Warm Warm Friday
Jun. 5th, 2026 11:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
crossover_chickTemperatures got well up into the 90s today, with the saving grace being that it wasn't humid -- but that is due to change tomorrow, bleeeh. I could feel it coming on earlier tonight, and I do not approve. >( At least it's only supposed to be one day...we hope... Anyway, here's how my Friday (which was spent largely in the AC, I admit) went:
Work – I had an extremely quiet day at the office today – I did the GL, which barely took an hour; I worked on my list of potential “new donors” that my supervisor gave me, seeing who was truly new and who wasn’t (and merging the “wasn’t”s); I helped my coworker look up a couple of things; and I did a reversal to apply someone’s payment to their pledge at the end of the day. Phone didn’t ring once, and I got out at 3:30 PM with minimal problems. *shrug* Fine by me! And now I have four whole days off, yay~
To-Do List –
1. Get in a workout: Check – my final night on the bike this week saw me pedal my way through –
A) “CaFae Tales: Carmilla” by C. M. Alongi! Because I did want to watch it, I just didn’t have the time before. Anyway, this episode of the CaFae cast telling/summarizing stories featured Nicole showing up to the cafe looking for escapism – and when Bob replied that the coffee shop was not a “bar, marijuana cafe, or opium den” (JC: “They still have that last one??”), clarifying that she wanted a book recommendation. Specifically for something both queer and horror, because her brain was doing funny things given the current state of the world. Cue Janine, resident trans vampire badass, wandering in while JC was talking about how, at least in horror movies, the monster usually gets killed at the ninety-minute mark – and, after being brought up to speed on what they were talking about, recommending and recapping Carmilla, the lesbian vampire horror novella that was published about a decade before Dracula! Which featured:
I. JC wondering how Carmilla even got published, given it was written during a time that was very unfriendly to queer stuff – Janine explained that, by the standards of the time, Laura and Carmilla’s relationship was simply queer-coded, with enough plausible deniability for the author to get away with it (though she admitted that in a MODERN context, these ladies might as well be waving lesbian flags), with Nicole adding that it probably didn’t hurt that the lesbian vampire was the villain and received her comeuppance at the end
II. JC being absolutely astonished by the opening, where Laura and her father receive a letter from her friend Bertha’s father informing them that Bertha has died under mysterious circumstances to some fiend, and that he will tell them all once he finishes some business he has in a couple of months – causing them to believe that she’d probably picked up a disease from a traveler – and complaining that the letter is full of red flags and that an autopsy would definitely show Bertha had been attacked or something! Cue Janine and Bob both being like “the ones born after the advent of vaccines and modern medicine are so spoiled” and having to explain to them that most people in history didn’t die of old age, but rather disease, infection, and occasionally mysterious causes no one could figure out. Janine herself admitted to having mortal friends back then who passed away without her ever figuring out why. So yeah, not weird at all that Laura and her dad wouldn’t question Bertha’s mysterious death much!
III. Janine explaining how Carmilla came to stay with Laura and her friend – basically, her carriage crashed right outside the estate; Laura’s father went to check on the occupants, and learned from her mother that she was on urgent, secret family business; Carmilla’s mother asking Laura’s father to look after her daughter so she could finish her business sooner, since he was obviously the gentlemanly sort she could implicitly trust; and Laura’s father agreeing both because he believed in hospitality and because his lonely daughter was clearly excited about having someone her age around. Cue JC instantly recognizing the scam that Carmilla and her mother were pulling (with the modern equivalent being pretending to have car trouble to lure in someone sympathetic to start bilking for cash), and explaining to the others how it’s designed to get the mark to do something for you by making them think that they actually had all the power in the situation. And then justifying their knowledge by reminding everyone that they have spent time in jail, and have accordingly learned a few things. XD
IV. Janine talking about Carmilla staying with the family, going over her insistence on never being disturbed at night (as she always locked her door in case of robbers); her insistence on not telling Laura anything about herself beyond her name and that she was minor nobility, despite them growing inseparable over the weeks; her casual dismissal of the deaths of some local peasants (such as a girl who’d died after saying she kept seeing a ghost, and a swineherd’s wife who felt like she was being strangled), telling an anxious Laura that peasants would tell themselves stories about anything; and the arrival of some portraits of the Carnstein family (distant relatives of Laura’s mother)...one of which looked exactly like Carmilla (Countess Mircalla, specifically) – causing Carmilla to play it off as her probably being descended from them too and carrying the “family look.” Laura decided she’d hang that one in her bedroom, causing Carmilla to go “I live in you, and you would die for me, I love you so” –
Causing JC go to “red flag” and Janine to admit there were PLENTY more of those, she was skipping bits for time (and, as per Bob, to save Editor Nic some work).
V. Janine continuing on to explain how Laura began to grow ill as the weeks went on – plagued with terrible nightmares and a deep fatigue – until finally one night she had a vision where she heard a voice telling her her dead mother had warned her of “the assassin” and saw Carmilla dressed in white with a massive gout of blood straight down her front. This naturally made her worried about Carmilla, causing her to ask her maid to check up on her – only for Carmilla to not answer her knocks. Cue Laura’s father showing up and managing to break down the door –
And them discovering an empty room beyond. They promptly began scouring the castle to try and find Carmilla, but were unsuccessful...then returned to her room and found her on her sofa (desperately trying to hide some blood from her latest meal for comedic purposes). She claimed not to have heard the door breaking down, and when Laura’s father asked if she had a history of sleepwalking, quickly seized on that and said, “not since I was very young...but it has happened.” Cue Laura’s father immediately deciding that what must have happened was Carmilla sleepwalking out of her room, managing by sheer coincidence to avoid them as they searched, and eventually returning and plopping down on her sofa –
And cue Nicole being like “There’s no way anyone would believe that.” JC and Bob promptly set her straight, with JC reminding her that people love any explanation that requires the least change on their part or inspires the least fear in them, while Bob pointed out that Carmilla WAS running a con of sorts, and any experienced con artist knows it’s easier to give your mark just enough information for THEM to come up with an explanation for any odd stuff that was happening rather than try to feed them one. Nicole gave them the point, noting herself that Laura’s father was more likely to believe anything HE came up with because he was the man of the house. Patriarchy, am I right?
VI. Janine telling everyone how Laura’s father wasn’t completely oblivious and did call in a doctor to tend to his ailing daughter, and how the doctor, upon hearing Laura’s symptoms – nightmares, the sensations of being strangled in the night or of two needles puncturing her neck, general lassitude – told Laura’s father that she must not ever be left alone for any reason, especially at night. Laura’s father took this under advisement, then assured Laura that the doctor was sure she’d make a full recovery soon so long as the proper steps were taken, and that she shouldn’t worry her pretty little head about it –
Causing Nicole to go “a history of women’s medicine in a nutshell.” JC was stunned by this, and even more stunned when Janine told them that it was the norm for doctors to talk to a husband or father about a woman’s illness and how to treat it rather than the woman herself straight into the 1960s, and Nicole mentioned how her mother realized the best way for her to get her medical needs taken care of was either to bring her father along or pretend she wanted to get pregnant again. And that she herself had used the latter trick a couple of times, as doctors got a lot more interested in treating her once she pretended to want to be an incubator for the next generation. JC was very impressed with Nicole’s lying to doctors, as was Janine. XD
VII. Janine then relaying how General Spielsdorf, Bertha’s father, came for a visit that same day – and promptly grabbed the nearest axe and declared that he had to go to the ruins of Carnstein Castle for mysterious reasons. Laura’s father and Laura insisted on knowing why, and he took them with him in his carriage while explaining how, a few months prior to Bertha’s death, he and his daughter met a girl named Millarca and her mother at a masquerade ball – and how the mother acted like she and Spielsdorf had been old friends for ages, with Spielsdorf going along with it because he was no longer sure if he knew her or not (especially with the mask). JC once again recognized the con, calling it “the oldest con in the book” and relaying how they knew this guy who could pull it off masterfully, tricking someone into believing he was an old high school mate before making off with the mark’s wallet, watch, and car keys. Nicole remarked that the true horror was the malleability of human memory.
VIII. Janine commenting that she believed the true villain of this piece was Victorian Era manners, before explaining how Carmilla’s mother managed to basically bully Spielsdorf into looking after Millarca for a while by exploiting his desire to help a friend (JC: “Sounds familiar.”) Spielsdorf caved after Bertha said that it would be nice to have someone her own age around and Millarca began talking about all the lovely things she’d heard about the country –
And, as per Spielsdorf, cue Bertha getting sick with an illness that sounded SUSPICIOUSLY similar to Laura’s, down to the terrifying visions of blood-soaked women and the feeling of needles piercing her neck at night. As you might imagine, Laura and her dad were a little unnerved by that! They were even more unnerved when they arrived at the ruins of Carnstein Castle, and Spielsdorf explained that he was here to find the grave of the Countess Mircalla –
And dig it up and cut off her head. Because that was the best way to deal with a vampire. He explained that he’d learned that the abandoned village nearby had been decimated by vampires until finally the villagers had tracked them down, staked them, decapitated them, and burned them – but obviously they’d missed one, Mircalla. He then explained how poor Bertha had actually died – basically, he’d called a doctor in to look at her, and the doctor had given him a sealed letter to give to the local priest, since he felt that was the man who had the best chance of saving Bertha. Spielsdorf read the letter himself instead and – upon seeing that the doctor believed Bertha was being attacked by a vampire – decided that the doctor was a bit backwards...but also decided to conceal himself in Bertha’s dressing room with a sword, just on the off-chance something was attacking her in the night. Cue him getting the shock of his life when a strange shadowy figure crawled up his daughter’s bed to attack her throat – and getting a further shock when he managed to chase the figure away with his sword and saw that it was Millarca. He tried to strike her down, but she managed to escape with inhuman speed, and Bertha died by sunrise from blood loss. :( Laura’s dad was like “so this Millarca, or Mircalla – great secret identity has been sneaking into my daughter’s room and drinking her blood?” while Laura protested she’d never seen this woman, and that the only visitor to their castle had been –
Carmilla. Who chose that moment to show up, and was promptly recognized by Spielsdorf. JC deadpanned, “Shock! Horror! Not totally predictable!” but Nicole pointed out that this was probably meant as a horrifying-but-not-surprising reveal instead of a plot twist. I mean, the jig was kind of up the moment Laura got that portrait…
VIII. Janine telling the group how Spielsdorf tried to strike Carmilla down, but she managed to block his attack, force him to drop the axe, and flee into the ruins, leaving our three heroes to talk. Specifically, leaving a stunned and horrified Laura to ask why Carmilla had drawn out her death so long, given the other women she was feeding on died within days, a week or two at most. Spielsdorf told her that he’d learned that vampires could sometimes become fascinated with their victims and want to keep them alive as long as possible, or even turn them into monsters like themselves, causing Laura to mutter “what a horrible girlfriend” and then hastily go “girl friend – friend who is a girl” for comedic purposes –
And Nicole to comment about how characters like Carmilla presented a conundrum for queer readers for decades – because while she was undoubtedly evil, she was also representation. Meaning there was a very healthy debate for quite a while about whether villainous representation was better than no representation at all. JC wondered if this was why they tended to like the monsters in monster movies more than the people who got killed (Nicole admitting it was likely), while Janine noted that things were much better representation-wise these days, but that there were plenty of assholes who would love for things to go back to “the queers are the bad guys.”
IX. And Janine concluding the recap by telling the group how Spielsdorf and Laura’s father “iced” Carmilla (JC’s words), saying that they’d collected a commissioner and a priest from the nearest village (so their vampire murder would be nice and legal), then returned to the ruins to open her grave. Where they found Carmilla fresh as a daisy, floating in a seven-inch-deep pool of blood. D: Spielsdorf whacked her head off with the axe, and that was about that. JC was like “that was easy,” and Janine explained that Victorian horror was more about slow, creeping dread, with the monster itself being rather easily conquered once it was actually revealed. Nicole complimented Janine on the story, with Janine thanking her before reiterating it was a nice quick read and that she’d skipped over some bits for time –
Causing Bob to go “it’s like we’re trying to encourage people to read in these horrible times of anti-intellectualism and fascist control” with some significant looks at the camera. XD As JC said, those are the real villains! Good recap – I hope Nicole enjoys reading the full thing. :p
B) And “Shadowheart's Hidden Score | "Nightsong Points" Explained” by SlimX! A guide to gathering Baldur’s Gate III’s secret “Nightsong Points” that help determine how faithful Shadowheart is to her goddess, Shar, and thus how prone she is to wanting to murder the Nightsong, aka Dame Aylin, when the party finds her in the Shadowfell in Act 2. Gather at least four, and she develops some serious doubts about her faith, which can unlock new content and conversations. There’s six on offer:
I. One that can be gained when Shadowheart reveals how she became a Sharran in the first place, showing the player character the cult saving her from a wolf in the forest via tadpole memory sharing (a scene which ITSELF is triggered by earning “Wolf Dream” points – this woman has so many points to earn to unlock stuff! Fortunately you only need three and they’re much easier to get – for example, freeing her from her pod in the tutorial gets you one off the bat) – in the resultant conversation, you have to pick the option pointing out that the memory showed her wearing a Moonstone, which is something Selunites wear. This is normally only available if you pass a passive Intelligence (Religion) check to remember that followers of Selune have a “coming of age” ritual where their kids must find their way home after being left in the woods, but you can make sure the option comes up by opening a special Selunite chest in the owlbear cave – there’s a scroll in there that details the ritual, and as long as you read it, your character will remember it and get the option to point out the Moonstone, earning a Nightsong Point.
II. A second can be gained in that same conversation later, after Shadowheart talks about how the Mother Superior made her who she is, including punishing her when she failed her (which was often) – point out that it sounds like abuse, and while Shadowheart will deny it at the time, she will rack up another Nightsong Point for later.
III. The third requires the wound on Shadowheart’s hand to have flared up four times in response to her doing things Shar doesn’t approve of (such as saving Arabella, or going to look at a Selunite statue in the Blighted Village, or – hilariously – sharing that “wolf dream” memory with you). This opens up a new conversation with Shadowheart in camp, where you can talk about the wound and how it should be possible to heal it – pass either the Religion check to tell her that she shouldn’t have to suffer to prove her faith, or the Persuasion check to point out that, if the wound flared up at the wrong moment, it could be really bad for the party, and you’ll score another Nightsong point.
IV. The fourth requires you to get Shadowheart to eat the noblestalk mushroom you can find in the Underdark to help her restore a memory. If you pass the Persuasion or Intimidation check, she’ll do it, remembering a friend of hers from her cloister and making it so you can find said friend in Act III as well as racking up another Nightsong Point. This does prevent you from giving the mushroom to the trader who asked you to get it in the first place, however, meaning she won’t sell it when you encounter her in Act III – and, at the time of the video’s recording, it triggered a bugged wound flare that prevented the conversation that allowed you to get the “wound flare” point, meaning you had to be sure you’d picked up THAT point before you did this! Fortunately, that was fixed in Patch 8 as per the description.
V. The fifth point is available to anyone who asked Shadowheart about herself back in Act I and learned that Night Orchids are her favorite flower – you can find one in Act II, and if you give it to her, along with getting some approval, you get a Nightsoing point.
VI. And the sixth point is the easiest one of all to get – just agree to help Shadowheart pass the Dark Justicar trials when you encounter them! Or let her do the little blood-letting ritual to activate any or all of them.
And what does collecting at least four Nightsong points get you? Well –
One, you get a brief conversation with Shadowheart where she talks about feeling vaguely conflicted about something – this could happen immediately, or after your next long rest, depending on if she’s shared any other information about her background lately (she’s only allowed to talk about it once per long rest).
Two, you get some special dialogue in camp with her about her acting differently lately (“praying less and pacing more”) – though, annoyingly, THIS dialogue is not signposted with the usual “!” bubble above her head. You just have to notice that her body language has changed and think to talk to her before resting. Don’t chat with her before ending the day? You’ll lose out on your chance to have the chat. So yeah, watch her VERY CAREFULLY in camp when you’re in Act II!
And three, you get a better chance of Shadowheart NOT wanting to kill Aylin when the party meets her in the Shadowfell and she’s presented with the choice of stabbing her or not – though that depends on how high her approval of you is as well. If you have all four points and at least 40 approval, she will always spare Aylin unless you tell her to kill her (in fact, the comments indicated that even if you don’t have all the points, having that high approval should always lead to Aylin being spared if you pick the right dialogue options). Have less than four points or less that 40 approval? Well, then you have a choice of two Persuasion checks – though you always want to pick the first one to convince Shadowheart to see what she has to say, rather than the “don’t do it – you’ll regret it” one, as that one is harder, and if you have REALLY low approval, you’ll have Disadvantage on the check because she doesn’t trust you. And have all four points and approval between 20 and 40?
...well, then you get a fun bugged interaction where you either tell Shadowheart to kill her, or tell her that its her choice to make, and she kills her. Because the code be weird sometimes. Fortunately, there’s a way to get around that – if you’re worried you’re in the “she’ll kill Aylin no matter what” zone, you can just force Shadowheart to drop the spear that she needs to kill Aylin before triggering the conversation, which will force her down the “didn’t kill Aylin” path. Hooray for workarounds for weird game interactions! And hooray for videos like these making sure I don’t miss out on fun conversations with Tav!Smiler’s companions – have to look out for Shadowheart looking more pensive once I rack up enough Nightsong Points with her!
2. Continue writing Chapter 1 of “Londerland Bloodlines: Hollywood’s Deluded Depths”: Check – used my extra free time this afternoon to get this done before my workout for a change! So that was nice. Today’s page-and-a-bit covered:
A) Alice leaving Isaac’s office and heading back up the alley after agreeing to get his video tape for him – and somehow managing to keep a hold on her temper until she was back on the street. The minute she was far enough away, though, she immediately starting ranting about how “LaCroix never called any of the jobs he sent me on tribute” and how Isaac just had to sneak a “cross me and I’ll kill you” into their conversation. Because yes, she is pretty tired of being treated like this by all the leaders of the various factions around L.A.! Wouldn’t you be?
B) Alice getting interrupted in her rant outside the Cavoletti Cafe by Victor appearing and going “...I assume the meeting didn’t go well?” She admitted to him that it had gone well enough for Isaac at least, and explained how she had to play errand girl and fetch a movie he’d bought recently by visiting the local internet cafe and logging into a certain computer to get an e-mail that would tell her the pick-up point. Victor was rather confused by all this fuss for a movie and asked what it was about – Alice confessed she didn’t know, just that it was clearly not something that you could pick up at the local video store. Meaning, yes, she was wondering if Isaac had her picking up some porn. XD She just didn’t want the confirmation if so! (Interestingly, she IS technically right – the movie Isaac wants is being sold as a snuff film, which is a type of porn. A really dark, horrible type of porn, but still.)
C) Victor noting that, even if that is the case, it’s probably the easiest job Alice has received in a fortnight – and Alice agreeing and making it clear that she didn’t mind doing an errand for Isaac (she’s used to being bossed around by her elders), what she minds is the whole “tribute” nonsense. Him making it sound like she’s a peasant doing her lord a favor really rubbed her the wrong way – especially since, as previously noted, LaCroix has never pulled that shit, preferring to pretend they have a nice healthy employer/employee relationship. The Queen of Hearts agreed that someone telling her that she has to pay them “tribute” really does seem more suited for Princes rather than Barons, prompting Alice to note that that was the crux of her dislike – Isaac complaining about the Camarilla and calling LaCroix names (even if she agrees LaCroix should be called names), then turning around and acting just like him! Basically, it just made her think the Anarchs were total hypocrites, less concerned with pulling down the Ivory Tower then getting their own crack at the top floor. Which – yeah, probably is the case for SOME of them, but I wouldn’t let the Downtown Anarchs hear you say that, Alice – they’d be even MORE pissed with you than normal. :p
D) And Victor saying he was sorry and that he’d hoped things would go better for her – Alice said she’d hoped so too, even though she wasn’t sure why, as things so rarely go right for her. She then said that at least she and Isaac had an understanding – she gets him the tape, he agrees to talk to her about the Nosferatu, she gets out of his domain as soon as she can – and asked Victor if he’d seen the internet cafe she was supposed to go to. Victor admitted he hadn’t, as he’d only just left the motel, informing her that they were staying in Room 3 (the Easter Egg room in the game) and that he’d had a little trouble getting the door to shut on his way out (a reference to how you trigger the Easter Egg the room tells you about – open and shut a door in the motel a lot). Alice said they’d have to tell the management about that before the night was out, and then asked if Victor wanted to get a bite to eat since they were in front of the cafe, as she sure as hell didn’t mind making Isaac wait a little longer. Victor was a bit hesitant, not wanting her to get in trouble, but admitted that he was hungry –
And I left off on someone saying in an astonished voice “Victor?” Next time, a certain Victoria Everglot enters the scene! That’ll be fun to write… :P
3. Watch something on YouTube: No check – between Game Night (Clue this evening – Dad was the champ, winning three games, but Mom and I each managed to win one...granted, my win came from a lucky guess after six minutes, but still XD) and the Workout Video Write-Ups, I simply did not have the time. Hopefully I can catch up on at least the latest OXBox list video over my long weekend!
4. Get my tumblr queues sorted: N/A – still all set on Victor Luvs Alice (N Smiler), still had nothing happening over on Valice Multiverse. *shrug* How it goes sometimes!
...and because of various distractions, it is now nearly 2:30 AM and I really ought to go to bed. ^^; Goals for tomorrow include working on my Victor Luvs Alice (N Smiler) drafts; playing some Baldur's Gate III and bringing the gang back over to the Grove to introduce Karlach to Dammon; and keeping up with whatever pops up on the old YouTubes tomorrow. All achievable goals, I hope -- if I don't sleep the day away, of course. :p Or end up puking because apparently Mom threw up earlier today for unexplained reasons... Keep your fingers crossed! Night all!
Work – I had an extremely quiet day at the office today – I did the GL, which barely took an hour; I worked on my list of potential “new donors” that my supervisor gave me, seeing who was truly new and who wasn’t (and merging the “wasn’t”s); I helped my coworker look up a couple of things; and I did a reversal to apply someone’s payment to their pledge at the end of the day. Phone didn’t ring once, and I got out at 3:30 PM with minimal problems. *shrug* Fine by me! And now I have four whole days off, yay~
To-Do List –
1. Get in a workout: Check – my final night on the bike this week saw me pedal my way through –
A) “CaFae Tales: Carmilla” by C. M. Alongi! Because I did want to watch it, I just didn’t have the time before. Anyway, this episode of the CaFae cast telling/summarizing stories featured Nicole showing up to the cafe looking for escapism – and when Bob replied that the coffee shop was not a “bar, marijuana cafe, or opium den” (JC: “They still have that last one??”), clarifying that she wanted a book recommendation. Specifically for something both queer and horror, because her brain was doing funny things given the current state of the world. Cue Janine, resident trans vampire badass, wandering in while JC was talking about how, at least in horror movies, the monster usually gets killed at the ninety-minute mark – and, after being brought up to speed on what they were talking about, recommending and recapping Carmilla, the lesbian vampire horror novella that was published about a decade before Dracula! Which featured:
I. JC wondering how Carmilla even got published, given it was written during a time that was very unfriendly to queer stuff – Janine explained that, by the standards of the time, Laura and Carmilla’s relationship was simply queer-coded, with enough plausible deniability for the author to get away with it (though she admitted that in a MODERN context, these ladies might as well be waving lesbian flags), with Nicole adding that it probably didn’t hurt that the lesbian vampire was the villain and received her comeuppance at the end
II. JC being absolutely astonished by the opening, where Laura and her father receive a letter from her friend Bertha’s father informing them that Bertha has died under mysterious circumstances to some fiend, and that he will tell them all once he finishes some business he has in a couple of months – causing them to believe that she’d probably picked up a disease from a traveler – and complaining that the letter is full of red flags and that an autopsy would definitely show Bertha had been attacked or something! Cue Janine and Bob both being like “the ones born after the advent of vaccines and modern medicine are so spoiled” and having to explain to them that most people in history didn’t die of old age, but rather disease, infection, and occasionally mysterious causes no one could figure out. Janine herself admitted to having mortal friends back then who passed away without her ever figuring out why. So yeah, not weird at all that Laura and her dad wouldn’t question Bertha’s mysterious death much!
III. Janine explaining how Carmilla came to stay with Laura and her friend – basically, her carriage crashed right outside the estate; Laura’s father went to check on the occupants, and learned from her mother that she was on urgent, secret family business; Carmilla’s mother asking Laura’s father to look after her daughter so she could finish her business sooner, since he was obviously the gentlemanly sort she could implicitly trust; and Laura’s father agreeing both because he believed in hospitality and because his lonely daughter was clearly excited about having someone her age around. Cue JC instantly recognizing the scam that Carmilla and her mother were pulling (with the modern equivalent being pretending to have car trouble to lure in someone sympathetic to start bilking for cash), and explaining to the others how it’s designed to get the mark to do something for you by making them think that they actually had all the power in the situation. And then justifying their knowledge by reminding everyone that they have spent time in jail, and have accordingly learned a few things. XD
IV. Janine talking about Carmilla staying with the family, going over her insistence on never being disturbed at night (as she always locked her door in case of robbers); her insistence on not telling Laura anything about herself beyond her name and that she was minor nobility, despite them growing inseparable over the weeks; her casual dismissal of the deaths of some local peasants (such as a girl who’d died after saying she kept seeing a ghost, and a swineherd’s wife who felt like she was being strangled), telling an anxious Laura that peasants would tell themselves stories about anything; and the arrival of some portraits of the Carnstein family (distant relatives of Laura’s mother)...one of which looked exactly like Carmilla (Countess Mircalla, specifically) – causing Carmilla to play it off as her probably being descended from them too and carrying the “family look.” Laura decided she’d hang that one in her bedroom, causing Carmilla to go “I live in you, and you would die for me, I love you so” –
Causing JC go to “red flag” and Janine to admit there were PLENTY more of those, she was skipping bits for time (and, as per Bob, to save Editor Nic some work).
V. Janine continuing on to explain how Laura began to grow ill as the weeks went on – plagued with terrible nightmares and a deep fatigue – until finally one night she had a vision where she heard a voice telling her her dead mother had warned her of “the assassin” and saw Carmilla dressed in white with a massive gout of blood straight down her front. This naturally made her worried about Carmilla, causing her to ask her maid to check up on her – only for Carmilla to not answer her knocks. Cue Laura’s father showing up and managing to break down the door –
And them discovering an empty room beyond. They promptly began scouring the castle to try and find Carmilla, but were unsuccessful...then returned to her room and found her on her sofa (desperately trying to hide some blood from her latest meal for comedic purposes). She claimed not to have heard the door breaking down, and when Laura’s father asked if she had a history of sleepwalking, quickly seized on that and said, “not since I was very young...but it has happened.” Cue Laura’s father immediately deciding that what must have happened was Carmilla sleepwalking out of her room, managing by sheer coincidence to avoid them as they searched, and eventually returning and plopping down on her sofa –
And cue Nicole being like “There’s no way anyone would believe that.” JC and Bob promptly set her straight, with JC reminding her that people love any explanation that requires the least change on their part or inspires the least fear in them, while Bob pointed out that Carmilla WAS running a con of sorts, and any experienced con artist knows it’s easier to give your mark just enough information for THEM to come up with an explanation for any odd stuff that was happening rather than try to feed them one. Nicole gave them the point, noting herself that Laura’s father was more likely to believe anything HE came up with because he was the man of the house. Patriarchy, am I right?
VI. Janine telling everyone how Laura’s father wasn’t completely oblivious and did call in a doctor to tend to his ailing daughter, and how the doctor, upon hearing Laura’s symptoms – nightmares, the sensations of being strangled in the night or of two needles puncturing her neck, general lassitude – told Laura’s father that she must not ever be left alone for any reason, especially at night. Laura’s father took this under advisement, then assured Laura that the doctor was sure she’d make a full recovery soon so long as the proper steps were taken, and that she shouldn’t worry her pretty little head about it –
Causing Nicole to go “a history of women’s medicine in a nutshell.” JC was stunned by this, and even more stunned when Janine told them that it was the norm for doctors to talk to a husband or father about a woman’s illness and how to treat it rather than the woman herself straight into the 1960s, and Nicole mentioned how her mother realized the best way for her to get her medical needs taken care of was either to bring her father along or pretend she wanted to get pregnant again. And that she herself had used the latter trick a couple of times, as doctors got a lot more interested in treating her once she pretended to want to be an incubator for the next generation. JC was very impressed with Nicole’s lying to doctors, as was Janine. XD
VII. Janine then relaying how General Spielsdorf, Bertha’s father, came for a visit that same day – and promptly grabbed the nearest axe and declared that he had to go to the ruins of Carnstein Castle for mysterious reasons. Laura’s father and Laura insisted on knowing why, and he took them with him in his carriage while explaining how, a few months prior to Bertha’s death, he and his daughter met a girl named Millarca and her mother at a masquerade ball – and how the mother acted like she and Spielsdorf had been old friends for ages, with Spielsdorf going along with it because he was no longer sure if he knew her or not (especially with the mask). JC once again recognized the con, calling it “the oldest con in the book” and relaying how they knew this guy who could pull it off masterfully, tricking someone into believing he was an old high school mate before making off with the mark’s wallet, watch, and car keys. Nicole remarked that the true horror was the malleability of human memory.
VIII. Janine commenting that she believed the true villain of this piece was Victorian Era manners, before explaining how Carmilla’s mother managed to basically bully Spielsdorf into looking after Millarca for a while by exploiting his desire to help a friend (JC: “Sounds familiar.”) Spielsdorf caved after Bertha said that it would be nice to have someone her own age around and Millarca began talking about all the lovely things she’d heard about the country –
And, as per Spielsdorf, cue Bertha getting sick with an illness that sounded SUSPICIOUSLY similar to Laura’s, down to the terrifying visions of blood-soaked women and the feeling of needles piercing her neck at night. As you might imagine, Laura and her dad were a little unnerved by that! They were even more unnerved when they arrived at the ruins of Carnstein Castle, and Spielsdorf explained that he was here to find the grave of the Countess Mircalla –
And dig it up and cut off her head. Because that was the best way to deal with a vampire. He explained that he’d learned that the abandoned village nearby had been decimated by vampires until finally the villagers had tracked them down, staked them, decapitated them, and burned them – but obviously they’d missed one, Mircalla. He then explained how poor Bertha had actually died – basically, he’d called a doctor in to look at her, and the doctor had given him a sealed letter to give to the local priest, since he felt that was the man who had the best chance of saving Bertha. Spielsdorf read the letter himself instead and – upon seeing that the doctor believed Bertha was being attacked by a vampire – decided that the doctor was a bit backwards...but also decided to conceal himself in Bertha’s dressing room with a sword, just on the off-chance something was attacking her in the night. Cue him getting the shock of his life when a strange shadowy figure crawled up his daughter’s bed to attack her throat – and getting a further shock when he managed to chase the figure away with his sword and saw that it was Millarca. He tried to strike her down, but she managed to escape with inhuman speed, and Bertha died by sunrise from blood loss. :( Laura’s dad was like “so this Millarca, or Mircalla – great secret identity has been sneaking into my daughter’s room and drinking her blood?” while Laura protested she’d never seen this woman, and that the only visitor to their castle had been –
Carmilla. Who chose that moment to show up, and was promptly recognized by Spielsdorf. JC deadpanned, “Shock! Horror! Not totally predictable!” but Nicole pointed out that this was probably meant as a horrifying-but-not-surprising reveal instead of a plot twist. I mean, the jig was kind of up the moment Laura got that portrait…
VIII. Janine telling the group how Spielsdorf tried to strike Carmilla down, but she managed to block his attack, force him to drop the axe, and flee into the ruins, leaving our three heroes to talk. Specifically, leaving a stunned and horrified Laura to ask why Carmilla had drawn out her death so long, given the other women she was feeding on died within days, a week or two at most. Spielsdorf told her that he’d learned that vampires could sometimes become fascinated with their victims and want to keep them alive as long as possible, or even turn them into monsters like themselves, causing Laura to mutter “what a horrible girlfriend” and then hastily go “girl friend – friend who is a girl” for comedic purposes –
And Nicole to comment about how characters like Carmilla presented a conundrum for queer readers for decades – because while she was undoubtedly evil, she was also representation. Meaning there was a very healthy debate for quite a while about whether villainous representation was better than no representation at all. JC wondered if this was why they tended to like the monsters in monster movies more than the people who got killed (Nicole admitting it was likely), while Janine noted that things were much better representation-wise these days, but that there were plenty of assholes who would love for things to go back to “the queers are the bad guys.”
IX. And Janine concluding the recap by telling the group how Spielsdorf and Laura’s father “iced” Carmilla (JC’s words), saying that they’d collected a commissioner and a priest from the nearest village (so their vampire murder would be nice and legal), then returned to the ruins to open her grave. Where they found Carmilla fresh as a daisy, floating in a seven-inch-deep pool of blood. D: Spielsdorf whacked her head off with the axe, and that was about that. JC was like “that was easy,” and Janine explained that Victorian horror was more about slow, creeping dread, with the monster itself being rather easily conquered once it was actually revealed. Nicole complimented Janine on the story, with Janine thanking her before reiterating it was a nice quick read and that she’d skipped over some bits for time –
Causing Bob to go “it’s like we’re trying to encourage people to read in these horrible times of anti-intellectualism and fascist control” with some significant looks at the camera. XD As JC said, those are the real villains! Good recap – I hope Nicole enjoys reading the full thing. :p
B) And “Shadowheart's Hidden Score | "Nightsong Points" Explained” by SlimX! A guide to gathering Baldur’s Gate III’s secret “Nightsong Points” that help determine how faithful Shadowheart is to her goddess, Shar, and thus how prone she is to wanting to murder the Nightsong, aka Dame Aylin, when the party finds her in the Shadowfell in Act 2. Gather at least four, and she develops some serious doubts about her faith, which can unlock new content and conversations. There’s six on offer:
I. One that can be gained when Shadowheart reveals how she became a Sharran in the first place, showing the player character the cult saving her from a wolf in the forest via tadpole memory sharing (a scene which ITSELF is triggered by earning “Wolf Dream” points – this woman has so many points to earn to unlock stuff! Fortunately you only need three and they’re much easier to get – for example, freeing her from her pod in the tutorial gets you one off the bat) – in the resultant conversation, you have to pick the option pointing out that the memory showed her wearing a Moonstone, which is something Selunites wear. This is normally only available if you pass a passive Intelligence (Religion) check to remember that followers of Selune have a “coming of age” ritual where their kids must find their way home after being left in the woods, but you can make sure the option comes up by opening a special Selunite chest in the owlbear cave – there’s a scroll in there that details the ritual, and as long as you read it, your character will remember it and get the option to point out the Moonstone, earning a Nightsong Point.
II. A second can be gained in that same conversation later, after Shadowheart talks about how the Mother Superior made her who she is, including punishing her when she failed her (which was often) – point out that it sounds like abuse, and while Shadowheart will deny it at the time, she will rack up another Nightsong Point for later.
III. The third requires the wound on Shadowheart’s hand to have flared up four times in response to her doing things Shar doesn’t approve of (such as saving Arabella, or going to look at a Selunite statue in the Blighted Village, or – hilariously – sharing that “wolf dream” memory with you). This opens up a new conversation with Shadowheart in camp, where you can talk about the wound and how it should be possible to heal it – pass either the Religion check to tell her that she shouldn’t have to suffer to prove her faith, or the Persuasion check to point out that, if the wound flared up at the wrong moment, it could be really bad for the party, and you’ll score another Nightsong point.
IV. The fourth requires you to get Shadowheart to eat the noblestalk mushroom you can find in the Underdark to help her restore a memory. If you pass the Persuasion or Intimidation check, she’ll do it, remembering a friend of hers from her cloister and making it so you can find said friend in Act III as well as racking up another Nightsong Point. This does prevent you from giving the mushroom to the trader who asked you to get it in the first place, however, meaning she won’t sell it when you encounter her in Act III – and, at the time of the video’s recording, it triggered a bugged wound flare that prevented the conversation that allowed you to get the “wound flare” point, meaning you had to be sure you’d picked up THAT point before you did this! Fortunately, that was fixed in Patch 8 as per the description.
V. The fifth point is available to anyone who asked Shadowheart about herself back in Act I and learned that Night Orchids are her favorite flower – you can find one in Act II, and if you give it to her, along with getting some approval, you get a Nightsoing point.
VI. And the sixth point is the easiest one of all to get – just agree to help Shadowheart pass the Dark Justicar trials when you encounter them! Or let her do the little blood-letting ritual to activate any or all of them.
And what does collecting at least four Nightsong points get you? Well –
One, you get a brief conversation with Shadowheart where she talks about feeling vaguely conflicted about something – this could happen immediately, or after your next long rest, depending on if she’s shared any other information about her background lately (she’s only allowed to talk about it once per long rest).
Two, you get some special dialogue in camp with her about her acting differently lately (“praying less and pacing more”) – though, annoyingly, THIS dialogue is not signposted with the usual “!” bubble above her head. You just have to notice that her body language has changed and think to talk to her before resting. Don’t chat with her before ending the day? You’ll lose out on your chance to have the chat. So yeah, watch her VERY CAREFULLY in camp when you’re in Act II!
And three, you get a better chance of Shadowheart NOT wanting to kill Aylin when the party meets her in the Shadowfell and she’s presented with the choice of stabbing her or not – though that depends on how high her approval of you is as well. If you have all four points and at least 40 approval, she will always spare Aylin unless you tell her to kill her (in fact, the comments indicated that even if you don’t have all the points, having that high approval should always lead to Aylin being spared if you pick the right dialogue options). Have less than four points or less that 40 approval? Well, then you have a choice of two Persuasion checks – though you always want to pick the first one to convince Shadowheart to see what she has to say, rather than the “don’t do it – you’ll regret it” one, as that one is harder, and if you have REALLY low approval, you’ll have Disadvantage on the check because she doesn’t trust you. And have all four points and approval between 20 and 40?
...well, then you get a fun bugged interaction where you either tell Shadowheart to kill her, or tell her that its her choice to make, and she kills her. Because the code be weird sometimes. Fortunately, there’s a way to get around that – if you’re worried you’re in the “she’ll kill Aylin no matter what” zone, you can just force Shadowheart to drop the spear that she needs to kill Aylin before triggering the conversation, which will force her down the “didn’t kill Aylin” path. Hooray for workarounds for weird game interactions! And hooray for videos like these making sure I don’t miss out on fun conversations with Tav!Smiler’s companions – have to look out for Shadowheart looking more pensive once I rack up enough Nightsong Points with her!
2. Continue writing Chapter 1 of “Londerland Bloodlines: Hollywood’s Deluded Depths”: Check – used my extra free time this afternoon to get this done before my workout for a change! So that was nice. Today’s page-and-a-bit covered:
A) Alice leaving Isaac’s office and heading back up the alley after agreeing to get his video tape for him – and somehow managing to keep a hold on her temper until she was back on the street. The minute she was far enough away, though, she immediately starting ranting about how “LaCroix never called any of the jobs he sent me on tribute” and how Isaac just had to sneak a “cross me and I’ll kill you” into their conversation. Because yes, she is pretty tired of being treated like this by all the leaders of the various factions around L.A.! Wouldn’t you be?
B) Alice getting interrupted in her rant outside the Cavoletti Cafe by Victor appearing and going “...I assume the meeting didn’t go well?” She admitted to him that it had gone well enough for Isaac at least, and explained how she had to play errand girl and fetch a movie he’d bought recently by visiting the local internet cafe and logging into a certain computer to get an e-mail that would tell her the pick-up point. Victor was rather confused by all this fuss for a movie and asked what it was about – Alice confessed she didn’t know, just that it was clearly not something that you could pick up at the local video store. Meaning, yes, she was wondering if Isaac had her picking up some porn. XD She just didn’t want the confirmation if so! (Interestingly, she IS technically right – the movie Isaac wants is being sold as a snuff film, which is a type of porn. A really dark, horrible type of porn, but still.)
C) Victor noting that, even if that is the case, it’s probably the easiest job Alice has received in a fortnight – and Alice agreeing and making it clear that she didn’t mind doing an errand for Isaac (she’s used to being bossed around by her elders), what she minds is the whole “tribute” nonsense. Him making it sound like she’s a peasant doing her lord a favor really rubbed her the wrong way – especially since, as previously noted, LaCroix has never pulled that shit, preferring to pretend they have a nice healthy employer/employee relationship. The Queen of Hearts agreed that someone telling her that she has to pay them “tribute” really does seem more suited for Princes rather than Barons, prompting Alice to note that that was the crux of her dislike – Isaac complaining about the Camarilla and calling LaCroix names (even if she agrees LaCroix should be called names), then turning around and acting just like him! Basically, it just made her think the Anarchs were total hypocrites, less concerned with pulling down the Ivory Tower then getting their own crack at the top floor. Which – yeah, probably is the case for SOME of them, but I wouldn’t let the Downtown Anarchs hear you say that, Alice – they’d be even MORE pissed with you than normal. :p
D) And Victor saying he was sorry and that he’d hoped things would go better for her – Alice said she’d hoped so too, even though she wasn’t sure why, as things so rarely go right for her. She then said that at least she and Isaac had an understanding – she gets him the tape, he agrees to talk to her about the Nosferatu, she gets out of his domain as soon as she can – and asked Victor if he’d seen the internet cafe she was supposed to go to. Victor admitted he hadn’t, as he’d only just left the motel, informing her that they were staying in Room 3 (the Easter Egg room in the game) and that he’d had a little trouble getting the door to shut on his way out (a reference to how you trigger the Easter Egg the room tells you about – open and shut a door in the motel a lot). Alice said they’d have to tell the management about that before the night was out, and then asked if Victor wanted to get a bite to eat since they were in front of the cafe, as she sure as hell didn’t mind making Isaac wait a little longer. Victor was a bit hesitant, not wanting her to get in trouble, but admitted that he was hungry –
And I left off on someone saying in an astonished voice “Victor?” Next time, a certain Victoria Everglot enters the scene! That’ll be fun to write… :P
3. Watch something on YouTube: No check – between Game Night (Clue this evening – Dad was the champ, winning three games, but Mom and I each managed to win one...granted, my win came from a lucky guess after six minutes, but still XD) and the Workout Video Write-Ups, I simply did not have the time. Hopefully I can catch up on at least the latest OXBox list video over my long weekend!
4. Get my tumblr queues sorted: N/A – still all set on Victor Luvs Alice (N Smiler), still had nothing happening over on Valice Multiverse. *shrug* How it goes sometimes!
...and because of various distractions, it is now nearly 2:30 AM and I really ought to go to bed. ^^; Goals for tomorrow include working on my Victor Luvs Alice (N Smiler) drafts; playing some Baldur's Gate III and bringing the gang back over to the Grove to introduce Karlach to Dammon; and keeping up with whatever pops up on the old YouTubes tomorrow. All achievable goals, I hope -- if I don't sleep the day away, of course. :p Or end up puking because apparently Mom threw up earlier today for unexplained reasons... Keep your fingers crossed! Night all!
