My bank account has taken a nosedive... but it was worth it!

My PC (3Ghz Athlon dual-core, 4GB DDR2-800), has had the same graphics cards since I got it... a pair of Geforce 6600 GTs- 128MB cards.

I have just ordered a Geforce GTX 280. I already have the Lian Li full tower case (which is a work of art- seriously, it's a black monolith of brushed
aluminum) and the dedicated graphics power supply.

By Friday, I will be making Mass Effect, Oblivion, and UT3 beg for mercy. My days of envying others' PCs are at an end.

"....oh great," Terrence grunted, looking at the greater mass of Banished Pantheon sitting ahead of them. While most might've focused on the
Earthquake and Death Shamans hiding behind piles of rotting puppets, the tank's eyes were drawn to a floating mask with a purplish aura.

Now, think, Terrence. The last thing you want to do is have to explain to Rhea and Lisa that I've got several more girls
wanting to bed on the couch and that I can't persuade them not to. That would be the bad thing. So. Tactics. Smash mask before they get there. Done that
often enough. I don't think those things can even touch me anymore. Now, to get them to accept it. I'm the tank. Shouldn't be hard. Smooth,
Terrence. Smooth and cool.

"Well, if you girls can just take a step back here and rest, I'll distract them. Then just hit them as hard as you can," he said, projecting cool
and confidence.

The way Net Sabre tilted her head at him was the warning gesture he'd realize afterward he should have noticed ahead of time.

"Now, Terr...." Net began and Terr was sure he heard at least one of the other Sabres giggling at her tone which immediately told him 'you're
in for a lecture, buster'. "I respect the fact that of all of us, you've been doing this the longest. Longer than me, longer than the other girls
here. In fact, I would not be surprised, given the stories, to find out you were on a first name basis with some of these Shamans. But..." she said,
gaining a wince. "..if you think that we're prissy little girls that need to be protected from the worst of this, you are sadly mistaken."

"Uh..."

"Well, Mirage needs protecting, admittedly," she said, rolling with it. "But that's because she's our support, not because she's a
girl. Nano?"

"Yes, ma'am?" the black and green Sabre quipped, coming to mock attention.

"Target something nearby, draw it to us. I want those shamans without the support of their zombies. Anyone, if the masks notice us, take them down
first. The rest of you, you know what to do."

A chorus of acknowledgments came over the comm as Terrence put a hand to his face. Smooth and cool, Terrence. Smooth and
cool, he thought, sarcastically. He looked up as Lady of the Peace floated past him, patting him on the shoulder. "Nice pep talk, Terr. Had them
riveted in their seats."

The resulting fight went remarkably well, admittedly. Nano's sniping and Mirage's illusions combined with the veterancy of the other fighters to
rapidly decimate the zombies as they came, though moans from more a distance away in the caves. Zombies burned, sizzled, shattered, or were devoured alive by
Nano's nannite blasts as the Riot Force strike force(and friend) dug their way through the Banished Pantheon's defenders. Terr was beginning to feel
pretty good about this mission, false start or not earlier there, when Nene cried out. He looked over, before his eyes widened in slight horror at seeing the
red Sabre flung off an upper ledge by a blast from the purple glowing mask which had snuck behind her. The team reacted with simple efficiency, the mask
exploding in short order as the rest of the group was mopped up. Terr breathed a sigh of relief as he jumped up to where Nene'd fallen onto another ledge,
halfway between the ceiling and the floor. He almost thanked whatever deity or geological process had made the cave
that way. Then he remembered the structures informally known by Paragon geologists as the "five layer cake" and took that opinion back.

"Are you alright, Net?" he asked, helping her up. The armored woman shook her head slightly. "Yeah, I'm fine...couldn't resist being the
big strong hero to come save little old me, could you?" she giggled. Terrence chuckled at the jibe....before she leaned against him. "It's enough
to make a girl's knees weak....as if that story about you saving the group from all those Lost wasn't inspiring enough."

"Ah...Net..." Terrence said as inwardly his mind started racing for the nearest enchanter he knew that could undo a mental curse. Heck, Gamma
could....no, not the best idea here.

"Oh, don't worry so much about it Terr...I mean, a big strong guy like you? If you can do all this and still survive two women at home, I'm sure
you wouldn't mind shouldering little old me as well," she purred, leaning up to him. Ifrit, who'd finally caught up, was treated to the very odd
sight of Nene curling around Terrence in full power armor. Given his expression, she decided to stay back in the shadows and see if she had to intervene.

"I know what you're thinking," Nene said as Terr tried to back out of her grasp. "It'd be too complicated. It'd never work.
What would the children look like?" That last comment got Terr stumbling as Nene giggled sultrily at him.

"Honestly Terr...I've one thing to confess," she said, leaning in close again. "You've always....been completely not my type," she
noted in the same exact tone, gaining a confused look from the tanker. Nene smiled in her helmet. "Sorry. I'm going to have to let you down," she
noted, poking him in the ribs with her finger and pushing slightly. Terr's eyes widened as his previous attempts to backpedal putting him on the very edge
of the ledge meant he promptly had nowhere to put the foot he put backward, and the tank promptly fell off, hitting the ground with a solid thud.

Nene laughed hard, bent over, and Terrence was suddenly aware that several more of the Sabres had joined her. Ifrit giggled slightly as she floated ahead. Nene
landed beside Terr as she jumped off the ledge, patting Terrence on the head. "C'mon, Fonz. Let's go wrap this up," she smiled, leaping ahead
as the glow of her repulsion field clicked into view. Terr groaned as he got up and followed.
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."

Lawrence Kasden. He did a couple little films called Raiders of the Lost Ark and Return of the Jedi that I hear are pretty good....

http://www.reuters.com/article/filmNews ... 4020080616
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."

countdown to Skye V exploding - 3... 2... 1..
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies

While briefing Terr on how to get Shivians in Bloody Bay...
06-16-2008 10:08:11 [The Legendary]OpMegs: After you've endured enough radiation to sterilize Detroit, you find a firebase.
06-16-2008 10:08:23 [The Legendary]MatrixDragon: ... So, after a night with Rhea and Lisa?
06-16-2008 10:08:36 [The Legendary]OpMegs: No, that's to sterilize *Rhode Island*
06-16-2008 10:08:51 [The Legendary]Terrence Knight: 0_0
06-16-2008 10:08:56 [The Legendary]Sweno: I resent the perfectly accurate statement

I posted a brief piece here about the Binders. This is a
more in-depth look at them. Ankhani expressed interest, and if anyone else is interested, hit me up. There's possibilities here. Of the alts I list
below, I'm only firmly attached to two -- Flame and Light -- and so if someone wants to take one of the others let me know and I'll release the slot.
Or roll yer own, of course.

Technical Stuff:

Origin: Magic

Costume: Ears should be Demon Ears, but if you've got a reason to change that, it's malleable. Chains should feature on the costume; at a minimum, the
belt should be the chain and padlock combination (available on both male and female models, I believe). No other requirements, but I tend to give them a dusky
or greyish skin tone to reflect the demonic influence.

Concept Stuff:

An ancient demon's power, his soul, has been fragmented into many pieces, to prevent him from wreaking havoc. Each fragment is bound to a human soul --
the only way to ensure it doesn't find its way home again. Each fragment can empower its Binder with whatever aspect of the demon's power it
represents. Being such an old and powerful demon, of course, there really is no limit on what he can do. At a minimum, it grants the Binder freedom from old
age. They are not immortal, but they don't get older and won't die of old age. Nothing special is required to kill them, though -- this isn't
Highlander.

Each large fragment tends to represent one theme (I used the classic elemental powers, but there aren't any real limits here), or related themes -- light
and dark, fire, whatever. The fragment is not sentient but can be best described as wanting to return home -- to the demon, in essence -- which can be done by
releasing the bindings (the magical chains holding that fragment to the Binder -- see costume, above) when two or more pieces are in close proximity. The more
pieces that merge, the greater the danger that the demon will awaken and actively try to reclaim what is his. There are an unknown number of small fragments,
which may be inhabiting J. Random Person, small animals, trapped by mages for magical power sources, or what-have-you. It is only the large fragments that
need Binders; the small ones don't possess enough power on their own to pose a real threat, though they still try to come together if they get close
enough. Thus, the Binders actively search for them -- they can sense them, when close enough -- and try to imprison them. When enough are imprisoned, of
course, another large fragment is born and a new Binder must be found to handle it. Someday they hope to be done with this task.

Fragments can be transferred voluntarily, if the Binder holding it chooses to release it. It can also be forcibly impressed upon another, which a heroic type
would never do, of course, but there's a lot of fragments out there and nobody knows for sure where they all are.

Binders in (relatively) close proximity can share each other's thoughts and feelings, linked by the fragments they possess. If they get *too* close for
too long a time, the fragments may break free and merge on their own -- which usually kills the Binder in the process.

Finally, Binders face a constant and unrelenting assault upon their mind from the fragment, at an unconscious level. Think of it as a curse. Binders tend to
last a long time as heroes, then fall suddenly and become what they once hunted. That is the fragment at work. Binders constantly watch out for each other
and will not hesitate to go after one of their own if they do succumb to the demonic influence.

Known Binders:

Flamebinder -- Molly Morgan, American midwest, became a Binder voluntarily but without full understanding (the previous Flamebinder was less than forthcoming
about the details), has been active as a Binder since the 1950's. Objective age 72, subjective age 19. Fire/Fire blaster.

Earthbinder -- Faith Santova, Mexico, became a Binder voluntarily and with full disclosure -- it's a family curse or tradition, depending on how you look
at it, for centuries -- and has been active since 2005. 25 years old. Stone/Stone tanker.

Nightbinder/Lightbinder -- twins, brother and sister, neither of which had any clue what they were getting into. They are in a unique situation, in that their
bodies were possessed by a single uncommonly large fragment, which split between them but nearly killed them anyway. Kheldians saved their lives by merging
with them. They have no clue what the whole Binder thing is about and are the current targets that Flame and Earth are trying to track down so they can be
trained and/or handled as needed. Both are 22, they became Binders during the latest Rikti invasion (before the June 2008 one, that is). Night is a warshade,
Light is a peacebringer.

--sofaspud
--"Listening to your kid is the audio equivalent of a Salvador Dali painting, Spud." --OpMegs

A number of you have probably been following this, but in the spirit of 4e news that's been going around here I thought I'd link this. Gabe and Tycho
from Penny Arcade along with Scott Kurtz of PVP sit down with one of the RnD guys at Wizards to play a campaign of DnD 4e, and record the whole thing and are
releasing it in weekly pod casts.

If you're into their kind of humor, it's pretty funny to listen to them bumble their way through a 1st level dungeon, but it's also really
interesting to A: listen how people with three different DnD play experiences (old hand, hasn't played in years, and never played at all) interact with
each other around the table and B: how those said mechanics of the new edition work.

It's located in the features area of the Dragon Magazine part of the Wiz site. You have to register with the Dragon Magazine site to listen to them, but
it's free and if you have a spam email address, easy to do.

Take it or leave it,but I thought it was worth a listen. Made me want to hunt up a group and play.

Link
---
Jon
"And that must have caused my dad's brain to break in half, replaced by a purely mechanical engine of revenge!"

http://www.fileplanet.com/187537/180000 ... (Free-Game

Get it while you can!

What's new with Phil and Dixie

Warning - somewhat NSFW - but I did laugh out loud.

...ever correct answer to any question on a game show.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.