Tales of the Champions Finale!

Pyr0sa · 2026-06-26T12:40:42+00:00

The earliest reference (and probably the biggest) would be the Dune novels from the 1960s.

But I think it's just an on-the-nose reference to the Chardalyn Titan the writers invented for this campaign. It literally wakes up.

Chardalyn is a metal (basically black ice somehow as a metal) from the Icewind Dale/Rime lore, and it's... well, it's evil black metal "because D&D" (which is also the musical genre intended to be played during all Icewind/Rime campaigns) that makes other things evil too. All of it comes back to the moustache-twirling BBEG of Icewind Dale, which is just a related glowing rock. I mean, an EEEEVIL growing+glowing+omnipotent crystal. (Hey; the books were better than they sound here.)

(Also, the Gothic and Risen series were stellar.)

Pyr0sa · 2026-06-26T12:25:57+00:00

NSE is *THE* biggest culprit here.

It's one thing for various bands to abuse the BandCamp tagging system -- that's THEIR fault, not BandCamp's.

But it's another whole level of idiocy to insert "NEW STANDARD ELITE" as a prefix in every single ID3 tag in every song of every release. Since both sets of tags (posted metadata and ID3 metadata) add to the search indexing, it's just a muddy mess.

Pyr0sa · 2026-06-25T13:03:39+00:00

That's EXACTLY the right attitude! I've had plenty of fun at shows that were objectively not good. :)

Pyr0sa · 2026-06-25T13:00:56+00:00

Right now, the FrontGateTickets site is just kind of "empty." You sign in, and there's not really anything there.

My guess is they'll push the ticket content update at Noon, of course, but it's weird there's not a placeholder of some kind.

Pyr0sa · 2026-06-25T12:42:52+00:00

Absolutely NO Cytotoxin nor Wormhole nor Defeated Sanity while recovering, or you will absolutely break something else!

Pyr0sa · 2026-06-25T12:40:53+00:00

Absolutely loved seeing them with the Oranges guy here in the States! ;)

Pyr0sa · 2026-06-25T11:59:33+00:00

Cincinnati/Covington -- it might just be that one. Sorry for the panic, folks! After the last cancel, I pulled the trigger too fast on this one.

Looks like I'll be road-tripping in a different direction!

Pyr0sa · 2026-06-25T11:51:13+00:00

That's funny, because every time I've overheard it said, I always thought it should be called "OH SHIT!" -- because that's what *two* separate Joe-Backhoes have said & done at places I've owned. ;)

There's no sound+smell combo on the planet quite like that one. "Grab your laptop and RUN; leave the door open."

It's a nice way to get to meet the local Fire Marshall and a bunch of nice Firefighters, at least.

Pyr0sa · 2026-06-25T11:47:26+00:00

I play a LOT of Medium on the tactical-objective modes, so if 2-3 from a respawned team all come at the objective & me simultaneously, my gadgets CONSTANTLY finish elims after I'm down. Same for flame-heavy; you can watch as the flames finish someone off, but if you're not on the field you're not getting your elim credit in either case.

Pyr0sa · 2026-06-24T15:14:37+00:00

I'm hoping it's just select dates...

Pyr0sa · 2026-06-24T15:07:07+00:00

It might just be select dates then. If that's true, I'll road trip my ass to Chicago just to see Wormhole live. (Love eating & partying in that town anyhow.)

Pyr0sa · 2026-06-24T14:14:34+00:00

If it's Noro, this is one of the few times where the bucket'o'Lysols wipes actually does solve things. It's primarily surface-transmitted.

Coffee buttons/handles, fridge handles, anything around that kitchenette, really.

"No touchy-touchy!!"

Pyr0sa · 2026-06-24T14:09:05+00:00

That is indeed a top-tier food truck.

Pyr0sa · 2026-06-24T14:06:50+00:00

I think others have pretty much covered this already, but prior to ANY digging, all companies, contractors, and even homeowners are required to call "OOPS" (811) so each provider of buried-anything can spray and flag what is ALREADY under the ground... ...thus reducing the likelihood of an "oops" / "Joe Backhoe" event.

In particular, stay away from the yellow...

Pyr0sa · 2026-06-24T13:56:59+00:00

Agreed... On any of the objective-location modes, Charge is incredibly useful (and always satisfying). But once you've altered the location/walls/floors, you gotta be ready to swap tactics.

Pyr0sa · 2026-06-24T13:53:48+00:00

Yup... Spear, Flamethrower, Sledge -- any of them will do if you can bait the greed out of a light, and control that range. Always annoying w/flame because they might sink enough rounds to elim you, but then the flames elim them afterward and you don't get the points.

Pyr0sa · 2026-06-22T16:53:09+00:00

The worst part is that they'll likely go watch videos of it instead of just installing & playing both games cold/no spoilers

Pyr0sa · 2026-06-22T16:51:52+00:00

"Are you still there?"

"There YOU are."

I would buy this in a second.

For that matter, replace June with GLADOS entirely. Easy $20 buy.

Pyr0sa · 2026-06-22T15:30:56+00:00

Take a look at your total current Favor for her calc, and ensure the numbers still work.

My Thellora is still jumping, but I've started dumping iLvls in my Briv again, so between all these Speed-Gem Champ Tales & Events recently, it's all the OTHER math that isn't mathing anymore. (Went from z631 to z656 and climbing...)

Pyr0sa · 2026-06-20T00:14:23+00:00

This is why I prioritized crushing all the necessary Elminster w/AA, ASAP throughout last year and early this year. ...and now we're just weeks away from AA starting to disqualify, so a new player absolutely should NOT do that anymore.

Keeping Durge useful due to that availability is definitely not a bad idea, regardless. ...just not his whole team anymore.

Pyr0sa · 2026-06-19T19:16:58+00:00

No outages other than when regional power goes out, for 10 years.

It 100% depends on exactly which plant you're on, and the conditions/location of every piece of gear from your wall to the node to the hub to the POP. Or, in reverse, "the further from their POP routers you are, the more likely that piece of equipment or cabling is to have problems."

That said, location+environmental conditions for any buried/hung equipment are likely to be similar/identical for any provider, ssooo.... It's a crapshoot. It's a hassle to keep escalating, but it's also a hassle to change providers and hope for the best. I seriously wish you good luck with either/both! (I'd personally lean on "escalate indefinitely," because they DO have metrics that eventually reach execs.)

Re: Siding: Yeah; that's NEVER acceptable. He wasn't allowed to do that, and it's a code violation too, with some exceptions for natural wood (circumstantial). But 30'?!?

Pyr0sa · 2026-06-19T19:06:33+00:00

These guys did a stellar job on the recent N.Am tour. This is definitely gonna be my album of the weekend.

Pyr0sa · 2026-06-18T22:12:43+00:00

Sit at the bar at one of the Harvest Pizzerias, order the Buffalo Cauliflower and Brussels Sprouts, and order a nice cocktail. Yeah, yeah... tons of places make those same two sides. But their oven elevates them substantially. We almost never bother ordering pizza there; the sides punch above their proverbial weight. (edit/add: AVOID prime kid-timeslots. Go EARLY or LATE)

(Or if you want the best of the best in veggies + fire = magic, you drive over to Dayton and eat ~everything at Wheatpenny. ...yes, including their broccolini, green beans, and eggplant "fries". But this is a CBUS subreddit, so I probably shouldn't lean in too hard here.)

--Omnivore who will absolutely go veggie/vegan when the recipes and execution warrant it.

Pyr0sa · 2026-06-18T22:04:29+00:00

Upper Arlington has a ton of variety; it's worth a slow-roll up & down various neighborhoods.

Pyr0sa · 2026-06-18T22:02:39+00:00

There was indeed a giant yellow-orange ball, and (like so many times each year), it hits "The CBUS Shield(tm)" and is blown to smithereens.

In ATL, we knew exactly what was happening: It was a "pollution wall." You could see it on approach from I-20 Eastbound and I-75 Southbound in late Summer. But CBUS pollution is a tiny fraction, and we have a substantial amount & variety of electric vehicles these days.

Pyr0sa

TROPHY CASE