Mushrooms and Armored Trucks

Daily Ramble 36: Mushrooms and Armored Trucks

Expeditions in Albion have become second nature for the most part but in my rambling this morning I had to do something for the first time and while it was fun and I succeeded, it was unexpected and a bit nerve-wracking. But while gaming had unexpected situations, Tales to Astonish #40 was pretty much more of the same.

Emergency Healer

Expeditions have become pretty boring lately but today’s brought some excitement. Things started out normal with a Warhammer tank, a Great Nature Staff Healer, me and 2 other DPS. We bashed our way through most of the Mushroom Cave expedition until one of the DPS started pulling mobs from offscreen. He started running around hoping the tank would pull the aggro but he went running by all of us so fast we couldn’t stop the mobs from chasing and knocking him out. The remaining 4 of us took out the bad guys and waited for the DPS to get back up and we moved on, only the guy didn’t move on. He just stood where he fell and after he missed the next fight, we kicked him for AFK.

That was fine and we made it through another few battles with a new DPS until the healer failed to keep the tank alive. The tank fell followed by the healer but the 2 DPS and I were able to burn down the last baddie so we didn’t wipe. This was more excitement than I’ve had in expeditions for a while but things were not done yet as the healer got up from being knocked out and stood there unmoving. The tank got up and pushed to the next fight oblivious to the fact that we had no healer…not a good thing. I started throwing my usual fireball assortment until I saw the healer was not making an effort to move forward to the engagement so I swapped out my Great Fire Staff for my Wild Nature Staff. Fortunately I carry this around with me for expeditions just in case. Sure, it takes a while for the spells to be usable but the tank managed to stay alive long enough that I was able to start healing. We survived and kept going.

Sure we kicked the non-moving healer but I was able to keep healing until we got a new dedicated healer. We ran through 4 fights with me healing and only 2 DPS and the new healer caught up to us one fight before the boss…not bad and I went back to Pyromancer to fight the boss and defeat the dungeon.

Not too bad for my first healing experience in a Tier 6 expedition. I was a bit nervous about healing so had stuck with using my fire staff for everyday runs since it was pretty much auto-mode. With healing you actually have to pay attention to what’s going on to keep people alive – fire DPS is just click and shoot, not too much to think about. I suppose with this effort my nervousness can be put aside and I can opt for healing Tier 6 now. I just wonder if there were some connection issues causing all the AFKs today or what – I hope it doesn’t become typical for people to AFK in expeditions.

Tales to Astonish #40: The Day That Ant-Man Failed

What happens when a superhero gets sick and needs to go to the hospital?

There’s actually more to this issue than the Ant-Man story but I only read through that one since it’s tied in to the Complete Marvel Reading Order that focuses on characters, events, and story lines that are relevant to the Marvel Universe. Many of the additional stories can be interesting but are one-shot tales that don’t have a character, location, or pretty much anything to do with the rest of Marvel.

Sadly though, the Ant-Man story, while a bit more interesting that the last Fantastic Four issue, was disappointing with it’s Scooby-Doo ending. Always the bad guy unmasked and always the person asking for help is the bad guy. I suppose audiences back in the early 60s were not so turned off by the expected “twist” ending, but in 2017 we’ve all seen these things millions of times (considering Scooby-Doo came out originally in 1969).

The story goes as follows…a bunch of armored trucks have been hijacked and the owner of the company requests Ant-Man’s help in stopping the criminal. They set up a plan to have a new shipment of cash go out but Ant-Man will be hiding inside. When it comes time to set the trap, Ant-Man comes down with appendicitis and heads to the hospital – he’s failed. As the armored truck makes it’s delivery, it’s intercepted by a moving van that first blocks the road then pulls it into the back with a huge magnet. Once inside, the hijacker drops a gas grenade to knock out the guards but then Ant-Man shows up. Apparently he was faking his appendicitis and he’s using his new plastic bag gas mask to avoid the knock out gas.

After a chase scene which is actually kinda cool with him dodging though the ignition and engine of the truck, Ant-Man rips open the hijacker’s gas mask and he passes out due to the gas. The unmasking is of course…the owner of the armored truck company.

What I learned:
* Ant-Man is well read and knows his South American tribal figurines.
* Magnets must have really been a thing back in the early 60s – they show up in so many of the Marvel comics it’s funny.
* Putting a plastic bag over your head in a comic book wasn’t frowned upon in the early 60s – that first panel could have been better.

I rate this issue a C-.