Pretty Good Saturday
Jan. 27th, 2024 11:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
crossover_chickI mean, any Saturday that is a Cleaning Saturday cannot be perfect, but this one was good enough for my purposes --
Cleaning: Not a “wash all my blankets and sheets and stuff” week, so I just had to worry about the dusting, Swiffering, and vacuuming – started at roughly 10:20 AM and got the former two all done before lunch shortly after 1 PM, then (after helping dry dishes and taking care of mail), did the vacuuming after lunch and got everything sorted by 2 PM. *nods* All good for another couple of weeks, yay!
Tumblr: As usual for a cleaning Saturday, not very productive over here –
Victor Luvs Alice – Pretty much did nothing on this one – though I did make a point of getting some BG3 screenshots from the Steam folder where they live into my regular pictures folder so I can do a post on the game later. Thinking that can be my Wednesday post this week. :)
Valice Multiverse – Had one anon ask tonight, asking about “the character’s love language” from the “love life questions” meme – I did Alice, Victor, and Smiler because the ask wasn’t specific. If you’re curious, Alice’s main love languages are “Quality Time” and “Acts of Service” (if she loves you, she wants to be around you and help you out with stuff); Victor’s are “Acts of Service” and “Gifts” (if he loves you, he wants to do things for you and give things to you); and Smiler’s are “Words” and “Physical Touch” (if they love you, they want to tell you often and give you hugs and kisses and whatnot). So that was nice. :)
Baldur’s Gate III: Couldn’t resist the NGE (New Game Energy) and popped back in here for the day – and had a, uh, SOMEWHAT productive session. Basically, my gaming today was split into three parts:
Camp Time – Consisting of Smiler getting things done around camp! Said things included:
I. Exploring the camp to see just how big it is and what’s in it – it’s bigger than I thought, with a whole little beach area AND a fallen log bridge over to a ruin where lurks the Magic Mirror where you can change your character’s name and appearance if you are so inclined! I interacted with it just to see how it works, but I didn’t do anything to Smiler, as I’m quite happy with their appearance – wait, hang on, I never showed you guys Smiler’s NEW look, did I? Okay, here, have a shot of Smiler with their new mod-added haircut –
Anyway, took some lovely screenshots of the place – this one of Smiler on the log bridge by the waterfall is particularly nice, I feel –
And even found a few things! Namely, a spare bedroll nearby to Shadowheart’s tent, and another trap disarming kit and some gold in a storage box near Gale’s tent (it – occurs to me I may have stolen some of Gale’s stuff, but – well. Too late now! XD). I also had Smiler try out their new lute by the center of the camp, playing a nice upbeat song for everyone to enjoy. Didn’t give them Inspiration, like I was hoping, but maybe they need to be out and adventuring for that to happen. I will test later!
II. Talking to all their new companions! Because hanging out in camp is a good opportunity to get to know everyone. Shadowheart had the most to say – commenting on Gale’s predicament by saying you can’t get blood from stones, but apparently you can get wizards; saying that she has no thoughts on the tadpoles other than finding a way to get rid of the buggers; admitting that once they’re gone, she and Smiler will have to go their separate ways, as she has to get back to Baldur’s Gate and meet someone urgently – when Smiler asked who, she just said it was a very personal, very private acquaintance; refusing to give any details about herself – Smiler was nice and didn’t pry, which got them some approval from her; and saying she felt Smiler was good company – and that, since they saved her from the pod, she’s happy to praise them to the skies. :) Astarion by comparison was quite cagey, just telling Smiler he used to be a magistrate in Baldur’s Gate (and that it was all quite tedious) when asked about himself –
And Gale was interesting, because he immediately asked if Smiler was a wizard, having clocked their magical abilities earlier. Now, TECHNICALLY Smiler is an Artificer (well, Bard/Artificer), but that class is built on the Wizard class, so I had them say they were, prompting Gale to ask how well-read they were. I had Smiler say they pride themselves on their craft, but they were no Khelben Blackstaff (guessing he’s a pretty important wizard in the setting) – Gale promptly told them not to compare themselves to HIM, he spends too much time dying. XD Anyway, he just wanted Smiler to let him know if they encountered any elder wizards, as he needs a master’s opinion on something important. Yeah, Gale, I bet you do, given I’m already spoiled on the fact that you essentially have a magical bomb stuck in your chest. . .
III. More inventory management! Because after looking at everyone’s inventories, I realized that Smiler was DEFINITELY carrying the most stuff and thus felt it was time to distribute things a little more fairly among the group. So I looked up how to open EVERYONE’S inventories at once (you press the TAB key), and started doing a bit of rearranging, especially of the clothing that Smiler had picked up/gotten from their Digital Deluxe content. I’d already given Astarion the special fancy dagger “Needle Of The Outlaw Rogue” – I also handed over the “Bicorne of the Sea Beast” (a fancy hat) and Smiler’s old jerkin, that no longer fit their aesthetic now that I’d dyed it – it looked better on Astarion, but I still preferred his old clothes, as they went better with the hat. Shadowheart ended up with both pieces of medium armor, as she’s the only one who has “proficiency” in wearing that armor type, and both were slightly better than the chainmail shirt she was wearing – after looking at her in both, I went with equipping the Sturdy Armor as I thought it looked a bit nicer). And Gale got a crossbow for emergency ranged attacks, a wizard hat to go with his whole wizard deal, and a couple of skulls Smiler had picked up just because I needed someplace to put them. Maybe he can put them around his tent to give them extra wizard vibes. XD
IV. Going into the Journal, finding the “Dialogue” section, and using my phone to make a video of all the current dialogue transcriptions in there! Because while the game is nice enough to keep transcripts of all major conversations you have, after a while it just dumps the oldest stuff to make room for the newer stuff. (At least, it does so according to my friend Squid, and as they have already played through the game once and have like three other playthroughs in progress right now, I trust their words!) So I wanted the way they specifically went with Smiler on-hand in case I am inspired to do any writing. Because you know me – there is probably going to be writing. XD
Adventuring – Once everyone was appropriately outfitted, I resumed the adventure and sent everyone exploring! After wandering around a bit nearby to just fill in a missing chunk of map, Smiler and their new friends proceeded onward to the nearby Chapel Entrance area, where they could hear two people (Taman and Gimblebock, a pair of scavengers/thieves) arguing nearby. After locating a potentially useful dig spot (I shall have to acquire a shovel later), Smiler wandered over to see what all the fuss was about – turns out Gimblebock wanted to raid the flaming wreckage of the ship, with Taman being a little nervous and reminding him that they were already trying to break into the crypt. Gimblebock spotted Smiler and angrily told them the ship was theirs – I had Smiler use their Persuasion to tell them the ship was full of monsters and to leave it alone (which, honestly, was TECHNICALLY true – just the monsters are all dead now thanks to Smiler and Shadowheart). Thanks to a little help from Shadowheart’s Guidance and Smiler’s own Friends cantrip (which gives them advantage in Charisma checks against non-hostile creatures), they easily passed the check and sent the pair, and their fellow cronies around the ruins, running off. I was about to have them all continue exploring, with Smiler going to read a plaque I saw on a statue nearby –
Unexpected Fight From Heck – When SUDDENLY there was a cracking noise, the screen faded to black, and then I found Smiler and their party in a room inside the ruins, with the people inside alerted to the noise and ready to fight. What I BELIEVE happened is Astarion, doing a wide turn to follow Smiler as they went to look at the plaque, fell through the ceiling, triggering the rest of the party to teleport with him to his eventual landing point and getting the attention of the enemies within. I base this theory on the fact that, when I was getting everyone ready for combat, I happened to notice Astarion was waiting floating in midair, as if he’d assumed his combat stance mid-fall – and indeed, when his turn came around, he in fact just completed his falling animation and spent the first one prone with a few points of bludgeoning damage knocked out of him. *shakehead* I was a little startled, but decided to try and run with it, because, well, why not –
Aaaand while the fight started OUT okay (with Gale using Magic Missile to give the first two enemies to reach their room a hard time, and Shadowheart and Smiler working together to make one guy dazed AND give him Gaping Wounds before Astarion finished him off), things quickly took a turn for the worse. Smiler got Hamstrung by enemy Torgga’s shot and had to use a healing potion to cure it; Gale’s attempt to set some spilled oil on fire in an attempt to roast the enemies not only didn’t work (nobody was standing in the oil at that point), it just ended up trapping Shadowheart, Astarion, and Smiler in their little room; Gale got Ensnared by a magical arrow from Torgga (fortunately Smiler was able to break her concentration and get him loose) –
And then a guy named Andorn joined the fight, and my characters started going down a LOT. Shadowheart was the first to be officially Downed by Andorn – Astarion was able to help her get up and get to safety (closing the door to keep their enemy out), but then the guy took out Gale after Gale unsuccessfully attempted to freeze him. I was like “I am SERIOUSLY not going to get Gale killed so soon after meeting him, am I?” and attempted to get Astarion to help him too with his “cunning dash” (which lets him double his movement for a round” –
Couldn’t get to him. Think Shadowheart and Smiler were accidentally blocking the doorway. Astarion ended up looting some clothes from a nearby cupboard instead. XD I ended up having Shadowheart and Smiler head over and try to stop Andorn from doing anything else – Shadowheart missed her attack, but Smiler was able to get the guy off balance, allowing Shadowheart to help Gale up on her next turn –
And Mari, the only other enemy alive at that point (as they’d managed to take out the others with their crossbows and short bows – this is why you give all characters a ranged option, like that one video said), promptly put him right back down again. And then Andron downed both Shadowheart AND Smiler. Fortunately Astarion, using his hiding and his new dagger, was able to take down both Mari and Andron before they could finish off the others. I had him help them up –
And then decided, “You know what, that was just straight-up EMBARRASSING, and I am wiping it from existence.” And reverted to the save I’d made right before Smiler and company started chatting with Taman and Gimblebock. Naturally, this time when I tried to direct Smiler over there, they got caught in the twisted vines outside the main archway. -.- But they successfully escaped, redid their Persuasion check no problem, then got everyone AWAY from that crumbling ceiling and onto the dirt path near the side of the cathedral. Where, for some reason, SOMETHING pulled my mouse out of the game for a moment (not sure what – for a second, I thought the game had crashed, but I guess some other program was trying to get my attention instead, as hitting the Window key and wiggling the mouse got my pointer back), so I decided to take it as a hint, saved, and ended for the day. *shakehead* So yeah – next time we play, I’m going to try and find a more SENSIBLE way into the Cathedral, that involves less near-death experiences. You’re SUPPOSED to be able to trick Andron into letting you in if you find the door he’s behind and pass a check (I saw Squid do it in their cutscene movie with Runa), so I guess my focus next time will be on finding that door! Should go well, given my impeccable sense of direction [/deep sarcasm]
Writing: Got another good chunk done on “Londerland Bloodlines: Downtown Queensland” – Alice has gotten past filling in Jack on what happened in Santa Monica and Skelter freaking her out a little with his tales of how the elders will be able to control her blood without her even being able to tell she’s being controlled – and having to remind him yet again she’s not working with the Camarilla out of CHOICE, but necessity – and is on her way upstairs to meet Nines now! And, unfortunately for her, also meet Damsel, who is even RUDER to a Malkavian. Again, reasons why Alice eventually goes fully independent.
YouTube: Well, I got ONE thing out of the Watch Later along with keeping up with GrayStillPlays, so I’ll consider my goal for the day fulfilled –
A) Started this afternoon before my BG3 session with “Baldur's Gate 3: All Permanent Act 1 Buffs & How to Get Them | Full Walkthrough Guide” from LukeCanWin! A video of interest to me because, well, I’m in Act 1 and I’d like to know what fun stuff Smiler can get (depending on if it’s true to their character). A lot of these I already knew about (finding Scratch, who is the Best Boy pupper who can also be a summon once you play fetch with him; getting Shovel the Quasit as a familiar (though apparently there’s more steps to that then the video showed as per the comments), getting the Necromancy of Thay and it’s +1 to Wisdom checks (by reading it and getting forbidden knowledge seared into your head, which feels – contradictory); the infamous “let Volo poke your eye out and you’ll get a replacement that can see invisible shit” buff), but there were a few new ones, like getting a boost to one of your ability scores from Auntie Ethel near the end of her fight (she offers this in a bargain for her life before you kill her, and if you can pass a check you can get the buff AND free her prisoner); the ability “Survival Instinct” that you get by doing Omeluum the friendly mindflayer’s quest to investigate your tadpole – allows you to infuse an ally with psionic force and get them to heal when they would instead be knocked out; and gaining Instrument Proficiency if you don’t already have it by helping Alfira write her song in honor of her dead mentor by playing said mentor’s lute along with her and passing all the performance checks (this also gets you a free lute – though Smiler really doesn’t need one, they already have the cool Digital Deluxe one). There’s also a couple that are Not Worth It – for example, letting Auntie Ethel remove an eye to try and get rid of the tadpole gets you a bonus to Intimidation checks, but also gets you Disadvantage on Perception checks (as SHE doesn’t give you a free prosthetic eye to fix that – and you CAN’T do Volo’s surgery if you do hers) AND Disadvantage when fight hags like herself; and getting BOOOAL’s Benediction by permanently sacrificing a companion to the redcap posing as a god to the Koa-Tua worshiping him (you also have to fight said companion first, as is to be expected) – all it gets you is some bonuses to fighting Bleeding enemies. Yeah, don’t think Smiler’s going for THAT one – they’d be much more likely to try and convert the Koa-Tua to Mar-Mal. :p But still, good information to have!
B) And then, after dinner and my shower and my cupcake with ice cream (because Mom’s birthday and all), it was time for GrayStillPlays and “1000% run speed but chaos happens every minute in GTA 5!” Another Alex Chaos Torture Board featuring Gray attempting to cross the map while avoiding chaos, the twist this time was that Gray had to do so on FOOT – Alex had set it up so if Gray tried to use a vehicle, it NOPED out of existence after a few seconds. This happened even if a random chaos effect put him in a vehicle (like “Jesus takes the wheel” – no, Jesus and Gray are taking a long tumble down this mountainside). To make up for it, Alex scattered a few checkpoints around the beginning of the map, which upgraded Gray’s running speed every time he got one. Because Alex is mean, Gray started out with his normal speed DECREASED by X2, but then it got increased by X3, then X5, then X10, then – of course – X69 times. By which point Gray couldn’t even control his character because he was moving so fast. Tripping over his shoelaces was basically an immediate death sentence. XD Add in the chaos mod doing things like trapping Gray in a gravity sphere, randomly yeeting him, making people punch him for the “wrong tweet,” sending him into a black hole, putting him on the news (so he was looking at himself from above as if he was being tracked by a news chopper), randomly teleporting him (both fake teleports and real teleports), and randomly turning gravity off, AND the game crashing multiple times because it didn’t like the abuse Gray and Alex were inflicting on it, and – yeah. Oh, and did I mention one of the checkpoints was inside the local prison, meaning Gray got shot and murdered by the guards MULTIPLE TIMES before he could claim it? And that was the X10 speed one, meaning he then had to escape while moving at a speed that made it VERY HARD to actually get through the gates? XD Seriously, Gray was suffering MIGHTILY during this particular video with all he had to put up with. It was delicious. XD
Yeah, not too bad, huh? I mean, I wish I hadn't fallen through that ceiling in BG3, but we'll call that flubbed fight a learning experience. XD And now I very much need to get to bed -- tomorrow we're going back to pure Fallout Sundays, as I intend to boot up the old FO4 and explore that office building the raiders Victor and Deacon just took out were parked outside of, and update the Playthrough Progression accordingly. I also have to get some stuff done drafts-wise on my Victor Luvs Alice tumblr to prepare for the coming week; keep up with GrayStillPlays and Jon's videos; and get in my workout. Achievable goals, I hope -- night all!
Cleaning: Not a “wash all my blankets and sheets and stuff” week, so I just had to worry about the dusting, Swiffering, and vacuuming – started at roughly 10:20 AM and got the former two all done before lunch shortly after 1 PM, then (after helping dry dishes and taking care of mail), did the vacuuming after lunch and got everything sorted by 2 PM. *nods* All good for another couple of weeks, yay!
Tumblr: As usual for a cleaning Saturday, not very productive over here –
Victor Luvs Alice – Pretty much did nothing on this one – though I did make a point of getting some BG3 screenshots from the Steam folder where they live into my regular pictures folder so I can do a post on the game later. Thinking that can be my Wednesday post this week. :)
Valice Multiverse – Had one anon ask tonight, asking about “the character’s love language” from the “love life questions” meme – I did Alice, Victor, and Smiler because the ask wasn’t specific. If you’re curious, Alice’s main love languages are “Quality Time” and “Acts of Service” (if she loves you, she wants to be around you and help you out with stuff); Victor’s are “Acts of Service” and “Gifts” (if he loves you, he wants to do things for you and give things to you); and Smiler’s are “Words” and “Physical Touch” (if they love you, they want to tell you often and give you hugs and kisses and whatnot). So that was nice. :)
Baldur’s Gate III: Couldn’t resist the NGE (New Game Energy) and popped back in here for the day – and had a, uh, SOMEWHAT productive session. Basically, my gaming today was split into three parts:
Camp Time – Consisting of Smiler getting things done around camp! Said things included:
I. Exploring the camp to see just how big it is and what’s in it – it’s bigger than I thought, with a whole little beach area AND a fallen log bridge over to a ruin where lurks the Magic Mirror where you can change your character’s name and appearance if you are so inclined! I interacted with it just to see how it works, but I didn’t do anything to Smiler, as I’m quite happy with their appearance – wait, hang on, I never showed you guys Smiler’s NEW look, did I? Okay, here, have a shot of Smiler with their new mod-added haircut –
Anyway, took some lovely screenshots of the place – this one of Smiler on the log bridge by the waterfall is particularly nice, I feel –
And even found a few things! Namely, a spare bedroll nearby to Shadowheart’s tent, and another trap disarming kit and some gold in a storage box near Gale’s tent (it – occurs to me I may have stolen some of Gale’s stuff, but – well. Too late now! XD). I also had Smiler try out their new lute by the center of the camp, playing a nice upbeat song for everyone to enjoy. Didn’t give them Inspiration, like I was hoping, but maybe they need to be out and adventuring for that to happen. I will test later!
II. Talking to all their new companions! Because hanging out in camp is a good opportunity to get to know everyone. Shadowheart had the most to say – commenting on Gale’s predicament by saying you can’t get blood from stones, but apparently you can get wizards; saying that she has no thoughts on the tadpoles other than finding a way to get rid of the buggers; admitting that once they’re gone, she and Smiler will have to go their separate ways, as she has to get back to Baldur’s Gate and meet someone urgently – when Smiler asked who, she just said it was a very personal, very private acquaintance; refusing to give any details about herself – Smiler was nice and didn’t pry, which got them some approval from her; and saying she felt Smiler was good company – and that, since they saved her from the pod, she’s happy to praise them to the skies. :) Astarion by comparison was quite cagey, just telling Smiler he used to be a magistrate in Baldur’s Gate (and that it was all quite tedious) when asked about himself –
And Gale was interesting, because he immediately asked if Smiler was a wizard, having clocked their magical abilities earlier. Now, TECHNICALLY Smiler is an Artificer (well, Bard/Artificer), but that class is built on the Wizard class, so I had them say they were, prompting Gale to ask how well-read they were. I had Smiler say they pride themselves on their craft, but they were no Khelben Blackstaff (guessing he’s a pretty important wizard in the setting) – Gale promptly told them not to compare themselves to HIM, he spends too much time dying. XD Anyway, he just wanted Smiler to let him know if they encountered any elder wizards, as he needs a master’s opinion on something important. Yeah, Gale, I bet you do, given I’m already spoiled on the fact that you essentially have a magical bomb stuck in your chest. . .
III. More inventory management! Because after looking at everyone’s inventories, I realized that Smiler was DEFINITELY carrying the most stuff and thus felt it was time to distribute things a little more fairly among the group. So I looked up how to open EVERYONE’S inventories at once (you press the TAB key), and started doing a bit of rearranging, especially of the clothing that Smiler had picked up/gotten from their Digital Deluxe content. I’d already given Astarion the special fancy dagger “Needle Of The Outlaw Rogue” – I also handed over the “Bicorne of the Sea Beast” (a fancy hat) and Smiler’s old jerkin, that no longer fit their aesthetic now that I’d dyed it – it looked better on Astarion, but I still preferred his old clothes, as they went better with the hat. Shadowheart ended up with both pieces of medium armor, as she’s the only one who has “proficiency” in wearing that armor type, and both were slightly better than the chainmail shirt she was wearing – after looking at her in both, I went with equipping the Sturdy Armor as I thought it looked a bit nicer). And Gale got a crossbow for emergency ranged attacks, a wizard hat to go with his whole wizard deal, and a couple of skulls Smiler had picked up just because I needed someplace to put them. Maybe he can put them around his tent to give them extra wizard vibes. XD
IV. Going into the Journal, finding the “Dialogue” section, and using my phone to make a video of all the current dialogue transcriptions in there! Because while the game is nice enough to keep transcripts of all major conversations you have, after a while it just dumps the oldest stuff to make room for the newer stuff. (At least, it does so according to my friend Squid, and as they have already played through the game once and have like three other playthroughs in progress right now, I trust their words!) So I wanted the way they specifically went with Smiler on-hand in case I am inspired to do any writing. Because you know me – there is probably going to be writing. XD
Adventuring – Once everyone was appropriately outfitted, I resumed the adventure and sent everyone exploring! After wandering around a bit nearby to just fill in a missing chunk of map, Smiler and their new friends proceeded onward to the nearby Chapel Entrance area, where they could hear two people (Taman and Gimblebock, a pair of scavengers/thieves) arguing nearby. After locating a potentially useful dig spot (I shall have to acquire a shovel later), Smiler wandered over to see what all the fuss was about – turns out Gimblebock wanted to raid the flaming wreckage of the ship, with Taman being a little nervous and reminding him that they were already trying to break into the crypt. Gimblebock spotted Smiler and angrily told them the ship was theirs – I had Smiler use their Persuasion to tell them the ship was full of monsters and to leave it alone (which, honestly, was TECHNICALLY true – just the monsters are all dead now thanks to Smiler and Shadowheart). Thanks to a little help from Shadowheart’s Guidance and Smiler’s own Friends cantrip (which gives them advantage in Charisma checks against non-hostile creatures), they easily passed the check and sent the pair, and their fellow cronies around the ruins, running off. I was about to have them all continue exploring, with Smiler going to read a plaque I saw on a statue nearby –
Unexpected Fight From Heck – When SUDDENLY there was a cracking noise, the screen faded to black, and then I found Smiler and their party in a room inside the ruins, with the people inside alerted to the noise and ready to fight. What I BELIEVE happened is Astarion, doing a wide turn to follow Smiler as they went to look at the plaque, fell through the ceiling, triggering the rest of the party to teleport with him to his eventual landing point and getting the attention of the enemies within. I base this theory on the fact that, when I was getting everyone ready for combat, I happened to notice Astarion was waiting floating in midair, as if he’d assumed his combat stance mid-fall – and indeed, when his turn came around, he in fact just completed his falling animation and spent the first one prone with a few points of bludgeoning damage knocked out of him. *shakehead* I was a little startled, but decided to try and run with it, because, well, why not –
Aaaand while the fight started OUT okay (with Gale using Magic Missile to give the first two enemies to reach their room a hard time, and Shadowheart and Smiler working together to make one guy dazed AND give him Gaping Wounds before Astarion finished him off), things quickly took a turn for the worse. Smiler got Hamstrung by enemy Torgga’s shot and had to use a healing potion to cure it; Gale’s attempt to set some spilled oil on fire in an attempt to roast the enemies not only didn’t work (nobody was standing in the oil at that point), it just ended up trapping Shadowheart, Astarion, and Smiler in their little room; Gale got Ensnared by a magical arrow from Torgga (fortunately Smiler was able to break her concentration and get him loose) –
And then a guy named Andorn joined the fight, and my characters started going down a LOT. Shadowheart was the first to be officially Downed by Andorn – Astarion was able to help her get up and get to safety (closing the door to keep their enemy out), but then the guy took out Gale after Gale unsuccessfully attempted to freeze him. I was like “I am SERIOUSLY not going to get Gale killed so soon after meeting him, am I?” and attempted to get Astarion to help him too with his “cunning dash” (which lets him double his movement for a round” –
Couldn’t get to him. Think Shadowheart and Smiler were accidentally blocking the doorway. Astarion ended up looting some clothes from a nearby cupboard instead. XD I ended up having Shadowheart and Smiler head over and try to stop Andorn from doing anything else – Shadowheart missed her attack, but Smiler was able to get the guy off balance, allowing Shadowheart to help Gale up on her next turn –
And Mari, the only other enemy alive at that point (as they’d managed to take out the others with their crossbows and short bows – this is why you give all characters a ranged option, like that one video said), promptly put him right back down again. And then Andron downed both Shadowheart AND Smiler. Fortunately Astarion, using his hiding and his new dagger, was able to take down both Mari and Andron before they could finish off the others. I had him help them up –
And then decided, “You know what, that was just straight-up EMBARRASSING, and I am wiping it from existence.” And reverted to the save I’d made right before Smiler and company started chatting with Taman and Gimblebock. Naturally, this time when I tried to direct Smiler over there, they got caught in the twisted vines outside the main archway. -.- But they successfully escaped, redid their Persuasion check no problem, then got everyone AWAY from that crumbling ceiling and onto the dirt path near the side of the cathedral. Where, for some reason, SOMETHING pulled my mouse out of the game for a moment (not sure what – for a second, I thought the game had crashed, but I guess some other program was trying to get my attention instead, as hitting the Window key and wiggling the mouse got my pointer back), so I decided to take it as a hint, saved, and ended for the day. *shakehead* So yeah – next time we play, I’m going to try and find a more SENSIBLE way into the Cathedral, that involves less near-death experiences. You’re SUPPOSED to be able to trick Andron into letting you in if you find the door he’s behind and pass a check (I saw Squid do it in their cutscene movie with Runa), so I guess my focus next time will be on finding that door! Should go well, given my impeccable sense of direction [/deep sarcasm]
Writing: Got another good chunk done on “Londerland Bloodlines: Downtown Queensland” – Alice has gotten past filling in Jack on what happened in Santa Monica and Skelter freaking her out a little with his tales of how the elders will be able to control her blood without her even being able to tell she’s being controlled – and having to remind him yet again she’s not working with the Camarilla out of CHOICE, but necessity – and is on her way upstairs to meet Nines now! And, unfortunately for her, also meet Damsel, who is even RUDER to a Malkavian. Again, reasons why Alice eventually goes fully independent.
YouTube: Well, I got ONE thing out of the Watch Later along with keeping up with GrayStillPlays, so I’ll consider my goal for the day fulfilled –
A) Started this afternoon before my BG3 session with “Baldur's Gate 3: All Permanent Act 1 Buffs & How to Get Them | Full Walkthrough Guide” from LukeCanWin! A video of interest to me because, well, I’m in Act 1 and I’d like to know what fun stuff Smiler can get (depending on if it’s true to their character). A lot of these I already knew about (finding Scratch, who is the Best Boy pupper who can also be a summon once you play fetch with him; getting Shovel the Quasit as a familiar (though apparently there’s more steps to that then the video showed as per the comments), getting the Necromancy of Thay and it’s +1 to Wisdom checks (by reading it and getting forbidden knowledge seared into your head, which feels – contradictory); the infamous “let Volo poke your eye out and you’ll get a replacement that can see invisible shit” buff), but there were a few new ones, like getting a boost to one of your ability scores from Auntie Ethel near the end of her fight (she offers this in a bargain for her life before you kill her, and if you can pass a check you can get the buff AND free her prisoner); the ability “Survival Instinct” that you get by doing Omeluum the friendly mindflayer’s quest to investigate your tadpole – allows you to infuse an ally with psionic force and get them to heal when they would instead be knocked out; and gaining Instrument Proficiency if you don’t already have it by helping Alfira write her song in honor of her dead mentor by playing said mentor’s lute along with her and passing all the performance checks (this also gets you a free lute – though Smiler really doesn’t need one, they already have the cool Digital Deluxe one). There’s also a couple that are Not Worth It – for example, letting Auntie Ethel remove an eye to try and get rid of the tadpole gets you a bonus to Intimidation checks, but also gets you Disadvantage on Perception checks (as SHE doesn’t give you a free prosthetic eye to fix that – and you CAN’T do Volo’s surgery if you do hers) AND Disadvantage when fight hags like herself; and getting BOOOAL’s Benediction by permanently sacrificing a companion to the redcap posing as a god to the Koa-Tua worshiping him (you also have to fight said companion first, as is to be expected) – all it gets you is some bonuses to fighting Bleeding enemies. Yeah, don’t think Smiler’s going for THAT one – they’d be much more likely to try and convert the Koa-Tua to Mar-Mal. :p But still, good information to have!
B) And then, after dinner and my shower and my cupcake with ice cream (because Mom’s birthday and all), it was time for GrayStillPlays and “1000% run speed but chaos happens every minute in GTA 5!” Another Alex Chaos Torture Board featuring Gray attempting to cross the map while avoiding chaos, the twist this time was that Gray had to do so on FOOT – Alex had set it up so if Gray tried to use a vehicle, it NOPED out of existence after a few seconds. This happened even if a random chaos effect put him in a vehicle (like “Jesus takes the wheel” – no, Jesus and Gray are taking a long tumble down this mountainside). To make up for it, Alex scattered a few checkpoints around the beginning of the map, which upgraded Gray’s running speed every time he got one. Because Alex is mean, Gray started out with his normal speed DECREASED by X2, but then it got increased by X3, then X5, then X10, then – of course – X69 times. By which point Gray couldn’t even control his character because he was moving so fast. Tripping over his shoelaces was basically an immediate death sentence. XD Add in the chaos mod doing things like trapping Gray in a gravity sphere, randomly yeeting him, making people punch him for the “wrong tweet,” sending him into a black hole, putting him on the news (so he was looking at himself from above as if he was being tracked by a news chopper), randomly teleporting him (both fake teleports and real teleports), and randomly turning gravity off, AND the game crashing multiple times because it didn’t like the abuse Gray and Alex were inflicting on it, and – yeah. Oh, and did I mention one of the checkpoints was inside the local prison, meaning Gray got shot and murdered by the guards MULTIPLE TIMES before he could claim it? And that was the X10 speed one, meaning he then had to escape while moving at a speed that made it VERY HARD to actually get through the gates? XD Seriously, Gray was suffering MIGHTILY during this particular video with all he had to put up with. It was delicious. XD
Yeah, not too bad, huh? I mean, I wish I hadn't fallen through that ceiling in BG3, but we'll call that flubbed fight a learning experience. XD And now I very much need to get to bed -- tomorrow we're going back to pure Fallout Sundays, as I intend to boot up the old FO4 and explore that office building the raiders Victor and Deacon just took out were parked outside of, and update the Playthrough Progression accordingly. I also have to get some stuff done drafts-wise on my Victor Luvs Alice tumblr to prepare for the coming week; keep up with GrayStillPlays and Jon's videos; and get in my workout. Achievable goals, I hope -- night all!
