Surprisingly Early Thursday
Feb. 16th, 2023 11:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
crossover_chickWell, early for ME, anyway -- but it's been a reasonably productive Thursday, and I have a little extra time to get this update out for a change --
Work – Better day than yesterday, if only by virtue of the fact Talky Coworker was out in the kitchen doing her own special project most of the day. And the fact that the calls to interrupt my lunch hour came in at the very tail end of it, so I didn’t actually lose any time (and I’d already finished eating). Day consisted mostly of obituaries, working on a list of people who need to be added to a particular parish, and taking credit-card-related calls. *shrug* Like I said, better than yesterday!
To-Do List –
1. Get in a workout: Check – another night on the bike, with the following –
A) The grand conclusion of the Oxventure “Battle for Bardcon!” Prudence, as it turned out, wasn’t going FULL murder with her shadow demon on the Guards Fired For Falling Asleep On The Job – after sending it on ahead of her and getting the guards’ attention (except for one or two who somehow missed it and thought “must have been the wind”), her instruction to said demon (delivered in Abyssal, which in Johnny’s hands warped into Italian Stereotype) was to just kite the guards around and keep them busy so they couldn’t actually attack. The demon grumbled, but – well, it got a crit 1 on its Charisma saving throw against Prudence’s mastery, so it did as it was told for the hour that it existed on this plane. Possibly it did take the initiative to lure them into a shadow realm to eat them at some point, but – let’s be honest, Prudence would NOT lose any sleep over that if it did. XD At any rate, the guards were thoroughly taken care of in chasing the demon at a brisk walking pace. XD
And then it was over to Dob, who of course had the Unwanted Heroes, lured into a quest before being callously tossed aside. You know, like a prison guard who’d been told this was going to be the best day of his life (Christopher Englebert XVII, from the first appearance of Liliana), or a scholar who was forcibly regressed into acting like a small child (Alfred Strangertide), or a fish monster who’d suddenly been turned into a bishop of Cthulhu (Iron, and to be fair that was equal parts Dob AND Prudence). Though when the gang meta-asked if Bob was present, Johnny decided no – if Bob shows up again to betray the party, they don’t want the Guild to even see it coming. XD Anyway, Dob managed to use his Greater Invisibility spell to slip through the crowd, and see that these rubes were kitted out well, but clearly didn’t have much experience in handling their stuff – complaining enchanted helms were itchy, or being unable to lift holy swords, that sort of thing. Figuring that they weren’t THAT much of a threat, and if they’d been tricked once, they could be tricked again, Dob used Major Image to create the image of a 40-foot dragon stuffed into a 20-foot-square cage, and then turned visible again and began loudly boasting of his skills as a dragon slayer and dragon tamer, saying that he’d wrestled this dragon into its cage with only his bare hands! And that he must now deliver it to his liege lord, and regrettably, since he works alone, that means the dragon’s enormous treasure hoard over in that direction [waves hand vaguely] is completely unguarded. Treasures including a sword that is actually two swords stuck together and it also fires more swords and those swords do holy damage! And a shield that if you turn it on its side becomes a nice sideboard and it also fires shields! Cue everyone in reality desperately holding back their laughter, and Johnny insisting on a Charisma check. Dob smashed it with a 22 – but still a person came forward, admitting that what the group really wanted was some friends, and they’d be happy to follow him, even if that dragon hoard DID sound enticing. . . Dob promptly countered that the hoard had a “+1” version of the screaming war axe on the guy’s back, and said that if he dual-wielded them, then SURELY he’d be picked up by another adventuring group! Be inspired, he demanded!
Roll Charisma again, Johnny demanded, through their laughter. XD But Dob smashed it again with a 21, and the group, hopeful that even more awesome loot would get them picked up by an adventuring guild, ran off, inspired.
And so, with the various threats neutralized, the gang regrouped in the center of Bardcon, where Katie had JUST finished kitting up the Joyful Damnation as a battle ship. Prudence took great glee in informing her that it was all for naught and that they didn’t need her, as per usual. Dob desperately tried to save it by thanking her for doing it at all, but Katie just shoved her pearl head back on and sulked, pretending not to hear him. And THEN, to pour salt in the wound, Chadworth Croaker leapt onto the Joyful Damnation to use as a stage, greeted the crowd – and told them that, since time was getting on, they didn’t have time for Dob's opening act. So instead he was going to do a longer set and entertain them all – well, those of them who weren’t passed out drunk, like those guys over there where a certain druid was cleaning off a knife. XD (Dob was like “I thought she’d be lured into the rhythm!”) And so the story ended with everyone but Dob singing along to a much worse version of “This Is How You Remind Me.” XD Poor guy, he risked so much to try and save his fellow bards. . .all he wanted was to be a big rock star, living in a hilltop house with fifteen horses. . . ;)
B) And, after that, since I had a bit of time, a pair of short Petey Plays It videos –
I. “Complete Guide To Tiny Home Living [Perks Explained]” – his most recent upload, explaining the three levels of tiny house you can have if you have the Tiny Living stuff pack, and the various perks you acquire by going small (along with a tip on how to beat the system by using a roof as an “A-frame” house to get more space). A good refresher on how the various perks work and at what levels you get them at!
II. “All Mermaid Powers And Abilities” – an old upload covering how mermaids work in The Sims 4 and what powers and perks they have! The fact that the video is only four minutes long (shorter than the above video on tiny homes, which is almost five) should tell you how fleshed out mermaids are in this game. :p But you do get a few cool powers, such as summoning creepy ocean shadows, being able to nearly drown Sims to replenish your own needs, sing songs that affect Sim moods, and even change the weather if you have Seasons. It’s not a lot, but what’s there is rather interesting, so, that’s something!
2. Continue writing “Londerland Bloodlines: Downtown Queensland:” Check! After a little more banter with Victor about his bug bots and how she likes his enthusiasm for them, Alice has made it out the door and onto the streets, more than ready to take on the Brotherhood of the Ninth Circle! Though, before she does that, there’s a little matter to resolve. . .namely, Caterpillar has made her realize that the Last Round is by an underpass, meaning it fits the description left on Milton’s answering machine! Meaning she thinks she might catch Muddy and Milton with their mysterious backer, or at least get some clues as to their current location. . .uh, yeah, to be fair, she is going to find the latter. . .
3. Keep up with YouTube Subs: Check – even got in a bonus video because it’s “only a Short” day from our friend GSP –
A) First up, an OXtra list from earlier in the week – “7 Unskippable Openings You Never Want to Play Through Again!” Luke and Ellen discuss those openings to games that just take FAAAR too long to complete. And it’s not just overlong cutscenes, like the infamous Skyrim opening cart ride – they also ragged on how long it takes to set up a proper building for Resident Services (and get Isabelle) for your island in Animal Crossing: New Horizons (ten days of using flimsy tools to chop wood and hit rocks), and how long it takes to complete the painfully slow crawling out of a hospital at the beginning of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (apparently even SPEEDRUNNERS need FIFTEEN MINUTES to deal with Venom Snake’s coma-ravaged body inching along the floor). And don’t get them started on the emotional pain of having to play as Sarah, however briefly, whenever you start up a new version of The Last Of Us. . . Point is, video game openings be too long sometimes – as the commenters were only too happy to bitch about. Commenter edition in three, two. . .
B) Then it was over to the Subs for the latest from Josh Way – “SKETCHY: Seinfeld!” With Josh drawing some very caricatured portraits of the four leads from the famous sitcom. He – does not think he managed a home run with any of them, but he feels like they came out good enough to share with the world. XD Hey, getting a cartoony likeness of people is hard, yo! Of the four, I personally like George and Kramer the best and felt like they looked the most like themselves – Jerry and Elaine just looked kinda WEIRD to me. But hey, still better than anything I could manage!
C) And finally we had the GrayStillPlays mini-sode of Thursday – “One Million IQ Test in GTA 5 #shorts!” Which featured a clip of Gray doing a “math speed run” course! What’s that, you ask? It’s when someone (I presume Alex) forces Gray to do math along with some basic platforming in GTA V. XD What he had to do was jump from platform to platform, figuring out the correct sums along the way – it started with “two+two” on the starting platform, then he had to add up the numbers on the other platforms as he went (example, first two platforms were four and five – he had to jump on the four (two plus two), then the next two platforms were nine and six, and he had to jump on the nine (five plus four)). And of course the sums got slowly more ridiculous as he went on because the numbers kept getting bigger. . .oh, and the board was timed in the sense that if Gray lingered too long on a platform it would disappear from under him. XD He made it to the end eventually, but it definitely taxed his brain-meats!
4. Get my tumblr queues sorted: Check – three ask replies over on Valice Multiverse. Nothing too painful!
*nods* Not bad at all. And now it is time to head to bed so I can get some sleep. At least tomorrow is Friday, hooray. . .a shame that it's gonna just get colder as the day goes on, but still. Last workday of the week, w00. Night all!
Work – Better day than yesterday, if only by virtue of the fact Talky Coworker was out in the kitchen doing her own special project most of the day. And the fact that the calls to interrupt my lunch hour came in at the very tail end of it, so I didn’t actually lose any time (and I’d already finished eating). Day consisted mostly of obituaries, working on a list of people who need to be added to a particular parish, and taking credit-card-related calls. *shrug* Like I said, better than yesterday!
To-Do List –
1. Get in a workout: Check – another night on the bike, with the following –
A) The grand conclusion of the Oxventure “Battle for Bardcon!” Prudence, as it turned out, wasn’t going FULL murder with her shadow demon on the Guards Fired For Falling Asleep On The Job – after sending it on ahead of her and getting the guards’ attention (except for one or two who somehow missed it and thought “must have been the wind”), her instruction to said demon (delivered in Abyssal, which in Johnny’s hands warped into Italian Stereotype) was to just kite the guards around and keep them busy so they couldn’t actually attack. The demon grumbled, but – well, it got a crit 1 on its Charisma saving throw against Prudence’s mastery, so it did as it was told for the hour that it existed on this plane. Possibly it did take the initiative to lure them into a shadow realm to eat them at some point, but – let’s be honest, Prudence would NOT lose any sleep over that if it did. XD At any rate, the guards were thoroughly taken care of in chasing the demon at a brisk walking pace. XD
And then it was over to Dob, who of course had the Unwanted Heroes, lured into a quest before being callously tossed aside. You know, like a prison guard who’d been told this was going to be the best day of his life (Christopher Englebert XVII, from the first appearance of Liliana), or a scholar who was forcibly regressed into acting like a small child (Alfred Strangertide), or a fish monster who’d suddenly been turned into a bishop of Cthulhu (Iron, and to be fair that was equal parts Dob AND Prudence). Though when the gang meta-asked if Bob was present, Johnny decided no – if Bob shows up again to betray the party, they don’t want the Guild to even see it coming. XD Anyway, Dob managed to use his Greater Invisibility spell to slip through the crowd, and see that these rubes were kitted out well, but clearly didn’t have much experience in handling their stuff – complaining enchanted helms were itchy, or being unable to lift holy swords, that sort of thing. Figuring that they weren’t THAT much of a threat, and if they’d been tricked once, they could be tricked again, Dob used Major Image to create the image of a 40-foot dragon stuffed into a 20-foot-square cage, and then turned visible again and began loudly boasting of his skills as a dragon slayer and dragon tamer, saying that he’d wrestled this dragon into its cage with only his bare hands! And that he must now deliver it to his liege lord, and regrettably, since he works alone, that means the dragon’s enormous treasure hoard over in that direction [waves hand vaguely] is completely unguarded. Treasures including a sword that is actually two swords stuck together and it also fires more swords and those swords do holy damage! And a shield that if you turn it on its side becomes a nice sideboard and it also fires shields! Cue everyone in reality desperately holding back their laughter, and Johnny insisting on a Charisma check. Dob smashed it with a 22 – but still a person came forward, admitting that what the group really wanted was some friends, and they’d be happy to follow him, even if that dragon hoard DID sound enticing. . . Dob promptly countered that the hoard had a “+1” version of the screaming war axe on the guy’s back, and said that if he dual-wielded them, then SURELY he’d be picked up by another adventuring group! Be inspired, he demanded!
Roll Charisma again, Johnny demanded, through their laughter. XD But Dob smashed it again with a 21, and the group, hopeful that even more awesome loot would get them picked up by an adventuring guild, ran off, inspired.
And so, with the various threats neutralized, the gang regrouped in the center of Bardcon, where Katie had JUST finished kitting up the Joyful Damnation as a battle ship. Prudence took great glee in informing her that it was all for naught and that they didn’t need her, as per usual. Dob desperately tried to save it by thanking her for doing it at all, but Katie just shoved her pearl head back on and sulked, pretending not to hear him. And THEN, to pour salt in the wound, Chadworth Croaker leapt onto the Joyful Damnation to use as a stage, greeted the crowd – and told them that, since time was getting on, they didn’t have time for Dob's opening act. So instead he was going to do a longer set and entertain them all – well, those of them who weren’t passed out drunk, like those guys over there where a certain druid was cleaning off a knife. XD (Dob was like “I thought she’d be lured into the rhythm!”) And so the story ended with everyone but Dob singing along to a much worse version of “This Is How You Remind Me.” XD Poor guy, he risked so much to try and save his fellow bards. . .all he wanted was to be a big rock star, living in a hilltop house with fifteen horses. . . ;)
B) And, after that, since I had a bit of time, a pair of short Petey Plays It videos –
I. “Complete Guide To Tiny Home Living [Perks Explained]” – his most recent upload, explaining the three levels of tiny house you can have if you have the Tiny Living stuff pack, and the various perks you acquire by going small (along with a tip on how to beat the system by using a roof as an “A-frame” house to get more space). A good refresher on how the various perks work and at what levels you get them at!
II. “All Mermaid Powers And Abilities” – an old upload covering how mermaids work in The Sims 4 and what powers and perks they have! The fact that the video is only four minutes long (shorter than the above video on tiny homes, which is almost five) should tell you how fleshed out mermaids are in this game. :p But you do get a few cool powers, such as summoning creepy ocean shadows, being able to nearly drown Sims to replenish your own needs, sing songs that affect Sim moods, and even change the weather if you have Seasons. It’s not a lot, but what’s there is rather interesting, so, that’s something!
2. Continue writing “Londerland Bloodlines: Downtown Queensland:” Check! After a little more banter with Victor about his bug bots and how she likes his enthusiasm for them, Alice has made it out the door and onto the streets, more than ready to take on the Brotherhood of the Ninth Circle! Though, before she does that, there’s a little matter to resolve. . .namely, Caterpillar has made her realize that the Last Round is by an underpass, meaning it fits the description left on Milton’s answering machine! Meaning she thinks she might catch Muddy and Milton with their mysterious backer, or at least get some clues as to their current location. . .uh, yeah, to be fair, she is going to find the latter. . .
3. Keep up with YouTube Subs: Check – even got in a bonus video because it’s “only a Short” day from our friend GSP –
A) First up, an OXtra list from earlier in the week – “7 Unskippable Openings You Never Want to Play Through Again!” Luke and Ellen discuss those openings to games that just take FAAAR too long to complete. And it’s not just overlong cutscenes, like the infamous Skyrim opening cart ride – they also ragged on how long it takes to set up a proper building for Resident Services (and get Isabelle) for your island in Animal Crossing: New Horizons (ten days of using flimsy tools to chop wood and hit rocks), and how long it takes to complete the painfully slow crawling out of a hospital at the beginning of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (apparently even SPEEDRUNNERS need FIFTEEN MINUTES to deal with Venom Snake’s coma-ravaged body inching along the floor). And don’t get them started on the emotional pain of having to play as Sarah, however briefly, whenever you start up a new version of The Last Of Us. . . Point is, video game openings be too long sometimes – as the commenters were only too happy to bitch about. Commenter edition in three, two. . .
B) Then it was over to the Subs for the latest from Josh Way – “SKETCHY: Seinfeld!” With Josh drawing some very caricatured portraits of the four leads from the famous sitcom. He – does not think he managed a home run with any of them, but he feels like they came out good enough to share with the world. XD Hey, getting a cartoony likeness of people is hard, yo! Of the four, I personally like George and Kramer the best and felt like they looked the most like themselves – Jerry and Elaine just looked kinda WEIRD to me. But hey, still better than anything I could manage!
C) And finally we had the GrayStillPlays mini-sode of Thursday – “One Million IQ Test in GTA 5 #shorts!” Which featured a clip of Gray doing a “math speed run” course! What’s that, you ask? It’s when someone (I presume Alex) forces Gray to do math along with some basic platforming in GTA V. XD What he had to do was jump from platform to platform, figuring out the correct sums along the way – it started with “two+two” on the starting platform, then he had to add up the numbers on the other platforms as he went (example, first two platforms were four and five – he had to jump on the four (two plus two), then the next two platforms were nine and six, and he had to jump on the nine (five plus four)). And of course the sums got slowly more ridiculous as he went on because the numbers kept getting bigger. . .oh, and the board was timed in the sense that if Gray lingered too long on a platform it would disappear from under him. XD He made it to the end eventually, but it definitely taxed his brain-meats!
4. Get my tumblr queues sorted: Check – three ask replies over on Valice Multiverse. Nothing too painful!
*nods* Not bad at all. And now it is time to head to bed so I can get some sleep. At least tomorrow is Friday, hooray. . .a shame that it's gonna just get colder as the day goes on, but still. Last workday of the week, w00. Night all!
