Events of note
Jul. 26th, 2025 01:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
I last updated about 4 weeks ago, in Portsmouth. That was a good mini break, and I'm really glad R and I decided to do it: fun activities and good company. The heatwave hitting most of the country that weekend was less bad in Portsmouth, but despite reapplying sunscreen we both got burned on the walk back from the pier at Southsea, and didn't realise until the long (made longer by speed restrictions) train journey home was nearly over. The trains had aircon, on comfortable rather than arctic setting, so the journey was fine but stepping out into the humid heat at Cambridge came as a shock.
I took a taxi home, staying just long enough to dump my suitcase and pick up my hockey kit, and cycled (in the heat, ugh) to the rink for a scrimmage marking the last Monday night Warbirds practice, before the rink timetable change in July. Got home again a bit after midnight, and then back to work and the rest of "life as usual" from Tuesday morning.
Life as usual continues to be: work, family, ice hockey. A little cricket (playing), a little football (watching), and a theatre trip that reminded me I should go to the theatre more often.
( Family )
( Ice hockey )
( Cricket )
( Football )
( Theatre )
On the topic of both theatre and schedule, I have a livestream ticket to Phoebe Kemp's all trans/nb production of Twelfth Night (introduced by Ian McKellan); the livestream was last night but I have two weeks to watch the recording. My calendar says my best bets for time to watch it is this afternoon, or next Saturday afternoon. I'm going to try for this afternoon.
Weekly Chat
Jul. 26th, 2025 01:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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Whatever it is, talk to us about it here. Tell us what you liked or didn't like, and if you want to talk about spoilery things, please hide them under either of these codes:
or
Art Prompts For Visibly Fat or Muscular Humanoid Characters
Jul. 26th, 2025 05:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
So! Please give me art prompts for visibly fat or muscular humanoid characters, preferably in a relatively realistic style (anime is ok but not like Johnny Bravo)
No more than 3 characters, nothing that requires a background or complex/many props. Give me an image reference if it's not something I can look up easily. Picking a pose from the references below or sending me your own would make my life easier!
Fanart or original, including stuff like "This character but fat" or "A man in this pose and this outfit", but not vague things like "Any character in a victorian outfit". Nothing too sexy, squicky, or containing zombies(*).
Anyone who follows me is welcome to prompt!
(*) I only have a problem with the mindless contagious sort, or really gross decay. Possessed/controlled corpses are fine but no skeletons for this prompt ;)
Fat poses:
- Wider characters at Adorkastock
- Plus Size Beauty Reference Pictures
- Academic Female Poses
- Chubby/Fat References
- Plus size figure drawing reference
Muscular poses:
Canadian immigration question
Jul. 26th, 2025 03:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
The question they asked me was:
Is immigrating to Canada something we can do on our own or do we need an immigration lawyer? I have been looking at requirements and it all seems straightforward enough, but I don’t want to be unpleasantly surprised
Any thoughts on the process would be welcome, like if/when a lawyer is needed, or if/when agencies that promise to help with the moving process are actually worth their fees.
Thanks! Comments are screened for people who'd rather stay private, and I'll pass the messages along.
Challenge #1051: scowl
Jul. 26th, 2025 06:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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Challenge 1051 is scowl.
The rules:
- All stories must be 100 words long
- Please place your story behind a cut if it contains spoilers for the current season
- You don't have to use the challenge word or phrase in your story; it's just there for inspiration
- Please include the challenge word or phrase in the subject line of your post
- Please use the challenge tag 1051: scowl on any story posted to this challenge
Post-deadline pinch hits | 2, 8, 9, 13, 15, 22, 25.
Jul. 26th, 2025 06:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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Quick links: Rules and guidelines · 2025 Collection · Mod contact: gumshoeagency@gmail.com
This batch of pinch hits are due on Friday 8 August at 11:59pm Eastern time. [ In your timezone + Countdown ]
Pinch hits must comply with the exchange's rules. Pinch hits must meet the minimum assignment requirements of a completed work of a minimum of 3,000 words for fanfiction, a minimum of 10 panels for a comic, or a recording of a completed fic of 3,000 words minimum with "casefic" as one of its tags. Works must include a fandom, character/ship and be of a medium that the recipient has requested. You must have an AO3 account to participate.
We guarantee gifts for requests that feature a minimum of three unique fandoms. I would like to fill all our pinch hits if possible!
Please take note of the mediums as some requests have a combination selected.
To claim, please either reply to this post or email gumshoeagency@gmail.com with your AO3 name and the pinch hit number you want to claim.
Comments are screened, so if you reply anonymously, please include an email in case I need to reach out to you. You will not be able to receive a reply from me if you comment anonymously on this post.
( PH 2 (fic) - Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV), Buffyverse (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Veronica Mars (TV) )
( PH 8 (fic) - Severance (TV), The West Wing )
( PH 9 (fic) - 巷説百物語 | Kousetsu Hyaku Monogatari | Requiem from the Darkness (Anime), Nightmare - Cornell Woolrich (Novella), Father Brown (2013), Penny Dreadful (TV), XCOM (2012 Reboot Series) )
[ includes canon consumption tips] ( PH 13 (comic, fic) - 終ノ空 remake | Tsui no Sora Remake, A Girl Corrupted by the Internet is the Summoned Hero?!, Tsukihime (Visual Novel & Anime) )
( PH 15 (fic) - Babylon 5 (TV 1993), Mass Effect: Andromeda, Stargate Atlantis, Robot Series - Isaac Asimov )
( PH 22 (comic, fic, podfic) - 魔道祖师 - 墨香铜臭 | Módào Zǔshī - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù, Dominion of the Fallen - Aliette de Bodard, 琅琊榜 | Nirvana in Fire (TV), 莲花楼 | Mysterious Lotus Casebook (TV), The Locked Tomb Series | Gideon the Ninth Series - Tamsyn Muir )
( PH 25 (fic) - Elementary (TV), Hannibal (TV), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, The Hobbit (Jackson Movies), Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, Supernatural (TV 2005) )
Thank you!
Just One Thing (26 July 2025)
Jul. 26th, 2025 08:18 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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Comment with Just One Thing you've accomplished in the last 24 hours or so. It doesn't have to be a hard thing, or even a thing that you think is particularly awesome. Just a thing that you did.
Feel free to share more than one thing if you're feeling particularly accomplished! Extra credit: find someone in the comments and give them props for what they achieved!
Nothing is too big, too small, too strange or too cryptic. And in case you'd rather do this in private, anonymous comments are screened. I will only unscreen if you ask me to.
Go!
A handful of recent books
Jul. 26th, 2025 02:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
( 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff )
( The Twelve Chairs, by Ilf and Petrov, translated by Anne O. Fisher )
( The Hearing Trumpet by Leonora Carrington )
( Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn )
Hot And Stormy Friday
Jul. 25th, 2025 11:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Work – A busyish half-Friday to end out the work week – I spent most of my morning working on the GL (proved to be a little more complicated than usual because our database people moved a bunch of gifts from one Appeal year to another, which shows up different than our standard reversal reports on the GL) and answering some e-mails; then called a guy at my supervisor’s behest to get his pledge set up on automatic payments; then spent the remaining hour and a half looking up why some people overpaid their pledges for my supervisor so we could plan calling them and offering them refunds as necessary. *nods* Little more stressful than I would have liked, but it filled the time! And I did get to go home at 1:30 PM, so that’s all that matters. *nods*
Fallout 4 – I did indeed finally have another Fallout Friday today, sneaking in just under an hour of Victor and Ada continuing to make their way through the Mechanist’s lair before having to quit thanks to the thunderstorm that rolled in around 3 PM. How’d that go? Let me tell you:
A) Started off with Victor and the now-very-electric Ada hanging out in the room with all the assembly lines and the partially-completed swarmbots being carried across the ceiling on hooks. I’d guessed that trying to traverse this area would trigger some sort of fight when I first entered it, and I was proven right today as, while trying to see if I could sneak Victor through a gap between one of the floor-level conveyor belts and a cage with some electrical equipment in it (I could not – either it was a tiny bit too small or there was an invisible wall there), a swarmbot spawned in on the ramp leading up to the catwalk at the other end of the room. Victor lined up a shot and easily took it out with a nice highly-charged blast from the Tactical Tesla before the bot even noticed them –
Aaand then things got rather more chaotic as a couple of laser turrets up on the wall suddenly woke up and started firing at him, and a tankbot trundled into the room and began sending blasts Ada’s way. Fortunately, the laser turrets weren’t too hard to take out (once I figured out exactly where I needed to shoot, anyway), and while the tankbot took a good few hits in VATS to die (the Tactical Tesla isn’t really a VATS gun, sadly – you gotta be able to charge it to get the full effect), the fact that it, like most of the other enemies I have faced recently, decided to focus all its murderous efforts on Ada meant that Victor at least didn’t get creamed by the – I THINK they were gamma shots? Some sort of green orb thing, which I’m pretty sure is what the gamma gun fires, so – while trying to kill it. Ada – best companion simply because EVERYTHING focuses its wrath on her, allowing Victor to kill enemies at his leisure. :P
B) Once the enemies were defeated (including backing up and waiting a minute to let the tankbot explode), I had Victor and Ada explore the room looking for goodies. There wasn’t really much to find, though – just a window to the left that looked in on the room we’d passed through before; a little storage area behind the stairs up to the catwalk that yielded some ammo and a bit of useful junk; various boxes and rad barrels scattered around (I made sure to give the latter a wide berth) –
And a big room at the end that had an armor workstation, a box of various drugs, a box of various explosives, and a button in it that made me wonder if it was some sort of giant elevator. Like, I know that sounds a little mental, but this was a big robotics facility that was working on making robots powered by human brains – making a big old room that doubled as an elevator didn’t seem outside the realm of possibility! I was just about to press the button and see what it did –
C) When I saw the open catwalk bridge above me, with a little area to the left with a Nuka-Cola machine and some tables. Curious, and not wanting to press the button in case it WAS an elevator and took me deeper into the facility with no way back up, I had Victor do a little parkour to hop onto the catwalk (basically getting him to jump onto the ramp railing under it, then from there onto the catwalk) and explore the area I’d spotted. He proceeded to find:
I. A bunch of decorative tables and cabinets and cupboards with junk both decorative and grabbable – I had him get a big old industrial oil can and a carton of cigarettes to turn into cloth later :P
II. The Nuka-Cola machine I’d spotted before, which proved to be pretty well-stocked with cola – two empty bottles, two regular Nukas, and a Cherry! Nice :)
III. An openable door leading deeper into the facility at the back
IV. And the button to extend the catwalk over to the other side of the room!
Not wanting to progress anything just yet (as I still needed to figure out what the button did in what I was now calling the “lift room”), I had Victor collect all his goodies, then hit the button to extend the catwalk. This connected the two sides of the bridge – but ALSO closed a big metal shutter on the “lift room,” sealing it off. Curiouser and curiouser! I had Victor cross the bridge to do a little investigating of the stairs on the other side – discovering in the process the button that controlled the catwalk from THAT side, meaning if I’d just gone UP the stairs on the left side of the room instead of simply poking around BEHIND them for goodies, I wouldn’t have had to do the parkour; live and learn – then head back toward that door he’d found with Ada at his side. Opening it revealed another storage area with more tables and cabinets, three whole rolls of duct tape (score!), an aluminum can (will never say no!) –
And another MST3K door (seriously, I am like 99% sure these super-complicated doors are a nod to the “getting into/out of the theater” bits of MST3K with the multiple doors Cambot takes us through) with an access port that required Ada’s scanning expertise to open! Which really suggested that THIS was the way I was meant to go. “So what the heck is the deal with the button in the ‘lift room?’” I wondered, heading back to the catwalks to find out. Once Ada and I were safely across the bridge (a process that took a little longer than it should have, as Ada’s AI glitched out and made her keep walking into the railing until the game was like “oh, FINE” and teleported her to me), I hit the button to retract it and open the “lift room,” then went down the stairs, around and up the ramp into it, and made sure Ada was safely inside before hitting the button…
Aaaand discovered all it did was extend the catwalk bridge and close the shutter. Just like the other buttons outside. I guess this wasn’t so much a “lift” room as, potentially, a “panic” room. *shrug* Hey, I had to find out! Don’t want to miss any secrets or fun stuff!
D) With the secret of the “panic room” uncovered, it was time to continue on! Victor thus got himself and Ada out of the “panic room” and back across the catwalk bridge to the door at the back of the storage area. Ada scanned the access port, the door went through its overly-complicated opening sequence, and the pair found themselves in a big wrecked hallway, in front of a pair of heavy-looking doors looking down over some gigantic room below. They proved to be unpickable, though (mag-locked, probably), so they just continued onward, heading around and over the rubble to the right to a door with another access port – this one labeled “Facilities Wing.” Ada did her scan, the door did its thing, and she and Victor entered another crumbling corridor, this one with some big old pipes on the walls, an ice-cold Nuka-Cherry by one of the cabinets, and a novice-locked toolbox Victor broke open for yet more duct tape (yay). The pair thus continued forward, toward a ramp with steam coming up from under it –
Only to be jumpscared by another Mechanist Eyebot! She angrily told Victor that people were right to fear him, someone who had no respect for human life, and that she, the Mechanist was sworn to protect the innocent, which she would do by getting rid of people like him! Victor wasn’t having that and took down the eyebot with a quick couple of blasts from the Tactical Tesla – but I could hear and see more robots coming in up ahead. I had Victor and Ada carefully go down the slope, with Victor creeping to the side to try and find a good vantage point to take them out –
And then the swarmbot and junkbot both decided to run directly at the pair – as usual, prioritizing targeting Ada – and Victor was able to take them both out with one blast each. XD Elite troops, these were not! Come on, Mechanist, we know you can do better than this!
E) With those foes downed, Victor and Ada continued on their journey, around the nearby corner past tables and toolboxes (the latter had some more duct tape – seriously, there is so much duct tape in this place, it’s great), over to another robot workbench sitting in a forgotten corner, and right to some stairs leading down –
Into a partially-flooded corridor. Cue me going “Oh shit, water” and promptly swapping Victor back to his beloved Two-Shot Combat Rifle, because, well, I didn’t want him getting electrocuted! I’m pretty sure using electrical weapons in water does that in this game! Feeling a little safer, I thus had him descend into the corridor and take a look around –
And then I noticed that, um, the air looked kind of – wavy. Like, not “water reflecting on the walls” wavy (which was happening), but “there’s a gas leak” wavy. Suspicious, I had Victor retreat back up the stairs a safe distance, then fired a single shot into the corridor below –
And sure enough, the air ignited in a brief but spectacular fireball! Well – that could have gone very badly. Good thing I have both played enough of this game and watched enough LPs of it to spot those danger zones! (But not to recognize when a room is not an elevator, of course. :P)
F) With the gas leak cleared (and Victor having had a lunch break at the game’s insistence – Jambalaya Pasta, which not only counted as food AND drink but ALSO gave him +25% XP gain for a couple of hours, nice), Victor and Ada were free to explore the lower corridor! There was a little caged area to the left that proved to have nothing interesting inside it – just a cabinet with nothing area – but to the right was a larger room with some stairs in that I was curious to check out. So I had Victor poke his head in –
Then pull it right back out because oh shit, radiation. D: However, it wasn’t a LOT of radiation, and I WAS curious to see what was in there, so I had him quickly sprint in and up the stairs onto the little catwalk area at the top of the room. Fortunately, the rads only got him on the stairs themselves, and he was free to explore the catwalk area, which mainly consisted of some cabinets; a desk with a big bottle of Economy Wonderglue on it (yay!); and the Power Substation A Terminal! Victor thus sat himself down and checked that out – it proved to belong to one Brandon McDaniel, and had four logs on it –
I. 77, What A Waste (consisting of him bitching about the fact that he’d gone through four years of electrical engineering school and could strip a Mr. Handy down to parts in under two hours, but no, he had to sit in here and babysit the generators)
II. 80, Cunning Plan (consisting of him coming up with a plan – courtesy of some comments by his friend Sharpley – to sneak a cigarette vending machine, loaned to him by a civilian friend, into his station to earn a few bucks from people looking for smokes and get to say hi to all the lovely ladies)
III. 82 Substation B (consisting of him complaining about how his coworker Banks started complaining about all the smoke when the vending machine was put in place – and then made it clear that he wanted a cut of McDaniel’s vending machine cash to keep quiet)
IV. And 90, Official Approval (consisting of him happily declaring that he’d come out on top by bribing the General with a few free cartons of cigarettes to give his machine official approval, meaning he didn’t have to pay Banks squat).
Fun stuff – made even funnier by the fact that the one thing I didn’t see in this room was a cigarette vending machine. Like, I spotted a Nuka-Cola vending machine, tucked into a corner by the generators (I had Victor risk the rads to get a couple more Nukas on his way out), but I did NOT see anything that sold cigarettes. Now, I admit, my Perception score CAN be comparable to Jon of Many A True Nerd’s sometimes (the joke being that Jon misses shit all the time, to the point where it’s joked he has a Perception of -1), so it’s possible I just didn’t pay enough attention, but it was a pretty small room, so...also quite possible that someone at Bethesda put the wrong vending machine in here!
G) With that room explored, it was time for Victor and Ada to move onward, going straight down the corridor into the wreckage of a locker room – which had a scrapbot in it “playing dead.” I had Victor sneak just close enough to activate it and get it to sit up, then blast it with his Two-Shot to instantly kill it with a technical sneak attack. :D I do enjoy flinging lightning around with the Tactical Tesla, but there’s a reason the Two-Shot is beloved! Anyway, I had Victor grab what he wanted out of the room (some toothpaste, a toothbrush, and a robot parts model), then had him move onward, into another big storage room with giant carts and lots of shelving. And an entire PACK of duct tape, which now makes me think they were literally duct-taping the robobrains together or something. XD Victor grabbed that, then dumped some stuff on Ada (the Crippling Gamma Gun – he wasn’t using it – and a bunch of junk) to free up some space, as the pockets were getting full on his Silver Shroud costume. :P He then led the way around the corner, past the carts and into a big, partially collapsed tunnel, with tracks on the ground and a big metal shutter to the left, with a button to open it…
Aaand that’s when the thunder really started thundering, and I had to quickly save and quit before the storm truly kicked off. Meh. But hey, it was nice to make some progress here again! :) And find all of that duct tape and Wonderglue – seriously, if you have played even a couple hours of this game, you will KNOW how much you need adhesive. :P Next Friday, we’ll see what’s behind that metal shutter, and get that much closer to the final showdown with the Mechanist...
To-Do List –
1. Get in a workout: Check – final night on the bike this week, pedaling my way through:
A) The end of “Oxventure D&D: Wyrdwood | Chapter 4: The Path of Broken Oaths!” The final half-hour of this relatively-lighthearted adventure of the gang discovering that a local hamlet was being swindled by an asshole pretending to be the local Green Man featured –
I. The fight against the Fraudulent Green Man continuing with Willowfine trying and failing to cast “Hold Person” on the fraudster (her magical beam of sunlight just not being up for the job); Lug managing to break the unlucky rolls curse and get two good hits on the guy with his hammer, all the while complaining about how maybe the NEXT hamlet they visited would be fine and normal and he could get a nice drink; and Morven wrapping things up by giving the man a very solid Mind Slivering with her sorcery, causing him to yield. Yeah, doesn’t feel so nice now when it’s you having the psychic spike slammed into your head, huh?
II. The gang berating the fraudster, who attempted to claim that all that stuff in the cave wasn’t his – only to confess to the truth when Morven started warming up a fresh Mind Sliver. XD He then switched tactics, trying to say that what he’d done wasn’t THAT bad, all he’d taken was some silver and some cloth and some chickens, and he never hit the same place twice (patently untrue, sir!) –
And then Cressida tried to spook him with a “levitating” chest of money (having already robbed all the most expensive stuff out of it herself), he cast Dispel Magic on her to see what was going on – and upon seeing her face, went APOPLECTIC. Turns out the fraudster was one Evander Mountforth, who took out a loan from the Blackwater Bank, only to lose everything when he couldn’t pay off the principal fast enough and Cressida ended up jacking up the interest rate in response. So he’d turned to trickery and thievery to survive, and learned magic in the hopes of finding her one day and killing her for what she’d done.
...Cressida was like “I – do not remember you at ALL.” Which, as you might imagine, made him EVEN ANGRIER. And the others did not help his mood by not quite understanding what it was that Cressida had done (given they all live in barter societies and don’t have any concept of “interest rates”) and not QUITE remembering his name (Willowfine calling him “Evangelo” at one point). He got off a Mind Spike against her (though an accidental nat 20 from Ellen when she missed her dice tower roller with the d20 meant all she got was a bad headache) – mostly because Morven was done with all this and busy shrinking everything down to make it easier to carry back to the villagers – but then the others intervened, saying that, even if Cressida had ruined him, that didn’t give him the right to ruin others, and that they felt he needed to go to the court of the Green Man to answer for what he’d done. Evander was like “face the very guy I’ve been impersonating?! No way – how about I promise to never do this again and stop trying to kill Cressida, and you’ll let me go?” Willowfine agreed as long as he handed over the costume –
Including the bits he was wearing. XD The deeply embarrassed Evander reluctantly stripped off his clothes, then turned himself invisible and wandered off. And Cressida, being Cressida, couldn’t resist sending him a final message: “Thank you for banking with Blackwater.” XD Oh, Ellen is loving being an evil bitch, let me tell you. XD
III. The gang returning what items they could to the villagers and explaining about the trickster (with Happen offering his condolences to Lionel about Mark in apology, having seen for himself that Evander could kill, or at least harm, with a glance – and then going to Willowfine “we did kind of forget he murdered someone when we let him go, didn’t we?” XD Fortunately the villagers were a little distracted by the giant chest of silver Morven had delivered to them) – the villagers thanked them for their help and promised to renew their bonds with the ACTUAL Green Man as soon as possible. The gang then headed back to the Green Man’s court through the woods (which involved the others chasing after the impatient Morven), where they reported on what had happened and how they’d fixed it to the Green Man. And, in Morven’s case, tried to unload the trickster’s trousers on him (the Green Man was like “you can keep those” XD). The Green Man thanked them for their help, and Happen once again tried to charm some sweet loot out of the guy by saying they’d clearly gone above and beyond, using the powers of the Cadence Die. His first roll was a paltry 11, but when Andy reminded him that he should still have a free inspiration (apparently humans just GET a point of that after every long rest, fancy), he rolled again –
And – praise Cadence! – got a crit 1. XD It was decided that Happen’s sprites playfully yanked his pants down the minute he tried to seal the deal. XD The Green Man fortunately was amused, and while he didn’t give Happen any sweet loot, he did at least fix his busted bowstring. This Green Man is a fucking nice wild folk, let me tell you. Case in point, he also gave Morven the information he’d promised to give Robin about the strange fellow in the hat and patched coat – he didn’t know much, but he knew that the guy called himself the Poor Man, and that while he SEEMED to be new to Heorth, there was something about him that seemed to be much older than even the Green Man. Which is – somewhat worrying. Morven said she’d have to do some research – I don’t know where, but we’ll see what happens.
IV. And, to end things off, the gang being assured by the Green Man that their debt had been repaid and they could travel through the Wyrdwood freely once more (so long as they kept their bargains and caused no trouble) – and then getting another message from the team in the North on their copestones! Or, rather, they STARTED to get a message –
Only for the copestone to suddenly SPLIT IN TWO. And when Willowfine picked up the pieces, they all saw that it was like someone had taken an ax to the stone. O.o Given that the North team had already suffered injuries the last time we heard from them, this seems – less than ideal. *grimace* We’ll see what happens with that when we watch Episode 5 next week!
B) And, to fill the last few minutes at the end of my workout, three Baldur’s Gate III-related Shorts:
I. “Your first BG3 playthrough VS every save after…” by JourdanGames – featuring a woman cheerily going on about how awesome BG3’s lore and worldbuilding is and how she wants to talk to everyone and read every book and find every place in her first playthrough...and then speeding through everything (the specific example given being Gale explaining his whole situation) on subsequent runs XD
II. “Warlock's unique dialogue about Raphael for Astarion | Baldur's Gate 3” by DragonsDream – featuring a special interaction a warlock can have with Astarion regarding when Raphael shows up to offer them a deal regarding their tadpoles! Seems a warlock can tell Astarion “Oh, he’s a cambion, we can take him” – only for Astarion to dress them down but HARD for being too flippant. Featuring a lot of him sarcastically going on about how they must know EXACTLY what was going on with their tadpoles, and thus EXACTLY why a devil – oh, excuse him, a CAMBION – would find them interesting enough to want to make a deal – because if they DIDN’T actually know...well, they might as well sign their souls away right then. Another excellent bit of acting from Neil Newbon there!
III. And “When Archfey Warlock got denied entry to the circus | Baldur's Gate 3” by DragonsDream – featuring what happens when a warlock with an Archfey patron gets denied entry to the Circus of Lost Days in Baldur’s Gate, because the ghoul at the entrance, Benji, accuses them of having a brain that smells of piss and iron (Benji’s supposed to sniff out murderers, so I guess that’s what you smell like if you murder people?). The warlock’s patron, who’d been all excited about the fey magic inside, got snippy and gave their little magic user some barbed words to use as a weapon, with the warlock thusly informing the guy at the entrance that, unless he wanted trouble with the Seelie court, he’d let them in –
And then proceeded to fail the Intimidation check, causing Benji to attack and the warlock to have to explode everyone. XD Kinda ruins one’s day at the circus, gotta say!
2. Update the FO4 Playthrough Progression Doc: Check – Victor, Alice, and Ada all dove deeper into the Mechanist’s lair today, following the path my game!Victor and Ada laid out for them through the assembly line room, out and around into the Facilities Wing, and over to the cart tracks at the end of the flooded corridor – with the following relatively-minor changes:
A) Nobody made the mistake I did of even briefly thinking that the room the tankbot emerged out of at the end of the assembly line room was an elevator of sorts – though Victor did JOKE that it was one while hitting the button inside to see what it did while exploring. He was very surprised to see it extend the catwalk and close a big shutter in front of the room. XD He did climb his way up onto the retracted catwalk bridge after opening the shutter, though, doing so while Alice and Ada went around the other side to look for the external controls. He had a lot of fun hitting the button on his side to re-extend the bridge right when they found the button on their side. XD
B) And rather than Victor exploring Power Substation A and reading the terminal entries therein about McDaniels and his briefly-illegal cigarette vending machine, Ada was the one to explore the lightly-irradiated room, as she is her own person in this universe and much more suited to taking on rads than the fleshy folks. She related the story of McDaniels to Victor and Alice after she returned (with the Economy Wonderglue in hand, of course), and asked if such behavior was typical of military personnel from his time – Victor was like “yup.” XD
I told you they were relatively minor! :P Just wasn’t a lot to adjust in today’s adventures. Next week, we’ll see what they find on the other side of that big metal shutter in the mysterious tunnel with the tracks, and if I have to make any bigger changes to what actually happens in my game!
3. Keep up with YouTube “Subs”: Check – though I didn’t actually watch anything in my “Watch Later,” as it was another day where I got to the YouTubes very late and thus couldn’t take on anything too long. So instead, having enjoyed some of their shorts earlier at the end of my workout, I headed over to DragonsDream’s channel to check out their actual videos –
And got intrigued by “Companion's secret deepest desire in Baldur's Gate 3!” This was a video on the special “Rapture” interaction you can have with the wood elf Naoise at Sharess’ Caress, a brothel you can visit in the game. Naoise isn’t offering sex, though – instead, if you chat with her (after killing her previous client, who turned into a mind flayer upon seeing you), she offers Rapture, where she weaves for your character a moment of purest ecstasy based on their deepest desire, summed up in a single word. There’s a few generic responses you can give – “revered,” “contented,” “powerful,” “rich” – but most of the “Origin” characters (the companions who double as player characters if you don’t want to make your own), plus The Dark Urge custom origin and one regular companion, have unique desires:
A) Shadowheart, who spends the game largely amnesiac because the cult she’s in keeps wiping her memories, wants to be whole
B) Karlach, who spends the game slowly dying because the infernal engine that’s replaced her heart is slowly but surely overheating outside of Avernus, wants to be alive
C) Astarion, who spends the game dealing with the fact that he was the puppet of an abusive vampire lord and never wants to go back to that life again, wants to be safe
D) Gale, who spends the game dealing with the consequences of trying to prove to his goddess girlfriend he could handle the higher-level magics she dealt with and fucking up big time, wants to be wise
E) Wyll, who spends the game trapped in a horrible pact with a devil who delights in making his life hell (no pun intended) and may only get out of it by agreeing to sacrifice his father, wants to be free
F) The Dark Urge, who spends the game tormented by the urge to murder and maim courtesy of their Bhaalspawn blood, wants to be sane
G) And Minsc, who is a delightfully goofy barbarian you can pick up late in the game who DOES have to deal with the fact he was mind controlled by someone pretending to be one of his dearest friends, wants to be – Minsc. XD Naoise struggles with that one for a moment. XD
All very cute – and very touching, except for Minsc. XD Though a little sad to see that Jahiera, Halsin, Minthara, and ESPECIALLY Lae’zel don’t get specific desires if they ask for Rapture. Like, okay, I can understand it for the first three – Jahiera gets recruited rather late in the story, and Halsin and Minthara are both very optional companions (and used to be mutually exclusive until Larian caved to everyone wanting to have a Minthara on an otherwise-good-aligned playthrough), but Lae’zel is the final Origin character! You’d think she of all people would have a special option! Maybe they thought “Powerful” sufficed, but given her whole thing is to prove herself to her people and get to ride a dragon and wield a silver sword, I think “Honored” would be better. Meh. It’s very weird the stuff Larian didn’t put in – and you notice it a lot more because so much of the rest of the game is treated with so much care.
4. Get my tumblr queues sorted: Check – it was another nothing day on Valice Multiverse (plus, while checking my tracked tags, I suddenly ran into an error where I couldn’t load my dash, so I couldn’t have added anything to my queue if I’d WANTED to), but on Victor Luvs Alice (N Smiler), I put one last thing in my queue for this week – my Song Saturday song selection! Which was Alex Warren’s “Ordinary,” a song about how a mundane life can be elevated to something more by sharing it with the right person. :) My initial thought was this was a Valicer song (especially with the lyrics “On the edge of your knife/Stayin' drunk on your vine” making me think of Victor describing his relationship with Alice and Smiler respectively), but while writing up the post, I came to the conclusion that, since the opening lyrics about holy water being watered down and the town having lost its faith made me think of Burtonsville, perhaps the song was in fact best suited for the Multiplayer Wonderland OT5 (Victor/Victoria/Emily/Alice/Smiler, for reference). They’re the ones who still live in that crappy village, after all! Either way, it gives me the warm fuzzies picturing Victor feeling so loved and adored by his partners, and thinking about how they make his life anything but ordinary. :) Perfect Song Saturday!
*nods* Not bad, not bad -- though thanks to the thunderstorm, it DEFINITELY took me longer than I wanted to write that all up. If I just hadn't lost that hour to the weather... *grumbles* Ah well, maybe next Friday will be better. As it is, I gotta hit the sheets. Tomorrow, plans include working on tumblr drafts on Victor Luvs Alice (need to finish off the pet-related VITD Not-Incorrect Quotes for a start), playing Sims 4 (while I'd love to start my new save file, there is YET ANOTHER PATCH coming next week, so it might be easier to stick with offline caravan building); working on "The Van Dort Vacancy" (gotta get the gang past Mrs. Pemberly so they can start the heist proper); and hopefully getting some more videos out of my Watch Later (maybe an OXboxtra list or two?). We'll see what actually happens! Night all!
Streams of Silver AU
Jul. 25th, 2025 11:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Forgotten Realms, The Legend of Drizzt Series - R. A. Salvatore
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Drizzt Do'Urden vs Artemis Entreri
Characters: Bruenor Battlehammer, Drizzt Do'Urden, Wulfgar son of Beornegar, Regis [The Legend of Drizzt Series], Original Character(s)
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, point of break is streams of silver, Ensemble Cast, Minor Character Death, Canon Typical Violence
Summary:
Kolarven, chosen by Alustriel to lead a diplomatic visitation, comes upon a battle on the edge of the Evermoors.
A Diversion from the Trollmoors
When Kolarven had agreed that they were possibly the best suited Knight in Silver to handle a diplomatic mission around the edge of the Silver Marches, they had hand-picked their group. Talaris was the only Spellguard they wanted for such a long journey, and having an older, decorated Knight like Mikhail was a good choice. With both Knights between squires at the moment, they looked a bit less like an armed war party. Bard Ruggero traveled with only one servant and one bodyguard, and all three had proven proficient in their horsemanship.
That Talaris could, and would, call for further aid if warranted made the small party work for quicker travel on the circuit that began in Everlund and circled so far south and west as Triboar and Yartar before looping back around and up through Nesme. Kolarven's instincts had proven correct, as the armor on both the Knights and their horses had done much to dissuade brigands from attacking six mounted beings.
Privately, Kolarven was all but certain Ruggero's bodyguard, a woman of almost six and a half feet in height had likely given as much pause as the armor visible. Now that they were on the Surbrin Trace between Mornbryn's Shield and Nesme, Kolarven was grateful to have her intimidating stature and axe, for they had to pass through lands far too close to the Evermoors for comfort.
Leryth, Kolarven's gelding, and Jemson, Mikhail's fine stud, both swiveled their ears forward at about the same time Ruggero's mare gave a nervous prance. Kolarven and Talaris listened with all they were and picked up the sound of battle ahead, pricking at their conscience. They had a diplomat and non-combatant to protect, but they also had sworn vows to aid all in need within the Silver Marches.
"Do I hear a martial strain ahead, good saers?" Ruggero asked, cheerful enough. "Let us hasten, and be of aid, if possible."
"If you are certain," Kolarven said, while Mikhail was focusing enough with his human ears to be more aware of it.
"I will, as agreed upon, remain back with Derevo, and Kali will aid with you," Ruggero said.
"I have defensive spells ready to place around you," Talaris agreed to that, and then the party, as one, picked up speed on the trace. The clash of blades all but came to a stop before the party could see the battle sight, but words carried in harsh voices.
"Foul company you keep, dwarf!"
"Your friend would be dead if it were not for that foul company! And he repays the drow with a blade!"
Drow.
Kolarven's shoulders rolled a bit even as they eased off the speed, coming into full view of the splintered bog blokes, dead or dying Riders and mounts, as well as five still upon their horses, facing a barbarian standing protectively over a downed — yes, that white hair indicated a drow — fighter while a dwarf in a dented, one-horned helmet shook his own axe menacingly at the men of Nesme.
"Hold your violence, both sides of this," Kolarven said, actually leaning into both their station as a Knight-Sergeant and their elven presence. "I see by the evidence that the inhabitants of the Moors spilled onto the trace, but what is this that Nesme threatens travelers that joined battle, by yon tribesman's word?"
"It is none of your concern," the lead rider spit, worked up into a fettle by the mere presence of a drow apparently, and neglecting his downed men. Kolarven raked a glance over the man, trying to place the flat small features of this human against Riders he knew of.
"Saer, you, and they, are currently impeding a diplomatic party of Silverymoon," Talaris called, trying to defuse this, and to ignore a drow that was not yet dead. "Pray put aside your violence and see to your men. We will wait, and keep an eye on the strangers."
"This isn't Silverymoon, nor nearer to her borders than ours!" the enraged man shot back. "There's a murderous drow right there, and we'll not let him pass!"
"We wish only to go our own way," said drow called back in a quiet, but carrying tone.
"Aye, as all we heard of Nesme seems to be lies among cowards after all!" the dwarf snapped.
Kolarven spared a moment to hope for patience in someone present, before leveling their gaze at the dwarf. "Diplomacy," they stressed, "is needed in the moment."
Mikhail cleared his throat to cut the dwarf's temperamental rebuttal off. "Saers, the Riders are charged to keep the Evermoors' inhabitants across the river. I suggest listening to the Knight-Sergeant's advice, and not aggravate this when there are men down, possibly dying."
"Already dead," one of the riders called, sparing a glance at the nearest body.
"Not the one who attacked my friend, though he might wish it," the barbarian said. "These new men speak truth, Riders. Gather up your dead and wounded, and leave us in peace."
"I won't let a lying, sorcerous dog of a drow — "
"Silence!" Kolarven shouted, cutting across all further words and the readying for further fighting. "I will personally escort them past your lands, if that is the direction they mean to go. Unless, Saer Rider, you wish to offend a diplomat charged by Lady Silverhand herself, and provoke our city?"
"Her reach is not so far!"
"Linder!" one of the other hissed.
"The good Knight speaks true," Ruggero said, "for your city calls upon ours for magical aid to beat back the Evermoors quite regularly. Do you wish to increase your duty so much? Are you so heartless as to ignore the suffering of your men who yet breathe in such pain as their injuries must provoke?"
"It is a drow!"
Kolarven shifted their weight, and Leryth shifted with it, making a better show of the muscle that the horse had to carry a Knight so well. "I will never understand how you humans manage to live with such fear knotted in your bellies around enemies that were never yours, that have inflicted maybe a tiny fraction of the indignities my own have seen!"
For the moment, they threw all of their human heritage aside, because this was beyond ridiculous.
"Pick. Up. Your. Men." Kolarven gestured, and Mikhail pushed forward, followed by Talaris, creating an equine wall between the three strangers — four? where had that halfling come from, the one who was steadying the drow? — and the Riders. "Unless, Saer Rider, you are willing to start a trade war, here and now."
"This will not be the last of it!"
"Please do send word to my aunt, Lady Silverhand, with all that happened today." Kolarven's invitation was icy, stressing the word 'all', even as they made certain to make a point of getting the travelers' version… even if it meant speaking with a drow. They very, very rarely leaned into the kinship, fully honorary but chosen, between themself and the lady they served.
This idiot had needed it, from the chalky look the idiot got.
To the travelers' credit, they stayed behind the equine shield, though on high alert for treachery, if the hands on hilts of hammer, axe, and swords were anything to go by.
It took some time, but eventually the Riders were on their way, riding as swiftly as the now double-burdened mounts could manage.
"I apologize for this incident," the drow offered once the Riders were gone.
"Bah, shove it, me elf. My boy says ye saved the one's life and were attacked for it; they got what they deserved."
"But these goodly people should not have had to intervene," the drow said mildly. "Saers, as we are no longer able to seek refuge in Nesme for a night to rest, we do ask if we can walk alongside your party until we are past it."
"We lost our mounts in the storms," the halfling said quickly. "And we hate to slow your party down, but we also do not want a fight with them."
"Here, lad," Ruggero said with a smile to the other halfling. "You can ride with me, and if the dwarf will ride with my servant Derevo, I think your longer-legged friends can keep pace with the walk of the horses."
"We do not know your names, nor have we given ours," the barbarian said, showing, yet again to Kolarven's happy surprise, that he was a man of manners.
"Pardon," Kolarven told him. "The Bard Ruggero, his servant Derevo, his bodyguard Kali. Our wizard is Talaris, my fellow Knight is Mikhail, and I am Kolarven."
"I'm Regis, this is Drizzt, that is Wulfgar, and he's Bruenor," the halfling said quickly, making Kolarven wonder if he was forestalling longer, more complete introductions on purpose.
"Come. They've had enough time to get ahead," Kolarven said, prompting Bruenor and Regis to go to the mounts indicated. And, as Ruggero had predicted, neither the drow — that looked like customary ranger garb — nor the barbarian had trouble keeping up at all.
With several rests through the day, they still had not actually cleared Nesme, and Kolarven called a halt in the last protected spot they could think of to keep from crossing Nesme's outer traffic by night. Twice, the drow had cast darkness to the side of the trace that face the Evermoors, confounding some of the smaller creatures that haunted the edges, seeking unwary victims.
It was… startling, both in the actions themselves, and to see a non-aggressive stance being taken by a drow. Kolarven knew of goodly drow, but all the tales they knew spoke of keeping hidden, and marks of the sword or moon in their clothing. While this one wore two curving blades of equal length, he looked — once you got past hair and skin — like most any scout or ranger of the area. A couple of times, as the drow unconsciously took point on the trace they followed, Kolarven could have sworn the darker threads in the green cloak depicted a unicorn, but dismissed it as fanciful notions wrought by being a citizen of Silverymoon.
"Now that we have a bit of time," Ruggero began, as bellies were being filled, "we should have your side of the tale, travelers. Tomorrow we will cross the frontage of Nesme, home to the Riders we parted from hostility with you."
"Aye, as they may yet try tae pick a fight again," the dwarf, Bruenor, answered, and Kolarven focused on him first. "Me boy there with his long legs ran on ahead as we heard the fighting. Rumblebelly — Regis, that is — followed the three of us. I'd made the fight ahead o' me elf, because he's not one for rushing in."
The strangled noise from Wulfgar suggested otherwise, and Kolarven saw a smirk under the purple eyes of the drow.
"We only gave aid, as our natures demand of us," Wulfgar picked up. "But my teacher," and he nodded to Drizzt, "had given that aid, and been laid out from dodging the axe of the one he protected from being pulped by the wooden creatures. I did throw the horse down, and injure the man, I will acknowledge, but my loyalty to my friends comes ahead of much, and I cannot abide the cowardice of a strike against one who aided!"
"Not a one of them moved to help any of their fellows," Regis said. "They were all just yelling at Drizzt, and us, because no one will look past his skin!"
"I gave fair warning that was how it would be," Drizzt said quietly. "Seven years I wandered below the Spine. Seven years of finding nowhere to let me remain. Often violently reinforcing that point."
"How came you by DeBrouchee's Bow?" Ruggero asked, and all of Silverymoon's people saw the drow startle and sit up straighter against his tree.
"You know his mark?"
"An owl, as was his Companion. The tale of he and his friends against the red was still fresh when I started learning my trade so long ago."
Drizzt dropped his face to hide it, but Kolarven did not feel there was deceit in the motion. The body language spoke of an emotional struggle.
"Montolio DeBrouchee took me in, my second spring above, and he trained me until just past the midwinter that same year, exacting a promise that I would not remain in his glade once he had passed. That I travel, and seek a place to belong." Drizzt looked at each of his three friends. "I have learned that such a home is less a place, and more connections with others.
"He died, and by his own wishes, I took his bow, his quiver, and his cloak. All of them have seen me through adventures, and preserved my life nearly as much as my blades have."
"Saer Kolarven, if the Riders do attempt to initiate hostilities again," Ruggero called, "remind them that starting fights with the favored of Mielikki in this region is even more of an offense than merely upsetting trade with our city."
Kolarven let their eyes wonder in amazement at that. "I do not know the ranger you speak of, though I am certain my cousin Tarthilmor can fill me in, as you mentioned a dragon." All of them had a slight laugh for that before they continued. "But I welcome that advice. Is She your patron, or merely that of your teacher?"
They directed the question back to Drizzt, certain that something was amiss in all of this compared to tales of the goodly drow, but uncertain why.
"She had seen fit to guide me, given I am inclined to tolerate very little in the way of spoiling the wilds," Drizzt agreed. "In the north, I was more apt to claim Gwaeron Windstrom due to their peculiar associations with masculine prominence, but Mielikki is the true patron."
"Well, all of that will be helpful, if there are idiots tomorrow," Kolarven said in a cheerful tone.
"Now that we have a bit more of the ranger there, who would care to put forth their own character references now?" Ruggero invited with a smile. "It's not every day that I have the luck of seeing a walking tavern tale."
Wulfgar looked puzzled, but Regis started giggling. "A dwarf, a barbarian, and a halfling walk into a tavern with a drow — oh that is funny when you point at it!"
Seeing his small friend be so amused put the barbarian more at ease, and then he did smile. "I am the latest to this assortment, so I shall answer first. I am Wulfgar son of Beornegar, once of the Tribe of Elk, now of the combined tribes of those that hunt along the Reghed Glacier.
"Several years past, when I was barely more than a boy — "
"Ye were one still," Bruenor interjected.
" — the tribes massed and attacked Ten Towns," Wulfgar continued, having paused just long enough to let Bruenor be heard. "I survived, because Bruenor took compassion on me, and indentured me after the fighting, rather than allow me to be killed by my people or the Towns' folk. When my service was almost done, he introduced me to Drizzt as my new teacher."
"Somewhat reluctantly on both sides of that introduction," Drizzt admitted. "But yes, and you have made much of what I shared with you."
"Ye both needed it," Bruenor growled, blustery in tone, but affection for the two men still evident to those who knew dwarves.
"And you, my very distant cousin?" Ruggero asked of Regis, even as the darker halfling squirmed a little.
"We're not all really related," Regis told Wulfgar before he could worry himself over that, "but it is a matter of courtesy, when halflings meet away from halfling places.
"Not much to say of me; I was a Spokesman for a time, but now I am just trying to help my friends."
Something in how the other three appraised Regis left Kolarven certain that there was far more at stake there.
"Which leaves me," Bruenor said after a long moment. "Me boy agreed tae help me quest openly, and while I did trick me elf into giving his word for it at long last, needed doing. Staying up there wasn't going tae be a good thing as tempers run hot in the re-building." He studied the pair of knights, the wizard, then the bard and his two people. "Me name is Bruenor Battlehammer, chieftain tae what remains of Clan Battlehammer and I be seeking me long-lost Hall."
There was a long silence with just the faint crackle of the carefully banked fire.
"The name is known, but the where is not," Ruggero told the dwarf. "Seek the clan Rockcrusher, once you reach Silverymoon, and employ them to help scour the histories within the Vault of the Sages, perhaps… they are a clan given to academic matters.
"But, in all honesty, you would be better suited to breaking from the road to our city after High Hold, and turning toward the forest, to seek the Herald's Holdfast. If the current Herald can be moved by your tale, he could grant access to the Hall of the Dwarves, where all knowledge that is known of your people would be found."
"Elf?" Bruenor called, getting a contemplative look.
"If this place is before the city, better to do as advised, and only seek Silverymoon if the Holdfast cannot provide," Drizzt finally answered. "Or else, we might find ourselves needlessly backtracking, and we have already lost many days on the road, if we are to be able to return north with the news before the winter storms begin."
"Winter is some time away," Mikhail pointed out.
"Yes, for this region. It will only barely be mid-autumn for you before those passes are closed to all travelers. Once we find our clue where to look, we will have to explore. This is why I am counseling as I do," Drizzt said.
"Ahh, I do forget the further north you go, the quicker winter brings her grip to bear," Mikhail told him.
"Now that we know more, so that we can stand surety tomorrow — if needed — I suggest we all sleep, and begin on the road at first light," Kolarven said.
"Agreed," came from Bruenor, while Ruggero nodded to the necessity.
Passing Nesme happened without incident.
Kolarven had reason to wish they had been detained there instead of this fight that had found them.
A wizard, two fighters, and a flesh-construct with a woman the dwarf's party knew was bad enough. But one fighter — the Calimshite, if Kolarven was placing coloring and clothing correctly — had taken down Mikhail by killing his horse under him almost before any of them had known there was a threat so close.
"Protect your bard!" Bruenor yelled, even as he and Wulfgar teamed with attacks on the rest of the party. Talaris had a wall of force up to try and hold the construct back long enough to use his sending stone. Kali was guarding Ruggero and Derevo, her massive axe more than enough threat that the Luskan fighter could not close in.
And the ranger! Kolarven could only hope to be that fine-skilled some day! The drow, almost before Mikhail's horse hit the ground, had leaped over to defend the knight. Blades flashed with speed the likes of which Kolarven had never seen in their life!
Despite only just being freed of the odd party, the woman that had cried their only warning was taking up the ranger's discarded bow and quiver, aiming for the fighter and wizard pair. The arrow meant for the wizard went astray — magical protection no doubt — but the fighter fell to one in his eye.
That was about the moment that Talaris got his sending out, and Kolarven tightened up the defense with him and Kali so that Ruggero would be unharmed. Regis, who had gone shockingly pale on seeing the attackers, had fallen back to them, but had his mace in hand, ready in case anything made it through.
Time after time, Wulfgar's mighty hammer flew high and accurate into the construct, as the wall of force was set just off from where Wulfgar had been walking. The construct was not coming to where the wall ended, and just kept shuddering and taking damage, as it was intent on getting to the ranger, it seemed.
"Me ranger! He killed clan!" the bow-using woman shouted across the battlefield. Kolarven spared a glance that way, having realized the attackers only wanted the dwarf's party. What they saw raised the ancestral fear of drow all over again, as the fight went from a near stalemate to something far more favoring the ranger.
Kolarven didn't get to see more of it, as the air-displacing pop of a mass-teleport happened, and two more Spellguards brought their magic to bear on the construct, allowing Talaris to breathe and ready a better spell for ensnaring the wizard controlling the construct. He didn't get the chance, as the dwarf got to her first, following behind a volley of more deflected arrows.
The Knights in Silver that had also come to aid were circling to get to Mikhail, as the ranger had pushed the fight away from the downed man and horse. Kolarven looked that way just in time to see the Calimshite run into the invisible wall of force. Both drow and human were bleeding, but more on the human's side, and that sudden obstacle was just enough break in concentration for the ranger to land a killing thrust.
Like a wounded boar, the Calimshite tried to fight his way up the blade to hit the ranger with his knife, but the drow was too canny, twisting his body, and the blade, just right to finish the kill.
Two disintegratespells landed almost simultaneously on the construct, removing first one section and then enough of the rest to end that fight.
The ranger hadn't moved, and the woman hastened to his side, though she did not yet touch him. Kolarven looked to see who had come to their aid, even as they hurried to call out for everyone to look outwards, just in case of reinforcements, making their way to Mikhail.
"I'm not finishing this trip," the human knight said ruefully, while the pair helping him tried to determine how bad the leg was.
"What happened?" Jastinathiel asked her former squire as Kolarven reached them.
"We'd taken company with a party of travelers," Kolarven began. "The ones that are dead attacked without warning as we came past that last copse of trees. The Luskans were holding the young woman by the ranger captive; she cried warning, but nothing could have been fast enough against the Calimshite.
"The dwarf is the leader of the travelers we aided, and he told us to defend Ruggero and ourselves, which is what we mostly fell back to."
"Couldn't let that thing trample in," Talaris said as he made it to them, shaking his head. "It happened so damned fast."
"Something like that on the roads we use needed dealt with," Jasti reassured them both. "Alright, we'll take Mikhail on; any other injured?"
Kolarven looked to the ranger first, seeing that Drizzt had knelt, the young woman with a hand on his shoulder now. They swept their gaze over dwarf and barbarian, then back to the pair of halflings with servant and bodyguard both watching so keenly.
"Something tells me the ranger will refuse aid," Kolarven said, even as they realized the knights and Spellguards were only just realizing a drow was present. "So, no, unless someone has a potion I can try and convince him to use?"
"Aiding a drow?" Jasti asked, eyes wide.
"Of Mielikki," Kolarven pressed.
"Now I've heard everything."
"Oh, wait until we get to the city," Mikhail said with thin lips from the pain, but amused nonetheless.
"If you're here, you only have Rivermoot and High Hold left?" Jasti asked.
"Yes. Take Mikhail, give me a potion. Talaris and I will see this through, since neither you or Crispen are mounted."
"How about you put your people to camp for the day," Jasti suggested, "and one of us will return with a horse to finish the route?"
"We could do that," Kolarven agreed, now that she had settled from the instant suspicion of the drow.
"Then we will."
Kolarven took the time, as the group came to the best point to part ways, to go stand in front of the party of five.
"If the Herald cannot aid, come to us in Silverymoon," they told Bruenor seriously. "I swear by my sword that the lady of the city will do all she can to see Clan Battlehammer restored to their Hall, wherever it may be." Kolarven then looked up at Wulfgar and grinned. "You, and Regis there, I will take drinking! You deserve to see the best of our taverns!"
"Oh, that sounds delightful!" Regis said with a giggle, having recovered from his guilt under Catti-brie's serious counseling.
"Until we meet again," Catti-brie said for them all, but Kolarven shook their head, and held his hand, palm open, out to their ranger.
Startled, Drizzt reached, and was soon clasping wrists with Kolarven as the half-elf made a solid show of support.
"Whenever you draw your blades, saer, I have faith that Mielikki does guide them, and hope to see you in the Glade someday soon," Kolarven told him.
"Saer, you and your friends have convinced me that one day, I shall be there," Drizzt promised, before letting go.
The party from Silverymoon waited for the group on foot to clear the road fully, not wishing to stir the dust as they moved on. Once they were a good distance from the road, Kolarven led the way forward, intent on finishing the diplomatic mission, and their head full of the lessons learned in the last days' adventure.
Kolarven was glad of the fine brandy that Alustriel had set out for them. It really helped them endure the scowl from their uncle, even as the lady herself was looking more than slightly impressed — and intrigued.
"Old Knight has not reached out to me," she finally said, "so perhaps he was able to aid them fully. We will, of course, instruct any patrols in that direction to keep an eye for a need to aid them?"
Those words were leveled at Korvallen, who sighed and gave a curt nod.
"Do you mind passing on to my cousin in the dreadful deserts the name of the assassin?" Kolarven asked their aunt by family vows.
"And to Laeral," Alustriel promised. "As Waterdeep has known troubles from Calimshan, and he may have been wanted there."
"My thanks," Kolarven said with a smile. "Mikhail has apparently been talking the city's ears off about the strangers, so I expect I have a few drinks to go collect," they said in a jaunty cheer, finishing off the brandy and rising.
"Glad you came to no harm, nibling," Korvallen told him, but looked set to stay put. Korvallen nodded, heading out and only caught a brief snippet of Korvallen's temper before the door shut.
"Not all drow are that way," Kolarven muttered as they headed down from the Lady's Tower, to go visit all of their friends they could find.
Daily Happiness
Jul. 25th, 2025 09:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
2. Some of you may remember a couple years ago I was working on a project to transition to a new inventory system at work and really dialing back my area manager duties to focus on that. Then they put it on hold because they were redoing the whole thing from scratch. Now they are back at the point where the IT side needs feedback from store operations, and they need more time devoted to it than anyone can do while juggling other job duties, so I was told today that I will be fully working on that for the next year or so and only lightly helping out with area manager stuff (currently there is no one who can actually take my place). I will get a bigger raise than the small annual raise I just got, and I can work from home if there's nothing I need to go in to the office for. I will miss all that audiobook time from driving but will not miss all the actual driving.
3. Look at that perfect Molly curl!

Slept late
Jul. 25th, 2025 11:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Took a shower, and discovered there was no hot water. Showered in cold, quickly, but did not wash my hair, which I had planned. Got dressed, and tried to see if there was any reason there was no hot water. I didn't see anything.
Betsy came by to say hello, and ask me if I wanted to go to Hellers farm stand, and to Bye's Popcorn and I said yes. I told her about the hot water, and she looked too but also couldn't see anything.
We went back to her cottage, and she told Piet about the hot water. He came and looked, and he spotted the problem, which was that a valve had been turned which meant the water was bypassing the heater. He fixed it and I now have hot water. Yay! Hot shower and hair washing tomorrow.
Then we say Linda, and Betsy asked her if she wanted to come with us, and she said yes so we all went to Hellers. I got corn, peaches, plums, and a cucumber. The peaches aren't ripe though so I have them out.
Then we went to Bye's and waited for them to open. We talked a bit on line with some of the other people waiting. Finally it was time, and I got a small regular, and a bag of cashew caramel corn.
Came back to the cottage and put stuff away. I watched one of the panels for DCslash, and had just finished and was going to read on the front porch when Alan came by to visit. So he sat and we talked for awhile. That was nice.
After he left, it was almost 7:00 so I asked the FWiB if he wanted to Team, and we did. Most of his email has been going to my Spam folder today, which is frustrating. I keep getting annoyed that he's not answering me and then finding it in Spam.
Anyway, we Teamed, and then I went to DCslash again until 11:00 when I decided I wasn't interested in either of the last two panel choices so now I'm doing this.
Talked to the Kid today too, she's fine and got more job interviews lined up! Texted with
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Gratitude List:
1. The FWiB.
2. Got to Hellers.
3. And to Byes.
4. Piet got the hot water fixed.
5. Family.
6. DCslash.
I have seen my first ice hockey game
Jul. 25th, 2025 08:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)

There was is a novice to intermediate ice hockey tournament this weekend that I found out about because a brewery I follow is one of the sponsors. Portland United Hockey League is gender inclusive and this is a yearly event they do. One of the teams competing is Team Trans, so I picked them as my team and went to go watch. I was one of maybe 9 people watching and I think everyone else was a friend of a player. Little awkward, but you never know the vibe of an event until you go. Maybe over the weekend there will be more people at the games. I may also go out on Sunday.
It was cute. They were against Stay Golden, whose team logo is based on The Golden Girls. They tied. I guess maybe needing to clear the ice for the next match is why they didn't just go longer. The Team Trans goalie blocked a shot very late in that game that kept them tied and then they had a moment after that, like took of their helmet and had to go skate in a loop.
I think the match up after the one I went to was a much bigger deal. People cheered when one of the teams arrived and many more people were coming in as I headed out. I don't know the local teams, and yet I stand by my team-picking-rubrics.
I'd hope to snag a few cool pictures, but I not only was that plexiglass barrier way more marked up than I expected, but the lighting on the ice wasn't what I assumed. It was a stupid assumption to think it would be brighter, I know snow and ice, but my settings were like for daylight conditions. My gear might work with a different lens, but I hadn't shot sports before and ran into unexpected difficulty factors. So, I grabbed a few cell phone pics, but my cell phone refused to actually focus on the players, kept trying to focus on the marked up glass or the netting. I might take another swing at a better shot on Sunday, but that glass is a lot to deal with.
Fannish Friday
Jul. 25th, 2025 09:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
I did get to go to Bacon Jam today, that new restaurant. Had a honey chili crisp bacon grilled cheese with a bit of soup. It was good, real good. The latte was less exciting.
Let's get to the fannish stuff and since SDCC is going on there's plenty but before that I could use some help. I got another
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
( SDCC YT announcements )
And here's my story. Maybe someone will like it
Title: Maybe He’s No Romeo
Summary: Knowing he only has a short window of time before Valentino’s respawned, Angel desperately wants to go to a certain overlord’s mansion filled with all the best booze and sex toys. Boosting his brother’s car, Angel heads to Husker’s for a day of fun.
Rating: explicit
Notes: Written for the summer of the 69 challenge for the prompt of sopping wet 69 and for spikesgirl58’s six word challenge. The six words were Jail, Invite Ladder, Drive, Drug & Parallel. It’s also written for the allbingo prompt of midnight kiss as well as the lyrical titles album challenge 2025 .I’m using the Footloose album and the song this time is Let's Hear It for the Boy by Deniece Williams.
This is a sequel to my unconventional courtship story, Dandelion which you can read here. if you’d like. All you need to know if you’re not in the mood for longer fic is Husker is the gambling overlord known for throwing wild sex parties and he and Angel had to team up to keep Charlie safe from a delusional sinner. This sequel is an unapologetic PWP.
( story at the link above or under here )
And the fannish recs
first up my friend
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Party, Interrupted Teen Wolf
Blood Ties Hazbin Hotel
Every Witch Way The Owl House
Hell On Earth Torchwood
Quick To Anger Babylon 5
Nidification The Owl House
Between the sea and the shore The Murderbot Diaries
Small Kindnesses Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Well-Behaved Torchwood
Don't Get Mad... Stargate Atlantis/Real Genius
Party, Interrupted Teen Wolf
Teach an Old Snake New Tricks Hazbin Hotel