Busy Mon -- TUESDAY
Mar. 17th, 2026 11:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
crossover_chickThe curse of forgetting what fucking day it is now that I've had a long weekend strikes again! XD Anyway, yes, had a pretty busy day today, so let me dive straight into the write-up:
Work – As you might expect, my day at work was largely about playing catch-up with everything I’d missed (while my coworker, who was actually ALSO out yesterday with a stomachache, worked her way through the GLs and some gifts that needed go on) – namely:
A) Answering some questions from our database company contact to help her get the final two credit card batches from last week on (had to call a guy about multiple online gifts; turns out he’d set up a recurring gift trying to make a one-time payment to “catch up” on his pledge)
B) Doing a QC file for the next Capital Campaign pledge billing going out
C) Calling back a woman who wanted to set up her new credit card pledge
D) Double-checking that all the missing payments had been posted by the credit card company
E) Doing some roster maintenance my boss had forwarded to me and my coworker in our absence (adding one guy, changing the parish on another, and marking two others as deceased)
F) Properly submitting my time card for last week, as I managed to forget to do that before I left ^^;
G) Taking some phone calls, including doing a payment on a pledge with one guy who always phones in his payments and assuring another that her mother’s gift was going to be credited to the right parish
H) And doing some reversals, including splitting an online pledge into THREE online pledges to different parishes now that the donor’s first payment had FINALLY been posted
Whew! It was a fair bit, but I got it all done. And you can’t say it didn’t make the day go by. *nods* We’ll see what happens tomorrow!
To-Do List –
1. Get in a workout: Check – another night on the bike, another night with “D&D But... Everyone Has Amnesia Again | Oxventure | D&D with Scratch Card Character Sheets!” And let me tell you, tonight’s chunk of The Adventures Of Ms. Blue the dwarf (Jane), Mr. White the Goliath (Mike), and Mr. Brown the human (Andy) was very chaotic indeed, featuring –
A) Blue and Brown, fresh out of the Fuzzbug’s Fast Gold Exchange, noting that White wasn’t looking so hot (down to 13 HP out of 33), and Blue deciding to see if she had any healing magic to hand – aiming at one of White’s arms juuust in case whatever came out was the opposite of healing so she only took off a limb rather than kill him. XD Fortunately, what came out wasn’t an offensive spell –
Unfortunately, it also wasn’t a healing spell – in fact, it was kind of an anti-spell, in that it was Counterspell, which cancels the effect of other magic. Brown decided “well if we have one of THOSE in hand, might as well try something myself” and tried casting a spell of his own –
And discovered that he actually had something useful – Aid! Which temporarily doubled both White’s upper HP total and his HP at the time. Inspired (and feeling much healthier), White reached deep inside himself to see if he had anything that could help –
And discovered his Large Form ability, growing to massive size for roughly ten minutes! With nothing to counter, Blue threw her Counterspell down the alley, where it hit the kid they’d bullied earlier, preventing him from trying to use magic against them. XD Well, that could have gone much worse for all of them!
B) Luke rewarding the three players for taking such risks with their abilities by giving them all a memory:
I. Blue remembered standing guard over petty thieves and scammers in the stocks, as a new member of the City Watch, feeling bitter that she was stuck watching kids throw rotten fruit at these minor nuisances while the real criminals bought their way out of trouble
II. White remembered coming back to his modest apartment after a hard day of fighting people, washing his bloodied knuckles and darning his shirt before going to better, thinking bitterly about how the man he’d sworn to protect was living it up, practically drowning in money where he could barely keep himself clothed
III. And Brown remembered standing up from a piano recital to his guests at a fancy party, drinking in the applause before receiving an actual drink and going to mingle, noting a subtle wink from one of his men as an indication that something had gone entirely to plan...and seeing a striking woman in a purple dress…
Interesting – seems like White and Brown are on opposite sides of the law from Blue, and Brown is definitely higher up in the underworld hierarchy than White! I’d already guessed that they probably weren’t very nice people, but this is making it seem like, when they have their memories, at least two of them are REAL assholes…
C) The group deciding it was time to follow their other lead – the matchbook with the logo for The Quenching Tub – and calling out to the boy from before to see if he’d be willing to bring them somewhere else. The kid was naturally not exactly thrilled to see them (especially since his attempt at magic-based revenge was counterspelled), but proved willing to lead them to The Quenching Tub – for a price. Brown offered him a single gold piece and asked what he thought –
The kid replied he thought it looked like they had 57 more of those. White was like “you’re really being like this?” while Brown did a little sleight-of-hand to make the coin disappear, saying he’d lost his chance. The kid, seeing this, decided to go for a different tactic and say that he’d lead them to The Quenching Tub if Brown would remember him and maybe consider him for his organization –
Making Brown be like “...you know who I am?” The kid said that he was pretty sure he did – Brown pressed him for a name, and the kid – after rolling a crit 1 on the Wisdom save that might have made him realize this was a bad idea – provided him one...which I couldn’t QUITE make out, but seemed to be “Mr. Halfpoo?” ...We’ll stick with Brown. XD Brown pretended that the kid had passed some sort of test by correctly identifying him and then asked what he knew about his organization –
Causing the kid to go “oh, this is a test? I don’t know nothing, I ain’t never heard of you before, and it doesn’t matter how much you torture me, I won’t talk!” XD White was like “do you want me to torture him,” but Brown assured him it wasn’t necessary – he had a pretty good idea of the kind of organization he ran just from that. XD Yeah, seems our Mr. Brown is the head of a criminal empire…
D) The group getting the kid to lead them to The Quenching Tub – a nearby tavern – on the promise of “putting his CV in the pile” – only for the woman sweeping outside to immediately recognize them and tell them to get lost, as she did not want any more of their trouble! The group were like “we don’t even remember what we did, actually – and we’re happy to put it right,” causing the woman to lead them inside and show them a pile of broken glasses on the floor, informing Brown that he’d been throwing his glass down on the floor after every drink and that she’d like some compensation for the lost glassware. Brown was like “I’ll do you one better, watch this” and reached for his magic –
And immediately toppled over in a catatonic state, as the ability Andy uncovered was fucking FEIGN DEATH. Cue Jane, Mike, Andy, and Luke all laughing hysterically as in-universe the landlady panicked and began claiming that whatever he took, it wasn’t from her place, everything here was above board! She eventually started rolling up the “dead” Brown into a rug and demanded the others help her dispose of the body, saying that she’d answer all their questions if they did – White decided this was a good deal and picked up the rolled Brown and deposited him in the alley out the back, behind the dumpster. XD Oh God, that was genuinely one of the most hilarious bits of Oxventure I’ve ever experienced…
D) Blue and White proceeding to ask the landlady what happened the other day (with Blue accepting a wine spritzer when she offered them some drinks and said that was what Blue was drinking the other night), and the landlady revealing the following pertinent facts:
I. Blue and Brown were drinking together inside, with Brown getting absolutely shitfaced and “begging favors from all the pretty ladies” while talking about how it was his “last night of freedom” – aka, he WAS the one getting married, and last night had been his bachelor party
II. White had not joined the party – he’d been outside, apparently standing across the street
III. At one point, Blue and Brown had gone outside together, and Brown had in fact punched Blue – he was the reason for her tender nose
IV. Shortly after that, there was a bright flash, Brown came back in through the window, and all hell broke loose, ruining the mood and causing her to lose most of her take.
Blue and White weakly apologized for everything going wrong – then tried to claim they were even because she’d killed their friend, probably to avoid paying her. XD The landlady insisted that she’d had nothing to do with it, and that he wasn’t the first person to die on her premises, stating that if they thought the law cared about people dying in her tavern, they had another thing coming! She then asked them to leave if they had no more questions, but White was curious – had the flash of light been from him, or someone else? The landlady admitted she had no idea –
Then confessed that she also knew who Brown was, and the reason she’d wanted his “corpse” out of her tavern was because she didn’t want the kind of attention she’d get from him dying in her place. Because, well, they all knew that he was going to get himself killed sooner or later, but she did not want to be involved. And that she’d seen White with him before – and that, every previous time, White had been at Brown’s side –
And then, just as White was trying to press her about what kind of attention she was trying to avoid, her eyes suddenly bugged out, and she reached out and pulled a dart from the back of her head. Moments later, she coughed up some bloody foam and hit the deck, as two aarakocra (bird-people) emerged from the shadows with murder in their eyes…
E) Blue, White, and Brown (having managed to unroll himself from the carpet outside) battling the aarakocra assassins! Which, like the last fight, didn’t go GREAT for our heroes –
I. One of the aarakocra got to go first and hit Blue with a Firebolt – unfortunately, her Armor Class was really low (a 9!) and so she took 11 points of fire damage; fortunately Andy brought up that Aid can be cast on three people and said Brown probably cast it on all of them, so she was better able to absorb the damage
II. Brown went second and got into the tavern behind the aarakocra attacking his friends – one very high Sleight Of Hand check later, he had the sword off one of them, alerting them to his presence but giving him a weapon
III. Blue got to go third, and after smashing her white wine spritzer, chose to reach down inside her and try for a new spell – and got FIREBALL when Jane scratched off the bottom ability! Which, uh, is an EXTREMELY powerful fire spell that fills a rather LARGE area… Luke, mindful that White had taken a LOT of damage recently, ruled that, since he was standing next to Blue, he was probably out of the blast zone (as she fired the spell in front of her) – but that Brown was NOT and would have to make a Dexerity Saving Throw. Fortunately, Dexterity is Brown’s thing, and he easily made it –
And thus only took half the 20 points of fire damage she inflicted on the two aarakocra! The two bird-people, by contrast, ended up pretty well-cooked (though NOT killed, unfortunately) – and the smell of their burning flesh eventually triggered a memory for Blue, of standing in her family’s now-ruined house, listening to her father blubber for help as he confessed to her all his secret debts and feeling disgusted that he lectured her so much about justice and duty when he himself was a prolific gambler...but acknowledging that he was still her father, even if she didn’t particularly feel he deserved help…
IV. The other aarakocra went next – but rather than target Blue, who had just set him (and most of the tavern) on fire, he and his friend immediately focused in on Brown. And as he didn’t have a sword anymore, he instead resorted to firing a Chromatic Orb at Brown – scoring a direct hit thanks to Brown’s middling armor class and inflicting 18 points of poison damage! Brown was very cagey about how many hit points he had left after that…
V. White then got his turn, and attempted to use his massive hands to grab one of the aarakocra around the neck, hopefully to snap it – but, unfortunately, despite his enormous Strength (and advantage on such checks thanks to his Large form), he didn’t roll high enough to actually grab the guy. Which was very unfortunate, because –
VI. That brought things around to the first aarakocra again, who very much did have his sword, and was more than willing to use it on Brown, slashing at him twice for 7 points of damage –
And cue Andy saying “I have died.” XD Luke clarified that he was unconscious (while noting to himself that was “exciting”), and had the aarakocra assassins, having seemingly completed their mission, start to flee out a nearby window –
Only for Mr. White to run after them and grab one in his giant meaty hand to question! One that made some pained croaking noises in response...which triggered a memory of White sitting down with someone with a similar croaking voice, who said that if White told them about his boss’s latest scheme, he’d never need to worry about money ever again...and better yet, his boss wouldn’t even have to die! O: Which makes it sound very much like White set up whatever the hell happened last night…
F) And Blue, now that one assassin had escaped and the other was subdued in White’s powerful grip, trying to help stabilize the dying Brown...only to discover she had a -1 in Medicine and forcing him to make a second death saving throw immediately after just barely passing the first one. XD Fortunately he passed the second as well – hardy little bugger, he is! I left off with Luke allowing Blue to try one of her mystery spells on Brown, with her Counterspell prepared just in case it turned out to be something horrible, and preparing to give Brown a memory as he struggled to stay alive – tomorrow, we’ll see what it is, what Blue does to him, and what the assassin has to say! I imagine it’ll be quite interesting…
2. Continue editing Chapter 6 of “Londerland Bloodlines: Downtown Queensland”: Check – I finally returned to Malkavian!Alice and her conversation with Beckett in the museum tonight, getting through another page of their chat – specifically:
A) Beckett agreeing with Alice that other Kindred should treat the thin-bloods better (if only because he wants to know if this “thin-blood alchemy” they’ve cooked up is real) and commenting that the weak often make good scapegoats for people’s fear, before continuing on with his theory that Gehenna is not a real thing, but just a myth derived from other myths about the end of the world from the various cultures all Kindred were a part of while they were still human, and that a self-made destruction seemed much more likely to him than one inflicted on them by a vengeful God; Alice thoroughly agreed with him there
B) Alice noting it sounded like Beckett had been studying this for a while, and Beckett confirming that he’d spent 300 years trying to figure out the reason why Kindred exist (one that didn’t have anything to do with “supernatural, biblical vengeance,” anyway) and would continue working on it for 300 more if he had to – before asking if Alice had any thoughts on the subject; Alice joked that “we’re here because the jellyfish will it so” (an actual Malkavian line from the game), then more seriously suggested that Kindred could be a predator species designed to keep humans on their toes and thin their herds, like many predator/prey relationships in nature. Before adding that there was definitely something supernatural about their origin, because they could do magic by pulling energy from their blood, Beckett. XD
C) Beckett confirming that he knew vampires were supernatural, he just didn’t think it had anything to do with God, before stating that he’d heard Alice’s “predators made specifically to hunt humans” theory before and that, while interesting, it didn’t have much evidence backing it up – after all, most Kindred take pains NOT to kill those they feed on, and to keep themselves hidden from the masses of humanity, meaning they certainly don’t keep humans on their toes. Though he still liked it better than the “divine punishment for manslaughter” thing – Alice was like “Don’t you mean murder?” but Beckett said that after studying the Bible, it didn’t sound to him like Caine MEANT to kill Abel, so the charge should be downgraded. Alice deferred to his greater expertise, admitting she wasn’t familiar with the Bible thanks to her family not being religious (even if her father was a Dean at Christ Church in Oxford) – Beckett admitted he wasn’t religious either even after reading the Bible, as he had a hard time believing in things without evidence. Alice sympathized, saying she had a hard time believing in anything but herself after all the shit she’d been through, and Beckett encouraged her to keep doing so – after all, you always know what YOU’RE capable of. You hope, at least.
*nods* Solid stuff, I think! I left off with Alice looking at the busted crate the sarcophagus was supposed to be in and commenting that she had to go tell LaCroix his sarcophagus had gone mysteriously walkabout – tomorrow, we’ll finish off this section with Beckett taking his leave and Alice meeting up with some familiar faces before going to see LaCroix! The end is slowly but surely moving into sight here, folks!
3. Watch something on YouTube: Check – fortunately, I had something short in my Subs that I could slip in tonight after my writing session – “Fun With Shorts: Robotics The Future Is Now” by Josh Way! Part 1 of an old short hosted by William Shatner (yup, Kirk himself) about robots and robotics, with an especial focus on industrial robots (though there was a cameo from a cute dome-headed “personal robot” who toddled in to ask Shatner for his autograph near the beginning). Shatner went on and on about stuff like “degrees of freedom” (how many ways an industrial robot can move), “end effectors” (the tool you put at the end of a robotic arm), and the like, comparing robotic arms to human ones and noting how industrial robots had to be programmed to work with things like conveyor belts and inspection cameras – meanwhile, Josh went on and on with jokes about how overly-excited he was to see William Shatner (calling “Starring William Shatner” the “greatest three words in the universe”), Shatner charging the little dome robot $90 for the autograph ($200 if it wanted it personalized), one of the robotic arms in one of the clips complaining about being programmed to feel tedium, and how he “wasn’t dressed” to go visit the National Bureau of Standards (which controlled the standards for getting industrial robots to interface with other automated machinery). XD Good stuff as always – the short itself was reasonably entertaining and informative, and Josh’s jokes made it all much more amusing. I look forward to Part 2, whenever it pops up!
4. Get my tumblr queues sorted: Check – I am pleased to say that tumblr chose to revert their terrible update to reblogs, so I feel safe in posting and reblogging things again. *nod* And while it was definitely a nothing day over on Valice Multiverse again, it was a very busy night over on Victor Luvs Alice (N Smiler) –
A) First, I quickly reblogged three art posts from my friend Nebby that she posted the other day (which I was reluctant to reblog before because of the stupid update that broke the notes and how creators tracked reblogs and suchlike):
I. One showing off some new outfits for her redesign of the vampire “madam” NPC Madame Jo-Jo for her MediEvil II rewrite fanfic – specifically, her underthings, her walking dress, her evening gown, and her tea gown (which had some cool bat motifs to it)
II. One showing off some new outfits for MediEvil big bad Zarok – specifically his sleep gown, his winter gown (which had a cool lava-like look to it), and his coronation gown (which made him look like a cobra)
III. And one showing off some MediEvil-themed tarot cards she did a little while back (The Fool, showing protagonist Dan facing off against the arrow barrage that killed him; The Devil, showing MediEvil II antagonist Lord Palethorn; and Justice, showing Dan preparing to face off against Jack The Ripper to protect Kiya (who he kills in the original MediEvil II)
B) And second, I threw a few things into my queue for this week just now:
I. The “VITD Timeline” post I was working on this weekend for Wednesday
II. The reblog of polyshipprompts’ “imagine your polyship sharing a bed for the first time and trying to figure out who should sleep where” post with my addition about how Alice and Smiler quickly learned that cover-stealing Victor should sleep in the middle for Thursday
III. And the reblog of that “Let’s fuck him together. You and me. (Hold out your hand)” reaction image from jennaflare, with additional image of the text over the image of a guy holding his hand out by lethalwizard, with my tags commenting on this being Smiler talking to Alice about Victor for Friday XD
So that’s all sorted, yay! Well, except for Song Saturday, but I’ll figure it out later. Here’s hoping that they don’t fuck with the reblogs again for a while!
...aand proper spacing is going to have to wait until tomorrow morning, because I have to get to bed. Expect a few light edits to this post tomorrow to make it more readable! Night all! EDIT 3/18/2026: Spacing fixed and a bit more detail added to the tumblr section at the bottom, enjoy!
Work – As you might expect, my day at work was largely about playing catch-up with everything I’d missed (while my coworker, who was actually ALSO out yesterday with a stomachache, worked her way through the GLs and some gifts that needed go on) – namely:
A) Answering some questions from our database company contact to help her get the final two credit card batches from last week on (had to call a guy about multiple online gifts; turns out he’d set up a recurring gift trying to make a one-time payment to “catch up” on his pledge)
B) Doing a QC file for the next Capital Campaign pledge billing going out
C) Calling back a woman who wanted to set up her new credit card pledge
D) Double-checking that all the missing payments had been posted by the credit card company
E) Doing some roster maintenance my boss had forwarded to me and my coworker in our absence (adding one guy, changing the parish on another, and marking two others as deceased)
F) Properly submitting my time card for last week, as I managed to forget to do that before I left ^^;
G) Taking some phone calls, including doing a payment on a pledge with one guy who always phones in his payments and assuring another that her mother’s gift was going to be credited to the right parish
H) And doing some reversals, including splitting an online pledge into THREE online pledges to different parishes now that the donor’s first payment had FINALLY been posted
Whew! It was a fair bit, but I got it all done. And you can’t say it didn’t make the day go by. *nods* We’ll see what happens tomorrow!
To-Do List –
1. Get in a workout: Check – another night on the bike, another night with “D&D But... Everyone Has Amnesia Again | Oxventure | D&D with Scratch Card Character Sheets!” And let me tell you, tonight’s chunk of The Adventures Of Ms. Blue the dwarf (Jane), Mr. White the Goliath (Mike), and Mr. Brown the human (Andy) was very chaotic indeed, featuring –
A) Blue and Brown, fresh out of the Fuzzbug’s Fast Gold Exchange, noting that White wasn’t looking so hot (down to 13 HP out of 33), and Blue deciding to see if she had any healing magic to hand – aiming at one of White’s arms juuust in case whatever came out was the opposite of healing so she only took off a limb rather than kill him. XD Fortunately, what came out wasn’t an offensive spell –
Unfortunately, it also wasn’t a healing spell – in fact, it was kind of an anti-spell, in that it was Counterspell, which cancels the effect of other magic. Brown decided “well if we have one of THOSE in hand, might as well try something myself” and tried casting a spell of his own –
And discovered that he actually had something useful – Aid! Which temporarily doubled both White’s upper HP total and his HP at the time. Inspired (and feeling much healthier), White reached deep inside himself to see if he had anything that could help –
And discovered his Large Form ability, growing to massive size for roughly ten minutes! With nothing to counter, Blue threw her Counterspell down the alley, where it hit the kid they’d bullied earlier, preventing him from trying to use magic against them. XD Well, that could have gone much worse for all of them!
B) Luke rewarding the three players for taking such risks with their abilities by giving them all a memory:
I. Blue remembered standing guard over petty thieves and scammers in the stocks, as a new member of the City Watch, feeling bitter that she was stuck watching kids throw rotten fruit at these minor nuisances while the real criminals bought their way out of trouble
II. White remembered coming back to his modest apartment after a hard day of fighting people, washing his bloodied knuckles and darning his shirt before going to better, thinking bitterly about how the man he’d sworn to protect was living it up, practically drowning in money where he could barely keep himself clothed
III. And Brown remembered standing up from a piano recital to his guests at a fancy party, drinking in the applause before receiving an actual drink and going to mingle, noting a subtle wink from one of his men as an indication that something had gone entirely to plan...and seeing a striking woman in a purple dress…
Interesting – seems like White and Brown are on opposite sides of the law from Blue, and Brown is definitely higher up in the underworld hierarchy than White! I’d already guessed that they probably weren’t very nice people, but this is making it seem like, when they have their memories, at least two of them are REAL assholes…
C) The group deciding it was time to follow their other lead – the matchbook with the logo for The Quenching Tub – and calling out to the boy from before to see if he’d be willing to bring them somewhere else. The kid was naturally not exactly thrilled to see them (especially since his attempt at magic-based revenge was counterspelled), but proved willing to lead them to The Quenching Tub – for a price. Brown offered him a single gold piece and asked what he thought –
The kid replied he thought it looked like they had 57 more of those. White was like “you’re really being like this?” while Brown did a little sleight-of-hand to make the coin disappear, saying he’d lost his chance. The kid, seeing this, decided to go for a different tactic and say that he’d lead them to The Quenching Tub if Brown would remember him and maybe consider him for his organization –
Making Brown be like “...you know who I am?” The kid said that he was pretty sure he did – Brown pressed him for a name, and the kid – after rolling a crit 1 on the Wisdom save that might have made him realize this was a bad idea – provided him one...which I couldn’t QUITE make out, but seemed to be “Mr. Halfpoo?” ...We’ll stick with Brown. XD Brown pretended that the kid had passed some sort of test by correctly identifying him and then asked what he knew about his organization –
Causing the kid to go “oh, this is a test? I don’t know nothing, I ain’t never heard of you before, and it doesn’t matter how much you torture me, I won’t talk!” XD White was like “do you want me to torture him,” but Brown assured him it wasn’t necessary – he had a pretty good idea of the kind of organization he ran just from that. XD Yeah, seems our Mr. Brown is the head of a criminal empire…
D) The group getting the kid to lead them to The Quenching Tub – a nearby tavern – on the promise of “putting his CV in the pile” – only for the woman sweeping outside to immediately recognize them and tell them to get lost, as she did not want any more of their trouble! The group were like “we don’t even remember what we did, actually – and we’re happy to put it right,” causing the woman to lead them inside and show them a pile of broken glasses on the floor, informing Brown that he’d been throwing his glass down on the floor after every drink and that she’d like some compensation for the lost glassware. Brown was like “I’ll do you one better, watch this” and reached for his magic –
And immediately toppled over in a catatonic state, as the ability Andy uncovered was fucking FEIGN DEATH. Cue Jane, Mike, Andy, and Luke all laughing hysterically as in-universe the landlady panicked and began claiming that whatever he took, it wasn’t from her place, everything here was above board! She eventually started rolling up the “dead” Brown into a rug and demanded the others help her dispose of the body, saying that she’d answer all their questions if they did – White decided this was a good deal and picked up the rolled Brown and deposited him in the alley out the back, behind the dumpster. XD Oh God, that was genuinely one of the most hilarious bits of Oxventure I’ve ever experienced…
D) Blue and White proceeding to ask the landlady what happened the other day (with Blue accepting a wine spritzer when she offered them some drinks and said that was what Blue was drinking the other night), and the landlady revealing the following pertinent facts:
I. Blue and Brown were drinking together inside, with Brown getting absolutely shitfaced and “begging favors from all the pretty ladies” while talking about how it was his “last night of freedom” – aka, he WAS the one getting married, and last night had been his bachelor party
II. White had not joined the party – he’d been outside, apparently standing across the street
III. At one point, Blue and Brown had gone outside together, and Brown had in fact punched Blue – he was the reason for her tender nose
IV. Shortly after that, there was a bright flash, Brown came back in through the window, and all hell broke loose, ruining the mood and causing her to lose most of her take.
Blue and White weakly apologized for everything going wrong – then tried to claim they were even because she’d killed their friend, probably to avoid paying her. XD The landlady insisted that she’d had nothing to do with it, and that he wasn’t the first person to die on her premises, stating that if they thought the law cared about people dying in her tavern, they had another thing coming! She then asked them to leave if they had no more questions, but White was curious – had the flash of light been from him, or someone else? The landlady admitted she had no idea –
Then confessed that she also knew who Brown was, and the reason she’d wanted his “corpse” out of her tavern was because she didn’t want the kind of attention she’d get from him dying in her place. Because, well, they all knew that he was going to get himself killed sooner or later, but she did not want to be involved. And that she’d seen White with him before – and that, every previous time, White had been at Brown’s side –
And then, just as White was trying to press her about what kind of attention she was trying to avoid, her eyes suddenly bugged out, and she reached out and pulled a dart from the back of her head. Moments later, she coughed up some bloody foam and hit the deck, as two aarakocra (bird-people) emerged from the shadows with murder in their eyes…
E) Blue, White, and Brown (having managed to unroll himself from the carpet outside) battling the aarakocra assassins! Which, like the last fight, didn’t go GREAT for our heroes –
I. One of the aarakocra got to go first and hit Blue with a Firebolt – unfortunately, her Armor Class was really low (a 9!) and so she took 11 points of fire damage; fortunately Andy brought up that Aid can be cast on three people and said Brown probably cast it on all of them, so she was better able to absorb the damage
II. Brown went second and got into the tavern behind the aarakocra attacking his friends – one very high Sleight Of Hand check later, he had the sword off one of them, alerting them to his presence but giving him a weapon
III. Blue got to go third, and after smashing her white wine spritzer, chose to reach down inside her and try for a new spell – and got FIREBALL when Jane scratched off the bottom ability! Which, uh, is an EXTREMELY powerful fire spell that fills a rather LARGE area… Luke, mindful that White had taken a LOT of damage recently, ruled that, since he was standing next to Blue, he was probably out of the blast zone (as she fired the spell in front of her) – but that Brown was NOT and would have to make a Dexerity Saving Throw. Fortunately, Dexterity is Brown’s thing, and he easily made it –
And thus only took half the 20 points of fire damage she inflicted on the two aarakocra! The two bird-people, by contrast, ended up pretty well-cooked (though NOT killed, unfortunately) – and the smell of their burning flesh eventually triggered a memory for Blue, of standing in her family’s now-ruined house, listening to her father blubber for help as he confessed to her all his secret debts and feeling disgusted that he lectured her so much about justice and duty when he himself was a prolific gambler...but acknowledging that he was still her father, even if she didn’t particularly feel he deserved help…
IV. The other aarakocra went next – but rather than target Blue, who had just set him (and most of the tavern) on fire, he and his friend immediately focused in on Brown. And as he didn’t have a sword anymore, he instead resorted to firing a Chromatic Orb at Brown – scoring a direct hit thanks to Brown’s middling armor class and inflicting 18 points of poison damage! Brown was very cagey about how many hit points he had left after that…
V. White then got his turn, and attempted to use his massive hands to grab one of the aarakocra around the neck, hopefully to snap it – but, unfortunately, despite his enormous Strength (and advantage on such checks thanks to his Large form), he didn’t roll high enough to actually grab the guy. Which was very unfortunate, because –
VI. That brought things around to the first aarakocra again, who very much did have his sword, and was more than willing to use it on Brown, slashing at him twice for 7 points of damage –
And cue Andy saying “I have died.” XD Luke clarified that he was unconscious (while noting to himself that was “exciting”), and had the aarakocra assassins, having seemingly completed their mission, start to flee out a nearby window –
Only for Mr. White to run after them and grab one in his giant meaty hand to question! One that made some pained croaking noises in response...which triggered a memory of White sitting down with someone with a similar croaking voice, who said that if White told them about his boss’s latest scheme, he’d never need to worry about money ever again...and better yet, his boss wouldn’t even have to die! O: Which makes it sound very much like White set up whatever the hell happened last night…
F) And Blue, now that one assassin had escaped and the other was subdued in White’s powerful grip, trying to help stabilize the dying Brown...only to discover she had a -1 in Medicine and forcing him to make a second death saving throw immediately after just barely passing the first one. XD Fortunately he passed the second as well – hardy little bugger, he is! I left off with Luke allowing Blue to try one of her mystery spells on Brown, with her Counterspell prepared just in case it turned out to be something horrible, and preparing to give Brown a memory as he struggled to stay alive – tomorrow, we’ll see what it is, what Blue does to him, and what the assassin has to say! I imagine it’ll be quite interesting…
2. Continue editing Chapter 6 of “Londerland Bloodlines: Downtown Queensland”: Check – I finally returned to Malkavian!Alice and her conversation with Beckett in the museum tonight, getting through another page of their chat – specifically:
A) Beckett agreeing with Alice that other Kindred should treat the thin-bloods better (if only because he wants to know if this “thin-blood alchemy” they’ve cooked up is real) and commenting that the weak often make good scapegoats for people’s fear, before continuing on with his theory that Gehenna is not a real thing, but just a myth derived from other myths about the end of the world from the various cultures all Kindred were a part of while they were still human, and that a self-made destruction seemed much more likely to him than one inflicted on them by a vengeful God; Alice thoroughly agreed with him there
B) Alice noting it sounded like Beckett had been studying this for a while, and Beckett confirming that he’d spent 300 years trying to figure out the reason why Kindred exist (one that didn’t have anything to do with “supernatural, biblical vengeance,” anyway) and would continue working on it for 300 more if he had to – before asking if Alice had any thoughts on the subject; Alice joked that “we’re here because the jellyfish will it so” (an actual Malkavian line from the game), then more seriously suggested that Kindred could be a predator species designed to keep humans on their toes and thin their herds, like many predator/prey relationships in nature. Before adding that there was definitely something supernatural about their origin, because they could do magic by pulling energy from their blood, Beckett. XD
C) Beckett confirming that he knew vampires were supernatural, he just didn’t think it had anything to do with God, before stating that he’d heard Alice’s “predators made specifically to hunt humans” theory before and that, while interesting, it didn’t have much evidence backing it up – after all, most Kindred take pains NOT to kill those they feed on, and to keep themselves hidden from the masses of humanity, meaning they certainly don’t keep humans on their toes. Though he still liked it better than the “divine punishment for manslaughter” thing – Alice was like “Don’t you mean murder?” but Beckett said that after studying the Bible, it didn’t sound to him like Caine MEANT to kill Abel, so the charge should be downgraded. Alice deferred to his greater expertise, admitting she wasn’t familiar with the Bible thanks to her family not being religious (even if her father was a Dean at Christ Church in Oxford) – Beckett admitted he wasn’t religious either even after reading the Bible, as he had a hard time believing in things without evidence. Alice sympathized, saying she had a hard time believing in anything but herself after all the shit she’d been through, and Beckett encouraged her to keep doing so – after all, you always know what YOU’RE capable of. You hope, at least.
*nods* Solid stuff, I think! I left off with Alice looking at the busted crate the sarcophagus was supposed to be in and commenting that she had to go tell LaCroix his sarcophagus had gone mysteriously walkabout – tomorrow, we’ll finish off this section with Beckett taking his leave and Alice meeting up with some familiar faces before going to see LaCroix! The end is slowly but surely moving into sight here, folks!
3. Watch something on YouTube: Check – fortunately, I had something short in my Subs that I could slip in tonight after my writing session – “Fun With Shorts: Robotics The Future Is Now” by Josh Way! Part 1 of an old short hosted by William Shatner (yup, Kirk himself) about robots and robotics, with an especial focus on industrial robots (though there was a cameo from a cute dome-headed “personal robot” who toddled in to ask Shatner for his autograph near the beginning). Shatner went on and on about stuff like “degrees of freedom” (how many ways an industrial robot can move), “end effectors” (the tool you put at the end of a robotic arm), and the like, comparing robotic arms to human ones and noting how industrial robots had to be programmed to work with things like conveyor belts and inspection cameras – meanwhile, Josh went on and on with jokes about how overly-excited he was to see William Shatner (calling “Starring William Shatner” the “greatest three words in the universe”), Shatner charging the little dome robot $90 for the autograph ($200 if it wanted it personalized), one of the robotic arms in one of the clips complaining about being programmed to feel tedium, and how he “wasn’t dressed” to go visit the National Bureau of Standards (which controlled the standards for getting industrial robots to interface with other automated machinery). XD Good stuff as always – the short itself was reasonably entertaining and informative, and Josh’s jokes made it all much more amusing. I look forward to Part 2, whenever it pops up!
4. Get my tumblr queues sorted: Check – I am pleased to say that tumblr chose to revert their terrible update to reblogs, so I feel safe in posting and reblogging things again. *nod* And while it was definitely a nothing day over on Valice Multiverse again, it was a very busy night over on Victor Luvs Alice (N Smiler) –
A) First, I quickly reblogged three art posts from my friend Nebby that she posted the other day (which I was reluctant to reblog before because of the stupid update that broke the notes and how creators tracked reblogs and suchlike):
I. One showing off some new outfits for her redesign of the vampire “madam” NPC Madame Jo-Jo for her MediEvil II rewrite fanfic – specifically, her underthings, her walking dress, her evening gown, and her tea gown (which had some cool bat motifs to it)
II. One showing off some new outfits for MediEvil big bad Zarok – specifically his sleep gown, his winter gown (which had a cool lava-like look to it), and his coronation gown (which made him look like a cobra)
III. And one showing off some MediEvil-themed tarot cards she did a little while back (The Fool, showing protagonist Dan facing off against the arrow barrage that killed him; The Devil, showing MediEvil II antagonist Lord Palethorn; and Justice, showing Dan preparing to face off against Jack The Ripper to protect Kiya (who he kills in the original MediEvil II)
B) And second, I threw a few things into my queue for this week just now:
I. The “VITD Timeline” post I was working on this weekend for Wednesday
II. The reblog of polyshipprompts’ “imagine your polyship sharing a bed for the first time and trying to figure out who should sleep where” post with my addition about how Alice and Smiler quickly learned that cover-stealing Victor should sleep in the middle for Thursday
III. And the reblog of that “Let’s fuck him together. You and me. (Hold out your hand)” reaction image from jennaflare, with additional image of the text over the image of a guy holding his hand out by lethalwizard, with my tags commenting on this being Smiler talking to Alice about Victor for Friday XD
So that’s all sorted, yay! Well, except for Song Saturday, but I’ll figure it out later. Here’s hoping that they don’t fuck with the reblogs again for a while!
...aand proper spacing is going to have to wait until tomorrow morning, because I have to get to bed. Expect a few light edits to this post tomorrow to make it more readable! Night all! EDIT 3/18/2026: Spacing fixed and a bit more detail added to the tumblr section at the bottom, enjoy!
