A DnD Tale - Van Richten's Guide to Raveloft - The Fall of the House of Lament

 

The image of the missing picture!

So we continue the House of Lament story. As Immeral have waken up in the tub with the words of Mara in blood on the mirror he returns to the parlour where van Richten and Hope still sleep. They begin by returning to the third floor and the nursery to try getting in to the locked door. A vision of a shield appears... and here I gotta complain a bit about the book, since it clearly references the seal of a god, but in none of the books I got (and I got pretty much every official book from Wizard of the Coast regarding DnD 5e) I could find it, neither Player's Handbook, nor Dungeon Master's Guide or even the van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft or even Curse of Strahd. I don't even know where people got the image above, but I'm suspecting one of the older books? How can you miss that? Not all of us have been here since the 1970's!

Anyway, van Richten is mentioning that it is missing the Belladonna for the image to be complete and they recall that there was a lone living flower in the conservatory below so they go down to get it and then return and enters the room after presenting it to the visage. They enter the children bedroom and sees a skeleton in a rocking chair and hear the voices of a boy and a girl from two toys, a purple dragon and a tin knight. They tell them about the hungry ones and how there mother locked them in their bedchamber and prayed to the god Ezra to protect them from the darkness and they want to leave. They are told by van Richten that the spell protecting the room now is gone so they should take the toys with them. They return down, but in the corridor they hear the coughing from the master bedroom. They enter and sees something shivering under the bed sheets. Immeral pulls it off and from the bed rises a zombie plauge spreader. It's dispatched without any problem, other than I rolled so bad for van Richten that he didn't hit any.

They go back to the foyer and see that the mist outside now have crept closer to the house and they seem to be surrounded. They head to the parlour and take a long rest to prepare for the end and a final seance. They ask Theodora for help and they get the message of "GET THEM OUT". They are hinted to go to the tower where they saw the vision of the bricked up prisoners. In the gallery they are attacked by four flying death's head that came alive from the busts. van Richten missed every attack, but the other was able to kill the other's without problem. They enter the tower and sees blood dripping from the ceiling and forming an alcove in the wall as well as running to the floor and seemingly pain a stairway down. As they investigate an armoured hand breaks out from the wall and a ghastly voice screams for Mara. A armoured knight breaks out together with two boneless creatures. van Richten is able to go first and actually doing pretty well against the first boneless, but is still hit by it twice so that it begin entangle itself on him. The other's take care of the boneless so that they can attack the knight alone. As he falls to Immeral's strikes and the light within the armour extinguish, the stairway down appears. They climb down and finds a door that leads to a wall with a gate leading to the storage room that they investigated earlier (the supposedly correct way to get down here, but it was a bit hard getting that, and getting the knight fight made it more fun). A short rest later they investigate a pit where they except Hope hear their voices echoing in the dark. Hope hear someone calling her and a faint amber light. They enter.

They end up in a cavern with an amber pillar standing on a patch of land surrounded by some black ink. Immeral and Hope recalls the amber sarcophagus from the Amber temple. Hope touches it and sees a vision of a spiralling eye, the eye of Tharizdun together with the image of a spider. Call back to their mission to get the rod of law as well hinting about the evil that the Temple of Elemental Evil is trapping (I just now realised that I don't have a name for the wizard/monk giving them their mission, oops). Also rather fun how I used the books vague description that you can tempt the players with any of the dark gifts detailed in the book, but the Amber Temple only had one per god, meaning that this is some real powerful god. Sometimes inspiration strikes right at the last moment. Hope has the Mark of the Raven, an amulet that now begins to glow which causes the pillar to almost scream in agony. Five tendril arises from the dark ink and a spectre appears above them. Now, I don't know how you would make it on an ordinary level 3 party, the tendrils act like shadows and drain your strength with every hit, meaning that instead of the 60 hit points they usually have my party have around 10 Strength to worry about. Thankfully they have the sun sword that showers all enemies in sunlight and they are affected by disadvantage on every roll. They are able to kill the tendrils and stun the spectre with the Mark of the Raven. Hope uses the sun sword and gets a critical hit as she thrusts the sword into the amber and filling it up with light. Another round and she repeats the action and the light burst through the stone and it cracks and then explodes. The murky water disappears and the spectre leaves her sword behind. They get the treasures and head out. Theodora seems to have created a corridor through the mist and as they leave they see the shadows of the children in the toys appearing in the mist and running to their mother before they leave. The End!

Well that was fun. The most action in any game we played. And the ending battle with the amber pillar was fantastic really, maybe better if I thought through the consequences of putting a level 3 end boss against 2 level 8 PC and an NPC of challenge rating 5. Made some changes in the spur of the moment, in Theodora's path you actually just need to leave the house after getting the toys, but even if that the best emotional ending it doesn't feel that earned. So I dropped in both other endings as well. What's better than a gauntlet of fighting the undead and a cursed artefact below the house to seemingly allow Theodora to get them through the mist? So that is that side story. We are thinking about using one of the compilation books to play other adventures, but the problem is that most of them are quite high experience and they already are a bit miffed about losing something like 3000 exp in the final session? Still, two weeks to next game, and this time with all sisters plus another player. 

The Rusty Sword: Vanguard Island (Switch)

Another pirate game huh?

Well, been one of the non-playing times again so a huge backlog, but not feeling it for any game. And then I found this little game and besides the old-school graphics and music it was the description of a short game that caught my interest. And that it only cost 11 SEK (which is like what, 1 € or $?). 

So it begins with a pirate or adventurer arriving at the titular Vanguard Island in search of the Vanguard Relic. You explore the island and find the dungeon and defeat the boss and get the relic, the end. Yes, that was pretty much the whole game. There is a house on the island where you can get a life potion (which I didn't get till after finishing the game and start from the beginning to see what I missed). 

It looks good, sounds great and is rather fun playthrough. You have the option to play with a friend for some co-op. It basically a short Zelda game, they even references the old man in the cave at the start,  even use the same line, although it was just a sign telling us about the 2-player mode. 

Now, it feels like this is actually a tech-demo for a bigger game they would be working on. I would hope so. There is a lot of empty spaces on the character menu for more items beside the bombs. So, for a short break it is fun, no more than 15 minutes of play, if even that.

*After some googling* Well what do you know? They are actually developing a sequel and it's supposed to come out in Q4 2023? Sign me up!

A DnD Tale: Waterdeep: Dragon's Heist - Underwater Fantasy

 

Under the water where the seaweed grows
There is a world of fascination
Beneath the waves is where the coral glows
There is a world of jubilation

Another session with the main group. I should probably have read the last post since I forgot they gave the nimblewright detector away to the private eye. And instead they spent the whole session walking around using the detector in every district... oops. Lucky most things didn't have anything to do with the nimblewright, I just made them do all the side-quest for the different fractions. For example they went to the Blackstaff Tower to ask for the pinecone that the city watch dug up from the ground in the fields, which they want to send back to the wizards of the wine. The Blackstaff just scoffed at the request, but gave them a quest to look for a bronze dragon in the harbour. They went there on their off day, got a fisherman to take them to some sunken ships that have been reported as the place where some kind of fish creature had been observed. The fisherman believed it was a triton. They dive in with some potion of water breathing they got from the Blackstaff. There they find this young bronze dragon that have collected so much treasure it can and hiding in the shipwrecks, all while getting more "shiny-shiny". They convince him to stop stealing from above land and just take what have fallen into the water, and they also give him one of the platinum masks they had from Barovia, and realising that they actually are a lot more loaded than they thought. He warns them off the "big shadow" he has observed in the water that makes that awful noice and frightens him. They get some dates and head back to to land to investigate.

At the harbour they get to the harbour office and checks the logs of the ships and notice that the ships that have been here during the observed dates is their own ship and three ships belonging to a Captain Zord. The dates also corresponds to incidents like the fireball and Graalhound villa attack. They check the ships and discovers a nimblewright on the ship, but the crew sends them to captain Zord that is on his flagship the Eyecatcher. He dines with them and tells them of the nimblewrights he got from the island to the south and how they help in their parades and also working as servants. They return and report to the Blackstaff. Rest of the days they meet the inspectors and invite them to their pub, but also get information like Davil Starsong still in custody and they are cracking down on the Zhentarim operatives and that they soon will get Istrid Horn (which our heroes helped escape from the city last time). They also met Mirt who gave them a mission to help a friend to the Harpers that have been attacked by a monster and is currently holed up in her home trying to kill her cat. Our heroes investigate and are attacked by a gazer, the same type of monster they encountered while walking through the sewers in the first session of Dragon's Heist. 

Next, Hope is contacted by the flying snake and a friend of Davil who want to meet her in the cementery. She need their help in investigating the disappearance of a halfling noble and they begin looking in the dock and south ward getting a meeting for the next day with the halfling. They are also tipped of by the Zhentarim that Floxin might be looking into kidnapping Renaer again so they ask Mirt to set up a meeting with Renear in the morning. And here the session pretty much ends. Not much in actual story, but they got more world building and to look for their own quest... or the quests I hinted at least. They are pretty much prepared to break out Davil themselves. I have to retcon the nimblewright stuff next time and get them to just walking around promoting their pub. I should probably set up that the necromancer steals the pinecone from the city watch so that they don't pester the Blackstaff about it. I have a couple more side-quest so that they are in phase for the next part when finding the nimblewright. Should probably get the necromancer side-quest they haven't done, but give it to another faction. 

A DnD Tale: Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft - The House The Gods Forgot

Cornwall and the harbor
Where witches went mad more than once and
Until this day
In dreams at least
The lighthouse at Lost Christabel
Squat and hugely tilts
Upon the strand where Grandad's house was built

A continuation of the dnd side-story two of my sisters are having. After taking care of the ordeal of Hope waking up in the cellar being rescued by van Richten and Immeral they decide to investigate the cellar portion a bit more, they find a storage room behind the wine cellar, but its isolated and the roof seems to have caved in. They at least find some treasure and a key. They do notice that one wall sticks out and looks like the tower portion of the house. They go back to the tower, but find nothing that looks to lead to the bottom. Immerals wall of secrets seem to indicate something in the wall, but no way to get there. They decide to climb the tower instead, but halfway there a mighty wind blows down on them while they hear the scream of someone falling over and over. Van Richten is the only one strong enough to get past the wind and reach the top, from there he throws down a rope to help the others climb up and pass the wind. Doesn't help Immeral as van Richten rolls a 1 and Immeral fails the strength check so he rolls down to the bottom of the tower. They tie a rope and pulls him up together. At the top they find a chalk circle with the mark of the Raven and a crimson red armour belonging to one of the previous owner, Mara Silvra. The armour has no magical properties or so, but they get that they can use the armour as an exhibit back in Ravenloft so they pick it up to bring it with them after the adventure. Every way a capitalist.

They climb down... or fall down since none of them could withstand the strong wind. And afterwards goes up to the second floor going from room to room. Nothing much happens really beside some strange sightings, the best being when Hope enters the morning room and see a big eye looking at her through the window. And then while looking in a tea cup see the dried leaves forming a screaming face with a missing eye. They also finds an office where they look find the will of Loren Halvhrest and the deed of the house. Van Richten is able to pocket a pistol with 49 bullets (since it's anachronistic to the playstyle of my sisters and it makes a rather weird continuation error if my sisters use it in the main campaign) and another key he hands over to the pair. They also finds the balcony and then goes up to the third floor. As they enter the third floor they hear a clock chimes 13 times. Van Richten ask them to return to the parlor for another seance as the spirits seems restless. The spirit of Theodora tells them again to "SEEK THE WHITCH STONE" and then showing a candle. As the seance ends they hear the sound of thunder and rain outside. They go to bed and this time Immeral awakens in the study as a phantom accountant places sins and good deeds on scale weighing his soul. The ghost asks him to repent before vanishing before his eyes.

The storm is still raging outside, but they have deciphered Theodoras words as they learn that a witch stone is an ornamental stone that lets witches rest on the roof during their nightly travels. So they got to get to the roof. They enter the balcony and the rain pours down. They uses a grappling hook and is able to climb toward the widows peak and locate the chimney. Unfortunately the roof isn't stable and the bricks tends to careen down if one steps on them. They tie a rope to the ladder to the third floor (which they realised they could have used instead of climbing on the outside) and at its end tie a rope for each that attach to themselves as they try to get to the chimney. All fails so they end up hanging from the roof. Hope is able to get up to the chimney and tries to help Immeral while using her tail to secure herself. Which fails and she gains one level of exhaustion. 

Been watching a bit of Thunderbirds so now I can only hear this action music during potential disasters, that we used as that scene played out.

After a couple of more attempts with the rain pouring down they all get to the chimney and find the witches stone. They place a candle and lights it while using a brick from the chimney to protect it from the rain. They use the ladder down to the third floor and back to the parlor. They light the fire and tries to dry their clothes. As night approaches they use the spirit board again and are given another instruction from Theodora, to "RESTORE HER SHIELD" and then showing them a vine with flowers. They go to bed again and Immeral wakes up in the master bathroom in the tub and sees the words "Bloody Mara" written in blood in the mirror. And the session ends. 

Not much happened really this session, but the action scene on the roof was rather fun. A problem so far seems to be that the adventure enjoy a lot of strength checks like acrobatics to succeed, both passing the wind in the tower and climbing over the roof to the chimney and none of the characters in play are strength based (Hope getting out of the wine casket was another one from last session). Hope has the highest strength modifier with a 0, Immeral and van Richten both have -1. Maybe should have allowed acrobatics skill checks instead of the suggested Athletics since it was kinda one-sided. Then on the other hand, they at times rolled so bad it wouldn't have mattered anyway.

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (Wii U)

 

"I'm a captain of a ship

My ship is charmed, and called Plutonia."

After Ocarina of Time I got a bit tasty for another one, but which one to play? I just bought the Wii U virtual console versions of the DS Zelda games since the eshop was shutting down so I gotta play it? Released originally on the DS back in 2007 I got it first day and played through it twice if I recall and nothing after that. I have very few memories of this game, mostly about sailing and collecting ship parts. Nothing about the dungeons or bosses besides the final boss and the Temple of the Ocean King... helps a bit that you constantly travels to it. 

Story is a direct sequel to Wind Waker where Link and Tetra and her pirate crew are sailing across the sea in search of the Pirate Ship that terrorise the ocean. They find it, Tetra jumps on it, disappears, screams and Link follows after but ends falling into the water. He dreams about Tetra being captured and wakes up on an island where a fairy named Ceilia takes him to her grandpa that tells Link how to fight the evil of the ghost ship to rescue Tetra. Collect three fairies corresponding to the triforce, Courage, Wisdom and Strength. 

After that you enter the Ghost Ship and finds Tetra, but she is now petrified into a stone statue, so you learn that grandpa is actually the mythical Ocean King that was sealed away by Bellum, the evil that controls the ghosts ship. To defeat it you need the Phantom Sword... which doesn't exist so you gotta get three ores that you then create the sword from. You get the sword, get to the bottom of the Temple of The Ocean King, defeats Bellum, Tetra awakens, Bellum merges with the ghost ship, you blast it open, Bellum possess Linebeck (the owner of the ship you have been using during the adventure), you stab him in the back and the games over, the end.

It was fun replaying it since it's probably 15 years since I played it so it feels like a completely new game. Problem was getting used to the controls again, but once I got a hang of it, it was kinda enjoyable. Interesting knowing that every gimmick the DS could hold was used for this game, you gotta use the microphone to talk to people, fight some monster (just like the original Legend of Zelda on the Famicom), the game is completely controlled with the stylus and the original at one point you had to close the lid on the DS to print a map onto your map, which they fixed by pushing the home-button on the Wii U. I played the screens separated for most of the time, except on the damn archery mini-game. Which I also used the save-function to get past it. Don't think I cleared the mini-game back in the day.

It might not have the amount of dungeons or such like the other Zelda's (just 7 dungeons, that's like Zelda II numbers), but it has a lot to do if you have time to spend. Collecting ship parts, salvage treasures, fishing, archery mini-game, cannon mini-game... mostly to get ship parts, but it can be fun to build your own ship, a bit disappointed to learn that the numbers of hearts only correlates to the numbers of parts from the same set. I also checked my old save and saw that I missed a heart and a couple of gems for the different fairies, but I had every single treasure collected through the game without selling it... cash bonanza!

Overall, a fun game. Is it in the bottom of the Zelda games? Maybe, the graphics are a bit rough and the music is pretty much just Wind Waker music recycled so it doesn't stand out in anyway. A bit small as mentioned with very few dungeons and such. But I like Linebeck so that is a plus. Was a bit worried when I realised that all items you had to change in real time against enemies, but since I just brute forced my way through the Temple of the Ocean King and defeated him even though badly hurt by the phantoms and such you can take some hits and being slow. So I should be able to play it again when I turn 50.

The 7th Guest (Book)

 

Welcome Back!

For some reason I seem to like to get novelisations of supposedly horror games. After playing the 7th Guest I looked on TV-Tropes and got a bit more backstory on the game, and I think everything was taken from this book. The first chapters being the intro sequence from the game with Stauf how he murdered the church-going lady, got visions of a doll and then began selling them. Inbetween each of the Stauf chapters there is a time jump to the "present" and how each guest got the invitation and setting up their motivation. Edward Knox meeting a couple of hired goons that want to cash in on his debt, Martine that returned from New York after she was dumped by her then boyfriend and feeling distanced from this small town and wanting something grander, Brian Dutton who have nightmares about seeing the death of his brother as he fell into the lake and drowning while they were iceskating which gave him the opportunity to make something of himself, Julia that have been fired from her banking job due to being drunk on her job and finally Hamilton Temple, the former stage magician that have grown to old to continue his acts of magic.

Interesting set up for the characters, but most is given to Henry Stauf and what drives him, namely the voices in his head. It appears the book hints that Stauf is given instructions by some spirits from another dimension, demons or something, and their goal is to accumulate enough child spirits to open a portal to earth so that they can pass through and wreck havoc upon the world. We could probably guess something like that was happening due to knowing that children were trapped in the dolls and how he seemed to have demonic powers at the end, but it is neat to have the end goal spelled out. Something that wasn't explained in the game is that after the murder he is taken into custody, but are not suspected on the murder due to another drifter being caught stealing the coat of the victim (which leads to that person hanging himself after two days of "questioning" by the local police that even roughed up Stauf for begging, according to the police at least). The money he got went to pay back the latest victim of a theft he caused, but I thought he used the money to get some drinks that then lead to exchanging the doll he carved for room and board. But the doll was all he had. 

After this it's basically going for the people arriving at the scene and every scene is described in chronological order so you get what is happening since the game is a bit out of order. Which is a strength since you have the scene of Julia strangling Hamilton fairly early creating this feeling of what happened? The game has the advantage of seemingly giving different death scenes, Hamilton either gets strangled by Julia or is killed by an apparatus in the lab, Dutton either gets stabbed by Edward or gets some flesh eating chemicals that eat through his arms (I thought at least while playing the game, I mean, his room lead to a laboratory). Martine seemed to escape unharmed in the games if you look past the turning into a monster in the crypt or disappearing into the bath, in the book she just dies in the crypt as Edward is killed by Hamilton, which probably also shows a bit of problem with the book since it tries to tie up loose ends and it doesn't always succeed. An example is, how did Hamilton get to the lab? It is past the chapel behind Duttons room and the book just hand-waves it that he went through some doors and ended up there. Same near the ending as Julia is just sent from one floor to where Tad is and then is brought up to the attic to Stauf. They explain it that the powers behind Stauf alters the house for him.

Overall, a couple of scenes was added that you didn't see in the game. First is the things that happened they describe in the library scene (the one that gates you from continuing after doing some puzzles), the mad choir Dutton hears, the blood running in the basement that Elinor experience and some kind of Lovecraftian horror that Hamilton sees in the library that tries to get through the glass-doors. Then we had two scenes with Elinor, the first is after looking through the mace in her room she gets a vision of a man sitting beside her and beginning kissing her, but she resist that as it then turns into Stauf. Which is interesting since it mirrors Edwards fall as he is seduced by Martine, but he doesn't even try or not for long at least. The second scene is as she goes to the attic after learning about the children together with Hamilton and she begins the transformation to the mannequin. Which is kinda horrifying. One scene that disappeared was the bathroom scene with Martine, I guess because nothing actually happens, no dialogue, it was more selling on its sex appeal which isn't that easy in the book. Maybe if they had done it like a thing before the library gathering, but she was sceptical which means they would have to redo the scene. 

One thing that bothers me in both the game and the book is that the ending doesn't make sense. The main player is playing as an older version of Tad that now have gotten a second chance to make right (I assume it failed the first time since they all haunted the mansion) and somehow send Stauf to the devil. The book makes an explanation that the souls of the children channeled through Elinor Knox (that is described to being psychic, or almost the Shining  from the Stephen King novel) somehow allows the good ending to happen. It's a bit messy. And it's ends very abrupt like in the game, but I wonder if Tad escaped the mansion (all adults are pretty much dead so that ain't happening). And if that happens, how is Tad's future version supposed to exist? I haven't been able to play the 11th hour as of yet and it doesn't appear to be a book version, the only book is some children book.

Final note, it was decent enough, probably only for those that have played the game. Which makes the book better since you can hear the voices of the characters as they speak. Especially Hamilton and his overacting style. I mean... REAL Magic, could STAUF do this, FOR ME? It's awesome!

Shining in the Darkness (Sega Mega Drive II Mini) (1 000 post)

 

Guess the magician is evil?

So what shall be the first game to play off the Mini II? What's this? A game made by the people behind the Golden Sun-series? And it's an RPG? Sign me up! This is Shining in the Darkness, the first game in the Shining-series, that would turn into a tactical strategy fantasy game. But at its start it was a dungeon crawler rpg.

Game starts with you, the son of Mordred, the greatest knight of the realm (which I named ERIK since it had a 5 character limit and my real name has 6 characters in it, that and I didn't learn that his official name is Hiro until way later) being summoned to the king since Mordred and Princess Jessa have disappeared and is believed to being held in the nearby Labyrinth of the Ancients. You set out alone and delve through the first level of the Labyrinth until you defeat the first boss and finds the Royal Tiara belonging to the Princess. As you take it to the king he tasks you to find a party and rescue his daughter. You find your friends Pyra Myst and Milo Brax in the nearby town and together you set out to find the Princess. Pyra being a wizard herself and Milo being a cleric we have a power-trio dnd party.

Turns out she has been kidnapped by the magician Dark Sol so you have to traverse the trail of the Ancients, consisting the caves of Strength, Courage, Truth and Wisdom to climb to the higher levels of the Labyrinth. I played the game first on the Wii Virtual Console when I lived with my parents and I thought I got pretty far, I had my hand-drawn maps of the four caves and the first two floors of the Labyrinth, turns out there was 3 more levels. So I got to complete my maps after like 8-9 years. Yeah, I found my old maps so that made the early stage fairly easy, as soon as I was able to figure out what I meant. 

Graph paper, an adventurers best tool for exploration.

You finds out that Dark Sol is actually the wizard Melvyn that have acted as a consul for the king and even told you about the trail of the ancient. On the 4th floor you find Princess Jessa trapped in a cell and the key protected by a brainwashed Mordred that you have to kill. You break out the Princess and returns to the king and then prepares for the final battle against Dark Sol. You have decked out your knight with the light arms, Milo with mythril equipment and Pyra with everything left. Without grinding I got up all characters between 56-51 levels and that was easy enough. Dark Sol's motivations wasn't that clear, at first it sounded like he only wanted the power of darkness that was sealed in the Labyrinth, but as I faced him he talked about finally finding someone that could challenge him. He got vaporised anyway after his second form was defeated. You return, becomes a first knight and lord of a castle, Milo joins you while Pyra becomes the apprentice of the wizard Xern, the former master of Melvyn... is that really a good thing? He already created one dark lord and Pyra does have some evil tendencies since in her first appearance she puts slow on a person that bumped into her that we then had to save from the Labyrinth when he got caught there.

It was a fun game. Music catchy and the graphics was really nice. I could clearly see where Camelot got some of the graphical ideas that they used later on in Golden Sun (menus and such). There is a nod to Golden Axe with the Weapon Merchant being the dwarf from those games as well. Problems? The menu systems would need an overhaul since it's a lot back and forth to find what you want in the shops and that there is no easy way to see if equipment is better or worse when you look at them is a rather irritating nuisance. But it's at least worth trying. Lastly an interesting thing I noticed on the statistics of the characters, the mage characters Pyra and Milo has so much higher ground stats for defence meaning they actually take less damage until the end game when the main character gets the light arms. I get why, you got a lot more amor for the fighter, but it feels weird in a dnd way that the mage at least is bulkier (since I currently have a cleric dwarf in the campaign I get they can take some damage).

This also seems to be the 1 000 post I've ever done! Only took me 15 years to reach, and it all began with me travelling to the US to study international relations... didn't get much use for that in my career, but at least the internship allowed me to get the job at the public agency. Here's for another 1 000 posts!