Mr_Grey

I have a Kin I could apply to this.

I have a Kin I could apply to this.

With the number of available missions per character increasing, I pondered an idea. What if we could get missions from enemies we street sweep? Like a Recipe or Salvage Drop, you see a reward announcement that says "Hideout Located!" or something similar, and bam, your mission list has a hideout in the zone for you to clean out.

They wouldn't have to be arcs, nor would they have to be any different from the Police Band/Newspaper. They could be employed as a means for your character to take investigations into his own hands, rather than taking cues from the gaggle of contacts throughout the cities.

Frankly, I wouldn't mind being able to find cells of the Malta Group and Nemesis on Heroside. I also wouldn't mind being able to find Nemesis cells in the Isles, too.

I only check the character's Vet Rewards if I feel they're behaving in a manner that denotes a lack of understanding of the game and the general tactics employed.

Surprisingly, I usually find the most belligerent and incapable players are the ones with a large number of Veteran Rewards. Typically not Jello Shooters, so that only makes me wonder whether or not people are still selling their accounts or if players are being too loose with letting their family members play around.

I don't miss the days of Jello Shooters being "Protector Only." Frankly, I always disliked such an isolationist stance. I remember those days, when I could only have twelve characters on this server and I would get chastised for playing my other characters on Triumph or Champion. Did anybody think they could join me there? No.

As for the server spirit, I don't really have an opinion on that. Some of the people I saw creating that spirit changed dramatically. People who once seemed friendly became suddenly hostile. I didn't understand the reason for the changes, and no explanation seemed forthcoming, just a simple "accept it, fool." Certainly, the old days seemed carefree and fun, but even then, as now, rub certain individuals the wrong way and get ready to be a pariah.

The current state of Jello Shooters makes me sad, too. However, I don't know what shot in the arm it needs. Every time I ask what's happening, ask for help, or ask for a TF/SF team and I get back some snarky comment, I think to myself "perhaps I should just stop asking here."

Hot damn, Frozen, that's a good idea!

Artists I've used thus far have been...

Play Work Art: http://playworkart.deviantart.com/

and

Sean Loco O'Donell (careful, some risque work in there...): http://sean-loco-odonnell.deviantart.com/

The one PWA did for me was an image of my Katana/Reflexes Scrapper, Mad Matt McGinty, http://ryat66.deviantart.com/art/Mat...axed-148723664

PWA is one of the more professional artists I've seen, so what you ask for is what you get.

And Sean did a few images featuring some of my other characters in various situations (these are NOT so risque...): Den of Vipers (Raging James and Psycho13 battling Nazi women), Now Arriving (Cedric Grey and Mark Shadow in an airport), and Bridge Jumping, U.S.A. (Cedric Grey staring down a heroine as she tries to dissuade him from jumping off a bridge tower, which he does anyway and has done many, MANY times).

Sean's the sort of artist who is willing to chat with you and make sure, as he's in the process of making the art, he's got what you're looking for. When he first drew Raging James, he had him with these itty-bitty skulls dangling from his chest and shoulder. After a little discussion, they were shaped up to their proper design and size.

I could also recommend a fellow Protectorite, you know her, Empress Aurora... Also known as Essex!. Most of the Jello Shooters and Protector Vigilance crowd don't know her as she's a roleplayer and a member of the Boarderline Insanity crew. She's a little hampered with work, too, and she usually needs some kind of association with a character to get a feel for a proper look.

Avernum 6. I probably won't be playing it for very long, but this game (and the rest of the series) has had a grip on my heart for a long, LONG time.

It's a fantasy adventure game... That's not to say it's like King's Quest (I'm catching a hawk with a piece of twine!?). It's more into the "tactical roleplaying game" concept, using the misnomer that roleplaying games are nothing but finding monsters, killing them with swords and spells, taking their loot and selling said loot.

Playing the game is like playing a book. The graphics aren't up to par with things like City of Heroes (the only time the little sprites move is when they attack), and the action and description is often in a narrative form (because the same sprites and tiles are used over and over and over again, so it can be extremely repetitive without something explaining the meaning behind all those repeated graphics), but I still love this game.

From Sooner Nation...

Oh yes, I also helped our dear Zekiran ding another 50

I spent Friday getting a Controller (Illusion/Ice) and a Blaster (Pistols/Energy) to at least 20... I failed at that...

The Controller wound up dinging 20 through the Faultline arcs (thanks for running with me, StarGeek!). My Blaster wound up gaining it through the Synapse TF... Plus three more levels.

I spent Sunday getting the characters into the Midnighter Club.

I didn't do much Saturday. Not in-game, anyway. Instead, I spent the bulk of the day driving my mother and a group of her friends to local wineries. I'd considered calling it off BECAUSE of Double XP, but... Family comes first :P

I would like to see a legitimate hero called "Ironsights."

As such, I named a character based on a friend and utilized the "Ironsights" name...

The friend asked me to make him a character. When I asked what powers he would like, he replied "Can I hold two guns?"

This caused a mild uproar for my older brother... He proceeded to shout "Dude! We can go to the store... RIGHT NOW! And we can get you two guns!"

My friend then proceeded to say "Then I want to jump high."

So... I've made his character, Kodiak Ironsights, who has two guns and jumps high (Ninja Run). This causes my brothers to laugh pretty hard when they see him.

I've currently got him looking like a blonde Boondock Saint.

There's a lot of storyline on Redside that isn't fully explored and has been dropped HARD on the backburner, if not shelved completely.

This could be part of a larger storyline, perhaps dealing with the Blood of the Black Stream, perhaps with the Bat'Zul, or even part of something dealing with Fort Hades.

Frankly, Major T's theory about it having to do with Bat'Zul makes the most sense to me, since Port Oakes and Cap Au Diable are on the same island. It's probably a bit of an extra mystical reinforcement on the infernal prison.

New Grey's Army!

Operative Daniel Taylor has been working to show the Arbiters what they're supposed to have been doing all this time as he investigates a deal over a nuclear weapon! However, are things all they seem to be? Arachnos has been sending goon squads to kill him for months, why would they stop now?

St. Martial was like Las Vegas and Atlantic City rolled into one, only with more sin from the former and more salt water from the latter. There was always something crooked and underhanded going on in the Casino-laden island, and one of those schemes had brought Operative Taylor to this run-down warehouse.

For once, it was a simple, straightforward plot. Somebody had smuggled a nuclear weapon into the Isles, and he'd been on their trail for the past few weeks. Likely, it was salesmen and terrorists, all plotting something that the United States Central Intelligence Agency and Britain's Secret Intelligence Service were waiting anxiously to have a heart attack over.

Of course, Daniel figured it was time to settle the crap in his backyard. He'd gone through his career as an Arbiter turning a blind eye to the nightmarish happenings in his home. He should have been enforcing law and order with a firm hand, as he'd been trained to do, but eventually he just found himself ushering depraved maniacs and self-absorbed lunatics as they wreaked further havoc on his fellow citizens.

His father would not have been proud. His mother was mentally anguished to the point of hysteria... When Daniel found she was in Haven House, he almost blew Phipps away. Apolis took care of the situation and got her out of there, but he never said where the poor woman had been sent. Daniel was certain she'd met her end shortly thereafter, if she hadn't been killed outright by Recluse's devious little minion.

In the end, Taylor had come to a decision. He was going to police his Isles, his home, even if it killed him. Five times since his last conversation with his friend, Null, where he'd voiced his intention to "retire," he'd been attacked five times by death squads. Fortunately, they were the ones that still wanted to prove themselves, and had vastly underestimated their prey. Unfortunately, his apartment was destroyed and nobody in Port Oakes was letting him rent anymore.

What was unsettling was the fact that Arachnos still gave him a paycheck. Taylor was certain his expenses were being tracked, but nobody was attacking the various hotel rooms he was staying in.

Of course, if he were to analyze the situation more cynically, the attacks really stopped when he took up this investigation. So long as what he was doing was providing a clear benefit for Arachnos, Daniel figured they'd leave him alone.

He didn't dwell on the notion on this day, though. He had to prepare his assault. Already, he knew the salesmen, ambitious thugs from the Frosts and Marcones, were securing the warehouse so they would be safe when they sold the doomsday weapon to whoever the buyers were. With any luck, Taylor would be subduing representatives from the Nemesis Army, Council, Malta Group... It could be anybody.

He scoped the warehouse all day. The locals avoided it, even the punk kids who usually got into anywhere adults weren't. There was nothing supernatural about that. With Daniel's scanners, he was able to determine that there was quite a bit of noise being generated by the moving bodies inside. Though the most daring kids would probably try to peek, there was a good chance that the doors were securely fastened and any other holes were plugged by heavy objects or welded shut. For a deal like this, it would make sense if the salesmen were particularly paranoid.

Night fell and Daniel kept his stakeout. Something felt odd about the situation. Nobody was showing up and the windows weren't lighting up. He didn't figure his quarry had access to night vision goggles, but since they were able to steal a nuclear weapon, perhaps it wasn't too far-fetched to believe that they had access to military equipment. Daniel mentally altered his plans with that thought. Hopefully, they didn't have a suit of powered armor, though he still felt the Pentagon was keeping that technology in the D.C. area in case the violence in Paragon and the Isles spilled in their direction.

As midnight approached, Daniel figured it was time to act. His cameras indicated nobody had come to or from the warehouse, and the thermographics were still clearly indicating people in the building.

He carefully climbed onto the roof and made his way to the windows as quietly as possible. He could see that there were clusters of Family members dotted throughout the building, possibly itching for a fight. Audio wasn't picking up anything, though.

He reached the window and eased it open. There was a slight creak, but he didn't seem to disturb any of the groups. Gripping one of the suspension cables, he climbed down to the catwalk and started scanning with night vision.

The lights came on suddenly and the night vision cut out, switching to normal instead of blinding Daniel. He looked about and checked the locations of the Family members waiting in ambush, only to find that it wasn't the Family.

It was still an ambush, though.

Arachnos soldiers, Wolf Spiders, mostly, but a few Crabs mixed among them, too, turned and sighted in their weapons on him. Daniel took note of how some of them wavered. Rookies mostly, but there were a lot of them.

"Are you surprised?" he heard a loud, gutteral voice call out, "Arbiter Taylor?"

He turned to the center of the warehouse. Standing there proudly, like he was some sort of diabolical genius, was Operative Fulkerson, the man he'd shot repeatedly in Warburg on that fateful mission that had cost him his Arbiter status. The man who had dove into an obvious trap, and probably would have had irrevocable personal injury if Daniel hadn't sent him to the infirmary so violently.

Though he couldn't deny that he enjoyed blasting a hole in the thug's chest.

"On your rotting corpse," the big man hollered triumphantly, "I'll ride my way to success!"

Daniel nodded, unslung his assault rifle and started firing at the nearest group of Wolf Spiders. Several fell, bleeding, and died. They didn't teleport away or anything.

The safeties were off. It was do or die time. Daniel had to kill every man in the building or it was all over.

He figured he'd save Fulkerson for last.

New Hero ATs on the horizon?

I'm hoping for PPD. I would love to see them make a hardcore comeback as Player Characters. Maybe they could serve as a highlight for things actually getting better in the world (you know, at first).

Perhaps that rumored Blood of the Black Stream, too. There are only a few references to it in-game. One character in a Port Oakes mission yells at you about the oil that spilled out of the tanker in that zone, but nobody you're dealing with at the time has any clue about it; later arcs are delivered by self-absorbed blowhards, so you never go back to Port Oakes to investigate.

Hm... Let's see... What else could we do?

Perhaps members of each individual group. I know I'd like to give being a Vanguard Ranger a shot. Maybe even a Consigliere for the Frost Family.

Oh, and I would LOVE to be a Tsoo Ink Man. Scrapper powers mixed with controller secondaries? Hellz-yes!

The one thing I like about the Epics, though, is that they give you a little more insight as to the story that's happening. Even though the Redside Epic Archetype arc is so short, and it's broken up all across the level range (whereas the Kheldian arc is a long story, spanning several arcs), it still gives you an idea of just how volatile things are in Arachnos.

So... Those are my forty-five cents... Make of it what you will.

Malaise.

I think it will be Malaise.

I hope Cortex remains... I rather like him as a character...

Even if he is just a psychic zombie...