Warm And Wet Monday
Dec. 29th, 2025 11:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
crossover_chickLike it was near 50 degrees F today, but it was also absolutely MISERABLE, with lots of fairly heavy rain. I was very grateful for my Monterey Bay windbreaker when Mom and I ventured outside on our shopping trip, let me tell you! But despite the lousy weather and a slight case of the tireds, I did manage to get a fair bit done today:
Tumblr: It being a Monday, I didn’t even visit Valice Multiverse – instead, I just focused on getting the following done on Victor Luvs Alice (N Smiler) –
A) I made a minor update to the draft of the next volume of Valicer In The Dark Not-Incorrect quotes, adding a link to the post that inspired the “the gang learns to their shock that Sooty is capable of imitating Smiler’s voice” quote (about how ravens are in fact better mimics of human voices than parrots) in Elder Gutknecht’s dialogue at the end of said quote – gotta give credit where credit is due!
B) I wrote up two rough drafts for new posts to work on later:
I. One I have entitled “The Miseries Of Margaret Kelman,” which will talk a bit about Smiler’s birth mother! (In those universes where they have one, of course.) Specifically:
a. What her whole deal is – basically, she married Dr. Kelman during a particularly lonely period in his life, finding his awkwardness and desire to change the world charming at first...then she learned what was REALLY like and found herself trapped
b. And, more importantly, what happened to her, as she never actually appears as one of Smiler’s parents – I’ve always had them raised either by Matt and Carol Alton, or by Dr. Kelman on his own. It’s rarely a pretty picture, I’m sad to say – in most universes, she has Smiler, develops postpartum depression, and gets operated on by Dr. Kelman, turning her into a vegetable that Kelman hides in the depths of his Sanctuary (as outlined in her first appearance in Tav!Smiler’s backstory post). :( She manages to escape in the Modern AU because Kelman gets busted for his illegal medical practices and for being a cult leader before she has Smiler, allowing her to divorce him, give Smiler up for adoption after having them and realizing she doesn’t want to be a mom, and vanish into a new life; she also manages to escape in the Londerland Bloodlines AU when Kelman gets attacked by the vampire who will become his sire, thinking he’s been killed, but I don’t know yet if Kelman will later try to track her down to ghoul or Embrace her (like he eventually does with Smiler). If he does, there’s a good chance that Margaret kills herself rather than end up his slave. :(
*nods* Dark stuff, I know. But it feels like an important post to make, as Margaret WILL be making an appearance in the Valicer In The Dark series at some point...a very sad appearance, as that is one of the universes where Smiler was raised by Dr. Kelman alone during their early childhood…
II. And one refining some of the early timeline of stories of the Valicer In The Dark verse! Because I’ve had some thoughts on that, namely:
a. I’ve changed the name of the fifth story in the lineup, the one where Victor learns the basics of ghost-catching from Bonejangles, from “Who You Gonna Call?” to “I...Might Be Afraid Of Some Ghost” because I think the latter title is much funnier
b. I’ve decided to combine the first “Greenhouse” story (where Victor finds the abandoned conservatory in Six Towers and convinces Alice and Smiler they should turn it into a community greenhouse to help feed the neighborhood) with the “learning about Radcliffe’s collaboration with Bumby and having to save his daughter Angela” story, because I never did come up with a score they could for the glazier they hire to come by and give them a quote on replacing all the glass – this way, when they get the estimate, Alice can suggest they go and see if they can finally convince Radcliffe to give her her inheritance already, and then discover his empty house. And THEN, when they catch Radcliffe and save his daughter, I can have them discover there was a reward for finding people who were involved in Bumby’s trafficking ring, and that’ll be enough to pay the glazier!
c. I’ve decided to put the “dealing with Dr. Kelman” story immediately after the final “Greenhouse” story (the one that establishes Lord Nathaniel Rowan as a recurring nemesis for the trio), and have it be that the Van Dorts hire him to find Victor and make him “socially compliant” (with Kelman deciding to extend the brief to Alice and Smiler after learning the latter is his missing “son”), and then have “And There Was Only One Bed,” the story where the trio finally get together as a polycule, immediately after THAT (as by that point Alice and Victor will know more about Smiler’s backstory and it will feel more appropriate for them to get together)
d. I’m still deciding the order of stories after that, but “A...Gratitude...Carol?” (the Christmas Carol send-up) will be fairly late in the order, as it has to be set at the end of the group’s first year together, and will be immediately followed by the Taskmaster-inspired story (because Taskmaster does a “New Year’s Treat” yearly special, meaning it only makes sense to have the TM story be near New Year’s in the VITD verse), as those two stories establish Lord Rowan moving from “being annoyed by the Three Pillars’ existence” to “actively trying to kill them”
e. I want to do at least one prequel fic covering the three times Smiler and Alice met before “Start At The Beginning...Sort Of” – I mean, I’ve already got the scene that makes up the first chapter written! There may also be a fic of some kind covering a bit more of Smiler’s backstory in general, to go with the “Blessing” snippet (covering the morning they woke up with their iconic glowing yellow eyes), but I’m not 100% on that yet.
f. And I’d like to post my various prompt fics to AO3 at some point, though I’m not 100% sure how I’d handle them yet – I THINK I’ll put them in a side story collection called “The Duskwall Digest” or something like that and indicate where each falls in the timeline in the chapter notes, but we’ll see.
*glances up* Look, I intend to write a LOT of stories in this verse – organizing it all is both very important and going to take a while! XD
C) And, this afternoon, I went ahead and reblogged from Newt (aka dont-offend-the-bees) the “AO3 Wrapped” ask game, with thirty questions for people to ask me about my writing this year, if they are so inclined. *shrug* We’ll see if I get anything!
Post Lunch Shopping Trip: Mom and I ventured out into the rain this afternoon to visit one of the local shopping centers and get me a few more items off my Christmas list – namely, some new work shoes, some slippers (since the ones Mom & Dad originally got me were too narrow), and some new tops if we found anything that I liked. And, after a browse around Kohl’s, we were able to find two out of the three – category-wise, anyway; we ended up purchasing three items. XD Namely:
A) A new chunky beige button up sweater that is nice and warm and soft, and should look good over one of the new shirts I got for my birthday
B) A new lighter green sweater that is also nice and soft, and should be good for spring (I wasn’t sure about the weird “seam” detail going down the front, but Mom assured me it looked nice on me)
C) And a new pair of MukLuk slippers – which are basically little slipper boots, complete with study rubber soles, memory foam insoles, fun knitted patterns, and big fuffy light purple cuffs! :) They’re very comfy, I’m pleased to say
*nods* Not a bad haul – and we were able to knock $25 off the price with that gift card my coworker gave me, so that was all right too. The one thing we weren’t able to find were new work shoes – we looked both in Kohl’s and Famous Footwear, but we couldn’t find anything in my preferred brand, Clark’s – especially nothing in a wide, which is the kind I need. Regular shoes are unfortunately too pinchy for my big feet! We’re planning another trip another day to a DSW to see what they have – hopefully there I should be able to find something that fits!
Fallout: New Vegas: I didn’t actually start playing (or even install) this game yet, but I did spend some time looking up how I should set up the game online today – and it appears that my best bet, as a newbie who wants the easiest modding experience possible, will be to use a program called Wabbajack to automatically install a modlist named “Viva New Vegas,” which contains a variety of mods to improve performance, help prevent crashes, and – in the extended section – add new gameplay and better textures and whatnot. However, this involves a bit of set-up, including downloading and installing some new programs, so rather than jump on that this afternoon, I spent some time instead making some back-ups of all the most important stuff on my computer. You know, just in case anything goes drastically wrong. *nods* (Plus, I really just needed to make a back-up anyway.) We’ll see if I’m feeling brave enough to start the process tomorrow!
Writing: Despite some issues with The Tired striking tonight, I did start the final editing pass on Chapter 2 of “The Van Dort Vacancy” this evening, getting through the trio arriving in the fancy part of Nightmarket to the trio discovering all the carriages around the Van Dort estate and making their way to the house to figure out what the hell was going on. I don’t know exactly when this chapter will be ready to post, but it SHOULD be sometime this week – we’ll see how long it takes me to do the rest of the final edits!
Workout: Got back on the bike tonight and – as I previously said I would – returned to YouTube to start this week’s workout video: “Blades in the Dark RETURNS! 🎁 | Oxventure Holiday Special - The Effugium Contract” by Oxventure! Because like fuck was I not watching that after discovering it existed. However, upon starting the video, I was surprised to learn that it wasn’t exactly what I thought it was going to be – namely, it’s NOT an adventure starring the Hobbyhorses of Volisport from the previous two seasons of Oxventure Presents: Blades In The Dark! Or, well, not all of them anyway… Instead, this holiday special moves the action to the neighboring city of Elessia, and the timeline to roughly a year and a half after the grand finale of the second season, when the Hobbyhorses shut down the Barrier, allowing the spirits of the dead to pass on properly again and bringing magic back into the world. What was the result of that, you might ask?
Absolute freaking chaos. Basically, most of the machinery that made civilization run ground to a halt, most notably the trains, because it was powered by ghost energy, which no longer exists; the sun reappeared after a long absence – and killed off the crops that had been bred to survive in the eternal twilight that resulted after the Barrier’s construction; and some people found themselves in possession of incredible mystical powers, and naturally started causing all sorts of trouble with them. The authorities attempted to criminalize what they call “ecological anarchism” and punish it with indefinite imprisonment, but – well. People have magic now, and that makes it hard to keep them in jail. XD Some places were managing to struggle along okay – Volisport in fact was hinted to have a new government led by the Hobbyhorses – but Elessia was not one of them. In fact, it was so not one of them that, at the beginning of the adventure, it was revealed that the local government and rich elite of the city were planning to abandon the place on a recently-constructed massive airship – the Effugium of the title, though most of the common folk called it “The Folly” – under the pretense of setting up a new settlement somewhere else and eventually sending troops back to calm things down and restore order in the old city. Some of those being left behind saw this as an opportunity to get some power in the city once all the toffs had left (most notably the local crime lords); others were resigning themselves to an era of even worse chaos than before –
And our new protagonists, the Crawford Quartet – a set of four siblings who played together in a family band and occasionally did some petty thievery – weren’t really thinking much about it at all...until their “Uncle Merton” – aka family friend Merton Watton, a self-made man in the business of meat – approached them in the bar they were currently drinking in, The Setting Scene (Ellen had a giggle), and revealed that he’d been screwed over by one of the people departing on the Effugium – Oswin Fry, the Minister’s second-in-command. Basically, the man had ordered a load of meat for their journey, which Merton had provided for free on the condition that he be allowed on the airship – and then had mysteriously been too busy to make sure Merton had a ticket once everything had been delivered. Merton wanted revenge, and offered this bargain to his unofficial nephews and nieces – he would pull some strings and get them on the airship as the band to entertain all the toffs, allowing them to leave with said toffs, and in return they would kill Oswin Fry. They took said bargain, figuring it would be better to be on the airship heading to new climes than stuck in the city –
And so their adventure began! Or, somewhat more accurately, will begin, as today’s episode chunk was more about setting the scene and filling in the world-building and all that stuff I mentioned above. It also featured:
A) An introduction to all our new characters –
I. Eliza the Spider (Jane), who is the elder mastermind of the group – she’s tall, spindly, and plays an accordion much bigger across than she is
II. Gabriel the Cutter (Johnny), a mountain of meat who plays a mandolin much smaller than they are – and who, thanks to the roll of a D4 (which Ellen had to leave the studio to get), happens to have magical powers (they can cast the D&D cantrip Prestidigitation for one Stress per cast – Johnny playfully griped that that meant it was no longer a cantrip (since those can be cast for free in D&D), and Luke pointed out in return that Stress didn’t equal spell slots)
III. Winnie the Lurk (Ellen), the tiniest member of the family, adept at both getting into small spaces and playing the violin
IV. and Troy the Slide (Andy), the youngest and the one who has a talent for making sure the crowd likes him, who plays the cello because it’s a fancy finesse instrument that appeals to him
B) Luke letting the group figure out how their characters knew Merton and what they thought of him, which – after Jane said that they’d played at his wedding, and Luke admitting that when she said he’d been married a while that he thought she was going to say he’d been married a few times – led to them deciding that they’d played at all of Merton’s multiple weddings, with Troy apparently thinking he was a Bluebeard-esque serial killer (he wasn’t, everyone else was pretty firm on the fact that he’d just divorced all his previous spouses...though there were a few hints he might be a bigamist :P)
C) Gabe following the stereotypes for big muscley guys like himself by wondering why the rich folk would need a ship for transporting air; Ellen/Winnie had the best “oh you poor sweet summer child” look on her face when she heard that bit XD
D) Eliza asking “what about our parents” when Merton revealed he could get passage for the Quartet on the airship – leading to Merton having to remind her that they passed away (Jane: “I am now writing ORPHANS on my character sheet”); a few jokes later, it transpired that they’d fallen into a giant hole in their house that their father refused to cover up because it gave the place character. And then the kids couldn’t sell the house because of the hole, nor get their parents’ corpses out of it (though they managed to fish out the few coins that were in their dad’s pocket with the help of a hook and some string XD)
E) The group having to contend with not knowing what their assassination target looked like – Andy was like “well, if he’s an important public figure, he’s probably been photographed for the paper,” only for Luke to inform him cameras didn’t work anymore either – he promptly switched to assuming the guy had a charcoal sketch in a broadsheet or something XD
F) After a discussion of the various categories of Load they could carry (and Luke kindly letting them have their instruments for free), the group deciding to all go in with Normal Load – except Johnny, who declared Gabe was going Heavy because they were a mountain of meat XD
G) Luke trying to decide if the group would be getting the “especially bold or daring” die in the engagement roll, leading to Andy declaring it was automatically bold and daring because it was going to be like 300 feet up in the sky, and Jane declaring that her character had vertigo to sweeten the pot – Luke gave them the die, and informed Jane that the vertigo thing was definitely canon and would definitely cause problems XD
H) The OX:BITD Engagement Roll curse nearly coming into play again, as Luke rolled three dice to determine the group’s position at the start of the score and got a 1, a 3 – and fortunately for everyone, a 5 (Johnny was QUITE nervous before the last number was announced)
I) The result of the engagement roll being that the gang was successfully hired as the band and had no problems all the way up to the point where they were going up the gangplank to board...where they were confronted by a guard and a mysterious prisoner who seemed to keep sniffing the people coming on board; when Troy asked the guard about it as he examined their papers, he explained that the guy was an ecological anarchist who had the ability to sniff out other people with powers so they didn’t accidentally let anyone like that on board. Cue poor Gabe getting very nervous as the prisoner started taking an interest in him…
J) And then, just as the guard was about to notice what was going on with the prisoner, a familiar voice arriving on the scene demanding to know why he was queuing behind the help. Yup, cue Mike arriving as everyone’s favorite rich asshole Barnaby “The Butcher” Fortescue III! They haven’t said his name yet, but – even apart from the fact that he was identified as Barnaby in that Oxventure short I watched a couple of days ago – it’s very obvious that it’s him. The man is wearing a super-fancy coat and carrying a drink, after all. XD Anyway, Barnaby promptly made his getting on the wrong gangplank the guard’s problem, as per the short, and I left off with the group (led by Troy but minus Gabe, who was trying to stay inconspicuous and didn’t have any dots in Sway anyway) preparing to do a group Sway roll to convince the guard to let them all on just so the rich dude didn’t make a fuss. We’ll see how that goes, and how Barnaby fits into this score, tomorrow! :D
FreeTube: Managed to sneak in the latest list video from OXtra at the end of the day: “Oops! 7 Great Games We Forgot to Cover in 2025!” Ellen and Mike quickly covering some excellent games that Outside Xtra simply didn’t have time to discuss in detail during the course of the year, ranging from blockbusters like Death Stranding 2: On The Beach (which, to Mike’s bafflement, seems to make trudging across dangerous landscapes engaging and fun) and Hollow Knight: Silksong (the long-awaited hard-as-nails metroidvania that, as per a previous list video, caused every other indie game releasing at the same time to announce “uh, yeah, we’re gonna hold off for a bit”) to lesser-known titles like South Of Midnight (a game set in the rural American Deep South, and starring Hazel, an African-American woman who must battle folkloric monsters and clear “Haints,” monstrous creatures born from long-held traumas, after her hometown is ravaged by a hurricane – Ellen described it as having some Alice: Madness Returns vibes, which is cool) and Peak (a cooperative game (though you can play it alone, as Moose can attest to) where your player characters are stranded on an island post a plane crash and must climb the mountain on it, presumably to get help/find things to help you survive – Ellen REALLY wants to play with with the OXBoxers, but they’ve never had the time to coordinate a session). Just a fun little look at some games that deserved a little more love from the channel than they got! Good way to end out the year, I feel.
Not too shabby! Though I wish I could have made a bit more progress on installing Fallout: New Vegas, but still -- best to have the back-ups done first! And now I should really head to bed -- tomorrow, I will continue working on potential posts in the drafts section of Victor Luvs Alice (N Smiler); continue doing the final edits on Chapter 2 of "The Van Dort Vacancy;" continue watching "The Effugium Contract" with my workout; and either continue working on F:NV installation funtimes or play some more Baldur's Gate III -- either/or. Hopefully these are all achievable goals -- night all!
Tumblr: It being a Monday, I didn’t even visit Valice Multiverse – instead, I just focused on getting the following done on Victor Luvs Alice (N Smiler) –
A) I made a minor update to the draft of the next volume of Valicer In The Dark Not-Incorrect quotes, adding a link to the post that inspired the “the gang learns to their shock that Sooty is capable of imitating Smiler’s voice” quote (about how ravens are in fact better mimics of human voices than parrots) in Elder Gutknecht’s dialogue at the end of said quote – gotta give credit where credit is due!
B) I wrote up two rough drafts for new posts to work on later:
I. One I have entitled “The Miseries Of Margaret Kelman,” which will talk a bit about Smiler’s birth mother! (In those universes where they have one, of course.) Specifically:
a. What her whole deal is – basically, she married Dr. Kelman during a particularly lonely period in his life, finding his awkwardness and desire to change the world charming at first...then she learned what was REALLY like and found herself trapped
b. And, more importantly, what happened to her, as she never actually appears as one of Smiler’s parents – I’ve always had them raised either by Matt and Carol Alton, or by Dr. Kelman on his own. It’s rarely a pretty picture, I’m sad to say – in most universes, she has Smiler, develops postpartum depression, and gets operated on by Dr. Kelman, turning her into a vegetable that Kelman hides in the depths of his Sanctuary (as outlined in her first appearance in Tav!Smiler’s backstory post). :( She manages to escape in the Modern AU because Kelman gets busted for his illegal medical practices and for being a cult leader before she has Smiler, allowing her to divorce him, give Smiler up for adoption after having them and realizing she doesn’t want to be a mom, and vanish into a new life; she also manages to escape in the Londerland Bloodlines AU when Kelman gets attacked by the vampire who will become his sire, thinking he’s been killed, but I don’t know yet if Kelman will later try to track her down to ghoul or Embrace her (like he eventually does with Smiler). If he does, there’s a good chance that Margaret kills herself rather than end up his slave. :(
*nods* Dark stuff, I know. But it feels like an important post to make, as Margaret WILL be making an appearance in the Valicer In The Dark series at some point...a very sad appearance, as that is one of the universes where Smiler was raised by Dr. Kelman alone during their early childhood…
II. And one refining some of the early timeline of stories of the Valicer In The Dark verse! Because I’ve had some thoughts on that, namely:
a. I’ve changed the name of the fifth story in the lineup, the one where Victor learns the basics of ghost-catching from Bonejangles, from “Who You Gonna Call?” to “I...Might Be Afraid Of Some Ghost” because I think the latter title is much funnier
b. I’ve decided to combine the first “Greenhouse” story (where Victor finds the abandoned conservatory in Six Towers and convinces Alice and Smiler they should turn it into a community greenhouse to help feed the neighborhood) with the “learning about Radcliffe’s collaboration with Bumby and having to save his daughter Angela” story, because I never did come up with a score they could for the glazier they hire to come by and give them a quote on replacing all the glass – this way, when they get the estimate, Alice can suggest they go and see if they can finally convince Radcliffe to give her her inheritance already, and then discover his empty house. And THEN, when they catch Radcliffe and save his daughter, I can have them discover there was a reward for finding people who were involved in Bumby’s trafficking ring, and that’ll be enough to pay the glazier!
c. I’ve decided to put the “dealing with Dr. Kelman” story immediately after the final “Greenhouse” story (the one that establishes Lord Nathaniel Rowan as a recurring nemesis for the trio), and have it be that the Van Dorts hire him to find Victor and make him “socially compliant” (with Kelman deciding to extend the brief to Alice and Smiler after learning the latter is his missing “son”), and then have “And There Was Only One Bed,” the story where the trio finally get together as a polycule, immediately after THAT (as by that point Alice and Victor will know more about Smiler’s backstory and it will feel more appropriate for them to get together)
d. I’m still deciding the order of stories after that, but “A...Gratitude...Carol?” (the Christmas Carol send-up) will be fairly late in the order, as it has to be set at the end of the group’s first year together, and will be immediately followed by the Taskmaster-inspired story (because Taskmaster does a “New Year’s Treat” yearly special, meaning it only makes sense to have the TM story be near New Year’s in the VITD verse), as those two stories establish Lord Rowan moving from “being annoyed by the Three Pillars’ existence” to “actively trying to kill them”
e. I want to do at least one prequel fic covering the three times Smiler and Alice met before “Start At The Beginning...Sort Of” – I mean, I’ve already got the scene that makes up the first chapter written! There may also be a fic of some kind covering a bit more of Smiler’s backstory in general, to go with the “Blessing” snippet (covering the morning they woke up with their iconic glowing yellow eyes), but I’m not 100% on that yet.
f. And I’d like to post my various prompt fics to AO3 at some point, though I’m not 100% sure how I’d handle them yet – I THINK I’ll put them in a side story collection called “The Duskwall Digest” or something like that and indicate where each falls in the timeline in the chapter notes, but we’ll see.
*glances up* Look, I intend to write a LOT of stories in this verse – organizing it all is both very important and going to take a while! XD
C) And, this afternoon, I went ahead and reblogged from Newt (aka dont-offend-the-bees) the “AO3 Wrapped” ask game, with thirty questions for people to ask me about my writing this year, if they are so inclined. *shrug* We’ll see if I get anything!
Post Lunch Shopping Trip: Mom and I ventured out into the rain this afternoon to visit one of the local shopping centers and get me a few more items off my Christmas list – namely, some new work shoes, some slippers (since the ones Mom & Dad originally got me were too narrow), and some new tops if we found anything that I liked. And, after a browse around Kohl’s, we were able to find two out of the three – category-wise, anyway; we ended up purchasing three items. XD Namely:
A) A new chunky beige button up sweater that is nice and warm and soft, and should look good over one of the new shirts I got for my birthday
B) A new lighter green sweater that is also nice and soft, and should be good for spring (I wasn’t sure about the weird “seam” detail going down the front, but Mom assured me it looked nice on me)
C) And a new pair of MukLuk slippers – which are basically little slipper boots, complete with study rubber soles, memory foam insoles, fun knitted patterns, and big fuffy light purple cuffs! :) They’re very comfy, I’m pleased to say
*nods* Not a bad haul – and we were able to knock $25 off the price with that gift card my coworker gave me, so that was all right too. The one thing we weren’t able to find were new work shoes – we looked both in Kohl’s and Famous Footwear, but we couldn’t find anything in my preferred brand, Clark’s – especially nothing in a wide, which is the kind I need. Regular shoes are unfortunately too pinchy for my big feet! We’re planning another trip another day to a DSW to see what they have – hopefully there I should be able to find something that fits!
Fallout: New Vegas: I didn’t actually start playing (or even install) this game yet, but I did spend some time looking up how I should set up the game online today – and it appears that my best bet, as a newbie who wants the easiest modding experience possible, will be to use a program called Wabbajack to automatically install a modlist named “Viva New Vegas,” which contains a variety of mods to improve performance, help prevent crashes, and – in the extended section – add new gameplay and better textures and whatnot. However, this involves a bit of set-up, including downloading and installing some new programs, so rather than jump on that this afternoon, I spent some time instead making some back-ups of all the most important stuff on my computer. You know, just in case anything goes drastically wrong. *nods* (Plus, I really just needed to make a back-up anyway.) We’ll see if I’m feeling brave enough to start the process tomorrow!
Writing: Despite some issues with The Tired striking tonight, I did start the final editing pass on Chapter 2 of “The Van Dort Vacancy” this evening, getting through the trio arriving in the fancy part of Nightmarket to the trio discovering all the carriages around the Van Dort estate and making their way to the house to figure out what the hell was going on. I don’t know exactly when this chapter will be ready to post, but it SHOULD be sometime this week – we’ll see how long it takes me to do the rest of the final edits!
Workout: Got back on the bike tonight and – as I previously said I would – returned to YouTube to start this week’s workout video: “Blades in the Dark RETURNS! 🎁 | Oxventure Holiday Special - The Effugium Contract” by Oxventure! Because like fuck was I not watching that after discovering it existed. However, upon starting the video, I was surprised to learn that it wasn’t exactly what I thought it was going to be – namely, it’s NOT an adventure starring the Hobbyhorses of Volisport from the previous two seasons of Oxventure Presents: Blades In The Dark! Or, well, not all of them anyway… Instead, this holiday special moves the action to the neighboring city of Elessia, and the timeline to roughly a year and a half after the grand finale of the second season, when the Hobbyhorses shut down the Barrier, allowing the spirits of the dead to pass on properly again and bringing magic back into the world. What was the result of that, you might ask?
Absolute freaking chaos. Basically, most of the machinery that made civilization run ground to a halt, most notably the trains, because it was powered by ghost energy, which no longer exists; the sun reappeared after a long absence – and killed off the crops that had been bred to survive in the eternal twilight that resulted after the Barrier’s construction; and some people found themselves in possession of incredible mystical powers, and naturally started causing all sorts of trouble with them. The authorities attempted to criminalize what they call “ecological anarchism” and punish it with indefinite imprisonment, but – well. People have magic now, and that makes it hard to keep them in jail. XD Some places were managing to struggle along okay – Volisport in fact was hinted to have a new government led by the Hobbyhorses – but Elessia was not one of them. In fact, it was so not one of them that, at the beginning of the adventure, it was revealed that the local government and rich elite of the city were planning to abandon the place on a recently-constructed massive airship – the Effugium of the title, though most of the common folk called it “The Folly” – under the pretense of setting up a new settlement somewhere else and eventually sending troops back to calm things down and restore order in the old city. Some of those being left behind saw this as an opportunity to get some power in the city once all the toffs had left (most notably the local crime lords); others were resigning themselves to an era of even worse chaos than before –
And our new protagonists, the Crawford Quartet – a set of four siblings who played together in a family band and occasionally did some petty thievery – weren’t really thinking much about it at all...until their “Uncle Merton” – aka family friend Merton Watton, a self-made man in the business of meat – approached them in the bar they were currently drinking in, The Setting Scene (Ellen had a giggle), and revealed that he’d been screwed over by one of the people departing on the Effugium – Oswin Fry, the Minister’s second-in-command. Basically, the man had ordered a load of meat for their journey, which Merton had provided for free on the condition that he be allowed on the airship – and then had mysteriously been too busy to make sure Merton had a ticket once everything had been delivered. Merton wanted revenge, and offered this bargain to his unofficial nephews and nieces – he would pull some strings and get them on the airship as the band to entertain all the toffs, allowing them to leave with said toffs, and in return they would kill Oswin Fry. They took said bargain, figuring it would be better to be on the airship heading to new climes than stuck in the city –
And so their adventure began! Or, somewhat more accurately, will begin, as today’s episode chunk was more about setting the scene and filling in the world-building and all that stuff I mentioned above. It also featured:
A) An introduction to all our new characters –
I. Eliza the Spider (Jane), who is the elder mastermind of the group – she’s tall, spindly, and plays an accordion much bigger across than she is
II. Gabriel the Cutter (Johnny), a mountain of meat who plays a mandolin much smaller than they are – and who, thanks to the roll of a D4 (which Ellen had to leave the studio to get), happens to have magical powers (they can cast the D&D cantrip Prestidigitation for one Stress per cast – Johnny playfully griped that that meant it was no longer a cantrip (since those can be cast for free in D&D), and Luke pointed out in return that Stress didn’t equal spell slots)
III. Winnie the Lurk (Ellen), the tiniest member of the family, adept at both getting into small spaces and playing the violin
IV. and Troy the Slide (Andy), the youngest and the one who has a talent for making sure the crowd likes him, who plays the cello because it’s a fancy finesse instrument that appeals to him
B) Luke letting the group figure out how their characters knew Merton and what they thought of him, which – after Jane said that they’d played at his wedding, and Luke admitting that when she said he’d been married a while that he thought she was going to say he’d been married a few times – led to them deciding that they’d played at all of Merton’s multiple weddings, with Troy apparently thinking he was a Bluebeard-esque serial killer (he wasn’t, everyone else was pretty firm on the fact that he’d just divorced all his previous spouses...though there were a few hints he might be a bigamist :P)
C) Gabe following the stereotypes for big muscley guys like himself by wondering why the rich folk would need a ship for transporting air; Ellen/Winnie had the best “oh you poor sweet summer child” look on her face when she heard that bit XD
D) Eliza asking “what about our parents” when Merton revealed he could get passage for the Quartet on the airship – leading to Merton having to remind her that they passed away (Jane: “I am now writing ORPHANS on my character sheet”); a few jokes later, it transpired that they’d fallen into a giant hole in their house that their father refused to cover up because it gave the place character. And then the kids couldn’t sell the house because of the hole, nor get their parents’ corpses out of it (though they managed to fish out the few coins that were in their dad’s pocket with the help of a hook and some string XD)
E) The group having to contend with not knowing what their assassination target looked like – Andy was like “well, if he’s an important public figure, he’s probably been photographed for the paper,” only for Luke to inform him cameras didn’t work anymore either – he promptly switched to assuming the guy had a charcoal sketch in a broadsheet or something XD
F) After a discussion of the various categories of Load they could carry (and Luke kindly letting them have their instruments for free), the group deciding to all go in with Normal Load – except Johnny, who declared Gabe was going Heavy because they were a mountain of meat XD
G) Luke trying to decide if the group would be getting the “especially bold or daring” die in the engagement roll, leading to Andy declaring it was automatically bold and daring because it was going to be like 300 feet up in the sky, and Jane declaring that her character had vertigo to sweeten the pot – Luke gave them the die, and informed Jane that the vertigo thing was definitely canon and would definitely cause problems XD
H) The OX:BITD Engagement Roll curse nearly coming into play again, as Luke rolled three dice to determine the group’s position at the start of the score and got a 1, a 3 – and fortunately for everyone, a 5 (Johnny was QUITE nervous before the last number was announced)
I) The result of the engagement roll being that the gang was successfully hired as the band and had no problems all the way up to the point where they were going up the gangplank to board...where they were confronted by a guard and a mysterious prisoner who seemed to keep sniffing the people coming on board; when Troy asked the guard about it as he examined their papers, he explained that the guy was an ecological anarchist who had the ability to sniff out other people with powers so they didn’t accidentally let anyone like that on board. Cue poor Gabe getting very nervous as the prisoner started taking an interest in him…
J) And then, just as the guard was about to notice what was going on with the prisoner, a familiar voice arriving on the scene demanding to know why he was queuing behind the help. Yup, cue Mike arriving as everyone’s favorite rich asshole Barnaby “The Butcher” Fortescue III! They haven’t said his name yet, but – even apart from the fact that he was identified as Barnaby in that Oxventure short I watched a couple of days ago – it’s very obvious that it’s him. The man is wearing a super-fancy coat and carrying a drink, after all. XD Anyway, Barnaby promptly made his getting on the wrong gangplank the guard’s problem, as per the short, and I left off with the group (led by Troy but minus Gabe, who was trying to stay inconspicuous and didn’t have any dots in Sway anyway) preparing to do a group Sway roll to convince the guard to let them all on just so the rich dude didn’t make a fuss. We’ll see how that goes, and how Barnaby fits into this score, tomorrow! :D
FreeTube: Managed to sneak in the latest list video from OXtra at the end of the day: “Oops! 7 Great Games We Forgot to Cover in 2025!” Ellen and Mike quickly covering some excellent games that Outside Xtra simply didn’t have time to discuss in detail during the course of the year, ranging from blockbusters like Death Stranding 2: On The Beach (which, to Mike’s bafflement, seems to make trudging across dangerous landscapes engaging and fun) and Hollow Knight: Silksong (the long-awaited hard-as-nails metroidvania that, as per a previous list video, caused every other indie game releasing at the same time to announce “uh, yeah, we’re gonna hold off for a bit”) to lesser-known titles like South Of Midnight (a game set in the rural American Deep South, and starring Hazel, an African-American woman who must battle folkloric monsters and clear “Haints,” monstrous creatures born from long-held traumas, after her hometown is ravaged by a hurricane – Ellen described it as having some Alice: Madness Returns vibes, which is cool) and Peak (a cooperative game (though you can play it alone, as Moose can attest to) where your player characters are stranded on an island post a plane crash and must climb the mountain on it, presumably to get help/find things to help you survive – Ellen REALLY wants to play with with the OXBoxers, but they’ve never had the time to coordinate a session). Just a fun little look at some games that deserved a little more love from the channel than they got! Good way to end out the year, I feel.
Not too shabby! Though I wish I could have made a bit more progress on installing Fallout: New Vegas, but still -- best to have the back-ups done first! And now I should really head to bed -- tomorrow, I will continue working on potential posts in the drafts section of Victor Luvs Alice (N Smiler); continue doing the final edits on Chapter 2 of "The Van Dort Vacancy;" continue watching "The Effugium Contract" with my workout; and either continue working on F:NV installation funtimes or play some more Baldur's Gate III -- either/or. Hopefully these are all achievable goals -- night all!
