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By which I mean we've got a full-on blizzard coming in, and I do not approve. >( We're predicted to get upwards of two feet of snow, plus have to deal with winds up to 60 mph throughout all of Monday. Mom and Dad are pretty certain that I am not going to have work for a couple of days -- and indeed, the Diocese has officially shut down for Monday. In fact, everything has shut down for Monday -- there's a straight up travel ban to keep people off the road. *grimace* I am very glad that my parents found someone who was willing to plow our driveway after all was said and done today -- shoveling out the front walk after all this shit is over with is going to be hard enough!
Anyway -- while the weather wasn't the greatest (even if it didn't snow most of the day, it was still very gloomy as stated), and Dad was having a bit of a tough time of it again (he's really struggling to eat -- something about the chemo tends to take away his appetite, making mealtimes really tough), I did manage to have a pretty productive day, hitting all the major things I wanted to do:
Taxes: Got these done before lunch, as I wanted to get them over with before February was out (mostly because if I do them in late February, I get the best discounts from my tax-preparation software). They proved to be fairly painless, and I finished them off in a little over an hour. Got a decent-sized refund this year too, which is nice. Just gotta wait for the money to hit the old bank account now!
Writing: I revised Brynlee Marie’s gift fic – featuring Alice dropping into Wonderland and being surprised to see her daughter, Madeline (Marie’s Valice daughter OC) there, chatting with Cheshire – after lunch, as her birthday is tomorrow and I had to make sure I could slap it into my tumblr queue before the day was out. It didn’t change very much from the rough draft, admittedly, apart from a new longer beginning where I listed out what Alice had come to expect from Wonderland, before confirming that “my daughter being in it” was not one of those things. XD I have to admit, I quite enjoyed writing it – little Maddie was such a cutie, and I liked Alice’s confusion changing into “we can figure out the mystery later, let’s make the most of this time together” by the end of the fic. Hopefully Marie likes it too!
Tumblr: After revising the gift fic above, I proceeded to stick it into my drafts over on Victor Luvs Alice (N Smiler) – then, this evening, dropped it into my queue! After adding a “read more” cut because the fic is a little long. But yeah, now I can be assured that the fic will be posted on the right date. Very important for a gift fic. *nods* Didn’t accomplish anything else over on tumblr, though – I was too busy with BG3 most of the day (see below), and as usual nothing was happening over on Valice Multiverse. We’ll see if I can be more productive over here tomorrow!
Baldur’s Gate III: Welp, I have a guaranteed day off tomorrow thanks to the blizzard warning, so I went ahead and returned to Faerûn today to continue the adventures of Tav Smiler and friends! And I’m happy to report that the group finally went to see Nettie today to see if she could help them with their tadpoles! Along with reading a load of books and getting a bunch of alchemical ingredients for Smiler. XD Let me tell you all about it –
A) I picked up right where I left off last Sunday, with the gang hanging out in the Sacred Pool of the Emerald Grove, beside a sleeping bear named Bosk and a bench with a book on it – “A Primer On Mythical Beasts.” I promptly had Smiler take a look at the book to see what fun and interesting flavor text had been left for players to read this time –
And immediately started laughing, because – well. While the book’s description claims it’s all about the cultural origins of all sorts of mythological creatures, the snippet of actually-readable text focused on the “Miniature Giant Space Hamster” – which, yes, is a thing in the Forgotten Realms. In fact, there’s one in the game – Boo, the famous companion of the ranger Minsc! Who even Minsc admits is the brains of the pair. XD The snippet was a delight to read, and I must copy it from the wiki for you:
“Very little is known about this particular cryptid, though stories say they tend to choose well-muscled human males as their steeds when they deign to visit this plane. According to legends, this creature retains a wellspring of indescribable power known only to itself, though it provides its steed with perhaps mystical, perhaps mundane courage. Unsubstantiated rumours claim the creature has a taste for human eyes.”
XD Look, this game and its studio has its problems, but it’s impossible NOT to enjoy stuff like that. You can tell someone had a blast writing that particular paragraph! I certainly had a blast reading it. XD
( You Know It’s A Cut )
Workout: Fortunately for my sanity this Sunday eve, Jon managed to upload the latest episode of the F:NV YOLO Remastered series tonight at his regular time – meaning that I was able to hop on the bike and pedal my way through “Fallout New Vegas: You Only Live Once Remastered - Part 31 - No Holds Barred!” Tonight’s episode of the adventures of everyone’s favorite drunken melee courier P. D. Shoot focused on P. D. doing more work for the NCR in hopes of getting enough XP to finally get to Level 30 and take her final, super-important perk, and featured:
A) P. D. traveling to Novac and then sneaking into Nelson from there to take out a couple of Legion recruits and – at long last – free the poor NCR troopers who have been hanging from crucifixes in the middle of town for freaking AGES. Allowing her to finally report back to Ranger Milo, finish “Back In Your Own Backyard” –
And get a paltry 150 XP. I believe because this is an early-game quest and thus doesn’t NEED to give you a lot of XP. Jon was slightly annoyed, but decided that it was okay because P. D. had also gotten a bit of XP from the recruits she killed – bringing the total up to 200 or thereabouts – AND because it improved her standing with the NCR, and she really did need to do that (as Jon felt it was very weird for her to be proceeding along the NCR route as a “Smiling Troublemaker”).
B) P. D. then traveling to Cottonwood Cove to finish up the second half of “Eye For An Eye” and destroy the Legion camp for First Sergeant Astor! Though, naturally, being a YOLO girl, she didn’t go in guns blazing to take out every Legionnaire individually – instead, she crept up the hills overlooking the camp to Cottonwood Overlook, then slapped on her space suit and took some Rad-X before opening the back of the truck hanging over the side of the cliff, sending radioactive barrels tumbling into the unprotected camp below. Mirroring how the Legion itself took out Searchlight, very appropriately. She took a moment to observe her good work through her binoculars (observing a few Legionnaires dying while the rest just stood around blankly because New Vegas), then fast-traveled back to Camp Searchlight where she sought out Astor and told him the good news –
And got a whopping 1,000 XP for completing the mission! Jon was only expecting 500! That certainly made up for the previous mission not paying out a lot of experience! :D She also got 250 bottlecaps and Astor’s approval for her choice of tactics, but those were small potatoes compared to all that lovely lovely XP. :D Thank you Astor!
C) P. D. then heading back to Hoover Dam and telling Colonel Moore that the Omertas were dealt with (though she couldn’t actually tell the woman what they’d actually been planning, since she never actually learned the full details of the plot – Colonel Moore fortunately gave no shits, she was just glad that the potential threat was dead) and getting her next assignment – finding the remains of the Mojave Brotherhood of Steel chapter and wiping them out! She asked Moore if there was any chance of a peaceful resolution, but Moore was clear that the NCR had been fighting them for too long and they were too much of a danger, so P. D. was to wipe them out and not try to form a truce or anything.
Cue P. D. going to Hidden Valley (via Sloan, as she didn’t want to travel directly into the area due to the respawning scorpions inside, and she couldn’t avoid them by going in at night because that’s when the artificial dust storm the Brotherhood whips up to disguise their patrols leaving is active) and forming a truce with the Brotherhood of Steel. XD Granted, the only reason she was able to do this was because she’d done so much work for them in the past (and hadn’t replaced McNamara with Hardin – I guess Hardin refuses to work with the NCR?), but because she had and thus was essentially a member in good standing, all she had to do was go up to McNamara and tell him the NCR was plotting to destroy the local BOS, and he himself went, essentially, “Yeah, I kind of expected that – but since we’ve given up HELIOS One and have no interest in securing Hoover Dam, we’re not actually at odds anymore. Go tell the commander we’re interested in a truce, and are even willing to send along some of our own troops to help them hold the Dam in the upcoming battle – I doubt they’ll be able to refuse that.” No Speech check or nothing! McNamara is a bit of a pushover when you think about it. P. D. thus brought the news back to Moore – who was in the middle of a bugged conversation with one Paladin Todd, where they were supposed to be arguing over the NCR’s occasional use of power armor but were instead just standing staring at each other blankly (because New Vegas) –
And actually gained some NCR infamy because Moore was pissed off that P. D. managed to broker a truce. Both because she didn’t believe the Brotherhood would keep their word...and because Crocker would be thrilled and open up diplomatic relations and all that jazz. XD But P. D. still finished the mini-quest and got her XP, so that was all that mattered. Though, uh, I will say this – I am absolutely thrilled to see Colonel Moore annoyed that she had to deal with the Brotherhood peacefully, because I hate the bitch and she’s a major reason I will probably be going for an Independent Vegas ending in my own playthrough. BUT – after seeing McNamara essentially make P. D., an outsider, a Brotherhood member, and send troops to help the NCR hold Hoover Dam, aka help out outsiders?
I really feel like Veronica should be allowed to kill him. Because her WHOLE COMPANION QUEST revolves around the fact that McNamara will not violate the Codex, which, according to him, plainly states that they do not help outsiders or let them in. Meaning he won’t listen to her when she tries to bring in new technologies and ideas. Meaning she either leaves the only family she’s ever known because she can’t stand seeing them stagnate and wither like this, or she stays and remains a pariah among them. And now here he is VIOLATING THE CODEX for P. D.’s sake! A woman who barely knows them and probably doesn’t feel THAT fondly toward them because they slapped a bomb collar on her once! I just – justice for Veronica. Justice for poor fucking Veronica. >(
D) P. D. then getting her next assignment – help with the security detail for President Kimball’s visit and make sure the Legion doesn’t murder him! Which she did very efficiently – though not exactly in the manner in which I expected (aka the Useless Steve “let Rex do all the work” manner) –
I. First, she reported to Ranger Grant to officially become part of the security detail and, after a forced time skip, talked to him about potential security threats (“there was a new guy allowed to help with security at the last minute” XD It’s not made EXPLICIT that he’s talking about P. D., but Jon really likes to think he is) and what the security detail actually looked like (rangers posted around the dam to keep an eye on both the crowd and the perimeter, snipers and sharpshooters in key locations, and a K9 unit sniffing around the assembled troops). Notably, Grant also mentioned that he’d locked down access to areas like the landing pad on the visitor’s center – and told P. D. that she didn’t have a chance in hell of getting clearance when she asked. Necessary personnel only! Jon couldn’t even blame him, given how strongly P. D. had been leaning toward the Legion for most of her run.
II. Then, she did a brief security sweep that involved looking in a supply closet, discovering a puddle of blood on the floor, and using her high Perception to deduce that an engineer had likely been killed in here recently, meaning one of the engineers around the dam was probably a plant. Unfortunately, the game would not let her bring this information to Grant – it just wasn’t convincing enough.
III. Then, she went up to the roof of the visitor’s center and told Grant she was done with her sweep, triggering President Kimball’s vertibird to come in and land, and the President to head to the stage to make his speech – and triggering P. D. to head over to Private Jensen and sweet-talk her way into getting him to let her through so she could see the President’s vertibird (the Speech 50 check was literally her going “Pretty please?” XD).
IV. Then, having been allowed through, she climbed up to the landing pad and examined the vertibird, finding the bomb the disguised Legion engineer had planted and disabling it, before climbing back down and letting Grant know what she’d found. Grant naturally realized assassins were afoot and said he’d immediately cancel the speech and get the president out of there –
Which, uh, translated to some rather leisurely walking around on his part, because New Vegas. Fortunately everyone got a move on before the Legion sniper (who P. D. in the background) could actually take a potshot at Kimball (with one of the NPCs managing to take him out), and the president was safely evacuated without having his head popped or his vertibird blown up. Granting P. D. enough NCR fame to get her reputation with them up to “Good Natured Rascal” (where her good deeds overshadowed her dark side) –
And enough XP to finally hit Level 30! Her final level-up of the game, which allowed her to boost Lockpick all the way to 100, Speech to 89 (which would do for “Dead Money,” as the highest Speech check in there was 85), and get her final perk –
Implant GRX. A sub-dermal implant that gives P. D. five free doses of non-addictive Turbo per day. Meaning she will have a PERMANENT supply of Turbo, the wonder drug that slows down time, on her that not even “Dead Money” (which strips all your gear from you when you start) can take away from her. And because it’s, well, Turbo, just in implant form, it’s ALSO affected by all of her various chem-enhancing perks, meaning an effect that is supposed to last two seconds lasts a whole THIRTY (as per one of the commenters timing it). According to Jon, THIS is the perk that is going to keep P. D. alive during “Dead Money,” by virtue of letting her just sprint past enemies. ...Personally, I feel like the fact that she never took Light Step (the one that means you never set off enemy mines or floor traps) is going to screw her over, but we shall see!
E) And P. D. ending the episode by going up on the tower where the Legion sniper killed the NCR sniper and was killed in turn to look for the corpse to loot it – only to get distracted by realizing she could still see Kimball’s vertibird off in the distance. Cue Jon having her try to chase it down around the back of Boulder City to see if he could confirm if the devs had taken the vertibird and just made it tiny to play a fun perspective trick on the player and make it look like it was really far away. The bird sadly despawned before P. D. could fully catch up to it, but it really did look like it had been shrunk in the wash! Learn something new about this game every day. :p
And that was that! Next time – well. First, Jon is going to have P. D. and her 219 points of health (out of 405) take on the grand finale of the base game, just to get that under his belt. And then, after that is sorted, time will be rewound (because unless you use mods there’s no post game, and thus no way to do unfinished side quests after completing the main story), any damage P. D. took in the final fight will be applied to her past self, and Jon gets to face the nightmare that is “Dead Money” with a melee-only character. One who still sets off floor mines and traps no less. *nods* Should be VERY interesting indeed – I am quite looking forward to it!
Whew! That took a while -- very good thing I don't have work tomorrow, that's for sure. Though since I didn't go on TV Tropes, I will be getting to bed at least a BIT earlier than the last couple of nights. ^^; So yeah, I'm off to sleep through as much of this snowstorm as I can. Tomorrow -- well, we'll see what happens, as there's a non-zero chance we could lose power and/or the internet. If I can, I might see about playing some Portal 2 or Little Corners, along with hopefully catching up another few videos in my subs. And I'd like to keep working on "Londerland Bloodlines: Downtown Queensland" too. Fingers crossed the lights don't go out! Night all!
Anyway -- while the weather wasn't the greatest (even if it didn't snow most of the day, it was still very gloomy as stated), and Dad was having a bit of a tough time of it again (he's really struggling to eat -- something about the chemo tends to take away his appetite, making mealtimes really tough), I did manage to have a pretty productive day, hitting all the major things I wanted to do:
Taxes: Got these done before lunch, as I wanted to get them over with before February was out (mostly because if I do them in late February, I get the best discounts from my tax-preparation software). They proved to be fairly painless, and I finished them off in a little over an hour. Got a decent-sized refund this year too, which is nice. Just gotta wait for the money to hit the old bank account now!
Writing: I revised Brynlee Marie’s gift fic – featuring Alice dropping into Wonderland and being surprised to see her daughter, Madeline (Marie’s Valice daughter OC) there, chatting with Cheshire – after lunch, as her birthday is tomorrow and I had to make sure I could slap it into my tumblr queue before the day was out. It didn’t change very much from the rough draft, admittedly, apart from a new longer beginning where I listed out what Alice had come to expect from Wonderland, before confirming that “my daughter being in it” was not one of those things. XD I have to admit, I quite enjoyed writing it – little Maddie was such a cutie, and I liked Alice’s confusion changing into “we can figure out the mystery later, let’s make the most of this time together” by the end of the fic. Hopefully Marie likes it too!
Tumblr: After revising the gift fic above, I proceeded to stick it into my drafts over on Victor Luvs Alice (N Smiler) – then, this evening, dropped it into my queue! After adding a “read more” cut because the fic is a little long. But yeah, now I can be assured that the fic will be posted on the right date. Very important for a gift fic. *nods* Didn’t accomplish anything else over on tumblr, though – I was too busy with BG3 most of the day (see below), and as usual nothing was happening over on Valice Multiverse. We’ll see if I can be more productive over here tomorrow!
Baldur’s Gate III: Welp, I have a guaranteed day off tomorrow thanks to the blizzard warning, so I went ahead and returned to Faerûn today to continue the adventures of Tav Smiler and friends! And I’m happy to report that the group finally went to see Nettie today to see if she could help them with their tadpoles! Along with reading a load of books and getting a bunch of alchemical ingredients for Smiler. XD Let me tell you all about it –
A) I picked up right where I left off last Sunday, with the gang hanging out in the Sacred Pool of the Emerald Grove, beside a sleeping bear named Bosk and a bench with a book on it – “A Primer On Mythical Beasts.” I promptly had Smiler take a look at the book to see what fun and interesting flavor text had been left for players to read this time –
And immediately started laughing, because – well. While the book’s description claims it’s all about the cultural origins of all sorts of mythological creatures, the snippet of actually-readable text focused on the “Miniature Giant Space Hamster” – which, yes, is a thing in the Forgotten Realms. In fact, there’s one in the game – Boo, the famous companion of the ranger Minsc! Who even Minsc admits is the brains of the pair. XD The snippet was a delight to read, and I must copy it from the wiki for you:
“Very little is known about this particular cryptid, though stories say they tend to choose well-muscled human males as their steeds when they deign to visit this plane. According to legends, this creature retains a wellspring of indescribable power known only to itself, though it provides its steed with perhaps mystical, perhaps mundane courage. Unsubstantiated rumours claim the creature has a taste for human eyes.”
XD Look, this game and its studio has its problems, but it’s impossible NOT to enjoy stuff like that. You can tell someone had a blast writing that particular paragraph! I certainly had a blast reading it. XD
( You Know It’s A Cut )
Workout: Fortunately for my sanity this Sunday eve, Jon managed to upload the latest episode of the F:NV YOLO Remastered series tonight at his regular time – meaning that I was able to hop on the bike and pedal my way through “Fallout New Vegas: You Only Live Once Remastered - Part 31 - No Holds Barred!” Tonight’s episode of the adventures of everyone’s favorite drunken melee courier P. D. Shoot focused on P. D. doing more work for the NCR in hopes of getting enough XP to finally get to Level 30 and take her final, super-important perk, and featured:
A) P. D. traveling to Novac and then sneaking into Nelson from there to take out a couple of Legion recruits and – at long last – free the poor NCR troopers who have been hanging from crucifixes in the middle of town for freaking AGES. Allowing her to finally report back to Ranger Milo, finish “Back In Your Own Backyard” –
And get a paltry 150 XP. I believe because this is an early-game quest and thus doesn’t NEED to give you a lot of XP. Jon was slightly annoyed, but decided that it was okay because P. D. had also gotten a bit of XP from the recruits she killed – bringing the total up to 200 or thereabouts – AND because it improved her standing with the NCR, and she really did need to do that (as Jon felt it was very weird for her to be proceeding along the NCR route as a “Smiling Troublemaker”).
B) P. D. then traveling to Cottonwood Cove to finish up the second half of “Eye For An Eye” and destroy the Legion camp for First Sergeant Astor! Though, naturally, being a YOLO girl, she didn’t go in guns blazing to take out every Legionnaire individually – instead, she crept up the hills overlooking the camp to Cottonwood Overlook, then slapped on her space suit and took some Rad-X before opening the back of the truck hanging over the side of the cliff, sending radioactive barrels tumbling into the unprotected camp below. Mirroring how the Legion itself took out Searchlight, very appropriately. She took a moment to observe her good work through her binoculars (observing a few Legionnaires dying while the rest just stood around blankly because New Vegas), then fast-traveled back to Camp Searchlight where she sought out Astor and told him the good news –
And got a whopping 1,000 XP for completing the mission! Jon was only expecting 500! That certainly made up for the previous mission not paying out a lot of experience! :D She also got 250 bottlecaps and Astor’s approval for her choice of tactics, but those were small potatoes compared to all that lovely lovely XP. :D Thank you Astor!
C) P. D. then heading back to Hoover Dam and telling Colonel Moore that the Omertas were dealt with (though she couldn’t actually tell the woman what they’d actually been planning, since she never actually learned the full details of the plot – Colonel Moore fortunately gave no shits, she was just glad that the potential threat was dead) and getting her next assignment – finding the remains of the Mojave Brotherhood of Steel chapter and wiping them out! She asked Moore if there was any chance of a peaceful resolution, but Moore was clear that the NCR had been fighting them for too long and they were too much of a danger, so P. D. was to wipe them out and not try to form a truce or anything.
Cue P. D. going to Hidden Valley (via Sloan, as she didn’t want to travel directly into the area due to the respawning scorpions inside, and she couldn’t avoid them by going in at night because that’s when the artificial dust storm the Brotherhood whips up to disguise their patrols leaving is active) and forming a truce with the Brotherhood of Steel. XD Granted, the only reason she was able to do this was because she’d done so much work for them in the past (and hadn’t replaced McNamara with Hardin – I guess Hardin refuses to work with the NCR?), but because she had and thus was essentially a member in good standing, all she had to do was go up to McNamara and tell him the NCR was plotting to destroy the local BOS, and he himself went, essentially, “Yeah, I kind of expected that – but since we’ve given up HELIOS One and have no interest in securing Hoover Dam, we’re not actually at odds anymore. Go tell the commander we’re interested in a truce, and are even willing to send along some of our own troops to help them hold the Dam in the upcoming battle – I doubt they’ll be able to refuse that.” No Speech check or nothing! McNamara is a bit of a pushover when you think about it. P. D. thus brought the news back to Moore – who was in the middle of a bugged conversation with one Paladin Todd, where they were supposed to be arguing over the NCR’s occasional use of power armor but were instead just standing staring at each other blankly (because New Vegas) –
And actually gained some NCR infamy because Moore was pissed off that P. D. managed to broker a truce. Both because she didn’t believe the Brotherhood would keep their word...and because Crocker would be thrilled and open up diplomatic relations and all that jazz. XD But P. D. still finished the mini-quest and got her XP, so that was all that mattered. Though, uh, I will say this – I am absolutely thrilled to see Colonel Moore annoyed that she had to deal with the Brotherhood peacefully, because I hate the bitch and she’s a major reason I will probably be going for an Independent Vegas ending in my own playthrough. BUT – after seeing McNamara essentially make P. D., an outsider, a Brotherhood member, and send troops to help the NCR hold Hoover Dam, aka help out outsiders?
I really feel like Veronica should be allowed to kill him. Because her WHOLE COMPANION QUEST revolves around the fact that McNamara will not violate the Codex, which, according to him, plainly states that they do not help outsiders or let them in. Meaning he won’t listen to her when she tries to bring in new technologies and ideas. Meaning she either leaves the only family she’s ever known because she can’t stand seeing them stagnate and wither like this, or she stays and remains a pariah among them. And now here he is VIOLATING THE CODEX for P. D.’s sake! A woman who barely knows them and probably doesn’t feel THAT fondly toward them because they slapped a bomb collar on her once! I just – justice for Veronica. Justice for poor fucking Veronica. >(
D) P. D. then getting her next assignment – help with the security detail for President Kimball’s visit and make sure the Legion doesn’t murder him! Which she did very efficiently – though not exactly in the manner in which I expected (aka the Useless Steve “let Rex do all the work” manner) –
I. First, she reported to Ranger Grant to officially become part of the security detail and, after a forced time skip, talked to him about potential security threats (“there was a new guy allowed to help with security at the last minute” XD It’s not made EXPLICIT that he’s talking about P. D., but Jon really likes to think he is) and what the security detail actually looked like (rangers posted around the dam to keep an eye on both the crowd and the perimeter, snipers and sharpshooters in key locations, and a K9 unit sniffing around the assembled troops). Notably, Grant also mentioned that he’d locked down access to areas like the landing pad on the visitor’s center – and told P. D. that she didn’t have a chance in hell of getting clearance when she asked. Necessary personnel only! Jon couldn’t even blame him, given how strongly P. D. had been leaning toward the Legion for most of her run.
II. Then, she did a brief security sweep that involved looking in a supply closet, discovering a puddle of blood on the floor, and using her high Perception to deduce that an engineer had likely been killed in here recently, meaning one of the engineers around the dam was probably a plant. Unfortunately, the game would not let her bring this information to Grant – it just wasn’t convincing enough.
III. Then, she went up to the roof of the visitor’s center and told Grant she was done with her sweep, triggering President Kimball’s vertibird to come in and land, and the President to head to the stage to make his speech – and triggering P. D. to head over to Private Jensen and sweet-talk her way into getting him to let her through so she could see the President’s vertibird (the Speech 50 check was literally her going “Pretty please?” XD).
IV. Then, having been allowed through, she climbed up to the landing pad and examined the vertibird, finding the bomb the disguised Legion engineer had planted and disabling it, before climbing back down and letting Grant know what she’d found. Grant naturally realized assassins were afoot and said he’d immediately cancel the speech and get the president out of there –
Which, uh, translated to some rather leisurely walking around on his part, because New Vegas. Fortunately everyone got a move on before the Legion sniper (who P. D. in the background) could actually take a potshot at Kimball (with one of the NPCs managing to take him out), and the president was safely evacuated without having his head popped or his vertibird blown up. Granting P. D. enough NCR fame to get her reputation with them up to “Good Natured Rascal” (where her good deeds overshadowed her dark side) –
And enough XP to finally hit Level 30! Her final level-up of the game, which allowed her to boost Lockpick all the way to 100, Speech to 89 (which would do for “Dead Money,” as the highest Speech check in there was 85), and get her final perk –
Implant GRX. A sub-dermal implant that gives P. D. five free doses of non-addictive Turbo per day. Meaning she will have a PERMANENT supply of Turbo, the wonder drug that slows down time, on her that not even “Dead Money” (which strips all your gear from you when you start) can take away from her. And because it’s, well, Turbo, just in implant form, it’s ALSO affected by all of her various chem-enhancing perks, meaning an effect that is supposed to last two seconds lasts a whole THIRTY (as per one of the commenters timing it). According to Jon, THIS is the perk that is going to keep P. D. alive during “Dead Money,” by virtue of letting her just sprint past enemies. ...Personally, I feel like the fact that she never took Light Step (the one that means you never set off enemy mines or floor traps) is going to screw her over, but we shall see!
E) And P. D. ending the episode by going up on the tower where the Legion sniper killed the NCR sniper and was killed in turn to look for the corpse to loot it – only to get distracted by realizing she could still see Kimball’s vertibird off in the distance. Cue Jon having her try to chase it down around the back of Boulder City to see if he could confirm if the devs had taken the vertibird and just made it tiny to play a fun perspective trick on the player and make it look like it was really far away. The bird sadly despawned before P. D. could fully catch up to it, but it really did look like it had been shrunk in the wash! Learn something new about this game every day. :p
And that was that! Next time – well. First, Jon is going to have P. D. and her 219 points of health (out of 405) take on the grand finale of the base game, just to get that under his belt. And then, after that is sorted, time will be rewound (because unless you use mods there’s no post game, and thus no way to do unfinished side quests after completing the main story), any damage P. D. took in the final fight will be applied to her past self, and Jon gets to face the nightmare that is “Dead Money” with a melee-only character. One who still sets off floor mines and traps no less. *nods* Should be VERY interesting indeed – I am quite looking forward to it!
Whew! That took a while -- very good thing I don't have work tomorrow, that's for sure. Though since I didn't go on TV Tropes, I will be getting to bed at least a BIT earlier than the last couple of nights. ^^; So yeah, I'm off to sleep through as much of this snowstorm as I can. Tomorrow -- well, we'll see what happens, as there's a non-zero chance we could lose power and/or the internet. If I can, I might see about playing some Portal 2 or Little Corners, along with hopefully catching up another few videos in my subs. And I'd like to keep working on "Londerland Bloodlines: Downtown Queensland" too. Fingers crossed the lights don't go out! Night all!
