Decent Enough Friday
Oct. 14th, 2022 11:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
crossover_chickDidn't really start out great -- I had to make my lunch this morning because the turkey for sandwiches was frozen last night and I had to let it thaw, and the weather was pretty awful, but the day got better as it went on, as evidenced by the to-do list:
Work – The quiet days continue – to the point where my supervisor actually let me and my coworker go a half-hour early because nothing was really happening! So that was a nice surprise. Still annoyed that we’ve heard nothing from the credit card people though. . .ride in was miserable because it just POURED rain all night and thus a lot of the streets were near-flooded, but ride home was all right (even with having to stop for gas). And now I’m free for another two days, yay!
Beanbags – Nope – it was rainy and miserable for a decent chunk of the morning, and while it had finally gotten sunnier and nicer by the afternoon, it just hadn’t dried out near enough yet. We should be able to play this weekend, though!
To-Do List –
1. Get in a workout: Check – another night on the bike to finish off the Oxventure Orbpocalypse episode “Monky Business!” Having successfully faked that Bogheck can cast Moonbeam (infuriating Harmony but making Bogheck’s day), the Oxventurers were ready for the final trial between Egbert and Bridget for “the paladin that makes no booms.” Claudette admitted that, despite having the morning to prepare these trials, she wasn’t sure HOW to do this as a one-on-one battle – after all, normally there’s not two teams competing to see who can fulfill the prophecy! And considering that this line was all about a paladin capable of staying silent. . .well, the best she could come up with was to have the two stay where they were and whoever made the first loud noise lost.
Egbert immediately started to sweat, despite not even knowing if dragonborn could sweat. XD But he was a good boy and stayed still and silent despite the strain on him, while his friends worked to sabotage Bridget. Merilwen tried to drunkenly suggest that Corazon use Grease to make Bridget fall over and clang around in her armor, but Corazon had a better idea – use Mage Hand to sneak one of Egbert’s bombs into Bridget’s lap! He promptly yelled for everyone to “look over there” so he could do so, rolling a fourteen on his Charisma roll.
We don’t know what Johnny rolled, but it was high enough for them to declare that Claudette and Bridget were looking right at Corazon. (Meanwhile, Egbert rolled just for fun and got a five, so he was THOROUGHLY distracted. XD) Fortunately, Corazon pointed out Mage Hand is INVISIBLE and thus he could just work the bomb around Claudette and Bridget’s backs while they were distracted staring at him – however, his Dex/Stealth check for this came up as a nine, even with his bonuses. Claudette managed to do even worse with a six and thus didn’t see anything –
Bridget, by contrast, got a nat 20 and was VERY WELL AWARE that shit was going down. And also that she was now holding a lit bomb. Aware that if she screamed, she’d lose the game anyway, she managed to bite through the fuse before it could go off, then very quietly accused Corazon of shenanigans. Corazon was like “I’m a rogue, rogues can’t do magic!” (sparking off another argument between Bogheck and Cora – or, as TV Tropes spells it, Curore) but Bridget was still suspicious. Corazon decided to try Merilwen’s Grease plan, but Bridget made her saving throw and kept her footing, so he went to Plan C –
Use Minor Illusion to make the sound of an explosion, because that’s a thing he can do. Egbert had to wonder why that was Plan C. XD Fortunately for Corazon, Bridget tanked her Wisdom saving throw on that one, screamed, and threw the bomb, which exploded despite not having a lit fuse, taking out a chunk of the bleachers. Claudette gave the point to the Oxventurers over the ringing in everyone’s ears; Benoit presented them with the chest containing their artifact; and the group left in high spirits, laughing as Harmony began furiously arguing with Claudette.
Cut to Wilbur’s Tiki Shack, where the gang arrived with their chest and a whole bunch of pigs in tow (as drunken Merilwen had been casting Animal Friendship all over the shop). Curore was waiting for them, having roguishly snuck to their table, and was a bit put out Corazon had brought the others. XD Everyone squeezed in as Corazon ordered a round of hurricanes (rum, lemon juice, and passion fruit syrup for the curious), and they opened to chest to find that, indeed, they had procured the next shard! Prudence got out the orb as Curore admitted that Harmony’s plan had been to destroy the damn thing (Corazon was like “Good thing we got it for our Hellraiser quest then!”), slotted the shard key in, and everyone watched as the mote hologram started up, showing them again the court of the Thief Queen –
Only to abruptly fuzz out with a flashing “ERROR” message. Everyone was a bit concerned – and THEN Prudence heard a voice in her head. It was none other than Dob, letting her know via Message that he’d found Katy, gotten her shard, and that it was in “the usual place.” Also that he and Katy had some “things to work out” (aka she was almost certainly trying to kill him), so he couldn’t stick around, bye! XD Prudence relayed this to the others, and they all groaned as they realized “the usual place” probably meant he’d thrown it in a lake, just like he’d done with the vast majority of their money. XD Curore sympathized with the group disliking their bard, but Merilwen quickly jumped to his defense, saying he sung cool songs to hype them up and was nice and whatnot. Curore admitted their bard had been exactly the opposite – and immediately faded into the shadows when the group asked said bard’s name. XD (And I’m not gonna lie, I was REALLY hoping it was gonna be a surprise reveal that Liliana wasn’t always a sorceress.) Episode ended with the gang getting another round of hurricanes to fortify themselves for the upcoming “tracking down of the lake.” XD Sunday, we start the next episode, “Party Fowl!” Should be fun. :)
And because that didn’t take up the whole workout, I ended up watching two other Sims 4-related videos – “Free Useful Mods to download for The Sims 4” by ItsMeTroi (detailing some finds Troi had gotten from the Nexus, like an ultra-expensive RGB gamer desk, a Death Note (as per the anime), and a mod for setting roommate rent); and “3 Brindleton Bay World Secrets You Need To Know” by Petey Plays It (in order being “you can visit the upper level of the lighthouse on Deadgrass Isle and even woohoo there,” “there’s a pet cemetery on Deadgrass Island with loads of ghost pets,” and “the pets, particularly the cats, in Brindleton Bay can climb on loads of the scenery and run across beams and stuff like that.” Oh, and the boats on the shoreline of the community can be used as a “fast travel” to Deadgrass Isle). Nothing particularly groundbreaking, but fun nonetheless!
2. Continue writing “Londerland Bloodlines: Downtown Queensland”: Check – decided to do this early because I had the extra time, and it was going to take a bit longer than usual since I’m back in “watching an LP and copying game dialogue to alter at my leisure” mode with the chapter now. Alice has met Fat Larry, and keeps having to stop herself laughing at his aggressively 70s blaxsplotation attitudes. XD He’s opened up his shop to her, but also dropped that he only sells his BEST stuff to “select clientele,” prompting her to ask how one becomes part of that esteemed group and getting his “retrieve the briefcase from the gang meeting nearby” quest. She’s agreed to do it, but only if she gets a discount on the merch, which he agreed to (though not without some moaning). Next time, I think she just might buy the “Heavy Clothing” armor set from him, as she does need something better – though I’m gonna have to look at the sets for the other clans, because she is NOT getting the Malkavian fetish wear, that’s for damn certain.
3. Keep up with YouTube Subs: Check! I was fearing what was coming tonight, but as it turned out, it was pretty much all “stuff of a reasonable length” –
A) First up, this week’s Fun With Shorts – “Mr. Midas,” another Lone Ranger short! This one about a guy going by Midas who’s been kidnapping Native Americans to work in his gold mine, and the Lone Ranger and Tonto have to free the captured men before the local tribes go to war! Features Lone Ranger doing some very inappropriate dress-up, some heavy “white savior” tropes, Tonto once again being the one to REALLY save the day, but also a white oppressor facing consequences (said consequences being falling into a boiling vat of gold). Mixed messages here, is what I’m saying. XD
B) Then it was onto Call Me Kevin and “The Hitchhiking game that is randomly generated,” aka Kevin Plays Road 96! For only a half-hour, meaning I actually had time to watch it with the rest of my videos for the day. XD Anyway, as stated, this is a randomly generated game about escaping a dictatorship by fleeing to the border by any way possible – the choices you make along the way have an impact, and you can get a variety of endings and get a variety of special bonuses. Kevin started out as a “homegirl” stealing a car and bringing along a young game designer, Alex, helping him finish his latest game (a tank game that Kevin decided needed bouncy bullets) and learning his sad backstory (lost his biological parents in an attack back in ‘86); then moved onto getting blackmailed into working at a gas station by some prick who called the cops on the nice teen waiting for a ride just outside – fortunately Kevin’s character encountered a sympathetic cop who helped her escape the cop's less-than-friendly comrades; then it was onto riding along with a trucker transporting “adult diapers” and learning how to make the OMEN Vitality drink (which gave him extra energy on his energy bar); then helping thieves Stan and Mitch break into the Happy Taxi office to learn where one of the drivers was going to try and kill the TV Star Sonya so they could stop him and save her; then getting a ride from Sonya herself and – thanks to eating her food – going on a terrible drug trip with her in which we learned her sad backstory (someone got killed on her show); then it was over to a camp near the border, where he encountered the creepy Jerrod (the guy who killed him the LAST time he played this game) and helped him destroy a radio tower to try and purge his feelings about the loss of his daughter (same girl who got killed on Sonya’s show! So that brings that full circle); then a silent ride to the actual checkpoint (Kevin was too frightened to jeopardize his chances of finishing by talking); then sneaking into a truck to try and rob it only to end up using it to sneak through the checkpoint (holding still to trick a movement scanner, avoiding the sniffer dog, and holding her breath to fool a breathing scanner) before finally making it to freedom! :D Yeah, the country burned behind her, but hey, she escaped, w00! Hooray for getting an ending. And since there’s plenty of other paths to take, perhaps we will see this game again in the future. . .
C) And finally, we had GrayStillPlays and “When you combine 1,057 species into one” – aka another round of Merge Animals 3D Mutant Race! Because there was so much more weirdness to unlock. Like a full Xenomorph set! :D Plus a tiger head, an elephant head, zebra legs, bunny legs, and various terrifying combinations thereof. Gray put together horrors beyond imagining with stuff like a tiger head with zebra legs, a shark tail, and butterfly wings; an elephant head with a genie tail and Gundam wings (yes, literally, mecha wings); and of course the ultimate horror of a Xenomorph with gargoyle wings and LEGO mech legs. XD This such a stupid game, and yet it is so fun when he plays it. XD
4. Get my tumblr queues sorted: Check – one ask reply, three thread replies on Valice Multiverse. Nothing too stressful, happily.
So yeah, not too shabby! And now it is the weekend, yay. Time to get the to-do list sorted:
1. Clean my room and do the monthly wash
2. Keep up with YouTube Subs and get some stuff out of the Watch Later
3. Play Sims 4 and either do some more building or play through SimCity Founding with the Valicer crew
4. Work on Blades in the Dark Valicer stuff
Hopefully that's reasonable. . .however, my mom wants to decorate for Halloween this weekend, and I'm not sure what day we're gonna do it. Combine that with having to check my mods for compatibility with the latest patch, and Sims 4 may be on the back burner this weekend. . .we'll see what happens! Hopefully though I can at least continue working on my camper. . .night all!
Work – The quiet days continue – to the point where my supervisor actually let me and my coworker go a half-hour early because nothing was really happening! So that was a nice surprise. Still annoyed that we’ve heard nothing from the credit card people though. . .ride in was miserable because it just POURED rain all night and thus a lot of the streets were near-flooded, but ride home was all right (even with having to stop for gas). And now I’m free for another two days, yay!
Beanbags – Nope – it was rainy and miserable for a decent chunk of the morning, and while it had finally gotten sunnier and nicer by the afternoon, it just hadn’t dried out near enough yet. We should be able to play this weekend, though!
To-Do List –
1. Get in a workout: Check – another night on the bike to finish off the Oxventure Orbpocalypse episode “Monky Business!” Having successfully faked that Bogheck can cast Moonbeam (infuriating Harmony but making Bogheck’s day), the Oxventurers were ready for the final trial between Egbert and Bridget for “the paladin that makes no booms.” Claudette admitted that, despite having the morning to prepare these trials, she wasn’t sure HOW to do this as a one-on-one battle – after all, normally there’s not two teams competing to see who can fulfill the prophecy! And considering that this line was all about a paladin capable of staying silent. . .well, the best she could come up with was to have the two stay where they were and whoever made the first loud noise lost.
Egbert immediately started to sweat, despite not even knowing if dragonborn could sweat. XD But he was a good boy and stayed still and silent despite the strain on him, while his friends worked to sabotage Bridget. Merilwen tried to drunkenly suggest that Corazon use Grease to make Bridget fall over and clang around in her armor, but Corazon had a better idea – use Mage Hand to sneak one of Egbert’s bombs into Bridget’s lap! He promptly yelled for everyone to “look over there” so he could do so, rolling a fourteen on his Charisma roll.
We don’t know what Johnny rolled, but it was high enough for them to declare that Claudette and Bridget were looking right at Corazon. (Meanwhile, Egbert rolled just for fun and got a five, so he was THOROUGHLY distracted. XD) Fortunately, Corazon pointed out Mage Hand is INVISIBLE and thus he could just work the bomb around Claudette and Bridget’s backs while they were distracted staring at him – however, his Dex/Stealth check for this came up as a nine, even with his bonuses. Claudette managed to do even worse with a six and thus didn’t see anything –
Bridget, by contrast, got a nat 20 and was VERY WELL AWARE that shit was going down. And also that she was now holding a lit bomb. Aware that if she screamed, she’d lose the game anyway, she managed to bite through the fuse before it could go off, then very quietly accused Corazon of shenanigans. Corazon was like “I’m a rogue, rogues can’t do magic!” (sparking off another argument between Bogheck and Cora – or, as TV Tropes spells it, Curore) but Bridget was still suspicious. Corazon decided to try Merilwen’s Grease plan, but Bridget made her saving throw and kept her footing, so he went to Plan C –
Use Minor Illusion to make the sound of an explosion, because that’s a thing he can do. Egbert had to wonder why that was Plan C. XD Fortunately for Corazon, Bridget tanked her Wisdom saving throw on that one, screamed, and threw the bomb, which exploded despite not having a lit fuse, taking out a chunk of the bleachers. Claudette gave the point to the Oxventurers over the ringing in everyone’s ears; Benoit presented them with the chest containing their artifact; and the group left in high spirits, laughing as Harmony began furiously arguing with Claudette.
Cut to Wilbur’s Tiki Shack, where the gang arrived with their chest and a whole bunch of pigs in tow (as drunken Merilwen had been casting Animal Friendship all over the shop). Curore was waiting for them, having roguishly snuck to their table, and was a bit put out Corazon had brought the others. XD Everyone squeezed in as Corazon ordered a round of hurricanes (rum, lemon juice, and passion fruit syrup for the curious), and they opened to chest to find that, indeed, they had procured the next shard! Prudence got out the orb as Curore admitted that Harmony’s plan had been to destroy the damn thing (Corazon was like “Good thing we got it for our Hellraiser quest then!”), slotted the shard key in, and everyone watched as the mote hologram started up, showing them again the court of the Thief Queen –
Only to abruptly fuzz out with a flashing “ERROR” message. Everyone was a bit concerned – and THEN Prudence heard a voice in her head. It was none other than Dob, letting her know via Message that he’d found Katy, gotten her shard, and that it was in “the usual place.” Also that he and Katy had some “things to work out” (aka she was almost certainly trying to kill him), so he couldn’t stick around, bye! XD Prudence relayed this to the others, and they all groaned as they realized “the usual place” probably meant he’d thrown it in a lake, just like he’d done with the vast majority of their money. XD Curore sympathized with the group disliking their bard, but Merilwen quickly jumped to his defense, saying he sung cool songs to hype them up and was nice and whatnot. Curore admitted their bard had been exactly the opposite – and immediately faded into the shadows when the group asked said bard’s name. XD (And I’m not gonna lie, I was REALLY hoping it was gonna be a surprise reveal that Liliana wasn’t always a sorceress.) Episode ended with the gang getting another round of hurricanes to fortify themselves for the upcoming “tracking down of the lake.” XD Sunday, we start the next episode, “Party Fowl!” Should be fun. :)
And because that didn’t take up the whole workout, I ended up watching two other Sims 4-related videos – “Free Useful Mods to download for The Sims 4” by ItsMeTroi (detailing some finds Troi had gotten from the Nexus, like an ultra-expensive RGB gamer desk, a Death Note (as per the anime), and a mod for setting roommate rent); and “3 Brindleton Bay World Secrets You Need To Know” by Petey Plays It (in order being “you can visit the upper level of the lighthouse on Deadgrass Isle and even woohoo there,” “there’s a pet cemetery on Deadgrass Island with loads of ghost pets,” and “the pets, particularly the cats, in Brindleton Bay can climb on loads of the scenery and run across beams and stuff like that.” Oh, and the boats on the shoreline of the community can be used as a “fast travel” to Deadgrass Isle). Nothing particularly groundbreaking, but fun nonetheless!
2. Continue writing “Londerland Bloodlines: Downtown Queensland”: Check – decided to do this early because I had the extra time, and it was going to take a bit longer than usual since I’m back in “watching an LP and copying game dialogue to alter at my leisure” mode with the chapter now. Alice has met Fat Larry, and keeps having to stop herself laughing at his aggressively 70s blaxsplotation attitudes. XD He’s opened up his shop to her, but also dropped that he only sells his BEST stuff to “select clientele,” prompting her to ask how one becomes part of that esteemed group and getting his “retrieve the briefcase from the gang meeting nearby” quest. She’s agreed to do it, but only if she gets a discount on the merch, which he agreed to (though not without some moaning). Next time, I think she just might buy the “Heavy Clothing” armor set from him, as she does need something better – though I’m gonna have to look at the sets for the other clans, because she is NOT getting the Malkavian fetish wear, that’s for damn certain.
3. Keep up with YouTube Subs: Check! I was fearing what was coming tonight, but as it turned out, it was pretty much all “stuff of a reasonable length” –
A) First up, this week’s Fun With Shorts – “Mr. Midas,” another Lone Ranger short! This one about a guy going by Midas who’s been kidnapping Native Americans to work in his gold mine, and the Lone Ranger and Tonto have to free the captured men before the local tribes go to war! Features Lone Ranger doing some very inappropriate dress-up, some heavy “white savior” tropes, Tonto once again being the one to REALLY save the day, but also a white oppressor facing consequences (said consequences being falling into a boiling vat of gold). Mixed messages here, is what I’m saying. XD
B) Then it was onto Call Me Kevin and “The Hitchhiking game that is randomly generated,” aka Kevin Plays Road 96! For only a half-hour, meaning I actually had time to watch it with the rest of my videos for the day. XD Anyway, as stated, this is a randomly generated game about escaping a dictatorship by fleeing to the border by any way possible – the choices you make along the way have an impact, and you can get a variety of endings and get a variety of special bonuses. Kevin started out as a “homegirl” stealing a car and bringing along a young game designer, Alex, helping him finish his latest game (a tank game that Kevin decided needed bouncy bullets) and learning his sad backstory (lost his biological parents in an attack back in ‘86); then moved onto getting blackmailed into working at a gas station by some prick who called the cops on the nice teen waiting for a ride just outside – fortunately Kevin’s character encountered a sympathetic cop who helped her escape the cop's less-than-friendly comrades; then it was onto riding along with a trucker transporting “adult diapers” and learning how to make the OMEN Vitality drink (which gave him extra energy on his energy bar); then helping thieves Stan and Mitch break into the Happy Taxi office to learn where one of the drivers was going to try and kill the TV Star Sonya so they could stop him and save her; then getting a ride from Sonya herself and – thanks to eating her food – going on a terrible drug trip with her in which we learned her sad backstory (someone got killed on her show); then it was over to a camp near the border, where he encountered the creepy Jerrod (the guy who killed him the LAST time he played this game) and helped him destroy a radio tower to try and purge his feelings about the loss of his daughter (same girl who got killed on Sonya’s show! So that brings that full circle); then a silent ride to the actual checkpoint (Kevin was too frightened to jeopardize his chances of finishing by talking); then sneaking into a truck to try and rob it only to end up using it to sneak through the checkpoint (holding still to trick a movement scanner, avoiding the sniffer dog, and holding her breath to fool a breathing scanner) before finally making it to freedom! :D Yeah, the country burned behind her, but hey, she escaped, w00! Hooray for getting an ending. And since there’s plenty of other paths to take, perhaps we will see this game again in the future. . .
C) And finally, we had GrayStillPlays and “When you combine 1,057 species into one” – aka another round of Merge Animals 3D Mutant Race! Because there was so much more weirdness to unlock. Like a full Xenomorph set! :D Plus a tiger head, an elephant head, zebra legs, bunny legs, and various terrifying combinations thereof. Gray put together horrors beyond imagining with stuff like a tiger head with zebra legs, a shark tail, and butterfly wings; an elephant head with a genie tail and Gundam wings (yes, literally, mecha wings); and of course the ultimate horror of a Xenomorph with gargoyle wings and LEGO mech legs. XD This such a stupid game, and yet it is so fun when he plays it. XD
4. Get my tumblr queues sorted: Check – one ask reply, three thread replies on Valice Multiverse. Nothing too stressful, happily.
So yeah, not too shabby! And now it is the weekend, yay. Time to get the to-do list sorted:
1. Clean my room and do the monthly wash
2. Keep up with YouTube Subs and get some stuff out of the Watch Later
3. Play Sims 4 and either do some more building or play through SimCity Founding with the Valicer crew
4. Work on Blades in the Dark Valicer stuff
Hopefully that's reasonable. . .however, my mom wants to decorate for Halloween this weekend, and I'm not sure what day we're gonna do it. Combine that with having to check my mods for compatibility with the latest patch, and Sims 4 may be on the back burner this weekend. . .we'll see what happens! Hopefully though I can at least continue working on my camper. . .night all!
