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Freedom Wednesday
Dec. 22nd, 2021 11:35 pmAnd it was a pretty solid day too, as my update form shall show!
Work – Shockingly, blessedly quiet – one credit card phone call at the beginning of the day, and then the rest of it was basically just cleaning up a load of duplicates. I even finished my project, a list that’s been hanging around my desk for AGES. :D And I didn’t have to go to the open house on the second floor (me and my coworkers presented a united front, yay), AND it was announced that the upper management, so to speak, had decided to just close the Diocese from tomorrow to the New Year, so I didn’t even need to use any vacation days to get next week off – I’ve just GOT IT OFF. :D So that was all very nice. And I got more gifts from my coworkers too – fancy soap and a spiky “star” ornament from the talky one; candied pecans, a little clutch bag, a moisturizer and lip balm set, and a Jack Skellington ornament from the quieter one. And everybody in the office signed a nice thank-you card for my mom for her cookies, which was sweet. :) Not a bad last day in the office at all!
To-Do List –
1. Get in a workout: Check – another evening on the bike, another half-hour of the Oxventure “Stop Hammer Time!” Having learned that there is indeed a quarry nearby, Dob sent the skeletons to go quarry enough stone to rebuild the town, built up some middle management within the group, and then almost – ALMOST! – averted disaster by telling the skeletons to rebuild the orphanage without hurting or inconveniencing anyone. Unfortunately, he and the others then confused matters by trying to expand the brief to include the rest of the town, with Corazon trying to get the others to rebuild the pub first, and when the skeletons asked for clarification, Dob said just to build the orphanage for starters.
They built it all right.
Out of the orphans.
XD Yeah, this is the bit that I saw on that list video with Johnny talking about being bamboozled by players – he really wanted to kill those orphans (two D10s worth, which added up to 15 when he rolled), and INSTANTLY seized upon the opportunity when Luke forgot to add his original “without hurting or inconveniencing anyone” to the new brief. The orphans got mashed up into the mortar, specifically. The skeletons removed the orphan mush from the mortar at their new bosses’ request (turns out they have some limited use of blood magic), but not even Dob wanting to try “Mending” on the remains could bring them back. *pats Dob* They quickly determined that the skeletons might be lightly cursed (as proven by Dob getting one to pick up a pebble – and the skeleton flinging it away in the most dangerous direction when told it could stop holding the pebble), and while Dob and Merilwen distracted the skeletons with team-building, Prudence and Corazon investigated the tomb to see what their deal was. Turns out they were the beloved apprentices and staff of the builder Ethelridge, who upon hearing his dying words that he wanted to continue his legacy of building and working stone, got a warlock to bind them to his hammer and turn them into undead skeleton builders. Of course, this kind of magic always comes with a catch, and the catch with them was that you have to be extremely specific so they don’t hurt anybody doing their jobs.
So! Dob went into a bit of depression spiral upon realizing how many orphans had been killed, while Merilwen took over skeleton management and got them to build a new pub and some nice housing over the next couple of weeks WITHOUT killing or maiming any townsfolk – a command the skeletons CLEARLY struggled with. To the point where, when the nice semi-detached houses were finished, the skeletons asked Prudence (clearly their favorite of their “boss team”) to call a meeting between them all at the local pub, where they revealed they weren’t happy with the working conditions and wanted to ends their contract – and since the only way to do so was to kill the person who wielded the hammer (and, in case, his friends who helped him get it). . .fortunately, they felt bad enough about this that they were open to negotiation with Dob and friends, and they promptly started brainstorming ideas on how to either stop the skeletons from killing them, or at least have to face off against fewer skeletons. Winning idea appears to be a Skeleton Battle Royale, convincing the skeletons to fight each other to lessen their numbers. They’re out to the streets so Egbert can make a ring of fire for battle – looking forward to seeing how this wraps up tomorrow! :D
2. Continue working on final edits on Chapter 3 of “Londerland Bloodlines: Santa Monica’s Vale Of Tears”: Check – and as suspected, I’m not QUITE done, meaning the chapter will have to post tomorrow, in time for a tumblr update on Christmas Eve. I’m NEARLY there – Alice has gone through most of the hotel at this point, chasing Dorothy the ghost, finding her “memories” (aka the scattered newspapers around the place), and avoiding more of Ed flinging things at her. Including a whole elevator. She’s claimed his ax and Dorothy’s diary – she’s currently making her way through the upper levels of the hotel, trying to locate Dorothy’s pendant so she can take it and finally put everyone to rest. Unfortunately, things are about to get worse before they get better, because we’re almost up to Alice’s First Major Nasty Fire Incident (aka the mystical flames that appear near the end of this section). . .
3. Keep up with YouTube Subscriptions and the OXmas Challenges: A repeat of yesterday with the half-check – though, admittedly, the only video in my Subs today was GrayStillPlays, as Kevin seems to be making good on his musing regarding taking Wednesdays off, and we all know James’s schedule right now is “erratic.” :p I’ll concentrate on getting those watched tomorrow – for tonight, here’s the update on my beloved OXmas –
A) Day Ten of the OXBox Xmas Challenges, and things are heating up! Last precious opportunities to score a point. . . Mike today drew the “Halo Infinite Hog Roast” Challenge, where he was required to survive 30 seconds on a Warthog (the vehicle with the mounted gun on the back everyone wants) in Halo Infinite multiplayer (specifically, he had the length of a “Big Team Battle” to complete this challenge in). He had to keep moving (no looping around his base), and he just had to avoid getting exploded. Mike got a “Highpower” (15 minutes, 100 kills) match, and was put on Eagle team with some other players –
And, almost the moment he spawned in, he got into a Warthog and drove it into a ravine because he had NO familiarity with the map whatsoever. XD And then got gunned down again while on foot looking for another one. XD Fortunately, his third spawn did the trick, as he came in near a rather-badly-damaged-but-still-running Warthog. He hopped into the driver’s seat and proceeded to just plow around the map, running over one of the enemy soldiers – before being BOARDED by one who took over the gun. Fortunately the Spartan couldn’t shoot HIM from that angle, and Mike was able to keep driving and keep alive just long enough to fulfill the 30 seconds before driving right back into the same ravine. XD Challenge fulfilled, though, and a Christmas point snagged! At least he has his pride back after the slow start for him this year. :)
B) Day Five of the OXtra Xmas Challenges, and after some banter with Santa, Luke and Ellen got their next objective – the Dark Souls “Race to Solaire” Challenge! In Dark Souls Remastered, the pair had to race to see who could reach fan favorite Sun praiser Knight Solaire the fastest – WITHOUT any “Master Key” shenanigans! They started from the beginning of the game and had to fight both the Asylum Demon AND the Taurus Demon along the way. Time was measured from exiting character creation to speaking to Solaire (skipping all cutscenes along the way). Oooooo. . . Luke won the coin toss to go first, and so the race began!
Luke: Went with a Bandit he named “Santa Souls,” with the “Tiny Being’s Ring” gift for a small HP increase – and then stripped off everything, including his clothes, to do a “run like the fucking dickens” run. XD He did pick up a Spider Shield and a new ax while running through the Asylum, and then did a great job of killing the Asylum Demon, and an amazing job dodging some enemies on a staircase once he got to Lordran, but then he ended up getting stuck between some undead with swords and firebombs in the Undead Burg aaaand – dead. Fortunately he spawned back at Firelink and did a much better job dodging and weaving as he climbed the battlements, though he NEARLY died to some tough enemies at the top of the tower right before the boss fight bridge. His battle against the Taurus Demon on said bridge was fraught with tension, but he did manage to get a good diving attack on it, and didn’t die during the boss fight, so hooray! And after that it was just a run down the stairs to Solaire, ending his run at 11 minutes, 23 seconds! w00! :D
Ellen: Also went with a Bandit she named “Rudelf,” with the “Black Firebomb” gift (possibly because Luke mentioned wanting them at one point during his run). She also stripped off everything in her cell, panicked a bit and got confused about buttons, and then was off to the races! She got tagged by the ball that opens up the area where the guy who gives you the Estus flasks is, and kinda fluffed her plunging attack on the Asylum Demon, but her firebombs made up for a lot, and she got to Lodran in one piece – only to be murdered by undead on the stairs up to the Undead Burg, nooo! She recovered from that, rolled past, and made it to the Undead Burg itself, lighting the bonfire on the way –
And got ABSOLUTELY RAILED in that little section between the bonfire and the fog door to the Taurus demon. The local undead just kept swarming her, and poor Ellen just kept dying. She’d long lost her ability to beat Luke by the time she finally got past the mob and through the door – though she did score a victory of sorts in beating the Taurus Demon for the first time, as apparently the darn thing yeeted itself off its own bridge the first time she played. It was close, but she managed to take it down, and met Solaire at 14 minutes, 41 seconds. So Luke gets another Christmas point, and the score is now 3-2, meaning it’s currently still anyone’s game. . .
4. Get my tumblr queues sorted: Check – only had Victor Luvs Alice to worry about, and I decided that, if I couldn’t give the people a “Londerland Bloodlines” update yet, I would give them some Christmas music with a Song Thursday! Because I’ve been kind of neglecting the Christmas music this year, and I do like Straight No Chaser’s songs, soo. . . (Plus Saturday is when all my various fics drop – though I may still sneak in “The 12 Pains of Christmas.” XD)
Not too shabby, no. Now, I don't plan to stay up super-late tonight -- trying NOT to completely wreck my sleep schedule during my eleven days off -- so let's get going on the to-do list for tomorrow and then think about heading for bed:
1. Finish off final edits on Chapter 3 of “Londerland Bloodlines: Santa Monica’s Vale Of Tears” and get the chapter posted
2. Catch up on YouTube Subs and keep up on OXmas Challenges
3. Play Bloodlines and get past at least the werewolf
4. Get in a workout
5. Keep up on tumblr queues
*nods* I think that is doable for my first Thursday off. Hopefully it goes well! Night all!
Work – Shockingly, blessedly quiet – one credit card phone call at the beginning of the day, and then the rest of it was basically just cleaning up a load of duplicates. I even finished my project, a list that’s been hanging around my desk for AGES. :D And I didn’t have to go to the open house on the second floor (me and my coworkers presented a united front, yay), AND it was announced that the upper management, so to speak, had decided to just close the Diocese from tomorrow to the New Year, so I didn’t even need to use any vacation days to get next week off – I’ve just GOT IT OFF. :D So that was all very nice. And I got more gifts from my coworkers too – fancy soap and a spiky “star” ornament from the talky one; candied pecans, a little clutch bag, a moisturizer and lip balm set, and a Jack Skellington ornament from the quieter one. And everybody in the office signed a nice thank-you card for my mom for her cookies, which was sweet. :) Not a bad last day in the office at all!
To-Do List –
1. Get in a workout: Check – another evening on the bike, another half-hour of the Oxventure “Stop Hammer Time!” Having learned that there is indeed a quarry nearby, Dob sent the skeletons to go quarry enough stone to rebuild the town, built up some middle management within the group, and then almost – ALMOST! – averted disaster by telling the skeletons to rebuild the orphanage without hurting or inconveniencing anyone. Unfortunately, he and the others then confused matters by trying to expand the brief to include the rest of the town, with Corazon trying to get the others to rebuild the pub first, and when the skeletons asked for clarification, Dob said just to build the orphanage for starters.
They built it all right.
Out of the orphans.
XD Yeah, this is the bit that I saw on that list video with Johnny talking about being bamboozled by players – he really wanted to kill those orphans (two D10s worth, which added up to 15 when he rolled), and INSTANTLY seized upon the opportunity when Luke forgot to add his original “without hurting or inconveniencing anyone” to the new brief. The orphans got mashed up into the mortar, specifically. The skeletons removed the orphan mush from the mortar at their new bosses’ request (turns out they have some limited use of blood magic), but not even Dob wanting to try “Mending” on the remains could bring them back. *pats Dob* They quickly determined that the skeletons might be lightly cursed (as proven by Dob getting one to pick up a pebble – and the skeleton flinging it away in the most dangerous direction when told it could stop holding the pebble), and while Dob and Merilwen distracted the skeletons with team-building, Prudence and Corazon investigated the tomb to see what their deal was. Turns out they were the beloved apprentices and staff of the builder Ethelridge, who upon hearing his dying words that he wanted to continue his legacy of building and working stone, got a warlock to bind them to his hammer and turn them into undead skeleton builders. Of course, this kind of magic always comes with a catch, and the catch with them was that you have to be extremely specific so they don’t hurt anybody doing their jobs.
So! Dob went into a bit of depression spiral upon realizing how many orphans had been killed, while Merilwen took over skeleton management and got them to build a new pub and some nice housing over the next couple of weeks WITHOUT killing or maiming any townsfolk – a command the skeletons CLEARLY struggled with. To the point where, when the nice semi-detached houses were finished, the skeletons asked Prudence (clearly their favorite of their “boss team”) to call a meeting between them all at the local pub, where they revealed they weren’t happy with the working conditions and wanted to ends their contract – and since the only way to do so was to kill the person who wielded the hammer (and, in case, his friends who helped him get it). . .fortunately, they felt bad enough about this that they were open to negotiation with Dob and friends, and they promptly started brainstorming ideas on how to either stop the skeletons from killing them, or at least have to face off against fewer skeletons. Winning idea appears to be a Skeleton Battle Royale, convincing the skeletons to fight each other to lessen their numbers. They’re out to the streets so Egbert can make a ring of fire for battle – looking forward to seeing how this wraps up tomorrow! :D
2. Continue working on final edits on Chapter 3 of “Londerland Bloodlines: Santa Monica’s Vale Of Tears”: Check – and as suspected, I’m not QUITE done, meaning the chapter will have to post tomorrow, in time for a tumblr update on Christmas Eve. I’m NEARLY there – Alice has gone through most of the hotel at this point, chasing Dorothy the ghost, finding her “memories” (aka the scattered newspapers around the place), and avoiding more of Ed flinging things at her. Including a whole elevator. She’s claimed his ax and Dorothy’s diary – she’s currently making her way through the upper levels of the hotel, trying to locate Dorothy’s pendant so she can take it and finally put everyone to rest. Unfortunately, things are about to get worse before they get better, because we’re almost up to Alice’s First Major Nasty Fire Incident (aka the mystical flames that appear near the end of this section). . .
3. Keep up with YouTube Subscriptions and the OXmas Challenges: A repeat of yesterday with the half-check – though, admittedly, the only video in my Subs today was GrayStillPlays, as Kevin seems to be making good on his musing regarding taking Wednesdays off, and we all know James’s schedule right now is “erratic.” :p I’ll concentrate on getting those watched tomorrow – for tonight, here’s the update on my beloved OXmas –
A) Day Ten of the OXBox Xmas Challenges, and things are heating up! Last precious opportunities to score a point. . . Mike today drew the “Halo Infinite Hog Roast” Challenge, where he was required to survive 30 seconds on a Warthog (the vehicle with the mounted gun on the back everyone wants) in Halo Infinite multiplayer (specifically, he had the length of a “Big Team Battle” to complete this challenge in). He had to keep moving (no looping around his base), and he just had to avoid getting exploded. Mike got a “Highpower” (15 minutes, 100 kills) match, and was put on Eagle team with some other players –
And, almost the moment he spawned in, he got into a Warthog and drove it into a ravine because he had NO familiarity with the map whatsoever. XD And then got gunned down again while on foot looking for another one. XD Fortunately, his third spawn did the trick, as he came in near a rather-badly-damaged-but-still-running Warthog. He hopped into the driver’s seat and proceeded to just plow around the map, running over one of the enemy soldiers – before being BOARDED by one who took over the gun. Fortunately the Spartan couldn’t shoot HIM from that angle, and Mike was able to keep driving and keep alive just long enough to fulfill the 30 seconds before driving right back into the same ravine. XD Challenge fulfilled, though, and a Christmas point snagged! At least he has his pride back after the slow start for him this year. :)
B) Day Five of the OXtra Xmas Challenges, and after some banter with Santa, Luke and Ellen got their next objective – the Dark Souls “Race to Solaire” Challenge! In Dark Souls Remastered, the pair had to race to see who could reach fan favorite Sun praiser Knight Solaire the fastest – WITHOUT any “Master Key” shenanigans! They started from the beginning of the game and had to fight both the Asylum Demon AND the Taurus Demon along the way. Time was measured from exiting character creation to speaking to Solaire (skipping all cutscenes along the way). Oooooo. . . Luke won the coin toss to go first, and so the race began!
Luke: Went with a Bandit he named “Santa Souls,” with the “Tiny Being’s Ring” gift for a small HP increase – and then stripped off everything, including his clothes, to do a “run like the fucking dickens” run. XD He did pick up a Spider Shield and a new ax while running through the Asylum, and then did a great job of killing the Asylum Demon, and an amazing job dodging some enemies on a staircase once he got to Lordran, but then he ended up getting stuck between some undead with swords and firebombs in the Undead Burg aaaand – dead. Fortunately he spawned back at Firelink and did a much better job dodging and weaving as he climbed the battlements, though he NEARLY died to some tough enemies at the top of the tower right before the boss fight bridge. His battle against the Taurus Demon on said bridge was fraught with tension, but he did manage to get a good diving attack on it, and didn’t die during the boss fight, so hooray! And after that it was just a run down the stairs to Solaire, ending his run at 11 minutes, 23 seconds! w00! :D
Ellen: Also went with a Bandit she named “Rudelf,” with the “Black Firebomb” gift (possibly because Luke mentioned wanting them at one point during his run). She also stripped off everything in her cell, panicked a bit and got confused about buttons, and then was off to the races! She got tagged by the ball that opens up the area where the guy who gives you the Estus flasks is, and kinda fluffed her plunging attack on the Asylum Demon, but her firebombs made up for a lot, and she got to Lodran in one piece – only to be murdered by undead on the stairs up to the Undead Burg, nooo! She recovered from that, rolled past, and made it to the Undead Burg itself, lighting the bonfire on the way –
And got ABSOLUTELY RAILED in that little section between the bonfire and the fog door to the Taurus demon. The local undead just kept swarming her, and poor Ellen just kept dying. She’d long lost her ability to beat Luke by the time she finally got past the mob and through the door – though she did score a victory of sorts in beating the Taurus Demon for the first time, as apparently the darn thing yeeted itself off its own bridge the first time she played. It was close, but she managed to take it down, and met Solaire at 14 minutes, 41 seconds. So Luke gets another Christmas point, and the score is now 3-2, meaning it’s currently still anyone’s game. . .
4. Get my tumblr queues sorted: Check – only had Victor Luvs Alice to worry about, and I decided that, if I couldn’t give the people a “Londerland Bloodlines” update yet, I would give them some Christmas music with a Song Thursday! Because I’ve been kind of neglecting the Christmas music this year, and I do like Straight No Chaser’s songs, soo. . . (Plus Saturday is when all my various fics drop – though I may still sneak in “The 12 Pains of Christmas.” XD)
Not too shabby, no. Now, I don't plan to stay up super-late tonight -- trying NOT to completely wreck my sleep schedule during my eleven days off -- so let's get going on the to-do list for tomorrow and then think about heading for bed:
1. Finish off final edits on Chapter 3 of “Londerland Bloodlines: Santa Monica’s Vale Of Tears” and get the chapter posted
2. Catch up on YouTube Subs and keep up on OXmas Challenges
3. Play Bloodlines and get past at least the werewolf
4. Get in a workout
5. Keep up on tumblr queues
*nods* I think that is doable for my first Thursday off. Hopefully it goes well! Night all!
