Sunday, December 16, 2012

Don't Trust Ancano. Just Don't.

 WARNING: SPOILERS

The College of Winterhold is the equivalent of the Mage's Guild in previous Elder Scrolls games. It resides in the city of Winterhold, most of which was destroyed in year 122 of the fourth era. The primary headquarters is the College itself, consisting of three parts. The main part is the Hall of the Elements, which also holds their vast library, called the Arcanaeum, and the arch-mage's quarters. The other two parts are known as the Hall of Attainment and the Hall of Countenance, both of which house the experienced and inexperienced alike. The College overlooks a vast expanse of frigid sea and icebergs termed the Sea of Ghosts. The head of the College is the arch-mage, a dark elf named Savos Aren. Although it is renowned for its extensive teaching of magic, it is often looked upon with scorn  by the local Nords due to their natural distrust of magic.

To start the line of quests, you must travel to the snowy city of Winterhold and talk with the gatekeeper, a high elf named Faralda. She will ask you to cast a certain spell in order for you to cross the winding bridge to the College (note: if you don't have the spell she will sell it to you for 100 septims). When you arrive at the gate, you will receive a brief tour of the building and given a participatory lecture on how to effectively use magical wards. After your lesson, Tolfdir, a prime professor at the College, will tell you to meet him at the Nordic ruin of Saarthal. Once inside the ruin, Tolfdir will instruct you to help his student Arniel Gane find some artifacts, specifically an amulet that's required to press further into the tomb. An unexpected turn of events occurs when an ethereal figure of a member of ancient mages appears before you with a warning from his organization, the Psijic Order. Continuing down the path, you will come across a large orb, surrounded in a green aura. Tolfdir will tell you to inform the arch-mage of the artifact and to meet him down there. After talking to the arch-mage, he'll tell you to go to the Arcanaeum and talk to Urag gro-Shub.

 Urag gro-Shub will tell you that he is currently out of all materials on what you'd like to research because a rogue mage named Orthorn stole them when he left the College. In order to get the three books, Night of Tears, The Last King of the Ayleids and Fragment: On Artaeum, you must fight your way through a group of rogue mages in Fellglow Keep. The ritual chamber is the last room, where resides The Caller, the keeper of the books. At this point, You have three choices: fight her, persuade her, or give her Orthorn for them. Regardless of what you choose, return to Urag after obtaining the books.

You will then talk with Tolfdir in the Hall of the Elements, who will tell you of the Eye of Magnus, the artifact found underneath Saarthal. During his conversation with you, a Thalmor agent known as Ancano will interrupt, telling you that a mysterious has asked to see you in the arch-mage's quarters, another member of the Psijic Order. He will tell you to find the Augur of Dunlain, who is revealed to by in The Midden upon further investigation. The Augur, appearing as a large orb of light, will tell you that the Staff of Magnus is required to "prevent the tragedy that you are not yet aware of." You report back to the arch-mage and tell of your findings. After doing so, you will fight your way through the dwarven ruin Mzulft to the Oculory. The Oculory will show you a map to the staff, revealing its location to be in Labrynthian. You will once again report back to the arch-mage about your findings, only to find a disturbing sight. Ancano has created a ward keeping everone out of the Hall of the Elements and is seen casting spells at the Eye. You disable the ward with Mirabelle and Savos, after which Savos casts a spell at Ancano, you white out, and wake up outside the College with Mirabelle, the body of the arch-mage lying in the courtyard. She will tell you the town is being attacked by certain magical anomalies that must be destroyed. She will send you to Labrynthian to obtain the staff and finish this once and for all.

Upon arrival at Labrynthian, there will be six spectral figures outside, one of them revealed to be none other than a young Savos Aren. They'll begin to talk to one another and appear throughout the lengthy maze of Labrynthian. Also throughout the ruin, you will hear the voice Morokei, a powerful mage called a dragon priest who was trapped by two of the three surviving mages from the original expedition led by Savos. Upon reaching the final room, you must defeat the two mages still holding Morokei captive, as well as the keeper of the staff Morokei himself. After obtaining the Staff of Magnus, you must escape the ruin. However, Ancano has arranged a special surprise for you; a Thalmor agent named Estormo who was hired by Ancano to stop you from foiling his plans. Kill him and return to Tolfdir, who will tell inform you of Mirabelle's death and that Ancano is still causing trouble. He has apparently been drawing power from the Eye and is incapable of being harmed. In order to weaken him, you must seal the Eye by using the staff on it, thereby draining him of his powers and making him killable. Upon his death, you will talk with the same member of the Psijic Order as before, who will institute you as arch-mage and take the Eye into their own hands to safeguard.
WC: 975

Ah, the Good Old Days

Many people may remember playing a game called Pokemon when they were younger. Heck, some of the people reading this post probably still play Pokemon. But there's a lot of things that most people don't know about the game. Of course everyone knows the basic game principles. Catch all the Pokemon, train them to evolution and defeat the gym leaders and evil organization. However, there are so many factors that go into a lot of aspects of the game. For example, one Pokemon named Wurmple will either evolve into one of two other Pokemon, Silcoon or Cascoon. Now most people think that which one it evolves into is based on the gender or nature of the Wurmple. I'm afraid it is a little more complicated than that, my friends. What actually determines the evolution is a set of four ten-digit binary codes that are randomly generated when you encounter them, making it already determined which one it will evolve into as soon as it is encountered.

Another thing that a lot of Pokemon players don't realize is that being able to catch a Pokemon isn't random in any sense at all. In fact, there's actually an equation that can be used to determine the chances of catching a Pokemon. Not only that, but the equation differs from generation to generation. For instance, in the first generation, the formula is Po+P1=probability of capture, where Po=statusAilment(twelve if burned, poisoned or paralyzed, twenty-five if asleep or frozen, zero otherwise) over ballMod+1(255 is Poke Ball, 200 if Great Ball, 150 otherwise) and P1=catchRate+1(depends on Pokemon)divided by ballMod+1 all multiplied by f+1 over 256 where f stands for 255 times max HP over ballFactor all divided by the current HP over 4. Confused yet? I figured as much. Generations 2-5 only get more complicated. So complicated, in fact, I won't even go into how convoluted it actually is.

While everyone who plays it would agree with me that Pokemon is a simple game in principle, the mechanics behind the actual game are quite the contrary.
WC: 340

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Tragedy in KC

 Due to certain deer-related events, I regret to inform you that I haven't watched much football this week, aside from a fumble touchdown from the Redskins with a major win for them over the Giants. However, there is one thing that has been sparked that relates to football as well. As many of you have probably heard, especially those that are in AP Lang as well, have heard about the Jovan Belcher incident with the now former Kansas City Chiefs linebacker. There are several sides to this story, but not all the right ones are being told. Things are being left out and it's being turned into something that should be a complete non-issue. Because of this, I'd like to outline what's really happening with this story.

The first part of this that I'd like to address is one of the parts they continue to leave out in this "tragedy." Yes, it is a tragedy that a family lost a son. Yes, it is a tragedy that a family lost a daughter. Yes it is a tragedy that a child lost their mother and father. But do you want to know the real tragedy? That child will probably grow up not knowing that it was their own father that killed her mother, not to mention himself. Now, most people only focus on the fact that he committed suicide after telling his coaches he loved them, a real Hallmark moment for sure. But most people don't focus on the fact that he was, indeed, a murderer. That may be a bit of a harsh statement, but it is, in fact, the truth.

The second point is based out of something much more disturbing. Jason Whitlock, a sports writer for FOX News, wrote on the events of the incident, but amongst what seems like an innocent enough article used as an elegy to his death, it is anything but. About halfway through, he starts spouting out what can only be described as nonsensible rantings about how guns kill people and how they'd both be alive today had he not had one in his possession. First of all, the guy was two hundred and thirty pounds versus a girl that was probably a little more than half that weight. Anyone else notice the disparity of force there? If he was that intent on killing her, he could've snapped her in half like a twig. Secondly, the flaw with his stance on guns doesn't match up to any statistics in the U.S. or in any other nation. All states with the highest gun restrictions also have the most gun crime. You may ask, "Why?" Well, it's because the law-abiding citizens can't use their own guns for self defense whereas the criminals who don't care about the law are using their guns for crime. Do you know what happened in England? They banned guns and now gun crime has doubled within a matter of years. As if to add more injury to insult, murder with knives went up almost immediately after the gun ban, so they banned kitchen knives over a certain length.

The third and final point I'd like to make is that the incident has brought up an issue that shouldn't even require a debate. The second amendment ensures our right to own a firearm and use it in the case of an emergency. The fictional "gun culture" that Whitlock references in his article is anything but the true stance on guns of the general public. Fact of the matter is, you are more likely to survive or stop a crime if you are a private citizen with a firearm in your possession, while most of the gun violence that occurs is between gangs who really don't care for the law anyway. But a man like Whitlock would know all about that with convoluted conspiracies about the NRA being the next KKK.

With all the attention that he's been getting, I will say that the whole ordeal is a tragedy. But perhaps the bigger tragedy is the inattention to detail in almost every way in the mainstream media.
WC: 685

Saturday, December 8, 2012

The Silver Hand is a Band of Jerks

About a month ago, I started a series on a video game called Skyrim. I'd like to continue that line of work by explaining the different factions and the storyline that is followed in each one, as well as a brief explanation as to who they are and what they do.

WARNING: SPOILERS ARE PRESENT

The first faction you will encounter is a group of warriors and mercenaries known as The Companions. They reside in the city of Whiterun with a base of operations in the mead hall of Jorrvaskr. Outside and nearby are a training area with training dummies and an archery range and a legendary forge known as the Skyforge. Underneath the forge is a hidden cave only accessible to the elite members of the group called the Circle. They are headed by the Harbinger, however they only consider the very first, Ysgramor, to be formally recognized as such.

During the second quest of the main storyline, you may run across some warriors battling a giant and, depending on whether you help or not, they will treat you with some reverence or disdain. Regardless, they will tell you to find Jorrvaskr and talk to their leader if you wish to join. After talking to the leader, Kodlak Whitemane, he says you must prove yourself in battle by fighting one of the elites, Vilkas. Once proven, you must do something for the group to officially become a member, which may or may not consist of entering a Nordic ruin that may or may not contain undead and a somewhat dangerous group called the Silver Hand to claim a fragment of a Companions artifact (hint: you do and it does). After entering with Farkas, Vilkas' twin, you will soon find yourself trapped behind a cage set as a booby trap. While trapped, several members of the aforementioned Silver Hand come in to attack Farkas, when he surprises not only them, but you as well. His skin becomes furry and he becomes more lupine in appearance, literally becoming a wolf, standing upright, tearing the now identified werewolf hunting group to pieces. After releasing you from your prison, he informs you of the Circle's secret and moves forward to get the artifact, a fragment of the axe of Ysgramor named Wuuthrad. Once returning, the Circle will tell you to go to Eorlund Grey-Mane at the Skyforge for a specialized weapon and meet with Skjor at night outside of Jorrvaskr to enter the Underforge. When you walk in, you see Aela, the only female Circle member, in werewolf form and a pool of her blood in a fountain. They tell you to drink it, starting your transformation and sealing your spot in the Circle. The episode secedes as you wake up in a field with Aela, who then informs you to kill all Silver Hand members in the area of Gallows Rock, where Skjor has already entered and against Kodlak's wishes. You get to the final room where the leader, Krev the Skinner awaits with the body of a dead Skjor as well.

Upon your return to Jorrvaskr, Kodlak Whitemane will scold you for your actions the previous night, but has more purpose behind your meeting. He reveals how they originally contracted lycanthropy, a pact with the Glenmoril witches. Along with the gift, they were unaware of the hidden curse laid upon them. In addition, instead of going to the holy place of Sovngarde after death, their soul is doomed to roam the realm of the daedric prince Hircine for all eternity. For this reason, Kodlak requests of you to bring him the head of one of the witches, as only their magic can cure their infernal disease, and eradicate their entire existence altogether. Having collected your quarry and destroyed the coven, you return to the mead hall to find grim news. During your absence, Silver Hand members have ransacked the hall, killing Kodlak and stealing all pieces of Wuuthrad. You and your shield-brothers and shield-sisters decide to seek revenge by tracking down the Silver Hand at Driftshade Refuge, eliminating the werewolf-killing savages, and recovering the pilfered fragments before returning to Jorrvaskr. The group will then hold a funeral for Kodlak and request of you one last thing. You must travel to Ysgramor's resting place with the reforged Wuuthrad, venture through the maze of chambers and release Kodlak's spirit by wrestling with the feral spirit that lies within Kodlak's. Once you return, you will officially be inducted in as Harbinger of the Companions.
WC: 749

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Chanting, Upsets and Surprises

Week twelve in NFL football has come and gone with some intriguing victories, putting some teams in the right positions and others forced into a difficult situation. We'll take a look at the scores of some of the games (specifically the Thursday night games), how they got that way, and what major plays contributed to teams' victories, or in some cases defeats.

Starting off the week were three games on Thanksgiving day, overall a very happy day in football for me. The first game was a match-up between the Houston Texans and the Detroit Lions. What I thought wasn't going to be much of a game turned out to be a real stunner when the Lions scored the first touchdown of the game on their first possession, despite a sack from Houston defensive end and lead sacker J.J. Watt. From that point on the Texans, who has been one of my favorites for a few years now, were playing catch-up the entire time. The game took another exciting turn when Forsett of the Texans made an 81-yard touchdown. What makes this so special aside from the yardage? During the run, Forsett was actually down by contact , but the coach of Detroit illegally challenged the play, cancelling the booth review, resulting in a Texans touchdown and 15-yard addition to the distance of the extra point kick. The kick is good, setting the game at 24-21, Detroit in the third quarter. After the fourth quarter, the game goes into overtime at 31-31. Three field goal attempts later, Shayne Graham of the Texans finally makes the winning score at 32 yards, bringing the Texans to a 10-1 season and the Lions to 4-7.

The very next game was another hell of a game with a great performance from Robert Griffin III and the Washington Redskins. In the beginning of the second quarter, RGIII fakes a hand-off and makes a long pass to Robinson, resulting in a 68-yard touchdown. On the resulting possession for the Cowboys, Dez Bryant fumbles the ball, which is swiftly recovered by the Redskins and returned to midfield. The turnover ended in a touchdown by Washington for 14-3, Redskins. With less than 3 minutes left in the first half, RGIII throws another pass, this time to Garcon, who runs it into the end zone, out running both the players rushing after him. Redskins 21, Cowboys still 3. The ensuing Cowboys possession, veteran quarterback Tony Romo passes to Bryant, but is intercepted and eventually became a scoring drive for the Redskins, making it a 25 point game at the half. In the second half, the first Cowboys possession ends in a field goal, slightly lessening the gap between the two teams. Their following carry, Romo throws to Bryant, who runs it in for an 85-yard touchdown. In the beginning of the fourth quarter on a third and inches, a pass is made to DeAngelo Hall who rolls and runs backwards into the end zone with no one to cover him. Halfway through the fourth quarter, the young Redskins quarterback throws an interception, something that is few and far between for this player. Romo makes the touchdown pass and gets the two-point conversion, making it a one-score game. Each team kicks a field goal in the remaining time, ending the game at 38-31, Redskins. A critical win for them, they are now 5-6 to the Cowboys' matching season.

Surprisingly enough, the third game was as I expected: a complete massacre of the Jets by the Patriots. While the first quarter was completely uneventful, aside from an interception from Gregory of the Patriots, the second quarter was ablaze with one-sided activity. After a touchdown pass to Wes Welker, the Jets fumble twice (one of which quarterback Sanchez ran into his own guy) and score a touchdown on each one, racking up 21 points within a 53 second period. The first half ends 35-3, Patriots. The rest of the game was fairly uneventful as well, both teams scoring two touchdowns in addition to a Jets safety. Final score: 49-19, Patriots.
WC: 677