn’t go unnoticed by Tim who was starting to deflate.

“I told you I was sick.” Jack said. “Rhys was taking care of me.”

“Whatever. Just don’t complain to me about all the work you have left over. And don’t forget to pay me.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll ECHO you later. Don’t you have a girlfriend to run home too?” Jack really just wanted some alone time. Well alone with Rhys time.

“Fiancée.” Tim corrected. Jack could tell his dopplegӓnger was blushing slightly under his identical mask. “I’ll see myself out. Congrats on finally getting together.”

“Finally?” Rhys asked, but Tim had already skipped out.

“Don’t mind him.” Jack said, kissing his cheek in an oddly gentle way. “We have work to catch up on.”

Rhys smiled, pulling Jack into a kiss. “I’ll get your coffee then, sir.”

Jack shamelessly stared at Rhys’s ass as he walked off. Yeah this could work out.

#borderlands #tales from the borderlands #rhack #handsome jack #rhys strongfork #rhys the company man #rhys x jack #my fic #hanahaki #hanahaki disease

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thegildedkelpie · 3 years

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- P R O L O G U E -

Rating: Young Adult

Warnings: Sexual assault, gore, various distressing themes

Summary: Humans have a lot of names for the Veil; the Other Side, the Great Beyond, the Heavens or the Hells, Limbo, Purgatory. The Norse had Niflheim and Alfheim, the Gaelic and the Welsh had Tír na nÓg and Annwn. Nowadays, the slang is simply Veilside. Easy, quick, and it doesn’t come heavy with cultural ties.

Severed has lived with one foot Veilside and the other foot Humanside for as long as he could remember. He works and lives in an abysmal halfway place, a pocket dimension powered by brutal, messy magic, slaving away in a slaughterhouse to pay off a debt.

Niamh stepped unwittingly Veilside in high school, cutting his life abruptly short and ruining what remained. He works in a gilded cage, a beautiful, famous brothel, until one day he gets out.

When Severed lets Niamh crash on his couch, the precarious balance he’s managed to keep up begins to tilt.

┕━━━━ ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ━━━━┙

“What is your name?” the nurse asked. She was wearing plain white from her head to her ankles; an apron over her dress, socks that hid the skin of her legs. Her shoes shone black.

Niamh stared at her, fingers tangled in the sheets of the bed he didn't remember waking up in. There was a horrible, sugary, bile-heavy taste stuck in his throat and his head felt heavy. “Where am I?”

She smiled. “The Gardens, of course.” She said it precisely, like a title. “What is your name?”

“What's the gardens?” he asked warily, looking down at himself. He had been in a hoodie and skinny jeans, but someone had stripped those off and replaced them with what seemed to be a pale cream gown. He pulled his legs up. A pang of nausea hit as his bare legs beneath – bare everything – brushed the fabric. “Where am I?”

“There is nothing to be frightened of,” she said kindly, setting a hand on his shoulder. She had pointed ears like he did, but the face was wrong. She was not like him. Even with barely any time veilside, he could tell. “Everything will be explained in time. Please tell me your name so that we can start the paperwork.”

“Is this a hospital?” he asked. Maybe he’d gotten sick, or passed out somewhere. The last thing he remembered were vodka shots and thumping music at a club he shouldn’t have even been at. He looked at her chest, at her simple, dated dress and white coat, but there was no name tag or ID badge. Purple, bell shaped flowers were embroidered on the cuffs of the white coat and the rounded collar of her dress, small pops of color.

She nodded, looking pleased. “We're here to make sure you're healthy. Now, your name?”

He stared at her and finally said, “Niamh?”

The nurse made a pleased noise and started scribbling on the clipboard. Unlike the humans he was used to, she did not ask him to spell it out for her. “Middle and last names?”

He ignored her. “How...how did I get here?” He leaned forward, heart pounding. He wanted to go home. He wanted to be able to walk into the front door of his house in Las Vegas instead of being forbidden from entry, or for his parents to look at him instead through him. The Veil had been fun until it wasn’t, the magic amazing until it had become frightening. “I don't remember anything but a party.”

She didn't look up from her clipboard. “We had to sedate you. You were getting sick all over the place.”

“Sick? From the party?”

Nothing but the scratch of a pen answered him. After a long moment of scribbling on the clipboard, she looked at him. Her smile had not changed in the slightest. “I'll be right back with your paperwork, alright?”

“Okay.” It was discharge papers, he bet. She would bring him his discharge papers, his vomited on clothes, and he would leave. The faeries he'd been travelling with would probably be waiting in the front lobby of the hospital, ready to laugh at him and slap him on the back and drag him off to another wild party, another few nights of trying to forget what he had given up when he’d made the choice to cross the Lines.

He watched her go because there was nothing else to do.

After a few moments, the door opened and he got a glimpse of high white walls and decorative moulding, gleaming mirrors and paintings in gold frames, before the door shut behind the nurse. She had a slip of cream paper in her hand and a pen.

She held it out to him. “Please sign this.”

He took it, expecting a discharge paper, but it was thicker than he expected and soft to the touch. The letters were incredibly small and the font was blocky and hard to read. The title was illuminated, colourful, and gilded, a green leafed plants climbing up the side margins to border the text, bell shaped purple flowers and black berries hanging between paragraphs. “What is this?”

“Your contract.”

“Discharge papers?” he asked. His head pounded but there was no music.

“Contract,” she corrected. “Please sign it so we can move you on out of here.”

“Am I going home?” he asked, but he had no home. Not now. Not anymore.

“You're already home,” the nurse said.

Niamh shook his head, stomach twisting. He teetered to his feet. The floor pulled him down and he stumbled, the nurse catching his arm. “I'm going.”

“Going where? There's nowhere to go until you sign,” she laughed.

The faeries had warned him never to sign a contract, never to trust a person with a hidden name, to avoid unmarked vans and unclear signage, swamps and bridled horses and will o' wisps, people with sprigs of rowan or ash pinned to their breasts, to not be swayed by the glamour of high courts or old money or the shiny, neon lights of the new money.

“What’s your name?” he asked dizzily.

“Tint,” she said smoothly. She couldn't lie, he knew, but she could obfuscate, tell him a nickname with no power or identification.

“Where are my friends?” He pulled away from her and found it difficult to remain upright. The room spun around him.

“I wouldn't know, you arrived here alone. I promise there are new friends here that you just haven't met yet.”

He looked around. The room was nondescript and plain but there were details he hadn't noticed before. The counters were white, the walls were white, the floor was checkerboard white and black marble tiles, and there was a strange stain in one white tile, rusty and shimmery and pale. Would the door be locked? Would he make it if it wasn't and he ran? “I prefer my old ones.”

“But everyone likes new friends, don't they?” Her head tilted to the side. “Please sit down, Niamh. You are dizzy.”

His stomach was sinking lower, lower. “Did you give me something?” he asked and realized at the same time.

“No,” she said, touching his elbow. He tried to stumble away from her. “You were unconscious when you arrived.”

He looked down at his inner arms. In the crook of one elbow was a little red dot – needle mark. He wasn't strong, always coughing and catching colds and bleeding all over his homework from his nose, but he was quick. He darted for the door and was out of the miraculously unlocked entryway before the nurse could grab him. The hall had high, vaulted ceilings, doors on one side and windows into a courtyard patio on the other, buttery sunlight pouring in. Another nurse was pushing a tea tray down the hall and she stared at him, mouth open.

“Are you lost?” she asked, but he was attempting to sprint down the hall before she finished. His vision spiralled, sending him skidding, knocking into the wall to stay upright. The gown had a back, which spared him some humiliation of running down a hall with his ass exposed to the world. It was a small comfort, but something nonetheless.

He had always been quick, pressured to join track team year after year despite his coughing fits, and the nurse was not fast enough to catch him. The double doors at the end of the hall swung open when he threw himself into them.

The air was not cold but it wasn’t warm, either. The sun was bright but not as blinding as it should have been. It was as if the weather was so mild that there was no weather at all.

Scattered across the patio extending into the green courtyard were tables, and other people in gowns stared at him, plates of sweets and pots of tea in front of them. A few laughed and pointed, snickering behind their hands.

“Niamh, get back here!” the nurse called, beetle-black penny loafers clacking on the marble floor, closer, closer.

He stumbled down the steps, darting around the placid people at patio tables, but the courtyard was surrounded on all sides with the grand building, a beautifully arranged cage.

His nurse had gained an ally in the nurse who was pushing the tea cart, and they hurried towards him together. Niamh, facing nowhere to go, splashed into the nearest fountain and scrambled up the tiered pools until he was crouched at the top, soaked from the waist down in freezing, mossy water.

“Get away from me,” Niamh shouted down at them.

“Niamh, please come down of your own volition or we will be forced to remove you,” his nurse called to him.

“Don't we have enough twinks?” an attractive man in a pale blue gown asked loudly, pouring himself another cup of tea. He had one black eye and a split lip. His companion, skin dusted mauve, muttered at him, kicking him under the table.

Niamh was not magic the way the other faeries were. He had only intent, but no real action, and therefore the nurses were not compelled when he said loudly, “Stay away.”

His nurse glared at him. “You will come down or we will have someone take you down.”

“Hey kid, just come down!” another person in a gown called from a table farther away. They had an IV pole connected to their arm and gently curling horns. They were so delicately pretty he couldn't tell if they were a boy or a girl. “You're ruining breakfast. God knows that's the only good thing about this fucking hospice!”

Both nurses spared the person a hard look.

His heart hammered. The walls looked too high to climb, but could he try? “Where am I?”

His nurse, Tint, managed to sound patient when she said, “I told you, Niamh. You are in the Gardens. You need to sign your contract.”

“What's the Gardens?” he called down, fingers digging into the stone. He felt like he was a container filled with liquid, and the liquid was sloshing against the cracking walls. It was only a matter of time before something gave, either his stomach or his consciousness.

Tint put her hands on her hips as the other nurse went to a man in black body armour standing watch by the double doors and started talking to him inaudibly, pointing up at him. The man leaned his head down and talked into a walkie strapped to his chest. “Your new home and place of employment,” she said sternly, as the man began approaching.

“I don't want a job,” he said, but felt like it wasn't employment he was being offered. “I'm in high school.”

“You will be given the opportunity to finish your education here. We rescued you from the streets. By all means, if you would rather live in squalor until someone comes to take advantage of you, we can make arrangements, but first you need to come down here and get out of the fountain.” She glared up at him.

Niamh shook his head. “I would rather leave. I don't want to be here and I won't get out of the fountain.”

She stepped closer to the edge of the fountain, hands on her hips and eyes hard. “We want what is best for you, Niamh. That's why you're here. We know you're a changeling. The choice is always hard, and we are happy that you have decided to live life as you actually are. But Niamh,” her voice gentled when he gripped the wet, mossy artichoke decoration at the top of the fountain tighter. “Where will you go when we drop you off at the bar we found you at, passed out and covered in vomit, danced half to death? You don't know the laws, the culture, the language. Your friends wanted something to drag around, not someone to look after. We will look after you here, I promise.”

Some of the people at the tables were nodding along with her. Others had their eyes glued to the tables in front of them.

“I can look after myself,” he shouted down, throwing handful of algae. “I didn't drink that much!” It was half true. He had paced himself carefully but still couldn't remember the night.

Tint sighed, voice lowering. “Get him down.”

The guard approached the fountain, pulling out some sort of cylindrical tool. Niamh had classmates with allergies, at his high school, and the thing looked like an epi-pen. Somehow, he didn’t think it was wielded to save lives.

“Come on, kid, don't make this hard. Everyone else is just trying to enjoy their breakfasts.” He had a soft accent, something hard to place. Everyone on this side had an accent, though, and it was futile to try and place it. The languages spoken were countless, here, and all unfamiliar.

He clung to the artichoke. If he passed out, maybe he would fall and be too hurt for whatever they wanted of him. “You're the one making it hard.”

“That's what she said!” crowed someone from the tables. There was scattered, half hearted chuckles. People sipped their tea and watched placidly. He watched a scattering of them shake their heads and get up, retreating into the building.

The guard, whose nameplate read Duergar, sloshed into the fountain and waded for the centre. “Get down here before you get hurt,” he said, clambering into the first platform pool.

“No,” he hissed, standing slowly. He teetered on the edge, but there was nowhere higher to climb.

“Sit down!” The nurses both yelled.

“Get down here, you little shit,” Duergar the guard who was not very fast or good at climbing, ground out through his teeth, which were sharp. He climbed, sopping, into the second platform pool. Niamh was almost within his reach.

When Duergar's fingers poked over the edge to pull himself up, Niamh slammed his heel down onto them. Duergar yelped and the crowd down below cheered, clapping. Duergar grabbed his ankle and Niamh swayed. “You're going to get yourself hurt!”

“ You're hurting me,” he snapped, shaking his leg so violently the rest of him tried to topple the other way. He scrambled to hold on to the artichoke. The algae slipped beneath his hands, forcing his nails to bite into the stone beneath.

“I hate changelings,” Duergar muttered, yanking on his ankle. “Sit down before you fall off of this thing and crack open your head.”

Below, people were talking. He heard what is happening? and someone replied the new guy wants to go home. The reply was too quiet to hear, a murmur that felt like pity.

Niamh yanked his ankle back, harder, but he was not strong and this was not something he could run from. He said, half true, “I'll curse you if you don't let go.”

Duergar hesitated. “If you curse me I'll make sure you'll regret it,” he threatened, pulling on his leg.

“Doesn't mean you won't be cursed,” he hissed, panicked as he dug his nails down to avoid being dragged. A second hard yank made him let go. A third made him go careening over the edge only to be caught under one of Duergar's broad arms. He kicked and bit and scratched but was still brought down, landing with a splash into the water. He pushed onto his hands, sputtering.

“Little shit,” Duergar huffed.

Niamh glared up at him. He could see his pores widen into pox, his hair turn to straw. “I hope you rot.”

Duergar knotted fat, meaty fingers in Niamh's hair and shoved him under the water. Niamh struggled against him, panicking, but Duergar was stronger. He tried to pry his gloved fingers from his hair but couldn't.

He held his breath as long as he could, but the guard did not let go. In all his struggling, his mouth opened and water rushed down his throat, mossy and cold. Panic followed the water into his lungs, settling into each delicate bronchiole.

His heart kicked up another impossible notch and he tried to get leverage with his knees. They dug hard into the algae until they scraped, bleeding, on the stone bottom of the fountain and he attempted to heave himself upwards. Duergar's grip did not budge and Niamh was left in the cold, rushing dark, watching bubbles and bits of green float past his eyes

Duergar heaved him up before his blurring vision went black. He clutched at the mossy edge of the pool, the world spinning, and coughed up lungfuls of water until he was gagging, vomiting up bile into the water. Duergar made a disgusted noise.

The spectators were not laughing, anymore, but they didn't look surprised or concerned either.

“Still cursed,” he wheezed, heart pounding, terrified, in his chest.

His hand pulled on his hair and Niamh gasped, fingers tearing at Duergar's, but Tint shouted “Enough!” before he could shove him under again. “Bring him down. He needs to sign his contract before we can perform a medical examination.”

Niamh tried to step over the side when he was pulled, stumbling instead, skidding across marble through the gown. “I won't sign,” he said again.

But he would sign, and back in the examination room he did sign. He wrote his name – first, middle, last – wherever prompted. Duergar lingered by the door as Tint left, carrying the paper contract with her. A doctor replaced her, a gold robed man following behind him, eyes tattooed on his hands, who stood in the corner and watched.

The doctor peeled off the gown and Niamh let him because there was nothing he could do to stop it. He jabbed and prodded and fondled at his body, took his weight and his height, looked into his mouth and his ears and his eyes. His ribs were painstakingly counted, each joint bent. He did a vision test, a hearing test, and took his blood. At the end of the examination, when his medical form was completed, the gold robed man held his jaw in his hands and stared at him for far too long before nodding and finally leaving, the doctor trailing behind.

Duergar dragged him out of the room and down the hall and into an elevator. It was a complicated series of elevators and stairs and turns until he was being shoved into what looked like a dorm room. Niamh had expected to be left alone, but Duergar came in, too, shutting the door behind him.

His hands went to his belt and Niamh, resisting the same way he had in the fountain, went to the bed.

His first impression was that he was going to be beaten with a belt like some of the parents in his shitty neighborhood had done to their kids, but the belt hit the ground, forgotten. Duergar's fingers unbuttoned his pants, pulling down his zipper, and Niamh curled his knees closer to himself.

#writeblr #urban fantasy #original fiction

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box-bunny-grey · 3 years

Text

Who wants to hear a random jackass ramble about Shadowlands and not edit what he wrote? No one? Too bad.

I’ll start this by saying that this is from the perspective of a Mistweaver monk, Necrolord Covenant, who only does content through pugs who cleared Normal Nathria and as of now has never cleared past a seven keystone.

So when I wrote out an outline for this one late night for the hell of it, I was thinking I’d be positive. That I’d say I had problems with the game but the main meat of the game, the group content, was still good.

This opinion has shifted.

So I’m just going to ramble through what I put in my outline and then see if it looks good.

The Good (Sometimes)

So as I said group content feels good… When it’s good.

Mythic 0 was a lot of fun early in expansion because groups were generally patient. Like I’d have a plaguefall group that was just really positive even as we wiped a few times getting a feel for the second boss, and was super receptive to advice. Even with the Sanguine Depths being pretty aggravating at zero plenty of groups were kind, and hell being able to heal tanks through it as they rushed through felt rad. Even played with a friend tanking a few times and it felt awesome to just be around and do well.

Nathria is also great at feeling like a logical progression of things. A lot of raids can feel like there’s a bunch of quarters that just exist, but Nathria did feel like a real siege. Starting off dealing with the first line of defense, dealing with the animal tamers before they could unleash the hounds, dealing with an infestation that could come back to bite you if left alone, culminating in that portion in the defeat of a boss established earlier in the leveling experience and technically dealing with the first major threat: the anima leaking into the maw. From there you deal with an attempted thief in the armory that should not be left to their own devices, keep Kael’thas from becoming a weapon to remove that option from Denathrius, and deal with his most powerful sycophants. I actually really like Sludgefist as an obstacle to the finale bosses and the reuse of Shriekwing’s room: Shriekwing might have bloodied the floor but kept everything intact, Sludgefist if there to say “Denathrius doesn’t care if he has to take down the whole castle, at this point you’re too dangerous.” And the end of the Stone Legion Generals and Denathrius was a nice was to finish up the instance.

Then everything goes not so good.

Mythic+ woes

Mythic+ is fun… When your group is competent. I’m not even talking going full meta here. I’ve had awful DH tanks as well as DH tanks that react amazingly. The bad runs where the DH tries to act like running at the speed of sound far above his ilevel, and the good runs where when I die because there’s so much to keep track of the DH IMMEDIATELY starts gliding back to where I’d spawn to make sure we don’t lose the progress we’ve gotten on the mobs. I’ve had amazing WARRIOR tanks in runs, and that’s a class I’ve been told right now is at the bottom of the meta in so many ways.

But then you have groups that disperse as soon as they see there’s no bloodlust, or call for it repeatedly when no one can (look I pug I have to take what I can get, I’m lucky I don’t get full melee groups honestly). Or more recently a group that could not get past blightbone in Necrotic Wake because someone kept getting eaten by their mob and getting it to explode, causing AOE damage I could not heal through in a Mythic 9 at my gear. Or a group in Plaguefall that, when I died because I had to focus on healing because the tank wasn’t tanking the second boss right and the DH and the tank accuse me of not paying attention when that disease he does because the tank wasn’t doing their job is pretty hard to keep off and would make my life much easier of the tank remembered that but no it was my fault.

I am still mad.

Speaking of Plaguefall, that comes back to my favorite experience of assholes in Mythic+. Had two warlocks in party, so two soulstones for battle rez. I die. No soulstone. Alright, it’s trash, guess I gotta walk back. Do so. Get to boss. Die again, don’t even remember what. No soulstone. Okay, maybe they’re mad because I died to something easy. Someone asks about battle rez. “Sorry it’s on CD think the healer used it.” I say I got no battle rez. They get uppity. Other warlock used their soulstone on themselves. People keep talking about it. Other warlock gets angry because he thinks they’re talking about them. Leaves. We manage to 4 man it.

I was not happy and now I do not like Plaguefall.

Raid time

When I completed my first Castle Nathria is was about 3 AM. It was a pretty painless run, mostly one shots with a couple of hiccups. It started at 9 PM. This was a mostly good run. That’s a good run. Now imagine what happens when you have a bad run. But I figured hey, late night lost on a Saturday is fine, it seems like even pugs with no voice chat can finish raids on normal easy, so pugging, and I got 10/10 so I could always do earlier runs, especially guild runs. Should be fine right?

I’ve learned how many melee do not know what an interrupt is.

I’ve learned how bad some guides are when giving kill orders for heroic over normal.

I’ve learned how easily people can kill a raid not realizing very obvious tactics will leave death pools behind.

I’ve learned Council of Blood is the big obstacle for any pug to find out whether or not you should be here, even more than Sludgefist.

Which brings us to the final point.

Oh Boy! 35 Anima!

Cold to the point of sub-zero take: loot drops in Shadowlands suck. This is coming from someone who got lucky in one of his Castle Nathria full clears and got multiple pieces in a single week. But overall the frustration of groups, Myhic+ or Raid, gets exacerbated when you see that 35 anima drop, and then notice the asshole who kept dying got an upgrade.

Mythic 0 works out well enough, the dungeons are easy enough and with every boss in them dropping something, even with the weekly lockout, feels a lot better than putting your all into a raid only to get nothing. I’d say the deluge of loot from 0 helped keep me going since there was always the chance of something coming from them.

And honestly, the Great Vault doesn’t fix it. I’ve had a week where, out of a full clear Nathria and 2 slots of mythic+, four out of five of my options were rings. And that one was alright because if it didn’t drop a trinket I could have used that. But I’ve had weeks where every possible upgrade was a slot that was already covered, while other slots wound up being stuck. I’d say even the catch-up mechanism of covenant gear doesn’t work due to both the anima cost of upgrading (which is FAR above 35 anima) and the extra put on your repair costs since the gear is worth 250 gold to vendors. Not exactly enticing.

And remember, I said group content was the GOOD part of the expansion.

Solo Content: Boring, Aggravating

It’s all downhill from here.

The New, Painful World Quests

When World Quests were introduced in Legion, they were usually pretty simple. Either quests you did to level, rares that you might have missed, and occasional puzzles from the Kirin Tor. BFA seemed to follow that in general, with the Tortollan replacing the Kirin Tor and occasional more involved battlefront world quests. But these were generally so plentiful that more often than not, if you wanted emissary but didn’t like an activity it was easy enough to find the simple ones.

Shadowlands World Quests attempt to be all the more involved type, and of small enough number that you’re going to hate some of them by the end of it. Some are fun, I will admit. Playing with Draka’s dog, the Maldraxxus running of the olympic torch, Theotar’s parasol, (most of) the tea time ones, and even one where you fly through the air to collect pupas. But then you have others.

And I’d say my biggest headaches have a common covenant: the Kyrian. Poorly programmed flappy bird. Dumb ‘training’ simon says. One that should be simple, just kill mobs… Except you have a stationary zone you have to pull them to and god help you if someone else is killing in the zone, doesn’t notice you, and now you have to wait out the cooldown to drop another one.

The gear rewards suck, the anima amount varies how much it’s worth it, and every other reward straight up aren’t worth it.

Also a lot of treasures are obnoxious. Like I can’t even think of how to elaborate on it it’s just so many are not worth the effort to find out how to open them because so many rewards are, you guessed it! 35 Anima.

Stagnant Sanctums

When I first saw sanctums I thought I’d have the patience to keep a few going. Having leveled 2 alts I can confirm I haven’t had the energy to even attempt to start their anima/soul grind.

First, we have the Mmission board. Because I chose the Necrolords first I didn’t realize just how bad some people’s were. Then I started night fae I soon fond out how blessed I’d been. Maldraxxus’ unit types are frontline and backline splash damage, and your first follower is entire board splash damage. I forgot what the follower for night fae did, but the night fae units are a healer and a dot applying unit.

Guess how man missions are massive amounts of enemies and how many are single objective focuses.

But then we have the anima conductor, and at first I thought it was a neat idea. Get rewards for putting anima back into the Shadowlands, and when I saw the second tier daily quests had a chance to give 500 anima . That seemed amazing and considering some of the quests were obnoxiously long and boring I assumed it was encouragement if you didn’t have the patience for other 35 anima rewards.

Then they hotfixed it the day after I found out it was only Necrolords. Now the quests are just boring and obnoxious world quests with the extra step of picking them up.

So now not only did the anima grind lose something to make it less obnoxious, and the time gating of souls for sanctum features, in addition to a lot of features just being underwhelming. I decided to waste resources on my travel network’s second level for a slow moving necropolis around my zone. There has NEVER been a point where the necropolis was a faster way to get to my destination over just mounting up and running. But hey, at least the shitty necropolis did what it promised and didn’t have people upgrade to find out their transport network didn’t do what it promised.

And hell, I’m liking making abominations, but the fact that so many options to customize them are behind a really obnoxious RNG (no Chordy, it’s not around here) it gets all the more aggravating to have fun with it. And I like stuff like Roseboil asking me if I have a boo-boo and telling me I’m tough.

Though with all these problems I have with anima, I guess at least it not being tied to progression like artifact power and azerite. Yet so many things fun things tied behind it with such slow, time-gated progression is aggravating. So clearly the solution would be infinitely grindable things, right?

Well…

Why are the Avowed a Thing?

I assume the Avowed were originally what the Venthyr had instead of the Ember Court and then realized it was terrible but then left it in to annoy alchemists and Venthyr that want certain tints.

I am no Venthyr. But I am an alchemist.

Least the Shadestones make me plenty of money.

I do not know why this faction still exists other than annoyance, or why they’re infinitely grindable like they are. In the sense that WHY DOES IT TAKE SO LONG?

Covenant Woes

I do like the Necrolords. Didn’t even choose them because they were (somewhat) meta for MW monk. I did it because I liked the aesthetic and the concept of my covenant ability being just tossing dust at someone is hilarious to me.

But I only like the wings part of my mog. I do not like the look of the leather set on my troll. And every other mog looks like actual armor. I mean I get it: cloth is house of rituals, mail is intended to be house of eyes (since Draka wears it), and plate is house of the chosen. So house of constructs is what is left for leather. I still don’t like it.

And the issue I have with a ‘right covenant’ is that that has changed already for some classes. Remember how I said Necrolord was somewhat meta above? Well that’s because the meta changed, they found out Kyrian is generally best overall. Or people who played warrior, heard their DPS was universally Venthyr, and found out later people did the math and found out that the night fae was best to do Mythic+. Not the worst thing since changing is easy. But I get the feeling more and more frustration is going to come as the expansion goes on.

Speaking of things that will definitely get worse.

The Maw Fucking Sucks

“Well it’s intended to be a hostile land that you want to get in quickly and out of quickly!”

Yeah. Still sucks. Transport options suck. The place tries to act like it’s bigger than it is by removing mounting except for a select few mounts. The dailies do not give enough ve’nari reputation to be worth it, in addition to the fact that, outside of the one use purchases ve’nari’s items are rarely worth it (wow a skeleton key for the incredibly simple puzzle chests that’s single use!). I feel bad for people who can’t do twisting corridors and have to rely on the shadehound hunt to make time in there feel less hellish.

Apparently Worgen can use running wild to circumvent it and you know what? Good for them. I hope that never gets/got patched.

Well Torghast is fun right?

Torghast is Terrible

The entire thing’s a timesink. Not enough fun builds to actually make it feel worth it past what you do to get your legendary. One of the deathroach pets seems to sell for a bit so I guess that’s a positive. It really feels like they did exactly what they did with World Quests: took something other mmos generally use for levelling, in this case the deep dungeon, and assumed people wanted to do it at max level. And I’d say it’s a good way to know they’re out of touch with their playerbase considering they had to nerf the last layers when they went live.

I think I was able to get through Twisting Corridors solely because I was a monk and our anima powers are good, but without a large amount of stamina or the right powers early on it goes to shit quick. But I got my mount so never have to see it again.

Also reminder that when Twisting Corridors went live there were still placeholder powers.

Future Worries

While mostly Torghast related figured I’d make this its own section.

What’s going to happen when new content comes out and legendaries have to be higher ilevel? Will they simply up the soul ash cost or put in another aggravating currency. What about legendary memories? Will more be added or will they have to be upgraded? Will we be wearing multiple? And how will anima be handled as things go on.

Really the big issue I have with all of this is from what I can gather, the mindless grind of wow continues to get more and more aggravating as expansions go on, with rarely a reprieve in sight.

Nitpicks

This is shit even I understand is probably not a big deal or might be personal preference.

LET MY TROLL WEAR SHOES THE VENTHYR MAIL AND NECROLORD PLATE DOES IT FOR THE LOVE OF GOD I’M PRETTY SURE SOME SHOES AT LEAST HAVE OPTIONS FOR HOOVED CHARACTERS.

Soulbinds vary in importance in covenant stories. Using Necrolord as an example, by the time you start the campaign Marileth is already done with his arc, Heirmir only exists to say they’re the Primus’ apprentice in smithing, and Emeni only shows up if you choose necrolord and is the only one with any prominence in the story. Necrolord is mostly the Azeroth trio each dealing with things, and it does have neat moments (always enjoyed the story of the Ashbringer, and Alexandros going “this is a large locked chest” crushing the lock, and then saying “it is now a large chest” was good) but I’d assume soulbinds would have more to do.

To compare, the Kyrian campaign seems to spend the most time with soulbinds, with Venthyr being second place, and Night Fae I think being a third. Further, odd things like a little under 2/3 of the Necrolord campaign being shared with other covenants, while Night Fae doesn’t interact with any in theirs. This is despite the fact that the Kyrian campaign interacts with all other factions, the Necrolord part being the same for that faction; and the Venthyr campaign interacts with Kyrian and Necrolords, once more the Necrolord version is shared. I guess I’d say I’d prefer they either commit to separate stories or overlapping uinversally, but maybe that’ll come with the next part.

Conclusion

Running out of steam for this random smattering of thoughts so conclusion.

Shadowlands I think is like most expansions. Launch is fun because everything is new, then the grind wears everyone down.

Make more loot drop for more difficulties or fix the great vault.

Really that’s all I got here’s a picture of my monk.

#Box's descent into madness #haven't used that in a while #THIS IS HOW I DECIDE TO USE MY SUNDAY I GUESS

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alchemisland · 5 years

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Wizards and Lizards - II

Easy as a switch flicked, he starts on in his stage accent, 'That's because I'm not a clown, you afroed goat. I am a seer. I am an oracle to rival Delphi. I choose not my gift, merely I am a mouthpiece, a vessel to amplify the will of the universe. A clever man once said that we, humans, are a way for the cosmos to know itself,' He points to the stars, then with soot-stained hands invites Bozo to look around, 'only some are born to more knowing than others.' He traces a button's circumference with his index finger, then nods glibly to finish.

'Drop it, Shiree. I've heard the shtick. Save it for the horny cowherds.'

The seer flashes a toothless smile. His thin lips, for his sins, were etched in a permanent sneer, two pale pigmentless worms that barely quivered when he talked. 'If what I heard from those sows is true, your knees must be sore. Will we see if I've a tincture for it?'

Bozo spits and stoops to his haunches, oversized strides mudcaked ankle to knee. One foot is unshod, his favoured poulaine lost in the fervour.

Argument was futile. He knew how this went, concede defeat or argue until the seas dry. Shiree never let a thing go, not a borrowed penny, not a stringless favour, let alone an exchange of barbs.

Bozo sighs, 'We'll argue until the cows come home. Forget it. What's your plan anyway, magic man?'

Shiree laughs, all arch and theatrics even in direst straits. 'Strange you'd have to leave when the cows come home, is it date night already?'

'Fuck off.' Bozo exhales a plume of cigarette smoke, the same foundry grey as the steam-laden morning mist. Shiree imagines a dragon vomiting carcinogenic fire, selfsame as those stitched on his breast.

'No spiel, master jester. Merely my tongue and the secrets of the Gods. There are no plans either. The Perfumed Persian makes no plans, he alters the fabric of the universe to suit his desires.'

'Fine, have it your way, sandman. In what manner will you alter the fabric of the universe?' Bozo, growing impatient, taps his foot like a heated beast.

'I appreciate your correction, but I must rudely ask that you rescind your request for information. Shiree discusses not matters of celestial importance with baseborn whelks.'

Bozo poises to sigh again but stops himself mid gasp, realizing his last ten breaths had been sighs, which medically is considered hyperventilation. 'Have it your way, Wizard.'

He stood enormous, a modern titan. Six foot three easy, no mean feat in crueller ages, when only the silkskinned could afford to import the top tiers of the nutritional pyramid. His shoulders were broad, built for tossing bails, although one could not easily tell through his baggy playsuit, a loose fitting one-piece decorated with blue and orange orbs, twinned with yellow stripes. The platforms he wore performing raised him six feet eleven.

A profound stoop resulting from excess spine made him appear glum, eyes always to the ground, though he was of pleasant temperament, if not charismtically challenged.

'If you fancy a jaunt I'm bound for Duffy's. Lecho said he's looking for performing types for the jubilee. Shouldn't take three nights hard going.' With that he leaves, turning at the gate to see if the imp followed which he didn't. The forest's mouth devours him.

Shiree begins to mutter. 'Shiree wanders not in the company of minstrels, lest their airs be praising him.' His child's knees barely buckling to stoop, he leans and picks up Bozo's cigarette still smouldering in the muck. He wipes it clean before bringing it to his lips, whispering the magic words into the moist filter. Smoky tendrils curl animatedly from its charred tip, shifting to form an ethereal bowl suspended in the air, smokelike and strange, at once foggy and clear, diaphanous almost. Shiree stands on his stilts and stares hatefully into the summoned cauldron. Quicksilver bubbles below.

It shifted in the fashion of living thing, a writhing mass of metal worms. Finally settling, the sheen parted in the center to reveal a vignette unfolding, a living dream in thin air. The Magician watched the Fool struggling through the dense foliage, pinecones exploding beneath his heavy tread, darting like a frightened deer trying to gain any sense of direction. He fell crossing a fence, hoist by own enormous shoe. Tumbling backwards he fell some distance, rolling toward the base of the rise, crashing into a patch of briar. He rose from the undergrowth patting the breast pocket of his overalls, desperate for a woodbine. Finally luckless, he cursed, crushing the empty box in his bailed fist before casting it aside. Pushing himself upward he pressed onward with grimfaced determination, displaying a dogged courage Shiree reluctantly respected.

The silver smoke shifts to form a drama. Bozo is far from the circus, dumping pebbles from his shoe in a clearing. Filth encrusted, bramble whipped and generally dishevelled, he had never been closer to the lanky streak of misery the mean kids used to accuse him of being. Shiree smiles. Now whose countenance could freeze time. A fire crackles, sodden overalls dry on a branch. When the mud dried, Bozo would scrape it away with a twig.

Resourceful knave. A keen scout.

Shiree whispers more gutturally into his cup of mist. Hell winds brew in the lungs of the earth mother and she exhales from her cavernous maw a breeze to shake Babel. Howling through the makeshift camp, the wizard's tempest attacks. Bozo holds his wig tight. Stumbling, he seeks shelter in the breast of a hollowed oak. For a moment he sees the flames resist and is emboldened, tongues wildly lashing in every direction, but the gale persists on until the fire gutters, then splutters and dies.

All calms. Leaves dance downward at an owl's flight. Its departure marks the end of Shiree's vision. Before him a viscous liquid rises, filling the sucking void where the projection had appeared. The bowl disappears like smoke in a hurricane.

This is his true gift. Possession of animals. Mostly birds and bugs. Occasionally wolves and larger creatures were employed, when mother necessity called. Transformations require enormous energy. He would require rest before another attempt such-like. Until horizontal, he feels cloudy, his instincts dulled.

This gave a hint as to what went on behind the wizard's curtain, to coin a phrase. Patrons eager for good tidings sat wide-eyed while Shiree asked the birds. Robin, breast inked with Christblood, what is prophesied. Wag tail bouncing by the brook, what whispers the ripples. Crow, sagely corvid, obsidian Prince, permit me thy portents.

Of course the owl, a favourite, offering a circular view of all creation. When the Persian asks, the birds respond. Their caws yield the secrets of creation and knowledge of all men. Never anything less than grizzly; visions of starving farmers prying open the coffins of dead children to pry rings from fingers; wives blood-soaked, trowel in hand. He spares the unwashed masses the true horror of their cosmic destiny.

Shiree is sick of the circus. Sick of howling faces, cackling hyenas. Laughter contorts the face and makes apes of men. He hatee acrobats, envying their sprightliness, making him further loathe his twisted form.

He hates clowns most. Hates being considered among their number. In the ancient world clairvoyants were elevated to high societal positions, close to the ears of pharaohs. To converse with the Gods was to become a God. Present culture did not glorify his gifts.

Following the mummer's trail, Shiree enters the woodland with its churchlike vaulted ceiling. Trees, every length and thickness meet, forming a thick umbrella. Ducking between the sturdy boughs, he emerges at the familiar clearing. Evidently some thought went toward its selection, situated inside a natural ridge formed by mossy stones and thick entanglements of spadelike hogweed. He locates the remnants of Bozo's passing. Inside a stone circle shining with mica, embers glow.

For the site of Bozo's demise, he chose a festering swamp, planning to nestle in the brackish swell, sink beneath the algal covering and bide his time until the moment struck. Where else could Bozo go but through?

He rests a while in the wooden cloister, the heat of its former occupant present still. At last restored to peak wickedness, he follows a trail of single bootprints, as if tracking some unilegged abomination to its marshy abode - the wounded Grendel toward his domain lurches.

Shiree came to the boundary shore between mulch and black mud, marking the forest's domain from that of the festering swampland. Bloated and buzzing, enormous bloodsuckers make homes among the roots. Corklike reeds project from the silty banks across its breadth like tangled crossbeams give the illusion of security. Truly if one fell, a proper tumble necessitating outside agency, any branch grasped would snap like an old man on a rugby pitch.

Amphibious lizards wait, half buried in the silt like filthied statues, snapping should any shoal of lesser denizens dawdle. A menagerie of killers for the wizard to choose from.

Shiree enthrones, planning evilly from his newfound eyrie. He utters incantations blunt and meandering, each to the same fatal design. Feeling the hard surface against his backside, he wants vengeance all the more. That a man such as he should be forced to take counsel on a boulder was insult enough to warrant retribution.

It would be a crime of passion, a passion of crimes. He tosses back his head and met a beautiful sight. However the canopy met, with its various dips, hollows and straightways like avenues on a map, the carved light met him in golden bars.

This will do, he smirks.

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campbelldanielle · 2 years

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miss nadia it is your n13 secret santa!! <3 i hope this ask goes through; apparently my 9 earlier ones didn't and i am *embarrassed* For the re-recordings, i'm most excited for 1989. it's my stan album and i can't wait to hear what vault songs she kept off of it. Especially because she wanted AOTY after the RED debacle at the grammy's, so I'm really curious. My second place is speak now as well, because DANG! The songs she had ON the album are god-tier. And she was so mouthy during parts of fearless era and sn era, so i can't wait to see what else she had to say when she was 18-20 that she didn't. What are you up to this weekend? I have work so that's not super fun as I've been working 7 days in a row so I'm kind of tired, haha.

oh no please don't be embarrassed!!! i understand - tumblr loves being a pain and eating asks :( i'm so sorry they didn't go through. 1989 is probably my second favorite behind rep for the re-recordings. reputation made me go from a hufflepuff to a slytherin (well, not just that but lol pottermore did switch up my house around that time) the vault songs for 1989 are going to be insane and it wouldn't shock me at all if some of my favorite vault tracks end up on there. i'm so excited for speak now! that is such a GOOD album. writing the standard version all by herself at the age she was?!!? a m a z i n g! she was unabashed in those eras, not that she isn't now with her music, but the sass was uncontained. i'm finishing up a group project that i've done most of the work on & super frustrated about it :/ i hope you get to have a break or at least a day off soon!

#sometimes people talk to me #secret santa (taylor's version)

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kiyote23 · 6 years

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One Person’s Broken Is Another Person’s Perfect (Classic Flashback)

This post originally appeared on dorkfam.net on July 1, 2016.

“Are we ever going to play The Division again?” OtherMark asked.

“I dunno,” OtherOtherMark replied, “Is The Division going to not suck anymore?”

I winced, partly at the reply, and partly because I was repeatedly falling to my death in the Vault of Glass jumping puzzle. Four months ago, OtherOtherMark was really excited about The Division. Destiny was looking long in the tooth. Our raid group completed King’s Fall. This was the end game content that we’d been working on together for a couple of months, since early December. And with the end game content mostly completed, the group started to drift apart as players started playing other games. Destiny was no longer holding their interest.

Destiny was the first modern online multiplayer game I had played where I became really involved in a group. In Destiny, you can group up into a fireteam of up to six people, and to do the raid, you’ll need six, so the first step was finding a group of people who could play together. It started with friends, and then friends of friends, and pretty soon we had a group of six who played at the same time and played well together. And so we did strikes, and played in the Crucible together. And it got to be a thing, you’d look to see who was online, and you knew you would be playing with them, often until late into the night. It became this wonderful social aspect to an already almost sublime gaming experience. I finally started to understand why this was all my friends were talking about last year.

But that social aspect was diminishing, and it looked like we were going to move to The Division. And that didn’t quite happen. Not every one in the group made the jump, and The Division didn’t have the end game that we needed, or wanted. It didn’t have much of an end game at all. Certainly not the raid that we worked towards as a group.

I spent most of March leveling up in The Division. I completed the story, and then there wasn’t much to do but to grind out better gear in the Dark Zone. The Dark Zone is an a special area within The Division. The Division is a beautiful open world design, where players move freely through a detailed recreation of midtown Manhattan. You complete missions and encounters on this map to get better gear and to advance your character. But in the middle of this map lurks a large section that is walled off, and can only be entered through select portals. This is the Dark Zone, and within the Dark Zone, The Division becomes a significantly different game.

In the regular game world, the player runs into randomly generated groups of bad guys to fight, but also civilians to help, and most significantly, no other players, except for those that you invite into your game session. You could play the entire main game solo if you wanted to, though you will see and run into other players within the safe areas where you restock armor and sell your loot. But once you leave the safe areas, the streets are yours and yours alone.

In the Dark Zone, you run into other players, players who are ostensibly agents of The Division, like yourself. But the Dark Zone is a place of no rules, and so not only can you see the other players, but you can shoot them. The Dark Zone was The Division’s unique take on PvP, and it could have been very interesting, creating a unique gaming environment.

I didn’t find The Dark Zone to be much fun. I don’t mind PvP, and while I like to keep my PvE and my PvP separate, I can play in a mix. I used to love to play on PvP servers in Warcraft, even though I almost exclusively played PvE. I wouldn’t even duel with people. I tried it once, found it tedious, and moved on. In Warcraft, you knew when you were in a PvP situation. It wasn’t ambiguous. But The Dark Zone was a big mess of ambiguity. A player who was helping you could turn and stab you in the back at any moment. A guy who ganked you earlier could help you out. You couldn’t trust anybody, and basically came down to people taking advantage of weaker players. Maybe if they had disabled level advantages, it might have been better.

I saw a lot of people defending the Dark Zone on Reddit, and I spent a lot of time wondering why they liked it so much. I think they wanted PvP. Some people really enjoy PvP, the challenge of playing against other actually human players instead of the somewhat limited and predictable AI. And that’s fine. I’ve been playing death matches online since Quake. I play Crucible in Destiny, though it’s not my favorite. I think that if you enjoyed The Dark Zone in The Division, it was because you decided that you were going to go rouge. You either went in with a fire team with the intent to go rouge, or you were a solo rouge. Then the ambiguity is gone. Or you play with the notion that everyone you see is a rouge, and stay away from them. And it did make it spooky, because other, so-called friendly agents wouldn’t be tracked on your HUD, so suddenly you’d see a group of gunmen appear out of nowhere.

The problem was that you couldn’t preemptively defend yourself, without going rouge yourself. It was like a game of chicken—you didn’t want to be the first one to shoot. If you went rouge, then not only could they kill you without getting marked for it, but they’d get bonus experience for it. So, if you’re going to play with the mentality that everyone in the Dark Zone is a rouge, then the only way to play it effectively to plan on going rouge yourself.

Which is why I think it’s flawed design on the developer’s part. The idea was to create this sense of ambiguity, this idea that these agents that are supposed to be on your side have flipped to the other side, and you don’t know who is who. But with no real consequences for flipping, in fact, there are actual bonuses and better gear for flipping, then the ambiguity is gone. Everyone is out to get you, because it’s really just a free-for-all.

Here’s how I would fix it: once you go rouge, you’re cut off from The Division, and you have to find the opposition, and make contact with them, and build rank with them, probably through ganking Division agents in the Dark Zone. Eventually, you get enough trust with the opposition that they send you back to The Division to become a double agent, except The Division doesn’t trust you right away, so you have to rebuild some rank with them, probably through not ganking Division agents in the Dark Zone while killing rouges. Then you’d have to make a choice at some point, who to betray, the opposition or The Division. Man, now I want to play that game.

The problem was that there was nothing else to do. I had spent most of March in The Division‘s rendition of Manhattan, taking out looters and rioters and guys with flame throwers and mercenaries. Block by block, I took out bad guys to defend civilians. It was made pretty clear who was bad and who wasn’t, at least to me. The civilians were always a little jumpy around me, skittish if I got too aggressive, a nice touch since I don’t think I could hurt any of them if I tried. I could shoot the tires on parked cars (which I’ll admit, I did a lot) or stray dogs (I never did, and it bothered me when my teammates would), but I couldn’t shoot any of the bystanders.

It was a game without an endgame. You could grind gear in The Dark Zone, but since outside The Dark Zone I was already like a god, basically unstoppable, why bother? There was no reason to play a mode that I didn’t find fun, and that was all there was to do.

What is the end game? Most video games have a story, or at least try to, though in Destiny‘s case, it was sort of loosely stringing missions together with some sort of tangent. It really didn’t matter, because the missions were engaging and fun.

So, the end game is what you do when you want to keep playing the game, but you’ve completed the story. For a multiplayer game like Destiny or The Division, that usually means PvP or a raid. The problem with The Division was that the PvP was more frustrating than fun, and there was no raid.

They did add The Incursion, which was supposed to be the first end game option, but I never played it. From what I heard, it was wave after wave of bullet-sponge bosses, and you needed serious gear to run it. In fact, a whole new tier of gear was rolled out just for The Incursion. To help you grind gear outside the dark zone, a new set of daily and weekly missions were available, but again, it seemed like a lot of work to grind gear for a mission that just didn’t seem fun, which was disappointing because the main story had been fun, and the missions were different and varied.

What Destiny did was a brilliant. Players left because there was only two options for end game, PvP and the raid. The raid was difficult to set up because you needed six players who knew what they were doing, because it was complicated. And you only had a week to complete it, and that’s assuming that you started on Tuesday, which most people didn’t. There were checkpoints through the raid, and if you made it to a check point, you could start there the next day. And when you were learning the raid, you’d need the checkpoints. And really, you could say that part of the end game in Destiny, once you completed the story missions, was getting gear good enough to go on the raid, something that took a little grinding to do. Also, players left because they had completed the raid, and it wasn’t holding their interest anymore.

So, Bungie raised the light limit, to give players something to work towards, and then opened up new paths to get the light limit. Now, in addition to PvP and the raid, you could do the revamped Prison of Elders/Challenge of Elders, which was sort of like PvE Crucible. You could also get higher level gear from the faction vendors, and they made it easier to grind faction rep. So now, just running the daily missions became a way to get better gear and raise your light level.

What happens when you hit the light limit? I don’t know, probably drift into another game for a while. The next update will be in September, and there will be new content, and the light limit will be raised again. There will be a new raid. That will make four raids. I’ve only completed one.

The Division is still on my hard drive, and I’ve been updating it, though I haven’t actually played it in a long time. Things could have changed. The conditions that I’m writing about were in late March, early April. I had a lot of fun playing the story of The Division, and the mechanics and gameplay were pretty solid. It was disappointing that the game didn’t scale well. Once we got to a high enough level, the bad guys just seemed to become bullet-sponges, and the difficulty was upped by sending them at us in overwhelming waves. I think part of what propelled me through The Division through most of March was the uncovering the map, learning the game and how to play it effectively, and grinding out better gear. There’s a whole world of crafting and improving gear that I was just starting to get into before I hit the why bother point. I’m keeping it because there might come a time when I want to get back into it, a point where they’ve fixed things and made changes to end game, or created more story to work through.

I’m still grinding through Destiny, daily. Destiny‘s April update came right when I was losing interest in The Division. At its core, Destiny is a lot of fun. The first thing I did when I dropped back into Destiny after being in The Division for so long was jump. When you jump in Destiny, you can soar. You can float all around the map. In The Division, you’re stuck on the ground. But more than that, the basic mechanics of Destiny are smoother and sweeter. It’s more fun to pull the trigger in Destiny, more fun per round fired. It doesn’t matter than I’m ranging over the same maps that I’ve ranged over a hundred times before, it’s just fun to be there.

Last night we were playing Iron Banner with DMot, who wasn’t part of our core raid group, but had filled in a couple of times when we needed a sixth. He admitted that he hadn’t been playing Destiny for a while, but had been playing The Division. It was fun, he said, “But I always knew I’d come back to Destiny. You can always come back to Destiny.”

And we did. We all came back.

from dorkFarm http://ift.tt/2GkBbt1 via IFTTT

#IFTTT #dorkFarm

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judgesabo · 7 years

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Judge’s Masterpost

This is a post to keep track of my various Cool and New Web Comic theories and posts, as well as any other fandom related theories I may or may not develop. I will update it accordingly as new theories come out.

Cool and New Wiki

A wiki I made for all canonical CaNWC information.

Heavily inspired by the MSPA Wiki.

Classpect Analysis

I predict that Rose will be the Lord of Space and try to analyze what this says about her and Hecka Jef’s role in the stories. Hecka Jef guides other characters to advance the plot, indirectly causing major events, while Rose will conquer creation by fighting the corruption.

Who is o?

I discuss the in-comic identity of o, who he is and who he isn’t, favoring the argument that he is a future Hecka Jef.

Corruption Theory

I present the idea that the shittiness of this universe is actually its natural state, and normal characters have actually been “enhanced”.

Troll Theory

I argue that because Bec Noir doesn’t exist, the trolls never ran to hide in the meteor, leaving each one in their hive. However, things were different even before this, as Vrasky never died and rose to god tier. I also speculate on why Kanaya didn’t seem to notice the corruption, tying this into the enhancement theory that they slowly become aware of it while they shift.

Troll Theory 2

I argue that Vrasky and Eridan, or Feferi and Nepeta are the two trolls most likely to not be players. I suggest that the Ultimate Reward door in Lord English’s vault is either an exit to Alternia from the troll session, or the troll’s own door, stolen from them, leaving them stranded. I speculate on why the Blapck Quen didn’t become Snowman.

Covers new information gained between Bunnie Time to the end of the Intermishin’.

Why do people like CaNWC?

I analyze the basic appeal of Cool and New Web Comic.

Are Dadd, Femorafreack, and Momi blind?

After Dadd said he was blind, I analyzed the implications this had on other characters, mainly Femorafreack. I suggest he might have a connection to Terezi, and suggest that Germysprit and Terezi might get shipped.

Player 4 Theory

I explain a theory of the real identity of Player 4, or more accurately, explain why I have no idea who player 4 is and go over the pros and cons of the candidates.

A Year of Theory

My one year anniversary post. Here I give an update on my previous classpect and troll theories, and give a new analysis of the Boss of Wheels classpect, new information on the trolls, Rose’s time powers, and the identity of the Demons of Color and Darkness.

#theory #cool and new web comic #canwc #cool and new wiki

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entergamingxp · 4 years

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Destiny 2 Moments of Triumph 2020 challenges and rewards explained • Eurogamer.net

What’s required of you in this year’s challenges.

Destiny 2 Moments of Triumph is an annual series of challenges wrapping up the previous year’s activities of Bungie’s space shooter.

Regular players will be familiar with how it works. By completing these challenges – some of which involve completing the toughest or most time intensive activities in the game – you can earn exclusive rewards, both in-game and out, including the chance to purchase an exclusive T-shirt and, for the first time, a Raid Ring.

As with last year, each Triumph is weighted the same, giving you freedom to play how you like. There are also more to come in this year’s Solstice of Heroes event, due to arrive in August.

That said, completing Raids are given a priority this time, since many will be vaulted alongside their destinations later this year.

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To go with it, the weekly reward limit for Leviathan, Eater of Worlds, Spire of Stars, Crown of Sorrow, and Scourge of the Past have been lifted – giving you a chance to farm any Raid-exclusive drops you might have missed. (Chest rewards, meanwhile, are capped as usual.)

Moments of Triumph 2020 takes place between July 7th and September 22nd, the day the next expansion Beyond Light releases.

On this page:

Destiny Moments of Triumph 2020 challenges list

There are 25 challenges to complete this year – three which have yet to be revealed for this year’s Solstice of Heroes event (due in August), and another five if you include the Triumphs you earn for claiming each reward, which will help nudge you up to the next reward tier.

Though some Triumphs require DLC or certain expansions to access, participating in Moments of Triumph is free for all players.

Triumph name Completion method Leviathan Raid Complete the Leviathan Raid Eater of Worlds Raid Complete the Eater of Worlds Raid Spire of Stars Raid Complete the Spire of Stars Raid Crown of Sorrow Raid Complete the Crown of Sorrow Raid Scourge of the Past Raid Complete the Scourge of the Past Raid Triumph Apprentice Attain a moderate Triumph score Triumph Master Attain a Triumph score of 50,000 Gun for Hire Complete 15 bounties throughout the system Challenger Complete 10 weekly challenges throughout the system For the Vanguard Complete 20 strikes in any playlist Ordeal or No Deal Complete Ordeal Strikes (challenging strikes grant more progress) Valor Legend In Season of Arrivals, reach Legend Valor rank + reset rank Trials Victories Win 7 matches in Trials of Osiris Gambit Standout In Season of Arrivals, deposit 250 Motes and defeat 150 enemies with precision final blows K1 Discovered Complete and loot all of the Moon’s Lost Sectors Altars of Sorrow: Final Phase Defeat a Tier V Nightmare boss Garden of Salvation Complete the Garden of Salvation raid Destroyer of Heretics Complete the Pit of Heresy dungeon Prophecy Complete Complete the Prophecy dungeon Season Pass Rank Attain rank 100 in Season of Arrivals Secret Triumph Unlocks during Solstice of Heroes 2020 Exotic Arsenal Claim Exotics Witherhoard, Ruinous Effigy and Traveler’s Chosen in Season of Arrivals Hive-God Optometrist Find and destroy all 50 Savathun’s Eyes Secret Triumph Unlocks during Solstice of Heroes 2020 Secret Triumph Unlocks during Solstice of Heroes 2020

You’ll find the list of Moments of Triumph challenges in the ‘Triumphs’ tab in your inventory, then select the Seal at the bottom of the screen.

Note the bounty, weekly challenge and five raid Triumphs have to be completed fresh for this challenge – they do not count previous completions. Other completions – from the Garden of Salvation Raid to pinnacle weapons – do count already, however, so you have done them, simply collect the Triumph.

Remember, you only have until September 22nd – Beyond Light’s release date – to complete these challenges.

Destiny 2 Moments of Triumph 2020 rewards

Each of the above challenges are weighted equally, giving you freedom to choose which ones you like to get the desired reward.

With many Raids disappearing with the next expansion, they have been given a priority in this year’s event. That said, there are plenty of other challenges to get on with for solo players – enough to get all but the final in-game seal reward.

The Destiny 2 Moments of Triumph 2020 rewards are as follows:

Any Triumph completed – Tracking emblem showing Triumphs completed so far

5 Triumphs – Sparrow (Resurrecting Flight)

10 Triumphs – Ghost (Awakened Shell)

15 Triumphs – 2020 Moments of Triumph T-shirt purchase access

All five raids completed – Raid Ring purchase access

28 Triumphs – MMXX seal (which appears under your player name when exploring the world)

This year’s seal is a little better than 2019 – requiring 28 out of 30, and not every challenge, to earn it.

Regardless – these are no small feats, and you only have until September 22nd to get what you need. Best of luck!

What were the Moments of Triumph challenges and rewards in 2019?

Curious as to what 2019’s Moments of Triumph challenges were like? Here they are:

Activity Completion method Completions Mission: Nothing Left to Say Complete mission ‘Nothing Left to Say’. 1 Forges Afield Forge weapons from research frames and Black Armory frames 10 Prime Fashion Win a Gambit Prime match while wearing a full set of Notorious armor 1 Bedazzled Fully upgrade the Chalice of Opulence 1 Exotic Arsenal Claim Bad Juju, Outbreak Perfected, and Whisper of the Worm from their respective Exotic missions. 3 The Vault Amass gear in your Collections. 1000 Gun for Hire Complete bounties throughout the system. 50 Challenger Complete weekly challenges throughout the system. 10 For the Vanguard Complete strikes in any strike playlist. 25 Vanguard Pinnacle Weapons Earn a Vanguard pinnacle weapon from any Season. 1 Legendary Valor Achieve a Valor rank of ‘Legend’ in any season. 1 Crucible Pinnacle Arsenal Earn a Crucible pinnacle weapon from any season. 1 Mythic Reach the Mythic division in Gambit 1 Gambit Pinnacle Arsenal Earn a Gambit pinnacle weapon from any season. 1 Never Again Complete the dungeon ‘The Shattered Throne’. 1 O Murderer Mine Complete the ‘Last Wish‘ raid. 1 Valiant Savior Complete the ‘Scourge of the Past‘ raid. 1 In the Shadow of the Kingdom of Sorrow Complete the ‘Crown of Sorrow’ raid. 1 The Majesty of It Obtain the complete Majestic Solstice of Heroes 2019 armor set. 1 Above and Beyond Masterwork any piece of Majestic Solstice of Heroes armor 1

The Destiny 2 Moments of Triumph 2019 rewards were as follows:

Any Triumph completed – Tracking emblem showing points collected so far

5 Triumphs – Sparrow (Lightning Rider)

10 Triumphs – Jumpship (Solstice Hymnal)

15 Triumphs – 2019 Moments of Triumph T-shirt

All 24 Triumphs – MMXIX seal (which appears under your player name when exploring the world)

What were the Moments of Triumph challenges and rewards in 2018?

Curious as to what 2018’s Moments of Triumph challenges were like? Here they are:

Activity Completion method Points Bringer of Light Finish Destiny 2’s Base Campaign 10 Follower of Osiris Finish Curse of Osiris Campaign 10 Awaken the Warmind Finish Warmind Campaign 10 The Hero We Deserve Complete 25 Public Events on Heroic Difficulty (from when event began) 10 Treasure Hunter Collect All Region Chests (68 total) 10 Running Errands Complete 25 Bounties 10 Check Out My Arsenal Obtain 25 Exotic Weapons or Armor 15 I Will Smash You Defeat 100 Opponents in the Crucible 15 Fleeting Memories Collect all 45 Latent Memories 15 Adventurous Complete 20 Adventures 20 Show Me the Way Obtain Sagira’s Ghost Shell (by completing all Lost Prophecy Verses) 20 Hive Extermination Complete Tier 7 in Escalation Protocol 20 In My Element Collect 250 Elemental Orbs 25 Remember Who You Are Redux Missions Completed (5 total) 30 The Very Best Reach Vanguard Rank 50 in Season 3 20 The Fabled Guardian Reach Fabled in Valor ranking in Season 3 20 The Emperor Defeat Calus in the Leviathan Raid 20 Prove Your Worth Complete Eater of Worlds and Spire of Stars Raid Lairs 20 Fashion Hero Upgrade the full Solstice of Heroes Armor Set to Legendary Quality 50 Above and Beyond Masterwork Any Solstice of Heroes Armor 50

The Destiny 2 Moments of Triumph 2018 rewards were as follows:

Any Triumph completed – Tracking emblem showing points collected so far

125 points – Legendary Ghost Shell (Right Choice)

250 points – Moments of Triumph T-shirt offer available from the Bungie store

300 points – Legendary Sparrow (Comrades in Arms)

400 points – Emblem upgrade (Eternally Triumphant)

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2020/07/destiny-2-moments-of-triumph-2020-challenges-and-rewards-explained-%e2%80%a2-eurogamer-net/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=destiny-2-moments-of-triumph-2020-challenges-and-rewards-explained-%25e2%2580%25a2-eurogamer-net

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medproish · 6 years

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Fortnite: Battle Royale’s comet has finally landed, signaling the beginning of Season 4. The game’s v4.0 update is live now on PS4, Xbox One, PC, and mobile, and although it doesn’t add any new items or weapons, it has still shaken things up significantly.

The first thing you’ll notice in Battle Royale is that the map has changed. The comet’s impact has been felt across the island, with multiple locations transformed by its impact and new points of interest created. In addition, a crater has appeared, and it’s surrounded by a set of glowing rocks. Developer Epic Games says if you consume these Hop Rocks, you’ll “lift off with low gravity.” Season 4 has also brought 100 tiers of new rewards, including new emotes, cosmetic items, and more.

Other changes to Battle Royale include the ability to destroy structures on the starting island (except the Battle Bus) and tweaks to how headshots work. Other parts of characters’ bodies will no longer block bullets from reaching their heads, meaning if your bullet hits a hand or leg on the way to your enemy’s head, it will still do as much damage as a regular headshot. This applies to all weapons except the Rocket Launcher and Grenade Launcher. Elsewhere, you can now see hit markers when looking through a scope, the Crossbow has been taken out of rotation and put into the Vault, and hand hitboxes have been slightly reduced in size.

In Save the World, part one of a new Blockbuster Event has been added with the new update. This event sees you “join Spitfire and Lok as they investigate the comet and gear up to recruit a team of superheroes!” For more details, check out the official patch notes below, via Epic Games.

Fortnite Season 4 v4.0 Update Patch Notes

General

Input settings are now filtered based on game mode.

They’ve also been grouped by category (Combat, Building, Editing, etc.) to make it easier to search through them.

Added icons for the tabs at the top of the Settings screen. Added “Ignore Gamepad Input” option to the Accessibility settings tab.

This setting can be helpful to players who use external programs to remap their controller input and need the game to ignore the controller input.

Bug Fixes

Fixed a crash when using radial menus.

Improved texture streaming behavior when using a scope.

Fixed some objects being rendered using low resolution textures.

Fixed weapon ammo count display in the HUD sometimes being incorrect.

Battle Royale

Gameplay

Structures on the starting island can now be destroyed. Not the Battle Bus, though.

Headshots are now prioritized when other body parts are in the way.

Incoming headshots (from above or straight on) will no longer be blocked by your character’s other body parts.

For example, a shot that hits your target’s hand will be able to penetrate through and hit their head if your aim was on point. You’ll be credited headshot damage instead of normal damage.

Headshots from below that are blocked by a body part (legs, torso, hands, shoulders, arms) will do normal damage, except for impacts very close to your character’s head.

This change affects all weapons, except for the Rocket Launcher and Grenade Launcher.

Slightly reduced the hitbox size of player hands.

Damage numbers are now visible when spectating a player.

Knocking a player off the island will award elimination credit like normal fall damage.

Fall distance is now shown in the elimination feed when a player is forced to fall by an opponent.

On the starting island, you can now see other players (and player-created structures) about three times further away than before.

Bug Fixes

Fixed an issue that would cause player built structures to appear intact for a few seconds after eliminating an enemy and destroying the structure at the same time.

This caused players to “phase through” the structure.

Fixed cases where pickups moved erratically when sliding down slopes.

Fixed an issue where destroying a building from under an enemy wouldn’t award kill credit.

Fixed an issue where swinging the pickaxe could cause movement stuttering.

Fixed an issue where some pre-placed wooden archways could not be destroyed by player built structures.

Fixed an issue that made the Battle Bus appear to quickly fly off the map after jumping from it.

Fixed an issue that would pause a downed players health bar if their reviver disconnected while reviving them.

You can now mark cosmetic items as favorites in the Locker.

‘Random’ option added to each cosmetic equipment slot in the Locker.

This will randomly choose between items you’ve marked as favorites each match (or from all owned items if nothing is marked as a favorite).

You are no longer limited to just the 6 slots on your emote wheel for Sprays and Emotes and can now use any of the ones you own in a match!

The Locker slots act as a page of presets, but you can cycle through to any emotes marked as a favorite and then all emotes, sorted by type (PS4: L1/R1; XB1: LB/RB; PC: Mouse Wheel; Mobile: Buttons added next to radial menu).

Added new “Locker Emote Slot” button bindings, which allow you to immediately trigger any of your 6 Emote or Spray presets.

While Auto Run is active, an icon is now displayed.

Improved the look and feel of the Game options tab.

Slightly decreased the size of the arrow over players heads when they are close to you.

The fourth and fifth weapon slots will now default to keys 5 and 6 instead of Z and X when using the “Reset to Defaults” option.

The 4:3 aspect ratio is now supported.

Bug Fixes

Fixed an issue where the compass showed ‘360’ when it should have been ‘359.’

Fixed an issue where players could get stuck on the Inventory screen when opening and closing it very quickly multiple times in a row.

Fixed an issue where the “Show Net Stats” HUD option would be reset to off after restarting the game.

Fixed an issue that caused consumable timers to not display when using a consumable immediately after canceling one.

Fixed a spelling error in the description for Tomatohead.

The Squad Comms wheel can now be closed with circle on PS4 controllers, and B on Xbox controllers.

Weapon slot keybinding options are no longer called “Ability Slots” in the input menu.

Weapons And Items

The Crossbow has been vaulted.

Rocket Launcher aim reticle is now a fixed size regardless of player movement.

Hit markers are now displayed when looking through a scope.

Increased pickaxe damage against Supply Llamas, now dealing 50 damage per hit.

Bug Fixes

Fixed an issue where a weapon could have no ammo when dropping it immediately after picking it up.

Improved pickaxe swing responsiveness when switching from a weapon to the pickaxe and immediately holding the swing button.

Fixed an issue that prevented Hunting Rifles from auto reloading if it was fired immediately after a reload.

Fixed an issue that allowed grenades to be thrown in rapid succession while sprinting.

Fixed an issue where aiming a grenade throw and then switching to build mode wouldn’t cancel the throw.

Fixed an issue with the Builder Pro configuration that caused the players weapon to fire while trying to build in some cases.

Clingers will now properly cling to falling Supply Drops.

Replay System

Added an in-game player list to Replays.

Leaving a Replay will now take you back to the Replay browser.

Renaming Replays is now limited to 32 characters.

Increased the size of name column in Replay browser.

Bug Fixes

Fixed the alignment of the eliminations column in Replay browser.

Fixed an issue where Replay Browser list couldn’t be navigated with gamepad after cancelling renaming a replay.

Art And Animation

Hunting Rifle mesh and animations have been updated.

Shotguns, Revolver, Hand Cannon, and Rocket Launcher have had their equip animations improved – they should now match the equip time.

Their equip timing remains the same.

The dust cloud that appears on player landings now shows for all players.

Storm wind now affects trees within the storm.

Bug Fixes

Fixed the Supply Llama not playing destruction effects when killed by projectiles.

Fixed an issue that caused Back Bling to display improperly after using a Launch Pad.

Players can now emote while rocket riding.

Audio

Adjusted timing on the equip sounds for all Shotguns. The cocking sound will now occur right before the weapon is able to fire.

Improved volume difference between soft and hard landing sounds.

Players falling from 1 or more stories will land with a louder audio cue.

Added unique impact sounds when hitting shrubs, bushes and cornstalks.

Bug Fixes

Fixed an issue that caused footstep audio to play when players were mid-air after jumping.

Fixed an issue where the Minigun equip sound would persist after quickly switching away from it.

The map marker sound no longer plays when removing a marker.

Performance

Improved smoothness of other players movement on the starting island by increasing network update rates.

Made significant performance improvements when many players are on-screen by reducing the impact of character parts.

Optimized hitches that occur when garbage collecting objects.

Fixed hitches that could happen in games where lots of building occurred.

Optimized Level-of-Detail (LOD) for buildings in Shifty Shafts and Flush Factory.

Optimized Input/Output (IO) performance on Consoles to reduce hitches and load times.

Mobile

Quickbar now supports drag and drop for dropping and moving inventory items.

Holding the movement stick in a direction for 3-seconds now enables an option to turn on auto run.

Adding ‘Repair Building’ button.

Added ‘Cycle Weapon’ button.

Made improvements to prevent finger creep.

Slightly decreased aim assist strength at further distances to allow for easier fine tuning when aiming.

Grenade indicators are now displayed when grenades are equipped.

Made improvements to low-end mobile performance by dynamically scaling background draw distances with player height.

Reduced object draw distance for medium/lower-end iOS devices.

Bug Fixes

Fixed the view pop caused by the swiping inertia when lifting your finger off the screen.

Fixed bugs that were causing some erroneous misfires and input errors.

Save The World

Gameplay

Loot Drops!

When enemies are killed they have a chance to drop loot on the ground.

This chance is increased for patrolling enemies and the packs of enemies found scattered throughout the world.

Enemies can drop building materials, crafting ingredients, and ammunition.

Larger/tougher enemies drop more items and better crafting ingredients.

The tier of crafting ingredients increases with Mission Difficulty, as does the chance of finding rare crafting ingredients like Active Powercells.

Mini-Bosses drop a new item type called a Cache.

Schematic Caches come in three rarities (Rare, Epic, Legendary) and contain a single ranged or melee weapon schematic. The likelihood of getting an Epic or Legendary cache increases at higher mission difficulties.

Evolution Material Caches contain storm evolution materials (Pure Drop of Rain, Storm Shard, etc). These scale up with the difficulty of the mission.

A Mini-Boss will drop one cache (of the same type) for every player who participated in the elimination (dealt damage to the boss, or was close to it when it was eliminated).

Certain high-rarity treasure chests found in the world can also drop Caches.

Caches are opened at the end of the mission.

Survivor health has been increased by 40% to allow more time for players to rescue them from tough situations.

The Teleporter Gadget has been refactored in an effort to improve its fun and usability!

New default behavior:

The base range of the Teleporter has been increased to 20 tiles.

Teleporter now has no cooldown when activated!

In order to accommodate the usability of no cooldown, the Teleporter no longer teleports Enemies.

Teleporter now will not activate if it’s in a location that it could not normally be placed on. You’ll still be able to move it, however.

Teleporter now has an “arm” time when it’s placed or moved before it becomes active. The default arm time is 5.5 seconds.

Teleporter now has a default “pick up” use time of 2.5 seconds.

As part of the improvements to Teleporter, we’ve adjusted the upgrades it has!

Upgrade 1 now allows the Teleporter to transport friendly projectiles!

Projectiles will exit from the Teleporter based on the direction you set when you place it.

Yes, this means you can throw rockets and grenades through it – try things out!

Upgrade 2 now reduces the pickup time of the Teleporter to .5 seconds.

Upgrade 3 now reduces the arm time of the Teleporter when it is placed to 1.5 seconds.

Upgrade 4 now increases the range of the Teleporter by 10 tiles.

Upgrade 5 now allows Enemy projectiles to go through the Teleporter!

This means Husk Bones, and Lobber Grenades, and others – try a Teleporter on roofs you want to defend!

Hover Bot Turret has been improved as well:

New default behavior

Recharge time reduced from 240 seconds to 150 seconds.

Default duration reduced to 20 seconds.

No longer fires projectiles – now shoots hitscan shots.

Increased default ‘Rate of Fire’ from 1.33 shots per second to 6 shots per second.

Base damage reduced from 20 to 15.

Upgrades have been adjusted:

Duration increase remains +10 seconds, which makes the final duration 30 seconds.

We corrected an issue with the range upgrade which was preventing it from working properly. The default range is still 4 tiles, but is increased to 8 with this upgrade.

The ‘Rate of Fire’ Upgrade now increases the rate of fire to 10 shots per second.

The default action of keyboard button ‘B’ is now Emote, with keyboard button ‘V’ bound to bring up Team Chat. You can now cycle between Team Chat, Emotes, and Notes, regardless of which button you pushed to summon the picker.

(PS4: L1/R1, XB1: LB/RB, PC: Mouse Wheel)

Bug Fixes

Corrected an issue which was causing Corn to be unsearchable. It is once again searchable, and will drop the Bacon you crave .

Corrected an issue which prevented C4 from being thrown during Sprint. It will now activate and interrupt Sprint as expected.

Corrected an issue which was preventing the Helium Shotgun projectiles from moving properly through all parts of the world.

Heroes

[New] Mythic Solder “Raven” – Subclass: Nevermore

Description – Shadowy figure who screeches deafening War Cries before eliminating prey with his dual wielded pistols.

New Ability

Lefty and Righty – Deploy dual pistols and light up your enemies!

New Perks

‘Dual Debilitation’ – Lefty and Righty applies Debilitating Shots.

‘Where’s Lefty’ – Eliminating enemies with pistols reduces the cooldown of Lefty and Righty by 1 second.

‘Bang and Pow’ – Dealing damage with Lefty and Righty causes an explosion that deals Energy Damage in a .5 tile radius.

New Tactical Perk

‘Explosive Rounds’ – Tactical variant of the Explosive Rounds Perk.

[New] 8 “Shadow Ops” Heroes

Soldier – New Subclass: Double Agent featuring New Characters Vaughn and Evelynn

Description – Soldier that wields dual pistol with ease, creating an explosive outcome.

Utilizes the newly added ability and associated perks:

‘Lefty and Righty’

‘Dual Debilitation’

‘Where’s Lefty’

‘Bang and Pow’

New Tactical Perk

‘Cluster Bomb’ – Tactical variant of the ‘Cluster Bomb’ dealing half the damage of its non-tactical counterpart.

Ninja – New Subclass: Piercing Lotus featuring characters Edge and Luna

Description – Skilled spear warrior that makes a point to poison enemies with waves of shuriken before striking them down.

New Perks

‘Pointy Fury’ – Increases spear combo attack efficiency by 150%.

‘Poking Holes’ – The Ninja deals 28% more damage with spears to afflicted targets.

‘Fan of Stars’ – The Ninja throws 2 additional throwing stars. All throwing stars are thrown instantly in a spreading arc.

New Support Perk

‘Heaviest Attacks’ – Increases melee heavy attack damage by 10/20/30%

Outlander – New Subclass: Shock Gunner featuring characters Grizzly and Buzz

Description – Weaves in and out of enemies stunning them and finishing them off with with close ranged weapons.

New Perks

‘Pump It Up’ – Increases shotgun rate of fire by 35%.

‘In and Outlander’ – Eliminating 3 enemies within 10 seconds after using Phase Shift will refund the Phase Shift charge.

‘Shocking Embrace’ – Increases the duration of Shock Tower by 3 seconds if placed with a Charge Fragment.

‘Run And Stun’ – Passing through enemies with Phase Shift applies a 3 seconds stun.

New Tactical Perk

‘Shocking Embrace’ – Increases the duration of Shock Tower by 3 seconds if placed with a Charge Fragment.

Constructor – New Subclass: Demolitionist featuring Penny and Bull

Description – Explosives expert who corrals enemies with Decoy before finishing them with a hail of missiles.

New Perks

‘Faster Explosions’ – Increases explosive weapon reload speed by 35%

‘Enduring Machine’ – Your weapons take 60% less durability damage while on tiles affected by BASE.

Hero Abilities that lock the character’s movement can no longer be interrupted by knockback. The following abilities have been adjusted to use this new behaviour:

‘Phase Shift’

‘Shockwave’

‘Bullrush’

‘Dragonslash’

‘Anti-Material Charge’

We’ve changed how Energy-Reducing perks work in some cases in order to prevent them from reducing costs of activations to 0.

We now have perks which improve “Energy Efficiency” of certain actions (such as heavy attacks with melee weapons).

Energy Efficiency is expressed in a percentage format i.e. “Improves Energy Efficiency of Combo Attacks by 150%.”

The value represents the expected extra usage of the ability once the perk has been acquired.

Implementation has changed from a multiplier on cost to a divisor on cost.

I.e. – a 60% cost reduction on a 50 energy cost is analogous to a 150% increase in usage over 100 stamina.

Outlander

‘Phase Shift’ now passes through enemies by default.

‘Phase Shift’ now inherits more forward velocity when used mid-air.

Constructor

Adjustments to the ‘Decoy’ Ability :

Base duration reduced from 12 seconds to 7 seconds.

‘Decoy’ can no longer be destroyed and will always last the full duration.

Reduced the duration increase of ‘Going and Going’ from 3 seconds to 2 seconds.

‘What Doesn’t Kill You’ Has been removed from these Subclasses: Controller, Sentinel, and Riot Control.

Controller now has ‘Decoy Stun’ Instead of ‘What Doesn’t Kill You.’

Sentinel now has ‘Grease the Wheels’ instead of ‘What Doesn’t Kill You.’

Riot Control now has ‘Going and Going’ instead of ‘What Doesn’t Kill You.’

Ninja

Changed ‘Easy Sword’ from “Reduces sword combo attack energy cost by 60%.” to “Increases sword combo attack efficiency by 150%.”

Changed ‘Easier Sword’ from “Improves the energy cost reduction of ‘Easy Sword’ by another 20%.” to “Improves the energy efficiency of ‘Easy Sword’ by another 150%.”

‘Shadow Stance’ now triggers off of all melee kills, not just edged weapons.

‘Scythe To Meet You’s’ snare duration has been increased to 2 seconds from 1 second.

The sound effects for ‘Crescent Kick’ have been updated.

Soldier

‘Explosive Rounds’ timer no longer resets after 15 seconds without a kill.

‘Goin’ Commando!!!’ now enters into a slight zoom when pressing the Targeting Input.

Bug Fixes

‘Shockwave’ no longer causes the Soldier to collide with enemies. This should prevent the “crowd surfing” behaviour seen when using ‘Shockwave’ on tightly packed groups of enemies.

Fixed an issue with BASE’s tooltip showing incorrect segment extensions with Heavy BASE Kyle.

Fixed an issue with ‘Overclocked’ Trap’s tooltip showing an incorrect value for decreased reload rate. The tooltip now reads correctly at 20%.

Corrected an issue which was causing the Soldier Perk ‘Start Up’ to display incorrect values.

Corrected a tooltip issue with certain perks that were not showing their Support or Tactical Bonuses:

‘Sure Shot’

‘Hit’em While They’re Down’

‘Tough Traps’

‘Bullet Bonanza’

‘Vigorous Strikes’

Missions And Systems

Blockbuster Event – Part 1: Origin Story

There are reports of a strange new husk lurking about harassing survivors and Ray has disappeared! Find out what has happened in the aftermath of the comet crash in this brand new questline.

Blockbuster Tickets can be found inside Upgrade and Daily Llamas, and earned by completing quests and defeating Miniboss mission alerts.

Blockbuster Llama is available in the Loot Tab

Contains at least one Epic Quality or Higher Military Weapon or ShadowOps Hero.

Costs 500 Blockbuster Tickets.

Completing the first week of quests rewards a choice of one Legendary Ranged Weapon (Bald Eagle, Silenced Specter, or Crossbow)

Repeatable Quest to kill a miniboss that awards 50 Gold

Loot Llama Price Reduction!

V-Buck prices on several of the Loot Llamas have been reduced!

Upgrade Llama: 100 to 50

Weapon Llama: 350 to 200

Ranged Weapon Llama: 350 to 200

Melee Weapon Llama: 350 to 200

People Llama: 350 to 200

It’s a Trap Llama: 350 to 200

Bundles containing multiple Llamas have been reduced in price as well.

Players who have purchased these Llamas in the past will receive an equivalent value in free Troll Stash Llamas they can redeem in the Loot tab.

Each stack of 1000 Storm Tickets will be converted into Neon Llamas.

Anyone who had at least one Storm Ticket will receive a Llama.

Mini Llamas now drop 30 to 50 Gold, and drop an additional item if they become Silver.

Gold no longer resets each season.

Seasonal Gold has been renamed to Gold as a result.

Gold caps at 5000. Gold above this cap will not be lost, but you will stop earning Gold until you have spent enough to drop below the cap.

Mission Alerts:

Miniboss Mission Alerts are more common during this event and award between 50 and 120 Blockbuster Tickets, scaled based on difficulty.

These tickets are granted in addition to their normal rewards (schematics, transform keys, etc)

Quota: 10 per day.

Mutant Storm Mission Alerts have returned to normal levels and no longer reward event tickets.

Quota: 3 per day.

The Upgraded Outlanders Mission Modifier no longer increases fragment capacity due to the recent change greatly increasing base fragment capacity. The Modifier still increases Outlander Ability Damage.

Bug Fixes

Fixed reward chest having low resolution textures at the end of mission.

Fixed crafting recipes for Neon Weapons to be correct for energy weapons.

The chance for Impulse Grenades and Remote Explosive World Drops has been returned to normal (should now be equal to the M80).

Harvest and collect quest items now drop no matter how the quest item was destroyed. Previously, players would have to make the destroying blow with their harvesting pickaxe. This now works the same way as Daily Destroy.

Weapons And Items

Added the Military weapons set, available via Blockbuster Llamas:

Whisper 45: Silenced semi-auto pistol

Specter: Fully-automatic submachine gun with high rate of fire.

Epic and Legendary versions have a silencer.

Ground Pounder: Fast-firing and accurate semi-auto shotgun.

Crossbow: Sniper weapon that fires a projectile with no damage falloff.

Bald Eagle: Slow-firing heavy pistol with great damage and knockback.

Increased the damage and impact of the Bald Eagle by 30%.

The following scoped sniper rifles no longer have damage fall off. Additionally, their range has been increased from 20 Tiles to 50 Tiles.

Auto Sniper Rifle

Extinguisher

Exterminator

Deathwing

Scoped Bullseye

Scoped Deadeye

One Shot

Heartbreaker

Hydraulic Sniper Rifle

Tsunami

Scavenger Sniper Rifle

Sunsetter

Scoped Wasp

Scoped Dragonfly

Burst Sniper

Triple Tap

Neon Sniper Rifle

Vindertech Sniper Rifle

Vindertech Jolter

Frostbite

The following non-scoped sniper rifles range increased from 13 Tiles to 20 tiles:

Hunting Rifle

Lil’Bee

Stinger

Wasp

Dragonfly

Ralphie’s Revenge

Bug Fixes

Fixed an issue where the +30% Weapon Damage when aiming down sights alteration was increasing Weapon Damage by 75%. The alteration now increases Weapon Damage by the correct amount.

Added missing drop sound effects to many spear weapons.

Fixed the evolution skill requirements for the Krypton Sword to use the correct skills; evolving the weapons now requires the Sword and Spear skill and not the Axe and Scythe Skill.

All shotguns should now damage non-friendly environmental objects.

Bald Eagle icon updated to be distinct from the Falcon pistol.

Purchasing multiple Llamas in the Loot tab now show the total cost.

Adjusted the layout of Daily Reward items to include the item name.

Weapon tooltips now show headshot damage.

Bug Fixes

Reduced the rating number displayed for Group Missions at the victory screen and on the Objective tab in the menu.

This now matches the recommended rating of the mission rather than enemy level.

Fixed a problem on the end-of-mission victory screen where the drone appears twice to beam players back to Homebase.

Fixed an issue where the displayed Homebase Power Level was visually capped at level 132 when players’ actual power levels were higher.

Leveling Up or Evolving something now says “Please Wait” instead of just disabling the button and appearing unresponsive.

Recycle mode resulting materials panel can now be scrolled with a controller.

Recycling Details modal dialog can now be scrolled if necessary.

Fixed a case where the top menu bar would become unresponsive on PC.

Audio

Volume decrease on the Exploration and Combat music to help the overall mix.

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