#npc virginia

[fallenlondonnpcfight]

I Swear I Didn’t Plan This, It’s Just How the Seeding Worked Out

[pyreflydust]

[mikeconphoto]

"CAPTURING BRILLIANCE AND BEAUTY: A FITNESS PHOTOSHOOT WITH LAUREN VARNER" -BY MIKECON PHOTOGRAPHY

Welcome to the MikeCon Photography blog, where we share captivating stories of our amazing clients and the unforgettable moments we capture through the lens. Today, we have the pleasure of featuring the remarkable Lauren Varner, a talented lawyer based in Colorado. Join us as we delve into her intelligence, professionalism, and undeniable beauty, showcased during a breathtaking fitness photoshoot at the scenic Cherry Creek Reservoir.

Lauren Varner: A Brilliant and Exceptional Client…

…Working with Lauren Varner has been an absolute privilege. Beyond her striking physical appearance, Lauren's intelligence shines through every interaction. As a lawyer at Varner Faddis, her law firm in Colorado, Lauren's sharp legal mind is evident in her attention to detail and meticulous approach to her work. It is truly inspiring to witness her analytical thinking and how she effortlessly balances her professional and personal pursuits.

Gratitude for an Extraordinary Client:

I cannot express enough how grateful I am to have Lauren as a client. Not only did she trust me to capture her fitness journey, but she also honored me by attending my going away party before I relocated to Germany. It speaks volumes about the genuine connection we formed throughout our collaboration. Lauren's warmth, kindness, and support have touched my heart, and I am immensely thankful for her presence in my life.

A Memorable Photoshoot with Lauren and Megan:

During our fitness photoshoot at Cherry Creek Reservoir, Lauren's radiant energy and passion for life were palpable. It was a privilege to do a separate shoot a few months later to capture her alongside her sister Megan, who shares Lauren's remarkable beauty and charisma. Growing up watching "America's Next Top Model," both sisters have developed an innate understanding of the camera, posing effortlessly and exuding confidence like professional models.

Beauty, Swagger, and Authenticity:

Lauren's beauty is simply breathtaking, and her captivating presence rivals any celebrity. Her natural grace and confidence command attention, making her a true standout. While some may compare her to the Kardashian family, Lauren possesses a unique swagger that is entirely her own. She embraces her individuality, radiating authenticity with every click of the camera. It was an absolute pleasure to capture her essence and showcase her inner and outer beauty.

Conclusion:

Lauren Varner's fitness photoshoot at Cherry Creek Reservoir was a remarkable experience that showcased her brilliance, professionalism, and unparalleled beauty. As a lawyer at Varner Faddis, she exemplifies intelligence and excellence in her career. I am immensely grateful for her unwavering support, and it was an honor to capture her journey alongside her sister Megan. Lauren's charm and camera presence, coupled with her unique swagger, truly set her apart. Stay tuned for more incredible stories and captivating moments here at MikeCon Photography!

P.S. A lot of people think it’s easy however, what a lot of people don’t know is that I went out multiple times to the reservoir and tested out my lighting at different times of the day to ensure that we had perfection. Hard work does pay off…Lauren and I put in a lot of preparation work to make this and every shoot we’ve done perfect!

[florwal]

PORTSIM SAVE FILE 1.0

portsim is a small city in the south. it was established as a town in 1752, and the current population is 97,915. it's full of history and has a lot of culture. with increasing poverty rates, gang violence, and a drug epidemic, crime is at an all time high. will the city’s new mayor be able to make portsim a safer place?

CONTENT WARNING: storylines involving drug use & violence

download + info under the cut

OUTDATED - download 1.1 here

watch my save file overview on youtube

4 months in the making and it’s finally here! huge thank you to everyone that’s been following me through the process. ♡ y’all are so kind and supportive and i really appreciate all the love. this was originally going to be a personal save, it’s inspired by my hometown (portsmouth, virginia) most builds are based off real places around me, and some households are based off my friends and family. this is very much still personal to me!

willow creek, newcrest, and magnolia promenade have been rebuilt, repopulated, and transformed into one large town

i own all packs and kits, if you don't you can still play this save but build and cas objects will be missing

check out the portsim townie index (wip) to read their bios and keep up with their stories. some already have posts but some are empty, i’ll be adding more as i play

21 residential lots / 19 community lots - please read community lot descriptions because most are multi functional! i also left some empty commercial spaces that are “for lease” so i can add things as new packs come out

added new holidays - i changed names to be more realistic and added a few (spring cleaning day, easter, independence day, halloween, christmas eve)

added 5 new clubs (city officials, a gang, a cult, a record label, painting classes by a townie)

notes:

view update log here

i’ve never made a save file before, and this is just the first version. please let me know if you run into any issues. i want to eventually add more households, and i also want to add + rebuild other worlds

i highly suggest turning the eco lifestyle ep’s eco foot print + npc voting off, unless you want the town to look apocalyptic and the trinity church community space to be set to the winter version during summer etc

i turned neighborhood stories off, but sims were still adopting babies and divorcing each other so i kept them all in the my households tab, you don’t have to keep them there!

shoutout to @cowplant-snacks and @nightlioness for letting me use some of their sims as background townies so there's not as many ugly npcs

next world that’s going to be added: oasis springs + del sol valley - idk which one will be out first! but they're coming soon ♡

DOWNLOAD on patreon (always free)

*required mods for the lit version*

please tag me in anything involving the save! id love to see how y’all play in it!

[sunshineandspencer]

Coffee shop

A/N: I have never had an original experience, because every woman I’ve ever known has always wanted to run a mix of a coffee shop and a library/florists, I am no different. That isn’t what this fic is about, but I’ll take any chance to lament about my lack of funds for a coffee-floristry-library shop 😔😔😔

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Fem!Reader.

Summary: If Spencer Reid had a nickel for everytime he ran into someone on his daily routines that he believes might be a serial killer, he’d now have two nickels, which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it’s happened twice.

Word Count: 1.6k

Warnings: talking about blood(??), nothing really

I have redone the form for the taglist now that I’m apparently expanding from Criminal Minds

Spencer liked his routines. He’s invested a lot of time in developing a comfortable routine whenever work in Quantico goes for longer than usual. For whenever he’s home.

Part of that routine is treating himself to breakfast. Knowing damn well that he wouldn’t eat otherwise - the toaster is his mortal enemy and has been unplugged since he moved into his apartment, refusing to repeat the mistake that lost him his favourite mug.

He sampled a lot of coffee shops that are close to his apartment, not wanting to walk further than 10 minutes away just for a decent cup of coffee and some breakfast. Until, finally, he found the one that fit his very specific - and not at all autistic - guidelines for what he needed, finding himself pushing that door open at 07:09 everyday he’s home.

‘Virgin’s Coffee House’, probably a little too on the nose considering he’s.. himself, but the owner explained that it was actually ‘Virginia’s Coffee House’ until these two kids stole the letters four separate times and the owner just gave up. Accepting their fate.

That specific time, too, was well tested to get just the right moment. 07:09.

Just quiet enough that he’s comfortable but not suffocated by an overwhelming silence, they have a gentle radio choice that he adored, excellent warm pastries, and in those early hours his little space was permeated with a soft floral scent, the notes of which are heavenly.

Then, of course, being a man with an eidetic memory, his brain swiftly catalogued the regulars that he would see every single time he visited, the NPCs to his daily routine.

There’s the man who drops his girlfriend - the barista - off to work, the man who is always hunched over his laptop by the window and is seemingly constantly perplexed at the sun slipping through the blinds he pulls down. The owner that ignores her barista ‘sneaking’ free pastries to her boyfriend to go and smoke out back, and the woman that is somehow always directly ahead of him in the queue.

For a while, and because of her consistency with it, he wondered if she might wait somewhere to spot him coming, and then dart into the shop to get ahead of him. A thought he quickly dismissed as crazy, and one only a profiler would get to a conclusion with. Settling with the answer that they just have similar routines.

He has some sense of her job, from the lanyard usually haphazardly shoved into her bag, and the clothes she wore. But he isn’t the kind of person to just strike up conversations with women - hell, anyone.

Until today.

On her hip, over the top of her very pretty, sage sundress, she had a handprint. A small, child-sized handprint in, what he was hoping, was paint. Dark red.. dried paint. Right.

Tapping her shoulder, it clearly surprised her that her own routine was broken from the usual quiet queue for her coffee, although she turned to him with a confused smile. This action, merely turning to face him, immediately gave him the revelation that the pretty floral scent he keeps coming back for is her.

Quickly smiling back and pointing down at her hip, going for blissfully unaware rather than alerted FBI agent.

“Hallowe’en in September?”

Nice, casual question, not at all giving away the inner screaming of Jesus Christ, don’t let this beautiful woman be a murderer.

Keeping his eyes on her face to see what kind of reaction she has, as she looks down. Tugging at the fabric so she could see it clearly, tutting softly and immediately worrying her bottom lip between her teeth.

“Oh.. yeah, that looks worse than it did yesterday.”

Fuck, fuck, fuck. He’s found a serial killer. In his coffee shop. How the hell does this keep happening to--

“What about this one, I haven’t even tried to get it off yet because we’re doing more today.”

Pulling the skirt of her dress back to normal to show him a neon orange - slightly smaller - handprint on her knee, like a child had smacked her leg with a handful of paint.

Which, thankfully, confirmed his previous assumption that she works in Kindergarten.

“That’s very uhm.. well.”

He tried to say something nice, but the longer he searched and shuffled through all the words in his brain, the brighter her smile got. And the more nervous he got about saying the wrong thing to this genuinely really pretty woman. Christ, he’s making himself look like an idiot.

Coming to his rescue, before he started spewing out Shakespearean compliments because that’s all his brain could focus on, she waved with a softly dismissive hum.

“Don’t worry, I know it’s not really my colour. Some of the kids took ‘paint your teacher’ a little too literal. But it’s only their first week so I’m letting it slide.”

Now that the fear of her being a serial killer is gone, he’s left with the brutal realisation that she’s beautiful. Which, unfortunately means that acknowledgement of her looks causes his brain to stop working. Beautiful women, as Emily has eloquently stated, slash his IQ to 60.

“You- You work with children?”

Thankfully, she doesn’t seem to mind his sudden stutter, or that he’s unconsciously fiddling with his tie. Only smiling brighter, despite him now being apparently unable to get a full sentence out compared to before.

“Yeah! Real young kids, who haven’t learnt that paint goes on their paper and not the teacher, not yet anyway. Why? That handprint make you think I was a murderer?” She was clearly teasing, but his flushed cheeks and averted gaze told her the truth. “Oh my God you did.”

Her jaw dropped and she didn’t look away from him as they shuffled up the queue, from where he was desperately trying to explain.

Searching his bag, diving into it really, to try and find his badge to prove who he is. This is the first time he’s ever felt genuine hatred for his messenger bag, everything just falling in the way of his ID that would prove that he’s not crazy, he’s just insanely observant.

Finding it with a breathless laugh and holding it out to her, giving a pleadingly nervous smile.

“I’m- I work for the FBI! The Behavioural Analysis Unit, I catch serial killers and, well, it looked--”

He just gestured again to the dark red paint dried into the fabric of her dress. Terrified he’d ruined this interaction by assuming incorrectly.

But she just laughed, and not at all insulted or upset like he thought, just seemingly amused by the whole thing. Hand falling back to the print, thumbing at the dried paint, some flakes falling to the floor between them before being swept away by the wind from the open door.

“It’s okay, I knew it didn’t look great, but catching the attention of an FBI agent? I’ll take it.”

Still stumbling over his words, he desperately looks for the right thing to say, wanting to get the mush in his brain out to apologise again and again. Something about her smile made him want to reassure her a hundred times over.

“Not that, of course, you look anything like a serial killer. Although female serial killers are, usually, far better at hiding that they are killers, and are actually called silent killers. So even if you were, you seem way too smart to leave a handprint on your dress. Not- that I’m saying you would know how to be a murderer, but I just- I had to make sure--”

“Really, it’s alright, uh..” looking down, she runs her fingers over his name before handing his ID badge back, “Spencer, really. It’s a nice thought, knowing I have such observant agents in my area. Makes me feel.. safe.”

And not a hint of sarcasm, paired with a genuine smile. Her name was called for a coffee and that split moment she turned away gave him a chance to react.

Hearing his name in her gently teasing voice had made his heart beat so damn hard against his chest he half expected to look down and see it beating out cartoonishly. Pressing the heel of his palm to the centre of his chest to try and calm down before she turned back around.

That smile still on her face when she did, her name written all pretty on her cup, and fitting her perfectly.

“Could you explain what the Behavioural Analysis Unit does? I’m still not sure.”

He went to open his mouth, happy to spew facts, knowing that’s his comfort zone more than anything else, and wanting to show that he can do more than word vomit whatever comes to the tip of his tongue first.

But she shakes her head, taking out her phone and tapping some things before handing it over to him. An empty contact page, except for the name which was already filled in with ‘Spencer (the cute coffee guy)’ at which his eyes darted back to hers, although his thumbs were already putting in his number.

“How about tomorrow? About six-forty?”

Handing back the phone after checking the number, and replying with a breathy ‘yeah’, at which she smiled and walked past him. His own name getting called for his coffee, but not turning to get it until she left the shop.

When she turned to look back at him with a small wave, he knew he was absolutely done for wherever this woman is concerned.

“I’ll see you tomorrow Spencer. Six-forty, it’s a date, don’t be late.” Slipping out so that he could take that in himself, not actually moving until his name gets called for the fourth time, and the barista throws a balled up napkin at him. A daft smile on his face as he whips out his phone to text Garcia all about the date he’s going on tomorrow morning.

Want more?! Good!

taglist ( ˘ ³˘)♥ @peliides ║ @peachsodameg ║ @angelinajolie0213 ║ @jiggly-puff-12 ║ @khxna ║ @kennedy2156 ║ @trulycayla ║ @none-of-your-bullshit ║ @alexxavicry ║ @meg-black ║ @princess76179 ║ @chicken-fifi ║ @averyhotchner ║ @punkyghoulz ║ @person-005 ║ @aaronlovesava ║ @Optimisticsandwichgladiator ║ @cultish-corner ║ @xox0_emma ║ @whatyagottado ║ @wonderland2425 (if your tag is here and not working check out this reblog to see if any of it could hopefully help!!)

[chadfallout76podcast]

"Deah Shroud!: A Nick Valentine Mystery" EXPLAINED and AMA

It never occurred to me to do this last year, but a lot of people have asked me questions about our Fallout 4 play in the last year in the Discord, so I wanted to open an AMA but also explain "Death Shroud!" and some of the broader themes involved in it.

**SPOILERS AHEAD**

Part 1: Pre-production

Before I get into the story, I wanted to explain how this production even came about. Over the years after working together on some official community projects with Wes Johnson through Bethesda, we became good friends. I took a couple of his acting classes and he talked about the Fallout For Hope charity initiative I started and asked for help in organizing the gaming community for his Alzheimer's Association fundraiser. The idea was to host a month-long digital event of discussion panels, game shows, improv and a play with as many different voices of video games, film and TV as we could round up. In our second year of his VoiceAPalooza fundraiser, I wanted to do an original old time radio show and see if could bring back as many of the cast that we could from Fallout 4. It was Wes who first suggested an adventure with his Silver Shroud character (that he voiced in Fallout 4's radio plays) teaming up with Nick Valentine (voiced by the amazing Stephen Russell). Valentine is, for me, one of the best written, unique companions in Fallout lore.

So, I reached out to Stephen Russell who had joined us before for charity work and he was all in on bringing Nick Valentine back to life! After that things moved fast with Bethesda's Pete Hines and Emil Pagliarulo joining us to have some fun for a good cause. We tried to get EVERY companion from Fallout 4 that we could, but schedule wrangling is tough, and some people are just impossible to track down or find. Matt Mercer would've loved to have joined us as Macready, but unfortunately scheduling didn't work, so the best we could manage would be a holotape (the only reason our snarky gun running merc had to take the big sleep in the story).

After having everyone plugged in to reprise characters, it was time to put fingers to keys and find the story...

Part 2: The Deep Lore

The origin of this story started with a thought: how would the NPC's and characters we love perceive modification of their universe by us? We, as players aren't the true creators of this universe or these characters (Bethesda is). If anything, we the players are the equivalent of "lesser gods", reshaping it in new ways, unexpected and subjective ways, and sometimes even chaotic ways (I'm looking at you avalanche of adult mods with realistic jiggle physics and Thomas the Tank Engine Vertibird).

It started with a mental image of the small ways in which we start out modding games, or even the first mods we (using the "Engine of Creation) actually create. I had a mental image of Magnolia doing her thing, singing away sultry in a crowded and smoky third rail when she looks one way, back the next and sees new curtains. A subtle thing, something a little startling, but in a universe where recreational drug use is met with a YEEE YEEEE WHEEEE...a change you simply dismiss as being overtired or a little too juiced.

I'm a sucker for old time radio. I grew up listening to classic radio horrors like The Whistler, Suspense, and Lights Out on vinyl records and cassette tapes when I'd spend summers with my grandmother on a little island off the coast of Canada. Getting the tone, feeling and sound to stage an old-time radio show was the easiest part of this whole process...it's baked into my brain lol. The key of course is finding the right narrative voice.

Enter: Bill Lobley. If you play Fallout 76, he is the announcer for the "Tales from the West Virginia Hills" holotapes, but before that he's a prolific voice actor, maybe best known for his role as the truly vile Jeremiah Fink in Bioshock: Infinite. He has a FANTASTIC transatlantic voice for old time radio and was perfect as narrator in the script.

Part 3: What Is Going On?!?!

I had the base idea, the voices to pull it off, but what was the meaning and message of the whole thing? I always start there. From a meta experience level, the story is about dealing with subjective reality that’s being torn apart. After Fallout 4 launched in vanilla, we the players changed that world and reshaped it with mods. The small changes in perceived reality are meant for the omniscient player (us) and are not meant to be perceived by the characters themselves...and yet, what if they were? And if they were...WHY?! The answer was right in front of me: there's a difference between something born into a world and something MADE into a world.

You take someone like Magnolia or Nick, both synths, that obviously weren’t naturally born from two people. They were conceived as an idea...a human idea sure, but still they were made, not born. Without even needing to say in the script, the Trickster from the Grognak comic books who shouldn't exist yet does IS also an idea. Some MADE into a world but not born...a different world sure, but still the creation of it. Nick, Magnolia, any synth as ideas themselves would sense that the world was wrong and being changed in a way no one else would because of fundamentally who they are and what they represent.

Everything that unfolds is because Nora as a keystone event in the Commonwealth, a focal point of the causal nexus making her a unique entity in that world. A causal nexus is the link between a cause and its resulting effects and ignore the science mumbo jumbo, because here's an example of how that works:

The Sole Survivor, Nora, listened to Kent's message, chose to answer him and put on the outfit of the Silver Shroud. As a unique figure she shifted perceived reality of everyone in the Commonwealth by becoming the Silver Shroud, acting like him and making people believe that a fictional character exists.

Unfettered belief and faith in an idea = manifested reality.

Rejected belief and faith in the idea = dispels that reality.

This HAS happened before in Fallout lore in the instance of people with horrifying backstories and personal tragedies choosing to become someone else such as the Mechanist (Fallout 3 and Fallout 4) or even the Ant-Agonizer (Fallout 3). This time however it was a unique figure who did this, a figure fated and meant to reshape the Commonwealth for good, bad or ugly.

This opened a door, the door through which another figure could influence and enter a new universe provided it take the form of something already in it...a reality side-step into the form of the Mechanist. Concurrently, the moment that happened, reality counterbalanced by making the Silver Shroud who was already believed to be real BECOME real as the ying to the Mechanist/Trickster's yang.

Now at home in reality, the Trickster found himself very much alive and unbound by story but had very little power to do much at all. He needed something more, an idea and faith that already existed in the Commonwealth with the infinite universe of ideas made, but not born like himself. His goal wasn't power, it was to sow chaos, reshaping reality into a realm for any and every idea despite the consequences to reality itself.

So what did he need? The belief in the Old Gods and a focus point of belief in the idea: a staff. The universe is as adaptive as it is remarkable and where the Mechanist had its opposite: the Silver Shroud, the Trickster needed its twin: enter Sheogorath...because what better staff to tear apart and reshape reality than the Staff of Sheogorath. There is a quest added in the new Skyrim Anniversary Edition in which you can build it for yourself with a few items: Branch of the Tree of Shades, Ciirta's Eye, Fork of Horripilation. In this universe it would have to fashioned with things FROM this universe.

Two eyes were needed:

The eye of a True Believer: Kent Connolly

The eye of a True Seer: Mama Murphy

Affixed to the top of a staff of the purest heartwood from a Twice Born Tree. Living wood from Harold, born a man who eventually mutated into a living tree.

Lastly, it had to be soaked in the tears of ages end: barrels of radiated blessed waters courtesy of the Cult of Atom.

The Trickster had no magic of his own in this universe in which to act, but thankfully courtesy of some powerful allies, he was able to make contact with shadowy cults and worshippers of the old gods who gave him the name of someone truly of faith in the old magic to make all of this work: Jebediah Blackhall, who in this spin of the universe did unfortunately get his hands on the cursed book: the Krivbeknah.

Finding allies was all too easy, as the events post main quest left the Commonwealth changed. To many, the Sole Survivor and his/her companions would be hailed as heroes. To others, they would be villains, particularly in light of what Nora CHOSE to do to the Railroad to end the synth threat for good. That's a lot of blood on the hands of heroes...

As the Mechanist/Trickster, Blackall and the Lombardos began using the staff, its changes and shifts in reality rippled backwards through time, as changing one specific thing would change its entire existence. You change some curtains and the manufacturer of those curtains only every made one pattern...the world object becomes changed universally. Tapping into the Engine of Creation to make these changes, leaves anyone MADE not born aware of them as they don't fit into the design as it shifts around them. Nick, Danse, Magnolia would all feel and see it, be thrown off for a bit before settling into the changed reality state.

At the climax when everything starts falling apart and you get everyone from GlaDOS and the Joker strolling on in, the only way to end it all is to separate the Trickster from the Staff and restore the saved intended state of reality. The Silver Shroud finds himself powerless against the Trickster...only someone from this universe would be able to intercede, hard wired into the Engine of Creation itself as an existing element connected throughout its framework and history. After sending the Trickster off packing to the moon (thanks GlaDOS), but its a little too late for reality. It collapses around them, finding themselves elsewhere...the point between the mind, creation and the outcome of reality.

After the Shroud fades away, Nick has the power and choice to roll the universe, his universe back along the tapestry of choices that led him here. They all were haunted by the choices they made the first time around, something Nora couldn't live with...that ultimately led her relationship with Danse to fall apart. So Nick decides to go back further, as far back as he can go and he finds himself back in his office with Ellie waking him up.

There are consequences to what he's done, that he's not yet aware of, ones that will become clear in our next episode. The synths remember, as he remembers...Danse, Magnolia and everyone else remembers the fall of the Institute. They all find themselves at their starting point, moving towards their intended fated position to encounter the Sole Survivor. For Nick? He's starting down the path that will led him to be held prisoner and meet the Sole Survivor for the first time.

As he'll soon discover however, things don't play out the same way this time. Moreover, while he was rolling back reality to an early saved state, he made a huge mistake and completely forgot about something and someone so incredibly important...

You'll have to wait to see what that is...

[prometheus-ghost]

Ángel's response to the Calling is so interesting. He's affected by it, but in a totally different way than everyone else who succumbs to it. Why is his trance not marching, but rather singing La Tarara? Also there's one trend I've noticed with the ones who march. They tend to be NPCs and/or people whose minds are clouded by religion, superstition, or conspiracy theories--with one exception: Virginia, who although cruel seems to be pretty rational and a critical thinker. Why do the lyrics of Ángel's La Tarara ("wounded little finger" in particular) seem to foreshadow Virginia touching the virus and getting infected? I don't know...is this anything in terms of theories?

[ar3s-r4t-qu33n]

Some observations about our new victims (I unfortunately don't have many of these)

• Appear FROM A DISTANCE to all be be female, which would make sense since this appears to be a Sorority House and Johnny's got a thing for messing with girls, as Cook so eloquently put it.

• Blondie at the front door reminds me of a TCM OC I've seen on Instagram named Bree O'Malley by @/oabeelha and she has also posted some interesting things on her story the day of the teaser, but obviously that could be in reference to her personal plans for Bree in her own headcanon, not anything affiliated with the game, just something I've noticed. It would be super cool even if she isn't actually Bree for her to be inspired visually by her because there's been a big movement to get Bree in the game, but who knows, only time will tell on that one

• The girl beside her - is that June, Sonny's girlfriend? I mean, let's be honest, ANY of them could be June, June doesn't have to be black because Sonny is black. But also we're finally getting a black woman in this game!! I've been saying it for a while now, I know it's the 70s but I literally do not care, representation matters and it's not like the Family care about blood relation!! If they declare you family, you are family, I really hope we see some new folks of more diverse backgrounds on the family's side in the future, but I THINK two of the women in this trailer are black and that would be super cool!! Also, we don't have any Asian characters (yet, obviously we're still waiting on details about our new cast) in the game yet and that's also important. I'm obviously white (she says, faceless profile) so I'm not gonna harp on this too much, but it IS important and I hope for more in the future, especially in the main gameplay!!

• At least two cheerleaders!! That's exciting, their lil dance looks awesome and I hope if we get like, an opening cut scene or bigger trailer, we get to see a lil more of that because it is NOT gonna be in the gameplay

• Unless we're getting emotes like F13?? 👀

• Girlie in the top right window- is she wearing a towel, or a strappy dress? I've seen a LOT of folks thinking she's in a towel, and she could well be. But the more I've looked at this teaser (and BOY have I LOOKED), I THINK I can see some straps on her shoulders..? If not... I really hope we're not getting a Sam from Until Dawn moment with her, that would kinda suck imo

• She seems to be in a heated discussion with the other girl. An argument, it looks like? I really wanna know everyone's relationships with each other. The Cheerleaders and pair walking in both seem very close with their second, but these two? Doesn't seem like it from the 23 seconds of footage we've got-

• I highly doubt these are just random NPCs to fill the gaps and that the only two out front are playable. Gun have never made NPCs for this game, why would they waste resources when they could show off all six new characters in a very fun way by hiding four of them in the windows? That makes way more sense to me than "these are NPCs and they don't serve a purpose and aren't coming back", ESPECIALLY since they've made unique animations for all four of them. They've reused animations a million times for trailers, like Danny using Johnny's slow walk and Virginia using Sissy's in each of their trailers. Why would they go to all that trouble to make the dancing and arguing animations if the characters doing them don't mean anything??

• Also, more of a personal thing, the POTENTIAL FOR OCs that this teaser gives us?? I've already got one I made specifically for this, I'm so excited by Rush Week, I cannot WAIT to see more oh my GODDDDD

• @/SumxBonez on X/Twitter has made a list of their observations and that goes into more about Texas/the Sorority (which is all stuff I don't know about yet) so go check their thread!! They also do some really amazing artwork on Instagram and have two very cool OCs of their own so please read what they have to say, I won't parrot it here because they are their points but it's all really intriguing stuff!!

Lemme know what y'all think/have noticed too!!

[randomnameless]

WDYM only Alain can get the killing blow on Baltro???

TFW the Tricorns keep on whacking him to no avail, ditto with Magellan :(

even if plot wise it makes sense

@pandp-author Feathershields are absolutely ridiculous lol, Fodoquir basically exists and makes mage teams/teams where Sorceress try their "surprise you're frozen !" combo completely meaningless !

Sanatio's healing is completely stupid too lol, too bad we can't play more maps with the angels/feathered people, because they're fun to use!

I'll make a more detailed post about the epilogue later but plot wise for the final chapter, as expected, Gharnef Baltro backstabs the Red Emperor, it is revealed Ilenia - Alain's mom - survived in the prologue, but Red Emperor Galerius Galvius when defeated body/soul hopped on hers so she became his unwilling medium (which raises all sorts of questions here, when Alain kills Galvius during the "Rescue Scarlett" mission, did he aleady kill Ilenia and Baltro resurrected her, but she's somehow still alive and not a zombie?) but ultimately she is free when Baltro uses Galvius' soul to open the "gate to the netherworld" or something, to use the souls of the Zenoiran currently in limbo as fuel for his spells.

Given how Baltro notes that the Cornian Royal fam has the blood of the Maiden who survived the sacrifice of the Unicorn and its curse 800 years ago, I guess he implies that is the reason why Ilenia makes for a better host than the random Valmore - the previous human who was Galvius' host - but then it raises the question of Giethe hunting Virginia : wouldn't she have been used as a spare ? Granted, given how Galvius incarnates in the flesh of people who defeat him, the only way to incarnate in Virginia would be for either her or a random to kill Galvius while he's using Ilenia's body (and Virginia would later kill the random).

So I guess if Giethe brought her head Baltro would have been "you dumb fuck", but Alcina's plan to uwu with Gerard in Alain's body wouldn't put a dent in his plans, since he could get rid of Gerard in Alain's body to put Galvius instead if needed.

As cheesy as it was, I liked how the plot unfolded here - despite his "perfect lord" appearances, Alain still wants revenge for his mom and didn't forget what happened 10 years ago : if the player chooses to give Alain his vengeance, despite learning the plot and the truth about Zenoira, he... actually kills his mother, and Baltro is still Baltroing around.

If he acts as the better person and the "saviour", he tries to offer mercy to Galvius, despite him killing his mother and plunging the continent in a sea of blood, which gives Baltro the occasion and opportunity to betray Galvius, thus freeing Ilenia without killing her, and it gives the party the occasion to kill/banish him to oblivion instead.

The usual "follow the plot = you're rewarded + vengeance is meaningless" trope.

Of course I can't talk about the final map without ranting about the green NPCs that are here to "help" you - nice nod to have them be Drakengardians to echo Gilbert's earlier (at the end of arc 2!) words of sending Drakengard's help to help Cornia when it will be needed - sure his help is green units + Hermann (one of his retainer that is blue this playable \o/) but it's a nice nod to the former plot and you can honeypot about the political ramifications of this move (the Liberation Army led by the Cornian prince helped free Drakengard, so now the Drakengard Army will help the Cornian prince to free his country?).

No such lines about the enemy Bestrals - who as Bestrals can't be soul snatched - who are recruited by Dyna who basically tells them "wtf dudes stop fighting with them and join us instead!" but I confess I laughed at their names (il y en a qui s'appelle Paulo mdr, pourquoi pas Bébert pendant qu'on y est?).

Too bad the named minibosses aren't more developped, but I wonder if in the Norbelle aka worst ending we get to fight Reimann and pals instead.

Oh well, I'll have other occasions to replay that map to get the different endings - at least the normal one on this PT (the one where Alain kills Galvius but fights off the possession thanks to his magical plot ring that resonates with the plot ring of his partner).

[thedeafprophet]

As much as i rag on heart's desire for not having a plot, I do think it works decently for what it is: A Tournament Arc.

Now, often tournament arcs are filler, but filler isn't inherently bad. And to be tournament arcs serve one good purpose: Showing off various characters and their abilities, the tournament allowing for focus on that.

Heart's Desire works in that purpose soley: it introduces you to some major npcs on a more closer level, and shows you what they're capable of. The Bishop and being a snuffer, learning about The Manager's past and witsnessing close up his mind and dreams powers, etc. etc. Its plays into this well.

If anything, I think it could have leaned into this more and that it didnt go into some characters as much as it could - i thought it was sad we never actually got to see Virginia compete, that could have been very cool. The introduction to her ex and the history there was neat, but it could have shown more of what she's capable of.

[darth-shado]

I got to say that the real horror part of sons of the forest is the genuine fear I feel every time when my base is being raided, and it's because I'm just so afraid of Kelvin or Virginia dying. Like when I was playing the forest I didn't cared at all about cannibals and usually I'd just ignore them but now I will hunt down every cannibal I see to the point where I'm literally chasing them down and it's all because I don't want two precious NPC's to die or get hurt.

[fallenlondonnpcfight]

Every Single One of my Board Meetings Honestly

[freshwater--mermaid]

Honestly, adding two NPC companions was the best idea for this game, because it helps with solo players like myself to not feel so alone.

Also, I’m a huge coward...until I have to protect someone, then I fight. So in the first game I always just ran from villagers, but now I have to fight them to keep Kelvin and Virginia safe.

[gradschoolcryptid]

ok I need the fallout/nintendogs character arcs explained because what

Lol so we wrapped our prior years long campaign by getting an error screen in the middle of the final boss battle, then getting spit out into the "real world" and learning that the "real" versions of our fantasy characters have been locked in a simulation for as of yet not fully revealed plot reasons. Cue the current game arc, where we've been pulled into post apocalyptic real world-adjacent West Virginia and tasked with delivering some sort of powerful object to Las Vegas. So far we're scared to touch it but we know from a separate game arc (the DM has so many games that he has/is running that are all part of the same connecting multiverse) that once there it will be used to create a magical surge that sends a couple displaced heros (including me from my other current game) back to their dimension. I, once a powerful dwarven barbarian, am now a short, anxious, should-not-be-allowed-near-people-because-i-will-pick-a-fight-i'll-lose guy named Gary.

Currently, we're on a train headed west, and one of the encounters we had was a giant pack of feral dogs that we had to fend off as we traveled through a valley. After thoroughly roasting the fact that our train somehow wasn't dog proof despite being, ya know, a moving train, we picked up the next game with the encounter.

As I stood guard to defend our conductor, one of the dogs, a clearly starved, feral greyhound, leaped on board.

I rolled to catch the dog. I succeeded.

The rest of the encounter was pretty much me struggling to hold onto the dog while everyone else actually did something useful. We leveled up after that, and I took a feat that functionally gives me an animal companion. The DM had to explain that this particular dog would not be able to follow the rules as written abilities the feat offers, he even had an NPC dog trainer in the next town offer to swap dogs with Gary, before I countered that I had no desire or expectation that this dog would ever obey, I just wanted a sliver of a chance at keeping him from escaping and/or eating us all in the middle of the night. Also at this point everyone in character hates/fears this untamed beast and is trying to convince me to get rid of it (ooc they're loving it almost as much as me). Thankfully Gary is a stubborn bastard who doesn't care what anyone else thinks and isn't about to start now and he's living his best star-of-a- horse-girl-movie life. I use our next stop to raid a pet store. I spend 3 days while the others upgrade the train chasing the damn dog through the woods bc I was convinced we had enough of a bond he wouldn't run away. Someone mentioned the definitely magic macguffin in our luggage and I realized I'd COMPLETELY forgotten the actual plot of the campaign.

Recently the dog went from "will bite your fingers off if you take his muzzle off" to "serene and revealing an intelligence far beyond what a dog should be capable of" literally overnight. Everyone else thinks it's weird but Gary is just convinced he was right about being a good dog trainer.

I've named him a mangled version of the name once used by simulation-Gary's best friend/almost love interest, who in this world is calling himself by a not-quite-remembered-right variation of the name of his beloved steed.

[fontasticcrablettes]

What is the list of nominations at so far for the shitty parents tournament?

So far we've got:

Bart (Phantasia)

Shizel (Eternia)

Kratos or Anna (Symphonia)

Mylene Wilder (Symphonia)

Virginia (Symphonia)

Dirk (Symphonia)

Will (Legendia)

Arnold Alcott (Legendia)

Solon (Legendia)

Duke Fabre or Suzanne Fabre (Abyss)

King Ingobert (Abyss)

Largo (Abyss)

Van Grants (Abyss)

Oliver or Pamela Tatlin (Abyss)

Aston and Kerri Lhant (Graces)

Garrett Oswell (Graces)

Derrick or Ellen Mathis (Xillia)

Jiao (Xillia)

Ludger (X2)

Victor (X2)

Bisley (X2)

Zenrus (Zestiria)

Zephry (Arise)

Stahn and Rutee (Destiny)

Gall (Hearts)

Hugo Gilchrist (Destiny)

Artorius (Berseria)

Melchior (Berseria

Eugene (Rebirth)

Brute Lualdi (DotNW)

Vincent Bridges (Tempest)

And there's one slot left. Who should fill it? I took Leia's parents off this list because while they have defined characterization, they're awesome and won't win anyway. I also removed Dorr, who has questionable morals but is an NPC parent of an NPC, so less relevant. I removed Hermes, because while he appears in side material, he doesn't appear in the actual game and there is nothing we know about his parenting in particular to get upset about.

Any of those could be added back in, or someone else. Emeraude? Cornell? Uncle Alba?

[gaykarstaagforever]

I was heading to the radio tower in Fallout 3 that starts The Pitt DLC.

I was stuck trying to figure out how to scale the rock cliffs on all sides of it to get there. When I finally found a way up, I was still far enough away that I hadn't "found" the location yet.

A friendly NPC suddenly ran up to me from the direction of the distant radio tower. This is Wernher, the guy you have to talk to to start the mission. He yelled at me for "not helping him with those guys," who were apparently slavers trying to recapture him.

I have no idea what he's talking about. I didn't get up there yet.

But whatever, he says. I just need to go to the train tunnel that leads to the Pitt, slightly more to the northwest, and kill the slavers in the camp there, and steal their clothes. I can free the slaves there too, if I want to.

...I already did this like 7 hours ago, because I randomly stumbled upon them and didn't remember what that location was.

Are they going to respawn now? Or do I just need to take clothes off of corpses I left to rot in-game, days ago?

Answer: looted corpse clothes.

I'm more impressed the post-war Wasteland still somehow has a usable thoroughfare from DC to Pittsburgh. Unless the Fallout universe has markedly different rail lines than our world, the only way to Pittsburgh from DC is north to Harrisburg, PA, (my hometown! Yay!), then due-west to Pittsburgh.

So I guess Harrisburg is still a major transit hub? And tunnels under the Appalachians between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh are still somehow passable? I mean, fine. But those require constant expensive maintenance to keep open in our world. Who is doing this in the post-apocalyptic Pennsylvania wasteland? The slavers? And how are they managing this in a cap-based economy with broken equipment? And why? Especially if an escaped enslaved person like Wernher can use it to get to DC. Seems like a pretty big flaw in the system.

Are they doing such a lucrative human trafficking business in DC that it justifies this? Why would they go all the way to DC for that, when I assume Pennsylvania and Maryland were bombed less than DC, so you'd think the slavers would have more local opportunities to take people?

Or they could just go west to West Virginia or Ohio. Or falsely advertise jobs in Pittsburgh, and just let desperate wastelanders come to them.

...I am clearly thinking more about this than whoever wrote this.