Stuffing the Chicken will retireNOOOOOO!!!!!! Say it ain't so! Will she get stuffed? With cornbread? Or taxidermied? Or just put out to pasture with her own little hen house and a rotating roster of young rooster studs?
Hah! Definitely that last option. Stuffing is too awesome to be reduced to a mere meal or decoration...and she might still put in a cameo appearance from time to time ;)
______________Frankie, Meredith, Serge and Quang Chi - Your chronicles are complete and available >>here<<. As always, let me know if there are any mistakes or issues that need correcting.
Since this particular chronicle sheet has a lot going on, notes about purchases and such are down at the very bottom - or at least they should be.
Jan - Looks like I just need a Day Job check from you and then I'll get yours uploaded as well.
|
Now that Frankie is finally, officially, a Mouser (swashbuckler archetype), I just want to point out a fun new ability he gets, the signature ability that replaces parry/riposte:
Underfoot Assault (Ex): At 1st level, if a foe whose size is larger than the mouser’s is adjacent to her and misses her with a melee attack, the mouser can as an immediate action spend 1 panache point to move 5 feet into an area of the attacker’s space. This movement does not count against the mouser’s movement the next round, and it doesn’t provoke attacks of opportunity. While the mouser is within a foe’s space, she is considered to occupy her square within that foe’s space.
While the mouser is within her foe’s space, the foe takes a –4 penalty on all attack rolls and combat maneuver checks not made against the mouser, and all of the mouser’s allies that are adjacent to both the foe and the mouser are considered to be flanking the foe. The mouser is considered to be flanking the foe whose space she is within if she is adjacent to an ally who is also adjacent to the foe. The mouser can move within her foe’s space and leave the foe’s space unhindered and without provoking attacks of opportunity, but if the foe attempts to move to a position where the mouser is no longer in its space, the movement provokes an attack of opportunity from the mouser. This deed replaces opportune parry and riposte.
**Yes that's a wall of text. But basically Frankie can get in someone's grill if they miss an attack vs him and he can make them have a really hard time attacking his allies.
To go with this fun stuff is this new halfling little boy racial combat feat gem:
Blundering Defense (Combat): Your feverish and sometimes comical defensive techniques offer enough distraction to aid allies. Prerequisites: Cautious Fighter, halfling.
Benefit: Whenever you fight defensively or use the total defense action, allies gain a luck bonus to AC and CMD equal to 1/2 the dodge bonus you gain from the action you are taking. Allies only gain this bonus while they are adjacent to you. (Likely to be +2 AC goodness for adjacent allies!)
Just as an FYI guys I don't look to get us started again until probably Tuesday. This is my 'busier' week/weekend where my work shifts are more closely spaced and so I'd prefer to wait until I've got a little more breathing room before I ramp things up.
We also officially had our first positive case for the county reported yesterday so testing at the hospital where I work is ramping up...but otherwise, most other folks still seem to be staying away if they can. So my ability to post from work is probably going to be all over the place for a while.
But on a brighter note, don't forget that our next scenario will be #10-14 Debt to the Quah! If you've got any characters in range that have Shoanti connections - like Larry's character Skye - then they might find this one right up their alley :)
@Jan - Yes, give me just a few minutes. I meant to get it done days ago and it completely slipped my mind.
@All - Apologies for the delay in getting us started again. I've got my reasons (see the spoiler below) but as I've got plenty of time before I have to head to work tonight I'm working on getting caught up on games and such now. I'll hopefully at least be able to get an opening post up within the next couple of hours.
Life is weird right now and it's a slightly different sort of weird as an essential worker compared to the folks currently stuck at home. The two best statements I've seen to describe it are as follows (quoted verbatim):
'Trying to square my own life rhythms that are so close to being business-as-usual with this tremendous worldwide disruption is so psychologically uncomfortable.'
'Not that I’m not intensely grateful to have a job and to have the option of continuing to come to the office, but the sense that there’s this massive shared experience going on that I’m not part of is definitely present as well.'
Life for me is allllllmost normal...but just enough things are Not Normal that it's throwing me off-kilter. I'm very thankful to still have a job and to not have to worry about trying to WFH or figure out how to keep kids schooled/entertained, or how I'm going to pay the mortgage for the month but I'm also not chilling out doing YouTube yoga or getting involved in creative projects or learning a new language or whatever. I'm still working my FT hours at a job where things are changing day by day, where the scheduling has gone from, "Oh we're not busy, gotta cut hours" to "All hands, no vacation time, at least 2 people on shift at all times, even at night" in the space of a week, where everyone is on edge and tense and tempers are short. Heck, my coworker I was partnered with Monday night got into an argument with an employee from another department (I missed it as I was doing something elsewhere) over whose job it was to do what because up to that point there had been no concrete guidance on the matter.
It's definitely been affecting my sleep patterns and I've had a low-grade headache off and on for days (feel as fine as can be expected otherwise, thankfully). Concentrating on writing has been hard.
Blargh.
Jan, your chronicle should now be available >>here<<. Please look it over and let me know if anything needs to be changed.
|
|
Whenever you're ready. I am in no rush, even though I am itching to try out the new and improved Francis.
Ya so far life for me has been good. We're very rural so other than precautions, things are more or less normal. Work shut down for the time being but everyone is being paid. So I'm home most days doing my normal hobbies and trying to get things ready for Spring. We've been quite lucky as both of us are still being paid so money anxiety isn't an issue.
Once this last snow storm passes Spring should be firmly in our sights. I've got most of my winter hobbies complete and put away for next year. With all this time I'll be able to really get ahead on yard work, projects, and gardening. As I'm sure many people will do this year, we'll put extra effort into our garden, just in case. I've been slacking on canning garden stuff the last couple years, that'll be a priority again.
Family members are having some new and serious health issues though, so that's putting some extra stress on life. They would be very serious in normal times, but now even going to the hospital make everyone nervous, not to mention if it isn't CV19 related then it seems like its not a priority. Even though cancer and heart attacks are more deadly. Hopefully everything works out. Regardless, I'll keep doing what I can and hope everyone else is able to do the same.
Check-in time!
I just finished post-blasting the Outpost game I'm GMing after several days of not being able to write, because when the creative urge actually strikes you have to go with it. I say 'post-blasting' because there's a party and there's a lot going on and there were several actions to resolve.
(Hopefully they won't mind it too much.)
Taking a break to have a bite to eat but I think I might be ready to very gingerly get us started on our next scenario, or at least start leading in to it. I know I've not been the only one feeling a lack of motivation to PbP so there'll be no rush on my end and no pressure or expectations of super-speedy posting from you guys, either.
In other random and not-sadsack news I've been doing my bit to save the economy and engaged in some retail therapy earlier, including taking advantage of the PDF sale to pick up a few more modules! I've also been in ongoing negotiations with my business partner (hubster) to hire (adopt) an employee (cat) to help me catch up on all the sleeping and being cute that needs to be done around here. Negotiations have been successful and funds have been set aside to ensure the future employee has the tools that they need to be happy and productive in the workplace (I bought cat supplies). Still working out a timeframe as regards the onboarding (actual adoption) process but I'm hopeful that we'll be able to move forward within the next month or so.
(The only other question that remains is what sort of cat? I have an especial fondness for black cats, of which there are many available, but on the other end of the color spectrum there's a beautiful senior flame point siamese with one floppy ear that's tugging my heartstrings too.)
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Suggestions for questions to ask at the job interview for your new employee:
"Have you ever intentionally released your prey after catching it? What did you learn from that experience?"
"How many of your peoples' vases have you broken? Is there something you could have done to have broken more?"
"Can you tell me about a time that you failed to get a full 20 hours of sleep? Did you report yourself as fatigued to your supervisor?"
"I see from your resume that you majored in Cuteness. Can you tell me why you chose that as your major?"
"If your human is under the covers in their bed, what is their quantum wakefullness state? Does it matter if you are hungry?"
"Speaking of food, what is your position on the current debate regarding dry versus wet food? And what are the implications for the human-control industry going forward?"
"If you could be any kind of person, what kind would you be and why?"
We've always had cats, both in my youth and then when I was married, and now my adult sons each have one as does my ex. Obviously I can't have one now, and that's truly the one thing I miss in my current lifestyle.
Your sons are doing the Lord's work because the world needs more cat dudes out there!
I grew up with cats around also but I had to leave my last one with my parents when I got married since our apartment complex didn't allow pets. I've sorely missed having a cat and having the ability to have pets again was one of the things I was most excited for when we bought our house last fall.
My previous cat, Abby, is still alive and well (she's about 11 or so) but since my parents' place is the only home she's ever known I decided it would be better to leave her there instead of bringing her with us when we moved into our house. She really doesn't react well to change even at the best of times.
Alrighty guys, opening posts are up! Please look over Slide #2 and enter or update your character information, including Perception and Initiative modifiers, when you get a chance. If you wish to roll your Day Job now, please do so and enter the result; if you want to wait until the end that'll work as well.
Same for Slide #3 as regards marching orders.
All slides should be editable but let me know if you have any trouble. And as I said earlier, no rush - we'll take things at whatever pace works best.
|
|
Frankie is ready!
As far as cats go, we've been debating about getting one right now too. We'll I've been debating, she's been resisting. Its a great time for a pet, being stuck at home all the time.
I keep telling myself I want a cat with short legs and is a lap cat. I hate it when they jump up on tables and counters.
|
I'm a cat person, too. But I don't get to have one. My wife is Indian, and they take cat phobias and superstitions very seriously.
So we have a dog. He's a good running partner for my wife. He's chop-blocked me a few too many times while running for me to consider him a suitable companion on my own runs.
Skye is ready.
Hubster is definitely more of a dog person than a cat person but he doesn't *dislike* cats, thankfully. I'm hoping we can get a cat with a positive-to-neutral attitude towards dogs as we'll probably eventually add one of those to the family as well.
In other news, I forgot just what sort of character Skye is until I caught up on Gameplay just a bit ago XD
This will be great :3
|
|
@GM Ladile-
I don't want to get into the realm of using player knowledge vs. character knowledge, but I was wondering if Caller would be of any appropriate gifts or tokens that might be presented to the various representatives which might aid in the diplomatic portion of this upcoming encounter.
I know the Shoanti value weapons and armor. Would appropriate gifts be something that Caller would know based on his in-depth knowledge of Shoanti culture?
Hmm, I like the spirit of the idea (and it makes logical sense) but let me think on that. The meeting largely uses the Influence rules from Ultimate Intrigue so it won't be quite as cut-and-dry as just using Diplomacy to make your arguments. I think everyone here played at least one part of the Solstice Scar special, so think of how the social encounter with the leaders of Medda's people went where you first had to try and suss out the best ways to approach each individual person and *then* actually make your arguments over the course of several rounds. This will be much the same.
^True! So yes, Caller (and/or Skye as well) would have a good idea of what sorts of gifts or tokens each of the different quahs might appreciate.
I'm about to catch up on your posts now (all 10 of them) and see if I can get another post up this morning before bedtime. If not this morning then I'll shoot for later tonight, instead.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Meh, last night was a 'death by a thousand paper cuts' sort of night. That said, my work schedule returns to normal this week (at least for the next two weeks) so hopefully that'll give me more time to rev up the engines here.
|
|
Skye hasn't played #8-22 Wrath of the Fleshwarped Queen.
I played that scenario with 'Slam' Duncan, my oread monk.
^Okay, no worries - you'd basically just be getting personally recognized by Rollicks if anyone here had experienced that scenario :)
This week was busy with work/birthday stuff/house projects/cat adoption stuff. I did okay with keeping up with my player games but my GM games very much got sidetracked. Apologies, again...*sigh*
Still here, just a been a bit on the busy side still. Keeping up with player games has been easier than GM games and I've also been trying to give priority to my Outpost GM game when I can. Working on making some rounds now, though.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Just checking in again to say that I'm still alive and mostly well, just struggling with sleep lately. We also adopted a cat a week ago and have been getting used to each other and all the usual adjustments and investment of energy that comes with getting a pet.
Rather than say that I'll really, truly, totally, for sure get an update later tonight - because I've been bad to do that and it not happen for whatever reason - I'll just say that I'll do my best to get an update later tonight if work is quiet.
|
|
The monk sits completely still as the Great Lady speaks. His hands lie facing upward atop his thighs, each forefinger and thumb forming a circle while middle and ring fingers touch tips.
He sits seiza-style, lower legs folded underneath his thighs, buttocks resting on the heels. His bow and quiver lie on the ground to each side.
When she finishes explaining, he opens his eyes only long enough to speak.
"Our stillness is balanced by the activity of our other selves."
He then closes his eyes and returns his mind to one of the koans of Master Kei. If a human adopts a cat, who is the Master?
|
|
I made that mistake once. I'd come home after a long run. Took a hot shower, then rubbed a generous amount of capsaicin cream over my aching feet, shins, and calves.
Still in my bathrobe, I grabbed a cup of coffee and sat down in something like a seiza-style position to watch the morning news.
A few seconds later, I leapt from the chair, shrieking in burning pain. I raced to the shower to wash away the cream from my holy-of-holies. That only made it much worse.
A painful lesson learned.
Got busy here at work and ran out of time to finish responding to the rest of your posts and now the time has come to finish my usual end-of-the-shift work. I'll resolve the rest of the posts in a few hours after I get home!
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Out of time for the moment; will finish resolving the rest of the Phase 3 posts later tonight if work is quiet~