photo saturday: man in saffron

This week's DnD Character Colouring Book is the last of the Old Folks Who Will Fuck You Up trilogy. Brother Dilmah, named after the brand of tea, obviously, was my take on the History Monks from Terry Pratchett's Discworld. 

I don't know if he would actually be a Shadow Monk at the table, but it made sense at the time. A little like last week, I might veer in the general direction of Way of Mercy.

I did enjoy this face though.

Anyway.

So, there are times when a thing happens and then there are consequences and you look at those consequences and go... "totally worth it".

That's been me for all of last week, although the amount of "totally" has varied through the week.

Because shortly after I finished up the blog post for last week I had a young gentleman caller. Which was unexpected, because it kind of came out of nowhere and he was very much my preferred flavour of young gentleman... and... that... sounded better in my head, I swear. But he was very sweet and we spent an enjoyable couple of hours rolling around on my bed.

It was only when I woke up on Sunday morning that I realised that my entire body was broken. And my back was definitely complaining. So I did spend a chunk of the week laying on my bed again and made prodigious use of an ice pack.

But totally worth it. Even when Wednesday rolled around and I had to do a second run at cleaning the apartment for my rental inspection... again.

I managed to beat my vacuum into submission... by which I mean, given that the power button wouldn't stay on unless I basically stood on it, without intending to, I reversed that situation and set it permanently to on. Which works better, because I can just switch it on and off at the plug end.

It was also not a full clean, I basically just cleaned the kitchen and vacuumed and mopped without moving ALL of the furniture. But I also didn't rush, because fuck it... I was broken.

That also meant that I went and basically did the exact same thing I did during the last, aborted inspection. A stop off at Officeworks where I actually got a replacement remote for my TV, a wander around Spotlight looking at things. and then I went and hung out at the library. Also, before I left, I did do a last pass of the vacuum over the bedroom carpet just to ensure they didn't Have Opinions about the fluff magnet that is that carpet.

And unlike last time, the land agent managed to work out how to unlock a door. And I got good marks across the board. So, you know, woo or whatever.

There was no Thursday Night DnD because nobody wants gastro... and also, it made more sense for me to resume the horizontal position given that I'd spent a couple of hours sitting in a weird chair at the library.

Friday Night DnD took a while to get going and we mostly did roleplay honestly.

Anyway...

Basically we just did the supermarket... there were things we could have done, but also, we'd futzed around my place for a while too long, so there wasn't much point doing anything. So we didn't.

photo saturday: swamp witch reprise

As happens a lot with... well, most things really... but I've found it very specifically with Hero Forge things, the more time passes, the more bells and whistles they add, the more experience I have with the tool, the more I end up loving the minis, even when I really loved the first iteration of the design quite a lot. Also, add in another character to the Badass Older Person list.

So today's DnD Character Colouring Book is a revisit of the Swamp Witch character that just hasn't completely let go of my brain, Verna Blackwater. And the addition of the Face Customiser really bumped her up the list of my favourite post-FC designs.

I've also been pondering an idea of what I might play in a game that went from Level 10 to Level 20, because an adventure that does that is coming out shortly... and while the first thought was a Swashbuckler/Hexblade, the idea of turning Verna it a Circle of Spores Druid/Way of Mercy Monk also kind of appeals. Especially since she doesn't look like she should be a front line melee fighter, but the Spores Druid does kind of nicely synergise with it. Although I'd kind of need to work out how many of each level made the most sense for Level 10. My default idea might be a 50/50 split, but I could also see leaning a little more into Monk.

I also like the idea of her rejecting the lore for the Monk subclass and having her never wear the mask that it talks about, and never hiding her face under a hood. Because sometimes I 100% love to fall deeply into the subclass lore and sometimes I like to throw it out and go my own way. I could also absolutely see an updated version where she's carrying the very plain mask that's essentially just a slab of wood with eye holes on her belt.

Anyway...

The Hexagon Cardigan Project has hit... a speedbump. And we call that speedbump "ribbing", also "cuffs". Because, I'll be honest, the cuffs I want to do is HARD. Or at least harder when dealing with black yarn. And possibly harder than my current skill level. And I ended up having to frog/undo the other style of cuffs that I managed to wrangle through when two pieces of yarn in the previous row that should have been securely knotted together (and I swear they were), but for whatever reason, in the process of trying to wrangle the stitches the knot came undone in the previous row. So... I threw my proverbial hands up in the air and frogged the whole couple of rows and till try it again using a completely fresh skein of yarn.

I'm also currently plotting ideas for a semi-matching scarf to the cardigan... not intended to be worn WITH the cardigan, you understand, but worn all the times I'm NOT wearing the cardigan. Because this version of the cardigan is potentially not one for wearing out amongst the general populace. There might be a later project for that.

I revisited an old favourite for dinners this week... Tuna Noodle Do (also, what the hell was going on with that photo, I know we were barely past the Potato Camera stage, but also, that's clearly too much cheese and I still don't get why it looks that way). I did make it too many times last summer, and was very over it by the time Soup Season rolled around again, but it was good to revisit it.

Thursday Night DnD actually happened... so that's a development. Although I did share with the group my decision to step out after we finish this campaign, at least for whatever the next campaign is. Because, sometimes, as much as you enjoy spending time with people, little niggles build up over time and... well... essentially I've reached the point where my feeling when we play and my feeling when we don't play are basically the same.

So, yeah, a break is necessary I think.

There was no Friday Night DnD this week. Because the DnD Gods giveth with one hand and taketh away with the other. Friday was also where the majority of the aforementioned cardigan cuff business took place.

Anyway...

Today was yet another Not Much Going On Saturday. We did the Supermarket thing... and then, because we really didn't have anything we wanted to do, there was some YubTubs, and that was it really.

Also, I just have to say that I got distracted while typing this by the 2024 Maison Margiela Artisanal Collection fashion show, which I am now completely obsessed with and want to watch a movie set in whatever world that is... or, you know, live in that world... or something.

photo saturday: unexpected old lady

I swear that I'd featured Beilyn Porridgepot previously.... but scrolling through old posts, there's not a single sign of her anywhere... so she definitely gets a place in this week's DnD Character Colouring Book.

So Beilyn came from a number of places... firstly, halfling, but also because I love a small barbarian. And I also wanted to play in the "unexpected old lady" character space. Of course, the Hero Forge model never looked appropriately old until the face customiser let us age up characters.

Secondly, she was intended for adventures set in Waterdeep, so I wanted to make her a retired Swordcaptain from the Waterdeep City Watch (at least I think that was her rank, it's the one that makes the most sense to me looking at the list now). It also let me lean into the "focus" over "rage" idea for a barbarian.

But I also wanted to mess around with the idea of "Ancestral Guardian" and lean into the idea that the Guardian Spirits she called upon weren't from her family, but were former members of the City Watch, because that just made sense to me. I did at one stage have a whole group of characters designed for that, but they fell by the wayside long ago.

The axe was a magic item that I got as a DM Reward in Adventurers League, but in-game it was left to her in the will of her former Captain, who was a dwarf.

And yes, I did definitely remix her name from Lin Beifong, the Chief of Police in Republic City from The Legend of Korra. Because there was also a definite Lin vibe to the character.

Anyway...

This week was... a lot.

Which is what happens when I need to do a full clean for a rental inspection. And also, because I split the clean over two days so I'm not completely broken afterwards. So Monday I cleaned the kitchen including the oven, straightened up and got everything ready to go, then used to stove and had to give it a once over again.

Then Tuesday there was a full bathroom clean, full vacuum and floor mopping... and when I went to switch the vacuum on again, it wouldn't stay on. So I had to finish the last of the vacuuming with one foot holding down the on button. Not what you would call ergonomic. But I essentially got the job done.

I also managed to get all of that in the morning, so basically collapsed for the afternoon.

Then on Wednesday I cleared out because I hate being here for an inspection. It also let me go drop some old printer ink cartridges off at Officeworks, wandered around Spotlight, and then went and poked around the library at Burnside and caught up on some reading before heading home.

When I got home, it was a little strange because I'd left a note for the real estate agent, and it was still on the counter, but I'd had that happen before and it wasn't too strange. Until I checked my email.

Yeah, the land agent couldn't work out how keys work and hence didn't actually get inside. They sent me a message saying that they didn't have a key for one of the two locks on my door, to which my reply was "I'm confused, there is only one key".

Turns out that they just didn't try hard enough, and they didn't bother calling me, so, they just emailed me after the inspection window was done and rescheduled. In two weeks.

*cue me flipping a very tiny table*

So I didn't even get to enjoy the feeling of coming home to a totally clean house and no looming inspection. Dagnabbit.

No Thursday Night DnD...

Friday was also Chiro Day... which was good, given that I needed a tune up.

The Hexagon Cardigan Project continues... I've gotten to the point where I've sewed the sleeves along the top seam, and I'm working on extending the back. But...

I should have known better. It was a bad decision on top of a bad decision. I'd run through most of a ball of black yarn. And thought "I'll just wind it into a ball"... first mistake. But then I made it worse... because I thought "Let me wind it around my hand so that I can start the ball from the other end of the yarn". Second mistake.

So now what I have is a giant tangle of yarn, with both ends being wound around a couple of highlighters and just a mass of black fluff in the middle. And I spent basically two hours yesterday trying to untangle it, and then a little time this morning, and I'm still determined to get it all untangled. So that will be... a thing that happens.

Friday Night DnD was good... although we did spend a bunch of time talking about other things, as we occasionally do. But otherwise it was a lot of "busywork" moving from one location to another, which I'm fine with.

Anyway...

Today was... average. We did the supermarket thing, and did a run to Spotlight because they're having a sale, and also I needed more black yarn for the Hexagon Cardigan.

And that was it really.

If you'll excuse me, I need too try and untangle some more yarn...

photo saturday: holy paramour

This week's DnD Character Colouring Book is a makeover/reboot... Andir, son of Nightingale. He first showed up with my other "son of a former character" Bo, who, in comparison, has had about eleventy thousand variations... Andir just kind of took up space until this particular outfit set dropped. And, yes, I've used it before... and parts of it show up in a bunch of different models, but this one is pretty much a straight use of the whole outfit.

But I love the white and gold look. Part of which came from actually looking up pre-existing lore on their vestments...  

Paramours wear golden robes sprinkled with gold dust, and they wear their hair long and unbound without any covering.

Admittedly, the "gold dust" part is... a little extra, even for me. So, maybe the gold dust robes are for special occasions.

The other half was from fooling around with the new irises and worked out that the galaxy iris looks really good in white, and sometimes you just have to lean into an existing colour scheme.

Oh, also, I made sure that he had both the symbol of his own goddess and the symbol of his father's goddess. Because, sometimes you're a half-drow aasimar whose father was a goliath that got turned into an angel. Because DnD.

Also, that hairstyle is definitely in my Top Five currently.

Anyway...

The Rainbow Hexagon Cardigan Project continues... I'm 60+ hours in and maybe 75-80% done. Of course, part of that remaining percent is doing cuffs and ribbing... which is completely outside my current knowledge base. So there will be a lot of referencing of tutorials when we get there.

After Fluffy saw it in person for the first time yesterday, he described it as "Disco Trash, but Good Disco Trash"... and, you know what, yeah, story checks out.

No Thursday Night DnD... 

And Friday Night DnD for the first time in... I dunno... since the middle of January I think.

Anyway...

Pretty much shopping as usual today... except there was just a random fire alarm in the middle. Turns out someone pressed something they shouldn't have near the bathrooms. So, you know, fun. Or, what's the opposite, oh, yeah... annoying. It is just really, really weird leaving your trolley full of shopping in the middle of the supermarket and leaving the building for ten minutes.