#fourth entry

[strikefourth]

Fourth Strike Nov-Dec Roundup

Featuring Bandcamp Friday, a new garages goodbye album, and more!

Today is Bandcamp Friday, and we've got loads of goodies in store for you. Before we jump into it, just a reminder that today is Bandcamp Friday. All album sales today have 100% of their profits go directly to the artist (as opposed to the usual 85%). If you've got the funds and are looking to spend on some absolutely SICK tunes, consider giving some love to this month's roundup <3

And with that, let's get started:

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The Garages announced the final installment of their We Are The Garages series, appropriately titled "we've been the garages." It's up for pre-order on Bandcamp right now, along with the first single "we stood at the precipice of total collapse, fingers intertwined, our truths settled with words we'd never speak" by Woosh, Amadis, and Bertie.

The album releases on Jan 5th, 2025, and there'll be a listen party the same day to celebrate the album.

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2. @bardapologist's the sound engineer and editor for the new Dragon Age 2 playthrough podcast Codex Entries! We're linking Spotify and Apple Podcasts below, but you can find Codex Entries wherever you listen to podcasts. For a little extra incentive: Carly's also done the theme song!

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3. Yuppie Supper ( @thwackamabob )'s debut album Dracunculiasis came out at the end of last month, and it's certified sick! Grab it on Bandcamp or stream wherever you stream. They've got some really cool t-shirts out too (though the shirts might be sold out by the time this post goes out.)

And if you missed the release show over in Leeds, catch a recording over on YouTube (from a weird angle):

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4. @dynamicentropy has art commissions open right now and is looking to raise some funds! You can find xer commissions sheet below, along with examples of some of xer art.

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5. Aren't you tired of being human? Why not be tired of being human with lAra-a ( @girltentacles )'s new track, out now on Bandcamp and streaming.

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6. Sparkle on, it's Friday; be yourself: Julien, who you might've seen taking an electric screwdriver to a bass during THE GARAGES SIGN OFF, has some new ✨songs✨ out on Bandcamp!

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7. Keeping up the sparkly, space-y theme here, Gabi ( @girlballz ) has pre-orders up now for faer re-release of infinite spacetime:

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8. Last, but certainly not least, Bertie's got a new Magic: The Gathering inspired track up for pre-order over on Bandcamp. The song releases January 3rd, 2025; sign up for emails to make sure you don't miss it!

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9. This isn't really promoting something I've made, but it was my (roundup writer)'s birthday this week, and I've been thinking some about the privilege of growing up. I've also been, and continue to be, very proud of Fourth Strike's song jam fundraiser from last year, where we raised over $1000 for the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund. Speaking as myself and not as Fourth Strike for a moment, if anyone is looking for places to donate this holiday season, I'd be moved if you chose to donate to some of the many Palestinian relief funds still looking to meet their goal.

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This was a long one, but hey, we've been busy! Thanks for sticking around, and we hope you'll try out all our new directions. Every stream, every comment, every share means so much to us, and the enthusiasm so far has been really cool to see. We'll plug another reminder here to follow the #beyond strike four tag if you want to keep checking in!

We'll see you next month, but until then: Happy Bandcamp Friday. Consider us rounded up.

[bardandbear]

I have a couple of main problems with the removal of world state interactivity in DAV and the way it's being presented.

The big one for me is the missed opportunity for what is allegedly the game's central theme: regret. You're telling me that Hawke being left in the Fade isn't weighing on Varric's conscience? Or that Morrigan might regret accepting apotheosis because to protect her son she could no longer have a relationship with him? We don't even need to find out about the outcomes of those particular choices the regret should be there regardless.

The devs acting like they're doing people a favour by not 'invalidating worldstates' is so insulting. World states become invalidated by not acknowledging them where they should logically come up. Morrigan's motherhood was a major part of her character arc. The Well of Sorrows was presented as something that will take away that which you cherish most - not only does this threat never eventuate, there's no mention of what happens to the knowledge associated either, does an Inquisitor who drank just suddenly lose that overnight? Talk about invalidating choices.

It would be one thing if the game had been in Early Access and fans demanded Morrigan get added or something, but the devs chose to include these callback characters. They're coasting off prior good will for fan favourites while effectively having them act like entirely separate people to the ones people fell in love with. Commit to the bit: either do a proper reboot so we can make up our minds about a new cast of characters or actually have returning characters mean something.

[lesbianriverphoenix]

anyone remember a month ago when i was going in person for a third round interview for the dream job? i have since gone through TWO more rounds and am supposed to hear back this week but since it's thursday i feel like pure shit and might kms 🥰

[vickyvicarious]

Will it be no joy to think of hereafter in the silence of the night when sleep is not: 'It was my hand that sent her to the stars; it was the hand of him that loved her best; the hand that of all she would herself have chosen, had it been to her to choose?'

This is an interesting question. We see Arthur respond to it in the moment, of course, by taking the hint and accepting the job. And he is resolute throughout the doing of it, only collapsing in horror when he's done. When he sees how peaceful she looks afterwards, "a glad, strange light broke over his face and dispelled altogether the gloom of horror that lay upon it."

So this seems to suggest that yes, it will be a comforting thought to him in days to come. But at the same time, I can't help but feel it would be nightmare fuel for everyone, all the more for Arthur himself. Dreams of staking her and it not working, of staking her and realizing halfway through that it is her and not her vampiric self that he is staking, and so on... That's fair enough just from it being a deeply traumatic experience. But I also feel like he might feel guilty about leaving her side and 'allowing' her to die, and also feel guilty about 'killing' her tonight. Not in any logical way, of course. But... I dunno. To me at least, it wouldn't feel like any kind of unmitigated comfort when I'm trying to fall asleep. I'd try to think of it that way, and maybe even succeed most of the time, but at others I think it would make everything much worse. And I feel that may be the same for Arthur.

[thirdreverie]

Agent Screenburn was an Agency operative and Enhanced Operatives Division member. They were the previous field agent delegated to your newest assignment, gone missing after a particularly disastrous mission and presumed deceased since then. Screenburn's repertoire of skills consisted of their uncanny knack for hacking and television hijacking. Their final mission prior to their disappearance involved the infiltration of a Zoraxis facility, only for Screenburn to get caught up in an enormous blast spanning the entire building. Our retrieval team did not find a body when they descended upon the explosion site, which casts a shadow of doubt upon whether or not Screenburn is truly deceased. Regardless, there have been reports of missing agents returning alive after being presumed deceased. Should Agent Screenburn be found alive again, then we here at the Agency are more than happy to welcome them back with open arms.

remember when i mentioned brainstorming a personal take on IEYTD4 the other day? well, here's the main antagonist i had in mind for it!

say hi to Agent Operative Screenburn (they/them), former agency agent turned zoraxis operative! originally presumed dead by the agency after a particularly disastrous mission, screenburn became a turncoat once zoraxis came to their aid after the agency failed to. they aim to discredit the agency by revealing their less-than-savory actions to the public, hoping that doing so will put an end to the eternal war between zoraxis and the agency.

i would've drawn more things with them, buuuuut i'm still sick with a fever and this is the most i could've mustered up the energy to draw. here's the stand-alone render of screenburn for anyone who's interested!

[deadliest-jellybaby]

[notices the inbox] owo what's this? Next

[andorerso]

REBELCAPTAIN SMUT MONTH - WEEK FOUR

We have arrived at the last weekend of Rebelcaptain smut month (at least officially... feel free to post your creations late if you need the extra time, I certainly will!) I'm so happy there was interest in the event, and thank you to everyone who participated. It's been a blast, you all 💜

As a reminder, the prompts for this weekend are:

✩ May 24-26

make-up sex ┃ elevator ┃ "I can’t get off unless I’m thinking about you."

accidental voyeurism ┃ sparring ┃ "Think we'll get caught?"

reunion sex ┃ honeymoon ┃ "On your knees, Captain/Sergeant."

As always, think of them as a guideline for those who need it, and feel free to change it up if you want to! Have fun, and don't forget to use the rcsmutmonth tag so we can all find each other's stuff, or use the ao3 collection if you're posting there 💜

[eastgaysian]

dragon age 4 gameplay reveal. getting scared

[white-weasel]

Now that I’ve seen every Final Destination movie in under a 36 hour period, I can answer the question “Is this franchise any good?” To which I have to say, definitively, that—

[ljubimaya]

Do I go to bed now or do I force myself to write?

[afklancelot]

my pet peeve involving books that are written in a diary format is that some have the in-universe diary writer, especially if the character does NOT write books, still manages to describe events that happened to them with prose befitting a regular novel. where’s my book-disguised-as-a-diary where the narrator is utter dogshit at descriptions when writing their diary entries. where’s my representation

[browngirlcowgirl]

I have had myself a day and I absolutely caved and ruined it worse by getting a bag of chips and eating raising canes and getting a regular coke.

I am however watching preachers daughters and hopefully I can update how far I go.

What do we do when we have a bad day and don’t want to go to that fatty junk food we eat while we’re upset.

[ageless-aislynn]

My friends, today was a day I honestly didn't think would ever arrive. Today, Georgette and I joined hands in friendship (o hai, Eobard, thanks for witnessing this touching moment 😜)

and we frickin' played some Halo!

For almost 4 hours! It was glorious, friends! We were ALL blinded by its majesty, even Eobard!

*bink* 😇😂😎👍

She actually had a bit of a rough patch today with the Nvidia card demon coming out to freeze up like an absolute jerk say hi for a moment...

...but I'd just seen there was an Intel update available and was literally researching whether or not to take it when, you know, everything hung up so that made up my mind pretty easily, lol. 🤷‍♀️

After that update, we updated Windows and then I thought, you know what? Let's just go for Steam and see what happens. And Steam installed and so I went for the MCC, which automatically installs Reach, so I plugged in my controller, the Mighty Purple Hand of Spartan Justice™️

(seen here with my cozy Master Chief in his Olaf robe, some hot tea and a box of tissues because I had cold at the time and this was my comfort set up, lol) and we got to saving Reach!

It totally worked, too. Reach was saved, yippee!

Jorge, telling me how waaaaay awesome it was that I helped him and Noble Team TOTES 117% SAVE REACH WITH NO CASUALTIES YES!!!

And look, we're all running to get ice cream! Yay, ice cream! 🍨

Okay, so I've had a few really rough months, give me this one, a'ight? 😇😉

Anyway, I wish I could say

but no, not just yet. But maybe, just maybe, we're on the right track at last?

Just wanted to share with you, friends! Love to you all! 🤗💖

[deslizada]

also I love being the world's dumbest bitch because predicting where a book is going? COULD NOT be me. solving riddles before the characters do? figuring out who dies at the end? seeing betrayals coming? hell no it's an exciting surprise every time

[aeoneskova]

The boop is back for Halloween and so am I 😎

My annual angsty one-shot is up and Remus is going through it in this one. I hope you enjoy the fic and have a great Halloween! 🎃

[deadliest-jellybaby]

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"If I had a nickel for every time I've had weird things beamed into my head, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice." Dr. Doofenshmirtz moment