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crossover_chickIt's not TOO bad yet, but -- I am definitely having my fair share of "staring off into space" or "getting caught up in something I didn't mean to get caught up in" moments. And I have in fact been suffering a few of those moments working on this entry, so let's get this posted and get myself to bed:
Work – Another mostly-quiet day, fortunately, though it was a bit more stressful than yesterday –
A) I had to do up a new “gift confirmation” letter for a guy who called saying he’d received an incorrect one, and he needed something with “received by” dates and amounts and whatnot for tax purposes
B) I had to take a couple of credit card calls (with my coworker grabbing a third at the end of the day)
C) I had to help our main database contact get a bunch of credit card batches posted, which involved calling a guy to let him know that he’d created another unnecessary gift in an attempt to pay his pledge (bit sad, really)
D) I had to e-mail our credit card people again about an issue because they had yet to get back to me
E) And I attempted to research some returned mail, only to not get far thanks to everything else (though I was able to find some updated addresses and send a couple of letters back out)
Yeah, it was busy, but not OVERWHELMINGLY so, at least. And the commute up and back was a LOT better today, so I will accept it. Here’s hoping Friday isn’t a total shitshow!
To-Do List –
1. Get in a workout: Check – another night on the bike, another night with “Baldur's Gate 3 Cast play D&D #1 | High Rollers Presents: Shadows of Athkatla!” Tonight’s half-hour featured:
A) Astarion checking through Tav’s pack and finding – tucked away amongst all the various pots and cups and far, far too many books the player character has picked up – two potions of healing (Mark the DM even gave Neil a special little jar with a die inside that Neil could roll when he used it), a scroll of Counterspell, a scroll of Detect Thoughts, and two Arrows of Fire (which are basically arrows that, when fired, light themselves in midair and explode when hitting a target, doing extra fire damage to them and possible the people around them). Astarion promptly tucked all that away and distracted Karlach with a light-up yo-yo he found in the pack. XD
B) Shadowheart wandering toward Lae’zel, Gale, and Elminster to make sure the githyanki didn’t piss their new friend off, and Wyll deciding to swallow his pride and ask if his party members could maybe provide a bit more help with all the wounds? Fortunately for him, Mark decided that their chat with Elminster and cleaning up after the fight and such could count as a short rest, restoring some of their special abilities (Wyll got the spell slot he expended casting Darkness back, Lae’zel recovered her action surge, etc) and allowing Wyll to spend some of his “hit dice” – three dice that a character can roll to help recover hit points! The way they work is, you roll a die (the size of which depends on your character class – Wyll as a warlock had a D8, Karlach the barbarian had a D12, and poor squishy Gale the wizard had a D6), add your Constitution modifier to the result, and recover that amount of hit points. You can roll however many you like, but you only get three (at least until a long rest), so… Wyll thus rolled his first “hit die” –
And got a fucking one. XD Poor Theo! At least he had a +2 Constitution modifier, so he was able to bump that up to a three! He ended up spending another die to get another +6 HP, bringing him up to 15, while Gale rolled his and recovered 5 HP overall. *nods* At least nobody’s actively dying!
C) Elminster explaining to the group once everyone had healed up and come over to see what was going on that the magic surrounding Tav was off in some way – before asking Gale what he’d learned while examining it, forcing Tim to try and remember what Mark had told him earlier. XD Fortunately he remembered the pertinent points – big, powerful, and being channeled from very far away. Elminster confirmed that he’d noticed that and explained that he was pretty certain it was being channeled from the city of Athkatla, in the neighboring nation of Amn (just under the Sword Coast). A few history checks later from everyone but Lae’zel (who, as a githyanki, wouldn’t know ANYTHING about this):
I. Everyone remembered that Athkatla was a big trading city in Amn, and was commonly called “The City Of Coin”
II. Wyll remembered that Athkatla, about a century ago, got attacked by a mage, and that it was the place from which sprang the Bhaalspawn, an ally of Minsc and Jaheira, old heroes of legend (the Bhaalspawn being the protagonist of Baldur’s Gate II, if I remember correctly)
III. Gale remembered that all magic there was under the control of the Cowled Wizards, who forbade any practice of it without their say-so – so any practitioners either had to get a license or not get caught
IV. And Shadowheart remembered that the place had a decent-sized temple district, with the main gods of the city being Waukeen (goddess of merchants and coin) and Sune (goddess of beauty and love). And that Selûne had no temples there, yay~ XD
D) Elminster revealing that he was spending most of his magical power trying to shield Tav from the effects of the spell, which was attempting to take over their body and mind and presumably turn them into some sort of meat-puppet for a nefarious force, so if the party wanted to save their friend, they would have to travel to Athkatla themselves and seek out the source of the magic and destroy or disrupt it somehow, warning them that they only had a few days before even his shielding failed. Cue Astarion turning to Gale and Lae – turning to Gale and pointing out that Amn was miles away, so how the hell were they going to get there in time?
And cue Lae’zel coolly saying “Magic,” while Elminster assured everyone he had enough juice in him for a teleportation spell. XD He proceeded to hand Gale a slate that came pre-loaded with a teleportation spell, saying that Gale could break that to get everyone home once they’d figured out what was going on and stopped it – and warning Gale not to eat it. Cue Gale pretending to lick it as he stowed it in his robes. XD
E) Elminster urging the group to find the powerful factions in the city and use them to figure out where the spell was coming from and how to stop it, stating “I know a rotten cheese when I smell one” and that there was something afoot that would cause more trouble if it was allowed to go on. Cue Gale making a note: “Cheesy foot.” XD (Elminster was amused and said that he knew Gale would understand.)
F) Shadowheart asking why they were trusting this weirdo who just walked into their camp, and Elminster realizing he never properly introduced himself and telling her he was Elminster of Shadowdale, powerful wizard, chosen of Mystra, etc – surely she’d heard some of the many tales about him? Shadowheart said she most certainly had not (to be fair, she IS amnesiac), and everyone had to roll to figure out the expression on Elminster’s face – Astarion botched it and thought the guy was happy; Gale rolled poorly and kinda drifted off for a moment when he heard “Mystra;” and Shadowheart and Wyll were the only ones who rolled well enough to realize Elminster was in fact quite insulted – though I’m sure the others picked up on it when he started muttering about how he was one of the most powerful wizards of the age and was the star of so many tales and songs, harrumph harrumph. XD
G) Karlach asking if they were bringing Scratch, and the rest of the party giving a unanimous “NO” because they didn’t want the doggo getting hurt – and then telling Volo “oh no, no, we need you to look after Scratch” when he offered to come with. Wyll did accept Volo’s little guidebook to Athkatla, though (complete with fold-out map!) – and let the guy sign it. XD He offered the map to Elminster so he could teleport them straight to the source of the problem, but Elminster explained that he wasn’t sure where in the city the magic was coming from, just that it was originating in Athkatla. He’d planned to just drop them off at the front gates – though, if they wanted to start from a specific location, they certainly could!
Cue Astarion suggesting, “How about a nice brothel?” And Elminster actually considering it for a second before the others shot the idea down. XD Though Astarion was at least able to use it as a lead-in to ask Elminster quietly about if he should try and seek out any underworldly connections he might have in the city (after all, he’s been around for a while – elf vampire) – Elminster encouraged him to do so, given they might be the best people to ask about unusual goings-on.
H) Karlach confirming that the magic they sought should be easy to identify once they got there (though Elminster felt like they’d have to get pretty close to be able to detect it directly, as it was likely to be hidden, so they should follow any lead regarding things being out-of-place in the city), then everyone scrambling to get themselves ready for the journey as Lae’zel’s “idle animation” had progressed from “flicking ears and poking Gale” to “slowly drawing her sword while glaring at the others” as per Devora. XD
I) The Narrator being brought back in after Elminster dramatically teleported everyone to describe Athkatla – which was a very pretty city of cream-colored buildings roofed with colorful tiles, bisected by a great river over which a huge bridge covered in buildings stretched – and Mark describing some of the important places in the city, including the bridge, the big open-air market, the temple and government districts, the river district (aka the lower city), and the docks. The gang, thus informed, began arguing about where to go – Karlach was all for going to a tavern for a frosty pint and a room for them to stay in; Astarion was keen to go wander around the – no, not the brothel, Karlach, the DOCKS so he could spread some coin and maybe meet up with his contacts in the area (...though admittedly maybe they WOULD be in a brothel); and Lae’zel immediately declared they needed to go to the marketplace, which Shadowheart agreed with (“I know, disgusting,” she said in response to Lae’zel’s rolled eyes). Mark pointed out that they could split the party…
Cue Neil saying, “Isn’t that the number one cause of party death?” XD Mark insisted it would be a good way to gather lots of information quickly, though, and pointed out that sending Shadowheart and Lae’zel to the market would result in the “spiciest, funniest shopping trip ever.” XD Everyone was on board with the ladies getting a goofy shopping montage!
J) The party thus deciding to split up – Shadowheart and Lae’zel visiting the marketplace, Astarion and Karlach heading for The Docks, and Gale and Wyll lingering by the city gates (Wyll examining Volo’s guidebook while Gale prepared to Detect Magic to see if he could sense any major sources of negative energy around) – only for everyone to hastily come back because they realized that they’d forgotten to agree on a place and time to meet back up. XD They quickly established that they’d all find each other at the Copper Coronet Inn four hours later, to give everyone enough time to get around (and for Shadowheart and Lae’zel to have their montage). Karlach was briefly saddened to realize it was still quite early in the morning and thus probably too early for a tavern to be open – but Mark assured Samantha that this is The City Of Coin, and thus there definitely WOULD be some taverns open just because they wanted the business. Karlach shall have her frosty pint yet!
K) Astarion also taking advantage of the opportunity to hit Gale up for money in one of the most amusing bits of the session, with Gale immediately seeing where things were going the moment Astarion got all chummy. XD He insisted that it was just a bit of a “payday loan” and that Gale could give the money to Karlach if he didn’t trust Astarion – Gale was like “Melty McMetalhands?!” causing Karlach to point out that her internal fire wasn’t that bad – after all, she hadn’t burnt her clothes off yet! So long as she remained calm, anyway… Anyway, Astarion tried to weedle 20 gold out of Gale; he countered with “10 and I want change;” and Astarion finally got him to agree to 15. XD Mark then asked if Astarion had any plans to hand out any of the goods he’d stolen from Tav’s pack to the others –
Astarion: “What goods?” XD Though he then immediately decided to slip Gale the Counterspell scroll, both as a gesture of goodwill and because he considered magic boring, so Gale would definitely get more use out of it than him. Though he did make sure to keep the scroll of Detect Thoughts…
L) And the group splitting up, Lae’zel and Shadowheart off to the market and Astarion and Karlach off to the docks, while Wyll hung out on a bench and read up on the city, learning about the three major power players – the merchant houses and The Council Of Six (the richest citizens who had bought their way into the nobility), the Cowled Wizards (again, those who control magic in the city – or, well, specifically ARCANE magic, like what Wyll and Gale wield; Shadowheart’s divine magic was a-okay to cast whenever she liked, as that was the purview of the gods and thus the temple district), and the Shadowthieves (a powerful criminal syndicate) – and how they were struggling against each other –
And Gale slipped down an alley to cast Detect Magic without being noticed so he could check for any obvious sources of magic. He got a 12 on the Stealth roll, which Mark made a note of (making Tim VERY nervous), but successfully cast the spell. He didn’t immediately sense anything interesting, but the spell lasts for ten minutes, so he had time to track things down!
And that is where I left things! Tomorrow, we’ll finish off this half of the adventure, and then next week, watch Part II! Should be fun!
2. Continue editing Chapter 4 of “The Van Dort Vacancy”: Check – kind of had to squeeze this in at the last minute thanks to the above write-up taking so long, but I DID get about a page edited, covering:
A) Victor remarking that the Advocates cult was the weirdest he’d ever met (after Smiler told them yesterday that they hadn’t forced the publishers of the magazine Amusements to join them, since it wouldn’t have made them happy) – Alice was like “have you met many cults?” and Victor had to admit no, but also any cult that allowed potential recruits to just say “no” like that was – well, he would have said “weird,” but then his fingers bumped into a mysterious feathery something under his bed…
B) Victor feeling around under his bed until he could find a handhold on the object and pulling it out – to discover it was an old masquerade mask he was kind of hoping to never see again because he wore it on a particularly upsetting night out. Alice and Smiler both noted how fancy it was, and Victor explained to them that he’d worn it to a party at the Kingsleigh’s, back when his mother was still parading him in front of noble daughters, and that his main memory of that night was standing around in a ridiculous costume, watching all the other men chat easily with the ladies...and then trying to imitate them while introducing himself to the daughter, only for her to laugh in his face and start immediately making fun of him to her friends while he went and hid by the buffet. Smiler was immediately like “do you have any happy memories?!” (Victor: “Meeting you and Alice?” Smiler: “...any more than four days old?”)l
C) And Victor assuring Alice and Smiler that he has actually been happy before after Smiler admitted they were tempted to drag him back to the MOJ and stick him in one of the art rooms until he could feel joy again and Alice admitted she was tempted to let them – just that the doom and gloom kind of overshadowed all the happier moments. Smiler declared that was why Victor was getting out, after all, and reiterated their stance on “if you have terrible parents, you leave them and find new ones.” Victor noted he was a little old to be adopted by anyone now – Smiler countered that their parents would probably be happy to claim him.After all, they were happy to claim Smiler…
And that is where I left things for tonight! Tomorrow, we should hopefully be able to finish off this chapter with Victor making a decision about what to do about this mask – and then next week, we can focus on getting this baby posted! Yay!
3. Watch something on YouTube: No check – I was hoping that I might be able to fit something in, but the work-out write-up took way too long, unfortunately. *sigh* I’m getting WAAAY too into the details of what I watch when I do my write-ups, and I really need to cut it out.
4. Get my tumblr queues sorted: Substitution check – didn’t do anything with my queues on either Victor Luvs Alice (N Smiler) or Valice Multiverse, but I did straight-up reblog something on the former – a thread all about the latest bullshit internet censorship laws going to a “markup vote” to get in front of the House today, and who to call if you wanted the people on the “House Energy and Commerce Committee” to reject the markup vote entirely and stop the bills in their tracks. Just felt important, you know? With all the bullshit happening everywhere? *sigh* I hate this timeline, seriously.
And there we are, and now it is time for me to go get some sleep. At least the weekend is only one day away! Night all!
Work – Another mostly-quiet day, fortunately, though it was a bit more stressful than yesterday –
A) I had to do up a new “gift confirmation” letter for a guy who called saying he’d received an incorrect one, and he needed something with “received by” dates and amounts and whatnot for tax purposes
B) I had to take a couple of credit card calls (with my coworker grabbing a third at the end of the day)
C) I had to help our main database contact get a bunch of credit card batches posted, which involved calling a guy to let him know that he’d created another unnecessary gift in an attempt to pay his pledge (bit sad, really)
D) I had to e-mail our credit card people again about an issue because they had yet to get back to me
E) And I attempted to research some returned mail, only to not get far thanks to everything else (though I was able to find some updated addresses and send a couple of letters back out)
Yeah, it was busy, but not OVERWHELMINGLY so, at least. And the commute up and back was a LOT better today, so I will accept it. Here’s hoping Friday isn’t a total shitshow!
To-Do List –
1. Get in a workout: Check – another night on the bike, another night with “Baldur's Gate 3 Cast play D&D #1 | High Rollers Presents: Shadows of Athkatla!” Tonight’s half-hour featured:
A) Astarion checking through Tav’s pack and finding – tucked away amongst all the various pots and cups and far, far too many books the player character has picked up – two potions of healing (Mark the DM even gave Neil a special little jar with a die inside that Neil could roll when he used it), a scroll of Counterspell, a scroll of Detect Thoughts, and two Arrows of Fire (which are basically arrows that, when fired, light themselves in midair and explode when hitting a target, doing extra fire damage to them and possible the people around them). Astarion promptly tucked all that away and distracted Karlach with a light-up yo-yo he found in the pack. XD
B) Shadowheart wandering toward Lae’zel, Gale, and Elminster to make sure the githyanki didn’t piss their new friend off, and Wyll deciding to swallow his pride and ask if his party members could maybe provide a bit more help with all the wounds? Fortunately for him, Mark decided that their chat with Elminster and cleaning up after the fight and such could count as a short rest, restoring some of their special abilities (Wyll got the spell slot he expended casting Darkness back, Lae’zel recovered her action surge, etc) and allowing Wyll to spend some of his “hit dice” – three dice that a character can roll to help recover hit points! The way they work is, you roll a die (the size of which depends on your character class – Wyll as a warlock had a D8, Karlach the barbarian had a D12, and poor squishy Gale the wizard had a D6), add your Constitution modifier to the result, and recover that amount of hit points. You can roll however many you like, but you only get three (at least until a long rest), so… Wyll thus rolled his first “hit die” –
And got a fucking one. XD Poor Theo! At least he had a +2 Constitution modifier, so he was able to bump that up to a three! He ended up spending another die to get another +6 HP, bringing him up to 15, while Gale rolled his and recovered 5 HP overall. *nods* At least nobody’s actively dying!
C) Elminster explaining to the group once everyone had healed up and come over to see what was going on that the magic surrounding Tav was off in some way – before asking Gale what he’d learned while examining it, forcing Tim to try and remember what Mark had told him earlier. XD Fortunately he remembered the pertinent points – big, powerful, and being channeled from very far away. Elminster confirmed that he’d noticed that and explained that he was pretty certain it was being channeled from the city of Athkatla, in the neighboring nation of Amn (just under the Sword Coast). A few history checks later from everyone but Lae’zel (who, as a githyanki, wouldn’t know ANYTHING about this):
I. Everyone remembered that Athkatla was a big trading city in Amn, and was commonly called “The City Of Coin”
II. Wyll remembered that Athkatla, about a century ago, got attacked by a mage, and that it was the place from which sprang the Bhaalspawn, an ally of Minsc and Jaheira, old heroes of legend (the Bhaalspawn being the protagonist of Baldur’s Gate II, if I remember correctly)
III. Gale remembered that all magic there was under the control of the Cowled Wizards, who forbade any practice of it without their say-so – so any practitioners either had to get a license or not get caught
IV. And Shadowheart remembered that the place had a decent-sized temple district, with the main gods of the city being Waukeen (goddess of merchants and coin) and Sune (goddess of beauty and love). And that Selûne had no temples there, yay~ XD
D) Elminster revealing that he was spending most of his magical power trying to shield Tav from the effects of the spell, which was attempting to take over their body and mind and presumably turn them into some sort of meat-puppet for a nefarious force, so if the party wanted to save their friend, they would have to travel to Athkatla themselves and seek out the source of the magic and destroy or disrupt it somehow, warning them that they only had a few days before even his shielding failed. Cue Astarion turning to Gale and Lae – turning to Gale and pointing out that Amn was miles away, so how the hell were they going to get there in time?
And cue Lae’zel coolly saying “Magic,” while Elminster assured everyone he had enough juice in him for a teleportation spell. XD He proceeded to hand Gale a slate that came pre-loaded with a teleportation spell, saying that Gale could break that to get everyone home once they’d figured out what was going on and stopped it – and warning Gale not to eat it. Cue Gale pretending to lick it as he stowed it in his robes. XD
E) Elminster urging the group to find the powerful factions in the city and use them to figure out where the spell was coming from and how to stop it, stating “I know a rotten cheese when I smell one” and that there was something afoot that would cause more trouble if it was allowed to go on. Cue Gale making a note: “Cheesy foot.” XD (Elminster was amused and said that he knew Gale would understand.)
F) Shadowheart asking why they were trusting this weirdo who just walked into their camp, and Elminster realizing he never properly introduced himself and telling her he was Elminster of Shadowdale, powerful wizard, chosen of Mystra, etc – surely she’d heard some of the many tales about him? Shadowheart said she most certainly had not (to be fair, she IS amnesiac), and everyone had to roll to figure out the expression on Elminster’s face – Astarion botched it and thought the guy was happy; Gale rolled poorly and kinda drifted off for a moment when he heard “Mystra;” and Shadowheart and Wyll were the only ones who rolled well enough to realize Elminster was in fact quite insulted – though I’m sure the others picked up on it when he started muttering about how he was one of the most powerful wizards of the age and was the star of so many tales and songs, harrumph harrumph. XD
G) Karlach asking if they were bringing Scratch, and the rest of the party giving a unanimous “NO” because they didn’t want the doggo getting hurt – and then telling Volo “oh no, no, we need you to look after Scratch” when he offered to come with. Wyll did accept Volo’s little guidebook to Athkatla, though (complete with fold-out map!) – and let the guy sign it. XD He offered the map to Elminster so he could teleport them straight to the source of the problem, but Elminster explained that he wasn’t sure where in the city the magic was coming from, just that it was originating in Athkatla. He’d planned to just drop them off at the front gates – though, if they wanted to start from a specific location, they certainly could!
Cue Astarion suggesting, “How about a nice brothel?” And Elminster actually considering it for a second before the others shot the idea down. XD Though Astarion was at least able to use it as a lead-in to ask Elminster quietly about if he should try and seek out any underworldly connections he might have in the city (after all, he’s been around for a while – elf vampire) – Elminster encouraged him to do so, given they might be the best people to ask about unusual goings-on.
H) Karlach confirming that the magic they sought should be easy to identify once they got there (though Elminster felt like they’d have to get pretty close to be able to detect it directly, as it was likely to be hidden, so they should follow any lead regarding things being out-of-place in the city), then everyone scrambling to get themselves ready for the journey as Lae’zel’s “idle animation” had progressed from “flicking ears and poking Gale” to “slowly drawing her sword while glaring at the others” as per Devora. XD
I) The Narrator being brought back in after Elminster dramatically teleported everyone to describe Athkatla – which was a very pretty city of cream-colored buildings roofed with colorful tiles, bisected by a great river over which a huge bridge covered in buildings stretched – and Mark describing some of the important places in the city, including the bridge, the big open-air market, the temple and government districts, the river district (aka the lower city), and the docks. The gang, thus informed, began arguing about where to go – Karlach was all for going to a tavern for a frosty pint and a room for them to stay in; Astarion was keen to go wander around the – no, not the brothel, Karlach, the DOCKS so he could spread some coin and maybe meet up with his contacts in the area (...though admittedly maybe they WOULD be in a brothel); and Lae’zel immediately declared they needed to go to the marketplace, which Shadowheart agreed with (“I know, disgusting,” she said in response to Lae’zel’s rolled eyes). Mark pointed out that they could split the party…
Cue Neil saying, “Isn’t that the number one cause of party death?” XD Mark insisted it would be a good way to gather lots of information quickly, though, and pointed out that sending Shadowheart and Lae’zel to the market would result in the “spiciest, funniest shopping trip ever.” XD Everyone was on board with the ladies getting a goofy shopping montage!
J) The party thus deciding to split up – Shadowheart and Lae’zel visiting the marketplace, Astarion and Karlach heading for The Docks, and Gale and Wyll lingering by the city gates (Wyll examining Volo’s guidebook while Gale prepared to Detect Magic to see if he could sense any major sources of negative energy around) – only for everyone to hastily come back because they realized that they’d forgotten to agree on a place and time to meet back up. XD They quickly established that they’d all find each other at the Copper Coronet Inn four hours later, to give everyone enough time to get around (and for Shadowheart and Lae’zel to have their montage). Karlach was briefly saddened to realize it was still quite early in the morning and thus probably too early for a tavern to be open – but Mark assured Samantha that this is The City Of Coin, and thus there definitely WOULD be some taverns open just because they wanted the business. Karlach shall have her frosty pint yet!
K) Astarion also taking advantage of the opportunity to hit Gale up for money in one of the most amusing bits of the session, with Gale immediately seeing where things were going the moment Astarion got all chummy. XD He insisted that it was just a bit of a “payday loan” and that Gale could give the money to Karlach if he didn’t trust Astarion – Gale was like “Melty McMetalhands?!” causing Karlach to point out that her internal fire wasn’t that bad – after all, she hadn’t burnt her clothes off yet! So long as she remained calm, anyway… Anyway, Astarion tried to weedle 20 gold out of Gale; he countered with “10 and I want change;” and Astarion finally got him to agree to 15. XD Mark then asked if Astarion had any plans to hand out any of the goods he’d stolen from Tav’s pack to the others –
Astarion: “What goods?” XD Though he then immediately decided to slip Gale the Counterspell scroll, both as a gesture of goodwill and because he considered magic boring, so Gale would definitely get more use out of it than him. Though he did make sure to keep the scroll of Detect Thoughts…
L) And the group splitting up, Lae’zel and Shadowheart off to the market and Astarion and Karlach off to the docks, while Wyll hung out on a bench and read up on the city, learning about the three major power players – the merchant houses and The Council Of Six (the richest citizens who had bought their way into the nobility), the Cowled Wizards (again, those who control magic in the city – or, well, specifically ARCANE magic, like what Wyll and Gale wield; Shadowheart’s divine magic was a-okay to cast whenever she liked, as that was the purview of the gods and thus the temple district), and the Shadowthieves (a powerful criminal syndicate) – and how they were struggling against each other –
And Gale slipped down an alley to cast Detect Magic without being noticed so he could check for any obvious sources of magic. He got a 12 on the Stealth roll, which Mark made a note of (making Tim VERY nervous), but successfully cast the spell. He didn’t immediately sense anything interesting, but the spell lasts for ten minutes, so he had time to track things down!
And that is where I left things! Tomorrow, we’ll finish off this half of the adventure, and then next week, watch Part II! Should be fun!
2. Continue editing Chapter 4 of “The Van Dort Vacancy”: Check – kind of had to squeeze this in at the last minute thanks to the above write-up taking so long, but I DID get about a page edited, covering:
A) Victor remarking that the Advocates cult was the weirdest he’d ever met (after Smiler told them yesterday that they hadn’t forced the publishers of the magazine Amusements to join them, since it wouldn’t have made them happy) – Alice was like “have you met many cults?” and Victor had to admit no, but also any cult that allowed potential recruits to just say “no” like that was – well, he would have said “weird,” but then his fingers bumped into a mysterious feathery something under his bed…
B) Victor feeling around under his bed until he could find a handhold on the object and pulling it out – to discover it was an old masquerade mask he was kind of hoping to never see again because he wore it on a particularly upsetting night out. Alice and Smiler both noted how fancy it was, and Victor explained to them that he’d worn it to a party at the Kingsleigh’s, back when his mother was still parading him in front of noble daughters, and that his main memory of that night was standing around in a ridiculous costume, watching all the other men chat easily with the ladies...and then trying to imitate them while introducing himself to the daughter, only for her to laugh in his face and start immediately making fun of him to her friends while he went and hid by the buffet. Smiler was immediately like “do you have any happy memories?!” (Victor: “Meeting you and Alice?” Smiler: “...any more than four days old?”)l
C) And Victor assuring Alice and Smiler that he has actually been happy before after Smiler admitted they were tempted to drag him back to the MOJ and stick him in one of the art rooms until he could feel joy again and Alice admitted she was tempted to let them – just that the doom and gloom kind of overshadowed all the happier moments. Smiler declared that was why Victor was getting out, after all, and reiterated their stance on “if you have terrible parents, you leave them and find new ones.” Victor noted he was a little old to be adopted by anyone now – Smiler countered that their parents would probably be happy to claim him.
And that is where I left things for tonight! Tomorrow, we should hopefully be able to finish off this chapter with Victor making a decision about what to do about this mask – and then next week, we can focus on getting this baby posted! Yay!
3. Watch something on YouTube: No check – I was hoping that I might be able to fit something in, but the work-out write-up took way too long, unfortunately. *sigh* I’m getting WAAAY too into the details of what I watch when I do my write-ups, and I really need to cut it out.
4. Get my tumblr queues sorted: Substitution check – didn’t do anything with my queues on either Victor Luvs Alice (N Smiler) or Valice Multiverse, but I did straight-up reblog something on the former – a thread all about the latest bullshit internet censorship laws going to a “markup vote” to get in front of the House today, and who to call if you wanted the people on the “House Energy and Commerce Committee” to reject the markup vote entirely and stop the bills in their tracks. Just felt important, you know? With all the bullshit happening everywhere? *sigh* I hate this timeline, seriously.
And there we are, and now it is time for me to go get some sleep. At least the weekend is only one day away! Night all!
