Quote from Quar1on >>

Goddamn Aragorn.

 
HahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahabBabahahahaha

Quote from SirTawmis >>

I've murdered the thread.

Or everyone is playing Baldur's Gate 3.

I am in a conlang headspace right now, and have been forgetting to do things like look up, sleep, eat, and feed the dog.

The dog has not been taking it well.

Poor pupper.

Well, the Phills just gave up 2 to tie the game. 🤬

Quote from IamSposta >>

The Phillies are winning. They won the first game of their double header, now they’re winning the second (so far).

 Boo Phillies. The Nats are better! :)

This ******* umpire blows.

Quote from BoringBard >>

Quote from IamSposta >>

The Phillies are winning. They won the first game of their double header, now they’re winning the second (so far).

 Boo Phillies. The Nats are better! :)

 
I liked you before, but now….

Fuuuuck. This umpire blows. I’m going to bed.

Well, i have my rules down pat and variations on the theme are only going to result in slight changes, so I am as close to happy as I can get without going in and cleaning up the master word list. Which I am not going to do until after i have had a break from it. I've got enough words of different sorts to figure out what I need to say if I run into a problem down the road.

I did finally have to at least pretend to learn IPA. If my ling prof could see me know he would weep for joy. 

I cannot believe that I spent a decade playing with that damn site off and on and it only cost 20 bucks to unlock features.

Ok, so Daisy will be back, and she's bringing a friend (because of COURSE she's in a bind and she's way behind, and if she ain't careful she'll be willing to make a deal), but I am feeling aboout how she feels as of the last we saw her, and so I at least an going to bed.

Quote from SirTawmis >>

Or everyone is playing Baldur's Gate 3.

 Guilty.

There's some serious jank still left in the game (the game log says you succeeded a Hiding check and as a result, lost your Hiding condition, for example. I've gotten dialogue trees out of order or without their proper triggers). And there's some stupid video game logic that I hope never makes it to the table. (Ex: You can carry around a bunch of large crates in your inventory, and on your turn in combat you can place any number of them down into the environment, move them around, stack them on top of one another to a height you can't even reach. Then climb on top of them and get a height bonus to your bow attacks.) The "romance" paths feel extremely forced and weird. Everyone seems to speak just a little too slowly for it to feel natural.

But overall, I'm having a blast. My biggest criticism is actually the same one I have for all open-world sorts of games: There's no natural exit points. In level-based games like Mario, you often stop playing after you finish a certain zone. In sheer strategy games you can quit after a match. This isn't like that. It's way too easy to play longer than you meant to, and I don't think that's a good thing.

I love Astarion and Karlach. The world of Faerun isn't QUITE as nasty and cynical as the world of Divinity Original Sin 2, but it's close, and they really demonstrate it while still retaining some light. I've been delighted by several new discoveries. I'm excited to find the full set of "sparkler" armor, I'm loving the way each fight usually has small creatures and medium ones, sometimes other sizes -- it means you can use the game's new shove and throw mechanics earlier on, which does a lot to make barbarians and fighters feel cool and powerful.

So far I'm gonna say, 8/10, I had to tell Volo not to stick an ice pick in my eye. Good stuff.

Oh, hey, I see you came with some friends. Yay. 

Look, you are all welcome, and I know it is crowded, but I will get some vittles sent on up.  Heh. Vittles. I do love that word. They use it all the time in Dorado, which is probably as far from here as one can get -- but it is on the road to antilia and everyone should sail the sand sea at east once.

So, ayehe! I'm Daisy, and Tawmis here was suffering through me rambling on about the Devil in Durango, and I guess he caught the rest of y'all up, so here we go.  I had just managed to pull myself up out of a tight spot, and was reeling on the edge, and there were about seven guys between me and the door and only about two were not directly reminiscent of a large mountain.

So it was a big mountain range I was facing, and all I had was a little bit of magic left, a knife that was giving me enough extra for maybe two spells I was busy trying to form in my head (because smarty pants me, I carved them into the knife so I could memorize them) and really, I was about to hit the floor. Immediately whereafter I would be dropped down intot he hole in said floor to face the aforementioned devil.

We were all staring at each other for a moment. Total silence. I am certain that my face was twisted as I did my best to wrap my brain around the spell on the blade, and the mokes were all lined up with variations on the theme of "what just happened" but with a third the vocabulary on their faces. ANd then two things happened at once.

The first one I choose because I could see it. Up from the hole in the floor pops a silver platter, which clattered on the floor in front of the Syndic, followed by a head that lands perfectly on it, although on the ear, the face set in a winking leer.

The second I couldn't see, but I did catch the top of two very pale ears, and a growly little sound of fine humor that had me feeling like I was not going to die here tonight.

"So I take it you did forget we were taking BB out tonight? Decided to play with some new friends, and didn't invite us? I mean, what are two gals gonna do when their plans are wrecked by by some insistent men bundling you into a car?"

I swear, Nala is easily the scariest woman I have ever known, and I am said to be at least a little scary myself.  But when Nala uses that tone of voice, and while I couldn't see her I could just see her in my mind shaking her head and looking around with an air of disappointment. And if she had BB, well, that just meant she was planning on something energetic, likely violent, and potentially illegal.

Which at that moment, sounded exactly like rescuing my damn fool hind end. The Syndic meeped. Then scrambled to a corner while screaming the usual "get them" or "kill them" or whatever it is they say at those moments when they still think they are going to make it out alive and have extra flesh to throw at the problem, and I finally got a glimpse of my work bestie.

Panther Therians are the type of folks who will make you regret everything bad you ever said about cats.

She might have been under four feet tall, but those four feet were well muscled, finely honed, and this was a gal who spent her childhood hunting herd animals so she could eat dinner. Without any more weapons than she was born with. She had learned a lot since then. Despite the historic competitive rivalry that existed among the assorted tribes of therains, she had even gone a few steps further -- not only did she leave the lands of her birth, she made freinds with someone who certainly needed at least one.

And for once, I am not talking about me. BB is what we called her. Her name is Fiousker. Jīl Fiousker. I have never met anyone who actually called her that, though. Everyone always just calls her BB.

BB has a reputation. BB is who you hire when you need trouble caused. She is tiny. Her ears are the only thing over four feet in height, and they need the rest of her to do it. She's a Swift clan member, and she is quick in most things, but she likes to take her time with the ones she enjoys the most, and sadly a lot of that is why folks like myself and Nala end up knowing her. She's kinda become like a personal side project of Nala's, a way to save her from herself, maybe -- though I am inclined to think that it is more about saving us the headache of trying to keep up with her.

She's a thief, a con artist, a rabble rouser, a walking human distraction with a penchant for bloodlust that got her kicked out of the Grand games. Twice. Because she didn't wait to start until she got on the field and in front of an audience.

I know, you are thinking that maybe I should have mentioned I had plans that night. Truth is, I had forgotten My mind was on the case, and things get lost when I go there, and I guess they had seen me get picked up and found me. Given those fancy carriages can move faster than a horse, they must have been working a sweat, and given the state of BB, I was willing to bet they had been slowed a small amount on the way.

But all this stuff happened and gave me a chance to lock into my head the one spell I had access to. I was not a fool.

I cast that spell right away. Simple thing, really, just a sparking bolt, but I do hate the way that magic and I interact. All magic manifests visually, they say.

It was the last mistake I would make on this case, but it certainly wasn't the first one. I dared it because I had back up, I had my friends, and I was pretty sure they would take care of me.

My bolt hit four, shocking the hell out of them, and as I toppled forward I realized I was probably going to bruise my face and that would suck, but also I caught Nala taking out two below the knees and one below the waist while BB suddenly appeared above their heads and her legs snapped out four times in rapid succession against heads.

and off to the far side, just in sight as I look straight ahead from where I had fallen, a secret door had been left open and the Syndic had escaped.

Oh, it was on now. 

It was so on.

And after that was pretty much nothing until I heard some pretty intense whispering and smelled a very familiar scent of tea. Hyborian tea is hard to get, because hyborians are really big on guarding it, and it costs an arm and a leg since they don't technically farm it. They don't let anyone else do it, either, and if Hyboria ever falls under the aegis of the Agency, I hiope I am not the one that has to try and stop them from protecting it.

It is a tea that smells like coffee. Tastes better than most, though -- it lacks any bitterness, and it is said that it helps clear the mind and sharpen the senses and all that stuff. Just like tea and coffee, but instead of coming from down south around Aztlan and Qivira, it comes from up north, out in the Savage Lands. Big world. 

The smell alone had my mouth watering, but the lights were so bright they had my eyes watering as I rolled over and opened them, barely strong enough to try and fail to block the light from getting in my eyes.

"Rawr, girl, drink up and get some sense into you. What were you doing with all those boys?" Nala shoved the mug at me. "I thought you hated going light show in public, and we come around the corner and there you are down the block about to toss off fireworks at a magic carriage of all things."

"She held me back, or I'da got ya before they lumped ya good."

"I held you back because if I hadn't they would have used you as a pin cushion."

"What's a pin cushion?"

"A soft thing you stick needles into."

"Oh, that doesn't sound so bad. But we did follow them. Well, I did. Took Nala forever to catch." BB is not all there most days.

Me, I was drinking up a small piece of heaven and feeling my fatigue ratchet back a notch. I sighed. "Thanks, gals."

Nala shook her head. "You can thank me by pulling my hnd end out of the fire when I need it next. Now, what the hell was going on?"

"Skythe Syndic's got a pet devil, and was planning on feeding me to him. He's there, below the floor of that room."

Nala and BB exchanged glances, and I froze in place. "You cleared the place, right?"

"Well," BB said, scratching up one long ear. "See, it like this. Afta you went bouncy, and the Syndic got away, we heard the laughing as we were finishing up the messy mess. And Nala here, she was all 'bad omen' and we grabbed you and skedaded on out just as the whole place went up in a big ole ball of kerfloom!"

"Kerfloom?" I asked, to be sure.

Nala nodded. Whole building is a crater, and now the Watch is on our case because they think we did something to cause it. Day's gonna burst his seams."

"Not if he reads the report. That's why I forgot about you two."

"Did you see it?"

"No, but it played with my ponytail. And it almost stopped me from getting free. Just before you showed up, I was in that hole, upside down."

"He didn't have it circled."

I shook my head. "I don't think so. Not if there was a kerfloom." I looked at BB, who nodded. "How in the hell does a mid level Syndic get the juice to summon a devil and not have him circled?"

BB frowned and tried to think about it. I'm sure. Nala shook her head. "Over our heads. We'll have to write more reports, now. BB, can you grab us some food? Good, thanks.  Daisy and I will do that boring stuff and after we all eat, I may have you go dig up some rumors. THe street has to be noisy today."

BB grinned. "That I can do. What do you elfies eat? "

I settled for a pretty standard breakfast, as it was peeking dawn through the window, and Nala and I would have to head into the office soon. I would have to take some time today to memorize spells again, too. I might not like using them, but you don't go out without all your tools if you can help it. Speaking of...

"Nala, did you get my stuff?"

She winced. "I got the armor, but not all the rest. BB had you, and you were more than big enough for her. I'm sorry."

I sighed. "That's ok. At least you saved the armor."

She chuckled. "You really love that thing, don't you?" She did a sudden stretch, one of those long, drawn out tins she does that reminds me she's not a cat, but sure acts a lot like one at times. " If we get a chance, we'll see if there's anything lying around. Wasn't a syndic House, just a blockhouse that had been left to rot. Come on, catch me up."

I spent the rest of the morning catching her up on what had happened so far, eating breakfast and hearing about their adventure following and rescuing me, and then heading over to my place to get ready for Day.

He really was going to be mad about this.

Quote from ChoirOfFire >>

Quote from SirTawmis >>

Or everyone is playing Baldur's Gate 3.

 Guilty.

There's some serious jank still left in the game (the game log says you succeeded a Hiding check and as a result, lost your Hiding condition, for example. I've gotten dialogue trees out of order or without their proper triggers). And there's some stupid video game logic that I hope never makes it to the table. (Ex: You can carry around a bunch of large crates in your inventory, and on your turn in combat you can place any number of them down into the environment, move them around, stack them on top of one another to a height you can't even reach. Then climb on top of them and get a height bonus to your bow attacks.) The "romance" paths feel extremely forced and weird. Everyone seems to speak just a little too slowly for it to feel natural.

But overall, I'm having a blast. My biggest criticism is actually the same one I have for all open-world sorts of games: There's no natural exit points. In level-based games like Mario, you often stop playing after you finish a certain zone. In sheer strategy games you can quit after a match. This isn't like that. It's way too easy to play longer than you meant to, and I don't think that's a good thing.

I love Astarion and Karlach. The world of Faerun isn't QUITE as nasty and cynical as the world of Divinity Original Sin 2, but it's close, and they really demonstrate it while still retaining some light. I've been delighted by several new discoveries. I'm excited to find the full set of "sparkler" armor, I'm loving the way each fight usually has small creatures and medium ones, sometimes other sizes -- it means you can use the game's new shove and throw mechanics earlier on, which does a lot to make barbarians and fighters feel cool and powerful.

So far I'm gonna say, 8/10, I had to tell Volo not to stick an ice pick in my eye. Good stuff.

Hah! You're not alone in playing it for sure. One of the groups I run - I think all five of them are playing it.

And the crate thing - have you seen what Matt Mercer did with stacking them and getting on top of the castle? LOL

Quote from ChoirOfFire >>

So far I'm gonna say, 8/10, I had to tell Volo not to stick an ice pick in my eye. Good stuff.

 No spoilers here, but if you want to know, DM me, and I'll tell you what happens if you let him stick the icepick in your eye.

I detect the sound of temptation…

also, it should be noted that cohorts cahoot coherently.

I'm gonna guess you get an ice pick stuck in your eye. That's why I stopped him lol.

Witch Bolt is actually usable in that game! You can put a full 100 feet between the caster and the target before it breaks the spell. With the new weapon attacks and some of the enchanted weapons, you can have a melee guy set you up to hit a high-AC target for one turn, hit em with Witch Bolt, and then just zap em every turn with no regard for their defenses. That's how it was always meant to work.

I find it mildly funny that AeDorsay’s story has a character named BB, because that’s what Yurei and a couple of other users on the forums used to call me.

Quote from BoringBard >>

Quote from IamSposta >>

The Phillies are winning. They won the first game of their double header, now they’re winning the second (so far).

 Boo Phillies. The Nats are better! :)

 
Phills beat ‘em 7-0 last night. 😉

Quote from PJtheARCHER >>

Quote from Quar1on >>

Goddamn Aragorn.

 What did Aragorn do?

Hit a home run in baseball while using his sword as a bat. (It was a pun/joke by Quarion because Sposta’s favorite baseball team was going against a club called the Rangers.)

Edit: Nevermind, I misunderstood the situation.

Quote from BoringBard >>

Quote from PJtheARCHER >>

Quote from Quar1on >>

Goddamn Aragorn.

 What did Aragorn do?

Hit a home run in baseball while using his sword as a bat. (It was a pun/joke by Quarion because Sposta’s favorite baseball team was going against a club called the Rangers.)

 
Not Quite, they were playing the Nationals. The Phillies pitcher’s name was Ranger Suarez and he loaded the bases with two outs at the end of his stint on the mound. So I went off about “Ranger” and the joke came from that. (Luckily the relief pitcher got the next guy out on a pop fly to end the inning.)

Quote from BoringBard >>

I find it mildly funny that AeDorsay’s story has a character named BB, because that’s what Yurei and a couple of other users on the forums used to call me.

 given the initials unofficially stand for bloodthirsty bunny and the nature of some of the forum users so mentioned, this may not be the bad thing it could be...

... and in both cases, all I can say is you should see the other guys...