Fairly Chill Wednesday
Jul. 23rd, 2025 11:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
crossover_chickThe actual weather was fairly warm (though quite pleasant when the sun went behind the clouds for a bit this afternoon), but the vibes of the day were pretty calm, which I quite appreciated --
Work – Pretty quiet day at work – with the huge batch of gifts finally fully posted, and the issue of the gifts going on the wrong campaign more or less sorted, I was back to noodling around with roster maintenance and obituaries again, along with my various puzzles to fill in the emptier bits of the day. *shrug* Nothing particularly exciting, but nothing particularly stressful either! We will see if this state of affairs lasts through tomorrow – odds are good it will, but you never know...
To-Do List –
1. Get in a workout: Check – another night on the bike, another night pedaling my way through –
A) The end of “Oxventure D&D: Wyrdwood | Chapter 3: Howls In The Night!” The last ten or so minutes of this episode featured:
I. Lug, trying to figure out what they could do quickly to maybe get the forest on their side to protect them against the dullahan threatening them, noticing Michael crying – not in a “I’m terrified and want to go home” way like his sister, but in a “I’m feeling guilty about something” way. He asked the kid what he’d done, and Michael whimpered that he’d thought it would protect them and do what they said before taking off his rucksack –
And producing a severed head. Lug was like “is THAT what the kids are into these days?!” (Happen/Luke: “It’s a skull with wiggly eyes and a wiggly jaw, of COURSE they’re into it.” XD) The group immediately sussed that it must be the dullahan’s lost head (as they are a type of headless horseman), and got into a brief argument about whether to give it back or destroy it – they ended up going with Willowfine’s “split the difference” plan of holding up the head and threatening it with a sacred flame. The dullahan did pause, but only for a moment – then he continued his slow march forward, leading everyone to wonder what to do next...
II. The gang then being saved by, of all people, that creepy guy in the leather coat that was all patches and the weird hat that was just a brim! He announced his presence by wrapping an arm around Robin and saying that he’d owe him a favor for this, then leapt into the clearing, grabbed the head from Willowfine, leapt up OVER the brambles, bounced himself off a tree, then shot out of the forest and off over the moors. The dullahan and his hounds promptly gave chase, with Johnny noting that they were actually having trouble keeping up (even with the dullahan on his horse!). Robin was like “that guy keeps popping up!” and Happen revealed that Morven seemed to know a little something about him – that he was present at her execution, at least. He suggested that it might be nice to ask her, but Robin was like “shame she’s not here then,” refusing to even consider the idea of giving up control –
And then Cressida – who, I remind you, had NOT made it into the clearing with the others as she had tripped and gone for turning herself invisible instead – crawled through the hole Happen had made in the brambles, overheard this conversation, and chose to announce herself via whacking Robin over the head with her spellbook. XD And, hilariously, while she did hit him, a poor roll combined with her -1 Strength modifier meant she did no damage – just annoyed Robin. XD Seems like Morven will not yet be making an appearance anytime soon!
III. Yoffie deciding it was time for him and his children to part ways with the group, which even the gang found understandable. XD Happen did note that, if they were heading back to their own home hamlet, they could at least head in the same direction to get a good night’s sleep there…
But as Yoffie, Michael, and Lily backed out of the clearing, the brambles opened up to let them through – and then closed up as they passed, creating an impenetrable barrier. Followed by another path opening up leading deeper into the Wyrdwood, which – as the group followed it – lined and eventually carpeted with bioluminescent flowers. Making the gang realize that they were apparently being summoned somewhere for something…
B) The beginning of “Oxventure D&D: Wyrdwood | Chapter 4: The Path of Broken Oaths!” The first twenty or so minutes of this episode (which picked up immediately from the end of the last one) featured:
I. The gang following the path to what was NOMINALLY a clearing – the forest floor was clear, but the canopy overhead grew over it like a ceiling, making it a bit more like a spherical room than anything else. And in said “room,” they found a chair made out of tree roots and such, and in that chair they found a Green Man – a tall man essentially made of leaves and bark and roots. Lug was like “we should kneel NOW,” and everyone obligingly knelt –
Except Cressida, who refused to ruin her dress any further and instead just politely nodded. The prostrating Robin promptly edged away from her. XD Fortunately the Green Man was not one to stand on ceremony and said that they could get up (Robin was like “why’d you tell us to kneel” to Lug, who replied “it’s better to kneel and not have to than not kneel and find out you SHOULD have”) –
And then the guy promptly got distracted by Happen, who he found fascinating because he was someone who should not be (a “common folk” from the Balewood, who I remind you isn’t supposed to have any common folk in it because their own wild folk killed them for attacking another region). Poor Happen got dragged into the canopy for a bit so the Green Man could get a better look at him using the trees. He took this with his usual calm, still completely confused as to why everyone was so interested in him being from Balewood. XD The Green Man also noted the strangeness about Robin, though our possessed commoner boy managed to avoid being dragged into the canopy. For now. XD
II. The Green Man asking the group their purpose (they explained how they’d been tasked by the folkmoot to investigate what had happened to magic and asked if he knew anything about it; he admitted that he and his wild folk were as in the dark as they were), then getting down to business – namely, informing the five that they owed a blood debt to the Wyrdwood for what they did to the ash tree that took over the people of Oakburn. He acknowledged that they’d acted in self defense, yes, but it was already a thorny situation when they stumbled into the village, and the ash tree spirit had had friends in the Wyrdwood, and – yeah. There was a debt, and they had to make it right. Cressida promptly tried to offer the Green Man some gold coins from her personal stash – the wild folk watching on from the trees were offended, but fortunately the Green Man himself was amused that she thought she could pay this sort of debt off with mortal coin. He explained that he had a bargain for them instead – in exchange for clearing the debt, and being offered free passage through the Wyrdwood (as he and his DID want them to figure out what the fuck was going on with magic), they were to visit a hamlet that bordered the Wyrdwood nearby. They too had entered into the Windfall Bargain (which allowed them to forage and hunt in the Wyrdwood safely), but when the wild folk emerged from their winter hibernation of sorts, the people there hadn’t come to renew their bargains and bonds. The Green Man was actually more worried than offended, and wanted the quintet to see what was going on, and tell the residents that they were ready to renew their bonds if they were. Happen spoke up for the group, agreeing this was reasonable –
And then started going on about “but this will take us away from our very important mission, I feel like we should get an extra reward on top of this.” The Green Man was like “wow, you do NOT care if you live or die, do you.” XD Happen admitted he rejoiced in the possibility, and Johnny had him roll to convince the Green Man, which of course involved the use of the Cadence Die –
Which let us all down by rolling one of the normal numbers. XD The Green Man decided he found Happen amusing and said “go do your duty, and we’ll see what happens – I promise nothing now.” Which in its own way is pretty darn lucky, sooo praise Cadence! XD
III. And the group managing to convince the Green Man to let them have a tight eight hours in the clearing, because they could all use a long rest! Fortunately he was amendable to that (possibly because even he realized it was the middle of the night and they weren’t going to make much progress anyway), and the group settled in for a snooze –
EXCEPT for Robin, who was now pulling the same thing Morven did and taking levels of exhaustion to avoid losing control of his body. (Robin, with your stat block, that’s a lot more dangerous for you!) The Green Man “helped” him stay awake by staring at him curiously all night – even when Robin tried to use the toilet behind a convenient tree (just opening up eyes in the tree, as per Andy). Robin eventually decided he could hold it until they got to the village. XD Hey, it definitely helped keep him awake!
So yeah – seems like the gang need to get this next village sorted if they don’t want the Wyrdwood angry with them anymore! I left it with all the others waking up and preparing to head out and do their duty – tomorrow, we see what’s wrong with THIS village, and if it can be fixed without committing more wild folk murder! Hopefully! Be nice!
2. Continue editing “Londerland Bloodlines: Downtown Queensland”: Check – Alice finally made it to Grout’s inner sanctum today! A process that involved climbing yet more stairs (so many stairs in this final section), and having to listen to two of Grout’s horrible tapes in a row – these detailing his growing terror around the unnamed vampire his voices keep warning him about, and his final decision to withdraw from vampire society and retreat into his mansion, making a “Faustian bargain” with his voices in an attempt to keep himself and his wife safe. The latter ended with him raving about how they kept telling him of a “macabre and formless menace” that would be the end of everything – Alice replied “I’m a menace who very much has a form, thanks, and I’m still thinking of shooting you and being done with it.” XD Fortunately Wonderland was like “no gun, just keeping moving forward,” and Alice was – sort of happy to comply. I left it with her being surprised the doors into Grout’s private quarters just opened – tomorrow, she’s going to step into the room beyond and promptly find some very different things to be surprised by...
3. Keep up with YouTube “Subs”: Check – popped into my Watch Later today to catch up on “The Sims 4 Enchanted by Nature: 10 FEATURES You Might Not Know!” by onlyabidoang (and his adorable instant noodle cardboard wings)! Abi spent just about eighteen minutes telling us about the stuff included in the pack that you might not have noticed or not realized was possible, covering things like:
A) The improvements the pack brings to Plant Sims (who get a couple of new abilities powered by fairy dust (like the ability to inflict a “Poison Kiss” that could give a Sim the “Greenie Meanie” ailment), and some lore courtesy of a chat with Spruce Almighty (which basically confirmed they will always be a temporary life state)
B) The two new ways fairies can die (which includes “emotional starvation” – letting their Emotional Force need drain completely – and “emotional overload” – absorbing too many emotions when their Emotional Force need is already full! The first is a new unique death; the second just triggers one of three emotional deaths that were already in the game – and actually takes some doing, as the game gives you MULTIPLE warnings to stop)
C) How fairies get along with other occults from other packs (they have a natural fondness for mermaids and werewolves, complete with the ability to refresh a mermaid’s Hydration need and soothe a werewolf’s Fury if they have the right powers unlocked, and a natural dislike for vampires and spellcasters, complete with mean interactions to accuse them of using dark magic or being unnatural magic users – and they can even absorb a vampire’s vampirism! O.o That feels – overpowered, honestly)
D) All the things fairies can do while shrunk (play in various objects, splash around in the sink, sleep in a dollhouse, visit a fairy house, or even woohoo! With the ability to shrink down any non-fairy partners temporarily)
E) And confirming that you don’t HAVE to make a fairy with visible wings if you don’t want to (like how you mentioned wanting to make Bob and Cyrus in the game if you could go wingless, Gigs – though it still looks like they’d float around as if they did have wings. Appropriate for the Peter Pan sim Abi made; perhaps less appropriate for Bob!)
All neat stuff! Though again, after seeing some of the stuff fairies can do with other occults, they ARE feeling a little overpowered to me...and that’s BEFORE watching his video all about fairies and their numerous special abilities! I wonder how overpowered they’ll feel to me then… :P
4. Get my tumblr queues sorted: Check – just Victor Luvs Alice (N Smiler) to worry about tonight, and I ended up reblogging another story I’d seen on tumblr and quite enjoyed into my queue for Thursday – Eating Gods by Caffeine Witchcraft. Which, I should warn you, was tagged with “gore,” “blood,” and “cannibalism,” and starts off with a semi-graphic second-person description of the protagonist eating her humanoid god, then choking and passing out when she realizes what she’s doing and tries and fails to pull him back out. It gets a lot less gory after that, but – yeah. Beware those first few paragraphs! That said, if you can stomach the beginning, it’s a really good story about someone stuck in an abusive relationship with her god, and her eventual rescue by her new coworker and HIS god. It’s pretty raw at times, but I enjoyed it a lot. And it made me think about how, for all their faults, at least Mar-Mal (my eldritch god version of The Smiler coaster) genuinely loves Smiler and would NEVER hurt them like this. One of the benefits of worshiping/having a pact with a being of pure happiness, I suppose. But yeah – been meaning to reblog it, and now it’s in the queue, yay. :)
Other: Another nice day meant another round of beanbags – which went pretty similarly to yesterday’s round, except that Mom didn’t get second every time – instead, Dad managed to get second in the game I won, making him definitely the undisputed champ of the day. Like he is most days we play, honestly. :P Final scores were me 3-W-3; Dad W-2-W; and Mom 2-3-2. We’ll see what happens the next time we get to play!
*nods* Not too shabby a Wednesday overall! And being over my period at last helps too. :P And now it is time for me to head to bed -- hopefully tomorrow is also a chill day, vibes-wise! We shall see -- night all!
Work – Pretty quiet day at work – with the huge batch of gifts finally fully posted, and the issue of the gifts going on the wrong campaign more or less sorted, I was back to noodling around with roster maintenance and obituaries again, along with my various puzzles to fill in the emptier bits of the day. *shrug* Nothing particularly exciting, but nothing particularly stressful either! We will see if this state of affairs lasts through tomorrow – odds are good it will, but you never know...
To-Do List –
1. Get in a workout: Check – another night on the bike, another night pedaling my way through –
A) The end of “Oxventure D&D: Wyrdwood | Chapter 3: Howls In The Night!” The last ten or so minutes of this episode featured:
I. Lug, trying to figure out what they could do quickly to maybe get the forest on their side to protect them against the dullahan threatening them, noticing Michael crying – not in a “I’m terrified and want to go home” way like his sister, but in a “I’m feeling guilty about something” way. He asked the kid what he’d done, and Michael whimpered that he’d thought it would protect them and do what they said before taking off his rucksack –
And producing a severed head. Lug was like “is THAT what the kids are into these days?!” (Happen/Luke: “It’s a skull with wiggly eyes and a wiggly jaw, of COURSE they’re into it.” XD) The group immediately sussed that it must be the dullahan’s lost head (as they are a type of headless horseman), and got into a brief argument about whether to give it back or destroy it – they ended up going with Willowfine’s “split the difference” plan of holding up the head and threatening it with a sacred flame. The dullahan did pause, but only for a moment – then he continued his slow march forward, leading everyone to wonder what to do next...
II. The gang then being saved by, of all people, that creepy guy in the leather coat that was all patches and the weird hat that was just a brim! He announced his presence by wrapping an arm around Robin and saying that he’d owe him a favor for this, then leapt into the clearing, grabbed the head from Willowfine, leapt up OVER the brambles, bounced himself off a tree, then shot out of the forest and off over the moors. The dullahan and his hounds promptly gave chase, with Johnny noting that they were actually having trouble keeping up (even with the dullahan on his horse!). Robin was like “that guy keeps popping up!” and Happen revealed that Morven seemed to know a little something about him – that he was present at her execution, at least. He suggested that it might be nice to ask her, but Robin was like “shame she’s not here then,” refusing to even consider the idea of giving up control –
And then Cressida – who, I remind you, had NOT made it into the clearing with the others as she had tripped and gone for turning herself invisible instead – crawled through the hole Happen had made in the brambles, overheard this conversation, and chose to announce herself via whacking Robin over the head with her spellbook. XD And, hilariously, while she did hit him, a poor roll combined with her -1 Strength modifier meant she did no damage – just annoyed Robin. XD Seems like Morven will not yet be making an appearance anytime soon!
III. Yoffie deciding it was time for him and his children to part ways with the group, which even the gang found understandable. XD Happen did note that, if they were heading back to their own home hamlet, they could at least head in the same direction to get a good night’s sleep there…
But as Yoffie, Michael, and Lily backed out of the clearing, the brambles opened up to let them through – and then closed up as they passed, creating an impenetrable barrier. Followed by another path opening up leading deeper into the Wyrdwood, which – as the group followed it – lined and eventually carpeted with bioluminescent flowers. Making the gang realize that they were apparently being summoned somewhere for something…
B) The beginning of “Oxventure D&D: Wyrdwood | Chapter 4: The Path of Broken Oaths!” The first twenty or so minutes of this episode (which picked up immediately from the end of the last one) featured:
I. The gang following the path to what was NOMINALLY a clearing – the forest floor was clear, but the canopy overhead grew over it like a ceiling, making it a bit more like a spherical room than anything else. And in said “room,” they found a chair made out of tree roots and such, and in that chair they found a Green Man – a tall man essentially made of leaves and bark and roots. Lug was like “we should kneel NOW,” and everyone obligingly knelt –
Except Cressida, who refused to ruin her dress any further and instead just politely nodded. The prostrating Robin promptly edged away from her. XD Fortunately the Green Man was not one to stand on ceremony and said that they could get up (Robin was like “why’d you tell us to kneel” to Lug, who replied “it’s better to kneel and not have to than not kneel and find out you SHOULD have”) –
And then the guy promptly got distracted by Happen, who he found fascinating because he was someone who should not be (a “common folk” from the Balewood, who I remind you isn’t supposed to have any common folk in it because their own wild folk killed them for attacking another region). Poor Happen got dragged into the canopy for a bit so the Green Man could get a better look at him using the trees. He took this with his usual calm, still completely confused as to why everyone was so interested in him being from Balewood. XD The Green Man also noted the strangeness about Robin, though our possessed commoner boy managed to avoid being dragged into the canopy. For now. XD
II. The Green Man asking the group their purpose (they explained how they’d been tasked by the folkmoot to investigate what had happened to magic and asked if he knew anything about it; he admitted that he and his wild folk were as in the dark as they were), then getting down to business – namely, informing the five that they owed a blood debt to the Wyrdwood for what they did to the ash tree that took over the people of Oakburn. He acknowledged that they’d acted in self defense, yes, but it was already a thorny situation when they stumbled into the village, and the ash tree spirit had had friends in the Wyrdwood, and – yeah. There was a debt, and they had to make it right. Cressida promptly tried to offer the Green Man some gold coins from her personal stash – the wild folk watching on from the trees were offended, but fortunately the Green Man himself was amused that she thought she could pay this sort of debt off with mortal coin. He explained that he had a bargain for them instead – in exchange for clearing the debt, and being offered free passage through the Wyrdwood (as he and his DID want them to figure out what the fuck was going on with magic), they were to visit a hamlet that bordered the Wyrdwood nearby. They too had entered into the Windfall Bargain (which allowed them to forage and hunt in the Wyrdwood safely), but when the wild folk emerged from their winter hibernation of sorts, the people there hadn’t come to renew their bargains and bonds. The Green Man was actually more worried than offended, and wanted the quintet to see what was going on, and tell the residents that they were ready to renew their bonds if they were. Happen spoke up for the group, agreeing this was reasonable –
And then started going on about “but this will take us away from our very important mission, I feel like we should get an extra reward on top of this.” The Green Man was like “wow, you do NOT care if you live or die, do you.” XD Happen admitted he rejoiced in the possibility, and Johnny had him roll to convince the Green Man, which of course involved the use of the Cadence Die –
Which let us all down by rolling one of the normal numbers. XD The Green Man decided he found Happen amusing and said “go do your duty, and we’ll see what happens – I promise nothing now.” Which in its own way is pretty darn lucky, sooo praise Cadence! XD
III. And the group managing to convince the Green Man to let them have a tight eight hours in the clearing, because they could all use a long rest! Fortunately he was amendable to that (possibly because even he realized it was the middle of the night and they weren’t going to make much progress anyway), and the group settled in for a snooze –
EXCEPT for Robin, who was now pulling the same thing Morven did and taking levels of exhaustion to avoid losing control of his body. (Robin, with your stat block, that’s a lot more dangerous for you!) The Green Man “helped” him stay awake by staring at him curiously all night – even when Robin tried to use the toilet behind a convenient tree (just opening up eyes in the tree, as per Andy). Robin eventually decided he could hold it until they got to the village. XD Hey, it definitely helped keep him awake!
So yeah – seems like the gang need to get this next village sorted if they don’t want the Wyrdwood angry with them anymore! I left it with all the others waking up and preparing to head out and do their duty – tomorrow, we see what’s wrong with THIS village, and if it can be fixed without committing more wild folk murder! Hopefully! Be nice!
2. Continue editing “Londerland Bloodlines: Downtown Queensland”: Check – Alice finally made it to Grout’s inner sanctum today! A process that involved climbing yet more stairs (so many stairs in this final section), and having to listen to two of Grout’s horrible tapes in a row – these detailing his growing terror around the unnamed vampire his voices keep warning him about, and his final decision to withdraw from vampire society and retreat into his mansion, making a “Faustian bargain” with his voices in an attempt to keep himself and his wife safe. The latter ended with him raving about how they kept telling him of a “macabre and formless menace” that would be the end of everything – Alice replied “I’m a menace who very much has a form, thanks, and I’m still thinking of shooting you and being done with it.” XD Fortunately Wonderland was like “no gun, just keeping moving forward,” and Alice was – sort of happy to comply. I left it with her being surprised the doors into Grout’s private quarters just opened – tomorrow, she’s going to step into the room beyond and promptly find some very different things to be surprised by...
3. Keep up with YouTube “Subs”: Check – popped into my Watch Later today to catch up on “The Sims 4 Enchanted by Nature: 10 FEATURES You Might Not Know!” by onlyabidoang (and his adorable instant noodle cardboard wings)! Abi spent just about eighteen minutes telling us about the stuff included in the pack that you might not have noticed or not realized was possible, covering things like:
A) The improvements the pack brings to Plant Sims (who get a couple of new abilities powered by fairy dust (like the ability to inflict a “Poison Kiss” that could give a Sim the “Greenie Meanie” ailment), and some lore courtesy of a chat with Spruce Almighty (which basically confirmed they will always be a temporary life state)
B) The two new ways fairies can die (which includes “emotional starvation” – letting their Emotional Force need drain completely – and “emotional overload” – absorbing too many emotions when their Emotional Force need is already full! The first is a new unique death; the second just triggers one of three emotional deaths that were already in the game – and actually takes some doing, as the game gives you MULTIPLE warnings to stop)
C) How fairies get along with other occults from other packs (they have a natural fondness for mermaids and werewolves, complete with the ability to refresh a mermaid’s Hydration need and soothe a werewolf’s Fury if they have the right powers unlocked, and a natural dislike for vampires and spellcasters, complete with mean interactions to accuse them of using dark magic or being unnatural magic users – and they can even absorb a vampire’s vampirism! O.o That feels – overpowered, honestly)
D) All the things fairies can do while shrunk (play in various objects, splash around in the sink, sleep in a dollhouse, visit a fairy house, or even woohoo! With the ability to shrink down any non-fairy partners temporarily)
E) And confirming that you don’t HAVE to make a fairy with visible wings if you don’t want to (like how you mentioned wanting to make Bob and Cyrus in the game if you could go wingless, Gigs – though it still looks like they’d float around as if they did have wings. Appropriate for the Peter Pan sim Abi made; perhaps less appropriate for Bob!)
All neat stuff! Though again, after seeing some of the stuff fairies can do with other occults, they ARE feeling a little overpowered to me...and that’s BEFORE watching his video all about fairies and their numerous special abilities! I wonder how overpowered they’ll feel to me then… :P
4. Get my tumblr queues sorted: Check – just Victor Luvs Alice (N Smiler) to worry about tonight, and I ended up reblogging another story I’d seen on tumblr and quite enjoyed into my queue for Thursday – Eating Gods by Caffeine Witchcraft. Which, I should warn you, was tagged with “gore,” “blood,” and “cannibalism,” and starts off with a semi-graphic second-person description of the protagonist eating her humanoid god, then choking and passing out when she realizes what she’s doing and tries and fails to pull him back out. It gets a lot less gory after that, but – yeah. Beware those first few paragraphs! That said, if you can stomach the beginning, it’s a really good story about someone stuck in an abusive relationship with her god, and her eventual rescue by her new coworker and HIS god. It’s pretty raw at times, but I enjoyed it a lot. And it made me think about how, for all their faults, at least Mar-Mal (my eldritch god version of The Smiler coaster) genuinely loves Smiler and would NEVER hurt them like this. One of the benefits of worshiping/having a pact with a being of pure happiness, I suppose. But yeah – been meaning to reblog it, and now it’s in the queue, yay. :)
Other: Another nice day meant another round of beanbags – which went pretty similarly to yesterday’s round, except that Mom didn’t get second every time – instead, Dad managed to get second in the game I won, making him definitely the undisputed champ of the day. Like he is most days we play, honestly. :P Final scores were me 3-W-3; Dad W-2-W; and Mom 2-3-2. We’ll see what happens the next time we get to play!
*nods* Not too shabby a Wednesday overall! And being over my period at last helps too. :P And now it is time for me to head to bed -- hopefully tomorrow is also a chill day, vibes-wise! We shall see -- night all!
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Date: 2025-07-31 03:59 am (UTC)God damn it -- this is a bug I had not yet heard about! *facepalm* I mean, yes, I'm glad you were able to determine this was a game bug and not something from your mods, and that it's not crashing the game, but still. What the hell, Sims 4...