It wasn’t that she didn’t trust him.  He had proven himself an able Captain, and even a friend to her since she’d signed onto the eorman’s crew. But she had a nagging question running through her mind.  Why didn’t he tell me?,  she thought.

“Got somethin’, on your mind Tayli?” he said.  She’d never quite understood his need to go by informal names, ‘a eorman thing’ was all he’d said when she asked him about it, but after awhile she’d grown used to it.

“Yes, Captain, I-uh,” she wasn’t exactly sure how to put this.  She didn’t want to anger or insult him, it wasn’t her nature, but she couldn’t quite come up with words to express it that didn’t sound accusatory.

“Spit it out, chère,” Lafitte said with a smirk and a slight chuckle.

Tayliana sighed, putain de l‘enfer, she thought, using one of Lafitte’s own expressions she’d picked up over time. She sighed again and decided to just follow his advice. “Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked, just stating the question point-blank.

“Tell you what?” he asked in return.

“About the card, why didn’t you warn me about what you were doing? I know you needed information, but–” and she broke off her words mid-sentence, if he was going to blow up now would’ve been when he’d do it.

“Listen,” Lafitte said, holding up a hand, and reaching in his pocket, pulling out his cigarette supplies. “Listen, I’m sorry for what I did, it wasn’t fair to you, but I needed a genuine reaction. When I first picked up the card, I had no idea what it did or what its effects were.  I needed you to do the same,” Lafitte said as he lit up. “You were never in any real danger though, if I do say so myself. Had it done anything overly negative, I’d’ve destroyed it then and there. Further I brought along Beau, and although we were outnumbered, the guy’s an assassin, from a very powerful Crime Syndicate where I’m from. Believe me when I say you had the best protection in Kledy that night,” Lafitte said with a sort of wry smile, but there was something tugging just at the edges of it.

The Winddancer nodded at his words, though she noted with some curiosity a bit of fear when he spoke of his own First Mate. Weird, that, she thought.  Still, at least she had her answer, and she did trust the Captain enough that she believed  he would’ve stopped that infernal playing card before anything untoward had happened to her. Then again, I trusted my parents too, she couldn’t help but think bitterly in the back of her mind.  A depressing pang hit her in the gut at the thought, but there it was. She didn’t want it but she couldn’t avoid it. Holding back an itch for a tear she decided the best course of action was to simply not repeat that mistake to her current employer.

“Thank you Captain, I hope you’ll pardon me on this matter,” she said with a bow. “Think nothing of it Tayli,” Lafitte said, reaching over a hand on her arm. “I owed you an explanation anyway.  It is you who I beg to pardon me,” he said. “Anything else I can do for you?”

She smiled.  Now that was something her parents had never said to her. “No, thank you Captain, I should get back to my post,” she said, bowing once again, though she was a bit annoyed at the nervous habit among her superiors.

“Don’t worry so much, fille…” she heard Lafitte say as she exited his quarters to the smells of the salty seas, and the sounds of the Calinda in action. The sounds of her home.

Lafitte merely nodded along to the finer points of the plan, eating the breakfast provided by the Selkies, like Peino, he de-boned and then skewered his fish between two pieces of orange. At the implication that Peino was curious about his background, Lafitte smirked, he’d gotten that request a lot in Aeldreth since his rather odd arrival in the place. He didn’t quite understand the physics of it all, but he had a rough idea of what happened that he might one day share with the royal elf.

For now though, Peino was right, business needed to be attended to, he made a mental note of the route to be taken by the Daughter, and filed it away to be relayed to Larman Ogges, and eventually to the helmsman. After a little small talk, mostly involving comparisons of the two sea-captains’ management styles, the bells signaling Peino went off.

“Of course,” Lafitte said when he was invited to drink another cup, though this time opting to try some of the fellow captain’s Coffee. Taking a sip of the bitter brew, he found that Peino too preferred his strong, a trait to which Lafitte approved. The two then left the room and headed back down to the boarding plank extending to the pier at the port of Kledy. “And a good wind to you, au revoir, mon ami,” he said upon his descent.

Not long afterwards, he was back upon his own ship, his crew retrieving the lines that tethered the Calinda. “Tell Tayli to begin conjuring us a wind,“ he directed to Beau Bergeron, “And keep us on the tail of the Daughter as much as you can,” Lafitte said to Larman Ogges as he relayed the route they were to take in pursuit of the vessel. He held no illusions or desire to beat the vessel, his ship was for flanking, shock, and awe, not necessarily speed on the high seas. But, Peino doesn’t know that, Lafitte thought chuckling to himself, let’s keep him on his toes…

But that was all in the past, Lafitte’s tastes had indeed acclimatized to the local Elven cuisine, and he’d now made the first start towards acclimatizing to Peino Starhand. The future was what he was interested in, and Lafitte had never been much for politicking, unlike his First Mate, and Lafitte briefly wondered how a lowly assassin obtained skills in that regard. No matter, he thought, “What I’ve come to you today with, in addition to the embarrassment of my manner, is that I would not like to make the same mistake to your brother as I have made unto you. That is, I’d deign not to barge in uninvited, and virtually unknown,” he said, as he cut into the roasted orange.

“However, it seems impracticable for myself and my crew to go off on another privateering patrol with a limited time frame,” he finished. Peino had made the offer of allowing the Calinda to accompany him in his own trip towards his brother’s keep, and without directly saying it, Lafitte was hoping to take him up on the offer. He didn’t relish having to once again go on a raid, only to return again immediately to port, at the very least a direct trip would save him the trouble of committing to an ultimately pointless venture against another vessel.

“Captain, message for yer’”, Larman Ogges said to him when he’d emerged from the Captain’s quarters of the Calinda. Not unexpected, he thought, and the six bells didn’t surprise him either, probably sleeps in, the pampered git, he thought. “Well, fortunately our dear worshipfulness’ lazy sleeping patterns give me time to pay for the requisitioned ammunition and supplies to be brought on board. I trust we didn’t sustain any major damage that needed to be repaired, eh, Mr. Ogges?” he replied.

“No, Cap’n, just some minor burns and that sail, but we’re taken care of,” Ogges said, and after a tour of the replaced wood,  his ship preferring a more natural lacquered finish than actual paint, and a look at his new sails, the triangular design being a bit rarer than most others,  along with a trip to the cargo hold to make sure everything was accounted for, he decided it was time to leave, “Well, I’d best be off, tell the ship repairmen that I’m pleased with their work, and may patron again in the future,” he said, to which Ogges simply nodded as he took the golden coins and trotted off.

He wouldn’t be taking any of his crew with him this time around, figuring that it would be improper and an infringement on the man’s sensibilities. It would show a lack of trust on Lafitte’s part. He would, however, be going in armed, similarly in Maurepas, a removal of a man’s weapons was an infringement on his sense of trust.

It was forty five past five by the time he’d arrived at the dock where the Daughter was currently moored. The sun was beginning to illuminate the overcast skies in the port of Kledy. Suggesting a storm may be brewing in the near future. Must be the rainy season, he thought, though being that his own country it rained most days out of the year, all year, it could be that this place was merely similar. He had never quite gotten the weather patterns native to Aeldreth since his arrival.

He was greeted by a very gruff looking elf when he approached the boarding plank of the white seafaring vessel. It was sleek and well built, it’s blue tinged lines and paneling stretching over her with a grace appreciated even by the standard of one who’d spent his time aboard ships which worked on wind-power alone.  “Captain Starhand is expecting you, he’ll be waiting on board the castle deck,” the gruff elf said, to which Lafitte merely nodded and bowed, passing by a dock worker as he made his way on board…

“Do you think it wise to leave the card in their possession, patron?” Beau said from behind him. “If it were up to me we wouldn’t have gone near it at all,  and we’re going after more of them!? What are you doing with something like that Captain?!” Tayliana called out immediately in response. “Enough, you two. First, yes, I do believe it is wise, the elf obviously feels the same way about them that I do, besides I had to prove I wasn’t attracted to them as the Spriggans were.” Lafitte answered as they turned the corner and headed down the street back to the harbour.

“You felt the same way, didn’t you Tayli? It was stronger wasn’t it? That was why I brought you, I’m sorry I did it, but I had to know. They’re there to attract wizards, the cards that is.” Lafitte said, as Larman Ogges was descending the ramp from the Calinda towards him. “Bit of a disturbance with the fuddy-duddy’s at the pub, eh Cap’n?” Ogges said, “Word travels quick when the royals be involved,” he said with a wink at Lafitte’s raised eyebrow.

“Yes, well, it certainly didn’t go as smoothly as I had hoped, but it was enjoyable,” Lafitte replied with a smirk, as he turned to go to his quarters. “Patron,” he heard as he felt a tap on his shoulder, “a word?” Beau said as Lafitte turned to see him, “Of course, d’ami, what is it?” Lafitte replied.

“May I make a suggestion?” Beau asked, and Lafitte nodded, “We didn’t make a good impression upon the Daughter’s crew, did we? That may not have been the wisest of ideas, I know you hate the blue-bloods, but I know them. I know what they’re like,” Beau said, and he pulled down the collar of his shirt to reveal the Fleur-de-Lys tattooed to his neck. “And if there’s one thing I’ve learned, they can both open many doors otherwise shut, or become an enemy dangerous enough to keep them closed. Trust me, patron, if someone with “Prince” in front of their name points to everyone on the Calinda and says “arrest them,” there’s going to be either arrests or a fight and then arrests.” Beau concluded.

Lafitte nodded, his First Mate had a point, as he often did in matters of subtlety, Lafitte had no desire to have the powers-that-be wage an undying crusade against him due to not liking his tact. “Once again, d’ami, you show me why I hired you onto my crew. Very well then, what would you suggest we do to make amends?” he asked. “Meet the Prince for breakfast on the morrow, show him you are willing to show him the proper respect, and take him up on his initial offer to head with him to The Grand Navigators, and with any luck the man’s brother will be more willing to light our way.” Beau said, smiling as he outlined his plan.

Lafitte once again inclined his head, he didn’t like it, it’d taste like piss and vinegar to grovel to the elf for no other reason than his title. Still, he couldn’t avoid it, the former Guildsman had a point, if they were going to embark on a quest for the cards, it would be better to have the Prince working with them, rather than against them,  “Alright, alright, I won’t like it, but, c’est la vie,” Lafitte replied, turning back to walk towards the Larman, “Mr. Ogges, detail an invitation to our dear Prince, tell him that I invite him to meet me for a little breakfast before we shove off tomorrow, to make amends for my behaviour.” Lafitte said. “There, it is done. If this blows up in my face, it’s your head,” he said to Beau with mock ferocity as he rolled and lit a cigarette…

“Your brother, huh?”, Lafitte said as he thought the matter over.  Peino seemed to be at odds with himself, at least to Lafitte’s judgment. He fidgeted and spoke hesitantly, quite out of character from what the Maurepasan had seen thus far, in comparison to the confident and haughty man he’d been before hand. Normally people rise to the bait, he thought, in reference to the cards on the table.

Lafitte took a swig of his drink as he contemplated his position, “Well, for myself I offer my rescue of your ship as my credentials,” he continued.  Peino would likely take issue with his taking of credit in that regard, but the point was true regardless, that he had been an ally thus far. “As well, I have a vested interest in seeing the things caught and destroyed, my ship and crew regularly comes into violent contact with the competition in that regard,” offering a bit of a smirk at the choice of words.

“It would seem to me that this is an urgent priority if there are many more of them, and they all possess abilities comparable to that of the cards in your possession. Fact is, you’re in a tight spot with a prior engagement, and who else is equipped to do the dirty work here?” Lafitte finished.  There was a possibility that this State Magus did have the resources for it, but Lafitte doubted it would be ready and available as quickly as he and his ship were.

“At any rate, the Calinda is similarly scheduled, and if you wish to reconvene at such time, I’d be happy to acquiesce to such a request,” Lafitte said, idly, rolling another cigarette, and pondering the purchase of another blend in the near future…

Did she see the same vision as me?, he thought, there was no doubt in his mind that whatever she experienced would have to have been more visceral than Lafitte’s.  His First Mate’s concerns of more of the cards ending up in the hands of the Spriggans continued to plague him. Images of his own devising came clearly to his mind, images of the creatures, or those like it or worse, crushing his ship and bringing him and his crew with it to their deaths like a boulder in the ocean.

Lafitte drank from his mead as much to steady himself as anything enjoyable about the drink, which, truth be told wasn’t much, not to his tastes anyway. Lafitte then looked up to his Lookout, he hadn’t ordered the man into the bar, but then, he hadn’t necessarily ordered his crew away neither. So it was with a mental shrug that he noted the man’s presence, and a subtle smile in response to the seeming awkwardity of their conversation.

In Maurepas, Lafitte wasn’t exactly known for his manners, yet, neither was he known for a particular rudeness either. Manners weren’t generally prized among pirates and thieves,  that was the domain of the gentry — effectively the Plantation Owners and Guilds Bosses. He’d never had much use for them, or their particular niceties, but he was a smart enough man to know when his crewman was being offered an informal drink, and he was responding to it incorrectly.

Lafitte took the bottle from the table and poured a small amount into a glass and offered it to Tayliana, he’d never seen her drink before, but he knew something spooked her, “If you need it,” he said as he passed her the glass. She merely nodded with that scared-nauseated look on her face, but Lafitte didn’t pay any mind to whether she drank it. Instead he decided to break the tension of his lookout.

“Farseer, good of you to join us,” he said. “And, Captain,” he continued, with a slight pause for effect, “my First Mate here brings up a good point, those cards were in the hands of the Spriggans, an organization I’m required to protect shipping against.”

“If there are more of them, I’d sooner gather them up myself than face more of those creatures on the high seas. If you have any information with regards to any of their whereabouts it would be greatly appreciated, and I’d be happy to bring them to your stead to see them destroyed, if you so desired?” Lafitte said, with another swig of his drink.

“Well, friendly bunch, ain’t ya?” he said, a slight raise of his hand signaling the assassin beside him to stand down. Beau seemed to fidget a fraction, but otherwise obeyed. Lafitte wasn’t sure he’d bet on the man at such long odds, but he’d also learned long ago never to underestimate a trained Guilds assassin.

Taking a moment to glance what he hoped was a reassuring look to Tayliana, he continued, “My intention was not rudeness, I assure you, but pragmatism I‘d had in mind. I merely assumed that you wouldn’t wish to make a spectacle of its arrival…” Lafitte then took a measure of the room around him, a good six of them had their blades drawn on them, and he could just make out the guards waiting for orders not far away, “…but it would appear I’m incorrect in that assumption,” he said with something that was halfway between a friendly smile and an amused sneer.

Lafitte took a drag on his cigarette, and pulled the card fully out of his pocket, throwing it on the table. “Here, you can take the damned thing, it’s revolting to me,” he said. “I’ll have you know, there’s something evil about it, and I’d sooner see it destroyed.” Lafitte briefly saw Beau’s eyes go wide and his mouth go agape at that statement, but there wasn’t time to ponder on it, and he merely raised an eyebrow at the assassin.

He did pause for a moment at the lack of energies pulsating from the paper card.  Like the Dragon, it seemed to consider the scene around it too much of a danger to radiate its presence. For such a repository of raw power, it seemed to be a cowardly thing. No matter, he thought.

“I sought you out, my liege,” putting emphasis on the final words for effect, along with as much of an exaggerated bow as one could do with just the head and with a sword to the throat, “because you would seem to be the foremost authority within reach on them, and being that they appear to be a bit of a set, I’d sooner not see more of them fall into the hands of the Spriggans, it being my current occupation to protect the seas from their wretched lot.” Lafitte then very casually and very meticulously took a long drag on the cigarette, and put it out beneath his boot heel.

Being a man of the law, or at least as much as his reputation would suggest, Lafitte figured Peino wouldn’t be the type to slit his throat then and there. At the very least he’d get the option of a duel, Lafitte would guess, but one couldn’t ever be too sure.  Blue bloods were a touchy bunch…

Finally, Lotye O’Tulvar had transported her complete belongings, all of which were in this cart, onto the pier. With a swift movement, she climbed on the coach box and began to slowly manoeuvre through the crowded streets, following the group of similar vehicles which had been on the ferry with her. The colourfully painted covers of some of the wagons didn’t make much of a sensation as the city was already full of people like them. But from her heightened position, Lotye was able to overhear more than one person to curse the carriages, which were a rarity in Sesus, blocking all of the road. They drove over a few bridges and a along a number of canals before they reached the free spot assigned to them to do their business. Business that meant getting a bit of money for some impressive circus arts for some of them, and relieving the audience of a few more coins in more subtle ways for others.

Lotye’s business was the latter. They’re having this feast for three gods, but I’m sure nobody will mind if I add my worship for a fourth one to it. After all, it is just another trade. I hope for a good prize, Pwyll. She definitely wasn’t the only one to think so. Of course there were Guardians representing the opposite aspect of the same god on every street corner, but there also were many of her kind, followers of Pwyll who walked the more shadowy path of his worship. Sesus was full of people enjoying the spectacles of the feast. And where there were lots of people, more so, people with full purses, there also were criminals to take the weight of these heavy purses of their shoulders.

After she had parked the carriage in the shadow of some building and had given the old nag some fresh hay, Lotye disappeared under the cover of her cart. There, next to her personal belongings and to the straw mattress and blankets she used as a bed, she had the items she sold. Most of them articles of daily use, like cheap daggers, brooms, frying pans, tools and even a few pens. Day after day, she would give those things fancy names that hinted at the magical qualities they were supposed to have and the she sold them gullible souls who thought to make the deal of their lives. In a small box she also had a few vials full of colourful, but completely useless liquids and behind that box she hid a few select, more valuable items. More valuable in this case meant that they were of better quality and prettier to look at, but still completely absent magical properties. In this corner of her stuffed little mobile home she also had the small leather pouch which contained most of her money.

But before it was time to get to the business of making profit out of someone’s greed and willingness to believe this woman with the beautiful face who claimed to be a trained wizard and experienced enchanter, Lotye would take a look at the city. It was her first time to see the seemingly floating royal city and other than her nameless horse, she liked it. And while she’d already be at it, she could just as well use the time to increase her meagre profit by finding coins. Not coins lying on the street, but coins in someone’s wallet. The difference wasn’t all that big to her. Before she moved out, Lotye changed the practical clothes she had worn for the journey oversea for a more elegant midnight blue dress she always put on for dealing with her customers. It was a bit too long for her and patched up in more than just one spot, but on a first glance it would help her to blend in better with the rest of well clothed crowd. Additionally she combed her long, brown hair, which was of a brilliant reddish tint, and braided it. Prepared like this, she left the cart, asked a juggler practising his tricks nearby and gaining first attention to have an eye on it and then mixed under the people walking by.

But there still was one thing that differentiated her from the men and women around her. Nearly all of them were wearing masks. Some of them hiding their faces behind elaborate works of art, some with masks that just covered the upper half of their faces. But there were only few people without one. Even most foreigners like her were wearing them. It made her stand out to be without one. Lotye gritted her teeth for having to spend money on something like that, but stealing a mask seemed out of question and she quietened herself with the thought that being under a mask could actually help concealing her grifts. So, as she spotted the next market stall carrying half-way cheap masks, she bought as simple one, in a dark tone similar to her dress which contrasted strongly with the skin of her cheeks that it left uncovered.

Concealed this way, she returned to the colourful ado of the festival. It’s time to lift some purses. There were many persons who looked like promising targets to her, but she continued watching. She didn’t want to risk too much, so she waited for some proof that the reward was worth the risk. While she was on lookout for an easy target, she strolled around and admired the wonders of the city as well as its inhabitants. Of course, being who she was, she also couldn’t help but notice the green and gold coats of the Guardians wherever they stood.

It took her some time, mostly because she was cautious, but also because her eyes followed the elegant arches and the graceful lines of the towers that marked the architecture of Sesus just as often as they followed they fat purses hanging from some people’s belts. But finally she saw a chance for her. It was in a less populated side street, where she spotted two men negotiating something over a table. When she saw one of them counting gold coins on the table, she knew that her chance had come. Something small was exchanged between the two men, she couldn’t tell what it was exactly, but it had to be valuable, jewellery perhaps or some magic items. The discreetness with which the deal passed off probably meant that it also was less than completely legal, which meant for her that a victim was less likely to go to the Guardians. Everything fitted.

Her first instinct was to go after the seller. But while she was approaching the two men who were now departing in opposite directions, a group of chattering women in wide dresses walked in between and broke her line of sight. When they had moved by, the seller had long slipped into some alley and was nowhere to be seen. But the buyer was now moving directly towards Lotye. I guess there will be some more of these coins where those came from. Whatever he bought is probably also worth it, she thought to herself. Without stopping for even the shortest moment, she continued her way, as if she had taken no interest in the man at all. The way was narrow at this point, both sides of the street crowded with small stalls selling snacks and other things. When their ways crossed and they walked so close together that the cloth of his cloak and the one of her dress touched, nobody would have taken any notice of it. They were just two normal people walking down the street in opposite directions and trying not to make any problems by shuffling past each other.

What really happened was something different. Lotye had planned her route carefully to lead her close to him in exactly this position. By the way the man looked right past her, she could tell that he hadn’t noticed her yet. She slowed down her steps as he walked by only a few inches to the side. Her breath slowed down as well. Carefully she reached out with her left hand as he was right next to her and navigated it under his cloak. Her fingers took hold of something, a bulging leather wallet. In a fracture of a second, she unfastened the buckle that connected the wallet to his belt, grabbed it and pulled it towards her. But acting under pressure, she had moved a little bit too fast. Her hand brushed the side of his hip as she pulled back. He would notice the touch and wondering about that, he would just as soon notice the missing wallet. Lotye tried to stay calm. The most prudent thing to do was to simply walk on. That was exactly what she did now, while the purse disappeared into a fold of her dress. She didn’t look back, knowing that in a matter of seconds, her victim would turn around and look for someone acting conspicuously. She walked on, slipped by a few groups of people and through a few alley and arches, out to a more open, crowded place of the city, were she felt safe again.

The wallet rested in a pocket close to her leg. It seemed to pulsate, to emit some strange warmth, but Lotye didn’t notice it consciously. She would stay around for a bit longer, exploring the city and looking for one or two more victims. Then she’d return to the place the circus camped at. Back in her wagon, she’d take a look at her prize.

In the captain’s cabin, just below the castle deck where the groaning of the rudder cables reverberated loudly, Peino and First Mate Tahain o’th’Farwind sat facing each other over the chart table, filling out their logs for the day.  The galley sent up the captain’s afternoon coffee and the mate’s tea, along with some savory crab crackers, and the tall selkie and the lanky, red-haired faerie, wrote in comfortable silence as had become their habit after long years of sailing and working together.  Their small clay pipes filled the cabin with a scent tinged with herbs and brine, and the sounds of the ship and the rushing ocean made, for them, relaxing music.  The drastic rising and falling of the Daughter over the waves seemed hardly felt but for the occasional pause of their pens over their books and a hint of care in the setting down of their porcelain cups after taking a sip of their respective restoratives.

Tahain stood to light the lantern as the changing angle of the sun cast the cabin in shadow.  A knock came at the door.

“Enter,” said Peino, and a lad stuck in his head.

“Mistress Watersinger’s compliments, sir,” the boy began hurriedly, “she begs you to come at once. The ship is–”

A sudden, crashing lurch threw the boy back out of the cabin and both Tahain and Peino to the floor with a clatter of cups and pens and pipes.

“What did we hit?” cried Peino, scrambling to his feet.

“Felt like a whale,” said Tahain.

Another lurch and a harsh, grinding noise that shuddered through the length of the ship, with the explosive whip-crack snap of lines above, brought the mariners’ eyes to each other with dread.

“Are we aground?  Impossible,” Peino said, his eyes widening.  “Kraken!”

What other monster of the deeps would attack a ship moving fast or have the strength to yank the Daughter out of her flight?  But how had it gotten past the wizard’s wards?

Stepping out of his cabin, Peino pulled up the fallen boy and shoved him back against the cabin wall.  The main deck was a seeming chaos of crew running in response to loosed sails and wavering masts.  He saw the bo’sun in the midst of it all, shouting order after order.  The wizard, Nyora Watersinger, appeared before him, her face stricken.

“Captain, we’re under attack,” she cried breathlessly.  “I detected the aura shift, but it hit too fast.  I could not tell what it was nor whence it came. I–”  The caster fell back a step, casting a shocked look towards the rail.

Peino’s dark eyes blazed at the wizard, then at the rail, and up to the shaken masts and tangled rigging, his brain running rapidly through all the points before him.  He saw sailors running up the shrouds despite the shaking of the vessel.  He saw teams rapidly pulling in the disordered sails.  He saw other teams gathering at the rails with boat hooks and fenders, on both sides.

He pushed past Nyora Watersinger and went to the rail, with her and Tahain close on his heels.  Had that spriggan ship summoned a kraken to catch them?  Still, it should have been held off by Nyora’s spells. He looked down at the mass of tentacles that were raking and pulling at his ship as crewmen stabbed viciously at them with the long implements.  He beheld the greenish, gelatinous, almost translucent thing, studded all through with glowing reddish orbs, and his heart nearly stopped.

“Lyr’s Blood, what is that?” exclaimed Tahain beside him.

“It’s no kraken,” said Nyora Watersinger helplessly.

Peino barely heard them, for he knew exactly what it was.  An abomination.  An impossibility.  Frozen by the sight of a nightmare from another world, Peino was transported back to a place of darkness and terror, and a deep black river infested with these colorless, devouring beasts.  It rolled in the waves and opened more of its many maws, disgorging tentacle-like tendrils that snaked up the Daughter’s sides, its countless red eyes sparkling like cursed gems, and Peino remembered the ghostly shapes in the lightless waters.  He remembered the blows that opened the dam lock.  He heard again the screaming of alien beings echoing through infinite caverns.

Blood Larva.

A scream much closer to him broke his stunned memory.  A sailor writhed on the deck, clutching his face, covered in blood.  A loathsome tentacle waved above him, searching. Nyora Watersinger cast a bolt of aura, electrifying it with a blinding flash, and the horror withdrew.

“Don’t let it touch you!” Peino shouted to his crew.  “Tahain, Nyora, issue arms.  Burn it, freeze it, whatever, just get it off my ship.”

With quick nods, the two officers took off to make it happen, and Peino turned his attention to warning and organizing the crew engaged in battling a creature of which they had no experience.  Bows and quivers of arrows of lightning and ice were brought up from the armory.  The archers among the crew ascended the rigging to get clean shots down at the beast.  Without warning, the air around them was torn by a thundering barrage of spears that exploded in blue fire where they managed to hit.

“Piss and corruption, who dares?” demanded Peino, turning to see those square spriggan sails coming up fast upon them.  He grabbed a random sailor by the arm.  “Six men, aft ballistas, now!  Come!”

“Aye, sir!”

Ruili Windwolf raised his face towards a vista glimpsed only behind his closed eyes.

“How like unto a summer’s day, my love?  She walketh wreathed in all the world’s bright… ugh.”

Shaking his head in disgust at his own recitation, he bent once again over the pages on his desk, vehemently crossing out.  The pen then hovered again in contemplation as the Wolf creaked around him and light gray rain pattered across the lights of the captain’s quarters.  Ruili, with his long legs stretched under his desk, his dark flaxen hair knotted haphazardly at the back of his neck, leaned back in his chair and gazed at the rain with his dark eyes, watching and listening for inspiration.

The frigates Wolf and Pious Drake had been circling the Lyr Zone like painted horses on opposite sides of a carnival merry-go-round for seven days, dutifully hauling teams of scholars and scientists out to measure the winds and waters and other natural forces of that magical area.  Zone patrol was one of the dullest tasks of the Sovereign Navy of the Grand Navigators, and this particular run had been particularly dull.  Technically, an officer and lord of Windwolf’s rank didn’t have to do it, but Ruili had never been one to ask those under him to do what he would not, an ethic he applied to tedium as well as risk.

Besides, it gave him time to work on his new play.

Or it would, if Captain Goldenbard of the Pious Drake hadn’t taken to playing a game of distraction, by which he kept signaling the Wolf with such things as his luncheon menu for the day, and questions like “How goes it?” and “Is it written yet?” and even suggestions for the eventual cast.  As each message was addressed to Captain Windwolf, each message had to be delivered to Captain Windwolf, who knew all too well the smile that would be on Goldenbard’s face when he received the profane and obscene answers that would be returned by signal flags across the miles of open ocean.

So this cruise had gone for a week, and that wretched line was still not finished.

Yet another knock on the door brought a snarl from Ruili and a sharp, “What is it?”

The bridge watch stuck in his head.  “Lookout reports hag wind forming thirty degrees starboard, sir.”

“Oh, finally,” growled Ruili.  “I’m on my way.  Pass the word for the wizard and the first officer, if you would, and instruct the helm to make for the spot.  Also, signal the Drake the location and that we are investigating.”

“Aye, sir.”

It was the first weather sighting of the voyage, though it would likely lead to nothing.  Not every wind spawned a water spout, nor did every spout spawn a vortex.  Even rarer was it for a vortex to drop some treasure or dross or wayward soul into the seas of Aeldreth.  But the scholars would have their way and study the thing, whatever it proved to be, and the Wolf would carry them to their task.

He wiped the pen, securing it in its holder, and closed up his writing box.  Standing, he felt the ship lean into her turn under him, awakening with the sounds of lines and booms and the voices and running of the crew.  He pulled on his oilskin coat, fixed a tricorn upon his head, and headed up into the rain to see what the Vortex Zone might bring them this time.

This natural wind, generated from a storm faintly visible on the horizon, needed no enchanted knots cut to strengthen it, though, only a song to welcome it into the Daughter’s sails. The voice of the ship’s magic officer thrummed through the rigging and the clouds of canvas, the vast mainsails emblazoned with the blue and gold emblem of the House of Ereon, the silver pennants of the Grand Navigators fluttering above.  The sailor’s song called out a lively time for both the ship’s leaps over the waves and her crew’s well-honed team work in managing her at speed.  Her captain was pleased.  Another night of these conditions would see them clear of the Hammer and into the Arian Sea proper, thence a straight run north-northeast to Raurugia, the Serpent Straits, and the port of Sesus with time to spare.

Peino Starhand, master of The Marsh King’s Daughter, stood at ease on the castle deck, hands clasped behind his back.  The wind tore at the tight braid into which he’d woven his dark flaxen hair and pulled out long strands to whip about his face.  The skirts of his coat snapped about his knees as loudly as the shreds of a blown-out sail.  He had even handed off his tricorn hat to the safekeeping of the cabin boy stationed nearby.   He didn’t mind.  He balanced comfortably on the strong wind and the bounding deck, in his native habitat of a ship at sea and his usual position to the right of the helmsman.  The first officer stood to the helm’s left, the ship’s wizard was behind them, seated upon the stern rail as she sang her spell to a jaunty jig upon a concertina.  From his vantage, Peino could view the length of the Daughter’s decks where the crew, whether working the lines, or bent upon one of the hundred daily tasks of life at sea, or larking about at liberty, picked up the song and carried it forward with the wind that carried them all.  Above spread the sails and the white wings of sea birds riding along, and all about were rainbows conjured from the magic of sun and sea spray and the iridescence of the Daughter’s serpent-scaled sides.

A loud whistle from the lookout above and a shout of “Sail to starboard!” brought Peino’s attention sharply around.  His dark eyes narrowed as he scanned the horizon till he found the tiny square patch hovering above the horizon.  A galleon by the shape, beating up hard on the gale by the rate at which the little object grew as he watched it.  A galleon, yes, but whose?

Peino took the spyglass from his pocket, snapped it open with a flick of his wrist, and raised it to his eye, focusing on the distant ship that bobbed crazily in the tight field of the glass’s lens.  First officer Tahain o’th’Farwind did the same, coming round to the captain’s side of the castle.

“Spriggan,” he said flatly as the details of the oncoming ship became visible.

Peino nodded.  “It’ll be the Brethren come to bid us the day.”

The Spriggan Brethren laid claim to the whole of the Arian sea as their hunting ground, just as their counterparts, the Spriggan League, claimed the Sea of Lyr on the other side of the world.  They were especially bothersome in the southern latitudes close to their strongholds within the lawless realm of Caillun of the southern pole.  The selkies of Lyrion and the Navigators, however, gave little heed to the claims of spriggan pirates.  Never had, never would, till the day a spriggan chose to boast of being outdone by a selkie.

“Fools,” commented Tahain.  “Do they think they’ll catch us in that laundry tub?”

Peino grinned at the thought, but at the same time he thought of what they carried on this voyage — a great value of Arian silks and spices and, more to the point, a diplomatic chest from the Glimmering Throne of Aria to the Floating Throne of Lyrion.

For years, the faerie High Queen of the air realm, Aria, and the merrow High King of Lyrion, the realm of water, had struggled to resolve a raft of age-old disputes.  This latest round of diplomacy had led to new agreements signed and the exchange of royal gifts, with the Dukedom of the Grand Navigators, second sovereign power in the water realm, acting as neutral go-between.  It went against Peino’s instincts to let a pirate go unchallenged, but…

“Sadly, we’ve no time for games,” he said, shutting up the spyglass.  “Put him back behind the horizon, Tahain, if you please.”

“Aye, sir.”

Peino’s eyes lingered on the far away ship as Tahain shouted the orders that would coax yet more speed from the Daughter. But they lingered only for a moment before he returned to his comfortable stance, hands clasped, beside the helm.

*EDIT* Now enjoy with all the new fancy images!

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Fallout 3
Release Date: October 28, 2008
Systems: PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
Developer: Bethesda Game Studios
Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
Genre: First-/Third-Person Action Role-playing Game
ESRB Rating: Mature
Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, Use of Drugs
Version Reviewed: Xbox 360

Intro:

The Fallout series has been around for over a decade, offering four games that remain close to the hearts of many PC gamers. Interplay’s Black Isle Studio developed the original Fallout, which garnered critical acclaim and received no reviews to speak of under an 8 (out of 10). Black Isle also created Fallout 2, which was as solid a game, despite critics noting certain issues that weren’t fixed from the first installment.

The Fallout reigns were then turned over to Micro Forte for Fallout: Tactics, a tactical combat-style game where the player controls a party and attacks by clicking on your target. The departure from role-playing gameplay was a letdown to many Fallout fans and the blow was worsened when Interplay closed Black Isle Studios two years after Tactics’ release. Development of Fallout 3 ceased, and instead, Interplay released Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel in 2004, a lack-luster action role-playing game and the series’ first venture onto consoles.

War... War never changes.

With the dismal offerings since Fallout 2, fans wanted a return to greatness and Interplay’s decision to sell the intellectual property to Bethesda was an exciting event for the future of Fallout. The deal still gives Interplay the rights to develop and publish a Fallout massively-multiplayer online game.

Bethesda Softworks, known for their critically acclaimed and commercially successful Elder Scrolls series, took over the franchise and made Fallout 3 into a game that appeals to Elder Scrolls and Fallout fans alike. With the added support of Bethesda fans, Fallout 3 has outsold its predecessors and became one of the best-selling games of 2008.

Gameplay:

The most popular description of Fallout 3 is “Oblivion with guns.” It’s true that if you’ve played either of the latest entries in the Elder Scrolls series, surviving in the Wasteland will come as second nature. A short time after you leave Vault 101, however, the similarities will help the player discover the subtle differences that make Fallout 3 its own game, not just “Oblivion with guns.”

For those who haven’t played the last two Elder Scrolls games, Fallout 3 offers a rich and deep (but manageable) RPG, continuing the series’ tradition. Two out-dated aspects of Fallout 1 and 2’s core-gameplay were abandoned for the third.

The isometric camera, positioned at roughly, a 45-degree angle from the landscape give way to a more modern first-/third-person controllable camera. The turn-based combat system, where players battled one side at a time, was also replaced with real-time combat, accentuated with a targeting system. The action’s change of pace is something both veterans and newcomers to the Fallout series will notice and appreciate.

You control the “Lone Wanderer,” who you may name as you see fit. Character creation and your initial stat attribution take place in a Vault, like in Fallout 1. Facial features are changed by sliders and offer a wide variety of options. Your father will share many of the features you choose, which is a great touch. Instead of the usual, nonchalant creation screens in the Elder Scrolls games, Fallout 3 attempts to work the essential creation steps in discretely. Bethesda even gave a nod to their efforts by interrupting their usual formula, completely skipping over the “Class” section. Tutorials on how to play, like shooting, are worked in more seamlessly than in Elder Scrolls games.

The story progresses quickly giving you an hour of playtime to warm up before you’re set loose in the Wasteland in search for your AWOL father. The game can be played in either first-person or an adjustable third-person, from close, over-the-shoulder to a very distant, directly behind view. Both viewpoints work to increase the action and make Fallout 3 stand out from its predecessors.

The Wasteland is teeming with life... err... unlife.

Once you set foot on the dust and gravel, you begin making choices that affect everything from how you are favored by non-player characters to which quests and companions are available. The beauty in that moment is you can pick up your father’s trail from the nearby town of Megaton, or you can set out on your own, completely ignoring the main story until it intersects with your wandering or you run out of things to do. This means you can easily play 100 hours before you even touch the main story again.

Gunplay is a standout for the game due to the Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System (V.A.T.S.). Entering V.A.T.S. mode takes a press of a button and pauses the action so the player may choose which area of their target to shoot at. Your chance of hitting is shown in a percentage and the amount of damage each limb, torso, appendage, etc. will take is shown in a health bar bottom-center of the screen.

This aspect of the gameplay adds strategy to each encounter and is immensely rewarding despite the slowdown in action. “Twitch aiming” is fairly imprecise and clumsy, but does work well in a pinch. V.A.T.S. adds so much to the game even for thrown items, melee weapons and hand-to-hand combat. The lack of precision for free-aiming is a shortcoming which can easily be overlooked, especially when your bullets decapitate enemies, leaving flecks of blood on your screen.

Leveling works intuitively and the perks add so much variety that things will still feel fresh on your second or third play through. Decide early on which skills you would like to excel in and level the rest accordingly. The perks compliment several different styles (Good, Evil, Gun combat, Melee, Sneaky, etc) so choosing each will result in an enjoyable difference in play.

Companions are another excellent and welcome addition to your journey. They provide company in the desolate geography, an added gun (or set of fangs) in combat, and extra storage capacity when hauling your loot to a trader for caps. They can also be a frustration when they die, so if you want to keep them alive and still make sufficient progress, save often.

Opposition in the Wastes can seem limited as you blow through groups of mercenaries, raiders, Super Mutants, and various mutated animals. Many will find that the gameplay makes up for this, especially when the player observes the limited means of survival post-apocalyptic America offers.

Several unique items are scattered across the Wastes and finding them is as rewarding as any other part of Fallout 3. Each building becomes an opportunity for extra skill points, currency, unique weapons, parts for constructable weapons, Easter Eggs, and new side quests. Immersion is seamless and you find yourself so lost in “scaving” that it becomes as much a part of the game as finding your father.

Gameplay Score: 9.4/10

Story:

On October 23, 2077, America entered into “The Great War” with Communist China, which lasted a few hours and left much of the world devastated. 200 years later, ancestors of survivors populate the Maryland/Virginia D.C. area. It is known as the Capital Wasteland and is littered with Vault-Tec Vaults.

Radiation still permeates the landscape which is little more than brown dust, gray rock, and charred wood. A few areas have been settled to the northwest of the D.C. ruins. Just up the Potomac River rests Vault 101 where the game’s hero was raised.

The main story focuses on your interactions with your father, James, his work on Project Purity, and the resulting interference from the Enclave, a self-proclaimed government. The majority of the action contained in the main story takes place in the D.C. ruins, a hive-like area of rubble and crumbling architecture. Many of real-life D.C.’s landmarks are present, though their relative positions are scaled to fit into a traversable game-world.

The characters are believable, but suffer from similar issues NPCs did in Oblivion. They begin to seem like the same characters with indistinguishable characteristics, but the mission-important characters provide excellent, believable performances.

The main story missions provide excellent opportunities for the developers to showcase their writing and creative abilities. Some of the best moments are when an opposing faction invades the Wastes. Before a player gets to this point though, one event or another will likely cause them to stray and the more important story shows itself.

The inaugural Super Mutant Congress is now in session.

With all of the choices, karma, skills, and perks in Fallout 3, you write your own story. If you choose to scavenge ruins and search every location on the map, the game was developed to keep those types of players interested even as the Wasteland becomes familiar. It’s hard not to get lost in each interior, and ruins, caverns, and settlements begin to string together with each lock-pick, each gunfight, and each trade. The cycle resets and a new side-quest arrives to keep the player from the measly 15-hour main story.

Fallout 3 is so open-ended, it is difficult to imagine the game having limitations, but they are there. Eventually, the “Lone Wanderer” will have to trudge back to the main story and once you get to the end, well, that’s it. The game world ends and the player may not continue playing, but has to reload to their last Auto-Save. The best way to go about the game, it seems, is to get everything you can out of the game then beat the main story.

The Capital Wasteland and its trash-mouthed inhabitants are darkly bleak and brutal, meshing perfectly with the unsettling state that the former United States of America finds itself in. The future’s progress seems only mildly interrupted as the ingenuity of the survivors has pushed technology forward, but with a nostalgia for the style of the 1940s and 50s.

Story Score: 8.9/10

Controls:

Controls are completely customizable, which is great if you are alternating a game with Fallout 3 or are used to a certain button mapping. What makes up the button options in Fallout 3 are almost exactly the same as Oblivion with one exception: there is now V.A.T.S. instead of magic. This targeting system is very simple to use, though switching between targets and/or limbs sometimes causes slowdown, which causes frustrating moments where you lock on to the wrong person or appendage. It’s not a crisis, but a blemish all the same.

"And you're dead."

The Hot-Key option is a necessity that helps balance the slow-down created by use of V.A.T.S. Instead of going to your Pip-Boy to change your weapon or heal in the heat of battle, a quick (and fairly precise on 360) press will give you want you are craving as long as you’ve mapped it to a Key. The controls are responsive most of the time, though occasionally a press or flick will go unregistered; this seems to be a controller issue rather than the game itself.

Controls Score: 9.2/10

Graphics & Design:

The Havok physics engine returns from The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and performs better, on the whole, though it still often leads to entertaining results. As with Halo 3, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, and Left4Dead the Havok engine is an attractive part of Fallout 3. With each update from Oblivion through Fallout 3, the engine has become less a novelty and more of an integral part of the whole game. Previous versions Havok have left dead characters twitching, floating, or glitching frantically through a door.

The Gamebryo graphics engine also makes a return appearance from Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and there’s not much change to speak of. The lighting has always been spectacular with this engine and the ambient light on your weapon is stunning, even hours in. The rendering is free from models popping up, most of the time, and there are no tearing issues; visually, Fallout 3 is clean.

Though such a dreary landscape seems an unpleasant place to set a game, the Capital Wasteland is neither a deterrent nor a restriction. Though they’re not lush and fraught with shrubs, the Wastes give the game its own life. They become so intrinsic to Fallout 3 that it would be hard to imagine the themes that are handled in the game set anywhere else. Looking into the distance of the Wastes is disheartening, but sparks curiosity and the absence of draw distance issues are exceptional. The interiors become a bit repetitive, however, to the point where walls of factories and offices are clearly the same, and buildings become difficult to differentiate.

Likely a product of The Great War, the 1940s-50s vibe sets a great tone for the game, but I was still at a loss as to why America reverted to this style, 120 years after its advent. It just seems to fit, though. The weapons all lend to this theme and the futuristic Energy Weapons seem, ironically, right at home. In fact, the themes fit so well with the setting that technology I didn’t expect, such as Vertibirds and Tesla Armor, fit right in.

FSBO

The design was also where I had the most issues with the game as far as it running. Several times during play, the game would freeze and the system would need resetting. System freezes are a major design issue, which plague both Oblivion and Morrowind. It’s a real shame that this issue hasn’t been addressed after two games.

Fallout 3 is buggy and these bugs prove to be the game’s greatest weakness, ultimately holding it back from excellence.

There were several points where advancement in a quest or the story ceased because of the order in which quests were completed. A few times, after reloading and completing the quest, the reward speech option wouldn’t appear.

When entering an area, an occasional plunk or plop could be heard, as items or bodies loaded and dropped onto the landscape. The geometry of the world isn’t entirely sound either. Characters will become stuck in rails or between rocks causing the player to re-load.

The frame-rate will drop unprovoked while in the Wastes, but interiors and the like didn’t have any noticeable slowdown. As with Oblivion, the character animation is really rigid. This leads to instances where an NPC’s movement will be blocked by another character or an object in their path. Things look best in first-person as the player can’t see how the “Lone Wanderer” doesn’t quite fit into the world as well as the NPCs.

Bugs and glitches that interrupt the player’s experience should be much less prevalent. They certainly don’t ruin gameplay by any stretch of the imagination, but more polish is often desired.

Graphics & Design Score: 8.4/10

Audio:

5.1 works very well in this game, that is, until you enter V.A.T.S. Sound seems unsure of where it originated and, more often than not, comes out of the center channel by default. It seems that this system isn’t so complicated to warrant this reliance on one speaker, but with so many camera angles in V.A.T.S., maybe this was unavoidable. The only other major problem is when firing automatic weapons (e.g. 10mm SMG, Chinese Assault Rifle, etc.) in V.A.T.S., the sound of the gun firing will cut out with a loud crackle.

Galaxy News Radio is another standout the game offers. Three Dog, the DJ, gives news in between playing the Fallout’s 20 licensed tracks. Most notably among them are the three tracks featuring The Ink Spots, including “I Don’t Want To Set The World On Fire,” a song that Fallout developers have wanted in the game since the original. These tracks from the 1940s are just as welcome as Inon Zur’s compositions and give even more personality to the austerely silent Wasteland.

This sounds a lot more gruesome than it looks.

The voice acting in Fallout 3 is the weak-point of the aural experience, but not because it’s poorly done. As with Oblivion, Bethesda relied on too few actors to voice the NPCs. This seems cost-effective, but as the game wears on, hearing the same voice from different characters becomes an annoyance.

On the other hand, big names appear in the credits. Liam Neeson (Batman Begins, Star Wars Ep. 1: The Phantom Menace) voices James, your father, and Ron Perlman (Hellboy) returns for his third term as the Narrator.

The audio and visuals sync very nicely and when the ambient noise and the music come together, the audio becomes stellar. The groans of Rivet City’s steel hull and water plopping on limestone cavern walls are both examples of some of the best use of sound in any game to date. The subtle ambience in Fallout 3 may go unnoticed, at first, but you will be impressed if you give them a listen.

Audio Score: 9.7/10

Replay:

The game’s story lasts 20-30 hours, but exploring and side-quests can stretch the game to well over 100 hours in a single playthrough. Rewards for good, evil, and neutral characters will warrant second or third playthroughs to experience all walks of life in the Wasteland. If a player stuck to either good or evil during their first go, they’ll find a moderately different game when they play a character who has different karma.

There is no multiplayer to speak of, which is a shame, but understandable. There are plenty secrets and Easter Eggs within Fallout 3 that will stretch the playtime for hardcore and casual gamers, alike.

Perhaps the biggest draw is the three expansions, all promised by this March. The first, set for a January release, will focus on the Chinese-American battle in Anchorage, Alaska and will bring in new weapons, new armor, and even a new Perk. The second of the trio will involve a raider camp in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

The supposed final piece of content will be a continuation of the main story of the game, allowing players to continue their journey, instead of sitting through credits. They are scheduled for February and March, respectively. “Broken Steel,” the final DLC, will also raise the level cap to 30, but developers say it will be a “long crawl.” Other than these, details are still sparse about these downloadable expansions, but players will likely be rewarded with an additional 20 hours of gameplay, at least.

Each factor makes Fallout 3 one of the most re-playable single-player games ever.

Replay Score: 9.0/10

Overall:

The gameplay, story, and design all work magnificently together. No aspect of the gameplay feels out of place, from any of the D.C. narratives to Raven Rock and everywhere in between. Setting Fallout 3 in the nation’s old capital gives the player a sense of meaning, like they’re actually changing something for the better.

The Capital Wasteland is also the perfect place for a system like V.A.T.S. Without either of these, Fallout 3 would truly be nothing more than “Oblivion with guns.” The comparison to Oblivion, although obvious, is a good one. It not only gave Fallout 3 something good to be aptly judged against, but in a unique way, it helped differentiate the game from other first-person shooters.

With so much gloom in the Capital Wasteland it’s hard to see the appeal, at first glance. Once played though, the game answers its own riddle without giving away the secret: Fallout 3’s atmosphere is merely a reality of the game and it never breaks character. The unrelenting depression allows it to be appreciated and understood.

The "Lone Wanderer" and his Dog(meat), scaving an abandoned building near you.

In the way that Grand Theft Auto IV was trimmed down from the feature-heavy GTA: San Andreas, Fallout 3 takes the idea of Oblivion and focuses on its strongest parts. There are less meaningless items, fewer time-consuming quests and, best of all, less area to cover; each item has more of a point than decoration; each quest is meaningful and rewarding.

What is left is a fantastic summation of what needs to be in the game, presented in a much more creative way (i.e. Pip-Boy, birth/naming, etc.). Though not to the same level as GTA IV, Fallout 3 is an outstanding example of the parts working together to create something more than their sum. The way everything comes together creates something special. Fallout 3 blends visually and aurally to create a thoughtful experience that thoroughly entertains.

Overall: 9.4/10

„TheGamersNews.com wird natürlich vor Ort sein und ich werde euch dann natürlich umgehend mit den neusten Infos und Neuigkeiten versorgen.“

So nun wisst ihr es also wer uns dort mal die Hand schütteln will oder gar eine Chance auf einen der heißbegehrten Plätze im Team zu ergattern der kann sich natürlich gerne mal mit uns treffen wo wie wann wir wo sind (ja sehr verwirrend) wird aber noch bekannt gegeben. Grundsätzlich werdet ihr uns aber so ziemlich überall zu sehen bekommen!

Seid also gespannt! Näheres wird es geben sobald ich euch was Näheres bieten kann. (Das macht sogar Sinn!) Auf das wir uns sehen werden auf der gamescom in Köln.

Der Fan kann sich in rund 5 Minuten haufenweise Spielausschnitte ansehen. Ausserdem reden die meisten der Entwickler von den wichtigsten Aspekten von Assassin’s Creed 2 und Sie bekommen einen kleinen Vorgeschmack auf die Kurzfilmreihe Assassin’s Creed Lineage.

Bis Sie selbst den Meister “Ezio Auditore de Firenze” – den Hauptcharakter des Spiels – schlüpfen dürfen, ziehen noch einige Monate ins Land. Der Publisher Ubisoft plant die Veröffentlichung von Assassin’s Creed 2 für den 20. November 2009.

SirPayne – Manche glauben er wäre ein Mythos, andere behaupten er sei eine reale Person – doch die meisten bleiben der festen Überzeugung, er sei der Sohn Gottes.

Und damit liegen sie ganz … falsch ! Eigentlich ist er nur ein weiterer Untertane des großen Herrschers “Noulath” welcher kaum Angst vor den riesen Oberarmen Zoryark’s hat. Zoryark, der eigentlich Benni heisst, ist jetzt der Ultimative Kämpfer unter uns, er ist, wenn man es so sagen will, unser Ben Diesel.

Er nutzt seinen enormen Bizeps nicht nur um seinem Boxsack eine zu verpassen, sondern haut auch mal ganz gerne in die Tasten um euch am Laufenden zu halten!

Trotz großer Unterdrückung durch den Meister ist unser kleiner Zoryark immer noch der gechillte Dickschädel von nebenan, dem nichts aus der Ruhe bringen kann,  außer vielleicht ein Mangel an Tabakwaren oder gar ein – wie wir so schön sagen – ” 3-facher Hand-blau-quetscher mit Ring “.

Viele fragen sich jetzt sicher : “WTF?!”. Passt auf ich erklär’s euch!

Man(n) nehme Zoryarks Hand, und quetsche sie soo[...]oo lange bis sie richtig blau ist, allerdings muss man davor darauf achten, dass auch der nette und fette Ring dran ist, sonst tuts ja gar nicht weh. Hja, und das war auch schon der ganze Zauber – der Superheld schreit und ist angepisst. Ein Ring ist sozusagen das Kryptonit des Supermans!

Zitat von “UniformTobi”:

«Die Preise für die Prestige Edition sind noch nicht sicher, aber sie soll so um die 149 US-Dollar kosten. Hab aber auch schon gelesen dass sie fast 300 Dollar kosten soll. Ich glaub kaum dass ein voll funktionsfähiges Nachtsichtgerät + Spiel für 56,99 € zu haben ist, ich glabu du verwechselst es mit der Standard Version!»

Naja da hast du auch recht! Ich hab den Preis der Standard Version gepostet! Aber, solche Fehler können ja mal passieren! ^_^. Trotzdem entschuldige ich mich mal ganz saftig bei euch!

Foto: AP

SirPayne - Das Schicksal kann ein ganzschöner Ar*** sein!

Das hat sich bestimmt auch der Finnwal, der aufgespießt am Bug des Kreuzfahrtschiffes “Sapphire Prince” mit in den Hafen von Vancouver (Kanada) einlief, gedacht.

War sicher nicht sein Tag !

Foto: AP

Er wurde bemerkt, als der Luxusliner am Samstag am Canada Place Terminal festmachte. Der Luxusliner kam aus Alaska.

Man weiss noch nicht, wie, wo und wann der Wal vor den Rumpf geriet und ob er dabei noch lebte oder schon tot war.

Ein Taucher der Fischereibehörde kratzte das Tier vom Schiff, daraufhin hat man es wohl an einen sicheren Ort gebrach

Alles beginnt an einen Tag wo Zachary Garber (Denzel Washington) an seiner Arbeit ist. Er is Fahrdienstleiter einer U- Bahn.
Auf einmal taucht der Entführer Ryder (John Travolta) auf und macht ihm den Tag schwer, indem er eine U-Bahn enführt. Das Lösegeld beträgt 10 Millionen Dollar, der Hacken dabei ist, dass das Geld in einer Stunde bei Ryder sein musst und mit Ryder ist nicht gut Kirschen essen. Den wenn der Schurke nach einer Stunde sein Geld nicht hat schwört er ein Blutbad zu begehen.
Es sind in dem Film ziemlich viele Explosionen und BANG BOOM dabei auf was wir alle so stehen! Beispielsweise fährt mal eine Polizeikolonne durch New York und nehmen dabei ein paar Autos auf die Schippe. Somit mangelt es also keinesweges an Spannung!

Da das Geld jedoch nicht nach der vereinbarten Stunde bei Ryder ist, will dieser, dass Fahrdienstleiter Garber ihm das Geld persönlich innerhalb von 7 Minuten vorbeibringt.
Garber schafft es sogar, rechtzeitig anzukommen und soll zudem dann noch für Ryder den Zug fahren, doch das lässt er sich nicht gefallen und will aussteigen. Nach dem sich Garber aus dem Staub gemacht hat, wird es zu einer Verfolgungsjagd. Nach kurzer Fahrtstellt sich heraus, dass Ryder zu Fuß weiter gelaufen ist. Garber findet ihn, nachdem ein Zug vorbei gefahren ist (welch schrecklicher Zufalll). Nach längeren Reden zwischen den beiden zählt Ryder von Zehn Runter, Doch um nicht zu viel zu verraten, rate ich euch lieber, dass ihr den Film selbst anschaut!

Fazit: Da der Film mit sehr viel Zeitdruck spielt, hat es mir teilweise die Nackenhaare aufgestellt! Ein muss für jeden Actionhelden unter uns! Also ab ins Kino und anschaun!

TheGamerNews-Wertung:
Kamera: 08/10
Sound: 08/10
Story: 09/10
Motivation: 09/10
Filmwertung: 34/40 = 85%
Noulath: 07/10
Redaktionswertung: 07/10= 70%
Gesamtwertung: 82%

LINK ZUM VIDEO

Alles klar? Da braucht man dann wohl auch ein Nachtsichtgerät um den Überblick zu behalten. Die “Prestige Edition” soll übrigens um die 80 Dollar (laut aktuellem US$ zu €ur Kurs, zirka 56,99€) kosten.

Video mit einem Unboxing für die dies unbedingt sehen wollen (: