MagusJanus's page

MagusJanus wrote:

John Napier 698 wrote:

Don't mind me. Just complaining because growing old sucks.

Oof! I know the feeling. Anymore, my pep of the morning requires two cups of coffee and telling myself, "one more day..."

My mother can't stand the smell of coffee, so we pretty much drink tea or soda. I typically drink two liters of hot tea at work, and, more often than not, even that isn't enough.

Anymore? Not certain I could live without coffee.

Do you ever have to deal with insane arguments with people who fund your research?

I wish the above was not based on something I moderated at work recently.

Don't mind me. Just complaining because growing old sucks.

Oof! I know the feeling. Anymore, my pep of the morning requires two cups of coffee and telling myself, "one more day..."

My appointment with my endocrinologist is in March. So... we'll see if I make it that long. I'm fairly assured in my own strength, but with the turn things took in November, I can't say with certainty that it will still work out. Who knows what measures will have been taken to stop people like me by then? I still don't have valid ID... and I don't know if I ever will, for similar reasons.

There's not a lot of reason to believe in a safe or happy future.

** spoiler omitted **

I hope it goes amazingly well, and you get news far brighter than even they expect.

Which makes me wonder...

"Being Dennis Quaid"
A sequel/reboot to Being John Malkovitch, but instead of a secret passage leading to his mind, there is a dialogue box online that causes Dennis Quaid to act when directions are typed into it. Everything goes okay until someone posts a link to the box on 4chan, leading to the Dennis Quaid of today.

Horror movie of the year?

New Horizons is going to arrive there soon enough, so... what does everyone think we'll find?

My guesses:

1) A planet, possibly an exoplanet. It would explain the strange vacuuming.

2) An alien spacecraft from a race that has been monitoring us this entire time and broadcasting our science to the rest of the galaxy to laugh at.

3) A miniature black hole. Because the universe has to screw with our heads, so why not?

4) My ego. I know I left it somewhere.

Magus it's good to see you!

Heya! Been awhile! I hope things are good with you.

As of New Year's Day, Missouri will be one of the growing number of American states that don't require a permit for carrying a concealed firearm.

I love Prime for just that reason.

I hope everyone had a merry Christmas, or whatever equivalent you celebrate (or a good day if you don't celebrate), and everyone has a happy New Year.

I won't be here tomorrow evening. I got invited to a New Year's party that is also celebrating all of the work we're going to have utterly obliterating a certain new pipeline. I wouldn't normally go, but some old friends who helped me get my first leg up in the business asked me to attend.

Sure, go ahead.

Sorry for the delay in replying. Life is hectic right now.

Several well known, wealthy, and/or influential people from across the globe were recently replaced with biomechanical duplicates by the alien Crab Men of Nebulon 5. Among those replaced have been Hiroyuki Sanada, Betty White, Ingvar Kamprad, and Al Gore. The mission of these duplicates is to slowly subvert the Earth's global economy and entertainment industry and make us more vulnerable to conquest by their masters, who want nothing more than to serve our boiled carcasses at family gatherings.

Al Gore is a Mi-Go. We really replaced James Hansen.

How magically-generated electricity travels through conductors.

It's lightning fast.

I'm posting twice, but I want this to be completely disconnected from my prior post.

I'm looking for a new career. My current one is politics-related.

Recent events are not the only reason. I'm not getting any younger or any saner. And working as deep as I do within the system is like being a permanent victim of gaslighting. I deal every day with a reality that is as connected to the real world as Wonderland, and I'm no longer as capable of the mental gymnastics needed to climb that rabbit hole.

I hear a local Fox News affiliate is hiring a fact checker. Since I'm used to dealing with insane conspiracy theorists who hold way too much power and it's a job where I could show up drunk every day and not have a bad impact, I'm considering it. I'll spend more time sweeping or sleeping on the job than correcting news stories, but at my age and mental health I could use the break.

If they have a bagger, I just specify how I want things bagged and let them bag. And not to detail, but just general. I've had maybe three who didn't know what they were doing, and every time it was because of poor training.

If you're working as a bagger at a grocery store, you need the money a lot more than I need the convenience of doing it myself.

* Should a GM enforce racism against drow in-setting if a player is honestly wanting to play a heroic drow?

* Should a GM alter the setting heavily to make it more palatable to players who have issues with some, or even many, elements?

* At what point do house rules become excessive?

* Should the GM keep a tight rein on the setting, or should the GM allow the players some room to add details?

* Can a gnome be house trained?

I hope it goes well, NH.

MagusJanus wrote:

Your number 4 is not a different option from my number 3.

Well, other than leaving out that the game would be regulated to oldtimers and the dregs of the internet. I'd like to think that so far, even though a good number of gamers may be getting older, we here on this board aren't the dregs of the internet. :)

Not even close. Well, unless you count me. I'm pretty sure I count as a dreg.

But, it's still a long-term risk they have to consider. No one back in the day thought GURPS would end up there either.

MagusJanus wrote:

I haven't read the full thread. About halfway in, I decided I don't want to really argue.

The following is just my opinion. It could be right, it could be wrong. Time will tell.

As I see it, Paizo has 3 options:

1) Release a new edition of Pathfinder. Bad because they will lose part of their customer base, who won't convert over. Good because they can consolidate most of the existing setting books and quickly get the setting information out. However, they're going to be competing with Pathfinder 1E, and WotC can tell you how hard competing with your own product can bite you.

2) Abandon Pathfinder for Starfinder and similar games. They're still going to lose customers, but they won't compete with 5E and can write entirely new setting books so they're not repeating products. However, they also will be walking away from a product that made them and that will damage their reputation.

3) Pull a GURPS and just keep releasing more products. They're still going to lose customers eventually, just due to bloat. They also risk falling to same fate as GURPS, which is being relegated to the oldtimers and the dregs of the internet (most GURPS players I've met hang out on 4chan).

I don't see Paizo as having a good option here. I don't see them as having an option that isn't going to hurt. I think it's up to them to pick which bad option they can live with.

4) Continue as they are, along with releasing Starfinder. Ignore 5E and keep doing their own thing. IIRC, 4E was going to take away most of the business as well. 6E might be the one to do it next, but it's early to say that 5E is going to do anything to Pathfinder.

There are people that won't go back to WOTC regardless, or aren't interested in the system being presented, or any of a thousand reasons. Let them do their thing, concentrate on doing Pathfinder well: a rich world, interesting APs, new and interesting rules developments and so on. Redoing the rules and re-releasing all your greatest hits with a new coat of...

Your number 4 is not a different option from my number 3.

Star Wars just doesn't excite me anymore.

Seeing The Phantom Menace on opening night. It changes you, and not in a nostalgic Ron Perlman way.

Try seeing it while high on certain psychiatric meds. Much better movie.

I haven't read the full thread. About halfway in, I decided I don't want to really argue.

The following is just my opinion. It could be right, it could be wrong. Time will tell.

As I see it, Paizo has 3 options:

1) Release a new edition of Pathfinder. Bad because they will lose part of their customer base, who won't convert over. Good because they can consolidate most of the existing setting books and quickly get the setting information out. However, they're going to be competing with Pathfinder 1E, and WotC can tell you how hard competing with your own product can bite you.

2) Abandon Pathfinder for Starfinder and similar games. They're still going to lose customers, but they won't compete with 5E and can write entirely new setting books so they're not repeating products. However, they also will be walking away from a product that made them and that will damage their reputation.

3) Pull a GURPS and just keep releasing more products. They're still going to lose customers eventually, just due to bloat. They also risk falling to same fate as GURPS, which is being relegated to the oldtimers and the dregs of the internet (most GURPS players I've met hang out on 4chan).

I don't see Paizo as having a good option here. I don't see them as having an option that isn't going to hurt. I think it's up to them to pick which bad option they can live with.

Oof. Nothing like a year of trying new meds and finding out the side-effects.

Doctor thinks they have an idea of how my mind reacts to certain medications now.

But that is far from only doctors and scientists.

Where did I claim that only doctors and scientists knew it? (If I actually did claim this, could you link the post? I'm not finding it, but I'm not ruling out the possibility because my review was far from thorough due to life.)

Some meltdowns and steam explosions (Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, Fukushima, etc.)

Three Mile Island didn't kill anyone. Despite a lot of the anti-nuclear crowd claiming it did, that's one of the nuclear incidents that had zero casualties.

Neither did Fukushima; all of the deaths that occurred in relation to that meltdown occurred because of the evacuation itself and the conditions the evacuees were left in.

Knowledge(history): 1d20 + 6 + 1 ⇒ (18) + 6 + 1 = 25

Tuneya tries to recall what she can about why the chamber would be made, then relates it to the others before turning to leave.

She then nods to Harmose as they go to leave. "I do need more time to study them. I want to make certain we have every bit of historical information we can get from them before we give them to an archive or historian. That way, there's multiple copies of the information for others to peruse in case something happens. It also may reveal fascinating information for us."

Outside

She waits until Harmose is done, then touches the tomb. "Thank you, gods of this land, for letting us tread upon your grounds."

She then grins to Harmose. "I'm surprised you do not wish to discuss with her immediately. I cannot promise we will be done by dinner time; these things sometimes take awhile. But, perhaps, Aleris can come with? Three eyes are better than two, and you two can take time to discuss during the research if we end up running late."

But, she can see that he will not, since plans are made, and winks at the pair while grinning. She can't help it; they remind her so much of her and Izola back when they were first dating!

With Harmose

Tuneya nods. "First, I want to talk to the priests of Pharasma about that god. They may know something, and it would save us a trip. After that, I want to try to translate these texts. We can also research pulleys, if those will help, and I want to research that insect we ran into while we were down there. And the animated statues..."

She hrms. "The list is rather long... Pharasma and pulleys first, then translation. Anything further can wait. I don't want to spend too much time doing research when you have a busy night ahead..."

So I've been posting normal threads for a while now, but I've heard a bit about these new "Sell me" threads. What advances over normal threads do they have?

I'm holding your imagination hostage. If you don't start finding "sell me" threads to be great, I'll give your imagination to a politician.

As an actual point to this thread, I'd like to get opinions. Do you think those sort of threads even accomplish what their OP is asking? I kinda have a hunch that many are insincere posts.

I think most of them do. I've seen this trend before. It'll come around again in about a decade or so. It's usually just people who are doubtful and not convinced, but looking for a reason to be convinced.

50. Due to a blessing of the gods, you get three tokens to magically escape from Grimtooth-style rooms of death.

Happy birthdays to people who had them!

In other news, having "fun" dealing with scientists. I've had to read the definition of "consequence" to them a few times and explain how the concept applies to their actions... in response to a few of them whining because I told them their data is excluded from the report for not even bothering to allow me access to it.

Wonder why it is I often act like I have no respect for scientists? Because I've worked with enough of them to know a PhD and having published enough papers to write a science textbook doesn't stop you from being more boneheaded than a grad student who mixes Valium and vodka and then wonders why they can't stand up.

Seriously, I'm the one with brain damage, yet even when the effects are obvious I'm told I'm still generally more intelligence than most of the scientists I deal with. And as people on here know, I'm probably barely average intelligence >.<

The thing that made the group whine the most? This story pointing out something people like me saw coming 20 years ago. The person who whined the loudest was, naturally, the same one who advocated trying to present the data as scarily as possible so the public would back climate science out of fear. I had to read him the dictionary definition of "consequence" before he figured out how that tactic is linked to the problem he was whining about.

Then my favorite? An Exxon recruiter saying to me, "Come work for the oil company! We don't hire scientists who are morons." I almost took them up on it.

Not sue him personally. You're right that he might not be punished.

Suing the state to be allowed to marry. To have his ruling that the federal decision doesn't apply overturned. And actually, as I understand it, his current stance is that the federal district court ruling doesn't bind Alabama and they can wait for an actual Supreme Court ruling. He hasn't actually said he'd order judges to defy that.

If he does, the federal government can't let that stand. Even an administration that wasn't in favor of same-sex marriage can't do that.

At the moment he's got a pseudo-legal argument that'll work its way through the court system - probably pretty quickly, since it involves a direct challenge to the court-ordered marriages. Shouldn't even need a new case, just another move on the old one.

His current stance is that SCOTUS doesn't have the authority to rule on gay marriage. Source

His exact words on SCOTUS ruling in favor of gay marriage, so people do not have to read the entire article:

"[T]here's nothing in the U.S. Constitution that authorizes the Supreme Court of the United States or any federal court anywhere to misinterpret the word 'marriage' to include something like that."

He also went on to question "whether I could comply with an unlawful order of the United States Supreme Court."

In short, he's setting up the pseudo-legal argument that any ruling SCOTUS gives on the matter that he doesn't agree with is one he doesn't have to obey. And gambling that he won't suffer the effects of criminal charges for doing so.

Edit: Note that I pasted the wrong article at the beginning. I think it's a natural aversion to this guy. My mind hates what he has to say so much that I instinctively try to avoid as much of what he has to say as possible.

And, I feel slimy after copying and pasting those words. So, I need an hour to shower.

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (17) + 2 = 19

Tuneya sighs, then puts the scrolls back in the chest for now. "I don't want to risk these getting damaged. The historical value is just too much to risk."

She then stands and turns, spotting Aleris's look as she does. She smiles to herself, then walks over to the sylph to whisper something to her.

Then, she turns to the rest. "Can we stop by that tapestry so I can make a copy of it? And then we can search for more traps and creatures that should have prepared their anuses."

Harmose raises an eyebrow. "I've always heard that getting a lady to the finish was quite challenging. Perhaps old Akhentepi wasn't up to the task?"

Tuneya grins wickedly. "That would explain what the oil is for."

If the doll had prepared its anus, it might have survived.

Attack of Opportunity: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (18) + 1 = 19
Damage: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 1 = 8
Melee Attack: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (20) + 1 = 21
Damage: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6

Tuneya doesn't even hesitate; as soon as the animated creature starts to rise, she starts swinging, bringing her morningstar down at it as many times as she can to break it.

"Didn't you hear Camus, little construct? He said to prepare your anus! And you're! Not! Prepared!"

"I hope you didn't need the hair on your feet either."

Between Aleris and I, Turel may gain fire resistance through osmosis.

Camus, I had a hard time writing my post and getting in-character because I was simply laughing too hard. Bravo!

Before Camus takes a magic chariot ride
Knowledge(engineering): 1d20 + 6 + 3 ⇒ (13) + 6 + 3 = 22
Knowledge(history): 1d20 + 6 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 6 + 1 = 8
Knowledge(local): 1d20 + 6 + 1 ⇒ (18) + 6 + 1 = 25

She checks the chariot as best as she can and tries to recall what she can, though she is somewhat distracted by worrying about Harmose's condition. He seems very much upset, but she doesn't want to say anything until they're at a safe spot. She merely smiles to herself, then turns to look at the chest, just in time for Camus to decide it's time to be General Pain.

After Camus takes a magic chariot ride

Tuneya just stands there, twitching. She can hear the mutagen screaming at her, saying, "Take me! Take me! Unleash me! Go nuts on him! Make him into a replacement wheel!"

Tuneya closed her eyes for just one moment, her hands curling into fists as she muttered a prayer to Pharasma under her breath. I will not kill him... I will not kill him... I will not gut him with one of his rips and leave his severed head mounted on a pike outside the entrance as a warning... I will not kill him...

"Camus, do you remember the three laws we were told to obey? And may I ask what the f^%$ you were thinking when you broke one of them?"

Linguistics: 1d20 + 6 + 1 ⇒ (16) + 6 + 1 = 23
Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (17) + 5 = 22

Tuneya reaches over to pat Camus, smiling. She was very glad he spotted the trap and disarmed it!

I was just trying to get him away from Harmose and Aleris before they killed him. I'm glad I did!

She moves into the next room, carefully looking around for traps [ooc]and taking 20 on this if possible[/ooce], and nods to herself once she has identified any. She then glances to the tapestry, distracted by it for the moment, and quickly tries to translate it.

"I would suggest the north chamber as well. Isolated like it is, it might hold valuables or artifacts worth our time. But, I bet it's heavily trapped..."

And then, reminding herself there are traps, she looks back to any she has identified and informs the party of them.

Tuneya tries her best not to react to the conversation behind her. The lovely thing about the magic in play was that it was perfectly helping her hear everything. Finally, seeing she has pulled against of Turel, she sighs and stops, then looks back. It didn't help that, being mere feet away, she could hear some of what they said.

"Considering I married one of my teammates, I can honestly say I have no problems with you two hooking up. Grats, Harmose, she's beautiful. But can we please save this until we're not in the trap-filled tomb of doom and despair?"

She then realizes exactly how she sounds and facepalms. "By the eternal blessings of Pharasma... I've turned into Master Turin. I can't believe I'm on this end of that conversation."

She then looks to the three hanging back. "Okay, I'm being a bit of a hypocrite. Can we please secure the area first?"[/b] She then looks to Camus. "And can I get your help? If I were them, I would have trapped this hallway enough to make a master trapsmith weep with joy."

She then shakes her head, smiling. [i]Izola is going to laugh herself catatonic when she reads about this. I'll write her a letter about it as soon as we're done.

Between Aleris-Harmose-Regina, Aleris-Harmose-Turel, and potentially Aleris-Tuneya-Izola... we're kinda verging on a three-dimensional construct :P

Tuneya nods her appreciation, and makes certain to keep slow enough Turel can check in front of her easily.

Vote for Camus! You may not like his honesty, but he'll never lie to you!

That is just... Bravo!

Flashback

Knowledge(arcana) for pit: 1d20 + 9 + 1 ⇒ (9) + 9 + 1 = 19
Knowledge(engineering) for pit: 1d20 + 6 + 3 ⇒ (8) + 6 + 3 = 17
Knowledge(history) for Obelisk: 1d20 + 6 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 6 + 1 = 13
Knowledge(history) for Wati: 1d20 + 6 + 1 ⇒ (20) + 6 + 1 = 27
Knowledge(local) for Necropolis: 1d20 + 6 + 1 ⇒ (10) + 6 + 1 = 17
Knowledge(nobility) just in case it has some info: 1d20 + 6 + 1 ⇒ (18) + 6 + 1 = 25
Untrained Knowledge(dungeoneering) for pit: 1d20 + 5 + 1 ⇒ (10) + 5 + 1 = 16
Untrained Knowledge(religion) for Obelisk: 1d20 + 5 + 1 ⇒ (19) + 5 + 1 = 25

Tuneya attempts to recall anything she can that is information related to the obelisk or weird pit, and if she finds out anything that people didn't come up with already she goes ahead and shares.

"I vote we name the pit Sarlack." She smiles. "Hopefully, we won't have to toss the minions of crime bosses into it."

Present

Knowledge(engineering): 1d20 + 6 + 3 ⇒ (13) + 6 + 3 = 22
Taking 20 on Perception to examine the door and walls around it for a total result of 25

Tuneya frowns as she looks at the door, pondering it for a moment. I wonder... Could it be locked?

"Can I have a chance to examine the door for a moment? These tomb doors can be tricky to open sometimes. The ancients did not like people entering them."

If she gets a chance, she immediately examines the door, recalling what she can about how it is constructed and trying to see if she can spot any locking mechanisms. She makes it a point to take her time to examine the door, as well as the walls surrounding the door, to get as accurate an idea of the construction as she can so she can put what she knows of ancient Osiriani architecture to work. She is silently hoping to discover a locking mechanism or, better yet, a simple switch that can be used to open the door. Or, if all else fails, at least figure out why it's not opening.

She also takes a moment, during the search, to allow herself to get distracted admiring the construction of the tomb. She always did love these old tombs, the way they were built, the sheer genius that could go into their design... And then it was back to the task while hoping no one noticed their archaeologist was daydreaming for a moment.

I just finished a "fun" conversation explaining to someone why dressing like a historically-accurate Ancient Egyptian common woman for a history class being taught to gradeschoolers would get her arrested for indecent exposure and put on the Sex Offenders Registry.

She didn't believe me at first until I pulled up the scholarly articles and actual depictions from the walls of Egyptian ruins. Then she realized how insanely overdressed Ancient Egyptian women are in most American media.

She's decided to go with the Hollywood version instead.

Perception 1: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (4) + 5 = 9
Perception 2: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (4) + 5 = 9

Tuneya sighed as she woke up early, reaching up to rub her eyes. It was pure habit; she got used to it during her years studying archaeology, as they preferred not to be outside during the heat of the day, so they tended to work to get inside a tomb before the sun even rose.

She sighed as she trudged out to the tomb, careful to keep her kit on hand. She spend the morning preparing bomb mixtures for mixing in the field, and had mixed up Heightened Awareness, Bomber's Eye, and Anticipate Peril extracts. Just in case.

She also brewed up something else, but tried to keep it secret. A little slice of addictive heaven she liked to keep in hand... just in case her darker side needed to play. It was something she hated to use... that lovely rush of giving in to a different version of yourself was just so pleasant! And so dangerous, once her mind returned. Then she carefully secreted it in a pocket; she didn't care if people saw that she had a potion, as she is an alchemist, but didn't want them to pay too much attention to this one.

On the trip out to the Necropolis, she frowned as she thought more about it. Those few times she had used it in the past. Izola's frightened look the first time. The arguments the couple had on several occasions about the mixture and how Izola hated the side of Tuneya it brought out. Though, Izola always accused it of creating that side. In the end, Tuneya had promised to only use it when emergencies hit, and had further promised to not use it outside of archaeological digs. Tuneya knew she would have to retire from entering tombs... and she planned to put the mixture away on that day.

She then pushed her mind from it; today, she was entering a tomb, and might need it. Tomorrow, if they were not, she would not mix it. Even this far away from her love, she was not going to break her promise.

Tuneya looked around a bit as she journeyed out, and nodded. The quiet, the lack of life. Some part of her suspected this entire area was blanketed with Pharasma's presence... but that the power of other gods rested below the surface. Once there, she nodded to the others and gave another glance around, before sighing to herself. It was probably time to begin.

Tuneya then looked to Aleris, grinned, and pulled out a bomb vial. Twirling it between her fingers, she couldn't help but joke, "Not me. But if we need to blast our way in, I've got us covered."

She then looks to the front door. "Once we have the door open, please let me step inside first if there's no threats? There's a ritual I do. It may be superstitious nonsense, but I feel it is a good luck charm. Camus, I apologize if it makes you uncomfortable when I do it."

I got one of the players I enjoyed gaming with the most because of Satanic Panic. She eventually moved to Seattle because her husband's job took her out that way, but by then she had introduced her kids to a homebrew child-friendly version of the game.

This was back in the 3.5 era, and the books had just come out. I was in Barnes and Noble, picking them out, when this woman approached me and asked if I cared about my immortal soul. I rolled my eyes and asked her why she brought it up. That was when she mentioned the idea of DnD teaching people to use evil magic, worship Satan, etc.

So, I responded by opening the PHB to the spells section, handing it to her, and asking her to point how where the magic words are.

After she couldn't identify any, I flipped to the alignment section and let her read that. Then I showed her the entries on demons in the Monster Manual. As I saw that she was beginning to figure out that being evil isn't something the game encourages and it seems to encourage players to kill demons, I invited her to a session so she could watch.

She quite quickly figured out that we were closer to Lord of the Rings than to Satanism, she joined in. Bought her own books the next day and never looked back. Her church wasn't too happy about it, but she eventually found one much more accepting... and the minister from that church still plays with my group.

And I may be recruiting another player using that same method. Last week, got approached by someone in a local book store while looking at 5E books, who made the same exact claim about DnD being evil. So, I showed her the alignment page and pointed out the sidebar. Extended another invite, and the game is tomorrow.

Group of bards - Cemetery.

A gelatinous cube that has consumed several vials of ink and is currently completely black. Right on the other side of the door the PCs open.

Instant mobile hostile darkness, and they'll never trust darkness again.

Your point was that without something like industrial farming the world could not possibly feed itself.

My point is that in industrial farming:

1) a significant portion of the crop goes to non-food purposes
2) even some of the "food" purposes are indirect

It is a myth that industrial farming is NECESSARY for human existence. Feel free to counter with some data. Corn is by far our largest crop in the US. Currently some 87,000,000 acres are used for growing corn (which is a little smaller than the state of Montana). Only 12% of that corn goes to feed humans.

Source = National Corn Grower's Association

They're not some sort of ironically named anti-corn group. They are a lobbyists for corn farmers. Here's a list of their donations in 2014. I provide that not necessarily as an indictment, but rather proof that these numbers are their attempt to make corn look like the best thing ever. They don't claim that corn feeds the world.

Industrial farming isn't about feeding people.

I apologize for the delay. There was a medication switch due to unfortunate side-effects from my last meds that left me hospitalized for a day.

I also needed time to dig out the original version of the report you linked to. I have to agree with them; the orange really does make it look better than the green I originally suggested. But then, I wrote it. One of my better-paying "consultations."

Yeah, that paper is somewhat bunk. Certain sections of it I simply made up at the time. In particular, I'm proud of the fiction I wrote under Everyday Sustainability.

And, actually, it's biologically impossible for corn to feed the world; humans don't possess the correct enzymes to digest corn. So, to be perfectly accurate, the wasted portion of the corn output is the portion humans eat.

Finally, my stance is not that factory farming is necessary, but that industrialization is necessary for farming to feed the world; there's a difference. Industrialization is, effectively, the entirety of modern civilization; it's the car you drive, the roads you drive on, the trucks and ships and trains and planes that transport food, the processing plants that sort it, the stores that sell it, the mechanisms for producing and transporting fertilizers and water... Even most organic farms rely heavily on industrialization to feed the world.

So when I say that we cannot feed the world without industrialization, I'm talking about a shutdown of everything, including the transport mechanisms that allow that food to be shared.

Still need to grab a kit for Tuneya for traps.

And, whether or not Tuneya's marriage is open is entirely left up to mystery. Sufficed to say that, either way, Tuneya enjoys her eye candy ;)

And even if open, she won't make a move on another partner without Izola around. She may tease and enjoy the occasional look, but her heart currently is in Sothis.

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 2 = 22

Tuneya smiles to the sage as he obviously hit on her, but gives no sign she noticed. Mostly, because she is too busy being distracted by the map. The wonderful, glorious map! A map!

If she could have broken into spontaneous song while animals played instruments around her, she would have. Alas, she is not a druid, so she makes do with humming a lovely song she remembers from her childhood. Mostly entirely off-key and with half the notes in the wrong order, and probably entirely unrecognizable even to those utterly familiar with all versions of it.

Once she is back in the inn, she quickly orders a lintel soup and some clean water to drink, settling in to chat with the others.

She frowns as she hears what Turel has to say, then sighs and looks at him. "Accidents can be understood. Unfortunately, even the greatest bit of history is easily destroyed. Please try to avoid it in the future?" She then blinks at the toad comment, before smiling as she figures out the joke. "Plus, Regina might turn you into the wrong kind of toad, and then we'd have to ship you off to another nation."

She stretches a bit and sighs, then pulls out her journal and opens it to the map. "My own trip seems to have been more productive. I am not certain it's accurate, but it should make things easier."

The Gazebo hides an invisible sphere of annihilation inside it. The party doesn't find out until one of them accidentally walks into it.

Another idea:

Hiding in a crack between floorboards in the gazebo is the Ninja Tarrasque.