#we got greed in the loot boxes one

[spiralocean]

favorite Jerma985 tweets in no particular order (3/?)

#i like to call this on 'seven deadly sins' edition #we got pride and envy in the tall men photoshop request #we got greed in the loot boxes one #lust with the tinder and ursla tweets #gluttony with like half of them #wrath in the gentle frisbee ps3 one #and finally sloth with the pants around ankles tweet #the outlier is the dearth vader one which is just unhinged #sorry bout the typos im not starting over lmao #jerma #jerma985

[abronzeagegod]

There are Supervillains and then there are villains. Any day of the week you'd love to be fighting a Supervillain. The flair, the drama, the setpieces were always so much better. Villains are just petty and terrible and in it for the money or the carnage or both.

You don't know how you got into this position, exactly, but this trio of villains had already done some truly heinous acts and then they tried to rob a bank, and not just stealing the money on hand, they wanted to loot safety deposit boxes where people kept personal valuables and documents, not large amounts of cash.

But here you are, sitting in some concrete rubble, head ringing. You've definitely broke some bones, and you're pretty sure that you have a lot less blood than when you started.

You feel like you should feel worse about being killed by these... thieves... but they already killed Justin so you'll be in good company. This villain advances on you with weapons drawn, teeth bared, and blood in their eyes.

If only this didn't feel so inevitable.

The spear that pinned the villain's arm to the wall was a surprise. Someone else approached you, but you couldn't recognize them before you blacked out.

When you wake up an amount of time later that is truly hard to judge, you're in a bed. Which is the second surprising thing, the first was that you woke up at all.

You're all bandaged up, you have some kind of cast over both of your legs and one arm. You feel good all things considered and only a moderate amount of pain.

"I put you on some serious painkillers. My own personal brand that does a very good job, keeps that floating feeling to a minimum, and isn't an opiate that is going to get you addicted and stuck in a spiral of human misery caused by corporate greed and intolerance," says a voice from somewhere beyond your periphery.

The gears started to click in your mind, but they weren't clicking fast enough.

"No hospital?" you manage to croak.

"The medical community is more interested in making profits than saving lives, and you're not the type to have insurance since they want too many invasive medical tests so I brought you to my inner sanctum, my keep and castle." You recognize the voice, and the speech patterns. There's something familiar about their almost rants and half-manifesto. "Sorry about the mask. But I couldn't preserve your anonymity on account of the grievous head injury."

You try to reach up to touch your face, your maskless face, and try to determine how bad it is, since you are covered in bandages. The pain immediately shoots along your nerves and settles into your brain right behind your eyes.

"I'd avoid moving as much as possible, if I were you," they say.

When your vision returns you find that they had stepped into your field of view.

They were an attractive person. Their dark hair looked like it was entirely too poofed and went all over the place, possibly in a "been under a hat or hood for too long" kind of way.

You know them.

"Doctor Terror," you mutter.

"All is fair and all that, couldn't let you be at all the disadvantages," they explain. "Besides I could only bring you to my home so wandering around in my tights would be something that I simply could not stand. So, we're all on equal footing."

"Why?"

"Well I couldn't let you die to those," they trail off trying to think of a succinctness way of phrasing it, "troglodytes. And I wasn't about to let my favorite hero die. So I did what any self-respecting supervillain would do when their things are being broken."

You try to respond but there was one of those terrible, white, shooting pains that cause it come out as a groan.

"Look, I promise you're not going to die or come to harm. I worked very hard to keep you alive, and that doesn't stop with eviscerating a few start up robbers. I will keep you alive here, safe, until you recover enough to attend to yourself. Then you can leave so we may do glorious battle sometime later."

You try to groan out a rejection, a denunciation, or something, but then you realize that you definitely broke several ribs.

"Rest. I'll be here when you wake."

"Why?"

The answer echoes in your dreams and in your final waking moments, "You're my hero. You're not allowed to die. We can't play if you're dead."

#my fiction #idk i had this idea as i was falling asleep last night #the possessive not good love of a supervillain and their hero #we subscribe to the megamind definition of supervillainy

[nerdyenby]

Red time :D I’m watching Ranboo

I showed up late and have no idea what the costume is but we love the eye makeup

The unhinged energy is off the charts

I’m so excited for this team, you guys have no idea

Oh my gosh their hair has gotten so long holy crap

What the heck is a weeblewobble

WHY DO HIS EYES MOVE LIKE THAT

I feel like Ran and Aimsey haven’t been on a team together in so long, I’m so hyped

Their skins are so silly goofy

Michela!!!

“What brings you to the bar?” “What brings me to the bar? My issues”

“We’re currently roleplaying, would you like to join?” “Absolutely not” iconic Ant 😂

Ranboo religious reference counter: 1

SCAR :D

The squad :))

Aimsey squatting in front of Scar and talking him into playing fnaf

NO!!! Grid runners is the best game in existence (except sot)

Alright losers, we’re gonna need somebody to have opinions and make decisions, who’s it gonna be?

“I’m pressing my life alert but it’s not doing anything” it’s a crime that no one else heard this

Why is Ant a rsr hater?? Brother, Scar is right there

Rocket Spleef

“My girlfriend :(" Aimsey my beloved

Ran and Scar popping off!!

Ran just absolutely jumping Pete 😂

Grid Runners

Best game time :))

They got this, I believe

I’ve never seen Ranboo lose these, his team always crushes it

Ant is such a good igl, staying back and walking through it with Scar, what a king

Uppies!!! /neg and /pos simultaneously lmao

Oh no….

There wasn’t one specific room that tripped everyone up, it’s was just a bunch of moderately hard ones back to back to back

“Think about the morale deficit” Ran 😭

Aimsey’s chat message 😂😂😂

Battle Box

Ah yes, tnt if your team for science

“Do we want a catch phrase?” Of course we do!!

Holy crap they got swept

The come back!!!

That match against blue was so wild

RAAAHHHHHHH

Scar singing Barbie my beloved <333

Sands of Time

That was the most unconvincing thing I’ve heard, thanks Scar

The initial comms are stunning <333

OH MY GOD THAT WAS SO STRESSFUL

The greed oh my gosh

That was the most intense sands I’ve seen in such a long time oh my gosh

“I think I’m learning to be a good sandkeeper” aismey you’re easily one of the best sandkeeper s in the event, what are you on about <333

RED FIRST!!!!!

My predictions were so rude to them but I genuinely believe they’re a 4th place team

“We got a lot of audience pull on this team” Ranboo and Scar duo unstoppable, real and true <333

SCAR 28TH!!!!!!!

“Minute Maid lesbians” 😭😭😭

The Aimsey and Scar interactions are absolutely everything <333

Ace Race

Oh rip, we lost Oli :(

“If you guys lap me can you give me a little push?” Scar I love you

Any first!!! Red first!!!! They killed it!!!!

The hermits pointedly not asking Scar about his fandoms vs Aimsey genuinely being 100% down for a half hour of Star Wars rambling <333

Parkour Warrior

The way all the streamers just start crying at the top of their lungs when faced with technical difficulties, just stay calm losers, you don’t need to spam

I’d scold Ranboo for being so hard on himself if it wasn’t just so funny

Ran almost ragequitting out of sheer instinct 😭😭😭

Ran losing their absolute mind the entire time and then the perfectly calm “That… is how you do it” once he finishes lol

“Check this out, check this out” *drops from fourth to tenth* *absolute silence*

Ant is such a sweat, I mean this in the kindest way possible but who the heck memorizes skybattle chest loot

Hole in the Wall

Absolutely adore the meta of everyone typing the word ones /g

THE DYNAMIC DUO!!!!!!!

HAS THAT EVER HAPPENED BEFORE?!???

I love how they’re able to maintain the chill vibes between all the stress and hype <333

LOOK AT MY BOYS!!!!

Ah yes, the return of Ran’s third place curse incoming

Ugh I’m feeling a tgttosawaf finale :/

Glowduo messaging each other even when in the same vc is so <3333

Sky Battle

Heck yeah!!

YOOOOOO?!?????

ANT IS INSANE!!!!!!

OH MY GOODNESS HOLY CRAP

Ant on Ant violence!!

Hermit on hermit violence!!!!!

HOLY SHIT!!!!! OH MY GODDDD

If Ran and Aimsey get their first win together I will cry, fair warning

Dodgebolt

This team is everything to me

Aimee giving them back rubs <333

AIMSEY!!!!!!!

It’s Aimsey’s world, we’re just living in it

OH MY GOD

Wait ran has to swear in front of Scar 😂😂😂

GLOWDUO WINS!!!!!!!

127 is not a high heart rate… is it?? I get up to 130somethings just standing up

WILBUR 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

Oh my god, I’m crying

#mcc 32 #mc championship #ranboo #aimsey #goodtimeswithscar #antfrost #nerdy’s mcc reactions #cw caps

[kpopnatalie]

The Last Of Us |BTSxREADER|

🌟Disclaimer: *This story was heavily inspired by the video game called 'The Last of Us' and any similarities will be because of that. Most characters and storyline goes to NaughtyDog for making the game*🌟

Y/N went on a vacation with her family and expected it to be fun and adventurous, but it soon turned into a horror scene for her. 3 years later, she is now 17 and trying to survive the apocalypse that has now changed her whole life. The Government has taken total control of everything. She is given a task to protect a mysterious 14-year-old girl and take her out of the city. But what is so special about this little girl? While traveling throughout the city she meets people who she realizes are from an old popular group called BTS. How the heck did they survive this? That is truly one strange coincidence for sure. How will their story unfold and how will feelings interfere. Read to find out.  

I wrote this in 2017 on Wattpad, may be a bit cringe LOL ENJOY 

Prologue                  

 Y/N’s POV

I am so happy to be here in Boston right now. I've never been out of my home state before, so this is like an adventure to me.

We walk throughout the city. My mom went with my little sister and looked for dresses, while I went with my dad to look for food. "What should we eat?" my dad asks me.

"Well, I don't know, you're the one with the money, not me," I say back to him.

"Wow.. then I am not getting you anything. Bye." He begins to walk away. How did he do that? Wait... I do want food.

"Dad wait for me. I want pretzels."

I am glad that I have a pretzel now. It's so warm and soft, I want more.

We soon caught up with my mom and sister. They were just barely leaving the store with bags in both hands. Man, they just love to shop.

"Hey did you bring us pretzels to?" My little sister asks. To be honest we didn't bring them any... hehe.

"No, we didn't because you decided to stay and shop." She got upset real quick and my mom leaves us to get her a pretzel. After we finish eating, we go to the hotel that we are staying at. I took a shower and quickly change into my black and pink shorts and a tank top. I then got into bed.

My mom is cooking food with my little sis or more like trying. My dad was reading the papers when suddenly my mom comes running out of the kitchen with a little box in her hands. "What is this?" I asked my mom.

"It's a bomb, now open it." She says with sarcasm in her voice. I just give her the 'really' look and then I grab it. "Be careful it might go off." I looked at my mom and just shush her. I open the box and there lies a beautiful watch.

"How did you get this, because this is expensive." I am extremely shocked that she could afford this because we could barely afford this room.

"Oh you know, I sell drugs as a part-time job so it's no big deal." She smiles and we start laughing. She goes back to the kitchen and my sister goes to my dad and plays on his phone.

I am just happy about this watch. I turned on the T.V. and all they have is the news so I watch it.

"Attention viewers, the Government has issued an immediate evacuation. Patients from hospitals and mental institutes are on the loose and are attacking people. Please, for your safety evacuate now. You can see the chaos right behind- " She gets cut off by a man that might be a construction worker.

"Ma'am, what are you doing? It is not safe here you need to-" He then gets cut off by huge explosion and everything goes to black. By this time my family is by the window to look outside. There we see another explosion and police sirens going to the incident. We all look at each other and start panicking. Well, I was at least.

"Are we going to die? What do we do?" I seriously began to panic, like who wouldn't? My heart is racing too fast that I thought I might pass out.

"Honey, don't worry we will be okay, we just need to leave. Everyone take your phones and at least a small bag. We can't take too many things." Well, at least I left all my pop merchandise at home. Not like I will see it again. I grabbed my small bag that says New York on it and put my tablet in it.

Okay look I don't have a phone don't judge me okay. After that, we grab a first aid kit and some water bottles for each of us and then we start to leave the room.

As we are running to the elevator, the sound of sirens coming from outside is heard. That must be the State siren to tell everyone to either get to safety or evacuate. As we got to the elevator we saw tons of people there. They were fighting each other to get in and it got bloody. My mom closes my sister's eyes and turns her around. I hold onto my dad very tightly. "MOVE YOU BITC... " This older lady gets cut off by this other woman punching her straight in the nose and making her tumble backward. I swear people are going to die right here.

"Hey, dad I think it would be safer if we go down the stairs since everyone is here. I am pretty sure the stairs won't have that many people going down them." I whispered in my dad's ear. He nodded and took us all around and wall down the hall.

I turn around and saw something I wish I didn't. As the two women were fighting, some people got into the elevator. A man was trying to pull someone out so he could get in. The greed some people have. The elevator door was closing and there he went, or well half of him. From his waist down got left behind and his upper part, well anyone can guess that it was in the elevator. I almost vomited, but I controlled myself.

We start running and once we turn the corner, we see the big white doors that lead to the stairs. We could still hear the commotion from the other people. As we opened the door all you could hear was a screeching sound than a huge crash. The building began to shake a bit, but that was all. We came to the conclusion that the elevator stings must have snapped and the elevator fell a crashed. Those poor people. But we must continue or we will be one of those poor people.

We ran down the staircases, and trust me those were a lot. We were on the 8th floor. I was looking out the windows as we ran down. Everything was either in flames or ruins. You could see people looting and the worst of them all, killing. I want to cry, this is unreal.

We finally got to the main floor and trust me I am panting like crazy. Those were a lot of stairs. I feel dead... too soon? Well anyway, we got through the main entrance and took our car. It's a Jeep and you can tell someone was trying to steal things but didn't find anything. We all got in and my dad began driving. We could see people who wanted rides, but we just drove past them. I am so scared and you could tell that my little sister is scared as well.

We soon come to a halt due to heavy traffic. Everyone began honking their horns until one super-smart dude decides to leave the safety of his car.

"What the hell is going on-" As soon as he says that, something comes up to him and starts eating him. All you could hear are the cries of the people. "Oh, crap." My dad said and he quickly makes a U-Turn and drives off, but we barely began to move when a semi-truck hit us from the side and caused us to flip.

I open my eyes and see my sister unconscious. I start to shake her to wake her up, but nothing. I wanted to cry. "Please don't... please I am not ready." I move myself to my mom and I instantly know, she is gone.

I unbuckle my seat-belt and try to get out. I see my dad waking up. He turns around and was about to cry until he sees me. He unbuckles his seat-belt and hurries to my side. We break the window and crawl out. We began running until I feel like I twisted my ankle. "OWWW!" My dad turns to me and quickly picks me up.

"What's wrong?" He says while still running.

"I think I twisted my ankle." I was crying from literally everything.

"Don't worry, we will get to safety." He runs until he reaches an alleyway. He opens the fence door and quickly closes it. He runs until he finds a door. As we get closer you could hear the 'things' and my dad quickly closes the door.

"The door won't hold them off for too long so let's hurry to the back." My dad says as he puts me on the floor so he can carry me on his back. As he walks outside from the back, we see one of those 'things,' but it is distracted by its food which is a human being. I think I am going to be sick. My dad runs up a hill but gets stopped by a man in all black. Is he from the Government? I bet he is, he looks like he is in the army or military.

"STOP!" The man says.

"Please help us, my daughter is injured. She might have-"

He is cut off. "Sir there is a little girl with him," He says, he must have a mic in his helmet or something. "Yes sir, okay." He then takes out his rifle and points it to us. I guess my dad knew because as soon as he pulled it out, my dad lets me go so we both roll down the hill. The man was shooting at us at that moment. I look up and got worried.

"No, DAD!" I sat up and look for my dad. I saw him lying face-first on the ground. Please, no, don't take him too. I begin to crawl because my ankle still hurts.

I hold him and there he says his last words, "I love you and please stay safe. I am sorry I didn't protect you." His face scrunches up and I can hear his faint whimpers coming from him. I grabbed his left hand and his right-hand holds onto his abdominal from the pain and the blood that is escaping from him. "Please live for me and your family. I-I can't bear the thought of you dying as well. I-I want you to take care of yourself. Re-remember that we love you. Take care." His face softens up and with that, he passes. I cry. Why me? Goodbye family. I turned and there I see the evil man. He is getting closer, I don't care if I die at this point. He was about to shoot until someone else shot him.

I looked up and see a boy, maybe around 17. Wait, I know him. That's Jungkook from BTS or someone that looks very similar to him. But still, how is he here and why? I thought he would be in Korea with his other members. Wait where are the others?

"Are you okay?" He asks. I look at him, did he just ask me that when my dad just died before my eyes and I almost got killed? I softly tell him, "No." And at that instant, I began to cry and hold my ankle. He stays by my side and hugs me. I will get through this, I will survive for my family. I will do it for myself.

Chapter 1

#apocalypse #BTS #Jungkook #Seokjin #Namjoon #yoongi #Hoseok #Taehyung #Jimin #zombie #Lastofus #xreader #wattpad #fanfiction #fanfic

[uuliinoted]

#5 – Vault

Nezh'a paced about the empty apartment. Una'to had gone off somewhere with his brother, and Neffie was nowhere to be seen. He chuckled to himself. This was the first time he had been alone in a place he could comfortably call his since he escaped Limsa. He took a moment to start a fire in the fireplace, kicked off his boots, and laid back on the couch. As he watched the flames, he lifted his hand, the one that had been burned by magic, and looked it over. It wasn't the first time he had been burned, but it was a... unique, case. He set the thought aside, and closed his eyes, thinking back to a job gone horribly wrong in his past.

Three years prior, the Mutaro Estate

“Did you get the charges in place?” A younger Nezh'a asked a moss-haired hyur fiddling with some wires, and sweating bullets.

“Y-yeah, we should be good.” The hyur replied, a look of relief on his face. Nezh'a responded by giving a grin so big, his teeth shined as the moonlight coming in through the window hit them.

“Excellent.” He said with a chuckle, rushing over to a nearby hallway. “Now remember, once we blow this vault, we'll only have three minutes before the place is swarming with guards! Our employer said we can pocket anything we fancy, but we absolutely MUST find that silver statuette! If we don't, we consider our heads as good as gone. So for the love of the gods, PLEASE don't get distracted by shiny odds and ends! Statue first, then line your pockets, then book it!”

The moss head nodded, and, with a roll of his eyes, Nezh'a put his back to the wall. “Ready... Do it!” he shouted, watching the moss head push a button. Seconds later, and explosion wracked the building, and a hold had formed in the large metal door. Nezh'a had to give it to the lalafell who owned the place; his security was impressive... Just not as impressive as a good explosive. Without a moment of hesitation, he was already running through the opening, and tearing apart the chests and boxes inside, searching for the prize he was after. A few moments later, his partner stumbled in, and started aiding the search.

It took the better part of a minute, but Nezh'a eventually found the statuette, and shoved it in a canvas bag he slung over his shoulder, tossing in a few gems as he did. He turned to his partner and gave a signal. They were off.

Nezh'a could hear the footsteps of Mutaro's security personnel rushing downstairs, so he booked it in the oposite direction. If the plans they got were correct, there was a secret exit that led to the garden that way. As they ran, Nezh'a looked back at his partner, who was huffing and puffing. He knew he was going to have to take a newbie along this time, but he didn't expect them to barely be able to perform their job. It was then that he noticed the jingling and fullness of the others loot bag. He might as well have taken half the vault! Nezh'a scowled, and swore to himself that he was leaving this kid behind if he became too much of a hassle. He wasn't losing his head over some green thief's greed.

As they neared the spot where the secret exit was, Nezh'a heard something moving up ahead, and signaled for his partner to stop. The hyur, however, didn't see, and barreled right through the hallway. Nezh'a tried to get his attention, but it was too late. Moss head ran straight into a roe man, built like a tank. Behind him stood Rutaro Mutaro, the lalafell who's goods they were trying to make off with. Before he could do anything to help, the roe grabbed the hyur, and threw him against a wall, where he impacted with a loud thud.  They began to question him about his reasons for being there, if he was alone, and where his partner was hiding. All the while, the rest of the guards had arrived on the bottom floor, and were making their way to Nezh'a. He was trapped.

Cursing under his breath, he realized something he could do to get out. It wouldn't be pretty, and he would have to be fast, but it was the only option he was left with. He took out a bundle of dynamite, and lit it, before charging into the other room, gun in hand, and firing at the roe. The man dropped like a giant fly, releasing the moss head and nearly crushing the lalafell in the process. Nezh'a motioned to the hyur, and threw the dynamite in his direction. The hyur hobbled over as the lalafell frantically tried to put out the fuse, but only worked to accelerate it's burning. Just as the hyur got into the passage, Nezh'a heard a muffled “Oh no...” from behind him, and turned just in time to see the fuse hit it's end.

He threw the bag with the statuette forward at the hyur, and tried to run in in time, but he wasn't fast enough. The flames and debris came surging at him, battering his face and shoulder as he was sent flying into the tunnel. The last thing he remembered before blacking out was the bloody and bruised hyur lifting him, and one final thought, that he wasn't sure if he said in his head or out loud.

“You owe me kid.”

Present Day

Nezh'a opened his eyes, and looked around the room. The fire had died down, and it looked to be early morning outside. He stood up, rubbing his left shoulder a bit, and made his way to the window, staring outside. He chuckled to himself, the memory played in his dreams fading as fast as it came. He reached up, taking the eyepatch off of his left eye, and rubbed the sleep out of it.

“Nothing like old memories to make old wounds ache...” He muttered to himself, while raising his hand to look at his new scar. “Welcome to the club.”

Fifth post for ffxivwrite! @sea-wolf-coast-to-coast

#ffxivwrite2019 #Nezh'a Moshantu #ffxiv #Mateus #tw burns #tw explosion

[aardvark-123]

Gensokyo Festival day 2: Games

“Games” can mean many things, so here’s a little biting satire. Enjoy.

~Reimu Isn’t So Great at Boxing~

"Phantom Sign: Sword of Nightmares!"

"Heaven Sign: Starburst!"

Sanae and Youmu spun slowly through the air as they sent waves of bullets in all directions. A hundred flashing swords whirled past fiery blue stars, leaving the moon rabbits scrambling for cover.

Ringo yelped as a star bounced off her soft, round tummy. "Seiran, they're crushing us! Do something!"

"Like what?!" snapped Seiran, weaving desperately through a dozen swords.

"That new spell-card you got! Try it!"

"But I don't even know if-"

Seiran saw Sanae screaming towards her and dove out of the way. Sanae gave her a stinging smack on the foot, but Seiran's other foot found its mark and sent Sanae spiralling into the sky.

Youmu charged at Seiran with swords drawn. Ringo ploughed into her, forcing the air out of her lungs. Youmu grabbed Ringo's ears and swung her around.

"Aiyeeee! Stop! Stop it!" wailed Ringo, flailing helplessly.

"Well, since you asked!" Youmu flung Ringo up into the air.

As soon as she got her bearings, Ringo grabbed a handful of dango from her pocket and threw the chewy treats at Youmu. One, two, three balls of rice flour she slashed in half, but the fourth splatted right in her face. Youmu screamed as the berry sauce stung her eyes.

"YES!" Ringo punched the air. "Now, Seiran, finish them! I know you can do it!" Seiran whirled past a frog throw by Sanae and gripped her new spell-card. "Here goes... Legendary Arcanum: Danmaku Barrier!"

Thousands upon thousands of bullets exploded outwards. Youmu and Sanae had just a second to react before they were bowled off their feet by a wall of burning light. They plummeted helplessly and flopped down in a battered heap on the grass.

Seiran was screaming as the energy coursed through her body, sparking across her skin and almost setting her clothes on fire. None of her spell-cards had taken even a tenth as much power before.

Just as Seiran was reaching the end of her strength the spell-card stopped. All the bullets disappeared in a shower of blue and purple sparks. Seiran sank down in exhaustion.

"Oh, wow, that was amazing!" Ringo rushed over to hug the exhausted Seiran. "What kind of spell-card was that?! It was so...! So much!"

"Apparently it's one of the rarest spell-cards you can find," said Seiran, with a weary smile. "I had no idea it was going to be so intense!"

"Nor did we," Youmu and Sanae groaned in unison.

Seiran laughed guiltily.

"Where'd you get that spell, anyway? Did you make it yourself?" asked Sanae, propping herself up on her elbows.

"No, I bought it. From Reimu."

"From Reimu?!" repeated Youmu.

"Yeah! She's selling lots of cool stuff now!" declared Ringo.

"Cool... stuff?" repeated Youmu.

"Like spell-cards and things!" Ringo elaborated. "The prices aren't bad."

"Aren't bad?" repeated Youmu.

"Metal Gear?!" cried Sanae, doing a deep, gravelly voice.

An awkward silence followed.

"...And then it turned out the whole thing was just a simulation. Now, the next game chronologically was Metal Gear Solid 4, but Metal Gear Solid 3 came out before that. It was about Solid Snake's dad."

"You mean Solidus Snake?"

"Wh-?! No! It was Naked Snake!" Sanae's brow furrowed. "Or was it Venom Snake? Anyway, some people sent Snakey-boy the Elder into Russia to destroy another Metal Gear, which was actually the first one ever built. He met this woman who was actually two people, neither of which was his mentor who wasn't actually his mother-"

"I'm going to have to stop you there, Sanae."

"Huh? Why?!"

"Self-preservation," said Youmu, drawing an angry pout from Sanae.

They hiked the rest of the way in silence. They could see flags and bunting waving in the breeze as they neared the shrine, and a small crowd of visitors had gathered inside the torii.

"What's going on here?" Sanae elbowed her way to the front of the crowd, an anxious Youmu in tow. Reimu was standing proudly on the decking with a pile of wooden boxes. "Reimu, are you... Are you having a box sale?"

"Hm?" Reimu flinched guiltily. "Oh, Sanae! Hi! These are, um... I promise I haven't sunk to Kanako's level. Just- just hear me out, all right? These boxes are special, all right."

"Wh... What do you mean, 'sunk'?" Sanae glowered at Reimu.

"Oh, nothing... Anyway, these are no ordinary boxes!" said Reimu firmly. "These boxes, ladies and addition ladies, are LOOT-boxes!"

"Loot...?" said Sanae dumbfoundedly.

"Boxes...?" agreed Youmu.

"That's right! In each of these boxes is a super-special random prize!" Reimu launched into her marketing spiel. "It could be a powerful new spell-card, it could be a bomb, it could be a dozen power-up tablets or point biscuits! It could be a new mob-cap or a pair of thermal socks! It could even be a new one-liner for you to say when you win a duel! And what's more, for every ten loot-boxes you purchase, you'll get a free packet of instant noodles!"

"I'll buy one! I'll buy one!" squeaked Chen, running to the front of the shrine.

"All right! Two hundred mon, please," said Reimu.

Chen eagerly passed over a handful of coins. Reimu pocketed them and gave Chen a box.

"Yay!" squeaked Chen, tearing the ribbon off and opening up the box. Her face fell as she pulled out a single red amulet. "Awww... It's just a spell-tag."

Reimu began to sweat. "L-look, everyone! She's thrilled with her purchase!"

"No I'm not! It's a total ripmmmff-?!"

"Another happy customer!" laughed Reimu, her hand clamped over Chen's mouth. "These loot-boxes are selling like hot cakes, ladies and additional ladies, so don't delay! Buy yours today!"

A worried hubbub descended over the crowd.

"Excuse me," said Sakuya, "what are the odds of receiving a single spell-tag?"

Reimu laughed the laugh of a woman who knew the world was falling to pieces around her. "Um, a- a fair and, and sensible amount? Of odds?"

"Are there any other dummy prizes?" asked Narumi.

"No, of course not!" wailed Reimu.

Yuuka grabbed a loot-box off the decking and tore it open. She plucked a small scrap of paper from within and shook it angrily under Reimu's nose. "What's this?" she asked, her voice as sweet as honey laced with plastic explosives.

"That's... That wasn't supposed to be in there." Reimu ducked behind her donation box. "D-do you want a free packet of instant noodles as compensation? There's got to be some back here-"

Yuuka pounced on the box with a furious snarl and stomped it into splintered wreckage. She grabbed Reimu by the throat and hoisted her upright. "What have you got to say for yourself, thief?!"

Gasps of horror rose from the crowd. A few of the weaker youkai bolted into the trees.

Youmu grabbed Sanae's sleeve. Her heart was pounding. "Sanae, we have to do something!"

"Er... Um..." panicked Sanae. "What do you fancy? Fighting Yuuka or fighting Reimu? Or a whole angry crowd?"

Youmu gulped loudly. "Neither would be good!"

"Let me go! I- I'm warning you!" choked Reimu, reaching for her orbs.

"Not a chance. Reimu, you bad girl, I'm going to enjoy punishing you...!" hissed Yuuka.

"I'll buy two thousand," said a voice.

The newcomer's dulcet tones cut through the noise. The throng fell silent in a matter of seconds.

"Two thousand of your finest loot-boxes, please!" All eyes turned to Jo'on, who was weaving her way towards the shrine with bulging wallet in hand.

"H... Huh?" Reimu peered at her through bleary eyes. "Oh, right. Of course. Yuuka, could you put me down?"

"Needle... Common spell-card... One boot... Stockings... Point biscuit..." Jo'on scoffed down the square biscuit and sighed. There were still a hundred boxes to go. "Mob cap... Another common spell-card... Ooh, yay, Divine Virtues of Wind God!" She smooched the rare card, getting glitter and wet purple ink on her face.

"Right, what's next? Amulet... Paint brush... Common spell-card... Mob cap... Mob cap..."

"Um, Jo'on? Hello?"

Youmu and Sanae were clambering over the pile of empty boxes in the front garden. Jo'on barely glanced at them. "If you want some tea, ask Shion. Common spell-card... Piece of coal... Hair ribbon..."

Sanae cleared her throat and stepped forwards. "We've dealt with the Incident, if you were wondering."

"Wasn't wondering. Don't care. Needle... Frilly dress... Power tablet... Hm, the other boot. Point biscuit... Common spell-card..."

Youmu gave Sanae a hopeful look.

"The thing is," said Sanae, "Reimu didn't really want to start selling those box thingies. She was being blackmailed by an evil goddess from the Outside World who wanted to corrupt our spirits."

"One sandal... A pencil... Two nice-looking shells... Common spell-card... Handful of sand... Foldable katana..."

"She wanted to spread greed and cynicism to make herself stronger, but it turned out she was being manipulated by this businessman- a normal human businessman who'd seen Gensokyo in a dream and wanted to turn the place into a theme park," Sanae doggedly pressed on.

"Common spell-card... Common spell-card... Life piece... Hair ribbon... Tiny hat... Lump of copper..."

"Jo'on, we've had a really trying day!" Youmu piped up, flushing red with annoyance. "First we had to fight a squid, then we fought a chimera, then we had tea with a kitsune who tried to poison us, then the goddess showed up and tried to turn our hearts, then we fought all our worst fears inside our own heads-!" she took a deep breath.

"Point biscuit... Piece of coal... Amulet... Straw hat... Common spell-card..."

"Then we spent hours trying to book a train in this huge city called Nagoya, then we broke into a rectangular tower where everything was all white and shiny, then we fought dozens of evil cyborg youkai, then we had to wade through a bunch of tar pits, then Yuuka punched a giant robot in the face, then the businessman tried to drown us in molten titanium...! It ruined my shoes! Jo'on, doesn't that mean anything to you?!"

"Enchanted cape... Safety scissors... One grain of rice... Common spell-card... Needle... Common spell-card..."

Youmu groaned and slumped down on the pile of boxes. "Ohhh, forget it! Just forget it..."

"Common spell-card... Power tablet... Bomb piece... Bread roll... Shell... Little rag-doll..." Jo'on abruptly turned angry as she pulled out another sparkly purple spell-card. "What in the name of-?! Divine Virtues of Wind God AGAIN?! I don't believe this!" She tore the spell-card apart and scattered it on the wind. The scraps burned up as they fell, leaving trails of acrid purple smoke.

#Touhou #gensokyofestival #writing #prose #fantasy #comedy #parody #Sanae Kochiya #Youmu Konpaku #Jo'on Yorigami #Reimu Hakurei #my writing

[smokeybrand]

Sacrifices

EA has pulled the plug on Anthem and I'm pretty hype about it. That thing's complete and total failure, in conjunction with the absolute over-achievement of Jedi: Fallen Order, has proven that there is a ridiculous demand for single-player, narrative driven, content. Laughably lucrative demand. EA's insistence that every one of their games have a a live service component was a disaster from the start. you'd think that they would have earned their lesson with all of the loot box shenanigans in Battlefront but nope. It took a Star war to beat a Star War, with a little help from the worst game Bioware has ever created. It's kind of f*cked up because i know there was a small, dedicated fan base for that game and, in all honesty, the idea was intriguing but a sacrifice had to be made. EA's priority with having their own AAA gacha game, ruined so many titles. Andromeda, the first version of Dragon Age 4, countless Star Wars titles like Project Ragtag, were all victims of EA's greed. Fortunately, Anthem will be the last casualty because it's been announced they're moving away from that content starting with the current iteration of Dragon Age 4.

Originally, Dragon Age 4 was announced as a live content game, way back in the last decade. Everyone groaned at even the suggestion because, let's face it, Inquisition already suffered at the hands of EA's mandates and forcing even more nonsense upon them would definitely make for a lousy game. Full transparency, i actually really liked Inquisition. it's probably my favorite of the three titles but that's mostly because it's a mix of my favorite characters and has a pretty digestible narrative to tie everything together. I am in the minority with that, though. When DA4 was announced as Anthem with a Tevinter skin, fans were not happy. It flew in the face of what Dragon Age was supposed to be and would have definitely put another nail in Bioware's coffin. Fortunately, Anthem was a dud and it forced Ea to scrambled after those heavy losses. Because of that, EA removed the live service aspect from DA4 and, shockingly, from the Mass Effect remasters! That's right, no more of that Galaxy at War bullsh*t! Also, we're getting a fancy Mass Effect Remaster.

Of course, EA isn't doing away with live services altogether. DLC is definitely going to be a thing going forward and why wouldn't it be? At least then, it's a decent payoff. We want more content for the games we love and EA wants all of the money. Paid DLC for, you know, actual chunks of new game content seems like a win-win. I'm not a fan of next-gen enhanced ports the PS4 version of The Last of Us or 1.5 editions like Spider-Man: Mile Morales, but I'd still shill out for a reworked Andromeda if they decide to go that route. That game got shafted pretty hard because of EA's bullsh*t. I don't think it got that fair of a shake, even though i didn't particularly care for it when it dropped. A lot of that had to do with how haphazard it felt and, after it released to such middling fanfare, we found out just how haphazard development really was. Maybe we'll see it in the near future. I have a feeling this ME Legendary Edition is a dry run for that, to see if the audience is still there for Mass Effect. F*cking of course it is, man. Them idiot executives just didn't want it until you realized that's where the bread and butter for Bioware is. Also, Tali is best girl. Just sayin'.

[musingsofonehuman]

The digital future, it’s what we’re all headed towards, this pandemic has shown us that our reliance on the digital space is increasing rapidly, and it’s only going to increase. For games, this means buying more games through digital stores and downloading patches instead of buying discs and cartridges, but, there are a few problems we need to address on that front, particularly on the consumer side of things.

This story might have passed you by, but Nintendo have stopped the sale of digital game codes through third party sellers in Europe, and are now only selling digital versions of games through their own eshop. Presumably, this is because codes were being sold for cheaper through third party sellers such as Amazon and Game, but most noticeably ShopTo, which would frequently sell digital game codes at discounted prices, Nintendo must not have been happy with this and decided to pull all digital codes to stop this practice. Add ons, dlc, and eshop vouchers can still be sold through third party sellers, but digital codes for the games themselves are now only sold through Nintendo.

Now that’s bad, limiting the restriction of sales to your own store is a bad thing, because it means Nintendo can set the price for digital games, and as we all know, Nintendo doesn’t like to discount their games, they see their games as being so valuable they hardly ever discount them. Did you know, if you go to the official Nintendo store right now, you can buy a physical copy of Metroid Other M for £45. No seriously, this is not a joke, £45, for a 2010 Wii game that was received as good, not great, but good, you know how much you can buy a copy on Amazon for? £8.69. That’s not even the cheapest option, just the first. Enslaved: Oddysey to the West also came out in 2010, you can buy the premium edition on Steam for £15. (Actually it’s £3.74 during the Steam Sale as I write this, worth it for that price).

Nintendo clearly want to be in control of their own pricing, and unfortunately, it’s about to get worse. NBA 2K21 just announced all their different versions, and it turns out their next gen versions are gonna be more expensive, upping the price from $60 to $70. Now if you think that’s bad, here in the UK, games used to be £40, they’ve slowly been climbing over the past few generations, and for the Xbox Series X and PS5 versions, we’re being charged £65. Are you kidding me?!? £65?!? For NBA 2K21?!? A game that has seen its quality drop over the past few years as well as inserting a number of egregious micro transactions and predatory loot box mechanics, apparently this is now worth £65. Their reasoning for this is “NBA 2K21 will be a monumental leap forward for the franchise and a standout visual showcase on next-generation consoles”.....yeah, no.

Now, I’m not against developers getting paid, I understand that development costs have gone up a lot, with new technologies available to developers, they have to spend more money and time learning and implementing all these new technologies. So, why is it we’re still hearing stories of developers being abused? Why is it that developers are having to unionise because of terrible working conditions? Crunch is still a massive problem, we still hear stories very few weeks of another high profile studio that has been working their developers to the point of breakdown, where developers are suffering from PTSD because of the working conditions, not to mention all the recent stories and allegations of abuse within the industry towards many people, especially women. This is still a problem in the industry today, as highlighted by the video below.

So, if the developers aren’t getting paid, then where is all this money going to? Yep, it’s going straight to the top, the executives, the managers, the shareholders, basically, the higher brass who sit comfortably at the top, not having to worry about working conditions, or losing their job because they’re not putting in 80 hours a week and so they’re not seen as a “team player”. What I find so frustrating is that these companies earn more money year on year, they pay more money to their top brass each year, and yet they cry poverty because development costs go up. That somehow justifies their ability to treat their developers like scrap while paying them pittance, and charging consumers are more expensive games while adding micro transactions, dlc, add ons, battle passes, season passes, cosmetic stores, special editions, deluxe editions, digital deluxe editions, day one editions, ultimate editions, game of the year editions and any other editions they can think of, I’m looking at you Ubisoft.

When will these publishers learn that the thing that makes a game great is its core mechanics? You can add all the shiny graphics you want, all the story and high ranking actors in the world, and it still wouldn’t be great because most likely, the core mechanics would be bland and boring. And yet, we’ve all been watching the conferences throughout the summer, and the amount of high fidelity and “realistic” characters and “cinematic” games. Did you see all the games with ray tracing in them? Don’t they look pretty. What’s ray tracing you ask? Haven’t a clue. Something to do with lights and shadows, all I know is that it’s another buzzword publishers can stick on trailers that sounds cool. You know what game I’m looking most forward to in the next generation? Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart. I’ve never been one for the Ratchet series, but to be able to load new worlds and transition between them almost instantly is incredible, because that is the biggest change this generation, the SSDs. The ability to be able to load in that short space of time opens up a whole world of new possibilities, possibilities that include gameplay, rather than better shading, or whatever ray tracing does.

You know what game I’ve been playing recently? Griftlands. The story aspect is nice, and it has a lovely art style, but the core mechanics are strong, the idea of balancing two decks, finding new builds and grafts is enjoyable. You know what else I’ve been playing recently? Splatoon 2. Not for the gear, I’ve unlocked all the weapons, reached prestige and got all the gear I’ll ever need, but the core mechanics keep me coming back for more, I’ve played hundreds of hours of Splatoon 2, and I’m still learning new things, I’m still improving, because the core mechanics allow me to learn and improve. You know what game I stopped playing recently? Ninjala. Yeah, I bought the battle pass and the story expansion, the outfits are cool along with the asthetic, but the core mechanics didn’t really engage me, they were fun for a few hours, but not enough to sustain my interest.

If games justified themselves with their core mechanics, I would understand the price increase, but as it stands, I see it as a decision of greed from executives that are paid way too much, and I haven’t even talked about digital distribution costs. Basically it’s next to nothing, games should be cheaper if they’re distributed digitally, but no, we have to keep parity with physical retailers, and even if the physical retailers went away, the prices wouldn’t go down, they would still remain the same, because money, money, money. Must be funny in a rich man’s world, get paid a ton of money to screw over their consumers, treat their developers pathetically and abuse their female colleagues, if only the world was a kinder place. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have decks to build and inklings to splat.

#gaming #nintendo #playstation #xbox #metroid #nba 2k21 #ratchet and clank #griftlands #splatoon #ninjala #Youtube

[keyofjetwolf]

I promised yesterday that I’d get Hubby to figure out what the fuck was going on and tell me about it so I could tell you about it. Thus do I return!

Basically Blizzard has this free to play game called Heroes of the Storm, and they’re trying to entice Overwatch people to come play it and maybe get hooked. They think they can do this with skins and stuff, like that would ever work!

OF COURSE IT FUCKING WORKS

This thing is going on now, and will run until about 22 May, with new rewards being added every week. Some of them are for the Heroes of the Storm game, some of them are things we actually care about. Here’s what I think is the relevant shit to know:

You don’t actually have to play each week, but you DO have to play the total requisite number of games. So if you want Week Three’s shit, you can wait until Week Three to play, but you’ll still have to play fifteen games (five for each week). In the same vein, you can not touch the game until Week Four and still get everything, but I sure do hope you enjoy playing Heroes of the Storm because that’s all you’re doing for a while.

You can’t earn stuff early. So you can’t play twenty games in Week One and just unlock everything at the end, you’ll have to at least wait until that week’s rewards become available.

You have to play with at least one friend. Or hate them if you like, I’m not your mother. Just play with someone.

You don’t have to win, you just have to play. Thank god for that. PS: I have literally no idea how to play Heroes of the Storm, so get ready to lose a lot, @docholligay.

You can play against AI in the first week, but it has to be against other players after. Maybe if we’re worried about dragging down innocent teammates with our rampant incompetence and greed, we can form a Tumblr team? Then if the other side crushes us, we’re already used to that, really.

This is a PC players only opportunity. Heroes of the Storm isn’t available on consoles, so this shuts them out. THIS SUCKS, I AGREE. Luckily, so does Blizzard. Jeff Kaplan has said that the skins (not sure about sprays and icons, but the skins for sure) will be added to standard loot boxes at a later date. (x) EDIT: (via @farronheit: “ correction: console players can get it by creating and linking their psn/xbox acc to a battlenet account. You still have to play the game which means you need a laptop (my laptop is absolute shit but it runs HOTS on lowest settings pretty decently) and then the skins automatically unlocks on your psn/xbox live account https://eu.battle.net/support/en/article/linking-your-battlenet-account-on-consoles here's the guide on how to link your psn/xbx acc to your battlenet account, really easy and it got me the Oni skin^^”)

That’s about all I got! I’ve never touched Heroes of the Storm, so no fucking clue about that whatsoever. BUT APPARENTLY I SHALL LEARN.

Oh, and if you’re considering playing, you may want to get a download started sooner rather than later. It’s a 14GB initial install, and gods know how much in patches and shit.

#jet wolf plays overwatch #jet wolf also talks about gaming

[totallyboard]

Review: Thief’s Market

I need to tell you something, and I’m going to be straight with you. I really wanted to hate this game. Cards and dice in a small box usually means that one person is playing the game and everyone else is anxiously waiting for their turn entirely too long. I get it. I’m being super cynical right now. But seriously. It usually means that there’s no interaction and no planning. Even worse when someone can’t freaking take their turn in a reasonable amount of time.

Truth be told, I also wanted to play this game so that I could tell you I hated it. Glutton for punishment, maybe? I don’t know. I really wanted to see how miserable this game is so that I can share the misery with you all.

Still with me?

When I first played this game, I taught it to 3 new players (4, including myself). Two of those new players are (my assumption) also really new to the hobby, too. It was a perfect setup for a perfect storm. I was watching my friends listen as I taught the game and I could see the depth in the dark pupils of their eyes, thinking to themselves, “Why did I agree to this?”. MWAHAHAHAHA!

I was wrong. WAY wrong.

The rules are easy. Roll some dice. Pick and choose what you want, even stealing from another player. Do some (optional) card actions and buy more cards using your dice as currency. Collect points. Win.

I was also wrong about how I interpreted their body language. They weren’t frustrated. They weren’t in over their heads. They were absorbing and already thinking strategy. In fact, I lost miserably in the first game. Oh boy did I lose. 

Let me cut to the chase: we really liked this game. We did have a couple of hang ups, which I’ll get to in a little bit. 

In the game Thief’s Market, you and your opponents are all thieves...crooks, I tell you. You sit around the table and are splitting the loot. There’s no negotiation here, kids. Just straight up greed. The first-player rolls the dice, piles them in the middle of the table and takes what they want from the table. 

The next player in sequence can either take more loot from the table or steal someone else’s loot. If they do the latter, they must return something from their stolen grab and re-roll the dice, potentially changing the offering in the center.

The strategy here is interesting. Feasibly, you could take the entire pile, but if someone steals from you, they must take the entire pile. It’s a bad strategy. It’s also a bad strategy to take more than you need, or simply put, to take such a desirable pile that would entice anyone to steal from you. It’s also a bad strategy to not do just that. See, you’re not just collecting or stealing sweet, delicious loot. No, you’re also trying to take the dice that will work for you based on the cards you have in front of you. And so are your opponents. And because the dice are all random, shoot...everyone may be trying to get that one combo that will work for them. Sometimes, you just have to give up and try again in the next round. OR...you can be that one person that has the card that give you victory points every time someone steals from you which makes you want to take more than you need. 

When everyone has a pile of loot, they can use them to either buy cards, or execute special abilities that they have on their purchased cards. Or both. Or none because you have a pile of crap in front of you. If that’s the case, you can use some gold coins that you’ve collected from dice rolls to buy cards as one coin can be used essentially as a wild-card.

Because this is Tasty Minstrel Games, know that the production quality is top-notch. The dice are gorgeous. Heavy. They feel good to roll. The cards, including the artwork, are a fantastic matte finish. The dice are brightly colored and are easily discernible, including unique shapes of the icons to assist those that would otherwise have trouble identifying the various colors on them.

Here are the problems we had:

The icons. Holy crap, the icons. As many kooky euro games as I play, the one thing that really burns my biscuits is the use of too many unique icons with arrows and Xs and junk. GAAH! Just tell me what to do. Stop it with the icons. The cards, every card, had some strange combination of icons printed that could be referenced on (get this) a reference card for each player. 

Bonus: each player got their own reference card. Not so bonus: The reference card itself was difficult to discern how to interpret the icons. We kept having to reference the rule sheet on how to interpret the rules for the icons, as the rulesheet has all of them listed with detailed explanations.

It’s a toss-up though. I imagine that I probably would have said otherwise “Oh, I hated that this game had so much text involved blah blah blah the cards were too text heavy blah blah blah.”. Still, there wasn’t a lot of icons, but what was used, seemed really challenging, not just for new players, but even for a seasoned veteran like myself. Nevertheless, we immediately wanted to play again. We liked it that much! What did we like?

We liked that the game played fast. Sometimes, games like this can either drag on too long, or end too quickly. This felt like really great timing. 

Despite the iconography, we managed to learn and remember what each card in play did and even the new players were planning out their turns in advance.

I’m glad that this is a stealing game and NOT a negotiation game. Negotiations can make games linger longer than most new people are comfortable with, and could possibly turn people off of the game itself. Take what you want...but so will other people.

Strategies are not so complex. You can sort out and plan ahead what you want to do. Stockpiling coins will not only allow you to buy any dang card you want, but if you get the right engine going, you can also walk away with points at the end of the game.

We are very anxious to get another play in. We really do like this game, and I’m ashamed I wanted to hate it. Now that we got a grip on the game, it’ll be that much more fun bringing it back to the table over and over. Where does it fit in a gamenight? Well, somewhere between filler and ...not a filler? It’s a 30 minute game, sure...but it’s not like your traditional filler like Love Letter. No, there’s a lot more game here. Reminds me of Tiny Epic Kingdoms in weight. Fast enough to fill a gap in a gamenight, but heavy enough to not feel like you’re filling up time.

If you are turned off by a heavy amount of icons...I know some folks just get stressed at trying to interpret the hieroglyphics..but if you are turned off, you may look elsewhere. But, on the off chance you get an opportunity to play this game, then I really do recommend it. It’s a small box that will stay in my gamenight bag for sure. I’ve played it with both three and four players, and I think probably does better at four. Going to try to do five soon. But I think four players may be the sweet spot. With three players, it felt like it took a while for us to get any thievery going. It wasn’t until we had a sizable tableau in front of us where we thought we could finally find the necessity to steal from other players. With four, stealing happens pretty much on the first round of the game.

If you win your game, you become the King of Thieves, and should boast about it appropriately across your social networks!

Stats:

Thief’s Market

3 to 5 Players

30 to 50 minutes (plan on 45 minutes even for experienced players)

Designed by Dave Chalker

Art: Rob Lundy & Adam P. McIver

Published in the US by Tasty Minstrel Games

[thank you Tasty Minstrel Games for providing a review copy!]

#playtmg #board games #board game #bgg #boardgamegeek #game night #games #tabletop #tabletopday

[joneswilliam72]

Meet actor Charlie Cox, Matt Murdock/Daredevil in Netflix's Daredevil and Basil in the new based on a true story heist film King of Thieves.

I caught up with actor Charlie Cox – Matt Murdock, Daredevil himself in Netflix's adaptation – for a chat on acting, film, Daredevil, influences and what it was like to work with heavyweights like Michael Caine, Michael Gambon and Tom Courtenay in his latest, King of Thieves, based on a very real (and very historic) British heist. Catch King of Thieves out now On Demand and Digital HD.

Cox plays Basil, the younger outsider to a crew of retired British thieves (also including Ray Winstone and Jim Broadbent). Basil brings them in to the biggest heist they've ever faced, and the film chronicles what ensues and how – as in many heist movies – greed takes over with disastrous consequences.

The real robbery the film is based upon is interesting in and of itself being considered "the largest burglary in English legal history". In 2015, an elderly gang of thieves staged a robbery of safe deposit boxes in London's Hatton Garden jewelry district. Their loot had been able to get back totaled around 13.69 million pounds, yet they ultimately settled for a paltry 3.6 million pounds for their score. At least, that is what was returned to victims via the British courts after the gang was caught.

King of Thieves, in fact, delayed the trial for the alleged real Basil, Michael Seed. In September 2018, Seed's barrister asked for more time to prepare his client's defense because, "The court has little or no power to deal with it [the film], and little locus to obtain an injunction." The judge agreed. As of this writing, Seed's trial is still on-going having started 5 February 2019.

Those sentenced for the robbery John "Kenny" Collins, Daniel Jones, Terry Perkins (top row, left to right) and Carl Wood, William Lincoln and Hugh Doyle (bottom row, left to right)source:bbc.com

Catch King of Thieves now and enjoy our interview with Charlie Cox below.

Hello Charlie.

Hey Wess, how's it going?

Oh just great, how are you?

Very good, thank you.

Fantastic. Getting right into it, what was it that initially attracted you to the Basil role? I found the twist on his name at the end of movie really clever, too.

What's interesting is, we didn't know that when we were filming. That was something that came to light after we shot the movie.

Oh really?

When we were filming the movie, the information that we had was that Basil was potentially called "Basil" because he was slightly posher than the rest of the guys. His accent is slightly more posh and there's a very famous cartoon character in the UK, well puppet actually, called Basil Brush. He's a posh fox on television in the UK, and so the thinking was they called him Basil because he was like Basil Brush, because he spoke like him. That part's in the movie, but it wasn't until after the movie that someone read, or someone discovered, that possibly he was called Basil because of that play on the word.

Interesting.

In terms of what attracted me to the role was this is one of those ones where I kind of am amazed that I got the job, you know what I mean? Working with that group of actors obviously is a dream come true for anyone, but particularly for a young, British actor. Those guys all were my heroes growing up. To work with any one of them on one job would be amazing, so working with all of them on the same job, it's kind of like as good as it gets.

Absolutely, and honestly Charlie I think if you stay on the trajectory that you're at, you'll be at their level someday.

Oh, wow man, that's so cool! Thank you! That's funny to think about. That's funny to hear someone say that because of course it's impossible to imagine that you'd ever reach those kind of hopes of 'icon-ness' or whatever you call it. The fact that you're saying that is very encouraging.

Oh and I mean it too. I definitely think you'll get there. Now what did the process look like for getting into that head space of the thief, of Basil?

It was such a fun challenge because when I got the job, I got it very late on in the process. In fact, I literally got a phone call on a Friday and I was rehearing on Monday, so it was a very last minute decision I think. They were struggling with that character and I think a couple of people had maybe fallen through, or I don't know exactly what went on. It was a very pleasant surprise, but it did leave me very little time to kind of really investigate the character.

The challenge that I felt I was faced with, of course Basil is the one character that got away, the one no one really knows anything about. So we had to invent a lot about him, whereas the other characters, they're a known entity.

The thing that was confusing to me... We knew that Basil was younger, we knew that he was the guy that did the computers and shut down the alarm system, we kind of knew bits and bobs. What we didn't know was why, if he was younger, and he was the one with the key that got them in the building in the first place, that kind of was the catalyst, he got Michael Caine's character interested. What I couldn't figure out was why didn't he have any friends of his own age that were more physically capable of doing the hard work. What was it about him that felt like he needed to go to a bunch of geriatrics to pull off one of the biggest heists in history?

Really what I thought was an important element for that character was someone who was very socially awkward and maybe doesn't have mates of his own age. Maybe there's something kind of untrustworthy about him, something that doesn't seem quite right. At the beginning of the film Brian Reader [Michael Caine] had just lost his wife and he felt lonely, and Basil by his nature is quite lonely, so they kind of take each other hostage for a period of time. That was the way I ended up explaining it.

It almost makes me wonder, too, with that if he didn't know at some level that they were going to get caught and he was comfortable with the geriatrics taking the fall or what have you. But just hypothesizing.

(L-R) Charlie Cox as Basil and Michael Caine as Brian Reader in the thriller “KING OF THIEVES” a Saban Films release. Photo courtesy of Saban Films.

Any funny or memorable moments from the process of filming that stick out in your mind?

So many... It's not one particular memory, but normally on a film set in between scenes, sometimes it can be quite a long time between camera set ups. Normally people kind of go back to their trailer and they relax or they do whatever they want to do. But because the majority of the cast were slightly older, they didn't always want to go back to their trailers, it was too far sometimes, so we would all sit together in chairs, just around the corner from the set. And what was nice about that is you end up doing a lot of socializing, a lot of chatting, a lot of stories being told. So I got to hear some amazing anecdotes from all these legends and their illustrious careers and the lives they've had. That was just a memory that I'll never, ever forget.

Very cool. That'd be something in itself.

(L-R) Tom Courtenay as John Kenny Collins and Michael Caine as Brian Reader in the thriller “KING OF THIEVES” a Saban Films release. Photo courtesy of Saban Films.

We kind of touched on this, but what were the challenges like and was there anything else that you wanted to add in there with that?

Filming with those guys in London, particularly Michael, can be challenging because of how well known he is and the fans and people who recognize him in the street. We shot lots of scenes in the streets that were almost impossible to completely block off. And then when people walked past Michael Caine they had a look of amazement on their face and you can't put that in the movie. He has to be someone just walking down the street, so that's a challenge.

Wow yeah. I bet.

Other than that, I just thought the whole thing was just so tremendous. To this day I can't believe that I had that experience. I think it will always be one of the great, great highlights of my life.

Absolutely. Being based on a true story, too, it's just tremendous.

I would be remiss if I didn't ask about Daredevil when I had you here, too. It sucks that it's over. That was really an exceptional show and it was very gritty. I loved that.

Thank you.

I heard you didn't know the character was blind until the day before the audition. That leads me to ask, what was it like getting into that Matt Murdock, Daredevil head space and developing the character over three seasons like you did?

Again it was a really wonderful, challenging experience. I'm lucky with that particular job that I had a couple of months notice, so I could really come about... That job was hard because there were so many elements for my character that I had to kind of learn about and discover and investigate. For example, obviously the fact that he's visually impaired. What does that mean? What does that look like? How do you act that? What do your eyes do? I spend a lot of time working with a blind coach-

Fascinating.

Then the things that are related to the blindness apart from the eyes themselves. How do you use a cane? How do you find things on the table if you're looking for something? How do you read Braille? How do you use a computer? How do you use an iPhone? How do you do all those things? You have to learn all of that stuff.

Plus it was the first time I'd done an American accent, so I was working very hard to get the accent right.

Oh, you did.

[Laughs] Thank you. Then don't forget there was all the martial art stuff and a lot of weight to gain because I was much, much lighter when I got the job, I think I was about 162 pounds. By the time we started shooting I was 180 pounds. I put on a lot of muscle very, very quickly and that takes up a lot of time.

Whenever I got a second I was reading comic books, reading as many Daredevil comic books that I could get my hands on. In that job particularly it felt like there was a lot of work to do. But I loved it, I love all that. That's actually, in some way, the best part of the job is studying to kind of learn and delve in to the whole area of culture that you've never experienced before.

Oh absolutely.

Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock, DAREDEVIL's alter ego.

Switching gears just a little bit, a question I ask everybody, what films and performances have been most influential on you as an artist and an actor? Big question I know.

Yeah, it's a big question. Obviously Brando is a go-to, Hopkins – would be the actors that I've obviously grown up with and admire. His work is so influential. Gene Hackman is one of my favorites. There's some younger guys, I think Ryan Gosling is exceptional. I think that one of my favorite actors is Oscar Isaac, I think he's amazing.

He was great in Annihilation.

In terms of specific performances, Jim Carrey in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind I think is one of my all-time favorites. I love the Coen Brothers and I think that everyone in almost all of the Coen Brothers’ movies, all of the performances are impeccable. I love the tone of a lot of those movies.

Me too.

Clooney in Michael Clayton and Tom... Williams... am I thinking of the right... in the same film, in Michael Clayton. Is it Tom Williams?

I'm trying to remember the name there... it's something like that...

I'm blanking on the name... it's something like that. What else... that might be it. That might be all I've got on me.

Well, like I said, it's a big question, too-

Tom Wilkinson! Tom Wilkinson!

Yeah, Wilkinson! I should've known that…

Tom Wilkinson is the guy in Michael Clayton.

Oh absolutely. I couldn't think of that either until you said it and it's like, yeah, I knew that.

(L-R) Jim Broadbent as Terry Perkins, Ray Winstone as Danny Jones and Charlie Cox as Basil in the thriller “KING OF THIEVES” a Saban Films release. Photo courtesy of Saban Films.

One other question I like to ask everybody, what makes a great film?

I think the honest answer to that is there is no formula. I think that if there was a formula, then you wouldn't get movies that were supposed to be fantastic that aren't. And you wouldn't get movies that were made for almost no money with an unknown director and an unknown cast, that are sensational. There's no way of knowing what is... There's so many elements that need to come together when you make a film, or a TV show for that matter.

There are so many things that have to be exactly right for that movie, including the acting, including the script, including the sound design, including the set, including the editing. There's so many elements and even sometimes if just one of those things isn't quite right, a movie doesn't quite work. When they all do come together, you get a great movie. Not a good movie, a great movie. That's a very special thing. Like I said, I think that if there was a formula then you could just churn out hit, after hit, after hit, and of course we know that that doesn't happen.

I couldn't agree more. I've had more than a few answer with, it's a form of "alchemy" when I ask that question.

Our last question, what's next for you Charlie?

I'm going to be doing a play in London. A stage play in the West End in London, of a Harold Pinter play called “Betrayal”, so that runs from the beginning of March to the beginning of June of this year, so that's what I'm gearing up for right now.

KING OF THIEVES trailer.

Netflix's DAREDEVIL trailer.

The award-winning opening sequence to DAREDEVIL. This was designed by the same people who did the opening to TRUE DETECTIVE: SEASON 1.

from The 405 http://bit.ly/2DuICx5

[blackdragon2012-blog]

Some thoughts on Destiny 2

Dear Bungie, players of the community,

Hello my fellow star-side Guardians, hope all is well and your holiday has been grand so far. I just want to share my thoughts about this game and start from the beginning.

When I first heard about Bungie, it was when they were the innovators of the gaming industry with their Halo franchise. As a former PlayStation loyalist, I always envied how awesome those games looked and longed to have an Xbox of my own but I had many friends who played on PlayStation and one game wasn't enough to change my tune. Now, I'm a Destiny 1 player, much like most of this community, and I've been playing the game since mid-Taken King. I heard about how great the game looked during the game's base launch and that Bungie created it so naturally I was excited to play my first Bungie game. I heavily considered buying it until I heard about all of the negativity surrounding the game, which, admittedly, off-put me from the game itself. Fast forward and my friends are constantly telling me how it got better as a game and to try it out, so I did.

Bought it for PS4 and played through the "story" and eventually got into the Taken King portion and loved my Hunter to death (currently have a Hunter and Warlock in D2 that I love to death too). The game was really fun but I also saw a lot of the flaws that many of you saw then and see now. The grindfest for me wasn't an issue and actually kept me well involved and fixated on coming back to grind more strikes, or raids or PVP to get the loot I wanted. D2 took a shit on that with how easy exotics are to get but, still, I enjoy the game.

At first, I hated the random rolls because I hated getting an awesome looking weapon with shitty perks until I got my first "top-tier" version of that weapon and I felt accomplished that all of my grinding was worth it and I got the results I was hoping for. Though I don't dislike the fixed rolls on weapons, the lack of random rolls makes me uses some weapons less or just outright destroy/infuse them because they're not Nameless Midnight, Sins of the Past, Better Devils, etc. I could feel that sense of accomplishment gone and it felt empty. Masterworks are cool but don't really do it for me. I'd love for the High Impact frame to not just be buffed but actually FEEL like they do more damage and not just see it in text form. I want to be able to re-roll perks on unique legendary weapons and get the perks I want and bring some back from D1 and add some new ones. I miss the old stats to make recharge times much better and getting the right stats for the gear I'm wearing. I want to earn and purchase mods and shaders for my weapons and gear and not rely or feel "pushed" to make an Eververse purchase to get mods

Now that bring me to the more controversial topic of the year in gaming, loot boxes. Personally, unlike most people, I could care less about loot boxes being around. I think they're a cool thing for people who actually want to spend their hard earned money purchasing. If it's 100% optional and nothing game breaking or cosmetic, I'm cool with that. My issue with Destiny, partially Destiny 2's Eververse is that the cosmetic gear you purchase should be earned in game via quests or in-game activities or achievements. The exotic sparrows, ships, ghosts, all of that should be IN THE GAME so we can grind for it and have fun during the grind, have that unique sense of accomplishment or like you're special that you grinded a lot or little and got a nice reward for you playing the game. Make the Heroic Strike JUST LIKE the one from Destiny 1, make prestige gear higher light/power level and/or have unique perks that make you want to dive into the higher difficulties to battle stronger opponents. Give us Strike specific loot! Earnable rewards that aren't locked behind a paywall. Don't strip down content for those that don't purchase the DLC. I get that Activision is a piece of shit and they're the worst part of the Activision Blizzard company, but Bungie needs to fix the issues plaguing this game before they kill and destroy something that has the potential to be an amazing game and an amazing narrative that's being told. For some, it may be too late, but it's not too late to get your act together and bring out the full potential the universe of this game has to be amazing.

I'm not an advocate for killing Tess and the Eververse but it needs to be severely stripped down to a degree that is acceptable on both our part as the game community and one where you all can sate the greed of Activision. You know, even with all the bill crap and shady business practices I see, I still love this game and want to see IT and the company of Bungie prosper. Activision can go burn and Blizzard needs to removed that rotting limb NOW. I'm going to still play this game and I hope that you all can get this ship turned around, ASAP, before you lose this fan base and all of your microtransactions will be all for nothing anyway. I see how Bungie is now a husk of what it used to be and it needs to return to form and mend the wounds they have caused with their fan base.

Sincerely,

A Gamer Who Wants Change

[2gameprince]

Atticus McKnight & The Fountain Of Youth

So, there I was. On some sorry excuse for a cruise ship and floating with a crew of three men off the coast of Madagascar. We had spent the afternoon testing cranes and different devices that were to aid us in the retrieval of a subterranean monolith, not too far below the sea’s surface. Within that monolith lied a hollowed box. A ruined treasure which had fallen from the storage of an old cargo ship. Treasure that was to be buried on Madagascar back in the old 1800’s. Though our presence there did hint at the continued existence of this treasure’s stationary status, I must say, I did doubt our endeavor for a moment or two. That was until the cranes pulled up a great big stone in the shape of a box. There to crack open the stone alongside me were my colleagues, Cole Sanford, crooked lawyer-extraordinaire, Walter Harris, fellow treasure hunter and master tracker, and Taylor Morgan, machinery expert. I was the good luck charm of the group; Atticus McKnight, master treasure hunter, mercenary, pirate in some cases. Normally I would be off on these exploits all by my lonesome; but this job required extra hands. And I didn’t mind splitting the findings, as it was never money I had been after. I love the hunt for that which is believed to be undiscoverable. Money comes and money goes. But damn, if it ain’t nice to grab a break every now and again. It’s a simple fact of life. I worry not about my finances. Stupid systems of money and chaotic trash that’s meant to tie us down and keep us paying for the rich until we die. That kind of life would never work for me. And so, I refuse it. Stationed in Subic Bay, I served in the Navy and on a carrier which provided me with a few years of travel. Had I not decided to leave that life one night, I doubt I’d be were I am today. For it was a band of bootleggers, mercenaries and loot-hunters that swept me up one night and convinced me to join their brigade. All it took was one brawl in a drunken bar and this band of no-gooders was welcoming me with open arms. That was right after saving their leader’s ass from some local Pilipino law enforcement. That is, if you could call them that. From that night forward I deserted the army, travelled with the hunters for a while, until I learned how to go my own way. With everyone believing me to be dead, I only kept in contact with my brother, Edward, who currently holds some government position in Germany. The expeditions I embark upon fund the ones I go on later, with my money-accounts spread all across the globe and my earnings in every form of bill you could think of; I steal, I squander, but never more than I need. After all, this one life is all we got. I ain’t spending my time starving away, doing nothing. So, I am a villain to some. But, to those who know me, and they do, know me to be fair, as I believe all men should be. Now, returning to the subject of the excavation of that most fantastic monolith. Within it we did find a small black box preserved in it’s core. And within it was a map. Of course, it was no map any of us could read. With strange symbols and markings I’m sure no sane man would recognize. My first order of business was to get it over to London where my personal-coder, Theodore Cyril, could reconstruct it’s mapping. We headed for land immediately, eventually being cut off by some not-so-friendly ships, headed by a bastard with the name of Victor Logan. A treasure hunter, like myself, he was as evil as any villain and a rich pompous cocky little snot-nosed brat with hired muscle and an untamable greed. I should have suspected it before hand, but his men had trailed us to Madagascar and had gained knowledge of our exploits. It was all thanks to Taylor Morgan. The bastard mechanics-expert. After Logan took Walter, Cole and myself hostage, Taylor revealed his loyalties. He was to get in with us and contact Logan when we had pulled up the monolith containing the map. A map to the fountain of youth; Which is what this whole ordeal is about. Myself and my rivals have all swept the Earth in search of it, and with the approaching age it finally seemed doable. Alas, Walter revealed that he’d been approached by Logan and asked to join his expedition for the monolith; To which he refused, staying loyal only to me. Well, of course Logan had a problem with that. Now, here I stand, tied up with rocks around my ankles in a sack, next to the two greatest men I’ve ever know and about to be cast into the bottom of the sea. At the hands of a rich thieving pampered baboon, no doubt. Logan had taken the map and one by one he sent Cole, Walter and myself into the sea. Down we went, weighted by rocks, surly believing we would drown. Fortunately I always carry about seven to ten concealed blades on my person at all times. You can get farther with a knife than you can get with your fists. After freeing myself and my fellow left-for-dead crew-mates we floated a while back to the shore of Madagascar, just barley avoiding any unwanted attention from the hungry monstrosities beneath the sea. A while after that we waited upon the shore for a day or so. I always pre-stock areas around my locations of expedition with food, water and other necessities in the case of my getting stranded. As well, I inform my colleagues, outside of my endeavors, to send aid in the circumstances of my delayed return. My closest agent of aid, Michael Burton, I had informed to send help if my crew and I had not returned within the day. Sure enough, boats arrived around midnight and far after Logan and his crew had sunk us, looted our ship and made their way East. I relieved Walter and Cole of my company and attempted to hunt for this treasure myself. Walter, the closest of my “friends” insisted on accompanying me. I eventually gave way and had one of Burton’s sailors send us off in the direction of Cyril, my coder. Of course, I wasn’t worried about the map to the fountain of youth. I had it the whole time! When you’re searching for something as important as eternal life you must be aware that there are others who would probably want it more than you. Figuring this I drew up a duplicate, with some “minor” changes in location. I chuckle now. Logan will be quite cross when he reads the map to learn I’ve tricked him into believing the fountain lies in the Bermuda Triangle. But, I doubt he’ll learn quickly. I even made the map out in English. He doesn’t know the original map is in some coded symbol-language. So writing the fake out in actual coordinates works better for me. So, I headed with Walter back to London to meet up with Cyril and start pushing this thing forward. Normally my friends charge a hefty price for their services, but when your promising the elixir of immortality at no physical expense of theirs, you’d be surprised how ‘on-board’ everyone gets. We spent some time in London while Cyril took to the map. By this time I could only speculate that Logan and Taylor were battling the waters of the triangle. And good for them. Serves them right for trying to kill me and ruin what could possibly be the greatest expedition I’ve ever embarked upon! To think I would one day be counted among the greats. That, I would say, was my biggest dream. One that this fountain would secure for me. While Walter and myself walked the streets of the nice foggy city we came across a duo of two other gifted folks in our profession. Leo Turner, an expert on the Aztecs, as well as a seeker of foreign pottery and Jack Scythe, the man who rediscovered some jewel called the Hope Daimond after it went missing a couple years back. The two just so happened to be leaving a local pub. No doubt in discussion about a new job. Two big shots like them wouldn’t just meet up to shoot the shit. They weren’t buddies, as far as I knew. We made quick chat and went our separate ways. I bet that by the time we were out of view they kept questioning why I was in London, just as much as I was wondering about them. My only goal, for right now, was to lay low. So there would be no trailing leads that I wasn’t let in on. No sneaking around to gain insight. Certainly no embarking on any hunts that took my attention away from locating the fountain of youth. About a month passed and Walter had come to work very closely with me. I must say I’d grown an attachment to the tracker. He was a comedic and down-to-earth kind of fellow with wits to match. I felt he would be a fine sidekick. That is, if he’d accept such a title. Getting back on point. Out at the shops, one day in the afternoon, there came this yelling as Cyril’s assistant, Finny, a chap in a small coat and black cap, had been sent by the coder to call us back to his study; For he had cracked the mystery of the map and played out its precise readings. Upon returning to Cyril’s study we discovered a break-in. The map was gone, Cyril was missing and of all the luck there was no trace of who this might have been. We were at a dead end. A whole month of waiting, for nothing. If it hand’t been for a description Finny gave of a few men he saw sitting on the corner of Cyril’s house, just before he left, perhaps I never would have deduced that the scoundrels that kidnapped Cyril and took the map were Leo Turner and Jack Scythe, of all people! I knew their presence in London couldn’t have just been a coincidence. They had my map and my human-coder. And I assured Walter and Finny that we were going to get them both back. Jack’s mother lived locally. A nice elderly woman with a weak mind and a big heart who thinks her son is a pilot. He visits her before every job and tells her where he’ll be off to. Leaving out the details of him being an arms dealer and treasure seeker, of course. After a quick stop and her house, and half a cup of tea, we found ourselves on a dock by the harbor and paying witness to Scythe and Turner, as well as three henchmen, forcing Cyril into the hold of a ship they had all fitted up with supplies. Finny and Walter took positions behind some barrels while I jumped right out and announced myself. Turner’s men began to move on me; Each of them clutching a revolver or two. They asked me how I had found them and what I thought I was going to do to oppose their thievery. I couldn’t really pay attention all that well to their questioning. I was too busy giggling over the absurd amount of hand grenades I had on me at the time. I pointed out towards the sea and tricked their eyes away and their attention off of me. I flung a few explosives into the water and commanded a path for Finny and Walter to come running across the dock and hop onto the boat. Shrapnel flung everywhere as Scythe, Turner and his men ran in a panic of the exploding dock. I made grenades rain as I dropped one with each leap. Finally, I took the two sticks of dynamite I had been hiding in my coat, sparked them up and threw them onto the dock. I hopped onto the departing boat with Walter, Finny and the bound Theodore beneath us. As the dock exploded we made our getaway. The night became day as I could hear Jack and Leo swearing all the way until I could see those docks no further. Our first order of business was to untie Cyril. Our second was to locate where we were headed on the map. The map which I did not have! I had forgotten it! On the dock, in the pocket of Leo Turner, the bastard!! I could nearly feel my heart stop as I dropped to the ground in a fit. Then, as if a great miracle had been blessed upon my head, Finny stepped forward and revealed that he’d swiped the map off Leo in the ensuring chaos. I took a deep breath and a well deserved jovial-vomit off the side of the ship, collecting myself and returned to the matter at hand. The fountain. The map was taking us to Africa. To the jungles and tribes of men said to be savages. For there were tribes hat had not known the existence of the modern world outside their boarders. And their discovery of use, as well as their treatment of us, is what I feared most. We came upon the shores of Africa quite swiftly and without hassle. Theo and Finny had decided to join us, as I had convinced Cyril that giving him the immortality elixir when we got to the fountain would be much easier than taking samples and dragging them across long distances and avoiding theft. With me he knew the elixir would find safe delivery. Cryil stayed behind and attempted to flag down any ships he could find. We embarked upon the jungles of the foreign land and with weapons in tow. We made sure to have Walter guide our way as he had lived in a predominantly english-influenced fraction of Africa for a time. In those days he was a hunter and writer, before pursuing my line of work with the passion for uncovering history’s secrets. Walter sent us through a beautiful wilderness and we eventually happened upon an African tribe. At first we heard the clicking of guns, then the moaning of distress. We hid as we analyzed the situation, realizing the tribe had been assaulted. We saw the whole populous in cages, trafficked by men in camouflage suits. Men, women and children were behind steel bars, having guns poked in their faces if they’d dare stick their arms through the bars. It was ghastly sight. The huts of the village were set ablaze and the jeeps and trucks that had seemed to have transported the cages had a rather familiar look to them. Black and grey with a hawk’s severed wing in a white silhouette design. The symbol of Victor Logan’s mercenary fractions. The bastard had gotten here before us. No doubt the tribe gave him trouble so he had them all rounded up. Now it was just a matter of pin-pointing the damned mastermind himself. We saw Taylor Morgan, the traitor, step out from behind a green tent and make his way over to a group of hired hands, seemingly commanding them to guard the tent as he went off into the forest. Probably to spend a penny. Finny, Walter and myself positioned ourselves around the camp from three locations. It appeared that we weren’t rescuing these tribes folk and foiling Morgan’s plans without a strong distraction. We decided more forward force was needed for this to be pulled off, so we agreed to shoot the men. No killing blows of course. We shot strictly for their legs, that way they could not chase us! The mercenaries fell in pain as I skipped through their writhing torsos, apologizing with each one I had passed. They weren’t reaching for their guns. They were too busy nursing their hole-y legs. I strolled swiftly into the tent to find, what appeared to be, the tribe’s chief, bound and gagged. I set him loose and made haste to find the keys to the cages. Finny, Walter and myself flung open the doors of the cages as the tribe mobilized. The chief, Takobe’, thanked me personally, apparently being experienced in the english language. He handed me, what he said was, an heirloom of his tribe’s ancestry. A necklace made of claws and precious stones. I was honored. The thanks had to be cut short as we could all hear Taylor returning from his piddle. I ambushed the prick on his way back from his mid-morning tinkle and forced him to tell me about Logan’s whereabouts while Walter held him at rifle-point. He told me that Victor and a few of his best men had headed North in search of a hidden temple. The only thing I worried about more than bumping heads with Logan was more damn walking! Taylor spilled his guts in a panic. He was quite simple to interrogate, if I do say so myself. Though I am sure that in that blistering heat I might have looked rather desperate. I dropped him to the ground once I had learned all I wished to have learned. Walter cocked the rifle to give Taylor a scare. I must say, I chuckled a bit at the action. Walter wanted to shoot Morgan, but I demanded he leave him be. I assured Walter justice was afoot and convinced the tracker to follow along with me. Taylor begged us not to kill him. I assured him I would not; As if I would ever commit such an act. However, as we turned our backs on him we welcomed the company of the furious tribe he had imprisoned. They rushed past us in a sea of angry faces and sharp tools as they swept Taylor, the traitor, away in a sea of vengeance and sharp pointy daggers and spears. We heard his screams until we came across a discarded jeep which we would then use to pursue Logan and his band. Rushing through the brush of the jungle, we encountered a tiger which persuade us in great haste. It nearly slashed the wheels of the jeep, that was, until Walter gunned out the beast’s left arm, halting it. We travelled a while and happened upon the small aztec-looking temple, yellow, half crushed and nearly sunken into the ground. There we found Logan’s jeep; assuming he and his men were inside. We proceeded with confidence, moving steadily, yet sure that he could not call for back-up; Allowing us to avoid any ambush. He happened upon long corridors with candles and traps sprung. Since we were the second group to pass through this trap-maze, we enjoyed a safe stroll through, as Logan’s men had already activated the flying daggers and falling walls of an average sacred-temple. We finally came to the last room, and there we saw Logan and two of his last hired hands looking up at some large round object on the wall. It almost looked like an ancient calendar, but nothing like the Mayans’. We made sure to stay quiet and listen in on what Logan was discussing with his lowers. Surely this was just the beginning to a long goose-chase that would lead us all along a vast road to reach the fountain. I got this feeling in my gut, that this quick venture which I supposed would take a few months, might in-fact take years to accomplish. I hadn’t thought of this before; And the idea chilled me. But, I certainly wouldn’t let Logan get to the fountain before me. And so, like a fool, pride and impatience filled my head and I dived out from the shadowy corridor to hold Logan at gunpoint and force him to tell us of all that he had learned. Not my brightest move, I can assure you of that. Especially once he ordered his men’s guns upon me; telling them to shoot if I even flinched. It was then that this standoff was interrupted by Inspector Claude Augustine of the French Secret Service. Now, to explain the inspector’s purpose and reason for being in this exact point, at this exact time, we need to rewind back my career as a treasure hunter a bit, to a time when I was more hated than most other scoundrels in my profession. Some time ago I was involved in the retrieval of this rare Russian stone, nicknamed the ‘Ragnarok Amulet’. During it’s captured I learned that I was employed by criminals, attempting to steal the piece from a wealthy world traveler. Coulda’ fooled me; And they did! So me and team have this thing in hand and all of a sudden the French Secret Service, of all things, busts us. Mainly cause the stone was on transportation from Russia to France at the time. That’s how I cam to know Inspector Claude Augustine, you see. He followed us farther and longer than any off his other fellow operatives could. He was determined to catch us. We ended up escaping with the Ragnarok Amulet and I took it for myself, taking the money and the object of value from the criminals who tricked me into doing their dirty work. Nowadays that same organization is after me for finding out and turning on them; Just as Augustine can’t let the fact that I got away go. He’s caught each and every one of my accomplices for that job up until this point. I’m the last one; And though I always evade him, I do constantly fear inevitable capture. From time to time he would appear, trailing me from the start of my ventures to find treasures and such. And quite a bother he was becoming. I knew I could never kill him. I have too much respect for the average law-man to just gun them down like some heartless fiend or righteously absentminded hero figure. By this point all I could do was hope that he would one day give up his search for me or find someone more interesting to chase. I digress. The agent was a fine distraction as bullets flew and my tour leaped for cover. A bullet hit Logan and one slug skimmed my leg, but I could still run like hell. We got out of there quick-fast and Walter had picked up some detonation device he found laying by Logan. Before I could intervene Walter hit the switch and blew the structure sky high. I gave Walter a good belting after that, especially since he’d completely forgotten that the map to the fountain was inside with Logan and the Inspector, who were both probably buried under mountains of rock. I stopped to my knees and sat in a stubborn position, mumbling obscenities while Walter paced back an forth, embarrassed. Finny sat with me and sulked as we had come all this way for nothing. Finny also remarked about how adventures didn’t always end in the discovery of treasure. That perhaps they were just sometimes composted of the journey to one’s own final destination; and that it was the journey that we were meant to look back on and enjoy. That that was the true treasure of this hole quest. Yeah… what a crock of shit. Would you believe Theodore was still waving down ships on the shore when we came back? It looked like we were gonna be there for a while.

[thehobbblog]

Entry #7

“Tell my family, tell my kin I won’t be comin’ home again. The grim reaper’s name is Jess. She’s been fair and I feel quite blessed.” - Sulek: “Swamp Song”

You read those stories in the news, you know? Guy jumps onto train tracks to save a kid. Father tracks down a kidnapper and hands out some old justice. It’s easy, it’s fair and it makes sense. The one on the noblest quest gets rewarded, and the one doing the selfless act isn’t punished. I don’t think that’s how it works down here.

Alice was fine, ish. The uppity Avram had enough literal fucking magic left in him to make it seem like nothing ever happened, and she lived without learning any sort of lesson. She’s going to get herself killed and go to the afterlife complaining how unfair it was.

The guy in the mask is still shady, but what do you want? Anyone lame enough to wear a mask everywhere has nothing worth hiding. Instant mystique just add attitude only really benefits the boring. The music isn’t telling me he’s a bad guy, but I’m keeping my eyes on him.

Wey’s running around, collecting shards of crystal. Avram’s running around collecting... everything. Alice is in her own little world of box monster & plant thoughts. I hesitate to say, this might not have been a good idea. We’re all too quick to be distracted, too quick to argue. It’s going to get us stuck.

Avram pushed ahead, and it nearly got him roasted. The next room had some sort of reverse-trap. The crystal in the middle didn’t set us on fire, but protected us from fire. Avram didn’t exactly figure that out in time and tried to murder his only way out of that room. We got everyone in order, and using the crystal as protection, made it through. Next room was lame, it had a table in it. Wey threw a spear at the table and nearly wet himself. I’m not comfortable with that guy “protecting” us. Remind me to keep an eye out on his watch. He doesn’t seem like a bad guy, but I don’t want him deciding my silhouette looks too much like a flat surface.. Room after that was also not deadly, which I appreciate. A robot and a bug killed eachother and died. Wey tried to harvest the bug’s meat (despite the smell of rot) and we moved on.

Room after that had many robots and a large suit of armour. Robots went down pretty easy after Anna performed some magic shenanigans that had vines grow out of tile, and murder everyone she didn’t like. I think I saw an anime like that once, but I can’t be sure. Remind me not to mouth off to the terrifying magic girl anymore.

The armour would be harder to get, it was protected by more robots. We made the collective decision not to mess with it, and then Avram elected to charge right into the robots. They stopped him, but it still upset me. Avram expected all of us to follow behind him, risk our lives for his greed and if we didn’t all die he’d be rewarded for it. I’m glad we talked him down. The only real next item of interest was a... museum room? There were several mannequins, and they’d mimic our appearance and actions. It was kind of cute, really. Wey had a dance with his double, Alice worked together to solve a puzzle and Avram tried to 1v1 himself. Curious to see how far it goes, I showed the mannequin a picture of Papa, and it had a little card of it’s own Papa. We shook hands and left on good terms. That was a fun time, really lightened the mood. Lucas was upset we didn’t murder all the mannequins, new note to watch that guy.

Wey started seeing tables again, it seems whoever is running this place caught on, because little robots started moving them around and arranging them to screw with our friend. I can’t really tell if it’s malicious or not. This whole place goes from fun to terrifying way too quickly. Anna was nice enough to follow him around and help the delusions, but it really wasn’t enough.

Which segues nicely into the part where we all almost die. For real I mean. We all agreed to make camp, and we did that. And then Wey & Avram looked around for some loot. You remember the scene from the Clash of the Titans, where they release the kraken? That happened. The two of them released a huge, horrifying, armoured insect that began knocking down walls and entire parts of the dungeon to get to us faster. I was drinking at the time and nearly choked just stumbling out of the line of fire.  After a few horrifying seconds, we found our way back into the room with the robots we didn’t kill (thanks Avram). They helped us form a line, and after trapping & disposing of the insect, we could take stock of the situation. Alice had decided to charge headfirst into battle, with the armoured part of a huge terrifying insect. She was nearly torn in half in less than ten seconds. We bring her back from the brink of a yawning void (again) and she still has the nerve to blame the bug, or fate. Anything but her charging face first into combat. I’ve seen this before, and I don’t like it. I promised you I wouldn’t let it happen to anyone else, but it’s almost an impossibility. I’m sorry. King was there too and did some things. I wasn’t really paying attention.