Decent, If Slightly Chilly, Saturday
Apr. 25th, 2026 11:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
crossover_chickYeah, it was a touch on the cold side today -- I think temps were in the mid-50s for a high. Definitely hoodie-and-wrapping-up-in-a-blanket weather, at least for me! But I managed to stay warm and have a decently-productive day, doing all the things I most wanted to do:
Tumblr: Valice Multiverse was dead again (who is surprised), but I did manage to get a couple of things done over in the drafts of Victor Luvs Alice (N Smiler) before lunch –
A) First, I added a couple of ideas for more scenes to my draft of “Valicer In The Dark Meets Baldur’s Gate III Not-Incorrect Quotes/Shitpost Collection Volume 3” after counting the number of scenes in my previous two sets, and realizing that I had nine and eight scenes in Volumes 1 & 2 respectively, but only six in the current draft of Volume 3. Fortunately, I already had two ideas for new scenes ready to go on a scrap of paper on my desk (I’d thought I’d be saving them for another volume, but apparently not):
I. One where my Valicer trio discover someone selling fried rat skewers and end up really excited, because finally, a taste of home! With the regular BG3 cast being a little ??? because okay, fine, rat is edible, but you shouldn’t be THAT excited about it
II. And one where the gang are preparing for a fight, and Smiler points out an enemy...only to realize no one else can see it; cue them discovering they can see invisible creatures thanks to their Ersatz Eye from Volo, and Alice disapproving of Smiler getting a BENEFIT from letting Volo poke their eye out. XD
*nods* Fun ideas, right? Honestly, I would have written them all out, but unfortunately I ended up spending way too much time trying to figure out where the gang might encounter an enemy that’s invisible that wasn’t in Act 3 (Ethel apparently goes invisible during your fights against her, but I don’t know if they’d fight her after the surgery...though I guess it’s not impossible…), or where they might find rat skewers (apparently they just randomly show up in trader inventories and in the world – I’ll probably have it happen during a visit to the Goblin Camp, they seem like they’d eat rat on the regular). Maybe tomorrow, we’ll see… Oh, and I did update the scene where Wyll gives Smiler false eye care tips in the wake of the Volo surgery with his “welcome to the League of the Lost Eye” line, because it’s a fun line and deserved to be included. :)
B) And second, I wrote up a new scene for the “Not-Incorrect Valicer Quotes, Valicer In The Dark Edition, Volume VI” post! Inspired by a thought I had the other night – namely, that “Toll The Dead”, a necromancy cantrip from Baldur’s Gate III that causes necrotic damage to foes (doing more damage if they’re already wounded), sounds like the name of a ritual spell you’d find in Blades In The Dark. Cue the creation of a scene where Alice and Smiler go up to the tower library to summon Victor for lunch, only to find him studying a scroll. Victor explains that it’s a ritual he found in the collection that enchants an ordinary bell to sound like the spirit bell that rings when someone dies – ringing it is supposed to paralyze all that hear it with dread. Alice admits it sounds like it would be good for helping prevent fights, but worries that it might attract the attention of the deathseeker crows – Victor agrees, then confesses he’s more concerned by the fact that the spell apparently affects ALL who hear it. Smiler insists that “surely at least the CASTER would be immune” but Victor is adamant that if he gives it a go, he’s making sure everyone carries earplugs. :P So that was fun – and I might just try to turn that into a proper ritual at some point for Victor to actually use in the stories! We’ll see...
Fallout: New Vegas: I did indeed return to the Mojave for about an hour today – and while it wasn’t via the route I expected, I did manage to get Victor into Primm without having to brave the NCR’s bomb bridge! :D Though he then proceeded to have a BIT of a tough time with the, uh, new “locals” hanging around the place – let me tell you all about it –
A) I naturally picked up where I left off last time, with Victor lurking under a honey mesquite tree not far from the fence around Primm, thinking that he’d found a good way to get into the town without having to worry about any mines – namely, up and over what looked like some sort of natural ramp next to the fence nearby! Destination thus in mind, I had him start creeping forward, toward a couple of rocks looming out of the landscape before him, VATS-scanning for trouble all the while –
Which proved to be a smart move because, as Victor got closer to the rocks, VATS picked up on an escaped convict patrolling the bit of rollercoaster track that looped around closest to the fence! Fortunately, said convict was too far away to detect Victor in turn. Victor quickly hid behind the rocks to make sure there would be no line of sight, then carefully and slooooowly crept around the side and up to the edge of the fence as the convict continued his patrol around the loop of the track and back toward the Bison Steve. Once he was there, I took note of three important things:
I. There was a big valley in the ground running roughly perpendicular to the fence, which would be inconvenient to fall in but perhaps useful for escaping any convicts lurking around that happened to notice him
II. One of the fence sections (which mostly consisted of tall metal spikes separated here and there by big old brick pillars) was bent a little at the top, probably by time and weather – unfortunately, there were no gaps that Victor to squeeze through
III. ...And I could no longer see the “ramp” up and over the fence that I’d seen before. Because while the landscape near the fence did consist of a lot of dips and hills and such (see the aforementioned valley), none of the hills were actually pressed up against the fence. Apparently what I’d seen last time was just a trick of perspective. *grumbles* Figures, right? I was so certain I’d found a side entrance…
B) Having already made it to the fence, though, I wasn’t about to just back off – no, I was determined to see if there was ANY way for him to make it inside without having to go across the NCR bridge and either explode and/or tick off the NCR. I thus had him follow the fence to the right, ducking down briefly near the edge of the valley to avoid notice (which involved some careful crabwalking along the dip in the rocks so Victor didn’t tumble all the way down to the bottom), then climbing up on some rocks near where I’d seen the “ramp” before before continuing along to where the fence began to turn, curving toward the front of the town. There were a few more bent bits here and there, but no gaps – well, apart from the ones between the spikes themselves, which I really felt were wide enough for Victor to get through. Jamming his face into one of said gaps didn’t actually get me anywhere, though. XD Though it did afford me a decent view of the front of the Bison Steve casino, the main road, and a couple of wandering convicts. *nods* Good to know what he’ll be dealing with inside, I suppose! After confirming that no, Courier Victor was nowhere near as thin as Regular Victor and thus would NOT be able to just slide through the fence, I had him continue along the side –
Only to suddenly find myself in [CAUTION]. Uh-oh – I guess one of the convicts kind of noticed Victor’s existence! Fortunately, he was next to one of the big brick pillar bits, so I had him duck behind that, then back off into the desert a little bit until he went back into [HIDDEN]. Whew – they must have decided it was just the wind. :p From there, it was past a little grove of stubby trees and around to the front of Primm, where I found the burnt remains of a broken-apart bus shoved up against the ledge where the road dipped away from the town’s entrance. Curious and eager for goodies, I had Victor go in the middle and attempt to explore the wreckage –
Only to find I couldn’t. There were invisible walls keeping Victor out of both halves. >( Well, that felt rude! Come on, game, I just wanted to have a poke around, see if there were any suitcases with clothes left behind or something! Fallout 4 lets me do that! (Yes, I know, FO4 came AFTER you, when video game technology had advanced a bit more…)
C) Having thus been denied bus treats (though, admittedly, it genuinely didn’t look like there was anything in that shell), I decided it was time to get back up on the ledge and try to follow the fence around to the open front of Primm. I thus went around the bus’s back half and had Victor hop up –
Only to find he couldn’t hop up all the way. He could cling to the very edge of the ledge, sure, but he couldn’t actually get ON it. Apparently there was an invisible wall THERE too! I had Victor go back and forth for a minute, trying to see if there was a way to get him on there better (and then, when that didn’t seem to be happening, swapping to third person to have a giggle over him basically floating in midair right at the edge of the ledge) –
And then he went into [CAUTION] again, and I quickly had him drop down to avoid getting spotted by any of the convicts wandering around out front. *grumbles* You guys are harshing my groove here! And preventing me from getting amusing screenshots.
D) Barred from walking along what should have been an extremely accessible ledge, I was forced to have Victor follow the road down into the big old dip underneath the NCR’s bomb bridge and through the NCR’s little checkpoint of sorts down there. Mostly because the left side of the road, next to the checkpoint, was blocked with various bits of rubble – including another smashed-up bus shell. This one Victor was allowed to go inside (possibly because, unlike the first one, it wasn’t intended to block access to what should have been an extremely accessible ledge) – though, again, there were no bus treats within. I guess the wrecked buses in THIS part of the world are mostly just for show! *shrug* Anyway, Victor left it behind, slid through the checkpoint (taking a quick peek in the ammo boxes along the way – nothing he wanted), then followed the road up to the other side of Primm. There were no wrecked buses against the ledge with the fence on this side, so I decided to see if Victor could hop up over here instead –
And he could! :D Excited, I made a save, then had Victor walk along the edge of the fence back to the entrance. For a moment, it looked like there was going to be trouble, as there was something that looked a bit like a burnt chunk of car, or maybe a guardrail, in his way, and I was like “oh shit, there’s going to be another invisible wall or something” –
But there was not! Victor was easily able to slide past the mystery chunk of metal and into the town! :D Everyone, welcome to Primm!
It may not look like much, but we’re still happy to be here. :p
E) Having finally achieved the goal that I set myself a few playsessions ago, I swapped Victor’s active quest back to “They Went That-a-Way” (aka “track down the asshole who shot me”), then had him sneak a little further in, heading left toward what I presumed was the wreckage of a gas station (what he was looking at in the picture above) – and let me tell you, it’s WEIRD to see gas stations that AREN’T Red Rockets after so long playing Fallout 4. O.o. Maybe they’re an East Coast-only thing? *checks the Wiki* Okay, a couple showed up in the TV show, which is West Coast-based, but in the actual video games, they only show up in Fallout 3 (Washington, DC), Fallout 4 (Boston, Massachusetts), and Fallout 76 (Appalachia, West Virginia) (and Fallout Shelter, but who knows where THAT’S supposed to be set). So yeah, looking like the East Coast is mainly Red Rocket territory, while over here in the West Poseidon Energy is king. Neat!
Er, anyway – I had Victor cross the road into town, then hug the pile of wrecked cars on the other side of the entrance while I VATS-scanned and took note of the enemies in the area – a couple of guys hanging out on the right side of the town, near the Mojave Express office – right where Victor technically needs to go, figures – and a few more milling around near the gas station. Wanting a better look at what I was dealing with, I had Victor then creep up to the gas station and hide behind the wreckage of the car sitting under the overhang, VATS-scanning the convicts nearby. VATS informed him that he didn’t have much of a chance to hit either of them with his 9mm, so I had him venture out and back up to try and get a better angle on them –
Only for one of them, a guy in a hockey mask (which DID make him look rather like Jason, if you were wondering) to notice him and start shooting. Damn it. I had Victor hastily duck behind one of the supports of the overhang to avoid getting shot too much, then opened up the Pip-Boy and – after a moment’s thought – had him swap to the Varmint Rifle in hopes that it would give him a better shot at range. Unfortunately, it turned out to only have a SLIGHTLY better hit chance, forcing Victor to weave and duck as best he could by the side of the canopy as he tried to get closer to properly VATS the guy. He eventually got into a position where he had a decent chance to hit Hockey Man’s right arm –
But, while he was able to do SOME damage, it wasn’t NEARLY enough. And while he has decent AP regen, the higher AP cost of the rifle meant that he couldn’t line up another VATS shot fast enough. I tried a few manual shots, and given I heard an “I’m hit!” from somewhere, managed to get off at least one –
But that wasn’t enough either, and Victor ended up going down in a hail of gunfire from Hockey Man and his friend. *sigh* It’s tough when you’re not naturally good at aiming! This is why I like VATS, and the turn-based combat in BG3. Then, when my character misses, it’s their fault, not mine. :P
F) So – good thing I made a save right when I discovered Victor could hop up on the ledge on the right side of Primm’s entrance, huh? The game reloaded me right at that spot, and I promptly had Victor head back down to the entrance and inside past the mysterious bit of burnt car/guardrail. “Okay,” I thought once he was inside, having him linger by the entrance as he VATS-scanned the two convicts by the Mojave Express (on the other side of another chunk of fence – I’m guessing along the edge of the other road that leads into town from the side), “let’s try to be a lot more careful this time, okay, Victor? Let’s go slow, be real sneaky, and see if we – what the fuck do you mean I’m already in [CAUTION]???”
Yeah, uh, this time, one of the Mojave Express convicts noticed Victor’s existence enough to come and see what was going on! I quickly had Victor back off toward the pile of wrecked cars again, hoping that he’d lose interest quickly –
But nope – he spotted Victor, pulled out his gun, and started shooting. “Well, two can play at that game,” I thought, opening Victor’s Pip-Boy and swapping his weapon. “Let’s see how the Plasma Pistol does this time around! I’ve been meaning to try it, and I have plenty of ammo for it, so…” Thus equipped, I had Victor crouch-walk his way toward the guy, taking a few hits (with the game warning me that Victor’s armor condition is getting critically low, oof) and missing a couple of manual shots as he worked to get into VATS range. Eventually, he was close enough to get a trio of shots on the guy’s left leg, with a 56% chance to hit. Victor promptly queued up and executed the shots as his opponent reloaded –
And crippled the leg on the very first hit! :D Nice! The other two shots knocked a load of health off the convict’s HP bar, but didn’t kill him, sadly, so I lined up a manual shot while waiting for Victor’s AP to refresh –
And THIS one not only hit, it exploded the guy’s head. :D Lovely. I think I like the plasma pistol.
G) With his first opponent dead, and none of the other convicts having noticed the little battle yet, it was time to get looting! Victor thus scurried up to the corpse to see what was in his pockets. The guy proved to have a good amount of stuff on him, actually – two NCR $5 bills (as the NCR is trying to mint its OWN money to replace the bottlecaps everyone else uses), a 9mm pistol, 8 rounds of 9mm ammo and 14 9mm casings, a cleaver, a Merc Charmer outfit, and a pack of cigarettes. I had Victor grab the money, the gun, and the ammo as most useful –
Then looked up and noticed he was in [CAUTION] again the moment he got out of the “inventory” menu. Turns out the guy’s buddy over by the Express office had finally noticed the commotion and was coming over to investigate. Victor hastily backed off, back over by the cars, and for a moment it looked like he MIGHT get away with it –
And then the second convict saw his buddy’s body and Victor nearby, and with that Victor was in official flashing [DANGER]. However, when I VATS-scanned the man, I saw that he was holding a cleaver, so I thought “oh, maybe he’s a melee-only enemy! That would be nice, wouldn’t it?” I thus had Victor rush at him, ready to get into VATS range to lay the hurt down with his plasma pistol –
Only for the guy to get down on one knee, holster his cleaver, and pull out a gun before shooting at poor Victor. >( Dang it. Unable to get into VATS range, I resorted to just spamming a bunch of manual shots at him –
And, fortunately, that did the trick this time around! Apparently my aim isn’t as bad as I think it is. :p This convict also had a bounty of stuff on him – two $20 NCR bills, 10 5.56mm rounds and 5 cases, a single cap, a cleaver, two sticks of dynamite (I guess he IS supposed to be a Powder Ganger, even if he’s not ACTUALLY part of the faction), a Goggles Helmet (which actually gave him +2 DT), a Merc Adventurer outfit (which didn’t have much in the way of DT, but DID offer a boost to Energy Weapons skill), an expired stimpack, and a varmint rifle. Victor took the NCR money and the cap, the dynamite, and the varmint rifle, which he used to repair the one Sunny had given him (that’s how you repair things in this game – you combine them with another of the same item). He also took the opportunity to repair his 9mm with the one he’d gotten off the first convict’s corpse. *nods* Gotta make sure his guns stay in decent condition! I was tempted by the clothes, I admit, but I wasn’t sure they’d be worth it, given they were probably going to be heavy. Plus I like Victor’s current hat. :p Anyway, once everything had been looted and all the guns combined, I got out of the Pip-Boy –
And found myself in [CAUTION] AGAIN. Sheesh! Fortunately, backing off this time, down the road a little bit, caused whoever had noticed him looting to lose interest and go back to their routine. No honor among thieves! Or among Powder Gangers, I suppose. :p
H) Having successfully taken out the two convicts closest to the Mojave Express, Victor stayed on that side of the town for a minute, keeping an eye on the convicts wandering around near the gas station on the other side while checking a nearby mailbox for goodies and finding a switchblade and some wonderglue. My memories of always needing some damn adhesive in FO4 made him take the latter. :p My first thought was to see if I could get him to sneak into the Mojave Express building, if at all possible, and find what we could find in there (including, hopefully, a new friend) –
But then, on the other side of the road, I spotted a convict just standing in between the back of the gas station’s main building and the Vikki & Vance casino, gazing off into the distance away from Victor. And well, that was just too tempting a target to turn down. I thus had Victor sneak up on the guy, hoping to execute a sneak attack critical –
Only for the guy to turn around when Victor was nearly on him, noticing his attacker and pulling out a gun. Worse yet, it appeared to be my not-so-old nemesis, Hockey Man! Well, he had to go down right away now, didn’t he? I had Victor fire a few manual shots into the guy’s gut, crippling his torso as I worked to get closer, then lined up a few VATS shots on his right leg –
And watched as the first hit straight up MELTED him into a steaming pile of green goo. Hah! Sadly, my joy was short-lived, as I promptly found myself under attack by his buddy, further down past some dumpsters by the wall of the Vikki & Vance. Fortunately, a few manual shots melted him too. The compass told me there was one more enemy in the area, though, and I used VATS to try and find him him –
And discovered a second guy wearing a hockey mask. O.o Oh – apparently that’s just a common fashion accessory among these guys. In fact, given his position by the overhang of the gas station, he was probably my nemesis Hockey Man. Whoops. :p However, despite being Victor’s nemesis, he didn’t immediately SEE him to start shooting at him – I took advantage of the opportunity and had Victor rapidly step out of sight, pressing himself up against the back wall of the gas station and using a stimpack and an agave fruit to heal himself up (and knock a bit off of his H20 need). Once he was in better fighting shape, and his status had been downgraded to [CAUTION], I had him go over and peek around to see what Actual Hockey Man was up to –
Only to find he’d disappeared. O.o Fortunately, the question of “where did he go?” was quickly answered, as he appeared behind Victor, having run around the other side of the gas station. This, very unfortunately for him, put him nice and close to Victor, and he was easily downed with a couple of manual shots from Victor’s new gun. :D Guys, I think I like the plasma pistol. Behold my carnage:
I) With everyone finally dead, and the front of Primm free of enemies, it was time to do some looting! Because that’s half the fun of a Fallout game. :p In order, we had:
I. Actual Nemesis Hockey Man – 2 $100 NCR bills (damn), a 9mm pistol, 14 rounds of 9mm ammo and 12 cases, 8 caps, a cleaver, a coffee mug, 2 sticks of dynamite, a Hockey Mask (natch, gave him +1 DT), and a Merc Veteran outfit – Victor snagged both the NCR money and the caps, the gun, and the ammo (the Hockey Mask might have been funny, but given the fixed “over the shoulder” F:NV camera angle, I wouldn’t actually get to enjoy Victor wearing it)
II. Fake Nemesis Melted Hockey Man – 10 rounds of 5.56mm ammo and 6 cases, a single cap, two sticks of dynamite, a dose of Fixer (which temporarily relieves all addictions), a Hockey Mask, a Merc Veteran outfit, and a varmint rifle – Victor took the ammo, the cap, the Fixer (just in case), and the rifle
III. Unnamed Melted Convict With No Hockey Mask – 7 $20 NCR bills, 10 rounds of 5.56mm ammo and 8 cases, 7 caps, a Merc Veteran outfit, an expired Stimpack, a bottle of Sunset Sarsaparilla, and a varmint rifle – Victor took the NCR money, the caps, the ammo, the stimpack, the soda, and the gun
All of this did end up putting Victor over his weedy weight capacity of 130 – fortunately, this was very easily fixed by using the two varmint rifles he’d just picked up to repair his current one, along with the other 9mm pistol to maintain his current one of those. This actually pushed the 9mm up over the little notch on the condition bar and into what the game considered “full condition,” meaning it does its best damage and has the best DPS possible. And as it’s the only gun that is currently AT “full condition,” or close enough to, I promptly swapped back to it as Victor’s primary weapon upon seeing that. Sorry, plasma pistol – you are loads of fun, but I don’t want you to break! Maybe we’ll bust you out for the area’s boss, we’ll see.
J) And so things wrapped up for this play session with Victor taking a moment for dinner as the sun began to set over the Mojave, drinking a Sunset Sarsaparilla (only got a normal bottle cap, sadly) and eating – you guessed it – a gecko steak. Because he really has to finish those before he can move onto anything else. :p Next time, it’s over to the Mojave Express to explore, clear out any enemies, and – very hopefully – make a new friend. :) Quite literally, because said friend is a busted robot. I leave you with this slightly-dramatic shot of Victor looking at the Mojave Express office:
*nods* Very nice. Though, looking at that armor condition, maybe what he should really be looking for in there is a new outfit…
YouTube: Well – in a curious twist, despite C. M. Alongi now being off her CaFae Latte hiatus, she did not upload a compilation of the latest shorts today! Looks like another video from one of her other series, Cafae Talks, took priority. *shrug* So instead I turned to the OXBoxtra gang for my nightly entertainment, watching –
A) “7 Best Games for Pranking NPCs” by OXBox! Jane and Mike going through those games that allow you to be amusingly cruel to the non-player characters living in the simulation. Just want to fire banana skins at everyone and watch them slip over? Pick up The Last Story, get the “prank banana” ammunition for the hero’s crossbow, and start slapping everyone in the body part of your choice! Wish to make NPCs kiss with the power of grappling hook tethers, or fly with the power of rocket booster mines? Grab Just Cause 3 and reveal in your ability to forcibly create both relationships and human birds! Want to give the NPCs in Hitman World of Assassination games a scare while discovering which of them actually enjoy it when you choke them out? Have 47 slip an arm under their chins, then refuse to tap (X) to subdue to hear what they have to say as they struggle! And wondering if you can combine pranks with tactical espionage in Metal Gear 3: Snake Eater? You sure can – tranq a snake, box it up, then fling it at a guard to cause both distraction and hilarity! And death, if it happened to be a venomous snake. :p Basically, if you’re looking for laughs at an NPC’s expense, these games are the way to go! Let us hope they never find a way to pay us back… (Well, okay, the guy telling 47 that he was enjoying being choked probably did get him back, judging by the look on 47’s face when he heard that tidbit.) XD
B) And “HARD MODE Who's That Pokemon?” by OXtra! Ellen putting Jane and Mike to the test to see if they could identify any Pokémon that weren’t the original 150 from the now over a THOUSAND out there! The pair were given first the standard “Who’s That Pokémon?” silhouette, then the image of the Pokémon itself as Ellen gave them its number in the Pokédex and some pertinent facts. The scoring system was supposed to be “two points if you can identify it by the silhouette, one if you can identify it after seeing it and hearing the facts,” but it rapidly turned into “however many points you can weedle out of Ellen for getting anywhere near right.” XD There were ten Pokémon to identify – how did they do?
Not bad – mostly because Ellen WAS pretty generous with the points. :p In order, we had:
I. A squid-like Pokémon with two long tentacles with rounded balls on the end, who was very curious but often investigated things by punching them – Mike guessed it was “Boxtopus,” while Jane went with “Squidoo.” They eventually gave up and decided to let this one be the practice round, causing Ellen to reveal the Pokémon was “Clobbopus.” No points, and Mike insisted his name was better (which, frankly, it was).
II. A Pokémon shaped like two blobs of ice cream on a frozen cone, who, when severely angered, could unleash a massive blizzard and freeze all around it – the pair managed to guess that it was an evolution of “Vanillite” (the “rubbish ice cream Pokémon” Andy had complained about during one of their recent list videos (the one about classes to never pick, if you were wondering – he was talking about how Ice types in Pokémon games are always bad)), with Mike eventually going with “Vanillamax” and Jane with “Vanillarge.” Ellen revealed shortly thereafter that it was “Vanilluxe” and agreed with their arguments that they’d gotten close enough to get a half-point each.
III. A sushi-based Pokémon who resembled a little fish on a bed of rice (Ellen put three variants up there, which led to some confusion as Jane initially assumed this meant they were one of those “group Pokémon” who are separate entities but summoned together for battles), who fought fiercely to partner with a carp-based Pokémon and feigned weakness to lure in prey – the pair pretty quickly figured out it had to be some sort of pun on sushi, and Ellen provided the further clue that one of their types was “Dragon” and that had something to do with it. And that there was more than one word for “dragon” in Japanese after the pair got stuck on making puns based on “Ryu” from Street Fighter. XD Mike eventually came up with “Tatsugiri,” which Jane echoed after seeing Ellen’s “!!” face – and indeed, it was “Tatsugiri!” Yay! 1.5 points for each of them!
IV. A strange bug Pokémon with an icy, spiky shell and a pair of mandibles that made its face look like a butt, which devoured fallen snow to make its shell – after getting past the “face looks like a butt” thing (which did take a bit) and hearing its life story, Mike originally guessed “Peakupine” given it liked to eat its way up mountains toward the nice snow at the peak, and Jane went with “Spikecicle.” Ellen then said that the name was more of a pun on eating, leading Jane to change her guess to “Snowmunch” – and when Ellen said it was onomatopoeic (aka referencing eating NOISES), Mike tried “Snownom.” Ellen excitedly told him he was close, but it was Jane who figured out the name was in fact “Snom.” XD She insisted Mike get a point for helping her realize it, though, meaning they remained tied at 2.5 points each.
V. A Pokémon that was pretty much just an angry toucan with a beak full of pressurized gas that could shoot berries with such force they could break boulders – Mike was like “they weren’t even TRYING with this one.” XD His initial guess was “Pewcan” given the berry shooting – but then, while Jane was trying out things like “Toucanfire,” he abruptly realized it was probably “Toucannon!” And indeed it was, scoring him a point and putting him in the lead!
VI. A planty Pokémon with olives growing out of its head that liked to lounge in the sun until they ripened, then go on a long journey (Mike decided this was a euphemism for “got eaten by nearby humans” XD) – Mike accused this one of looking like a weird ghost child when he first saw the silhouette, which, frankly, it really did. XD After seeing it and learning its story, though, Jane guessed “Smolive” – and ended up earning half a point when Ellen looked something up and revealed that she’d actually correctly named the Pokémon that it evolved from! Mike then tried “Tollive” (as in “tall olive”) followed by “Bolive,” inspiring Jane to keep going through the alphabet with “Collive” and “Dollive” (because it looked like a doll to her) –
And that was close enough to the actual “Dolliv” name to get her a point! Putting her at 4 and Mike at 3.5!
VII. An angry-looking cat-like Pokémon who takes over other Pokémon’s nests if it finds them comfy enough and makes itself appear more hench by squeezing its waist with its twin tails – Mike initially thought it was an Electric type, then said “no, that thing is NOT normal” when Ellen revealed it was a Normal type. XD Ellen informed them that the name was rather mean to the Pokémon, and that while “cat” was not part of the pun, a cat-related thing was – Mike worked out from her expressions that the cat-related thing was “purr” –
And promptly suggested “Purrvert,” stalling the game in its tracks as everyone cracked up laughing. XD Ellen eventually informed them it was a terrible weak pun – Mike tried “Impurrfect,” but was informed that was still a better name than the actual one. Ellen finally prompted them to think of how people described smooshed cat faces – Mike said they were ugly, and tried “Purrugly” –
And, indeed, “Purugly” was the name! No one was impressed by it, but it got Mike a point and got him up to 4.5!
VIII. A terrible pink Pokémon that resembled a Psyduck in silhouette, but was actually a horror with a huge, dexterous tongue and what looked like an upside-down Wi-Fi signal indicator on its belly – Mike and Jane were thoroughly grossed out by its appearance and description. Ellen informed them that it was an evolution of “Lickatongue” as a clue – Mike went with “Licklick,” but then misinterpreted Ellen’s “so close” hand single as “smaller” and changed to “Lickick.” XD After she clarified, he went with “Lickilick,” while Jane (trying to figure out what Ellen meant by they’d been closer with something they’d said at the beginning) settled on “Sir Licksalot.” XD Mike then guessed “Lickolick,” followed by “Lickilicky” –
And that was the correct answer! Scoring him another, rather gross, point! I much preferred “Sir Licksalot” myself...
IX. A weird mushroom Pokémon that had a cap and two little shield-like arms that resembled a Pokéball, which indeed it disguised itself as in the wild – Jane tried out “Fungaball” to start, while Mike jokingly said “Nonfungible Token.” XD Ellen gave the clue that it involved deception and the Pokémon being “sus,” causing Mike and Jane to toss out things like “Funreliable” and “Funassuming” and “Fungsus” –
And then Jane realized that Ellen was specifically referencing Among Us, and that it would have to be something to do with that game. Unfortunately, she focused on the fact that the game has impostors in it, causing her to shoot out “Fungpostron,” leaving Mike to be the one to say “Fungus Amongus” and thus get the point when the name turned out to be “Amoongus.” XD Though Ellen was kind and also gave Jane a point for saying it at SOME point during her ramblings. XD
X. A genuine “group Pokémon,” this one consisting of a little family of adorable white mice, with the adult mice protecting the little ones (who apparently just “appeared” one day – Mike said that’s what the parents say to avoid having to explain sex to the kids XD) in fights – Mike asked if the name was a pun on family and mice, and Ellen said it was another name for a family that they were punning on. After Jane looked up what groups of mice are called (apparently you can say a “mischief of mice,” which is cool), Mike threw out “mouse party,” which Jane responded to with “like a house party” –
Causing Ellen to say they were close with “house.” The pair quickly realized that the pun had to be a word where “house” was replaced with “mouse,” and after a joke about “affordable mousing,” Mike realized it was probably “Mousehold!” Which, again, was close enough to “Maushold” to get him the point! w00!
So yeah – in the end, Mike won with 7.5 points, while Jane got a respectable 5. Probably more than either of them had expected to score, given how weird Pokémon have gotten! I know I wouldn’t have gotten most of those… And also I think we can all agree Mike and Jane are better at naming Pokémon than the actual creators of Pokémon. XD
*nods* I'm pretty satisfied with that, yeah. And now it is time for me to go to bed, as I have stayed up entirely too late reading stuff on TV Tropes again. XD Tomorrow, I hope to work some more on my Victor Luvs Alice (N Smiler) drafts; play some Portal 2 (gotta get the neurotoxin disabled); continue working on Chapter 5 of "The Van Dort Vacancy;" and watch the latest F:NV YOLO Remastered episode from Jon (who HOPEFULLY will have it up in time for my workout -- fingers crossed). Night all!
Tumblr: Valice Multiverse was dead again (who is surprised), but I did manage to get a couple of things done over in the drafts of Victor Luvs Alice (N Smiler) before lunch –
A) First, I added a couple of ideas for more scenes to my draft of “Valicer In The Dark Meets Baldur’s Gate III Not-Incorrect Quotes/Shitpost Collection Volume 3” after counting the number of scenes in my previous two sets, and realizing that I had nine and eight scenes in Volumes 1 & 2 respectively, but only six in the current draft of Volume 3. Fortunately, I already had two ideas for new scenes ready to go on a scrap of paper on my desk (I’d thought I’d be saving them for another volume, but apparently not):
I. One where my Valicer trio discover someone selling fried rat skewers and end up really excited, because finally, a taste of home! With the regular BG3 cast being a little ??? because okay, fine, rat is edible, but you shouldn’t be THAT excited about it
II. And one where the gang are preparing for a fight, and Smiler points out an enemy...only to realize no one else can see it; cue them discovering they can see invisible creatures thanks to their Ersatz Eye from Volo, and Alice disapproving of Smiler getting a BENEFIT from letting Volo poke their eye out. XD
*nods* Fun ideas, right? Honestly, I would have written them all out, but unfortunately I ended up spending way too much time trying to figure out where the gang might encounter an enemy that’s invisible that wasn’t in Act 3 (Ethel apparently goes invisible during your fights against her, but I don’t know if they’d fight her after the surgery...though I guess it’s not impossible…), or where they might find rat skewers (apparently they just randomly show up in trader inventories and in the world – I’ll probably have it happen during a visit to the Goblin Camp, they seem like they’d eat rat on the regular). Maybe tomorrow, we’ll see… Oh, and I did update the scene where Wyll gives Smiler false eye care tips in the wake of the Volo surgery with his “welcome to the League of the Lost Eye” line, because it’s a fun line and deserved to be included. :)
B) And second, I wrote up a new scene for the “Not-Incorrect Valicer Quotes, Valicer In The Dark Edition, Volume VI” post! Inspired by a thought I had the other night – namely, that “Toll The Dead”, a necromancy cantrip from Baldur’s Gate III that causes necrotic damage to foes (doing more damage if they’re already wounded), sounds like the name of a ritual spell you’d find in Blades In The Dark. Cue the creation of a scene where Alice and Smiler go up to the tower library to summon Victor for lunch, only to find him studying a scroll. Victor explains that it’s a ritual he found in the collection that enchants an ordinary bell to sound like the spirit bell that rings when someone dies – ringing it is supposed to paralyze all that hear it with dread. Alice admits it sounds like it would be good for helping prevent fights, but worries that it might attract the attention of the deathseeker crows – Victor agrees, then confesses he’s more concerned by the fact that the spell apparently affects ALL who hear it. Smiler insists that “surely at least the CASTER would be immune” but Victor is adamant that if he gives it a go, he’s making sure everyone carries earplugs. :P So that was fun – and I might just try to turn that into a proper ritual at some point for Victor to actually use in the stories! We’ll see...
Fallout: New Vegas: I did indeed return to the Mojave for about an hour today – and while it wasn’t via the route I expected, I did manage to get Victor into Primm without having to brave the NCR’s bomb bridge! :D Though he then proceeded to have a BIT of a tough time with the, uh, new “locals” hanging around the place – let me tell you all about it –
A) I naturally picked up where I left off last time, with Victor lurking under a honey mesquite tree not far from the fence around Primm, thinking that he’d found a good way to get into the town without having to worry about any mines – namely, up and over what looked like some sort of natural ramp next to the fence nearby! Destination thus in mind, I had him start creeping forward, toward a couple of rocks looming out of the landscape before him, VATS-scanning for trouble all the while –
Which proved to be a smart move because, as Victor got closer to the rocks, VATS picked up on an escaped convict patrolling the bit of rollercoaster track that looped around closest to the fence! Fortunately, said convict was too far away to detect Victor in turn. Victor quickly hid behind the rocks to make sure there would be no line of sight, then carefully and slooooowly crept around the side and up to the edge of the fence as the convict continued his patrol around the loop of the track and back toward the Bison Steve. Once he was there, I took note of three important things:
I. There was a big valley in the ground running roughly perpendicular to the fence, which would be inconvenient to fall in but perhaps useful for escaping any convicts lurking around that happened to notice him
II. One of the fence sections (which mostly consisted of tall metal spikes separated here and there by big old brick pillars) was bent a little at the top, probably by time and weather – unfortunately, there were no gaps that Victor to squeeze through
III. ...And I could no longer see the “ramp” up and over the fence that I’d seen before. Because while the landscape near the fence did consist of a lot of dips and hills and such (see the aforementioned valley), none of the hills were actually pressed up against the fence. Apparently what I’d seen last time was just a trick of perspective. *grumbles* Figures, right? I was so certain I’d found a side entrance…
B) Having already made it to the fence, though, I wasn’t about to just back off – no, I was determined to see if there was ANY way for him to make it inside without having to go across the NCR bridge and either explode and/or tick off the NCR. I thus had him follow the fence to the right, ducking down briefly near the edge of the valley to avoid notice (which involved some careful crabwalking along the dip in the rocks so Victor didn’t tumble all the way down to the bottom), then climbing up on some rocks near where I’d seen the “ramp” before before continuing along to where the fence began to turn, curving toward the front of the town. There were a few more bent bits here and there, but no gaps – well, apart from the ones between the spikes themselves, which I really felt were wide enough for Victor to get through. Jamming his face into one of said gaps didn’t actually get me anywhere, though. XD Though it did afford me a decent view of the front of the Bison Steve casino, the main road, and a couple of wandering convicts. *nods* Good to know what he’ll be dealing with inside, I suppose! After confirming that no, Courier Victor was nowhere near as thin as Regular Victor and thus would NOT be able to just slide through the fence, I had him continue along the side –
Only to suddenly find myself in [CAUTION]. Uh-oh – I guess one of the convicts kind of noticed Victor’s existence! Fortunately, he was next to one of the big brick pillar bits, so I had him duck behind that, then back off into the desert a little bit until he went back into [HIDDEN]. Whew – they must have decided it was just the wind. :p From there, it was past a little grove of stubby trees and around to the front of Primm, where I found the burnt remains of a broken-apart bus shoved up against the ledge where the road dipped away from the town’s entrance. Curious and eager for goodies, I had Victor go in the middle and attempt to explore the wreckage –
Only to find I couldn’t. There were invisible walls keeping Victor out of both halves. >( Well, that felt rude! Come on, game, I just wanted to have a poke around, see if there were any suitcases with clothes left behind or something! Fallout 4 lets me do that! (Yes, I know, FO4 came AFTER you, when video game technology had advanced a bit more…)
C) Having thus been denied bus treats (though, admittedly, it genuinely didn’t look like there was anything in that shell), I decided it was time to get back up on the ledge and try to follow the fence around to the open front of Primm. I thus went around the bus’s back half and had Victor hop up –
Only to find he couldn’t hop up all the way. He could cling to the very edge of the ledge, sure, but he couldn’t actually get ON it. Apparently there was an invisible wall THERE too! I had Victor go back and forth for a minute, trying to see if there was a way to get him on there better (and then, when that didn’t seem to be happening, swapping to third person to have a giggle over him basically floating in midair right at the edge of the ledge) –
And then he went into [CAUTION] again, and I quickly had him drop down to avoid getting spotted by any of the convicts wandering around out front. *grumbles* You guys are harshing my groove here! And preventing me from getting amusing screenshots.
D) Barred from walking along what should have been an extremely accessible ledge, I was forced to have Victor follow the road down into the big old dip underneath the NCR’s bomb bridge and through the NCR’s little checkpoint of sorts down there. Mostly because the left side of the road, next to the checkpoint, was blocked with various bits of rubble – including another smashed-up bus shell. This one Victor was allowed to go inside (possibly because, unlike the first one, it wasn’t intended to block access to what should have been an extremely accessible ledge) – though, again, there were no bus treats within. I guess the wrecked buses in THIS part of the world are mostly just for show! *shrug* Anyway, Victor left it behind, slid through the checkpoint (taking a quick peek in the ammo boxes along the way – nothing he wanted), then followed the road up to the other side of Primm. There were no wrecked buses against the ledge with the fence on this side, so I decided to see if Victor could hop up over here instead –
And he could! :D Excited, I made a save, then had Victor walk along the edge of the fence back to the entrance. For a moment, it looked like there was going to be trouble, as there was something that looked a bit like a burnt chunk of car, or maybe a guardrail, in his way, and I was like “oh shit, there’s going to be another invisible wall or something” –
But there was not! Victor was easily able to slide past the mystery chunk of metal and into the town! :D Everyone, welcome to Primm!
It may not look like much, but we’re still happy to be here. :p
E) Having finally achieved the goal that I set myself a few playsessions ago, I swapped Victor’s active quest back to “They Went That-a-Way” (aka “track down the asshole who shot me”), then had him sneak a little further in, heading left toward what I presumed was the wreckage of a gas station (what he was looking at in the picture above) – and let me tell you, it’s WEIRD to see gas stations that AREN’T Red Rockets after so long playing Fallout 4. O.o. Maybe they’re an East Coast-only thing? *checks the Wiki* Okay, a couple showed up in the TV show, which is West Coast-based, but in the actual video games, they only show up in Fallout 3 (Washington, DC), Fallout 4 (Boston, Massachusetts), and Fallout 76 (Appalachia, West Virginia) (and Fallout Shelter, but who knows where THAT’S supposed to be set). So yeah, looking like the East Coast is mainly Red Rocket territory, while over here in the West Poseidon Energy is king. Neat!
Er, anyway – I had Victor cross the road into town, then hug the pile of wrecked cars on the other side of the entrance while I VATS-scanned and took note of the enemies in the area – a couple of guys hanging out on the right side of the town, near the Mojave Express office – right where Victor technically needs to go, figures – and a few more milling around near the gas station. Wanting a better look at what I was dealing with, I had Victor then creep up to the gas station and hide behind the wreckage of the car sitting under the overhang, VATS-scanning the convicts nearby. VATS informed him that he didn’t have much of a chance to hit either of them with his 9mm, so I had him venture out and back up to try and get a better angle on them –
Only for one of them, a guy in a hockey mask (which DID make him look rather like Jason, if you were wondering) to notice him and start shooting. Damn it. I had Victor hastily duck behind one of the supports of the overhang to avoid getting shot too much, then opened up the Pip-Boy and – after a moment’s thought – had him swap to the Varmint Rifle in hopes that it would give him a better shot at range. Unfortunately, it turned out to only have a SLIGHTLY better hit chance, forcing Victor to weave and duck as best he could by the side of the canopy as he tried to get closer to properly VATS the guy. He eventually got into a position where he had a decent chance to hit Hockey Man’s right arm –
But, while he was able to do SOME damage, it wasn’t NEARLY enough. And while he has decent AP regen, the higher AP cost of the rifle meant that he couldn’t line up another VATS shot fast enough. I tried a few manual shots, and given I heard an “I’m hit!” from somewhere, managed to get off at least one –
But that wasn’t enough either, and Victor ended up going down in a hail of gunfire from Hockey Man and his friend. *sigh* It’s tough when you’re not naturally good at aiming! This is why I like VATS, and the turn-based combat in BG3. Then, when my character misses, it’s their fault, not mine. :P
F) So – good thing I made a save right when I discovered Victor could hop up on the ledge on the right side of Primm’s entrance, huh? The game reloaded me right at that spot, and I promptly had Victor head back down to the entrance and inside past the mysterious bit of burnt car/guardrail. “Okay,” I thought once he was inside, having him linger by the entrance as he VATS-scanned the two convicts by the Mojave Express (on the other side of another chunk of fence – I’m guessing along the edge of the other road that leads into town from the side), “let’s try to be a lot more careful this time, okay, Victor? Let’s go slow, be real sneaky, and see if we – what the fuck do you mean I’m already in [CAUTION]???”
Yeah, uh, this time, one of the Mojave Express convicts noticed Victor’s existence enough to come and see what was going on! I quickly had Victor back off toward the pile of wrecked cars again, hoping that he’d lose interest quickly –
But nope – he spotted Victor, pulled out his gun, and started shooting. “Well, two can play at that game,” I thought, opening Victor’s Pip-Boy and swapping his weapon. “Let’s see how the Plasma Pistol does this time around! I’ve been meaning to try it, and I have plenty of ammo for it, so…” Thus equipped, I had Victor crouch-walk his way toward the guy, taking a few hits (with the game warning me that Victor’s armor condition is getting critically low, oof) and missing a couple of manual shots as he worked to get into VATS range. Eventually, he was close enough to get a trio of shots on the guy’s left leg, with a 56% chance to hit. Victor promptly queued up and executed the shots as his opponent reloaded –
And crippled the leg on the very first hit! :D Nice! The other two shots knocked a load of health off the convict’s HP bar, but didn’t kill him, sadly, so I lined up a manual shot while waiting for Victor’s AP to refresh –
And THIS one not only hit, it exploded the guy’s head. :D Lovely. I think I like the plasma pistol.
G) With his first opponent dead, and none of the other convicts having noticed the little battle yet, it was time to get looting! Victor thus scurried up to the corpse to see what was in his pockets. The guy proved to have a good amount of stuff on him, actually – two NCR $5 bills (as the NCR is trying to mint its OWN money to replace the bottlecaps everyone else uses), a 9mm pistol, 8 rounds of 9mm ammo and 14 9mm casings, a cleaver, a Merc Charmer outfit, and a pack of cigarettes. I had Victor grab the money, the gun, and the ammo as most useful –
Then looked up and noticed he was in [CAUTION] again the moment he got out of the “inventory” menu. Turns out the guy’s buddy over by the Express office had finally noticed the commotion and was coming over to investigate. Victor hastily backed off, back over by the cars, and for a moment it looked like he MIGHT get away with it –
And then the second convict saw his buddy’s body and Victor nearby, and with that Victor was in official flashing [DANGER]. However, when I VATS-scanned the man, I saw that he was holding a cleaver, so I thought “oh, maybe he’s a melee-only enemy! That would be nice, wouldn’t it?” I thus had Victor rush at him, ready to get into VATS range to lay the hurt down with his plasma pistol –
Only for the guy to get down on one knee, holster his cleaver, and pull out a gun before shooting at poor Victor. >( Dang it. Unable to get into VATS range, I resorted to just spamming a bunch of manual shots at him –
And, fortunately, that did the trick this time around! Apparently my aim isn’t as bad as I think it is. :p This convict also had a bounty of stuff on him – two $20 NCR bills, 10 5.56mm rounds and 5 cases, a single cap, a cleaver, two sticks of dynamite (I guess he IS supposed to be a Powder Ganger, even if he’s not ACTUALLY part of the faction), a Goggles Helmet (which actually gave him +2 DT), a Merc Adventurer outfit (which didn’t have much in the way of DT, but DID offer a boost to Energy Weapons skill), an expired stimpack, and a varmint rifle. Victor took the NCR money and the cap, the dynamite, and the varmint rifle, which he used to repair the one Sunny had given him (that’s how you repair things in this game – you combine them with another of the same item). He also took the opportunity to repair his 9mm with the one he’d gotten off the first convict’s corpse. *nods* Gotta make sure his guns stay in decent condition! I was tempted by the clothes, I admit, but I wasn’t sure they’d be worth it, given they were probably going to be heavy. Plus I like Victor’s current hat. :p Anyway, once everything had been looted and all the guns combined, I got out of the Pip-Boy –
And found myself in [CAUTION] AGAIN. Sheesh! Fortunately, backing off this time, down the road a little bit, caused whoever had noticed him looting to lose interest and go back to their routine. No honor among thieves! Or among Powder Gangers, I suppose. :p
H) Having successfully taken out the two convicts closest to the Mojave Express, Victor stayed on that side of the town for a minute, keeping an eye on the convicts wandering around near the gas station on the other side while checking a nearby mailbox for goodies and finding a switchblade and some wonderglue. My memories of always needing some damn adhesive in FO4 made him take the latter. :p My first thought was to see if I could get him to sneak into the Mojave Express building, if at all possible, and find what we could find in there (including, hopefully, a new friend) –
But then, on the other side of the road, I spotted a convict just standing in between the back of the gas station’s main building and the Vikki & Vance casino, gazing off into the distance away from Victor. And well, that was just too tempting a target to turn down. I thus had Victor sneak up on the guy, hoping to execute a sneak attack critical –
Only for the guy to turn around when Victor was nearly on him, noticing his attacker and pulling out a gun. Worse yet, it appeared to be my not-so-old nemesis, Hockey Man! Well, he had to go down right away now, didn’t he? I had Victor fire a few manual shots into the guy’s gut, crippling his torso as I worked to get closer, then lined up a few VATS shots on his right leg –
And watched as the first hit straight up MELTED him into a steaming pile of green goo. Hah! Sadly, my joy was short-lived, as I promptly found myself under attack by his buddy, further down past some dumpsters by the wall of the Vikki & Vance. Fortunately, a few manual shots melted him too. The compass told me there was one more enemy in the area, though, and I used VATS to try and find him him –
And discovered a second guy wearing a hockey mask. O.o Oh – apparently that’s just a common fashion accessory among these guys. In fact, given his position by the overhang of the gas station, he was probably my nemesis Hockey Man. Whoops. :p However, despite being Victor’s nemesis, he didn’t immediately SEE him to start shooting at him – I took advantage of the opportunity and had Victor rapidly step out of sight, pressing himself up against the back wall of the gas station and using a stimpack and an agave fruit to heal himself up (and knock a bit off of his H20 need). Once he was in better fighting shape, and his status had been downgraded to [CAUTION], I had him go over and peek around to see what Actual Hockey Man was up to –
Only to find he’d disappeared. O.o Fortunately, the question of “where did he go?” was quickly answered, as he appeared behind Victor, having run around the other side of the gas station. This, very unfortunately for him, put him nice and close to Victor, and he was easily downed with a couple of manual shots from Victor’s new gun. :D Guys, I think I like the plasma pistol. Behold my carnage:
I) With everyone finally dead, and the front of Primm free of enemies, it was time to do some looting! Because that’s half the fun of a Fallout game. :p In order, we had:
I. Actual Nemesis Hockey Man – 2 $100 NCR bills (damn), a 9mm pistol, 14 rounds of 9mm ammo and 12 cases, 8 caps, a cleaver, a coffee mug, 2 sticks of dynamite, a Hockey Mask (natch, gave him +1 DT), and a Merc Veteran outfit – Victor snagged both the NCR money and the caps, the gun, and the ammo (the Hockey Mask might have been funny, but given the fixed “over the shoulder” F:NV camera angle, I wouldn’t actually get to enjoy Victor wearing it)
II. Fake Nemesis Melted Hockey Man – 10 rounds of 5.56mm ammo and 6 cases, a single cap, two sticks of dynamite, a dose of Fixer (which temporarily relieves all addictions), a Hockey Mask, a Merc Veteran outfit, and a varmint rifle – Victor took the ammo, the cap, the Fixer (just in case), and the rifle
III. Unnamed Melted Convict With No Hockey Mask – 7 $20 NCR bills, 10 rounds of 5.56mm ammo and 8 cases, 7 caps, a Merc Veteran outfit, an expired Stimpack, a bottle of Sunset Sarsaparilla, and a varmint rifle – Victor took the NCR money, the caps, the ammo, the stimpack, the soda, and the gun
All of this did end up putting Victor over his weedy weight capacity of 130 – fortunately, this was very easily fixed by using the two varmint rifles he’d just picked up to repair his current one, along with the other 9mm pistol to maintain his current one of those. This actually pushed the 9mm up over the little notch on the condition bar and into what the game considered “full condition,” meaning it does its best damage and has the best DPS possible. And as it’s the only gun that is currently AT “full condition,” or close enough to, I promptly swapped back to it as Victor’s primary weapon upon seeing that. Sorry, plasma pistol – you are loads of fun, but I don’t want you to break! Maybe we’ll bust you out for the area’s boss, we’ll see.
J) And so things wrapped up for this play session with Victor taking a moment for dinner as the sun began to set over the Mojave, drinking a Sunset Sarsaparilla (only got a normal bottle cap, sadly) and eating – you guessed it – a gecko steak. Because he really has to finish those before he can move onto anything else. :p Next time, it’s over to the Mojave Express to explore, clear out any enemies, and – very hopefully – make a new friend. :) Quite literally, because said friend is a busted robot. I leave you with this slightly-dramatic shot of Victor looking at the Mojave Express office:
*nods* Very nice. Though, looking at that armor condition, maybe what he should really be looking for in there is a new outfit…
YouTube: Well – in a curious twist, despite C. M. Alongi now being off her CaFae Latte hiatus, she did not upload a compilation of the latest shorts today! Looks like another video from one of her other series, Cafae Talks, took priority. *shrug* So instead I turned to the OXBoxtra gang for my nightly entertainment, watching –
A) “7 Best Games for Pranking NPCs” by OXBox! Jane and Mike going through those games that allow you to be amusingly cruel to the non-player characters living in the simulation. Just want to fire banana skins at everyone and watch them slip over? Pick up The Last Story, get the “prank banana” ammunition for the hero’s crossbow, and start slapping everyone in the body part of your choice! Wish to make NPCs kiss with the power of grappling hook tethers, or fly with the power of rocket booster mines? Grab Just Cause 3 and reveal in your ability to forcibly create both relationships and human birds! Want to give the NPCs in Hitman World of Assassination games a scare while discovering which of them actually enjoy it when you choke them out? Have 47 slip an arm under their chins, then refuse to tap (X) to subdue to hear what they have to say as they struggle! And wondering if you can combine pranks with tactical espionage in Metal Gear 3: Snake Eater? You sure can – tranq a snake, box it up, then fling it at a guard to cause both distraction and hilarity! And death, if it happened to be a venomous snake. :p Basically, if you’re looking for laughs at an NPC’s expense, these games are the way to go! Let us hope they never find a way to pay us back… (Well, okay, the guy telling 47 that he was enjoying being choked probably did get him back, judging by the look on 47’s face when he heard that tidbit.) XD
B) And “HARD MODE Who's That Pokemon?” by OXtra! Ellen putting Jane and Mike to the test to see if they could identify any Pokémon that weren’t the original 150 from the now over a THOUSAND out there! The pair were given first the standard “Who’s That Pokémon?” silhouette, then the image of the Pokémon itself as Ellen gave them its number in the Pokédex and some pertinent facts. The scoring system was supposed to be “two points if you can identify it by the silhouette, one if you can identify it after seeing it and hearing the facts,” but it rapidly turned into “however many points you can weedle out of Ellen for getting anywhere near right.” XD There were ten Pokémon to identify – how did they do?
Not bad – mostly because Ellen WAS pretty generous with the points. :p In order, we had:
I. A squid-like Pokémon with two long tentacles with rounded balls on the end, who was very curious but often investigated things by punching them – Mike guessed it was “Boxtopus,” while Jane went with “Squidoo.” They eventually gave up and decided to let this one be the practice round, causing Ellen to reveal the Pokémon was “Clobbopus.” No points, and Mike insisted his name was better (which, frankly, it was).
II. A Pokémon shaped like two blobs of ice cream on a frozen cone, who, when severely angered, could unleash a massive blizzard and freeze all around it – the pair managed to guess that it was an evolution of “Vanillite” (the “rubbish ice cream Pokémon” Andy had complained about during one of their recent list videos (the one about classes to never pick, if you were wondering – he was talking about how Ice types in Pokémon games are always bad)), with Mike eventually going with “Vanillamax” and Jane with “Vanillarge.” Ellen revealed shortly thereafter that it was “Vanilluxe” and agreed with their arguments that they’d gotten close enough to get a half-point each.
III. A sushi-based Pokémon who resembled a little fish on a bed of rice (Ellen put three variants up there, which led to some confusion as Jane initially assumed this meant they were one of those “group Pokémon” who are separate entities but summoned together for battles), who fought fiercely to partner with a carp-based Pokémon and feigned weakness to lure in prey – the pair pretty quickly figured out it had to be some sort of pun on sushi, and Ellen provided the further clue that one of their types was “Dragon” and that had something to do with it. And that there was more than one word for “dragon” in Japanese after the pair got stuck on making puns based on “Ryu” from Street Fighter. XD Mike eventually came up with “Tatsugiri,” which Jane echoed after seeing Ellen’s “!!” face – and indeed, it was “Tatsugiri!” Yay! 1.5 points for each of them!
IV. A strange bug Pokémon with an icy, spiky shell and a pair of mandibles that made its face look like a butt, which devoured fallen snow to make its shell – after getting past the “face looks like a butt” thing (which did take a bit) and hearing its life story, Mike originally guessed “Peakupine” given it liked to eat its way up mountains toward the nice snow at the peak, and Jane went with “Spikecicle.” Ellen then said that the name was more of a pun on eating, leading Jane to change her guess to “Snowmunch” – and when Ellen said it was onomatopoeic (aka referencing eating NOISES), Mike tried “Snownom.” Ellen excitedly told him he was close, but it was Jane who figured out the name was in fact “Snom.” XD She insisted Mike get a point for helping her realize it, though, meaning they remained tied at 2.5 points each.
V. A Pokémon that was pretty much just an angry toucan with a beak full of pressurized gas that could shoot berries with such force they could break boulders – Mike was like “they weren’t even TRYING with this one.” XD His initial guess was “Pewcan” given the berry shooting – but then, while Jane was trying out things like “Toucanfire,” he abruptly realized it was probably “Toucannon!” And indeed it was, scoring him a point and putting him in the lead!
VI. A planty Pokémon with olives growing out of its head that liked to lounge in the sun until they ripened, then go on a long journey (Mike decided this was a euphemism for “got eaten by nearby humans” XD) – Mike accused this one of looking like a weird ghost child when he first saw the silhouette, which, frankly, it really did. XD After seeing it and learning its story, though, Jane guessed “Smolive” – and ended up earning half a point when Ellen looked something up and revealed that she’d actually correctly named the Pokémon that it evolved from! Mike then tried “Tollive” (as in “tall olive”) followed by “Bolive,” inspiring Jane to keep going through the alphabet with “Collive” and “Dollive” (because it looked like a doll to her) –
And that was close enough to the actual “Dolliv” name to get her a point! Putting her at 4 and Mike at 3.5!
VII. An angry-looking cat-like Pokémon who takes over other Pokémon’s nests if it finds them comfy enough and makes itself appear more hench by squeezing its waist with its twin tails – Mike initially thought it was an Electric type, then said “no, that thing is NOT normal” when Ellen revealed it was a Normal type. XD Ellen informed them that the name was rather mean to the Pokémon, and that while “cat” was not part of the pun, a cat-related thing was – Mike worked out from her expressions that the cat-related thing was “purr” –
And promptly suggested “Purrvert,” stalling the game in its tracks as everyone cracked up laughing. XD Ellen eventually informed them it was a terrible weak pun – Mike tried “Impurrfect,” but was informed that was still a better name than the actual one. Ellen finally prompted them to think of how people described smooshed cat faces – Mike said they were ugly, and tried “Purrugly” –
And, indeed, “Purugly” was the name! No one was impressed by it, but it got Mike a point and got him up to 4.5!
VIII. A terrible pink Pokémon that resembled a Psyduck in silhouette, but was actually a horror with a huge, dexterous tongue and what looked like an upside-down Wi-Fi signal indicator on its belly – Mike and Jane were thoroughly grossed out by its appearance and description. Ellen informed them that it was an evolution of “Lickatongue” as a clue – Mike went with “Licklick,” but then misinterpreted Ellen’s “so close” hand single as “smaller” and changed to “Lickick.” XD After she clarified, he went with “Lickilick,” while Jane (trying to figure out what Ellen meant by they’d been closer with something they’d said at the beginning) settled on “Sir Licksalot.” XD Mike then guessed “Lickolick,” followed by “Lickilicky” –
And that was the correct answer! Scoring him another, rather gross, point! I much preferred “Sir Licksalot” myself...
IX. A weird mushroom Pokémon that had a cap and two little shield-like arms that resembled a Pokéball, which indeed it disguised itself as in the wild – Jane tried out “Fungaball” to start, while Mike jokingly said “Nonfungible Token.” XD Ellen gave the clue that it involved deception and the Pokémon being “sus,” causing Mike and Jane to toss out things like “Funreliable” and “Funassuming” and “Fungsus” –
And then Jane realized that Ellen was specifically referencing Among Us, and that it would have to be something to do with that game. Unfortunately, she focused on the fact that the game has impostors in it, causing her to shoot out “Fungpostron,” leaving Mike to be the one to say “Fungus Amongus” and thus get the point when the name turned out to be “Amoongus.” XD Though Ellen was kind and also gave Jane a point for saying it at SOME point during her ramblings. XD
X. A genuine “group Pokémon,” this one consisting of a little family of adorable white mice, with the adult mice protecting the little ones (who apparently just “appeared” one day – Mike said that’s what the parents say to avoid having to explain sex to the kids XD) in fights – Mike asked if the name was a pun on family and mice, and Ellen said it was another name for a family that they were punning on. After Jane looked up what groups of mice are called (apparently you can say a “mischief of mice,” which is cool), Mike threw out “mouse party,” which Jane responded to with “like a house party” –
Causing Ellen to say they were close with “house.” The pair quickly realized that the pun had to be a word where “house” was replaced with “mouse,” and after a joke about “affordable mousing,” Mike realized it was probably “Mousehold!” Which, again, was close enough to “Maushold” to get him the point! w00!
So yeah – in the end, Mike won with 7.5 points, while Jane got a respectable 5. Probably more than either of them had expected to score, given how weird Pokémon have gotten! I know I wouldn’t have gotten most of those… And also I think we can all agree Mike and Jane are better at naming Pokémon than the actual creators of Pokémon. XD
*nods* I'm pretty satisfied with that, yeah. And now it is time for me to go to bed, as I have stayed up entirely too late reading stuff on TV Tropes again. XD Tomorrow, I hope to work some more on my Victor Luvs Alice (N Smiler) drafts; play some Portal 2 (gotta get the neurotoxin disabled); continue working on Chapter 5 of "The Van Dort Vacancy;" and watch the latest F:NV YOLO Remastered episode from Jon (who HOPEFULLY will have it up in time for my workout -- fingers crossed). Night all!
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Date: 2026-04-28 10:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-04-29 03:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-04-29 10:41 pm (UTC)That made sense in my head...
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Date: 2026-04-30 03:47 am (UTC)