Captain Rolith?! WTF?!

 I don't know why, but this looks like Captain Rolith from DragonFable. I don't know how that happened, but it did. It's done in charcoal and I love how it turned out. But I still can't get over the fact it looks like Rolith.

~AnnElfwind

Written on the 10th of January, 2021

Phasmophobia

 I'm still shaking. I just survived two back to back huntings. Today was my second time playing this game. And I have yet to play together with someone. All my ghost hunts so far were done solo. And for that reason, I keep picking the same house over and over again, because it's small. And I play on amateur. And with the five-minute window, I learned something. Easiest way is to find the room, either with EMF or a thermometer. Then place the camera. Then, in the camera's view, close enough for you to see, place the other one (EMF or thermo) and then add the spirit book, also in view. Use the remaining time before you can be hunted to try and talk to the ghost or look for fingerprints. Then, cheese it out of there and use the camera view to look for other signs. This way is the best way to see if something was written in the book. 

I did my latest hunt this way and it turned out well. Even saw a ghost orb. So yeah. Completed two out of the three daily objectives, figured out the best way to survive a hunt, and wanted to play with someone, but that didn't work out... So... I guess I'll try that out some other time. 

Still, the game is great and I do recommend it. But it is scary. I think the most important thing is to keep an eye on hiding places. Closets and similar. Though I just went to steam discussions and frankly, at this point, I'm not all that sure about hiding and what works and what doesn't. Closet worked for me so far. So, I think I'm gonna trust it. The ghost walked right past me and didn't try anything. Could be because I played on amateur, but who knows. 

I love the voice chat integration. The way you can anger the ghost. Though I haven't had a ghost talk to me yet, I had one play the piano for me after I talked to it. And I'm not even sure the house had a piano. So, ghost piano anyone? 

I've also been watching the Oxbox play the game on youtube. And even watched Eurogamer play it on their channel. And I learned some things from that. And the main thing is to get to level 3 asap. Because it unlocks the strong flashlight for you. And I have the funds for it already, but I don't have the level yet. I'm almost there though. So, hopefully, when I regain enough nerve to play again, I'll reach it and will be able to finally have more light. 

I did buy the thermometer though. It makes things somewhat easier in terms of finding the ghost room. Or basement, as was the case for my latest hunt. That was why I was placing everything in view of the camera. I didn't wanna go back. But I did, in the last minute before hunting, I tried to talk to the ghost and that was when she played me the piano. And the ghost turned out to be a banshee. And I guessed it right. So yay me. 

~AnnElfwind

Written on the 28th of November, 2020

Minecraft

 Well, like I said in the previous post, I've managed to make my Minecraft work again. And I've been playing it almost every day since. And the reason why I even made the effort to do it, was because of a video I watched on youtube. But that's not all. That video made me want to watch story mode again. Not season 2, the admin thing wasn't that great. I mean, I watched it the first time, and I might end up watching it again, but at that moment, I really wanted to watch the portal hopping part. And for that, I had to watch the Wither storm episodes just to get into the story properly. So I did. And let me tell you, there's a ton of playthroughs on youtube, but to find one where you save Gabriel instead of Petra, was the problem. But finally, I managed to find it. Yay me!

Oh, and obviously, I prefer male Jesse. So I'm watching the playthrough of the first episode and I'm like: "maybe I should give fixing my Minecraft another go..." So I did and I upgraded to 1.16.3 and got a bunch of mods. Thankfully, my favorite furniture mod as well as my favorite food mod were upgraded to this version, so great! I also added a bunch of other mods and optifine (for dynamic lighting). I'm a bit sad that twilight forest hasn't been upgraded to 1.16, but oh well, can't win them all. 

And so I played and while I did so, I listened to the story mode. And, just like the first time, my favorite character is Ivor. I dislike Petra and I was pretty mad that the person playing it was most of the time really mean to Ivor. 

Also, during the white pumpkin mansion episode, I don't know if it was intentional or if they were just really bad at it, but when it came to the big reveal, they kept picking all the wrong answers. Too bad Telltale games shut down and you can't get the game legally anymore. And just when I started considering it... *groan*

Anywho, I'm off to play some Minecraft. See ya.

~AnnElfwind

Written on the 25th of November, 2020

Josh Lanyon - Murder takes the high road

 Well, it's been a while since I've written anything. It won't seem like it to you, because I pre-schedule my posts. So there are still several to be posted before you actually see this at the time I'm writing it. I haven't been writing anything lately because I've managed to get my Minecraft to work again. And I've been playing that. Also, I recently got back into the habit of listening to audiobooks. And that's the reason I'm writing this. I finished one just two days ago. And it was really good. 

Written by Josh Lanyon (never heard of him until now), the book is titled Murder takes the high road. And yes, as the name suggests, it's a murder mystery. Though until about the last third of the book or so, it is meant more in the fun way as the whole thing takes place during a bus tour about a murder mystery author. 

Unless I misheard the narrator, the whole thin gis neatly set into the Scottish Highlands and the bus tour is supposed to end in the authoress's castle. 

The main character, Carter, is attending the tour despite the fact that his ex is there also, and with a new boyfriend to boot. At first, he's only there to annoy the crap out of Trevor (the ex), but then he starts to enjoy it. He makes friends with the other occupants and seems to be the only one actively (though somewhat unknowingly) participating in the staged mystery that is part of the tour. 

Things take a bad turn after they reach the castle where they are supposed to stay for several days while having a chance to talk to the authoress. I do not wish to spoil the plot of the novel. Up until now, I haven't said anything specific as to the whole plot. But let's just say that the staged mystery becomes a proper murder mystery. I won't say who or why or how, if you want to know that, you have to read or listen to the book. I got it from audiobookbay and you can too. 

Umbrella Academy - Season 2

 Took me two days to watch the second season. And some months to force myself to do it. I was postponing it like crazy. In my defense, I had some pretty cool anime and a Chinese drama to finish first. Major spoiler to start. Because I'm not happy about it. We lose Ben somewhere in the last two episodes of this season. Permanently. Or at least it seems that way. But he finally passes on, after saving Vanya. And he was always my favorite character so I'm really not happy about it, but considering Umbrella Academy has a thing about not everything being as it seems at first glance, I'm gonna wait and see what season 3 has to say about it. 

The siblings are scattered in (I think) three years before Kennedy's assassination. And then they reunite and try to get back home. In the process of doing that, Diego gets locked in an asylum, Luther is something like a cage fighter or something similar in some underground rink or something, I'm not entirely clear on that. Allison gets married, Klaus starts a cult, Ben learns he can possess someone and falls in love, Five witnesses another apocalypse and Hazel's death and Vanya loses her memory and then falls in love. With a woman. Not that that's important. What is important is that she saves a kid's life and somehow gifts him her powers. Or more like a copy of her powers, because she doesn't lose hers.

Alchemy in Autumn

 

Okay, so I've been drawing again. And lately, I've been using prompts from SketchDaily on Reddit. They seem to have really interesting prompts. Well, obviously not all of them, but a great many. And this time, I used the prompt for OCtober - Alchemist. I had several ideas, but most of them were pretty chaotic and not as clear as this one. So I went with the young elf boy holding a bottle of potion. What potion? I don't know. Ask him. And yes, it's smoking pink. For this drawing, I used one of my better sets of colored pencils. After doing a pencil sketch. I think the end result is pretty interesting. Complete with the white highlights done in white posca pen. I love that thing! 
I'm also pretty happy about the hand. I mean, there are some extra lines around the thumb, but at that point, they were kind of impossible to erase. I tried. They wouldn't budge. Still, the hand doesn't look completely crap so I'll take it.  

Ancient Detective [2020]

 

Okay. Let me first say one thing. 

I CALLED IT. I FUCKING CALLED IT!

Thanks. Now, that statement won't tell you anything. At least not if you didn't see the drama. And even then, it might not tell you anything. But I just had to say it. 

As for the drama. I'm hoping for season 2. No idea if we'll get one or not, but I'm hoping. The drama itself, it's pretty good. The main character is called Jian Bu Zhi. He can't remember a certain part of his life and is trying to figure out what happened in Shenij Valley. Mainly because he's trying to uncover his father's killer. 

There was a fight in Shenji Valley and it has four survivors. Jian is trying to learn what they know. But they seem to keep dying before he can interrogate them. And along the way, he solves mysteries. Because he's a detective damn it! 

And he also meets some friends and a love interest that I could have done without. Frankly, the pairings are the one big issue I have with this show. 

So, his best friend and brother - Zhao Wo Huan, love interest Zhan Shi Qi and the love interest of Zhao - Ming Yue. Then we get Ye Xiao Xiao who is a doctor. And that is another big part of the drama. A race for Jian to find out what happened in Shenji Valley with enough time to get treated so that he doesn't die. Because, he was poisoned in the first episode or so, and then a technique called the cold palm or something similar was used to stop the poison from spreading. But it's all slowly killing him. And the only person who knows how to reverse it lives in Heiwu Ridge. But Jian is stubborn and wants to first find out what happened to his father, how he died.