Quest for Rares

After fetching the rare from the previous game, the gang moved on to hunting for Captain Scar's bandana. As it turns out, Dave's pirate character, "Cut-throat Kenny", is, uh, a terrible pirate, in that he doesn't have a Boating skill. Charles is hella lucky, though, and his character (Cazeon) managed to keep the ship floating during a huge storm. From the way they tell it, it was a close call - huge waves, terrible storm, nearly knocked half the crew overboard. But, they finally made it to the island, and after a false start (in which half the party tried to drown, nearly successfully) and having to wait a day to reset (something about it not unlocking when there is a storm?), they followed the instructions they were given - kick a palm tree, watch where the coconut falls, dig underneath it, and indeed, they found the chest after quite a bit of digging. While the bandana didn't seem to have any obvious magic, like the knife from MSF, it did have some kind of effect when "Cut Throat Kenny" put it on.

The next location was one I was sad to miss - Noir Detective is my jive. But, I got good instructions, so I can follow up later. Behind Big Wrench's Auto Mechanic - a known hideout for Big Tiny's goons - is a trashcan. Turns out, two thugs (Mugsy and Toothpick, though the guys only learned Mugsy's name) sit out back, having a conversation. I've actually listened in on it before, so I've got the gist - Mugsy, the big guy, is nervous, but Toothpick, the skinny guy, tells Mugsy that it'll all work out for the best - when the "big guys" get "whacked", that leaves room for the "little guys" like them to move up, and with Mugsy's brawn and Toothpick's brains, they should go far. Sounds like it's not gonna be a thing, though...

The gang snuck (sneaked? I hate that both of those sound wrong) up on the two guys, and sprang a sneak-attack! There were a lot of misses - stupid RNG - but Cazeon got popped for a lot of damage, and barely survived. Between the three of them, Dapper Dan, Cazeon, and Cutthroat Kenny managed to down the two - Mugsy just got knocked out, but Toothpick took a knife to the belly and moved on to the big hideout in the sky.

After some jokes about the Valentine Day Massacre, the gang adopted a new moniker - the "Valentine Gang" clan tag.

They moved the trashcan, opened the manhole cover, and climbed down a set of stairs before the rest of Big Tiny's gang got outside. Down a tunnel, they found a room full of cans, jars, and other minor memorabilia, every piece inscribed somewhere with the name of someone who worked on the game. And, Dapper Dan got a challenge coin, which says it can be redeemed for a random perk if he meets a dev. Pretty damn cool.

After finding all the hidden areas Shane had talked about, they finally headed over to MSF to talk with OrcThank. Turns out, he was in town, recruiting, but took some time to talk with them in a private chat - a swanky one, too! I was finally able to get on, and damn, the guy's private chat room is freaking amazing! He said that Shane was out searching for "a glitch into another game", whatever that means, and hadn't logged on since. He actually called not too long ago and talked with Shane, which is cool. Gamer buddies are awesome. Cazeon, through no ulterior motive I'm sure, asked about the best solo raids - the basic Orc Mountains raid is a group of orcs near the hills, and the best loot drop percentages, turns out.

Luna15 showed up, and we dumped all the stuff we learned (which is where I heard most of this). He mentioned that if we go digging, we should use Tor or a VPN, again. I love the guy, but dang he takes his security for serious. He was actually surprised that there was more than one guy at Happy Acres with VR-related illness - we might have to go back and learn more about that other guy. Or the rest of the gang, anyway. I really don't want to go back there.

We did a bit of research, and found a few more leads - a kid that committed suicide, not too long ago, and his parents blamed VR. Weirdly, there aren't many news articles - I found some stuff, but it lead to 404 pages, and it sounds like the guys ran into similar issues. Kinda weird. I can totally see why Luna15 thinks the whole thing is some big conspiracy. Gotta say, I might be a believer too if this keeps up.

Oh, and there was one more thing - Charles got an invite to a new game, "Tilt-a-Werld", a weird mashup kind of thing. He forwarded us some passes too, so we might have to take a look-see at it. He said something about creating "Lenny, the sweetroll carrying orc princess" - what a weirdo, haha!

Oh, and I added a page describing all the games and stuff - cool, right? Eventually I'll have to actually make it look good. Anyway, that's all I got for today - happy gaming! Oh, and I just realized today's date - September 11, 2021. 20 years. Crazy how far the world has come since then.