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Fallout 76 - Mole Miners are back - A route to find them on and ways to farm Mole Miner Pails before they’re gone!

One thing most players of the game Fallout 76 likely have in common is a shared love for loot. From seasonal events that drop gear and plans only found within them to triggered events that come with event-specific rewards, there are tons of venues that players can take to rack up their loot, and some of the better in-game currencies. One of the best ones that can come up within a season though are the Treasure Hunter Mole Miners. Occasionally Bethesda will announce for a few days or weeks that players will be able to locate these NPC’s will show up around the map, and if you hunt them you can take their Mole Miner Pail. The pail can range from “dusty” or a lower tier, to “ornate” where you have a better chance at some of the rarer loot. You can also craft these pails during this time generally, as the NPC bot vendors will sell empty ones that a player can use with other scrap at a tinker bench to craft into one of these pails. For the rest of today, Sunday, it seems that we currently have Mole Miners running amok in Fallouts Appalachia and here we’ll talk about one of the easiest runs to find them on, how else you can leverage the in-game system to hoard pails for your use, and what all can be obtained from these elusive pails. 

First things first, let’s talk about where and how you can find these sneaky moles. There are a bunch of locations on the map that you can go to and check for Mole Miners at, as they are known to spawn there when active. While you can find them at places all over the map, the run we are going to talk about here will keep you mostly in the center of the map, with a couple of outliers around the Ash Heap and the top-right corner of the map. As far as how you go about locating these miners, you’ll want to keep your ears open. When you are close to them you will hear what sounds like a radio frequency tuning in and out. As you get closer to the miner this noise will get louder until you should be able to hear the miner themselves and hopefully see them. 

For this run of locations the best place to start is with one of our outliers in the top right-hand corner of the map, Wavy Willards. This abandoned water park can be hiding mole miners in a few places - the entrance in the corners, between rides and stands, as well as down in the tunnels below. After Wavy Willards the next stop on our tour is Bolton Green. This club can have Mole Miners spawn within the building, on the second and third floors, as well as outside next to the building or on the range to the side of the building. Next we’ll jump to our third location, Pleasant Valley Cabins. Throughout the halls of the various cabins left here you can often locate Mole Miners. It can be important to note that it’s worth exploring all the cabins, starting where you spawn in for the Cabins when you fast-travel to them and following the path all the way up the hill. While the exploration of this location in full can take a few minutes if you haven’t explored it often, there can sometimes be more than one miner between the cabins here, so it’s worth the time and effort. Next we’ll head to the National Isolated Radio Array. Similar to the cabins, with the National Isolated Radio Array you have a fair amount of distance and buildings to cover, between where you may spawn in and the array itself, but you can sometimes find multiple miners here if you check all the buildings out to the left of the array. After visiting the radio array you’ll head to West Tek. You’ll likely have to fight through the supermutants guarding the entrance, but there are often Mole miners that will spawn in this area, both near the doors to the West Tek building and the guarded entrance. Ending the locations in the center of the map is Huntersville. This location is down a little bit from West Tek on the center of the map. While the small block of Huntersville that you first enter is where you’ll typically find the mole miners here, there is a large group of supermutants that spawns here as well, so again be prepared for a fight if you run into them during your hunt. Lastly, our run ends at Camden Park, in the Ash Heap. When you enter the park there can be mole miners near the Dross Toss, back further near the bumper cars, as well as underneath the rollercoaster and back to the right of the vendor bot. This area shouldn’t take much time to explore and again there can be multiple that spawn here. One last point of note for hunting down miners, it does seem that they will respawn after some time in each of these locations, so don’t be discouraged if you don’t see any miners when you hit these spots, they may be there later. 

Now we did say that you can buy empty versions of these pails to craft, didn’t we? These empty pails will appear in the Misc section for the vendor bots that you can purchase items from at train stations. Generally the vendor should have one each version of the pails empty, but sometimes you can get lucky and the vendor will have two of some empty pails. Each vendor bot should also have their own stack of them, so you can travel to multiple train stations and stock up on them if you have enough caps. One way that you can make the system work better for you here, if you aren't already aware, is by using the Hard Bargain perk card, so that you can get better buying prices on the empty pails. Unfortunately, the Super Duper perk does not work when crafting these, so you’ll only get as many as you purchased, but they can total up quickly if you’re buying them from multiple vendor bots! To craft a pail you’ll want to use a tinker bench and select the chest category to craft within. That category should let you craft any of the three pails that you might have the materials for. 

Last, let’s talk about what you can get from the pails these treasure goblin-like creatures drop. There’s an array of things that you can get from them - scrap of various kinds, currency, ammo for the gun you have equipped when opening them and an assortment of usable items like healing items, grenades and drinks.You also have a chance with each pail to get a Treasure Hunter item. All of the treasure hunter items should have the same drop rate, though the chance to get treasure hunter items varies with each pail. Let’s cover what loot is included in the Treasure Hunter items pool first. 

*Cursed Broadsider 

*Cursed Rolling Pin 

*Cursed Sickle 

*Deathclaw Hunter Hat

*Deathclaw Hunter Outfit 

*Garrahan Foreman Helmet 

*Garrahan Foreman Outfit 

*Grafton Monster Mask 

*Plan: Animatronic Clown 

*Plan: Balloon Arch 

*Plan: Bed of Nails 

*Plan Camo Backpack 

*Plan: Cave Cricket Tube 

*Plan: Circus Cage Trailer 

*Plan: Fire Station Bell 

*Plan: Grafton Monster Lamp 

*Plan: Insurgent Hat 

*Plan: Junkyard Fountain 

*Plan: Laser Gun Blue Camo Paint

*Plan: Marine Armor Helmet 

*Plan: Missile Launcher Atom Cats Paint 

*Plan: Neon Light Diner Clock 

*Plan: Pink Sprinkles Power Armor Paint 

*Plan: Radstag Hunting Knife 

*Plan: Raw Cement Barricade 

*Plan: Safari Crocolossus Backpack 

*Plan: Safari Gorilla Backpack 

*Plan: Scorched Tube 

*Plan: Scorchbeast Queen Plushie 

*Plan: Small Supply Crate 

*Plan: Small Vault Girl Statue 

*Plan: Snallygaster Plushie 

*Plan: Strongman’s Super Sledge Paint 

*Plan: Treasure Hunter Outfit 

*Plan: Treasure Hunter Outfit Hat 

*Plan: TV Aquarium 

*Plan: Vault 76 Rug 

*Plan: Wanamingo Plushie 

*Plan: WV State Bird Rug 

*Plan: Yao Guai Tube 

*Plan: Strongman Outfit 

As you can see there are a lot of rare items that you can see drop in this pool. Below are lists with information on what each pail, dropped or crafted, can contain.

--Dusty Mole Miner Pail:

*Treasure Hunt Item (5% chance) 

*Junk 

*Usable item x2

--Mole Miner Pail:

*Treasure Hunt Item (20% chance) 

*Junk 

*Currency 

*Ammo 

*Usable item x3

--Ornate Mole Miner Pail:

*Treasure Hunter Item (40% chance) 

*Junk 

*Usable Items x3 

*Currency x2 

*Ammo x2

--Crafted Dusty Miner Pail:

*Treasure Hunt Item (10% chance) 

*Junk 

*Usable items x2

 --Crafted Mole Miner Pail:

*Treasure Hunt Item (40% chance)

*Junk 

*Usable Items x3

*Currency 

*Ammo

--Crafted Ornate Miner Pail:

*Treasure Hunt Item (60% chance)

*Junk 

*Usable Items x3

*Currency 

*Ammo

While we only have them for the rest of today, Sunday, currently this information may also be helpful the next time the Treasure Hunters appear. It seems that the loot that drops has remained mostly the same since 2021. With that, you should have a good baseline to start treasure hunting these mole miners, so have fun and happy hunting!

FALLOUT 76 CREATURES » Glowing Mothman

↳ The mothman, referred to as the Great Mothman, the Bright One and God by cultists, is a cryptid creature found in Appalachia. It has a museum dedicated to its mythology and is worshiped by the Cult of the Mothman. The mothman is not a singular entity, and there are numerous mothmen with various eye colors.

fallout 76 creature tames » sluggish mega sloth

Movie Review - The Pope’s Exorcist

When it comes to horror movies some of my personal favorites fall into the supernatural category, which often seems to include exorcism movies. With the sub-genre having existed for well over 100 years now, there have been many popular movies over the years within it but we often see similar themes show up between some of the best ones.  That can make a movie within the sub-genre stand out when it deviates from the standard formula, be it for good or for bad. The recent release The Pope's Exorcist certainly does seem to deviate in some ways, but they can’t necessarily be called bad. 

The first thing worth noting is that like many popular exorcism movies the tale is based in some part on real life. The pastoral protagonist in this story, played by Russel Crowe, is Father Gabriele Amorth, who was an exorcist of the Diocese of Rome for the Catholic church in real life, until he passed in 2016. He was one of the founding members of the International Association of Exorcists and claimed to have performed thousands of exorcisms. The role is certainly a departure from the norm for Crowe, who notably has not starred in a horror film until this role. In the first scene that you meet him, Amorth initially seems like your typical priest who’s on his way to assist in a late night exorcism. He’s quiet and seems kind as he walks through the streets, going so far as to compliment a nearby man on his boar. However, when he goes into the room and confronts the possessed victim, he sounds more like Zack Bagans of Ghost Adventures. He’s somewhat arrogant, verbally combative and seems to be doing his best to make it angry enough to change hosts to disprove his smack talk. We then see why he was so complimentary of the boar, as it’s brought in as a “vessel”, and once he seems satisfied that he’s completed his task in getting the demon to take the bait, it’s shot. This is one of the first ways that the movie seems to deviate from the standard formula, as this is not your typical exorcism and if his attitude is anything to judge by, Amorth is not your typical priest. 

We then get a reality check as the movie cuts to some time later, where Amorth appears to be at the Vatican meeting with other members of the Diocese as they want to investigate him and his recent “exorcism”, as it was not sanctioned. In a brief interaction with a kinder colleague, he again seems almost arrogant as he tells him that his faith “needs no defense”, when advised that he would do his best to defend him. He continues to show that he’s not your typical modest priest, as he defiantly explains, in Italian when English was requested, that he did not perform an exorcism, but he instead created theater for someone who believed they were possessed. We then come to understand that while he does claim to have performed thousands of exorcisms, many of the people he’s asked to meet with are not possessed but instead are victims of mental disorders that require appropriate medical attention - which he directs them to. He then pushes back and claims that he believes they are still investigating him for a case that he was unable to help in before storming out saying that they should speak to his superior, the Pope, if they have issues with his performance. 

The next scene we see that there is more to this man than his priestly swagger, as he meets with the Pope and receives his next assignment. He’s calm and respectful while he discusses what seems to be the possible possession of a young American boy. We see Amorth take the Pope’s warning with care that he feels that there may be something truly evil and powerful at play. He also gives Amorth an ominous warning that the site has given them problems before. And while all this is unfolding in the Vatican presumably, we also see the story that Amorth is about to be introduced to start to play out within the inherited home of an American family.  We learn that the new inhabitants of this home in Spain inherited it from the recently deceased father of the family, and that they are trying to fix it up before selling it to try and cover debts and then move back to the US. With that recent loss you see the members of the family dealing with what are normal issues, a defiant angry teenager, a silent young son and a mother who seems to be barely handling everything because she's in mourning. The move is clearly putting more stress on them, and when there is an explosion at the home, the crew working the site is pulled the same night that it seems that the demonic forces within the home take hold of the young boy, and demand a priest. We quickly see a young priest brought in, who is quite literally tossed aside before the demon tells them that’s the wrong priest. 

This is where our two stories seem to meet and all hell seems to truly break loose. When our very confident protagonist shows (on a scooter no less, to keep up with his already different personality) up to meet the distraught family he enlists the help of the priest that was initially brought in, even though he tells him that he is not trained in exorcism. The young priest, Esquibel, has heard of Amorth though and tells him that he has read many of his articles, to which Amorth asks if he has also read his books. Esquibel tells him that he has not and we again see Amorths personality shine through when he tells him that “the books are good too” as  he then takes a drink from his flask, blaming it on his throat even though he sounds fine. The two make multiple attempts to exorcise the demon from the young boy only to find that their efforts are in vain, and that its reach now extends to the boy’s sister. While they are trying to understand the reason for the possession so that they might be able to successfully exorcise the demon it tells Amorth repeatedly that it will be his downfall and that he’s taken the bait. Amorth and Esquibel are haunted by images of their past and sins; Amorth of his time in the war as well as the girl he failed to save as an exorcist, Esquibel of a woman he was sleeping with under the guise he was going to leave the priesthood, when he was not. Amorth makes it clear to the mother and Esquibel as their attempts fail that they do not have much time, as the boy will die if he continues to be possessed. As time goes on you can see that the boy is deteriorating, and it’s only getting worse. 

While we see the escalation of the events happening at the home where the possession is happening we also have scenes that cut away to show us the Pope still at the Vatican. While Amorth is investigating we see the Pope dig further into the information about the home in question and its history. He seems to locate paramount information about the evil they are facing when we see him fall ill and be taken to what appears to be a well outfitted hospital. 

Back with Amorth there is investigation that needs to be done and it leads to almost Indiana Jones-like plots. Amorth happens to notice what appears to be a closed well when he enters the estate and at this point decides that it is worth investigating, as the demon seems to have larger plans than the boy, hence it’s taunt that he’s taken the bait. Upon further investigation Amorth finds that it appears that it’s got a seal from the church on it and when he cracks it open he finds that it appears to date back to the Spanish Inquisition. He and Esquibel investigate further to find that based on the records they locate in the tomb the leader of the Spanish Inquisition was possessed by a demon long before starting it, and that all the actions taken by him in that time were in hope of attaining its goal. Their hopes seem to dim further once they find that the demon in question is Asmodeus, his goal was to unite 200 fallen angels as an army, and that he had only been stopped before by being trapped away, as all exorcism attempts had failed. Once this comes to light Amorth understands that Asmodeus is trying to use him to infiltrate the church and continue his plan and that the stakes are far greater than he realized. The two priests then make one more valiant attempt to exorcise Asmodeus, but unfortunately this fails and the demon takes possession of Amorth. He maintains control long enough to take himself down to the inquisition tombs while Esquibel takes the family, all now safe from Asmodeus’' control off the property. He returns to find Amorth in the tomb and after a battle of wills they are able to exorcise Asmodeus. Of course when this happens we also see the Pope make a miraculous recovery, as well as Amorth take another swig from his flask for his “throat” while Esquibel accepts his offer of a drink. 

As the movie ties up we are given the understanding that the church has bought the land the former home is on and that the family has moved back to the US. Amorth and the younger priest get pulled aside to be told that some of their colleagues of trouble are no longer an issue, and that they’ve been replaced by better, and kinder people. They are also given the news that the church is identifying the other sites like this one, so that Asmodeus’s plan can be totally stopped as each demon, or fallen angel is exorcised, and Amorth is asked to be the exorcist for all the related battles to come. He indicates that with some help from Esquibel it could be done, which leaves the opening for many sequels. 

Overall it’s worth the watch if you like horror movies in this vein. While it’s not the scariest thing by comparison to other movies like it, the personality that Crowe plays Amorth with almost makes it worth the time alone. Given he hasn’t done much in horror before, and he’s so good in this role it almost makes one hope that we get a sequel for that alone. It’s also worth noting that while it may not be terrifying, there are definitely images in the movie that will have you jumping at the first sign of them, or feeling a sense of dread at the tone they inspire, so it’s not totally off the mark with horror. The groundwork laid for the buddy-cop like nature of the two priests also makes for a refreshing injection of laughs in a normally serious kind of movie and does seem like it could be explored further into a mentor-mentee kind of relationship. While it does seem to suffer from pacing issues, it could be argued that because the tale being told is meant to be happening in a short time that it’s a tool itself to aid in the telling of the story. With the ending in mind as well, since this could be the starting movie for a series, it’s possible that later movies would have a better sense of pacing because there would be less introduction and groundwork needed for some of our characters. 

I will almost always be there for you . Probably lurking and keeping a great distance , but I will be there .

Stardew Valley - Update 1.6, a small surprise for valley-dwellers.

ConcernedApe surprised the fans of his hit game, Stardew Valley, on April 16th with an announcement about update 1.6 for the game. Recently he has been working on his new game Haunted Chocolatier but is taking a break from development to work on the Stardew Valley update. 

It’s been specified that update 1.6 will be changes for modders of the game in greater part, but there will be some new content with it and that excites all of us who are fans of the game. Admittedly, the amount of new content is minimal, but given that Stardew Valley is now seven years out from its initial release any new content is awesome. ConcernedApe also seems to have confirmed in the comments of the announcement on Twitter that there will be new character dialogues included in the new content. 

The majority of the update being for modders is still exciting, given how much is done with the game through modding. With there also being a mobile version of the game, you can now easily mod Stardew Valley on PC and on Android, which is part of why so many players of the game are still very devoted seven years out. Modding for the console versions of the game is more difficult, so players who mainly inhabit their valley through those routes may be more excited for new content, but we’ll certainly enjoy seeing the new mods possible as well. 

And while not of the Stardew Valley world, we did also get some information about the town in ConcernedApes new game, Haunted Chocolatier. When asked for any new information, “even the smallest detail”, on the upcoming game in the comments for the 1.6 announcement, he mentions that the town is on the water and there are docks. He did keep the details small, but I know I for one am still excited to see this haunted town in all its cute but spooky glory! 

Dreamlight Valley - Simba and Nala return - New features that made me return too.

In case anyone hasn’t seen or heard yet, Dreamlight Valley is a life-sim type game with a Disney theme that is still in early access. Players that love the various Disney universes can play to interact with some of their favorite characters (both good and evil) as well as build a village for them to live in. Overall it’s a fun game, but with the game still being in early access there were some issues early on that made the gameplay less enjoyable depending on your in-game prerogative and there were features missing that felt like they should be inherent in the game. Personally I had stepped away from the game a little bit more up until recently between some features that felt like they were missing, other game releases, and real life stresses. With all that in mind, having also started playing again recently with the release of the Pride of the Valley update, I can say it is well worth the return for anyone who may have stepped away or for anyone who has yet to try the game to pick it up. Gameloft has done their best to keep up with bug fixes as they are needed, have been good about adding in new content for the game fairly consistently, and with some of their most recent updates they added in many quality of life features that make the game feel a little more enjoyable to play. 

One feature that players may have found lackluster with the initial release of Dreamlight Valley was the storage system. The game features many crafting items and cooking recipes that require multiple smaller components to make. As there are tons of these crafting items and cooking recipes, you can imagine that the amount of smaller components that you have to collect for them can add up quickly. With that in mind, the initial release of Dreamlight Valley to early access had players using a craft-able basic chest with about 24 slots to store items, as well as a one chest that you were able to store a few more items in. While you were able to make multiple of the former chests, having enough of them to store all the items you needed to was often the equivalent of having a room lined with chests, and still needing more space for storage. The number of items could also be difficult to sort, as there was no way to auto sort, everything had to be moved from your inventory to the chest manually. While most people were able to get creative with storage and organization options, it could make for multiple hectic looking rooms that are less than ideal to traverse.  

With the Festival of Friendship update in February 2023 though, the storage issues that were plaguing many players were fixed with some changes to the storage system. There were other levels of craftable chests added in so that there can be more space in any chest you craft. While there are more components needed for these, the extra slots are really worth it. There were also customizable signposts added in, so that you no longer need to display stored items above the chests that they are in, making for less confusing clutter laying around. Lastly, there was a quality of life feature added in, via an auto-sorting system. Now instead of having to manually move items from your inventory to a chest you can simply click a button and anything in your inventory that could be stored in an existing stack within the chest will be moved. This is truly a time saver and makes sorting your inventory leagues easier. 

With the Festival of Friendship update we also saw the introduction of the Premium Shop, which allows players to buy items for moonstones, an in-game currency generally used on unlocking items in the current Star Path within the game. This allows players to use any moonstones that they may have extra on items that they can use and can net some interesting items that would be otherwise unavailable. With the Premium Shop we also got new ways that we can customize our houses. There are now new house colors available and premium house skins that can be purchased, so that you can make your house look just like you imagine it. 

One of the other most beneficial features added in with the Festival of Friendship update would arguably be the Role Change Manual. For anyone who has yet to try the game, each character that moves to your valley is assigned a role. The roles range from gardening to mining and there are benefits to having a villager with a corresponding role with you when completing a task. For example, with a villager in the gardening role with you while picking crops you will get additional of those crops. The number of the extra, or additional, crops you get actually increases based on the number of villagers in the role and their friendship level with you. Being able to update the roles of your villagers can definitely be a game changer if you need to be able to get more items from a specific task and don’t have anyone new to assign a role. This is also really helpful for anyone who may not have thought about who was assigned to what role initially and wants to be able to assign anyone differently.

Lastly with the Festival of Friendship update we also got new story missions to progress through as well as two new villagers to welcome to the valley, Olaf and Mirabel. 

We also got the Pride of the Valley update in April 2023 and with it even more updates to quality of life features within the game and new content. To touch on new content, in case we haven’t already given it away we get two new characters to welcome to the valley in Simba and Nala. To get them you’ll go through a newly accessible door in the castle and you’ll have to help them with some quests there before Nala will join you in the valley. Simba will follow not long after her, once he is certain that he’s leaving Pride Rock better than it was with some more assistance, and become another familiar face in the valley. They each have fun new quests to complete for them as you progress your friendship with them and unique new items you can unlock with each new level of friendship. 

In terms of new features with the Pride of the Valley update, we got some new ones that really make life easier. One thing anyone who played the game for any time before may have noticed is that you couldn’t really run particularly fast around your valley. While the teleport system helps with time in getting from one place to another, it can still be a pain to run from one end of a biome to another to catch someone you need to speak with or to locate something within the biomes. However, with the most recent update you can actually sprint in the game, and it definitely makes any searching or running around the valley you may need to do faster. While your energy bar is yellow, to indicate that you have the well fed buff , you can activate the sprint option. In person it appears more like a glide or skate than a sprint, but it lets you move around much faster, and is honestly just kind of fun to play around with when you first start using it. There was also an addition to the ways you can refill your energy bar, in case you don’t want to use all your food ingredients. As of the Pride of the Valley update you can refill your energy bar, albeit slowly, by sitting on furniture when you are outside of your house in the village. While you generally need to eat a cooked food item to have the well fed buff, being able to sit to refill your energy bar may come in handy if you don’t have a cooked item on you and you need a boost of energy to complete a task. 

Not to be forgotten, our furry companions in the valley also got some love in the most recent update. Up until the most recent update each player was able to have one animal companion that follows them around the valley. You can in theory have any of the animals you see running around the biomes in the valley as a companion once you have fed them their favorite food enough times. With all those choices though, it felt a little limiting that you couldn’t interact with them more than petting them and could only have one out at a time. With the most recent update however, we can have more companions than ever out and we can actually make items for them to be able to play with. There is now a companion house that you can craft that will allow you to choose up to four companions to have out at one time. It looks like a standard dog house, and it fits well with some of our other new items. We can now also craft a companion ball, a companion pinwheel, a companion food bowl and a companion perch. These four items are able to be interacted with by your companions and you can watch as they play and run around. It’s also worth noting that you cannot select an animal that you already have following you as a companion for the house, as they will still be out and trailing you, so you can have up to five companions in total out and about. 

All of the new content and quality of life features that have been introduced with the last two updates make a good case, in my opinion, for picking the game up if you haven’t, or returning if you’ve stepped away from it. One last thing that is worth mentioning, is that we can hopefully expect more player input to be acted on for new features and items. All of the new features that we’ve talked about here with the Pride of the Valley update and many prior have been community driven changes, meaning that Gameloft is taking the input of players to help make this game enjoyable all around before it comes out of early access. With Dreamlight Valley leaving early access sometime in 2023 this may be the best time to jump in if you want your input to count the most towards upcoming content/features and enjoy some of the new features that make it more enjoyable to play. More information on the bugs and other features of the updates mentioned here can be found on the Dreamlight Valley site.

DOGMA (1999) Dir. Kevin Smith

Night of the Mothman - Mothman Equinox ~ Fallout 76 © 2018; developed by Bethesda Softworks. Caps made by purpledragongaming​.  Please do not delete credits.

Fallout 76 Update - New Cryptids appear Once in a Blue Moon

In the Fallout 76 universe post-apocalyptic Appachalia is chalk full of some of our favorite cryptids. From the elusive Mothman to the alien-like Flatwoods Monster, you can trek across the land to have encounters with some creatures of real life myth and even use Photomode to make sure you have evidence of the encounter with decorative frames. Bethesda’s game dev’s seem to be really aiming to please the cryptid lovers among us playing through the “Rip Daring and the Cryptid Hunt” scoreboard, as we just received news in the last few days about two new cryptids that are being introduced in the next upcoming update on April 18th. I know as something of a cryptid lover myself I’m really excited to see these two new introductions to the family in-game, so here we’re going to look a little closer at the information we have on them so far and what else we’re getting in the update. 

Yesterday, April 13th, Bethesda announced that with the “Once in a Blue Moon” update this Summer 2023 we will see the introduction of two new cryptids to the Fallout 76 family. Along with the two new cryptids we will also be getting a new Daily Ops mutation, public events, rewards, side quests and more (depending on how long you’ve been hunting in post-apocalyptic Appalachia). 

For daily quests specifically Bethesda has said that we’ll be getting a series of 7 quests that can only be completed once, listed as the “Costa Business Daily Quests” in their announcement. They appear to all be based around the Blue Ridge Caravan Company and Vinny Costa’s desire to get his employees to perform better. With them being one off quests they are going to be giving unique Blue Ridge Caravan themed rewards, ranging from C.A.M.P items to apparel for your hunter to sport in their travels. Bethesda also seems to be hinting that for long time players of Fallout 76 that completing all of these “Costa Daily Business Quests” may then grant the player access to a special side quest. Unfortunately, they don’t seem to specify how far back a player has to have completed content from to gain access to the special quest once they are done with Costa Business, so we may have to wait to find that out once players have early access.  

There are also two other possible side quests listed in the announcement, “Safe and Sound” and “Beasts of Burden”. While both appear to be dealing with sects of people settling in our in-game Appalachia that are relevant to the new update, they appear to be totally separate from the Daily Costa Business Quests.  

The first possible quest, “Beasts of Burden”, is described as Vinny Costa’s nephew, Luca, finding himself in a spot of trouble when the local Cultists steal his Brahman and his explosive cargo - and he knows that Vinny will be unhappy if he hears about it. When we go about helping him it sounds like we have the Cultists to thank oddly enough for being aware of the “strange rumblings in the woods nearby” and knowing not to disturb the wildlife. 

On the other hand we have the quest “Safe and Sound” which deals more primarily with the other major group of players in our update, the Blue Ridge Caravan Company. In this possible side quest we see the Middle Mountain Cabins renovated by Blue Ridge as their newest Braman pit-stop. Unfortunately, they have trouble keeping the local wildlife at bay because their Repeller Speaker system has been damaged. To help them retake the pit-stop we’re tasked with helping to clear out the pests and defending the Repeller, with a reward from Blue Caravan of course for the assist. 

Even with the introduction of two new cryptids into the family Bethesda is also making sure to give some love to one of the best known cryptids already in the gang, our resident Mothman. Starting April 25th (12:00pm Eastern Time) until May 9th (12:00pm Eastern Time) we’ll have the “Path to Enlightenment'' event to participate in at the top of every hour. For anyone who doesn’t already have them, the rewards for the event will include the Cultists Intricate Helmet, the Wise Mothman Throne, and more Mothman themed rewards. I know I’ll be making sure my camp is themed well after “the Winged One” as Stephen Scarberry would say. 

Last, but most certainly not least, let’s get into our two new cryptids and what we know about them so far. The first of the two new cryptids that we see in the announcement is the “Blue Devil”. In description with, “glowing eyes”, “hooked claws”, a “long muzzle” and “glistening needle-like teeth” and the Blue Devil seems to be a werewolf, so we may need to start paying more attention to the moon cycle in-game if they hold true to real world lore. I’m guessing that we’ll see the Devil in the more forested areas of the map, based on the image provided so far, and I for one am looking forward to my first werewolf encounter. 

Our second new cryptid inductee to the game has been dubbed “The Ogua” by Bethesda. The encounter described in the announcement in the Cranberry Glade indicates that it appears to blend in with its environment, so while it may stand out some, it will look like we’ve come across a strange rock until we interact with it. Once it’s up and going the Ogua looks almost dinosaur-like with the rocky spines on its back and is described as five times a vault-dweller's height while sporting a hooked beak. While Bethesda may be right that curiosity killed the Atom Cat, the Ogua may find that satisfaction brought it back. 

Unfortunately, some of us may have to wait a bit before we get our claws on the new content in the game. Bethesda does not appear to list a specific date for the content in the “Once in a Blue Moon” update to be available to everyone on every platform in their announcement, but it seems like it could be assumed that it would be in June when Season 13, Shoot for the Stars starts, is launched based on the information on the Community Calendar. Anyone who has a copy of Fallout 76 on Steam will be lucky enough to be able to get a jump start in their adventure though starting April 20th through the Public Test Server. More information on how to add yourself to the PTS if you aren’t already on it can be found in Bethesda's official announcement here. You can also check out the Community Calendar, if you haven't seen it already here, for more information on specific perks for each week in June when Season 18 starts. Until then happy Cryptid hunting vault dwellers!

Dreamlight Valley - All about the "Egg-stravaganza"

With the most recent update for the game Dreamlight Valley we got a bunch of new content to explore, and with it for the first time a limited time event dubbed “Egg-stravaganza”. The event lasts from April 8th 2023 through April 29th 2023 and is a celebration for the start of Spring. The event itself brings a host of new content to the game in the forms of items to collect for cooking/crafting, recipes to learn, items to craft, repeatable quests and dreamlight tasks to complete. Here we’ll cover the event in more detail from the new collectible crafting items to the new quests and tasks so that you can get the most out of this fun event before it ends soon. 

New Collectable Crafting Items 

One of the first things that you should notice for the Egg-stravaganza event are the eggs that you can collect around the Valley and other biomes. These are the new collectible crafting items that you’ll use in the new recipes and craft-able items for the event. There will be three in total that you will run into. There are blue eggs - known as Wild Spring Eggs, pink eggs - aka Egg-celent Fruit and yellow eggs - known as Spring V-EGG-etables (pictured below). 

The Wild Spring Eggs and the Egg-celent Fruit will likely be the first you come across as they can be located around the Valley and other biomes by just looking like you would for other fruit/spices. You’ll find the blue colored Wild Spring Eggs on the ground individually in the various biomes. They can spawn randomly in each biome so be sure to have your Easter egg hunt eagle eyes on when you're doing your rounds! 

The pink colored Egg-celent Fruit will also be randomly spawned in each biome, but in this case you will be looking for fruit bushes that contain a few eggs each. With the pink Egg-celent fruit being on fruit bushes, you can move them to a central location for harvesting later once you locate them. If you haven't already done so with your normal fruit I would recommend doing this, as it definitely saves time in running to a specific biome for a one recipe ingredient.  

The last egg, the yellow colored Spring V-EGG-etables, are grown with seeds that you can craft by using the Wild Spring Eggs, Egg-celent Fruit and Dreamlight. You can also get Spring V-EGG-etables as rewards from the new repeatable quests that we’ll cover next in this article. If you are crafting the Spring V-EGG-etable seeds you will need one each of the Wild Spring Egg and the Egg-celent Fruit, as well as 20 Dreamlight for every one seed you are making. The preferred growing biome for the seeds is the Peaceful Meadow and once planted they take about 30 minutes to produce one Spring V-EGG-etable. Also, don't forget to have one of your foraging buddies with you when collecting Wild Spring Eggs and Egg-celent Fruit and/or a gardening buddy when collecting Spring V-EGG-etables, to increase the amount of them you are getting at any given time!

Repeatable Quests 

As I mentioned above we also get some fun new repeatable quests for the “Egg-stravaganza” event. Both quests (one weekly and one daily) can be obtained from Wall-E when you go to speak with him. Generally both quests seem to be fairly simple and fun to complete. 

The daily quest, Blooming and Blossoming, will have you collecting flowers and making a Pretty Flower Basket for Wall-E. The crafting recipe will call for three kinds of flowers and fiber to make the basket at a crafting station. If you are anything like me and pick flowers as you run around playing, you may be able to go directly to the crafting station to make the basket once you have started the quest. If not, you can still complete it easily, but you may have to check out the Collections tab in the game menu to see where you need to collect the required flowers from. It’s also worth mentioning that the flowers for the recipe may change daily. Once you’ve crafted the Pretty Flower Basket for Wall-E you can find him again and once you speak with him you’ll be prompted to give it to him. You will have to speak with him one more time after giving him the basket, and the quest will be completed. 

The weekly quest, Bunnies on the Run, will have you chasing down some rouge bunnies and returning them safely to Wall-E. Once you go to Wall-E initially and speak with him to start the quest you’ll want to head to the Plaza where you’ll find five bunnies running around. You’ll need to chase down each bunny and click the button you’re prompted with to collect them before they get away from you. After you have successfully caught each of the bunnies you’ll simply locate Wall-E again and speak with him to return the bunnies as well as complete the quest. 

New Recipes and Decorations 

With all the eggs you’ll be collecting from quest rewards and around your valley you’re probably wondering what you can do with these so that they aren’t just taking up all your chest space. I’m happy to say that we get a bunch of new things to cook/craft! 

First we have three new recipes to learn that let you use each of the new eggs. They are Spring Chocolate, Spring Mimosa Eggs and the Spring Egg Bowl. 

We also got five new furniture items that can be crafted and used to decorate around the valley. They are the “Don’t Put Them All in One Basket” basket, the Over Easy Chair, the Spring Egg Bounty, the Spring Egg Arch and the Spring Stall. Together they make for a nice looking set that you could use anywhere in your valley that you think could use some more color. If you need to know how to craft anything out of the set you can read up on it below; each item is pictured below the crafting information for it.  

Special Dreamlight Tasks 

Lastly we’ll cover the new “Egg-stravaganza” dreamlight tasks. These can be found in the game menu under Dreamlight and then under the Village sub-menu. There will be four in total for the event with the names ``That's Not Where Eggs Come From”, “Spring Taste Test”, “Wall-E Loves Flowers' ' and “Eggs-ceptional Decorating”. Most of them should be fairly easy to do, if not able to be done as you are working on things for the event. 

With that we’ve covered everything you should need to know for the “Egg-stravaganza” event so that whether you’re new to Dreamlight Valley or are trying to catch up you can make the most of and enjoy it! Happy Spring and have fun in the Valley!

New York. New Rules. SCREAM VI (2023) dir. Tyler Gillet & Matt Bettinelli-Olpin

I wanted to design some kites I would have loved as a kid! Mothman and The Flatwoods Monster to terrorize my local park goers and my favorite UFO design, the George Adamski flying saucer. 🪁🛸👽

Happy new year!