Acceptable Monday
Jun. 19th, 2023 11:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
crossover_chickI mean, I would have liked it better to have a day off in honor of the newly-recognized Juneteenth holiday, but as Mondays go, it could have gone a lot worse --
Work – An all right day, I suppose, though there was some early annoying glitchiness with the credit card computer (clock desync issue). But it ended up being not too big a deal, mostly because I COULD still do credit card stuff on it. Also did the GL, cleaned up a few things I was waiting on, and worked on a QC file for one of our processors – nothing particularly exciting, but it made the day go by! We’ll see how the rest go. . .
To-Do List –
1. Get in a workout: Check – back on the bike, and back to the Oxventure with the last of the “posted after ‘Legacy of Dragons’ but I think filmed before” live shows! (Which means that all these adventures actually probably take place before that plot thread even kicks off? I dunno, I feel like “Snow Escape” pretty easily fits into the time period between them confronting Dreadbert up on the mountain and getting to the Joyful Damnation and going north to find the frost dragon mother of their eggs, but “Knight Shift,” “Grad Attitude,” and this one are a bit trickier to place. . .)
ANYWAY, this particular show was “Baking Bad,” and it started officially with the group gamboling among the hills around Saint Crois, a tiny village in Geth known primarily as the location of the best baked goods in all the land. The chefs are top-notch, they have wizards specifically to make sure their filled donuts are perfectly round before they’re fried, and basically if you like bread or pastry, you are going to have a good time there. The gang had been lead there by a very eager Seal Gaiman, but at the crest of the final hill before coming upon the village, he suddenly got very upset for some reason. And indeed, as the gang crested said hill, they noticed that, instead of smelling beautiful and buttery like they’d always heard (hell, the town’s official motto is “you’ll smell us before you see us” – leading to Egbert declaring that’s also his tagline, Merilwen pointing out it’s also probably Dob’s, and Corazon saying that it HAS to be the tagline of Tanner’s Folly, the town full of tanners that constantly smells of urine – Johnny confirmed there have been some nasty legal battles), it smelt kind of – burnt. Corazon got to the top of the hill for a proper survey with his spyglass –
And saw that, instead of a lovely picturesque village below, there was a smoking crater and a mysterious citadel sitting beside it. He promptly was like “uh, maybe the smoking crater is a special cooking technique for croissants. . .” XD (Merilwen, meanwhile, made sure to immediately clarify that this one wasn’t their fault, because, well, the Oxventurers do have a track record.) Dob focused in on the citadel itself, which was large, imposing, and had people with tails going into it. Once everyone was inside, though, the porticullis slammed shut –
And the citadel ROSE UP ON A BUNCH OF CRABLIKE LEGS and started skittering off. Dob promptly decided to chase it and try and climb on, with Corazon following because “you need the natural agility of a human.” XD The two were able to get close enough to see that the people manning the citadel were lizard-folk, and the lizard-folk saw them and threw some javelins. Dob took one to the chest, though fortunately it didn’t go far in (only three piercing damage), while Corazon watched as the one aiming at him forgot to let go of the javelin on a critical one and threw HIMSELF off the citadel, smashing into the ground and killing himself. Dob, who’d been preparing to throw the javelin stuck in him back, promptly gave up that plan and turned around to Speak With Dead while Corazon stole the corpse’s javelin. XD Thanks to poorly phrasing his opening remarks (calling the lizard-folk a dragon-kin and then rolling all of his three questions into one), all he got out of his new corpse friend was that the castle was big, its deal was walking, and what they’d wanted from the town was “everything.” And then the corpse’s head fell off, and Corazon stole that too. XD (What, at the very beginning of the show, he’d pronounced he would steal anything from anybody, all while holding Dob’s lute – he only gave it back because he got bored with it.) The others caught up at that point, and they started trying to figure out a plan – Dob had Prudence look at the spear in his chest and Detect Magic on it to see if there was anything special about it. Not really, beyond it having a cool jade-like top, but Prudence WAS able to get a magical read on the citadel as it skittered away, revealing that it was powered by some sort of powerfully magical core. Interesting. . .
And then there was a soft cough from a shivering little urchin, as the townsfolk started coming out of the rubble of their homes. (Merilwen asked the urchin why she wasn’t in the sea, and Johnny was like “I didn’t deserve that one.” XD) Corazon promptly began asking if any of them could make him a croissant (as Dob had previously promised him one hundred to get him to help with this adventure), and interpreted their subsequent tears as part of the croissant-making process. XD One of the townsfolk managed to explain what had happened, though – namely, the lizard-folk had bombarded them with cannon fire, then just stolen EVERYTHING from them – food, clothes, jewelry, and – most importantly – all the pastry chefs in the village! Corazon was like “so what’s the bare minimum you need to make me a croissant” and the guy replied “MY HUSBAND BACK.” The gang agreed to help with stopping the citadel (if not directly rebuilding the village, as Egbert reminded Dob that the last village reconstruction they did did NOT go well), and in response to the villagers saying that would be “killing two birds with one stone,” Corazon, bird-killing expert, shot a condor and presented it to everyone to eat. XD Dob also tried to cast some Calm Emotions on the crowd, but all it did was make them cry quieter, which was somehow worse. Dob didn’t like that all his plans ended in “somehow worse.” XD
Anyway – citadel-stopping time! Ideally before, not during, its next attack on a town. :p Corazon asked Egbert if he had anything explosive that might be handy for chasing the castle and getting aboard (as it wasn’t yet that far away, and anyway Prudence could easily track it with her magic-detecting prowess) – Egbert said probably, but he didn’t want to risk any of the others. Corazon reminded him that he’d never seemed to care THAT much about collateral damage before, and Egbert was like “true – everyone on my shield!” Fortunately, Dob intervened and asked Merilwen if she’d be willing to shapeshift into a bird and check the place out first – Merilwen was game, and – after discussing the different kinds of birds she could become – ended up turning herself into a condor to make up for the one Corazon shot. XD Corazon watched her and then attempted to turn into a condor himself – a decent roll had him convinced he’d given himself condor legs, and the others decided to just play along. XD The plan was for Merilwen to drag everyone’s tied-together hempen ropes with her to attach to the citadel and make a makeshift ladder – Merilwen thought that would look suspicious, but Egbert suggested she just eat some of it so the bad guys though it was what condors ate. XD Merilwen demurred for the moment and flew off to check out the citadel. As you might expect, it was roughly wedding-cake shaped, with a lower layer with guards patrolling the battlements, a couple of upper layers with cannon, and a top “Inner Keep” layer – a true “battle castle.” Merilwen, satisfied and not having drawn any unwanted attention, flew back to grab the hempen rope (Corazon ATTEMPTED to claim that he could speak Condor and understood everything she said, but Johnny was like “excellent bit, go ahead and continue, but you do NOT understand a WORD”), and returned to the citadel –
Only to be spotted as a suspicious flying thing. She attempted to eat the rope to make herself look less suspicious, but still got a javelin in her, causing her to turn back into an elf at a VERY high height. Fortunately Corazon was in range to cast Feather Fall, though he did have to wait until she was sixty feet off the ground to hit her with it. I left it with her safely floating back to the earth, horking up the half-foot of rope she’d managed to eat, and getting a “Twinsies!” from Dob regarding the javelin currently stuck in her. XD We’ll see how this adventure proceeds, and if the Oxventures can stop the marauding marauders without TOO much collateral damage, tomorrow!
2. Continue writing “The Joker And The Queen”: Check – got through the last short scene focusing on Kelman and his POV. And he’s not doing very well – not only have all his remaining technicians fucked off – with Silvestri, the last one there, explicitly quitting after watching Galactica use space portals to get everyone out of the hallway pit trap – but Wickerman’s disappeared too. Leaving him completely alone in the security room. Not that this stopped him for long, as I left that bit with him going to seek out Mabillard, leader of Phalanx, to see what men he has left. . . But let’s not worry about him for now. The important bit is, Victor and his companions are nearly out – and they just ran into Alice and her companions in a hallway, with both her and Victor midway through declaring “everything is connected.” Wednesday will of course be the grand reunion between her and Victor – though I think someone might be lurking around, ready to spoil the party. . .
3. Keep up with YouTube Subs: Check plus – I managed to fit in that list video from last week as well as Gray, hooray –
A) First up, from OXBox, “7 Side Quests You Should NEVER Start!” Featuring Mike and Jane warning you off those side quests that are not just silly fun for you to indulge in, but instead traumatic (“Sinnerman” in Cyberpunk 2077, which STARTS by pursuing the guy who murdered some other guy’s wife, and ENDS with you helping CRUCIFY a man (the murderer, admittedly, but it’s REALLY weird and creepy because he WANTS it), sad (Fox’s sidequest in chain in Cult of the Lamb, which STARTS with him asking for a fish to feed his hunger, and ENDS with him demanding you feed him your friend and mentor Ratata – right before you find a letter Ratata was writing saying how proud he was of you), and potentially game-ending (“Seeking Mr. Eaten’s Name” in Fallen London, which STARTS with the game warning you that this is going to make your character a ruined, unplayable mess, and ENDS – well, the creators have gotten everyone to avoid actually saying what it is that happens in the end, but according to what little is allowed to be said, it DOES brick that particular character’s account, and you can no longer play them). Basically, stick to the ones that you KNOW are wacky fun, and everyone will be happier for it.
B) And second, from GrayStillPlays, we had “Every time I crash the car gets longer in GTA 5!” Featuring an Alex Torture Board and a Petey Torture Board, mwahahaha. XD Gray had to make it across first Alex’s Soccer Stadium From Hell (featuring a few fields full of balls rolling in wild patterns or shooting between goals to make his life hell, then an actual soccer match in a proper stadium between players made of dark matter who could smack into the car so hard when they got shot across the field that they could BLOW IT up – and finally, at the very end, once Gray thought he was free, a question about how many balls were on the field to get to the next board – and no, the answer WASN’T Alex’s beloved 69 (it was actually 52, as Gray discovered on his replay), and then Petey’s Rainbow Road: Windmill Farm Edition (featuring Gray having to race along a moving rainbow board build above a wind farm, having to dodge the F-1 cars coming at him from behind, the various obstacles on the road (including boosts AND stop sticks – and, of course, wind turbines) coming at him from the FRONT, and find a way around the crash at the pit stop, before finding the right turn to make it off the main road and through the field of “!” signs to ramp off into the win), all while crashing as little as possible. Reason being – well, look at the title. XD Specifically, every time he crashed, he got auto-teleported into a larger, longer car. He could start out with a nice bug, and end with a giant tanker truck, or start out with a rickety old racer, and end with the GTA equivalent of a Greyhound bus. And of course, the longer the car, the easier it was to crash or get crashed into again, or just get thrown off the board entirely. . . Though, occasionally, a crash was a good thing – Gray figured out early on in Rainbow Road: Windmill Farm Edition that if he crashed four times, he got his OWN F-1 racer, which was basically the only way to complete the board and all its turns. But yeah, it took a lot of blood, sweat, tears, and sanity from Gray, but he eventually completed both challenges and reigned victorious over Alex and Petey’s sadism! For at least one more video. We’ll see if they break him in the next one. XD
4. Get my tumblr queues sorted: Check – got the final two posts of this week’s Chill Valicer Save update sorted (one this morning, one this evening) and got Nebby’s birthday fic into Victor Luvs Alice drafts right before my workout. I am in good shape to start queuing stuff tomorrow! :)
So yeah, at least a decently productive day, in writing and tumblr drafting and keeping the Watch Later relatively clear! And now it's time to head to bed and see how Tuesday turns out. Night all!
Work – An all right day, I suppose, though there was some early annoying glitchiness with the credit card computer (clock desync issue). But it ended up being not too big a deal, mostly because I COULD still do credit card stuff on it. Also did the GL, cleaned up a few things I was waiting on, and worked on a QC file for one of our processors – nothing particularly exciting, but it made the day go by! We’ll see how the rest go. . .
To-Do List –
1. Get in a workout: Check – back on the bike, and back to the Oxventure with the last of the “posted after ‘Legacy of Dragons’ but I think filmed before” live shows! (Which means that all these adventures actually probably take place before that plot thread even kicks off? I dunno, I feel like “Snow Escape” pretty easily fits into the time period between them confronting Dreadbert up on the mountain and getting to the Joyful Damnation and going north to find the frost dragon mother of their eggs, but “Knight Shift,” “Grad Attitude,” and this one are a bit trickier to place. . .)
ANYWAY, this particular show was “Baking Bad,” and it started officially with the group gamboling among the hills around Saint Crois, a tiny village in Geth known primarily as the location of the best baked goods in all the land. The chefs are top-notch, they have wizards specifically to make sure their filled donuts are perfectly round before they’re fried, and basically if you like bread or pastry, you are going to have a good time there. The gang had been lead there by a very eager Seal Gaiman, but at the crest of the final hill before coming upon the village, he suddenly got very upset for some reason. And indeed, as the gang crested said hill, they noticed that, instead of smelling beautiful and buttery like they’d always heard (hell, the town’s official motto is “you’ll smell us before you see us” – leading to Egbert declaring that’s also his tagline, Merilwen pointing out it’s also probably Dob’s, and Corazon saying that it HAS to be the tagline of Tanner’s Folly, the town full of tanners that constantly smells of urine – Johnny confirmed there have been some nasty legal battles), it smelt kind of – burnt. Corazon got to the top of the hill for a proper survey with his spyglass –
And saw that, instead of a lovely picturesque village below, there was a smoking crater and a mysterious citadel sitting beside it. He promptly was like “uh, maybe the smoking crater is a special cooking technique for croissants. . .” XD (Merilwen, meanwhile, made sure to immediately clarify that this one wasn’t their fault, because, well, the Oxventurers do have a track record.) Dob focused in on the citadel itself, which was large, imposing, and had people with tails going into it. Once everyone was inside, though, the porticullis slammed shut –
And the citadel ROSE UP ON A BUNCH OF CRABLIKE LEGS and started skittering off. Dob promptly decided to chase it and try and climb on, with Corazon following because “you need the natural agility of a human.” XD The two were able to get close enough to see that the people manning the citadel were lizard-folk, and the lizard-folk saw them and threw some javelins. Dob took one to the chest, though fortunately it didn’t go far in (only three piercing damage), while Corazon watched as the one aiming at him forgot to let go of the javelin on a critical one and threw HIMSELF off the citadel, smashing into the ground and killing himself. Dob, who’d been preparing to throw the javelin stuck in him back, promptly gave up that plan and turned around to Speak With Dead while Corazon stole the corpse’s javelin. XD Thanks to poorly phrasing his opening remarks (calling the lizard-folk a dragon-kin and then rolling all of his three questions into one), all he got out of his new corpse friend was that the castle was big, its deal was walking, and what they’d wanted from the town was “everything.” And then the corpse’s head fell off, and Corazon stole that too. XD (What, at the very beginning of the show, he’d pronounced he would steal anything from anybody, all while holding Dob’s lute – he only gave it back because he got bored with it.) The others caught up at that point, and they started trying to figure out a plan – Dob had Prudence look at the spear in his chest and Detect Magic on it to see if there was anything special about it. Not really, beyond it having a cool jade-like top, but Prudence WAS able to get a magical read on the citadel as it skittered away, revealing that it was powered by some sort of powerfully magical core. Interesting. . .
And then there was a soft cough from a shivering little urchin, as the townsfolk started coming out of the rubble of their homes. (Merilwen asked the urchin why she wasn’t in the sea, and Johnny was like “I didn’t deserve that one.” XD) Corazon promptly began asking if any of them could make him a croissant (as Dob had previously promised him one hundred to get him to help with this adventure), and interpreted their subsequent tears as part of the croissant-making process. XD One of the townsfolk managed to explain what had happened, though – namely, the lizard-folk had bombarded them with cannon fire, then just stolen EVERYTHING from them – food, clothes, jewelry, and – most importantly – all the pastry chefs in the village! Corazon was like “so what’s the bare minimum you need to make me a croissant” and the guy replied “MY HUSBAND BACK.” The gang agreed to help with stopping the citadel (if not directly rebuilding the village, as Egbert reminded Dob that the last village reconstruction they did did NOT go well), and in response to the villagers saying that would be “killing two birds with one stone,” Corazon, bird-killing expert, shot a condor and presented it to everyone to eat. XD Dob also tried to cast some Calm Emotions on the crowd, but all it did was make them cry quieter, which was somehow worse. Dob didn’t like that all his plans ended in “somehow worse.” XD
Anyway – citadel-stopping time! Ideally before, not during, its next attack on a town. :p Corazon asked Egbert if he had anything explosive that might be handy for chasing the castle and getting aboard (as it wasn’t yet that far away, and anyway Prudence could easily track it with her magic-detecting prowess) – Egbert said probably, but he didn’t want to risk any of the others. Corazon reminded him that he’d never seemed to care THAT much about collateral damage before, and Egbert was like “true – everyone on my shield!” Fortunately, Dob intervened and asked Merilwen if she’d be willing to shapeshift into a bird and check the place out first – Merilwen was game, and – after discussing the different kinds of birds she could become – ended up turning herself into a condor to make up for the one Corazon shot. XD Corazon watched her and then attempted to turn into a condor himself – a decent roll had him convinced he’d given himself condor legs, and the others decided to just play along. XD The plan was for Merilwen to drag everyone’s tied-together hempen ropes with her to attach to the citadel and make a makeshift ladder – Merilwen thought that would look suspicious, but Egbert suggested she just eat some of it so the bad guys though it was what condors ate. XD Merilwen demurred for the moment and flew off to check out the citadel. As you might expect, it was roughly wedding-cake shaped, with a lower layer with guards patrolling the battlements, a couple of upper layers with cannon, and a top “Inner Keep” layer – a true “battle castle.” Merilwen, satisfied and not having drawn any unwanted attention, flew back to grab the hempen rope (Corazon ATTEMPTED to claim that he could speak Condor and understood everything she said, but Johnny was like “excellent bit, go ahead and continue, but you do NOT understand a WORD”), and returned to the citadel –
Only to be spotted as a suspicious flying thing. She attempted to eat the rope to make herself look less suspicious, but still got a javelin in her, causing her to turn back into an elf at a VERY high height. Fortunately Corazon was in range to cast Feather Fall, though he did have to wait until she was sixty feet off the ground to hit her with it. I left it with her safely floating back to the earth, horking up the half-foot of rope she’d managed to eat, and getting a “Twinsies!” from Dob regarding the javelin currently stuck in her. XD We’ll see how this adventure proceeds, and if the Oxventures can stop the marauding marauders without TOO much collateral damage, tomorrow!
2. Continue writing “The Joker And The Queen”: Check – got through the last short scene focusing on Kelman and his POV. And he’s not doing very well – not only have all his remaining technicians fucked off – with Silvestri, the last one there, explicitly quitting after watching Galactica use space portals to get everyone out of the hallway pit trap – but Wickerman’s disappeared too. Leaving him completely alone in the security room. Not that this stopped him for long, as I left that bit with him going to seek out Mabillard, leader of Phalanx, to see what men he has left. . . But let’s not worry about him for now. The important bit is, Victor and his companions are nearly out – and they just ran into Alice and her companions in a hallway, with both her and Victor midway through declaring “everything is connected.” Wednesday will of course be the grand reunion between her and Victor – though I think someone might be lurking around, ready to spoil the party. . .
3. Keep up with YouTube Subs: Check plus – I managed to fit in that list video from last week as well as Gray, hooray –
A) First up, from OXBox, “7 Side Quests You Should NEVER Start!” Featuring Mike and Jane warning you off those side quests that are not just silly fun for you to indulge in, but instead traumatic (“Sinnerman” in Cyberpunk 2077, which STARTS by pursuing the guy who murdered some other guy’s wife, and ENDS with you helping CRUCIFY a man (the murderer, admittedly, but it’s REALLY weird and creepy because he WANTS it), sad (Fox’s sidequest in chain in Cult of the Lamb, which STARTS with him asking for a fish to feed his hunger, and ENDS with him demanding you feed him your friend and mentor Ratata – right before you find a letter Ratata was writing saying how proud he was of you), and potentially game-ending (“Seeking Mr. Eaten’s Name” in Fallen London, which STARTS with the game warning you that this is going to make your character a ruined, unplayable mess, and ENDS – well, the creators have gotten everyone to avoid actually saying what it is that happens in the end, but according to what little is allowed to be said, it DOES brick that particular character’s account, and you can no longer play them). Basically, stick to the ones that you KNOW are wacky fun, and everyone will be happier for it.
B) And second, from GrayStillPlays, we had “Every time I crash the car gets longer in GTA 5!” Featuring an Alex Torture Board and a Petey Torture Board, mwahahaha. XD Gray had to make it across first Alex’s Soccer Stadium From Hell (featuring a few fields full of balls rolling in wild patterns or shooting between goals to make his life hell, then an actual soccer match in a proper stadium between players made of dark matter who could smack into the car so hard when they got shot across the field that they could BLOW IT up – and finally, at the very end, once Gray thought he was free, a question about how many balls were on the field to get to the next board – and no, the answer WASN’T Alex’s beloved 69 (it was actually 52, as Gray discovered on his replay), and then Petey’s Rainbow Road: Windmill Farm Edition (featuring Gray having to race along a moving rainbow board build above a wind farm, having to dodge the F-1 cars coming at him from behind, the various obstacles on the road (including boosts AND stop sticks – and, of course, wind turbines) coming at him from the FRONT, and find a way around the crash at the pit stop, before finding the right turn to make it off the main road and through the field of “!” signs to ramp off into the win), all while crashing as little as possible. Reason being – well, look at the title. XD Specifically, every time he crashed, he got auto-teleported into a larger, longer car. He could start out with a nice bug, and end with a giant tanker truck, or start out with a rickety old racer, and end with the GTA equivalent of a Greyhound bus. And of course, the longer the car, the easier it was to crash or get crashed into again, or just get thrown off the board entirely. . . Though, occasionally, a crash was a good thing – Gray figured out early on in Rainbow Road: Windmill Farm Edition that if he crashed four times, he got his OWN F-1 racer, which was basically the only way to complete the board and all its turns. But yeah, it took a lot of blood, sweat, tears, and sanity from Gray, but he eventually completed both challenges and reigned victorious over Alex and Petey’s sadism! For at least one more video. We’ll see if they break him in the next one. XD
4. Get my tumblr queues sorted: Check – got the final two posts of this week’s Chill Valicer Save update sorted (one this morning, one this evening) and got Nebby’s birthday fic into Victor Luvs Alice drafts right before my workout. I am in good shape to start queuing stuff tomorrow! :)
So yeah, at least a decently productive day, in writing and tumblr drafting and keeping the Watch Later relatively clear! And now it's time to head to bed and see how Tuesday turns out. Night all!
