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crossover_chickBy 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
B) Anyway – having read about the power and majesty of the Miniature Giant Space Hamster, Smiler was ready to continue their adventure! They first turned their attention to Bosk the bear, snoozing nearby, and woke him with a friendly hello. Bosk responded by giving Smiler a thorough sniff, then commented, “You’re curious – you’ve got a great many odours about you. What happened to you?” Smiler, a consummate storyteller, was only too happy to recount the tale of their journey to their new ursine pal, who, as per the narration, hung on every word…
Right up until the end, when his attention wavered as his mind turned to other matters – given he licked his lips when this happened, my guess is he started thinking about his next meal instead. I mean – he is a bear. XD At any rate, once the story was done, he plopped back down asleep, done with Smiler and their crew –
Leaving them free to get a move on and find Nettie already! After all, I couldn’t avoid doing main plot stuff forever! So, after taking a free fish from the nearby bucket (it wasn’t stealing as per the game, and I sure as hell don’t care so much about taking the druid’s stuff as I do about the tiefling’s), Smiler led the party around the Pool again and back over to the stone door leading into the Inner Sanctum, as per Apikusis’s earlier directions. Upon entering the Sanctum, they found that Kagha and Rath had been joined by some other druids – Loic, sitting by the big central stone table on a chunk of rock; Marcoryl, who wandered around the area keeping an eye on things – and, to my amusement, often walked over the table to go sit with Loic and argue with him about such things as how it was ridiculous they just let the “devil child” (Arabella) run off after she tried to steal from them (Loic pointing out that she failed to steal the idol, and that’s what matters) and about how, while he doesn’t want to kill anyone, they have a right to defend their home from trouble (AKA we got another racist isolationist asshole over here); and Findal, freshly-arrived from the Underground Passage, hanging out on the other side of the table. Smiler went and said hello to each in turn, as they do (with me having them sit down on the empty stone seat next to Loic before initiating conversation just to see if it could be done from a seated position – turns out no, if you try your character just immediately pops to their feet) –
Prompting Loic to tell them, “Please leave. Our hospitality has limits – and they were crossed long ago;” Marcoryl to complain, “What will the tieflings want next? Letting the hell child go was a mistake;” and Findal to greet them warmly with, “My saviour. I wish you could have visited in better times.” Well, at least one out of the three wasn’t a jerk? *shrug* Gotta admit, I don’t expect much from the Emerald Grove druids these days. Just see my shock last week at Apikusis being ANTI-Kagha.
C) Having checked in with the new druids, I then proceeded to have Smiler examine what was on the table in the center of the room, in case any of it was of interest to them – which was pretty easy, as they themselves (along with most of the companions) had climbed up on it to say hello to Findal. XD Larian, perhaps you should have taken another look at the pathing in this room… Anyway, the various notes scattered across the stone block’s uneven surface included:
I. “A Warning to the Sword Coast” – a racist flier to go with the racist druids! Ranting on about how tieflings were inherently evil due to their connection to devils, and how drow and duergar from the Underdark should never be trusted because of how others of their kind liked to kidnap people, and how the author wasn’t saying that the Underdark races should be driven back to where they came from, and that the tieflings should be cast out into the Hells, they just felt that all these races should be very carefully watched, and that people should be suspicious when they saw them, and even more suspicious when they didn’t. ...Yeah. Once again, BG3, I would like to remind you that I play video games in part to escape the current bullshit happening in America these days. *shakehead* Cripes...
II. A “Grimy Report” smudged to hell and back by some sort of animal walking across it, with only a few words still visible: “Animal scouts sent... ... eastern town... villagers possibly still aliv... violen…” Well, whatever that report was, it certainly didn’t contain much in the way of good news!
III. A “Detailed Report” – all about the Shadow-Cursed Lands! Apparently the druids have been investigating them (which makes sense, as figuring out how to lift the curse is Halsin’s big Act 2 quest). The report contained notes about how the trees in the area were “infected, but still alive;” how there was a “malicious component to underlying magic” and that it “resists removal, attempts to infect caster;” and how “Range and severity of curse suggests divine origin. Umbral characteristics and vicinity to Shar's temple suggests goddess herself is responsible.” Which was some very good information to have about the area that the group would eventually find themselves in –
And which prompted Shadowheart to go “Temple of Shar? Where? And what’s this about a curse?” Because of course our girl is interested in these things, given she’s a devotee of Shar herself. All in good time, Shadowheart – we gotta learn you’re actually a Sharran first! :p
IV. A “Study Of The Sword Coast,” which consisted of “A scrap of a larger map, fasted to the page with fragrant sap. Someone has written 'TAINTED BY CURSE' above the lands to east – beyond the mountains, on the road to Baldur's Gate.” The druids, or at least Halsin, have been very thorough in their research of the Shadow-Cursed Lands! Shame they refuse to share their findings with the tieflings, who are planning to walk right into them…
There was also another note nearby on a bench, “My Friends, Please Listen” under a dagger – going over to that revealed it was a missive from one Len Jekkles, asking the other druids if they might be up for a rescue mission, as he hadn’t heard from his friend Cimburo Iceflayer for some time, and he wanted to go searching for the guy. Apparently they headed to a village in the east looking for cobwebs and other ingredients for potions and whatnot… Len, I think your friend may have gotten eaten by the Shadow Curse. :( (Though, oddly, I couldn’t find THIS note anywhere on the wiki – maybe it’s added by one of my mods? Would make sense, I have one quest mod that involves the Shadow-Cursed Lands, so…)
D) With all the notes in the room read, I was almost ready to check out the two rooms I could see branching off the main sanctum, to see which one contained Nettie – but before I could direct Smiler one way or the other, I noticed something else to read behind Marcoryl’s stone stool – a plaque, fastened to a stone on the edge of the room. Curious, I had Smiler go over and read it –
Which started a cutscene featuring Smiler looking at the fresco behind the plaque (painted on the wall of the room, separated from the rest of it by what looked like a little moat of sorts) depicting a group of motley individuals, including a red-headed elf crowned with antlers in a white dress and a brown-haired bearded man in a green hood and cloak, standing victorious over a sea of various wicked-looking helmets and banners while the narrator read the plaque’s inscription out for them: “The towers seized, the battle done, The moonrise broke the Darkest One.” Studying the image prompted a passive Intelligence (Religion) check, which Smiler happily passed, allowing them to identify the symbol of Shar on the broken helmet in the foreground (along with all the other helmets and banners, presumably) and realize that the group had defeated an army that had marched in her name. And that the “moonrise” referenced in the verse probably referenced Selûne, Shar’s sister and eternal nemesis (as she’s the goddess of the moon, and thus of light in the darkness). Shadowheart also noticed the fresco, and had her own comment about it: “So many dead. Sent to the Nightsinger’s embrace.” ...Girl, the fact that you worship Shar is supposed to be a secret at this point. You know that, right? XD
Anyway – after seeing that cutscene, I realized “oh, THIS is the location of the four frescoes depicting the history of the grove!” (the angle of the overhead camera had kept me from seeing them before) and immediately began searching for the others and their plaques. Two I found pretty quickly – “Union” and “Wellspring” (with the one Smiler had just read being “Fallen”), but the third, “Wild” eluded me for a bit until I finally spotted it on the staircase coming into the room. I thus sent Smiler around to read all the plaques and see if they could learn a bit more about the history of the grove –
But, uh, not only did I read the plaques in the wrong order, Smiler failed to make two of the three remaining checks necessary to fully understand the meaning of the frescoes. ^^; Whoops. In the order I read them, we had:
I. “Fallen” – the fresco depicting the defeat of the Sharrans by the druids and their allies, discussed above – though it’s worth mentioning that, as the group went around the room and looked at all the other murals, Shadowheart took another look at this one and noted, “That mural...they look like Dark Justicars.” Who are, if you’re curious, the elite forces of the Sharran cult. *shakehead* I really hope she finally comes out and just says “hey, I worship Shar” soon – she’s worse than Veronica when it comes to hiding her true allegiances. XD
II. “Wild” – a fresco depicting the antlered red-headed elf from before wielding a magical tree branch and guiding a bunch of animals – or perhaps wild-shaped druids – to drive out what looked like some kobolds, an ogre, and perhaps a gnoll, accompanied by the rhyme: “The forest rose with claw and tooth, To tear the darkness from its roots.” Smiler failed the Intelligence (Investigation) check and thought it was “a depiction of some local folktale, perhaps,” not the Grove’s residents fighting against the monsters that previously populated the area.
III. “Wellspring” – a fresco depicting the arrival of the druids in the grove, led by the antlered red-headed elf, who stood in front of her fellows with a bowl above her head, which twined water around a mossy stump in front of her, accompanied by the rhyme: “By claw and tooth, from root to thorn, The Old Oak's grove, to wildlings sworn.” Smiler managed to crit fail the Intelligence (Religion) check on this one, and didn’t recognize the deity involved in the ritual – though, given we’ve learned that the druids are casting their precious Rite of Thorns on an idol of Silvanus...yeah, I feel like you should have gotten this one, Smiler. XD
IV. “Union” – a fresco depicting the antlered red-headed elf and a few of her fellows meeting with the bearded green cloak guy and a few of his fellows under a large oak tree and shaking hands on a pact, accompanied by the rhyme: “In darkest hour, a concord made, Twixt harp and wild against the shade.” Fortunately for Smiler, since they’d taken a level in Bard, they immediately understood this one: “‘Harp and wild?’ A riddle to some, but you understand the meaning immediately. The druids turned to the Harpers for help. Unusual for such a territorial group.” So that worked out, at least!
Yeaaah – that didn’t go quite according to plan. ^^; Ah well, they gave it a go – and I can always have one of the companions try to decipher the frescoes instead and see if they can make the checks! There’s an inspiration point for Gale in it if we can figure out all four…
E) While the group was wandering around the Sanctum looking at the frescoes and failing to understand half of them, Smiler was also on the lookout for other goodies – and found a couple of other things worth their attention near the edge of the room. Specifically, a couple of books behind Kagha, near the “Wellspring” mural:
I. “Logbook XII: 1371” – a logbook detailing an incident in the Grove’s past, where after sending a couple of druids off to help a village that was suffering from blighted crops (and thus unlikely to survive another winter), the Emerald Grovians discovered a group of people from Baldur’s Gate had set up a camp at the edge of their forest – when some of the local animals (two bears and a fox) came in to report that the newcomers had burned out their territory and killed half the fox’s cubs in the process. The druid writing the log (according to the wiki, probably Halsin) went to go meet with them and encourage them not to do that, but the Baldur’s Gate group proved quite combative, telling the writer to go shove it and saying they planned to cut down half the forest, burn out any wildlife, and turn the area into their own little city.
Cue the writer hitting them with a mudslide and destroying all their farming equipment, driving them out. See, this is why you are polite to the druids and to nature – though I’m glad nobody decided to try this on the poor tieflings. *grimace* The log ended with the writer revealing there had been reports of a red wizard (generally very nasty wizards into VERY evil magic) in a village to the south, and that they’d sent three rangers to investigate: “If they catch even a whiff of a red cloak, I'm contacting the House of Silvanus.” Interesting stuff – and shows how brutal the druids can be against their enemies. Why we want to stop them being such racist dicks to the tieflings!
II. And “The Lords of Madness, Vol 4: Yeenoghu,” a book tucked away in a wicker basket near the logbook – possibly because it stank of rotting flesh. D: Smiler was allowed to just straight up take this book (again, possibly because it stank of rotting flesh), and in its pages they found a few paragraphs about the demon lord Yeenoghu – a terrible monster with a ravenous, mindless hunger, who is responsible for the presence of gnolls in the world. Gnolls being terrible creatures born of hyenas who have absolutely glutted themselves on the corpse of another gnoll’s victim, and who are “hunger manifest” according to the book: “They ravage any living being, tearing body and bone asunder, leaving behind only bones. They care not for wealth or material gain, only to satiate their hunger.” The author closed the section with “If you should find yourself the object of gnollish pursuit, burn your corpses, cover your scent, and pray to whoever might aid you, for there is no bribing, begging, or reasoning with hunger incarnate.” Fun stuff, huh? *grimace* And we get to fight these things later on in the game, yaaaay…
F) Having thus genuinely read everything in the room (I think – there’s always something new to discover in this game, that’s for sure), I directed the group over to the room where I was pretty sure I’d just seen the healer they sought, working on an injured bird. Smiler poked through the wicker baskets on the left side of the entrance first (as they were allowed to root through them without being accused of stealing), cheerfully claiming some autumncrocus (an alchemy ingredient, useful in a potion of Featherfall), a corguette, and a carrot for later, then entered the room. Nettie was indeed standing beside a table on the right-hand side of the room, tending to an unfortunate blue jay –
But Smiler was immediately distracted by what was happening on the left-hand side of the room, because holy SHIT did Nettie have a very fancy alchemy set-up going on there! Two tables full of fancy blue glassware, cups, bottles, scrolls, notes, and spoons, with a bubbling cauldron over the fire in-between. Naturally I had to get a screenshot of Smiler admiring it all:
Yeah, this is exactly the kind of set-up they would love to have. *sigh* Why doesn’t the player character get a personal tent of their own in this game again? Maybe I should download that mod that gives them a tent they can place in the world and decorate to their choosing, even if they have to set it up separately for every camp…
Anyway – once they were done drooling over Nettie’s alchemy corner, Smiler actually approached the healer to see what she was up to. Nettie assured them that she saw them and that she just needed a moment – Smiler asked if there was anything they could do to help, but she just asked them to wait again before reciting “Vis medicatrix…” over her current patient. The bird was healed for I believe three hit points, managing to stand on its own two feet again, and Nettie declared, “There. It’s up to her now. Life or death.”
And then turned to Smiler and asked what they needed, as if she hadn’t just said something ridiculously dramatic. :P Smiler explained that they were looking for Nettie, and she confirmed that they’d found her, even if “I still don’t know what she can do for you.” Smiler replied, “Healing. As soon as possible,” and she bid them bend down so she could have a look at them (being as she’s a dwarf). Smiler did so, and she examined them, noting that “You seem healthy enough. A bit tired ‘round the eyes, maybe.” Smiler replied, “More than tired. Something crawled into my eye,” prompting her to be like “Crawled in?” and ask if it was some sort of bug –
Before suddenly having a realization and asking, “Did it look like a tadpole? But from your worst nightmares? All slime, teeth, and tentacles?” Smiler confirmed it did, asking, “You know of them? Can you help me?” –
Prompting Nettie to suddenly look awkward and go “I – I’ll do what I can” before bidding them and their companions to follow her to another room. She thus led the way over to a secret stone door in the wall which she opened with magic, revealing the Enclave Library! Which was not filled with dickheads descended from the old US government wandering around in power armor, but instead was home to a very cool wolf statue covered in glowing lines, multiple nooks full of books, more alchemy ingredients –
And, at the very front, a little makeshift lab of sorts, with one stone slab turned into a work desk covered with bottles and notes, and the other into an autopsy table with a dissected drow laying upon it (that is genuinely what the game calls the corpse). Nettie informed Smiler and company that the drow had had the same affliction as them – “Attacked us in the woods together with some goblins. Tadpole crawled out of his head soon after.” Smiler, confronted with yet another infectee (if a dead one), couldn’t help but respond “Is everyone being captured by mind flayers these days? Didn’t think it was a common experience” –
Causing Nettie to take a moment to pick up a thorny stick from the nearby table before explaining that it had become a much too common occurrence as of late – “At least that’s what Master Halsin suspected. A pity you got me instead of him. He understands these things – studied them. Still, we have options.” Smiler thanked her and assured her they’d take whatever could help – Nettie replied, “Of course. Now, tell me what’s been happening. Any symptoms? Strange events?”
...making me wish I could have told her, “my entire life is a strange event right now.” XD As that wasn’t an option, though, I had Smiler tell her about the telepathic bond that came with the tadpole: “I can merge my mind with anyone else that’s infected.” Nettie was astounded, going, “Victim’s can identify each other? Not that the others know they’re victims, of course,” before asking how Smiler had even gotten infected, as Halsin had apparently been desperate to find the source of all the tadpoles. Smiler explained they’d been kidnapped by a mind flayer ship and infected there – Nettie was surprised again, as Halsin had apparently had a different theory as to where they were all coming from (though she cut herself off before she shared with the class). She then admitted, “...Look, you’ve been straight with me, so I’ll be straight with you. You’re dangerous. If you transform here, we’re all dead. But you seem like a good soul. You deserve a chance to save yourself” –
Before pulling a green bottle out of her pocket and explaining it was a vial of wyvern poison, and she wanted Smiler to swear to drink it if they felt like they were turning. A startled Smiler replied, “I thought you could cure me? What about that branch of yours?” –
Causing Nettie to confess, “The thorn? Coated in a fatal toxin. It was a last resort, in case I couldn’t trust you,” before adding somberly, “I don’t have a cure. Only a way out.” Ouch. :( She at least apologized for misleading the group, explaining that she had to be sure they weren’t a threat before telling them everything, then asked if they had Smiler’s word that they would take the poison. Smiler swore to do so (earning Astarion’s disapproval, but Lae’zel and Shadowheart’s approval – look, something they agree on!), and Nettie handed the vial over, saying that she hoped it didn’t come to that. Don’t worry, Nettie, it won’t – the characters aren’t allowed to change except in nonstandard game overs. :p She then revealed that “I’ve spent my life treating folk and never once saw a mind flayer infection. Then suddenly there’s dozens of you – maybe more,” and explained that she and Halsin had been tracking and studying previous victims, trying to figure out what the fuck was going on – in particular, why none of the victims were changing. As per her rant, “there should be a small army of mind flayers out there! But you’re not. Weird powers aside, you seem perfectly normal.” Smiler noted that she and Halsin must have learned something from their time studying victims (as per the below screenshot – I just liked the way Smiler looked in it) –
And Nettie confirmed that they had indeed learned at least one thing – “that thing in your head is like nothing we’ve ever seen from mind flayers. It’s one of their worms, for sure, but this one gives you powers – telepathic connections. And it doesn’t turn you into one of them. Not yet, anyhow.” Smiler, curious, asked if any of the victims they’d been tracking had changed at any point –
Causing Nettie to go, “Hard to say, but there’s a lot we don’t know.” I guess that means “we never saw any of them change, but we can’t rule out the possibility.” She then revealed that “Infected – folks like you – have been converging on an old temple of Selûne, and I’ve no idea why. When Master Halsin heard the adventurers were heading that way, he saw a chance to get answers. Joined on the spot. Whatever he found, he didn’t make it back.” Smiler asked if she thought he was still alive, and she admitted she did – or, at least, she hoped so: “I’ve sent birds to find him, but they can’t get close without goblins trying to shoot them down.”
...and then she added, “You, though? You’re one of them – technically speaking, I mean. They won’t kill someone carrying their parasite. If you can find Halsin and get him out of there, we can discover what he learned. And perhaps he can save your life. How’s that sound?” XD Girl, we’ve already agreed to look for the guy! A few times over at this point! But yes, saving Halsin to help save themselves sounded good to Smiler, so they assured her that they’d try to find him. Nettie thanked them, saying, “It would mean everything to the grove. To me.” She then complained that she’d tell them more, but “only those adventurers know what happened out there,” and that “all I can say for sure is they all went to the old temple of Selûne and Master Halsin didn’t make it back.” She then ended the conversation by wishing them luck – and reminding them of their oath to drink the wyvern poison should they feel the change coming on. We get it, Nettie, don’t worry. Smiler thus came out of the cutscene with a new bottle of poison (Shadowheart commenting that she’d never tried it, “and I hope to keep it that way”) and another reminder that they had to find this Halsin guy sooner rather than later –
G) And then, out of nowhere, a voice pointed out that there was something interesting in a vessel nearby and that they should go check it out. I was like “wtf???” because that hadn’t sounded quite like the narrator, but I had no idea who it could be –
And then I checked the combat log to look up some of Shadowheart’s recent lines, and discovered that it was, of all people, the Dream Guardian. Pointing out a mind flayer parasite specimen in a vial on the work table. Which really confused me –
Because if you’ve been following my playthrough, you’ll know I HAVEN’T MET SMILER’S DREAM GUARDIAN YET. That camp cutscene has not yet triggered! How the hell is the Dream Guardian commenting on tadpoles when Smiler has no idea who they are? I mean, given the guardian’s real identity, I suppose I can buy them poking their nose into Smiler’s business already, but – still! Larian, maybe you should have added a check there to make sure that the player character had already had the Dream Guardian dream before triggering that dialogue! *shakehead*
Anyway – having had the mind flayer parasite specimen pointed out to me, I went ahead and had Smiler go to the work table to have a look. It was in a tall glass vial near the middle of the table, surrounded by other bottles containing things like eyes and blossoms and tentacles. Charming. There was also a sketch of the drow and the tadpole, surrounded by notes saying things like “...the parasite was nestled deep in the brain matter... illithid, undoubtedly. Yet the host seemed unaware while alive?” and “...no visible signs of ceremorphosis on the cadaver. Most strange,” and “Altered???” (underlined for emphasis, as per the flavor text). After reading through all the notes, Smiler commented that Halsin really did seem like their best bet for a cure, prompting Shadowheart to go “Time to track him down and see what he knows;” Astarion to add “Assuming he’s still alive,” as our favorite vampire elf is far from an optimist; and Gale to remind him, “Speculation will get us nowhere. Let’s go find him,” as he IS more of an optimist. And indeed, locating him did seem to be the logical next step –
H) But first, looting and reading! Because there were of course yet more things to read in a library, along with some handy alchemical ingredients to pick up:
I. Smiler started at the workbench, where they claimed another basket of autumncrocus flowers, before finding a “Hastily Written Note” mixed in with all the other papers – it proved to be a note from Halsin to Nettie, informing her that he was entrusting her with the magical circlet to open the library and that she should wear it always; that if she needed to access the vault, she should talk to Rath, as he had the rune she needed (but would not hand it over frivolously); and that he needed her to protect his research and look after all the animals in the area. And that she shouldn’t give any fish to Tuffet, as the bear was getting lazy. XD Sorry, Halsin – Smiler’s already given Tuffet a snack! Though it was a snack that actually got her to move, so…
II. They then looked through the various nooks of books and tablets stretching out from the central area – the central one yielded a tablet labeled “Sightings Record,” which listed owlbear sightings in the region (with the latest excitedly noting “cub!”), while the left-hand one provided them with four mugwort (two growing out of the ground, and two lying on a shelf) and a “Personal Account” tablet, which sorrowfully noted “In Ketheric, I see our failures made manifest. He did not fall – he was pushed. His grief was twisted by shadow, and still we did not act until his light was all but snuffed.” Seems someone was very unhappy they didn’t intervene to help him until AFTER he swore himself to Shar and destroyed the land with the Shadow Curse – and well they should be.
III. And finally – well. Having grabbed all that was free to take, Smiler went into crouch mode, and – under the cover of the dim light in the library, along with their stilll-standing friends – straight-up stole a couple of bullywug trumpets that were growing in the right-hand and central book nooks. Because Smiler needs alchemy ingredients, none of the druids were around to see (Nettie having wandered off back to the main room), and – well, while she definitely seems like one of the nicer ones, she did make Smiler swear to poison themselves. Taking a few of her mushrooms seems like fair recompense to ME.
And so the playsession ended with everyone gathered around the central wolf statue in the library, as per this group shot I couldn’t resist taking:
Come on, tell me that doesn’t look super cool. But yes, that’s where I parked everyone for the time being. Next time, we’ll explore the Inner Sanctum a little further (I gotta investigate the servant’s room and see if I can find the stuff to kick off the “Investigate Kagha” quest), then hopefully get outside and start looking for Karlach! Because the poor girl’s already missed so much, and we need to get all the Origin characters recruited sooner or later.
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
B) Anyway – having read about the power and majesty of the Miniature Giant Space Hamster, Smiler was ready to continue their adventure! They first turned their attention to Bosk the bear, snoozing nearby, and woke him with a friendly hello. Bosk responded by giving Smiler a thorough sniff, then commented, “You’re curious – you’ve got a great many odours about you. What happened to you?” Smiler, a consummate storyteller, was only too happy to recount the tale of their journey to their new ursine pal, who, as per the narration, hung on every word…
Right up until the end, when his attention wavered as his mind turned to other matters – given he licked his lips when this happened, my guess is he started thinking about his next meal instead. I mean – he is a bear. XD At any rate, once the story was done, he plopped back down asleep, done with Smiler and their crew –
Leaving them free to get a move on and find Nettie already! After all, I couldn’t avoid doing main plot stuff forever! So, after taking a free fish from the nearby bucket (it wasn’t stealing as per the game, and I sure as hell don’t care so much about taking the druid’s stuff as I do about the tiefling’s), Smiler led the party around the Pool again and back over to the stone door leading into the Inner Sanctum, as per Apikusis’s earlier directions. Upon entering the Sanctum, they found that Kagha and Rath had been joined by some other druids – Loic, sitting by the big central stone table on a chunk of rock; Marcoryl, who wandered around the area keeping an eye on things – and, to my amusement, often walked over the table to go sit with Loic and argue with him about such things as how it was ridiculous they just let the “devil child” (Arabella) run off after she tried to steal from them (Loic pointing out that she failed to steal the idol, and that’s what matters) and about how, while he doesn’t want to kill anyone, they have a right to defend their home from trouble (AKA we got another racist isolationist asshole over here); and Findal, freshly-arrived from the Underground Passage, hanging out on the other side of the table. Smiler went and said hello to each in turn, as they do (with me having them sit down on the empty stone seat next to Loic before initiating conversation just to see if it could be done from a seated position – turns out no, if you try your character just immediately pops to their feet) –
Prompting Loic to tell them, “Please leave. Our hospitality has limits – and they were crossed long ago;” Marcoryl to complain, “What will the tieflings want next? Letting the hell child go was a mistake;” and Findal to greet them warmly with, “My saviour. I wish you could have visited in better times.” Well, at least one out of the three wasn’t a jerk? *shrug* Gotta admit, I don’t expect much from the Emerald Grove druids these days. Just see my shock last week at Apikusis being ANTI-Kagha.
C) Having checked in with the new druids, I then proceeded to have Smiler examine what was on the table in the center of the room, in case any of it was of interest to them – which was pretty easy, as they themselves (along with most of the companions) had climbed up on it to say hello to Findal. XD Larian, perhaps you should have taken another look at the pathing in this room… Anyway, the various notes scattered across the stone block’s uneven surface included:
I. “A Warning to the Sword Coast” – a racist flier to go with the racist druids! Ranting on about how tieflings were inherently evil due to their connection to devils, and how drow and duergar from the Underdark should never be trusted because of how others of their kind liked to kidnap people, and how the author wasn’t saying that the Underdark races should be driven back to where they came from, and that the tieflings should be cast out into the Hells, they just felt that all these races should be very carefully watched, and that people should be suspicious when they saw them, and even more suspicious when they didn’t. ...Yeah. Once again, BG3, I would like to remind you that I play video games in part to escape the current bullshit happening in America these days. *shakehead* Cripes...
II. A “Grimy Report” smudged to hell and back by some sort of animal walking across it, with only a few words still visible: “Animal scouts sent... ... eastern town... villagers possibly still aliv... violen…” Well, whatever that report was, it certainly didn’t contain much in the way of good news!
III. A “Detailed Report” – all about the Shadow-Cursed Lands! Apparently the druids have been investigating them (which makes sense, as figuring out how to lift the curse is Halsin’s big Act 2 quest). The report contained notes about how the trees in the area were “infected, but still alive;” how there was a “malicious component to underlying magic” and that it “resists removal, attempts to infect caster;” and how “Range and severity of curse suggests divine origin. Umbral characteristics and vicinity to Shar's temple suggests goddess herself is responsible.” Which was some very good information to have about the area that the group would eventually find themselves in –
And which prompted Shadowheart to go “Temple of Shar? Where? And what’s this about a curse?” Because of course our girl is interested in these things, given she’s a devotee of Shar herself. All in good time, Shadowheart – we gotta learn you’re actually a Sharran first! :p
IV. A “Study Of The Sword Coast,” which consisted of “A scrap of a larger map, fasted to the page with fragrant sap. Someone has written 'TAINTED BY CURSE' above the lands to east – beyond the mountains, on the road to Baldur's Gate.” The druids, or at least Halsin, have been very thorough in their research of the Shadow-Cursed Lands! Shame they refuse to share their findings with the tieflings, who are planning to walk right into them…
There was also another note nearby on a bench, “My Friends, Please Listen” under a dagger – going over to that revealed it was a missive from one Len Jekkles, asking the other druids if they might be up for a rescue mission, as he hadn’t heard from his friend Cimburo Iceflayer for some time, and he wanted to go searching for the guy. Apparently they headed to a village in the east looking for cobwebs and other ingredients for potions and whatnot… Len, I think your friend may have gotten eaten by the Shadow Curse. :( (Though, oddly, I couldn’t find THIS note anywhere on the wiki – maybe it’s added by one of my mods? Would make sense, I have one quest mod that involves the Shadow-Cursed Lands, so…)
D) With all the notes in the room read, I was almost ready to check out the two rooms I could see branching off the main sanctum, to see which one contained Nettie – but before I could direct Smiler one way or the other, I noticed something else to read behind Marcoryl’s stone stool – a plaque, fastened to a stone on the edge of the room. Curious, I had Smiler go over and read it –
Which started a cutscene featuring Smiler looking at the fresco behind the plaque (painted on the wall of the room, separated from the rest of it by what looked like a little moat of sorts) depicting a group of motley individuals, including a red-headed elf crowned with antlers in a white dress and a brown-haired bearded man in a green hood and cloak, standing victorious over a sea of various wicked-looking helmets and banners while the narrator read the plaque’s inscription out for them: “The towers seized, the battle done, The moonrise broke the Darkest One.” Studying the image prompted a passive Intelligence (Religion) check, which Smiler happily passed, allowing them to identify the symbol of Shar on the broken helmet in the foreground (along with all the other helmets and banners, presumably) and realize that the group had defeated an army that had marched in her name. And that the “moonrise” referenced in the verse probably referenced Selûne, Shar’s sister and eternal nemesis (as she’s the goddess of the moon, and thus of light in the darkness). Shadowheart also noticed the fresco, and had her own comment about it: “So many dead. Sent to the Nightsinger’s embrace.” ...Girl, the fact that you worship Shar is supposed to be a secret at this point. You know that, right? XD
Anyway – after seeing that cutscene, I realized “oh, THIS is the location of the four frescoes depicting the history of the grove!” (the angle of the overhead camera had kept me from seeing them before) and immediately began searching for the others and their plaques. Two I found pretty quickly – “Union” and “Wellspring” (with the one Smiler had just read being “Fallen”), but the third, “Wild” eluded me for a bit until I finally spotted it on the staircase coming into the room. I thus sent Smiler around to read all the plaques and see if they could learn a bit more about the history of the grove –
But, uh, not only did I read the plaques in the wrong order, Smiler failed to make two of the three remaining checks necessary to fully understand the meaning of the frescoes. ^^; Whoops. In the order I read them, we had:
I. “Fallen” – the fresco depicting the defeat of the Sharrans by the druids and their allies, discussed above – though it’s worth mentioning that, as the group went around the room and looked at all the other murals, Shadowheart took another look at this one and noted, “That mural...they look like Dark Justicars.” Who are, if you’re curious, the elite forces of the Sharran cult. *shakehead* I really hope she finally comes out and just says “hey, I worship Shar” soon – she’s worse than Veronica when it comes to hiding her true allegiances. XD
II. “Wild” – a fresco depicting the antlered red-headed elf from before wielding a magical tree branch and guiding a bunch of animals – or perhaps wild-shaped druids – to drive out what looked like some kobolds, an ogre, and perhaps a gnoll, accompanied by the rhyme: “The forest rose with claw and tooth, To tear the darkness from its roots.” Smiler failed the Intelligence (Investigation) check and thought it was “a depiction of some local folktale, perhaps,” not the Grove’s residents fighting against the monsters that previously populated the area.
III. “Wellspring” – a fresco depicting the arrival of the druids in the grove, led by the antlered red-headed elf, who stood in front of her fellows with a bowl above her head, which twined water around a mossy stump in front of her, accompanied by the rhyme: “By claw and tooth, from root to thorn, The Old Oak's grove, to wildlings sworn.” Smiler managed to crit fail the Intelligence (Religion) check on this one, and didn’t recognize the deity involved in the ritual – though, given we’ve learned that the druids are casting their precious Rite of Thorns on an idol of Silvanus...yeah, I feel like you should have gotten this one, Smiler. XD
IV. “Union” – a fresco depicting the antlered red-headed elf and a few of her fellows meeting with the bearded green cloak guy and a few of his fellows under a large oak tree and shaking hands on a pact, accompanied by the rhyme: “In darkest hour, a concord made, Twixt harp and wild against the shade.” Fortunately for Smiler, since they’d taken a level in Bard, they immediately understood this one: “‘Harp and wild?’ A riddle to some, but you understand the meaning immediately. The druids turned to the Harpers for help. Unusual for such a territorial group.” So that worked out, at least!
Yeaaah – that didn’t go quite according to plan. ^^; Ah well, they gave it a go – and I can always have one of the companions try to decipher the frescoes instead and see if they can make the checks! There’s an inspiration point for Gale in it if we can figure out all four…
E) While the group was wandering around the Sanctum looking at the frescoes and failing to understand half of them, Smiler was also on the lookout for other goodies – and found a couple of other things worth their attention near the edge of the room. Specifically, a couple of books behind Kagha, near the “Wellspring” mural:
I. “Logbook XII: 1371” – a logbook detailing an incident in the Grove’s past, where after sending a couple of druids off to help a village that was suffering from blighted crops (and thus unlikely to survive another winter), the Emerald Grovians discovered a group of people from Baldur’s Gate had set up a camp at the edge of their forest – when some of the local animals (two bears and a fox) came in to report that the newcomers had burned out their territory and killed half the fox’s cubs in the process. The druid writing the log (according to the wiki, probably Halsin) went to go meet with them and encourage them not to do that, but the Baldur’s Gate group proved quite combative, telling the writer to go shove it and saying they planned to cut down half the forest, burn out any wildlife, and turn the area into their own little city.
Cue the writer hitting them with a mudslide and destroying all their farming equipment, driving them out. See, this is why you are polite to the druids and to nature – though I’m glad nobody decided to try this on the poor tieflings. *grimace* The log ended with the writer revealing there had been reports of a red wizard (generally very nasty wizards into VERY evil magic) in a village to the south, and that they’d sent three rangers to investigate: “If they catch even a whiff of a red cloak, I'm contacting the House of Silvanus.” Interesting stuff – and shows how brutal the druids can be against their enemies. Why we want to stop them being such racist dicks to the tieflings!
II. And “The Lords of Madness, Vol 4: Yeenoghu,” a book tucked away in a wicker basket near the logbook – possibly because it stank of rotting flesh. D: Smiler was allowed to just straight up take this book (again, possibly because it stank of rotting flesh), and in its pages they found a few paragraphs about the demon lord Yeenoghu – a terrible monster with a ravenous, mindless hunger, who is responsible for the presence of gnolls in the world. Gnolls being terrible creatures born of hyenas who have absolutely glutted themselves on the corpse of another gnoll’s victim, and who are “hunger manifest” according to the book: “They ravage any living being, tearing body and bone asunder, leaving behind only bones. They care not for wealth or material gain, only to satiate their hunger.” The author closed the section with “If you should find yourself the object of gnollish pursuit, burn your corpses, cover your scent, and pray to whoever might aid you, for there is no bribing, begging, or reasoning with hunger incarnate.” Fun stuff, huh? *grimace* And we get to fight these things later on in the game, yaaaay…
F) Having thus genuinely read everything in the room (I think – there’s always something new to discover in this game, that’s for sure), I directed the group over to the room where I was pretty sure I’d just seen the healer they sought, working on an injured bird. Smiler poked through the wicker baskets on the left side of the entrance first (as they were allowed to root through them without being accused of stealing), cheerfully claiming some autumncrocus (an alchemy ingredient, useful in a potion of Featherfall), a corguette, and a carrot for later, then entered the room. Nettie was indeed standing beside a table on the right-hand side of the room, tending to an unfortunate blue jay –
But Smiler was immediately distracted by what was happening on the left-hand side of the room, because holy SHIT did Nettie have a very fancy alchemy set-up going on there! Two tables full of fancy blue glassware, cups, bottles, scrolls, notes, and spoons, with a bubbling cauldron over the fire in-between. Naturally I had to get a screenshot of Smiler admiring it all:
Yeah, this is exactly the kind of set-up they would love to have. *sigh* Why doesn’t the player character get a personal tent of their own in this game again? Maybe I should download that mod that gives them a tent they can place in the world and decorate to their choosing, even if they have to set it up separately for every camp…
Anyway – once they were done drooling over Nettie’s alchemy corner, Smiler actually approached the healer to see what she was up to. Nettie assured them that she saw them and that she just needed a moment – Smiler asked if there was anything they could do to help, but she just asked them to wait again before reciting “Vis medicatrix…” over her current patient. The bird was healed for I believe three hit points, managing to stand on its own two feet again, and Nettie declared, “There. It’s up to her now. Life or death.”
And then turned to Smiler and asked what they needed, as if she hadn’t just said something ridiculously dramatic. :P Smiler explained that they were looking for Nettie, and she confirmed that they’d found her, even if “I still don’t know what she can do for you.” Smiler replied, “Healing. As soon as possible,” and she bid them bend down so she could have a look at them (being as she’s a dwarf). Smiler did so, and she examined them, noting that “You seem healthy enough. A bit tired ‘round the eyes, maybe.” Smiler replied, “More than tired. Something crawled into my eye,” prompting her to be like “Crawled in?” and ask if it was some sort of bug –
Before suddenly having a realization and asking, “Did it look like a tadpole? But from your worst nightmares? All slime, teeth, and tentacles?” Smiler confirmed it did, asking, “You know of them? Can you help me?” –
Prompting Nettie to suddenly look awkward and go “I – I’ll do what I can” before bidding them and their companions to follow her to another room. She thus led the way over to a secret stone door in the wall which she opened with magic, revealing the Enclave Library! Which was not filled with dickheads descended from the old US government wandering around in power armor, but instead was home to a very cool wolf statue covered in glowing lines, multiple nooks full of books, more alchemy ingredients –
And, at the very front, a little makeshift lab of sorts, with one stone slab turned into a work desk covered with bottles and notes, and the other into an autopsy table with a dissected drow laying upon it (that is genuinely what the game calls the corpse). Nettie informed Smiler and company that the drow had had the same affliction as them – “Attacked us in the woods together with some goblins. Tadpole crawled out of his head soon after.” Smiler, confronted with yet another infectee (if a dead one), couldn’t help but respond “Is everyone being captured by mind flayers these days? Didn’t think it was a common experience” –
Causing Nettie to take a moment to pick up a thorny stick from the nearby table before explaining that it had become a much too common occurrence as of late – “At least that’s what Master Halsin suspected. A pity you got me instead of him. He understands these things – studied them. Still, we have options.” Smiler thanked her and assured her they’d take whatever could help – Nettie replied, “Of course. Now, tell me what’s been happening. Any symptoms? Strange events?”
...making me wish I could have told her, “my entire life is a strange event right now.” XD As that wasn’t an option, though, I had Smiler tell her about the telepathic bond that came with the tadpole: “I can merge my mind with anyone else that’s infected.” Nettie was astounded, going, “Victim’s can identify each other? Not that the others know they’re victims, of course,” before asking how Smiler had even gotten infected, as Halsin had apparently been desperate to find the source of all the tadpoles. Smiler explained they’d been kidnapped by a mind flayer ship and infected there – Nettie was surprised again, as Halsin had apparently had a different theory as to where they were all coming from (though she cut herself off before she shared with the class). She then admitted, “...Look, you’ve been straight with me, so I’ll be straight with you. You’re dangerous. If you transform here, we’re all dead. But you seem like a good soul. You deserve a chance to save yourself” –
Before pulling a green bottle out of her pocket and explaining it was a vial of wyvern poison, and she wanted Smiler to swear to drink it if they felt like they were turning. A startled Smiler replied, “I thought you could cure me? What about that branch of yours?” –
Causing Nettie to confess, “The thorn? Coated in a fatal toxin. It was a last resort, in case I couldn’t trust you,” before adding somberly, “I don’t have a cure. Only a way out.” Ouch. :( She at least apologized for misleading the group, explaining that she had to be sure they weren’t a threat before telling them everything, then asked if they had Smiler’s word that they would take the poison. Smiler swore to do so (earning Astarion’s disapproval, but Lae’zel and Shadowheart’s approval – look, something they agree on!), and Nettie handed the vial over, saying that she hoped it didn’t come to that. Don’t worry, Nettie, it won’t – the characters aren’t allowed to change except in nonstandard game overs. :p She then revealed that “I’ve spent my life treating folk and never once saw a mind flayer infection. Then suddenly there’s dozens of you – maybe more,” and explained that she and Halsin had been tracking and studying previous victims, trying to figure out what the fuck was going on – in particular, why none of the victims were changing. As per her rant, “there should be a small army of mind flayers out there! But you’re not. Weird powers aside, you seem perfectly normal.” Smiler noted that she and Halsin must have learned something from their time studying victims (as per the below screenshot – I just liked the way Smiler looked in it) –
And Nettie confirmed that they had indeed learned at least one thing – “that thing in your head is like nothing we’ve ever seen from mind flayers. It’s one of their worms, for sure, but this one gives you powers – telepathic connections. And it doesn’t turn you into one of them. Not yet, anyhow.” Smiler, curious, asked if any of the victims they’d been tracking had changed at any point –
Causing Nettie to go, “Hard to say, but there’s a lot we don’t know.” I guess that means “we never saw any of them change, but we can’t rule out the possibility.” She then revealed that “Infected – folks like you – have been converging on an old temple of Selûne, and I’ve no idea why. When Master Halsin heard the adventurers were heading that way, he saw a chance to get answers. Joined on the spot. Whatever he found, he didn’t make it back.” Smiler asked if she thought he was still alive, and she admitted she did – or, at least, she hoped so: “I’ve sent birds to find him, but they can’t get close without goblins trying to shoot them down.”
...and then she added, “You, though? You’re one of them – technically speaking, I mean. They won’t kill someone carrying their parasite. If you can find Halsin and get him out of there, we can discover what he learned. And perhaps he can save your life. How’s that sound?” XD Girl, we’ve already agreed to look for the guy! A few times over at this point! But yes, saving Halsin to help save themselves sounded good to Smiler, so they assured her that they’d try to find him. Nettie thanked them, saying, “It would mean everything to the grove. To me.” She then complained that she’d tell them more, but “only those adventurers know what happened out there,” and that “all I can say for sure is they all went to the old temple of Selûne and Master Halsin didn’t make it back.” She then ended the conversation by wishing them luck – and reminding them of their oath to drink the wyvern poison should they feel the change coming on. We get it, Nettie, don’t worry. Smiler thus came out of the cutscene with a new bottle of poison (Shadowheart commenting that she’d never tried it, “and I hope to keep it that way”) and another reminder that they had to find this Halsin guy sooner rather than later –
G) And then, out of nowhere, a voice pointed out that there was something interesting in a vessel nearby and that they should go check it out. I was like “wtf???” because that hadn’t sounded quite like the narrator, but I had no idea who it could be –
And then I checked the combat log to look up some of Shadowheart’s recent lines, and discovered that it was, of all people, the Dream Guardian. Pointing out a mind flayer parasite specimen in a vial on the work table. Which really confused me –
Because if you’ve been following my playthrough, you’ll know I HAVEN’T MET SMILER’S DREAM GUARDIAN YET. That camp cutscene has not yet triggered! How the hell is the Dream Guardian commenting on tadpoles when Smiler has no idea who they are? I mean, given the guardian’s real identity, I suppose I can buy them poking their nose into Smiler’s business already, but – still! Larian, maybe you should have added a check there to make sure that the player character had already had the Dream Guardian dream before triggering that dialogue! *shakehead*
Anyway – having had the mind flayer parasite specimen pointed out to me, I went ahead and had Smiler go to the work table to have a look. It was in a tall glass vial near the middle of the table, surrounded by other bottles containing things like eyes and blossoms and tentacles. Charming. There was also a sketch of the drow and the tadpole, surrounded by notes saying things like “...the parasite was nestled deep in the brain matter... illithid, undoubtedly. Yet the host seemed unaware while alive?” and “...no visible signs of ceremorphosis on the cadaver. Most strange,” and “Altered???” (underlined for emphasis, as per the flavor text). After reading through all the notes, Smiler commented that Halsin really did seem like their best bet for a cure, prompting Shadowheart to go “Time to track him down and see what he knows;” Astarion to add “Assuming he’s still alive,” as our favorite vampire elf is far from an optimist; and Gale to remind him, “Speculation will get us nowhere. Let’s go find him,” as he IS more of an optimist. And indeed, locating him did seem to be the logical next step –
H) But first, looting and reading! Because there were of course yet more things to read in a library, along with some handy alchemical ingredients to pick up:
I. Smiler started at the workbench, where they claimed another basket of autumncrocus flowers, before finding a “Hastily Written Note” mixed in with all the other papers – it proved to be a note from Halsin to Nettie, informing her that he was entrusting her with the magical circlet to open the library and that she should wear it always; that if she needed to access the vault, she should talk to Rath, as he had the rune she needed (but would not hand it over frivolously); and that he needed her to protect his research and look after all the animals in the area. And that she shouldn’t give any fish to Tuffet, as the bear was getting lazy. XD Sorry, Halsin – Smiler’s already given Tuffet a snack! Though it was a snack that actually got her to move, so…
II. They then looked through the various nooks of books and tablets stretching out from the central area – the central one yielded a tablet labeled “Sightings Record,” which listed owlbear sightings in the region (with the latest excitedly noting “cub!”), while the left-hand one provided them with four mugwort (two growing out of the ground, and two lying on a shelf) and a “Personal Account” tablet, which sorrowfully noted “In Ketheric, I see our failures made manifest. He did not fall – he was pushed. His grief was twisted by shadow, and still we did not act until his light was all but snuffed.” Seems someone was very unhappy they didn’t intervene to help him until AFTER he swore himself to Shar and destroyed the land with the Shadow Curse – and well they should be.
III. And finally – well. Having grabbed all that was free to take, Smiler went into crouch mode, and – under the cover of the dim light in the library, along with their stilll-standing friends – straight-up stole a couple of bullywug trumpets that were growing in the right-hand and central book nooks. Because Smiler needs alchemy ingredients, none of the druids were around to see (Nettie having wandered off back to the main room), and – well, while she definitely seems like one of the nicer ones, she did make Smiler swear to poison themselves. Taking a few of her mushrooms seems like fair recompense to ME.
And so the playsession ended with everyone gathered around the central wolf statue in the library, as per this group shot I couldn’t resist taking:
Come on, tell me that doesn’t look super cool. But yes, that’s where I parked everyone for the time being. Next time, we’ll explore the Inner Sanctum a little further (I gotta investigate the servant’s room and see if I can find the stuff to kick off the “Investigate Kagha” quest), then hopefully get outside and start looking for Karlach! Because the poor girl’s already missed so much, and we need to get all the Origin characters recruited sooner or later.
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!
