We Are Officially Snowed In

[crossover_chick]

The Blizzard of '26 raged today, and dumped quite a lot of snow upon us -- my parents are pretty sure we got an additional two feet on top of the snow that was still there from the last snowstorm, and apparently they recorded 32.8 inches in the Official Measuring Spot -- which, according to the news, means this storm has beaten the record set by the iconic Blizzard of '78 (27.6 inches). Yikes. As you might imagine, I don't have work tomorrow, as it's gonna take some time to dig everyone out -- Mom and Dad are of the opinion I might not have work on Wednesday either, or at least might have to take a day off as I wait for the people we hired to come plow out our driveway. And we're actually forecast to get MORE snow on Wednesday! D: Not much -- they're talking light AM snow -- but fucking hell. At least after that it's supposed to warm up into the 40s, but that's got me worried about what happens when all this snow MELTS...at least we won't have to deal with a drought this year? *grimace*

Anyway -- we fortunately did not lose power or internet today, at least, so I was able to while away the time stuck indoors in the manner to which I have become accustomed. To whit --

Tumblr: Just had Victor Luvs Alice (N Smiler) to worry about today, and while I didn’t do much thanks to a bit of a lazy morning, I did accomplish a couple of things:

A) First, while going through my dash, I reblogged from my friend Newt (aka dont-offend-the-bees) a post by “reiding-and-writing” – “Reblog if you’re a fanfic writer and you wanna know what your followers’ favorite story of yours is ❤” Because, even if I was pretty sure I already knew what stories would top the list (anything from “The Forgotten Vows Verse” or either of my “Londerland Bloodlines” stories), I figured I might as well see if I got any asks with any more interesting answers. Or any asks at all, frankly – nothing yet, but I’m not particularly surprised by that. Very few people seem to respond to these things when I post them. (I also sent an ask to Newt letting him know my favorite stories from him – an old Brotzly story that was part of a series of Todd and Dirk baking together and discovering feelings along the way, where Todd and Dirk baked rainbow cupcakes for a Pride Month picnic and ended up proposing to each other by hiding rings in the same cupcake, and “Crazy,” an old Valice piece about winter coming to Wonderland and Alice describing the scene to Victor in their house in the East End – but he hasn’t answered it yet. And thanks to tumblr being tumblr, I don’t know if he just hasn’t gotten to it yet or tumblr ate it. Meh.)

B) And second, I worked some more on my draft of “Valicer In The Dark Meets Baldur’s Gate III Not-Incorrect Quotes/Shitpost Collection Volume 3!” Specifically:

I. I did a proper write-up for the scene where Smiler, post-Volo-eye-removal-operation, sidles up to Wyll and asks him for any tips he may have on taking care of a false eye (because Smiler now has an enchanted glass one as a “sorry” gift from Volo, and Wyll has a sending stone one thanks to Mizora) – Wyll was only too happy to help them out (starting with “keep some purified water on you at all time to wash out any grit that may get behind it”)

II. I did a proper write-up for the scene where Smiler, Victor, and Alice meet Timber the squirrel and – after she chomps on Smiler’s boot for the crime of wandering into her territory without an invitation – manage to convince her that there’s enough room for everybody and that they mean her no harm (with Alice pointing out she’s the one who resorted to violence first)...which went roughly how it would in the game until Timber mentioned the trees as being hers –

At which point Victor, Smiler, and Alice started panicking because if a tree is green and growing in their world, it’s almost certain to be a Jayan tree, which were created by one of the most talented alchemists who ever lived – and are extremely deadly if you touch them. Cue Victor desperately making sure Timber didn’t actually get through Smiler’s boot; Smiler trying to calm him down by saying they know the antidote to Jayan tree poisoning, before realizing they don’t know how they’d brew up such an antidote here, and besides this wouldn’t be the same as a Jayan tree; and Alice telling Timber that they have no interest in getting anywhere near her tree –

Before noticing the Faerûn natives staring at them strangely and realizing the tree probably wasn’t actually deadly to the touch. And then Timber seizing on the opportunity to try and convince them it was and she was the deadliest squirrel in existence. XD Oh, we do have fun comparing the Blades In The Dark setting to the Baldur’s Gate III one…

III. And, this evening, I added a new idea for a scene based on today’s BG3 session (below) – the group coming across Mirkon being lured into the waters of the Secluded Cove by the harpies, and Alice and Smiler starting to fall victim to the music as well...only for a furious Victor, who managed to resist the charm, to use his own magical music to open a portal to the Void Sea. Cue three harpies getting snatched up and crushed by leviathan tentacles, and the fourth getting the heck out of dodge while Victor screams after her “SEE HOW YOU LIKE IT!”

Nice to make some progress on that! :) Hopefully eventually I can actually finish and POST it…

C) Bonus entry: Marie did like her birthday fic, both replying to it AND reblogging it with her thanks and her glee over how cute it was. :) So that was quite gratifying!

Baldur’s Gate III: What do you do when you’re snowed in by a blizzard? Take another virtual visit to sunny warm Faerûn and play some more with Tav Smiler and friends, apparently! Yeah, I know I said I was probably going to play Portal 2 or Little Corners, but I just really wanted to do more with Smiler and friends (plus Little Corners had an update queued, so I actually COULDN’T play it today). And despite my stated goal to find Karlach and recruit her already, I ended up doing something rather different today – though it did involve a red tiefling, just a much younger one… Let me tell you all about it:

A) I picked up right where I left off yesterday, with the gang hanging out in the Enclave Library with the glowing wolf statue (seriously, I may not like the druids, but their glowy statues ARE quite cool). I decided their first order of business should be to head to the Servant’s Quarters next door to Nettie’s room, as I’d read on the wiki that I could find something to start the “Investigate Kagha” quest in there (which I wanted to do, because more quests equal more fun and more XP) –

But before the party left the library, I decided to have Smiler quickly check the dissected drow’s pockets, because Nettie wasn’t looking and there was supposed to be an interesting note on him. Sure enough, after they climbed up onto the table with the drow (who, according the wiki, is named Ned’Cirannis, which you can learn if you use Speak With Dead on him – I gotta remember that Smiler does have that spell thanks to their amulet and start using it), they were able to locate a scrap of paper in his pocket with his orders: “Track the druid, find whatever burrow he runs to, and report back to me. Remember, you are only a scout. Do not engage. Do not kill anyone. Simply observe and return. I shall decide what we do next. -M.” Hmmm – seems like if you’d listened to your superior, Ned, you wouldn’t be dead on a slab in the Enclave Library! Well, at least in death you allowed Halsin and Nettie to learn more about those terrible tadpoles…


B) With that note tucked safely away in their pocket (or, well, their book storage “smart container”) for later, Smiler led their party out of the Enclave library, through Nettie’s room (where Nettie, having cured the bird, was now standing at a nearby work table with a cutting board and some mugworth and daggerroot on it, complaining about how she wanted her bed – I decided Smiler wouldn’t be rude and steal her shit right out from under her nose as a result), back into the Inner Sanctum, and then around next door to the Servant’s Quarters! This proved to be a big circular room with a central stone bookcase full of tablets and books, flanked by two glowing bear statues, and more bookcases built into the curving wall. On one side of the central bookcase was a stone “desk” of sorts covered with bottles, tablets, and a scroll; on the other was a stone bed with a little “end table” with a note and a pouch. There were also a couple more beds around the sides of the room – one with a “window” overlooking the water chasm separating the outer wall of frescoes from the main floor of the Inner Sanctum – and the roots of a big tree sticking out of the wall directly behind the central bookcase. But you don’t have to rely on me describing it – here, have a picture, since I’m addicted to taking screenshots:



Pretty cool place, huh? I – don’t know who qualifies as a “servant” in the Emerald Grove (novice druids?), but at least they have a nice place to hang out, sleep, and learn. The main problem was that, because it belonged to the druids, pretty much everything in it was marked as owned – and, as you can see in the background, a certain grumpy druid half-elf, Marcoryl (the guy who said that “letting the hell child go was a mistake” yesterday) liked to come in and peruse the books and make sure everything was ship-shape. Silver the wolf also enjoyed wandering in to see what was what. Made investigating the place a little bit trickier, that was for sure! Still, I was determined to have Smiler and company at least take a quick poke around, so – after waiting for Marcoryl and Silver to leave – they started by checking out the desk right in front of them. Upon it was a slate labeled “The Emerald Enclave: Tenets” – Smiler immediately read that to see what rules the druids of the Emerald Grove held themselves to. As per the rhyme at the top of the slate, “The Greatest Tenets Number Three” –

I. Preserve the “Natural Order,” no matter what form it takes

II. Destroy all forces that would disrupt the Natural Order (like, say, unleashing a mudslide on some uncaring expansionist forces from Baldur’s Gate)

III. And the tricky one – “offer aid to the weary and injured.” Like, you know, a bunch of refugee tieflings who were unfairly thrown out of their home town for being tieflings (admittedly post the town being dragged into the Nine Hells, but that wasn’t THEIR fault)!

Yeah, seems like Kagha is breaking her own order’s rules by being a dick to the tieflings. However, immediately after reading these laws, the game suddenly showed me a cutscene of Marcoryl glaring and folding his arms in the doorway, while the narrator warned our heroes that the slate was “Not for communal use, it seems. Best show some respect – or some more cunning.” Which, I admit, surprised me, because Smiler had never gotten in trouble for just reading something “forbidden” before. I thought it was perfectly fine to look at the books as long as you didn’t try to take them with you! Then again, Marcoryl is definitely one of the more hardass, isolationist druids, so maybe that has something to do with it. (Either that or I’ve been extraordinarily lucky before.) Either way, Marcoryl warned them that they only got the one warning – Smiler thus stepped away from the slate, then – after Marcoryl refused to stop watching them – led the party out of the room entirely. Well, that didn’t go according to plan!

C) Of course, being caught once wasn’t enough to stop the party, and once they’d waited outside long enough, Marcoryl went back to his usual routine of wandering the room, choosing to study the note on the “end table” beside the stone bed behind the central bookcase before leaving to go argue with Loic a bit more. The group thus went back into the room and decide to prioritize looking at the two items that weren’t marked in red so they wouldn’t get in trouble again. First of which was a scroll on the “desk” detailing the Rite Of Thorns Kagha was having her fellow druids cast! Smiler unrolled it, and, as per the flavor text, found a bunch of prayers and incantations running along one side of the page, and instructions on how to perform the rite on the other. Apparently, upon completion of the rite, “thorns and bramble rise from the earth, protecting from harm all who chanted it.” Which sounds good in theory, especially if you’re under threat from a particularly nasty enemy (which the goblins do seem to be) –

But, as Smiler noted in their quest log, it sounded like exceedingly dangerous magic as well – why would Kagha want to go to such lengths to hide the grove from tieflings and goblins? They thus determined that they ought to investigate –

And so the quest “Investigate Kagha” began! :D Which made me quite happy, as I thought I would have to poke around the room to find the hidden chest that’s supposedly in there to kick things off! I mean, as per the wiki, I do still need to find the chest to find an important clue to advance the quest, but at least I didn’t have to risk the wrath of Marcoryl right away! AND starting the quest gave everyone 15 XP, which was also great. :) Slowly but surely bringing everyone to Level 4!

As for the other item in the room that was safe for the group to read – well, amusingly, that was the very note that Marcoryl had been examining himself before, called “On The Subject Of Gond And Progress.” Upon reading, it proved to be a letter from someone named Abigail to her brother Benji, complaining she was absolutely sick of hearing about his “Emerald Enclave” and that, while they may claim to want to “balance civilisation and nature in a chaotic world,” she believed them to be “enemies of progress, of intellect, who would be happiest if the world reverted to a time of outdoor privies and knuckle-dragging proto-folk.” She then entreated her brother to instead join her at the High House of Wonders in Baldur’s Gate, stating that she’d seen and learned about so many amazing things during her apprenticeship there. Like the water pumps, and the steampowered oxen, and the mechanical printing press that had printed her letter for her! (She’d even made a few copies just for fun, which I guess means we should expect to see this letter somewhere else in the future. Larian covering their asses!) She ended with “Please, brother, I cannot bear the thought of coming home to find you picking berries out of a tree and arguing with Mother and Dad about whether or not their crops impede on fox territory,” and a reminder that their father’s birthday was coming up. Now, Abigail, your brother is allowed to be a nature-loving hippie druid if he wants – balancing the natural world and the industrial one is very important work. But I totally agree with you that he needs to get out of the Emerald Enclave specifically, because the order seems to have a very high quotient of assholes. If I find an NPC called “Benji” somewhere around the grove in the future, I’ll try to encourage him to listen to his sister!

D) Having found a way to start the quest to look into Kagha’s activities and find out what exactly she’s up to, I decided to leave finding her secret chest for another time and go see if I could get the group to find Karlach already! Poor girl’s been waiting for us to get our act together for a while. I thus had Smiler lead the group out of the room back into the Inner Sanctum (where I paused briefly by the plaque at the side of the room to get a shot of the “Wellspring” fresco for you all:



Because come on, it is very pretty! Thought about having one of the companions read the plaque to see if they could pass the ability check, but decided to wait until we had an inspiration point slot free – you can only have four at a time, after all), then out into the Sacred Pool again and past where the druids were conducting the Rite of Thorns, pausing to grab another basket of autumncrocus from the edge of the central circle and get a better look at the rite in action:



You gotta admit – as dangerous and nasty a spell as it is, it looks very cool. Though I won’t be sorry to see the druids stop casting it, as my computer HATES rendering the glowy magical circle around the idol. :p (Admittedly, my computer kind of hates running BG3 in general because of all the shit it has to render, which is one of the reasons I usually play for only an hour at a time – don’t want to overstress the poor thing!)

Anyway – once they’d retrieved their basket, Smiler led their friends out of the Sacred Pool area through a gap marked by a handful of blue carved wooden columns beside the main entrance (to the right, at least based on their angle of approach), which put them out on a dirt path leading into some nearby rocky cliffs. I had the group venture forward a bit as I tried to figure out where I wanted them to go…

And then paused, because – I could hear music. Very familiar music. Puzzled, I took a moment to listen to it –

And then went “!!!” because I abruptly recognized it as one of my favorite pieces of BG3 music to loop – “Harpy Song!” Which meant I’d found the area where the harpies were trying to lure the poor little tiefling kid Mirkon to his doom! I promptly sent the group down the path winding through the rocky cliffs toward the music (Smiler commenting as they started off “Is someone...singing?” with Shadowheart noting, “It’s beautiful…”), where they discovered the Secluded Cove – a narrow bit of beach under the cliffs with a big rocky outcrop jutting out of the sea directly in front of it –

And Mirkon, standing mesmerized in the shallows, babbling about what a beautiful song he was hearing. However, to my puzzlement, while I could see the kid, I could not see the harpies that were supposed to be luring him. And getting closer to him did not cause them to pop into existence. Concerned that the game had glitched out like it once had for Rolan and given me invisible enemies, I quickly reloaded a quicksave I’d made right before approaching the kid to see if it would help –

But nope – the rocks remained stubbornly harpy-free, despite their song echoing off them. “Hmm – okay, maybe the harpies aren’t supposed to be immediately visible,” I thought. “Let’s talk to Mirkon, and if they don’t appear, I’ll quit out and restart.” I thus had Smiler approach the entranced child, who greeted them with “Shh! Listen.” Smiler tried to get them to move, stating, “You shouldn’t be standing out in the water. It’s dangerous,” but Mirkon was too into the song, asking, “Don’t you hear it? It’s so peaceful.” A puzzled Smiler thus strained their ears to see if they could hear what the kid heard –

And found themselves beckoned by a sweet melody. However, fortunately for everyone, they made the Nature check to recognize the melody for what it was – namely, a harpy’s charm – and promptly called upon their Bard-given love of music to counter it with a song of their own – “There once was a lady who met with a merrow, and tried to disclose it to her foolish fellow…” Fortunately, the Performance check to free themselves from the harpy’s influence was only a DC of 5, and they absolutely smashed it with a roll of 21 (boosted a little bit with some Guidance from Shadowheart, because it never hurts to have that little bit extra). The “suffocating yearning” filling them faded as the spell over them broke, and they promptly continued their song in the hopes that it would help Mirkon – “...Her man would not listen, he thought it tall tales, until he rubbed up against all of her scales!” ...I don’t think that was a very appropriate song to sing, Smiler. XD The Performance check was a DC 10 this time, but Smiler had advantage due to being a Bard, and smashed it again with a 22, breaking Mirkon’s trance and causing him to cry out “Auch! My ears! Wait – why am I wet?” –

And causing the harpies to finally appear on the scene! Hooray, they were just hiding before! The bone-bedecked vulture-women protested Smiler trying to save Mirkon, screaming “No! He’s ours” and “Kill! We’ll KILL you!” –

E) And thus combat with the harpies began! With some of my group at a distinct disadvantage, unfortunately, as before combat began officially, the harpies began using their luring song on them. And while Astarion and Gale made their saves, Lae’zel and Wyll very much did not, causing them to wander into the water near the bird-women. *grimace* Damn mind controlling enemies! (...don’t @ me about Smiler being a mind-controlling protagonist.) Anyway, here’s how the fight went:

Round One – Astarion was first in the turn order – as he was too far away to get to most of the harpies effectively with his two daggers, I had him use his incredible movement to climb up onto a bit of cliff overlooking the cove so he could try shooting them with his fancy ranger bow. To my surprise, there was a harpy up there (Harpy 3 as per the turn order) – one that Astarion could shoot with advantage, no less. I promptly had him hit the Harpy with Hunter’s Mark, then nail it with an arrow before adding a sneak attack onto it. Harpy 3 immediately went down to 6 HP, which probably did NOT make it happy. The turn then passed to Harpy 1, at the top of the rock formation where the other Harpies were hanging out, who flew down to attack Lae’zel as she stood dazed in the water with a multiattack –

Only to miss both times. The advantages of having a very high armor class! Shadowheart was up after that, and managed to successfully resist the harpy’s song – I had her climb up onto the ledge next to Astarion, then whack Harpy 1 with a Guiding Bolt for 11 damage. I then passed the turn over to Wyll – but, unfortunately, since he was currently Lured, he could only stagger forward further toward the harpies, with no direction from me –

Well, until Harpy 1 took a swing at him with her claws. Which did hurt him (good thing he had his False Life hitpoints ready!), but also temporarily broke him out of his lured state. Furious, and restored to my control, he attempted a piercing strike on Harpy 1, but unfortunately missed. I tried to salvage the interaction by having him instead flourish his rapier and try to knock Harpy 1 off balance – she managed to keep her feet, but took 1 bludgeoning damage, at least. I had Wyll flee around the corner of the rocks, and moved on to Lae’zel –

Who was also Lured, and thus could only stumble forward further into the water and onto the big rock, missing her turn. Harpy 2 then flew down to try and attack her – but proved as shit as Harpy 1 at multiattack, though the attempt at least snapped Lae’zel out of her daze. Harpy 3 then took a swipe at Astarion and missed, while Harpy 4 went to try a claw attack on Wyll – she missed, but he missed his opportunity attack in turn, so everyone was just failing at life there. Which meant it was finally Smiler’s turn –

Except they failed the saving throw against the harpy’s song and thus was lured into the water! D: What the hell – you were doing so well in the cutscene, Smiler! This meant the turn passed to Gale as the last member of my party in the line –

And me being me, I promptly had Gale break out the Magic Missile. Upcast to Level II so he got four darts and extra damage, no less. After checking his available targets, I had him move to the water’s edge by Mirkon, then target Harpys 1, 2, and 3 (as 4 was still too far away) with his darts, with the full-health Harpy 2 getting the double shot from the fourth dart. All of them only took a few points of damage each as the darts flew –

BUT the darts caused them all to lose their concentration, stopping the song and freeing Smiler from their Lured state. Yay! The round ended with little Mirkon smartly using Dash and getting as far away from the action as possible – run, kid, run! We’ve got this covered!

Round Two – Astarion felled Harpy 3 with his bow, then applied his Hunter’s Mark to Harpy 1 to make her more vulnerable to attacks (at least by him). Harpy 1 responded by starting to sing again, causing Wyll and Lae’zel to fall back into their Lured states (I didn’t see if Smiler was immediately affected or not – it’s weird when the saving throw is made sometimes). Fortunately Shadowheart, next in the turn order, was once again able to resist the magical song –

And even more fortunately, while looking through what spells she had, I remembered that I’d had her prepare Silence in the past. Which creates a bubble of magical soundproofing over an area. I was briefly hesitant to cast it as I could see some of my own party would be caught in the bubble – but I quickly realized the benefits outweighed the drawbacks and had Shadowheart pop the bubble over Harpy 1 and 2. Wyll, Lae’zel, and Smiler were also swallowed by the magical quiet, but at least the former two lost their Lured status! I ended Shadowheart’s turn by having her move to a new spot to discourage attack, then swapped over to Wyll –

Who, unable to use his Eldritch Blast or other spells, just stabbed Harpy 1 with his rapier and killed her. XD Which netted him 6 temporary hit points thanks to “Dark One’s Blessing,” a handy feature for fiend warlocks that grants them 6 temp hit points whenever they kill an enemy. *nods* I don’t like you, Mizora, but that at least is handy. He scrambled onto the big rock directly under Lae’zel, then passed his turn onto her – she attempted a Menacing Attack on Harpy 2 next to her, but unfortunately missed. Fortunately, though, she was able to hit the harpy with a Pommel Strike, taking 2 HP off its total and leaving it dazed. She then ran onto the ledge above Harpy 4 for a height advantage –

But that brought the turn order around to the remaining harpies, and they were NOT messing around. Harpy 2 flew over to Gale and clawed 5 HP off his total, while Harpy 4 flew to the rocks just below Astarion and Shadowheart’s ledge and began to sing again. Fortunately, Gale managed to resist her lure –

And Smiler, stuck in the Silence bubble, was completely immune! Though, of course, that meant when the turn order came around to them again, they couldn’t actually cast any of their spells. I thus had them exit the bubble and – after examining the spells on offer and their hit chances on Harpies 2 and 4 – smacked Harpy 2 with a round of Dissonant Whispers. Harpy 2 promptly took 11 damage and became officially Frightened, and Smiler ended their turn by giving Gale a bit of Bardic Inspiration for his turn. I quickly looked through Gale’s spellbook to see what would be most useful under the circumstances –

And saw he had the spell “Sleep” prepared. And since it could down enemies up to a combined total of 24 hit points, I figured it was worth using on old Harpy 4 to shut her up. So I had Gale cast the spell –

And Harpy 4 collapsed snoozing, stopping her mind control music in its tracks. Gale then shoved Harpy 2 away from him for good measure (using up his Bardic Inspiration in the process), before walking into the water to end his turn, and the second round of combat ended with Mirkon smartly continuing to make tracks away from the fight.

Round 3 – Astarion happily hit the sleeping Harpy 4 with his Hunter’s Mark and shot and sneak attacked her with his bow – this woke her up, but ALSO did 20 damage, so I was happy with this result. I had him flee to the back of the ledge to make the Harpy have to travel farther if it wanted revenge, then changed over to Shadowheart and had her hit Harpy 2 with a shot from her crossbow. Cue her getting a critical hit, and Harpy 2 ending up very dead. :D Shadowheart then followed Astarion to the back of the ledge, and I moved over to Wyll, having him climb out of the bubble of Silence and try an Eldritch Blast on Harpy 4. Sadly, this missed – as did Lae’zel’s bow shot from the higher ledge. *grumble* This allowed Harpy 4 to fly over to Wyll and execute a savage attack with her claws, scoring a critical hit and carving off a decent amount of his health. *wince* The turn order then moved over to Smiler, who – after considering and discarding shooting the harpy with their crossbow, because they had the low ground and thus disadvantage – decided to use their one Intelligence-based cantrip and hit Harpy 4 with a Mind Sliver! This took 2 HP off her meager 4 remaining AND gave her a 1D4 disadvantage on saving throws –

And then, once I got Smiler out of the water, Gale finished things off with another barrage of Magic Missiles (just regular Level I ones this time). And so the party was once again victorious over their enemies – and, as a bonus, Wyll ended up inspired again, as apparently saving Mirkon is one of his “Folk Hero” triggers! Shame our inspiration point cache was already full, but at least he got a bit of extra XP from it!

F) With the harpies officially dead, the party turned their attention back to Mirkon, who as per the cutscene was now cowering nearby with his hands over his head. He asked if they were gone, and I nearly had Smiler take advantage of the Bard option to hum a calming tune –

And then went “hang on – kid nearly died because of magical music luring him to a watery grave. Maybe we don’t try to sing to calm him down.” XD I thus instead had Smiler assure him, “They’re gone. Are you all right?” Poor Mirkon babbled out “No – yes – I mean...I don’t know!” as he was all mixed up –

But fortunately, here the game gave Smiler a Bard option actually appropriate to the situation: “Calm there. You’re a hero. You survived a harpy’s wily lullaby, my friend. Be proud.” :) Mirkon immediately perked up, going, “Really? You think so? I’ll tell Mol!” –

Before realizing in horror that Mol was likely to be mad at him, as he hadn’t managed to get the gold from the harpy nest! He declared he had to go and prepared to rush off – then paused and added “you should meet Mol. She’ll be grateful you helped me. Find a boy called Doni. Tell him you want to see the ‘Dragon’s Lair.’” He then rushed off, completely unaware that we’d already met Mol and impressed her. XD Ah well – nice of you to tell us the secret password anyway, kid! With Mirkon thus saved, I prepared to end the session –

G) But. Well. Gale had approved of Smiler’s helping to calm down the kid in the previous cutscene. And when Gale approves of something, he always wants to tell Smiler a story. So, to properly wrap things up, I had Smiler go over and see what he wanted. Gale cheerfully stated that Mirkon reminded him of himself when he was young and always getting into trouble – Smiler sarcastically asked “Met with a lot of harpies, did you?” –

Only for Gale to cheerfully go “And worse.” He then related how, when his parents refused to get him a kitten, he summoned himself a tressym (a winged cat creature) – his dear friend Tara. “Benefits of a wizard’s education,” he promptly bragged, examining his fingernails. “Of course, my considerable talent didn’t hurt either” –

And then he looked up, saw Smiler’s unimpressed face, and admitted, “Well...that depends on who you ask, I suppose.” He then admitted to summoning things more exotic than winged cats – Smiler, now amused, managed to avoid calling him out on his self-important attitude and just asked “Such as?” as per the below screenshot:



What can I say, I just found their face funny. XD Anyway, Gale confessed that he actually once summoned a MAGMA MEPHIT as a youngster – apparently the mephit was a nice chap, and they kept in touch, but the minute the housekeeper saw the monster… Well. “Screaming, yelling, panic, and before you knew it, fire everywhere.” XD *shakehead* Oh Gale, you have lived an interesting life, that is for sure. He then wrapped things up with “Anyway, I’m glad we got that boy out of his predicament. Poor lad would have been harpy feed if it wasn’t for you.” Actually, Gale, I feel like you did a good portion of the work in saving Mirkon, given Smiler ended up Lured in the very first round, but – thank you. :p The Smiler/Gale besties arc continues!

And so the playsession actually ended with our intrepid heroes hanging out in the cove, by the corpses of their kills:



*nods* Very dramatic – though I’d prefer it if everyone was facing the same direction. XD But anyway – next time (which will NOT be tomorrow – for one thing, I gotta clear my reference videos out of my phone first), the gang will loot the bodies, maybe see if they can get up to the harpy nest to get the goodies within, then start working their way over to the other side of the map so they can get Karlach already. I swear I’m going to recruit her one day!


Workout: Hopped back on the bike tonight to pedal my way through the beginning of the end of The Adventures Of Useless Steve, Science Edition – aka the first thirty-five minutes of “Fallout: New Vegas - Old World Blues - Grand Finale - The Power of Science!” Which featured:

A) Useless Steve talking to Dr. Klein about all the technologies he’d gathered for him and the Think Tank – the X-2 Antenna, the X-13 Aural Stealth Suit, and the Sonic Emitter (which was not from X-8 but was really handy there) – and discovering that, uh, Dr. Klein didn’t seem to know why he’d actually wanted the technologies. Or how to use them to get into the Forbidden Zone. *facepalm* Cue Dr. Klein desperately trying to cover by saying they were really advanced and he just needed to study them for a bit more, and Useless Steve making things worse by failing a bunch of skill checks and suggesting things like “The antenna looks like it could break things beyond repair. Maybe it could break in?” (which Dr. Klein was actually sort of on board with – I guess he’d seen just how good Steve had gotten at using the antenna as a Booping Stick) and “Maybe the new frequency for the Sonic Emitter can blast open the Forbidden Zone door lock, or…?” (that Klein wasn’t so keen on). Fortunately Dr. Klein was able to figure a plan of attack out by himself after realizing that there was an override code for the Forbidden Zone doors hidden (very sloppily) in the schematics for the three technologies, and that the antenna could be used to boost the Sonic Emitter’s frequencies while the stealth suit could be used to get past the door lock. And since Steve didn’t have the Science or Medicine to realize that this all was a set-up to get him into the Forbidden Zone so he could pop his organs back into his body, he was only too happy to march over there to deliver a message of SCIENCE to Dr. Mobius on Dr. Klein’s behalf and free Big MT from Mobius’s tyranny! Even if Dr. Klein had to tell him what his cue to leave was. XD

B) Useless Steve prepping for his journey by turning on the Smart Lights so he could think better, then fast-traveling to the Forbidden Dome via the Big MT North Tunnel because for once there weren’t fifty million enemies detecting him and thus the game was okay with him doing that. XD Which led to Steve managing to successfully avoid all the robo-scorpions outside with some careful running and jumping –

Only to be confronted with the Giant Robo-Scorpion being powered up in the dome’s entrance! Ready to destroy him with its powerful tail laser! Fortunately Steve had a three-part plan to deal with the monster, which he executed flawlessly:

I. Use the Targeting Drone Terminal right by the front door to activate the targeting drones and distract the Giant Robo-Scorpion with some cannon-fodder Protectrons

II. Scramble up the stairs to the next room (taking down the force field blocking the doorway with the Emitter) and use the Power Regulation Terminal to turn on the backup generator for the scorpion’s laser tail...which ended up exploding and causing a good chunk of damage to the Giant Robo-Scorpion, as the robot wasn’t designed for both generators to be running at once

III. Scramble across the arena and up another set of stairs to the Turret Control Terminal – the only one that needed to be hacked, but fortunately Steve was able to get the Science skill necessary to attempt it by slapping on Dr. Klein’s scrubs – and use that to get the turrets to target the Giant Robo-Scorpion

End result? The Giant Robo-Scorpion never actually landed any hits on Steve, and Steve only personally had to shoot it a couple of times before it glitched out and exploded early under the onslaught of laser fire from the Protectrons and turrets. Causing the turrets to fire at nothing for a little while. Because New Vegas is gonna New Vegas. XD But hey, at least Steve survived the big boss fight! (As did the Protectrons, which really surprised Jon.)

C) Useless Steve then going to confront Dr. Mobius (after looting his control center, of course – had to get his scrubs, those boost Science, Intelligence, AND Charisma)...only to find a doddering, quite friendly old man instead of the evil genius he was expecting. One who politely asked him to move into his FOV cone so he could see him better, offered him Mentats, and kept using the word “raisins” when he meant “reasons.” Over the course of their conversation, it became apparent that Dr. Mobius was putting on the “evil genius” act to keep the others in the Think Tank occupied (though, thanks to his own mental deterioration, he’d kind of forgotten that was the plan)...and that he’d stolen Steve’s brain because he didn’t want them to know how successful the brain extraction had been. And that, if Steve’s brain was put back in his body, he’d be able to just walk past the radar fence no problem. Because, well, while the Think Tank had been Dr. Mobius’s friends, he knew that they were honestly quite dangerous to the outside world – to the point where, when he’d helped turn them into the floating brains-in-jars robot creations, he’d altered their perception and programming to get them stuck in permanent loops, reinforced by their own new names, and done the same to himself (“Mobius” referring to a Mobius strip, “0” of course being one big loop, “8” being an infinity symbol stood upright, etc). The idea had been to keep them unaware of the outside world and thus unable to wreck it with their ludicrous super-science –

But unfortunately, the previous visitors like Elijah and Ulysses had begun to shake that programming, and the Think Tank managing to drag Steve in with their probe just confirmed for them that there was a world outside the radar fence. And then Steve turned out to be the perfect candidate for brain extraction, thanks – weirdly – to having been shot in the head previously, and Dr. Mobius had realized that the Think Tank was dangerously close to figuring out how to escape (basically, put their brains back in organic bodies). So he’d stolen Steve’s organs and tricked the Think Tank into sending Steve out to get the technologies he’d need to get into the Forbidden Dome so Mobius could talk to him and tell him what he needed to know. ...And so he could make an elaborate Wizard of Oz reference, with the X-2 Antenna – able to amplify certain thought waves – standing in for the brain, the Aural Stealth Suit – able to regulate the wearer’s heartbeat to help with stealth – standing in for the heart, and the Sonic Emitter – which was originally used as a “medicinal vertebrae-pulse-de-sensitizer,” whatever the hell THAT is – standing in for courage – aka, spine. XD Not that HE knew it was an Oz reference – he remembered the story as a bunch of thugs murdering people to get the items despite possessing them themselves. And he didn’t want the Think Tank doing the same, which – fair. (Now I’m wondering if you can map any of the Think Tankers to various Oz characters… Mobius must be the Wizard, of course, and the PC Dorothy…)

D) And Useless Steve then going to collect his brain – only to discover that this brain had developed a personality of his own outside of his body, and it was not eager to hop back inside his skull. Especially after some of the things he’d subjected it to during his lifetime, like running around tetanus-infested vaults, or trekking off to New Vegas looking for revenge, or, you know, getting shot in the head (though, admittedly, two of those things didn’t happen in this playthrough, though Jon allowed they happened in the Official Useless Steve Continuity – aka, the last one :P). Steve attempted to point out that his brain was responsible for him doing all that shit (because, you know, BRAIN), but his brain insisted it was the fault of all his glands that pumped him full of chemicals and gave him feelings. And no, he did not consider any of it “fun.” XD Steve tried to talk him around into joining up again, but his brain was not keen on leaving the safety of its jar and having to worry about things like grievous injuries and the need to urinate again – it wasn’t even that fussed about losing out on the ability to go out and see the sights around the Wasteland. Steve then attempted reverse psychology of the “well fine, I’ll just leave you there” variety, but the brain wasn’t having it, hitting HIM with some sarcasm about how dare Steve deprive it of the opportunity to get dragged through a wasteland “so bleak, it was actually improved by the end of the world” –

So instead Steve pointed out that the Think Tank wasn’t doing so hot, brains-wise, and how was his brain going to avoid THAT fate? And when it tried to say, “Oh, give me a few decades and I’m sure I can solve the problem,” he used the power of Smart Lights, Dr. Klein’s glasses, Dr. Mobius’s scrubs, and a Programmer’s Digest to point out that biogel has a corrosive effect on brains, so his brain had better have figured THAT into its calculations. His brain was initially pissed off that Steve thought it hadn’t…

Then relented and admitted that yes, perhaps staying as functional as it was right now was probably going to take more work than it realized. Though it was still very reluctant to get back inside Steve – especially when he used his Lady Killer perk to flirt with it. (Which, uh, does seem to indicate that Steve thinks of his brain as a girl...you have anything you want to share about your gender identity, Steve?) And then it revealed that even it if wanted to get back into Steve’s skull, they’d have to go to Dr. Klein’s lab to do it – and the Think Tank were unlikely to want to share. Steve was like “but they promised to put me back together after I did everything for them,” but his brain explained that they would be far too interested in using it to figure out a way past the radar fence to do that – and there was of course always the risk that one of them would decide to just use STEVE as their host body. An angry Steve was like “well then, let’s MAKE them share, it’s violence time” and his brain very reluctantly agreed to come along with, adding that Steve could pick up his other organs and get them put back in by the Sink’s Auto-Doc if he so wished.

And so I ended tonight’s chunklet with Steve preparing to collect his brain, and a level-up to Level 12! Tomorrow, we’ll end this mini-series by seeing how Steve handles the Think Tank, and how this whole Science Adventure will end! Hopefully well – Jon put in a lot of work to try and get a good ending, after all.

Writing: Got to this late thanks to the absurdly-long write-ups above (I swear I used to be able to do those faster...probably because I put in a lot less detail), but I did get to it, and managed to edit another page of Chapter 6 of “Londerland Bloodlines: Downtown Queensland!” Which featured –

A) Alice sneaking through the back hallways of the restricted area, smugly enjoying how her boosted Obfuscate kept her safe from the cameras and lamenting that she wouldn’t have it after tonight...but she was unwilling to drain Victor every night to try and keep it, as all that would result in was a dead Victor. And after the trouble she’d gone to to keep him alive – well, she was willing to just keep practicing and hope eventually her Obfuscate became naturally good enough to beat the cameras. Cheshire delighted in the opportunity to hit her with a double-pun in the form of “Purractice makes purrfect.” XD (Alice pointed out in response that it wasn’t her fault LaCroix kept sending her on stealthy missions...then decided that, since she actually liked using Obfuscate, she shouldn’t really complain about that. XD)

B) Alice making her way around some corners before coming to the end of the corridor, which terminated in a section with two windows looking into the hall. Once of which showed a server room, and the other a security room with a guard in it – with his gun out. Alice briefly panicked that he’d somehow heard her coming (since he obviously couldn’t see her) –

Before overhearing him going “pew, pew” and realizing that he was just bored and playacting fighting bad guys. Causing her to note that if he was doing that with a loaded gun, that was an accident waiting to happen, and if he was doing it with an unloaded one, then he was unprepared for trouble. Before commenting that a museum guard probably shouldn’t be trying to shoot people anyway – besides the obvious problem of injuring and maybe killing another human being, they could cause damage to the very items they were trying to save! Carpenter pointed out that most guards and police officers were much more concerned with getting to experience some action over such niceties, though – well, that or eating as many donuts as possible while at work, like good old Chunk. Alice had to stop herself from laughing at that.

C) And Alice sneaking past the guard’s window – only to discover a door in her way that was just in the guy’s line of sight. Fortunately, the guy was so distracted by his imaginary antics that he didn’t even notice her dropping her invisibility to try the knob (though, for safety’s sake, she did wait until he’d turned his back) – and even more fortunately, the door was not locked, nor had a camera behind it. Alice thus was able to get through it and into the next room no problem –

Only to be confronted with something right out of a spy movie – a whole bunch of lasers she had to navigate her way through. As she said, Obfuscate wasn’t going to help her with that! I left it there for the night – tomorrow, she figures out how to deal with the lasers, then finally makes her way to the sarcophagus – or, well, where the sarcophagus is supposed to be...

Not too bad -- wish I'd had the time to watch something on FreeTube, but something's always gotta be cut when I play one of my RPGs, and I really wanted to do my writing, so... *shrug* Maybe tomorrow! As it stands, it is for once well before 2 AM, and I really ought to hit the sack, especially since there's a non-zero chance I'll be helping Mom shovel a bit tomorrow (we at least need to clear the path to the front door). I know I'll also be doing another workout and working some more on "Londerland Bloodlines: Downtown Queensland" -- but whether I'll be playing Portal 2, Little Corners, or Fallout: New Vegas will depend on how I feel and how much time I think I have. Might even turn into a video catch-up day, depending. We'll see! Night all!