photo saturday: the beastmaster and the baker

And so, we reach the parents of my very first DnD Character for this week's DnD Character Colouring Book. Originally this was going to be a double post with the parents as adventurers and then as small business owners, but something else came up, so we're just going to do the adventurers this time.

Keeping on the Doctor Who naming theme... we have Melody Longpond. And, honestly, it shouldn't take much guessing to consider which "water/music themed" character she's a reference to. Dad Brandien is a little more... convoluted. There's a book from an older edition which has a "build your own halfling name" table, which has a table of syllables that you can put together in various ways.

It's how I worked out, after the fact, that Peregrin (or Perygren to give it it's "halfling spelling", translates to various things, my favourite of which is "Loyal Baker". In this case, Brandien translates to "Adventurous Blue"... or, you know, a certain big blue box.

Brandien also carries the bee logo from his father's career as a bard into being a symbol for this branch of the family, having armour made with it, and also having a pin/clasp made for Melody once they started dating/got engaged.

Interestingly, the bakery thing actually comes from Grandmother Rosie... her character was a baker/cook, and, so it had to filter down the family line. I feel like Bran learned directly from his grandmother, and then everyone else in the family learned from him.

And, of course Melody had a peregrin falcon beast companion, because I was completely obsessed with them throughout my teenage years for a variety of reasons. Admittedly, the Hero Forge paint decal is only... about 90% there. Also, white armor on a ranger just screams "impractical as fuck", unless of course, you're an arctic rangers. She was not.

But sometimes you just go for the vibes.

Anyway...

This week was Chicken Noodle Soup... and, I have to say, it was really, really good. Possibly thanks to a liberal helping of dried thyme. And, also, butter.

DM Fluffy and I did a quick solo follow up session from last Thursday's DnD game, because neither of us intended to suck all the oxygen out of the room by doing it at the table. Plus, I much prefer doing those things away from the table if you can, because the rest of the party wouldn't know what happened anyway.

I went and took back the black fabric dye at the start of the week and bought some new socks with the refund.  Then I went to Bunnings to ask the nice man in the nursery/plants section what the hell was up with the little bug things on my (20 year old) parlour palm. And got a recommendation for some lovely chemicals.

I also sprayed the palm... and will spray it again in a couple of weeks... so, fingers crossed.

I ticked off "finish the crochet scarf that you started to avoid finishing the cardigan that your brain tells you is too hard to finish" from my To Do list... and it looks pretty good. Attaching tassels nearly broke my brain for any number of reasons, but I got better as I did more of them. 

Now I just need to resist the urge to start on making small granny squares with the same yarn to make myself a lap blanket. I need to work out how to finish the fucking cardigan. Because we've now reached the point where I should be wearing it. Argh.

Thursday Night DnD should have been a no-brainer. Because it was also a public holiday. But people can't get up early, essentially do nothing all day and still be functional humans for three hours in the evening. So, fuck the rest of us I guess. And, as previously mentioned, we're too close to the end to really not have everybody on deck.

So, honestly, my decision to step away from this group when we're done with this campaign just keeps reinforcing itself. Because while I enjoy them as people for the most part, this group is now dysfunctional bordering on passively aggressively falling apart. And to that I say... best of luck boys. I'll come back if you don't implode.

Friday Night DnD was... traps, spiders and a very lucky, very himbo barbarian... that we kind of lost our minds over and ended up riffing on it for more time than was sensible... including inventing a TV show. And then on the drive home Fluffy mentioned turning the Hero Forge model I'd made of said character after our last game and making a promo image for said TV show. And it just screamed 80's to me.

Honestly, it's very much a "You Had To Be There" thing... but, also, I was kinda proud of the final result... even if trying to do the "fake TV still" process did take me far longer than it should have. And I had to go back in at the last minute to change the colour of his eyes to blue, because I forgot that they were blue.

It's very dumb, but it amuses me.

Anyway...

Today was pretty standard. Supermarket, then home, when we ended up just watching a movie before Ma toddled off home.

photo saturday: the boxer and the bumblebee

Last week we hit the great grandparents... this week we have the grandparents. Back when they were adventurers. Because everybody in that line was an adventurer. Or at least all the direct antecedents on that side of the family.

Also, this combined shot of Iona and Javic became more of an action shot given that it looks like Javic is casting a healing spell on a beat-up Iona. I also do love the idea of a relationship between a physically strong woman and a socially strong man.

And keeping with the Doctor Who name theming... Javic coming from a certain greatcoat-wearing, bisexual former time agent... and Iona being an imperfect female version of the name Ianto.

I also like to think that Javic was known as Bumblebee when he was an adventurer, because of his outfit and his surname, and created the bee symbol that became important to the family line going forward. And the text on the lute gives it the name of Honey. Because of course.

Anyway...

This week was Lasagne Soup... which always sounds dumb, as I've probably said in the past, but it gives you exactly the right description for what it is. Technically it's also just "pasta sauce soup", but I make it with broken up lasagne noodles, so... you know. It is good though.

I also managed to embed a teeny tiny piece of glass in my foot after breaking a glass. Because that happens when you don't realise a piece of glass smaller than a grain of rice has fallen on the other side of the kitchen counter and you turn on the spot...

And it takes two days for you to be able to dig it out of your foot with tweezers. [shudders]

Thankfully, it was the part of my foot that is thicker skin and it wasn't continually painful for two days.

Otherwise, I kind of finished my crochet scarf... but I don't like the way I finished it, so I need to undo the last row and try again. And I haven't gotten there yet.

Thursday Night DnD happened... and was all going... very well, until the last five minutes where my character ended up being teleported/transported to a different version of the room we went into than everybody else... which is where the bad guys where. Well, some bad guys, a bunch of mind controlled NPCs who used to be our friends and the character that is the alternative universe version of one of the PCs... yeah, DnD is fucking weird.

Is my orc boy having a slight saviour complex that will lead him to do something incredibly stupid? Oh absofuckinglutely. Will I try to be at least a little bit smart about it? I mean, I'll TRY... but his personality trait it literally "nothing is more important than life, and I never leave anyone in danger", plus he's in a room that enflames his passions. Fuck... he's gunna die isn't he...

Well, I can go invisible 6 more times... so... fingers crossed.

I'm also going to try to have a pre-session with DM Fluffy in order to at least get a sense of what I'm doing while the rest of the party fumble around and do what they do. So we don't have to cut back and forth between scenes. Because if I'm doing a dumb, I don't want them to feel like they have to try and find/save me.

Because I'm definitely going to do some kind of dumb.

There was no Friday Night DnD because small children and school holidays exist. So I ate bread, drank gin and tonic and rewatched Mad Max Fury Road, because I'd read a book about the making of it and wanted to rewatch it.

I will say that I stand by a non-zero amount of what I said after I saw it originally. I did kind of like certain characters more, understanding some of the backstory a little more. But I feel like it's a movie where the title character is actually unnecessary and... honestly, while having almost no dialogue, actually has all of the literal worst dialogue in the movie. And Tom Hardy is giving a solid C+ performance against most of the major characters giving an A performance at worst.

And Nux is still my favourite character.

Anyway...

Today wasn't much of anything.

Supermarket, then some sharing of things on the YubTubs... and that was it really.

photo saturday: dynasty forebears

This week's DnD Character Colouring Book is actually the foundation upon which I built last week's images. Because I'd been messing around with updating the extended family of my first ever DnD character, who have existed as Hero Forge models since the very early days, and then started putting the various couples together on the same image.

So we start here, where it all started. Me getting inspired by Kate Welch's Rosie Beestinger character from the Penny Arcade DnD series, Acquisitions Incorporated: The C Team, who she very kindly opened up the Beestinger clan to the fans as something they could use for their own characters.

And, I'll be honest, Rosie is the start of my obsession with all things halfling. It fully solidified with playing Belben. But it starts with Rosie. So of course my character is the great grandson of Rosie. Other people were making direct "children" (mostly adopted), but I wanted a more direct line.

Consider this my fan-art of Rosie though. Because, at the point these two were together, she wouldn't have been a Monk yet, she may have been a Pirate Queen at the time honestly... but her backstory is still a little vague and fragmented (also, I gave up on both Acq Inc and C Team during the pandemic). I just liked how these two looked together. Also the green and purple combo of Adric and Rosie works nicely.

And yes, outside of Rosie and Belben, all of Belben's family have Doctor Who related names. Some direct, some indirect, some that are very, very obscure references. So we start with my favourite Fourth Doctor companion (and yes, I know he hung out with the Fifth Doctor also, but I never really vibed with Five), who I had a massive crush on when I was a kid... Adric. And interestingly, it turns out that Matthew Waterhouse who played Adric... gay. So clearly I must have been picking up the vibes... lol.

This mini is 1000 miles away from his original "too much armor" look, but honestly, it was when I just picked the kneeling pose on a whim that he really came together. Also, not gunna lie, adding pins/brooches to people's outfits since I did that with Inky... definitely a thing right now.

Anyway...

I attempted to restart/finish my rainbow hexagon crochet cardigan this week. Cuffs/ribbing is hard you guys. I ended up in a worse position than when I was when I started, because I managed to undo previous work. So I got very annoyed and undid it back to a previous point before I started closing in the sleeve openings.

And then put it back in the box so it could think about what it did.

Instead, I started making the scarf I'd been planning on, using the same yarn as the cardigan. It wasn't a bad plan. I hadn't done anything for the last two months essentially, so I'm a little out of the groove. Plus, the best thing about crocheting a scarf longways is that you can wear it while you're making it. And I did.

I still don't know what to do about the cuffs. Urgh. I think it will be very much a me Inventing Things when I get back to it.

This week's soup was good old reliable potato and leek.

No Thursday DnD this week because we're so close to the end that it doesn't seem completely fair to anyone who has to sit out. Granted, there are some people who could not be there and it wouldn't really impact the story one way or the other... but, you know... the theory holds.

Friday Night DnD was... a lot. Firstly, we got to the point of the adventure where the give you all the things you need to do for pretty much the entire second act, maybe even into the third a little bit. Plus we got to unpack some personal drama along the way, which, thankfully, I have very little of, having built an orphan with few connections for this particular campaign. Because the last two major campaigns were quite enough for my characters honestly.

Also, I got to put a long standing opinion to the test... for whatever reason, my brain just rejects the idea of Bread and Butter Pudding. I mean, I know what it is. I know that's it's basically just old bread, presumably butter, milk, eggs and sugar... but still my brain goes... "nah". For reasons that slightly escape my memory now, Fluffy made (well, Fluffy's Ma made) a very boujee one with dark chocolate chips and rasperries for Friday night. And I was 100% willing to be convinced, I was down to go "well, fuck my life that I've spent all this time not enjoying this clearly very enjoyable thing". I was right there.

It's wet bread.

It's wet.... bread...

If it had not been for the chocolate and the raspberries (and I'll admit, the golden toasty bits on the very top) I would not have been able to make it through a bowl. I nearly pulled the rip cord just based on the fact that the texture of it looks like you're slicing into somebody's brain stem.

And, I reiterate. Wet. Bread.

No thank you.

Anyway...

Today was less of going in directions other than the ones I wanted to go in order to get to the supermarket, so that was good.

And like last week, afterwards, we went to Haighs for broken Easter egg... which, like the last couple of years I believe, was actually broken/beheaded duckies.

Which is fine. Because so long as it's the same kind of chocolate as regular egg (which I believe it is), I have no issue with a beheaded duckie.

photo saturday: three loves of a scoundrel

This week's DnD Character Colouring Book is a story in three parts... and kind of accidental. I actually started with Part 2, but I'm running the images in reverse chronological order. And I've run a version of this before. This is my Out of the Abyss character post game in three different romantic entanglements. Firstly, with his husband and his final name/fate.

But I actually resized up the husband when I realised that the size difference wasn't right. Also I like the posing better.

I also finally looked at Pery's old sheet and realised I had named his husband at the time, but the name was, honestly, dumb. So I went with the second version I came up with. I also named the bakery. Because I think it had just been "Beestinger Bakery" in my head, but that absolutely didn't fit (and also, my other halfling Beestinger baker family use that name already), so it became the more thematic Scoundrel's End Bakery. Because, again, as a former Charlatan, keeping yourself accountable.

Also, Husband Nathaniel got a tattoo, because of course my boy's fantasy husband has a big old arm sleeve tattoo.

And the pose here is much better. Partially because their relative sizes are much more accurate.

Anyway...

Part 2 is where this whole thing started. I'd been redoing the other halfling Beestinger's family portraits, and tweaking various older NPC characters, because honestly, the difference between the quality of what I've getting out of Hero Forge now and back in 2019 is... extreme. And going down the line, I realised that the version I had of Pery's in-game love interest, Eldeth, was even older than that and, frankly, kind of terrible. So here's my boy in game.

Honestly, this definitely isn't the version of Eldeth that I had in my head during the game. But I also don't know that I ever 100% decided on what I thought she looked like at the time. So let's just say that this is the version I would have made had I been playing that campaign now.

And once I made her, I needed to do a shot of her and Pery together. Even though their lovestory ended badly in two different timelines, because, honestly, you can't flirt with your ambiguously bisexual disaster DM firstly via fictional characters and then IRL until he trips over his own feelings and essentially runs away to stick his dick in the first woman to blinks sideways at him and not have the very volatile in-game relationship go severely sideways. Honestly, my own fault for entertaining an ambiguously bisexual disaster.

But, it was, relatively speaking, good while it lasted. And I like the characters' little interaction here. And her blush.

Again, the sizing is kind fucked. Because the Hero Forge sizing is... massively inconsistent and doesn't scale appropriately. According to their calculations, he's a little over 3 feet tall, she's about 4'5". But when you measure them against any other scale, it just doesn't come out that way (making him 3'3" only puts her at 3'6"... and Part 3 is actually even worse... so what the fuck is up with that Hero Forge?).

But I already said "anyway"... so...

This week marked the return of Soup Season. Mexican Chicken and Rice soup... which honestly came out more stew-like, because while I love a rice soup, it does absorb all the fucking liquid. And, honestly, throwing a whole packet of Chilli Con Carne seasoning was a good call. It was a little intense at the start of the week, but as is always the case, it mellowed as the week went on.

I also didn't think I had enough ingredients and that it was going to be a little sparse. Turns out that that was a complete fantasy.

It was good though.

Thursday Night DnD was actually very effective. Granted we sidestepped what should have been the difficult third wave of the battle from the previous week with a well placed Divine Intervention, which turned out to be pretty thematically appropriate.

We also levelled up, so we only have one more level up before we're done. And I assume that's going to be right before the final fight. So, potentially, I might print out my Level 11 and Level 12 sheet this time, just in case.

Friday Night DnD was an exercise in "Don't Touch The Thing You Obviously Shouldn't Touch". And definitely don't touch it a second time once someone else touched it the first time. It also further reinforced that I will attempt to talk my way through any situation where that seems even remotely viable. And given this character's Charisma vs Intelligence score, he will just talk AT you yet make very valid points along the way.

Granted, this party's propensity to split the party, even when it makes sense to do so, may well be our undoing eventually.

Anyway.

Part 3 of Pery's romantic entanglements... in his previous identity with his fellow Charlatan and former partner, who, in a very different kind of game, would have shown up.

And while Pallas came out almost exactly right based on the feel of him in my head, I think that potentially, the original version might have been closer to Nathaniel from Part 1. This also came out way more "We Saw You From Across The Bar And Really Dig Your Vibe" than I originally intended. So much so that I both added a key to Pallas's hand and decided that they were also pretending to be married.

This is also where the Hero Forge sizing gets wacky. Because Pallas is, according to HF, 7'2" in heels next to Falco's flat 3' in the same heels. Does that vibe at all with what you're seeing in that image? No, no it does not. I mean, I already knew that their sizing was wack, but it's really only when you try and match up a gnome or halfling character with a full sized character that it gets weird.

Also, four years later, coming up with more info about these personas actually helped me to solidify what happened to Pery that made him have to run from Waterdeep before the beginning of the campaign. Because I didn't know about House Minstrelwish, the halfling noble clan who are basically house flippers and couriers. The two of them definitely did some dodgy dealing in that space.

I do love Pery with Falco's longer hair though. Predictably, I'd listed the looks for each of the different personas he had as far as hair style, colour and eyes were concerned. I also started to see the transition he want through when he went on the run. Changing clothes several times, getting his hair cut, and eventually waking up in an alley with a knife sticking out of his back before taking on the Pery identity.

Complicated little shithead.

Where was I... oh, yes... today.

Today can go fuck itself.

Or rather, the decision to close a bunch of streets in Norwood for an extended period of time over a weekend so a bunch of people can sit in the middle of the road and eat overpriced food and get enthused about sportsball can go fuck itself.

So instead of the straight shot from my place to the supermarket, we had to go the very long and overly complicated way. Doubly so on the way back.

And then after shopping, we went to Haighs to get our hands on the best of all things, broken Easter eggs. Only to find they had a space for the milk chocolate ones, but no actual product. Grrr. We'll try again next week maybe.

Also, I've said every single year that the broken Easter eggs taste better, which is mostly comedy, but it turns out that I was at least partially right after mentioning it to the woman behind the counter. Turns out that their Easter eggs have more cocoa butter in them because they're moulded chocolate, so they do taste different/better. Who knew?

That was it really.

photo saturday: the dino ranger

Did I just realise that just under half of the past ten images have all been halflings? Not until just now, no. Am I going to apologise for that? No, I I am no. Is it plausible that we're about to do a run of halflings? Yes, yes it is.

And a little like last week, this week's DnD Character Colouring Book is a character that was never really properly a character... Mielo Thornhill.

Mielo Thornhill did kind of see the light of day as a sidekick when I ran the one on one DnD game for Ma a couple of Christmases ago, and given that the new DnD source book has a ranger class I'm interested in, a bunch of racial changes AND default beasts for the Beastmaster that can be reskinned into anything you like, Mielo may very well get repurposed into a functional character at some point. I very much like the idea of him running around with a little parrot-feathered velociraptor (you know, the actual, historical, turkey sized ones, not the fictitious people sized Jurassic Park ones)... So he deserves another chance at some point. 

It also continues to boggle my mind the difference between what I was putting together in Photoshop four years ago, and what I'm basically able to pull out of Hero Forge directly with a few minor Photoshop augments.

Also, there are certain Hero Forge hairstyles that I just get instantly obsessed with... and this is one of them. And I've had to restrain myself from giving more characters either this version of the more textured version from last week.

And what better character to give a leopard print outfit to than a ranger living in Chult (where the dinosaurs live/they keep all of the jungle). This might also be one of the more subtle tattoo placements thus far, but I like what the Mayan symbols for "spirit", "book" and "bone" say about his character.

It's also highly likely that the Mielo model might get reused at some point, put in a different outfit and given different colouring, because it's a good looking face. Speaking of faces, I did enjoy that, pretty much accidentally, the Hero Forge raptor mount came out with just the right facial expression to give some indication of the character of Rascal. Also that if a 3 foot tall halfling has a 1.6 foot (at the hip) velociraptor companion, they're not that far off in scale from each other. Also the idea of a big fluffy idiot of a dinosaur in ridiculously bright parrot colours just appeals to me. As does putting them in a spiked collar, even though it makes sense in protecting him from other creatures.

I also wonder if me giving Mielo the same surname as the lead character in Hitchcock's North by Northwest was intentional or accidental. I assume the latter, but I wouldn't put it past my brain to have done it subconsciously.

Also, the name of the crossbow, written across the stock, is Lavinia.

Anyway...

Well, I gave up on the of dyeing the new chair covers. I washed them in preparation, and remembered just how much of a giant pain in the ass dealing with them just for that was, let alone all the extra drama of actually dyeing them, then rewashing them and drying them... so I threw my metaphorical hands up in the air and went "fuck it". And once the covers were dry I just put them on the chairs.

Firstly, stripping the old covers off the chair was a surprise, because I'd forgotten just how red the original chairs were. The answer is, very. So, putting the very beige covers over them was a little sad. I mean, they look fine, it's just that beige isn't particularly my vibe. But it will do for now.

Two weeks in a row of Thursday Night DnD... nobody jinx it. Most of the session was multiple waves (well, two) of combat, but at least it was combat that required a small amount of planning and strategy.

And I will say that as much as I enjoy the optional Steady Aim ability for rogues... it does mean that I tend to just stand in place the whole time. Which feels... less roguey. But then my boy Dax is much less of a "run and hide" kind of character. So, swings and roundabouts I guess.

Friday Night DnD was... a tale of two parts. Firstly, don't introduce a fucking Deck of Many Things into a game I'm part of. I don't want it, I'm not interested in it, I won't every fucking pull a card from it no matter what. It's a bullshit item that wrecks campaigns and there is literally no positives to it, even with this new "extended deck". No thank you sir and ma'am.

The other half was proactively kicking the ass of something that was 100% going to try and ambush us at some point.

Anyway...

If I live to be 1500 years old, I will never quite understand why people loose their goddamn mind on Easter Saturday at the supermarket. Are there really that many people who normally shop on Friday, Sunday or Monday that suddenly have to squeeze in their shopping on Saturday morning? Have the people who I know lost their minds on Thursday night because the shops were going to be shut for a single day who also need to get more things on Saturday? Do people actually do big gatherings that require the buying of items on Easter Sunday? Or is that just something that supermarkets try to tell us all is happening?

But the literal fucking clown car of people that descend on the supermarket on Easter Saturday has always and continues to boggle my whole entire mind.

Whatever... 

This week marks the beginning of Soup Season. Not that you'd know it from this weekend where we're having an Easter around 30C. But I'm going to essentially freestyle a "Mexican style chicken soup". We'll see how we go.

After supermarket mayhem we just came back here, watched the penultimate episode of Canadian Pottery Throwdown and then called it a day.

photo saturday: punk rock halfling

There are some characters who are minimalists... you put them in an outfit, you look at that outfit, you go "yeah, that works" (although the last time we had one of those on the blog was back in early February with the elderly halfling barbarian) and some of them are decidedly maximalists.

Because they require a lot of fussing around in Photoshop, and then once you have done, you realise something about it needs tweaking, and so you start from the beginning again.... and then you do that a second time. And then you keep seeing things you could tweak, and you keep adding to things and before you know it you've done three versions of the character and the Photoshop file has over 75 layers.

And it all started with the hand.

Well, technically it started back in 2021 when Inky was one of my potential backup characters for our Avernus game.

Firstly we have Thaddeus "Inky" Oakfoot, halfling tattoo artist, monk and cleric to one of the more obscure halfling goddesses. The selection and addition of his tattoos was fun, but I will say that I enjoyed coming up with the history of his tattoos even more, and the fact that he'd basically been in or around all the major cities in Faerun right before the events of the major adventures. That his halfling luck told him that he really needed to head somewhere else before everything went to shit. Also, I do really want to play a Trickery Cleric at some stage.

But I was going through and deleting or updating some older characters and I looked at him and figured he might as well get a new face. And a new staff, new hair, new pants, a new pouch... basically a do-over. And I was playing around with the new hand poses when I tried the "devil horns" and, suddenly we were off to the races. He suddenly became much more "punk" in my head.

So first the tattoos got some updates. And the idea that he had perhaps avoided the events of major adventures kind of morphed into the idea that he was there for most of them, just at a different time and doing different things that the adventure as written. Which meant that some of his tattoos got upgraded to cover books the old ones didn't. And the largest tattoo, which covers his whole chest is of Yondalla, the matriarch of the halfling pantheon.

Then I decided to give him the same brooch as Miss Jamjar, because it's Yondalla's holy symbol. Which triggered the idea of punks and badges... or just badges in general.

And I started adding various "in world" badges. Things he definitely could have gotten his hands on, things he probably couldn't have. Things that tell a story.

Then I realised he should always have been an Inkfoot and not an Oakfoot.

And in looking up details for the goddess Dallah Thaun and saw that prayers to her start off with "If only...". So that became the repeated motto on the metal parts of his staff in various in-game (and not) fonts. Which then led to the "graffiti" on the staff. And the invention of a partner or lover or something with a first name starting with M. I haven't even decided on a gender for them to be honest. There are also some definite "crossing into other fictional universes" references across his whole deal.

One of the last additions was taking some existing items (much larger items like chain-whips and a giant padlock) and turning them into his padlock necklace. 

Also, not that you can see it but just because it amuses me and is it's own in-joke, he only wears pink socks.

Maybe some version of him should just be my perpetual back-up character. He would also work well as a different idea for the first character from the 2024 PHB, which is kind of what this version is. And a character that would start out at Level 10.

On the plus side, now that he's been posted to the blog, I can, hopefully, stop making changes LOL.

Anyway...

We seem to have reached that point that comes around every March where I start the week in shorts and potentially end in a hoodie... although perhaps not as cleanly as that since it's going to shoot back up to over 30 at the end of this week, but the nights have gotten cold, so I'm very much on board for that.

That also means that it's very nearly the start of soup season... depending on how the weather goes next week.

Thursday Night DnD actually happened. And was... a lot of fumbling around on a very confusing map. But, you know, one step closer to getting to the end of this adventure.

Friday Night DnD, by contrast, did not happen. For all the usual reasons.

Anyway...

Today was the usual supermarketry... but afterwards I managed to cross a few things off my to-do list when we took a trip to Big W.

photo friday: birthday boy and purple pal

Let's get a little weird... in any number of ways. So the idea of what the first character I might make from the 2024 version of the PHB has been floating around in my head for the last little while, and the one new subrace that they floated that really caught my eye was the Chthonic tiefling.

Which led me to this week's DnD Character Colouring Book... Liberty, Chthonic Tiefling Sailor, Great Old One Warlock and Swashbuckler Rogue.

I know what you're thinking... because, literally, it was what I was thinking up until about 75 seconds ago when I googled "chthonic"... it's less about Lovecraft and Cthulhu and literally just means "underworld". Which, honestly, makes it make a lot more sense. And had I realised that at the time, might have altered my theming... but instead I discovered the Piscoloth, which is one of the possible Neutral Evil fiendish ancestors.

So, why wouldn't I lean into the cool, purple, aquatic, nightmare lobster and make it more people-like. Also, leaning into that idea meant being able to make a hornless (bald) tiefling. Which I dig. Originally he didn't have a tail, because I wanted to lean away from a number of the regular Infernal tiefling visuals. But he just ended up looking like a purple dude... so, sometimes you can't get rid of all the tropes.

The tattoo is a combination of a "Great Old One" sketch I found, two lots of "Lovecraftian" text (keeping in mind that Lovecraft was a racist asshole) at 90 degrees to each other, pulled from the Dagon short story (specifically the passage describing the titular creature) and a symbol for same. The idea would be that it's less of a tattoo and more something his patron inflicted on him.

I also, mostly for my own benefit, I included screen shots of the specific Warlock Eldritch Invocations he would have with six levels of Warlock and four levels of Rogue. I'm not convinced about the Gift of the Depths option, it would be one of those there I'd have to have a conversation with the DM and ask "is this a thing that's actually going to come up or be useful at all?". Because if there's like, one room in one dungeon in the whole adventure where this might be useful and nowhere else... then I'll just take Eldritch Smite (maybe).

The tail cuff was originally three rings, but the more I looked at it, the more I went... "that would just be uncomfortable and impractical", so instead I defaulted to the singular cuff. And engraved it with the name of three ships he's served on. One of which might just be a Spelljammer ship (probably a Damselfly Ship). Because as much as I probably don't ever want to PLAY Spelljammer, tying him into that idea might be fun. I also just realised that two of the three ship names I came up with are alliterative... so either I need to change the one that isn't so that they're all like that, or change one of the ones that are.

In my head, he would also have light, silk robe/jacket that would go over the armor... but that's not a thing that would work in Hero Forge. Think something that's kinda Burning Man, kinda Coachella, very dramatic, big wide sleeves (or no sleeves)... something you could get a good "King Thranduil" shablam moment out of before a battle... yeah. That.

And lastly, because he has Mask of Many Faces, I also mocked up his... default disguise. Because as much as the playtest information says "thanks to the victories and sacrifices of these legends, tieflings throughout the multiverse enjoy widespread acceptance", widespread isn't total and there's going to be times when it's much easier to pass as a brown skinned gentleman with a relatively normal tattoo than it would be to be a very distinctive purple gentleman with a tail. The names of the ships appear up in the tattoo also.

Anyway.

This week was Birthday Week.

But before we get to that...

I'm not going into this too deeply, but my landlord is literally the most awkward man to ever live. Also, I finally got my stovetop fixed. Because it kept fucking up... but nobody actually seemed to bother investigating what the issue WAS, the electrician just upgraded the fuse that the oven and stovetop runs on. So we'll assume that fixes the issue. I guess. But also, because electricians can't ever give you a time, he was supposedly coming "mid afternoon" and it was basically 4pm by the time he showed up. So that ended up being most of my Wednesday, at least from a "taking up space in my brain" perspective.

Most of the week was me hiding in the aircon, because fuck the last throws of Summer, which always thrashes around like a dying octopus before it disappears out the door.

Thursday was my actual birthday... and I just realised that I did not do my annual "it's my [number] birthday and also [insert male celeb's name who shares my birthday]" image... because, frankly, I completely forgot about it. Also, I'm basically recycling celebs at this point. So... maybe we skip this year? Maybe. Which is sad is the only other time I skipped it was 2021... and, honestly, yeah, I was clearly in a mood for the entirety of 2021.

And did I just take a detour and go and do a search to see if anybody new or interesting had popped up? Yes, yes I did. But I also don't know that I want to go, create an image and then backdate a post. Seems like, honestly, too much work. I forgot, so maybe we'll pick it back up next year, maybe it's a meme that had it's day. Which is something of a shame this year, given that it's my 50th. Also, I'm 50, who the fuck let that happen.

So, getting back to Thursday.

I started off with a message followed by a phonecall from Ma wishing me Happy Birthday. Then I did my usual visit to Boost Juice and Baker's Delight in order to collect the free shit both of those places give you when it's your birthday.

Thursday Night DnD is... as Fluffy and I have remarked on many occasions, cursed beyond the telling of it. So, that fell over and died, because our host wasn't well. Which meant that I had a nice quiet evening.

Friday was Chiro Day... so I went and did my usual wandering around town after getting my back sorted out. I did spend a while pottering around Dymocks considering potential books to buy with the money left over from last birthday's gift voucher. But I have two issues when it comes to books right now. Stuff that I have read and enjoyed... I'm not sure that, for most of it, I actually need to own it or, for right now, wouldn't really be that bothered going back and rereading (mostly because, right now, I'm enjoying just cycling through all kinds of new and exciting books)... and when it comes to things I haven't read yet... well, why wouldn't I borrow it from the library first to ensure I'm actually going to enjoy it? Which then turns into the first issue.

And the one book that I did think that I might buy just so that I actually own it... they didn't have. But wandering around books was an enjoyable way to spend a little while.

Then we get to Friday Night DnD...

And it turns out that directly after I have everybody a "hey, important birthday coming up, but I don't really need STUFF, but I also don't know what I want... you figure it out and don't ask me things..." just after Valentine's Day, they commenced Planning Things.

Some of that planning came to fruition when Fluffy asked me "a quick question about a totally fictionalised situation that will have no bearing on actual events". Which turned out to be a question about cake. And that I initially said I didn't have a lot of strong opinions about, and then proceeded to have several strong opinions about. Because marzipan, white chocolate and baked cheesecakes are all, in fact, literally The Devil.

So it wasn't a great surprise when Fluffy messaged me when he got here on Friday to say "could you get the door for me and spare some room in your fridge". Because you have to put hypothetical cheesecake in the fridge, obviously.

Then when we got there, it turned out that they'd been plotting and scheming and working together. But due to circumstances, the plan didn't quite work as it might have done... but that was okay, because for the plan to work, time travel would have needed to be involved. So we dealt with the timeline we're currently in.

Because, honestly, you don't want to give me the power to mess around with the timelines at this point. Not least of all because I'll just go and buy a bunch of Apple stock and several copies of Action Comics #1 featuring the first appearance of Superman. Or something.

Where was I? Oh, yeah, presents. There was a set of group presents... that's a confusing sentence. There were three presents, from the group. A present "to celebrate", a present "to remember" and a present "to inspire". Yeah, like I said, they'd been plotting and planning.

Celebrate was a... well, I don't know what the official name of it would be... a diadem or a corolla, maybe a coronet... not a tiara though, because it's a full circle... essentially it's a tiny crown. Which is made of some kind of metal and has little fake gemstones and repeating fleur-de-lis... which is funny because my first tattoo was, in fact, a fleur-de-lis.

And why... because, I am, in fact a Pretty Pretty Princess.

Does it fit my oblong head? Not remotely. Is it clearly designed to be worn by a bride with a veil and connection points where you attach it to a hairstyle with bobby pins? Yes. Is it very cute? Also yes.

Remember was a very lovely Sketchgoblin portrait of my girl Nightingale. Is it the version of my girl that I would have designed if I'd been dealing with the artist directly? No, but I think they were working from the 2020 version of my girl... and I think I've slightly redesigned her several times since then, and, honestly, she's about to go through another slightly update next week when they drop some new jacket pieces. Also, I'd possibly be a nightmare dealing with an artist. Or else send them a full terrabyte of reference images.

But, again, this is "remember". So, basing it around the version of her that finished the game is entirely appropriate. And I'm also perfectly happy for this to be... "fan art" of my girl. Also, just so we're clear, it is quite lovely. And the perfect group gift from this group of people. Because that was the first character I played with them when we started doing our Friday thing back at the end of October 2019.

Entirely fitting.

Inspire was scarlet yarn. Several balls thereof. Half of which was acrylic and half of which was merino wool. Weirdly, if you'd showed me the acrylic yarn and asked if that was my preferred colour of red, I would have said "absolutely", right up until I looked at the merino wool, which is slightly darked and a less orange leaning scarlet.

What am I going to make with it? Not a fucking Scooby. Scooby Doo. Clue. You got that, right? Cockney Rhyming Slang.

And then we have some very delightful tropical/passionfruit cheesecake from the Cheesecake Shop and played a game of Sheriff of Nottingham and a game of Sushi Go (both of which Fluffy won, because I goaded him into not playing Sheriff the way he normally plays it, and none of us really ended up  challenging each other when we were clearly all lying). But it was a pleasant evening.

Anyway.

Today was also pleasant.

We did the supermarket thing, came back here and watched more of the UK Portrait Artist of the Year only to discover that the episode marked as Episode 4 was actually just Episode 3 again (nobody cares, I understand)... also that the last episode that seems to appear online is like a month ago... so that train may have run out of steam. Then we watched Canadian Pottery Throw Down, which is just Great British Bake Off but for pottery (well, actually it's the Canadian version of The Great Pottery Throw Down, which is just GBBO for pottery... again, nobody cares)... only to discover that the Totally Legal and Absolutely Autorised Version that we were watching cut out literally two seconds before they announced who was going home this week. Rude.

Then we went down to the Parade, avoided the insanity going on today at the Irish pub on the other corner for St Paddy's Day tomorrow, and went to the same cafe we went to for Ma's birthday last year.

Should I have gotten the focaccia/baguette instead of the chicken burger? Probably. And when the problem with the chicken burger is... the chicken. Well, what are you going to do really? It wasn't bad... just... highly underwhelming.

So, Happy Birthday to me I guess. On the plus side, I do have half a cheesecake in the fridge right now.

photo saturday: grumpy ghosthunter

I've said it a few times of late, but the difference between some of my earlier Hero Forge models and what it's capable of now is pretty much night and day...

 In fact, Orryn, who appeared in a DnD Character Colouring Book after the post-Kickstarter HF 2.0 dropped now looks like the action figure version of this character. Part of that is the Face Customiser, part of that is the newer items being much less chunky than the older ones, part of it is just the many, many, many hours experience I've had posing the little fuckers.

I'll be honest, I do still want an updated (and two armed) version of Orryn's original jacket (also, more short katanas, technically wakizashi I guess) because I love that thing, but I also love the single armored arm. And the very grumpy face.

Orryn was my first gnome character (they're a race I just don't much care for, especially when comparing them with my preferred halflings), who I made for a one-shot back at the end of March... who is a class from the world of Critical Role, who took part in a solo adventure (one DM, one player) that was mostly The Witcher but with more than a little of the Mandalorian thrown in. Neither of which I have seen/played. But it wasn't bad. 

I didn't realise it until I was looking back through Discord messages that he was very much an "early days of lockdown" character, where we did the one on one session entirely through voice chat. And that that was so long ago while also feeling like it was literally five minutes ago.

Also yes, I liked the name so much that when it came time to design my first gnome who would survive beyond a single game, I reused it for Quillamina. An alternate universe branch of the family perhaps.

While this version is still a Critical Role Bloodhunter, I did think about re-imagining him as a Psi Warrior Fighter... or, as I mentioned at the time, possibly a Phantom Rogue (but as much as I love Rogues, I'm not sure that Phantom necessarily vibes for me without a very strong hook). But I'm also kind of feeling the need for a more close up melee character. It's not generally my thing, but there's some character with a sword sitting in the back of my brain and banging on various bits of grey matter. And I think it's definitely a sword... rather than any other weapon.

We'll have to see what happens when the new 2024 rule books drop towards the end of the year.

But part of the reason Orryn got a do-over was I was going through and clearing out some of the Hero Forge models I don't need anymore (mostly the old versions of character who now have updated faces), and one thing led to another.

Anyway.

So, at some point, I think I've brought up seeing the Indigenous weather calendars for various places around Australia, and the fact that while some places (mostly on the east coast) have up to 6 different seasons, and some places have as few as 2, the Kaurna calendar is more or less the same as the regular calendar, but just offset by a month. So Summer is January thru March, etc.

And honestly, that's my new calendar. Because we're at the start of March and having a heatwave as we speak.

Fun times. Although, honestly, much less stressful that it was back in the days when I had no aircon.

Otherwise, not much to report.

Not Thursday Night DnD because of reasons... the reason mostly being that the game is mostly cursed and it's going to take us for-fucking-ever to finally finish up the campaign.

Friday Night DnD was good... did I perhaps slightly stretch the capacity of what I was supposed to be able to do in a turn of combat... yeah, yeah, I did. But not on purpose. I just perhaps got a little over excited in the moment. It also didn't help because we were playing without a battlemap. And that always fucks me over.

But no harm, no foul.

Anyway...

Given the aforementioned heatwave, we did the supermarket slightly earlier (not THAT much earlier, but early enough that it seemed like the clowns had all escaped from the circus. Or, alternatively, the people who would normally go to the supermarket later went much earlier because of the heat.

But we did the shopping thing and then came back here and watched some YubTubs for a while before I sent Ma off into the world/home.

photo saturday: undead druid boy

There are times when I look back on the "hand coloured" minis I made back before Hero Forge did colour and I go... the fuck was I thinking? There are also characters where I go... awww, you poor bastard, you didn't stand a chance.

Dal is both of those things. Also, a halfling, because we know how I feel about halflings. He was, if memory serves, my second ever halfling.

Dal has been through some stuff. He spent a lot of time running around as a dinosaur defeating undead pirates. And as of the last time I played him, he's sitting out in the jungles of Chult on the edge of a ruined city with a ruby in his forehead, technically an undead creature. I kinda need to play another Moon Druid. I like the Circle of the Moon... changing into big dangerous animals is fun. Changing into dinosaurs, even more fun. And being a Ghostwise halfling and having the ability to communicate telepathically while in animal form.

The original DnD Character Colouring Book with him in it is from three years ago now, and the poor character didn't last beyond 2017 if I remember my timeline correctly. But I do like this version. The "octopus armor" is a magic item he got before he got fucked over by an adventure that was later changed. And I like this version with just one big embroidered octopus.

Anyway...

Very minor catastrophe this week... I was showering when I heard an almighty crash and the breaking of glass and I thought "well, that can't be in my house, I have all the windows wide open, surely that was from outside somewhere"... but I had to check, so I peaked around the corner into the living room only to discover that the big framed artwork that has sat, perfectly fine, on the chest of drawers, had done a 270° rotation swan dive off the top, landing face up on the floor, broken glass, thankfully, mostly still contained in and around the frame.

So, I did the only sensible thing and got back in the shower.

And then got dressed and put shoes on and spent about the next half an hour picking up thin shards of glass from atop the artwork and the surrounding floor.

Not a fun way to start a day really.

I also don't have any idea HOW it fell. Did I slightly nudge it when I put my book on it, was it already in the danger zone and the wind whipped through the house (see aforementioned windows) and nudged it past the point of no return.

Thankfully the artwork itself was predominantly unharmed, a couple of very minor nicks, but the frame is toast.

Thursday Night DnD was good... weirdly, this session made me more interested in reading the adventure when we're done with it, mostly because I want to read what the book outlines as the reasoning and ideas behind some of the elements. I've definitely formed a particular opinion about certain elements, and I'm not sure if they're because of the way things are written, the way DM Fluffy is running/playing them, who my character is or some combination of all of the above.

We're definitely in the final act though.

Friday Night DnD was... something different. Fluffy was off doing Fluffy Things, but we'd reached a point in the story where the other two characters were going off to do something without his character, so, we had a session anyway.

And... it was weird, right up until the point we actually started playing. It was weird not having Fluffy roll up on my doorstep, it was weird not having him in the passenger seat on the way there (and the way back), it was weird rocking up at the door sans Fluffy... it was just weird.

The session itself went... well. It wasn't exactly what I thought it was going to be, and that's fine... with any D&D game, choices are made and those choices lead to situations and events. And in this case, that was a left when I'd assumed a right, but overall it was good. And, Fluffy, I told you I wasn't telling you anything... so go away now.

It was good to have some one on one time with Mr's character though.

Anyway...

Insert the Saturday Mix Tape... Supermarket, etc.

Although after that, we went on a little side trip to IKEA. Originally there had been a plan for looking at new armchairs and, obviously, frames. What ended up happing was that I decided that a frame I already had would serve for the time being... or, potentially, I'm considering going through some of my existing artwork and seeing if there's something I want to swap over to.

And as for armchairs, honestly, the issue is getting new chairs up the stairs and getting old chairs down the stairs... so, I'm going to try the "dye chair covers to a colour that isn't beige" trick that I attempted with varying degrees of success back in late 2019/early 2020. But I'm also not going to rush it this time around.

I'll also be honest, after reading the fucking instructions for dyeing things, I'm bordering on not giving a fucking shit because the whole "do it on the stove top" for items that are essentially 55% cotton and 45% polyester was something of a nightmare at the old house, and potentially even more of a nightmare here with a different stove top.

But like I said, I'm not going to rush into it... I'll give it some thought beforehand. And maybe this time, we don't try for bright red, since I don't know that that's going to happen anyway after last time. We'll see.

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.

photo saturday: monochromia

Well, The Amazing Seraphina had opinions over the course of about a week. Also, she was one of those DnD Character Colouring Book characters that wouldn't have come together without Photoshop.

Initially she was in black and green, with green eyes, with the pseudodragon on her wrist and the cane held higher in her hand with the standard sphere on the top. And then I started looking at the list of Great Old Ones by renowned white supremacist H. P. Lovecraft for inspiration for a patron... although, honestly, I think the more unknowable an unknowable eldritch horror is, the better... 

But it resulted in a black and white aesthetic with a can with an "octopus" topper and a Lovecraft quote in runes... which is how she encountered her Great Old One and how she taps into it's/her powers.

Normally I would have ended up with a white pseudodragon, I couldn't refind the same pose, or it didn't come out as strong as this little buddy. If she was a Warlock under the playtest rules, the "Aberration (knot of tentacles)" familiar from an old playtest would have been good... or the slaad tadpole...but, honestly, I just want to, as I've said about 100 times already, have a pseudodragon familiar at some point.

I'm kind of into the idea that it is normally a pseudodragon and then at certain points, it just transforms into a tiny eldritch abomination. Tiny eyes all over it's body or a whole body split or too many tentacles. Something weird and messed up. Or even going down a Flerken from the Marvel Universe route... although that kind of comes under a "too many tentacles" heading. And having just looked up when the Flerken inside the cat looks like... yeah, that'd work.

Also, did I name the familiar in order to be able to have a "Hey Presto" joke every time she summons it or asks it to do something... yes, yes I did. And of course, it appears from and disappears into it's pocket dimension by going into the hat. Because of course it does.

Anyway...

This week has been the poster child for What The Fuck Is Weather. Over 40C, high humidity, heavy rain, chilly evening... not all at once you understand, but, mostly individually, over the course of the week. Blah.

Humidity is the one that does my head in. I just can't.

The Hexagon Cardigan Project continues... I have done 48 rows (rounds?) across both sides of the cardigan... and would have done one more earlier today had I not gotten to the start of the round only to discover that, like an idiot, I forgot to do the corner properly, so had to frog (undo) the entire round. So, fuck my drag I guess. I mean, it kept my hands occupied while watching a movie, so it's not the worst thing in the world to have to do it over. And at least I noticed it before I started a second row.

With that hour and a half long screw up, I'm at a little over 34.5 hours for the cardigan thus far.

And as proud as I am of the Granny Square Blanket... the literally chasm between that project and this one is enough to drop small countries into. It's amazing what using a slightly smaller hook than you need can do vs picking a hook because it seemed like a good idea at the time. Granted if I'd done the blanket with a smaller hook it would have been a much smaller blanket. Or I would have needed to make a lot more squares. Or, you know, both.

Friday Night DnD was cancelled due to the Friday public holiday... and Thursday Night DnD... would have been better had it been cancelled.

Anyway...

Something something supermarket, something something unpacking... and then we watched Mrs Harris Goes To Paris. Because it was a movie I saw the poster for ages ago, and then I discovered it was based on a book, and read said book... and then borrowed the movie from the library.

A mini review... it adds things that weren't in the book that kinda mess with the vibes of the original story, although I like the ending of the movie more than the book. But it is very sweet... not as good as Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day (also, sometimes I look back on my early movie reviews and cringe), but I'd put them in roughly the same category.

photo saturday: fan-atic

I did mention when the fan item came up during the Hero Forge Advent Calendar that I needed to redo/had redone my trashfire cleric, Whipmaster Demyan, formerly Paingiver Demyan, in line with what he always should have looked like...

And if I'd been thinking about it clearly back when I was playing him, I would have reflavoured his fan as his shield all the way back then... because it never completely made sense that he was walking around carrying a shield. And I always had a fan on hand when playing him, because it just became his aesthetic after I brought a fan to a game when the aircon in the gaming shop was questionable that summer.

Demyan is also one of the models that are first in line to get a makeover when major new content happens. He was one of the first to get coloured by me, then one of the first to get official Hero Forge colouring, he was one of the first to get a new face... plus he's been updated when the dropped new whips and the breastplates. The downside is that to actually get him to look the way I want him to, there's a non-zero amount of Photoshop involved to take the high collar from one set of armour, the sleeves from a different shirt and the breastplate and then get him where he needs to be.

Although if he ever went up to his final position in the church, then I'd have to do a version in white... which, now that I've mentioned it again, might have to happen. If only for me. I've had different versions in my head of what that final outfit would be... the same black but with white accents, etc... but I kinda wanna do a full white version. Hmmm... yeah, that doesn't quite work... let's shove that on the back burner.

Anyway...

This week has been... fucking weird.

My stove did a weird on Monday night... and I've been avoiding both the stove and also reporting it to the land agent all week... I'm mostly mentioning it here to hold myself accountable... must do that over the weekend.

Also, do you know how sometimes you have those friends who are the literal definition of Golden Retriever? And sometimes they give themselves a ball... but then they're torn between the ball they have and the ball they could have and they just stand there with the ball in their mouth looking at the ball they could have and whining. Yeah, that... for basically the whole week. I mean, I love this idiot very much... but also, they need a literal slap sometimes.

Wednesday I went to buy more printer ink. Because also, fuck printer manufacturers and the cost of printer ink. So I was going to get the off-brand, eco printer ink, which is half the price of the on-brand ink. But when I got to Officeworks they didn't have any on the shelves... because it may or may not be online only now... because fuck my life I guess. And they didn't even have the other, non-eco off-brand ink... and I wasn't about to pay $128 for printer ink.

So I bought a $40 printer.

And it would LITERALLY be cheaper to go and buy a new printer every time I run out of ink rather than buy new ink. The FUCK is wrong with the world?

Given that I repeatedly looked at printers when I first moved into this place and couldn't come to a decision, it's amazing all it took was literally a minor inconvenience in order to make me buy a new printer.

And it's all fancy and prints over the Wi-fi and stuff. Which I know has been a thing for a hot minute, but I bought my old printer in 2009... so... it's been a minute. Granted, I think it spent several years just sitting under the bed and only being used once a year... but it's had more work to do in recent years. But at least now I don't have to drag the laptop across the room in order to print.

So there was minor ARGH while I set it up, just because it's always that way until things actually work... but it was no fuss no muss.

Thursday, after a couple of failed attempts, I started my Hexagon Cardigan project. I also finally got around to stitching together my second attempt at my little voodoo doll and he's adorable. He's also doing actual duty as a pincushion for my crochet needle.

But the cardigan is going to be both very soft and quite light I think. Basically it's going to be about on par with some of my lightweight hoodies I think. And that's fine, but it's not going to replace my thicker Winter old man cardigan like I thought it might.

Thursday Night DnD was... a lot of nothing. And very much one of those times when I really wish we played with less people than we do. Because it's difficult to herd cats. And I wasn't even the one doing the herding.

Most of the work I've done so far on the cardigan happened on Friday... because Friday Night DnD was a no-go due to visiting visitors.

Anyway...

Today was basically just the supermarket. Because the weather has been all over the place and today took a turn for the warm.

photo saturday: sea fae

This is what happens when you make a character sketch and your brain says "well, yeah, that's an idea certainly... but you'd never play THAT version... how about we make a version you WOULD play?"...

And then, when you've made that version you think... "yes, but what if also sea themed?"... and then when that versions done, somebody drops a blank pose on Reddit and you think "well... now I just need to redo the whole thing again from scratch and lean into the vibes more"...

Of course then you fuck around with textures and tattoos and Photoshop edits... and by the time you're finished, you really, really want to play this character. But you also know that the likelihood that that feeling will last long enough to actually make it to a new campaign is... slim.

So, say hello to Marinus... he's currently the obsession, until the next one comes along.

Welcome to DnD Character Colouring Book... that's basically what happens here.

Anyway.

The first half of the week is something of a blur... given that the latter half of the week was more weighted with activities.

Oh, I did make some chutney... only a small batch, because I didn't have a ton of ingredients, but needed to use up some peaches and plums that were starting to go soft. Which is always my preferred way of using them up.

And for once, because it was such a small batch, I'm keeping the majority of it for me.

Our first Thursday DnD game of the year actually happened. And we definitely entered the Third Act. Well, we will be next week. Granted, I almost derailed us into the Third Act early, because it made more sense to me to go straight there rather than doing what seemed like busywork.

But it was good to be back, and to be getting on with things.

Friday was Chiro Day...

Which also meant that it was also Return The Christmas Presents That Were Slightly Borked. Which were both books. Because Saga had some weird pink printer ink marks on the first few pages, and The 99% Invisible City had an issue with the binding and was basically going to pull itself apart over time.

But it was no muss, no fuss, and I got them changed over.

Friday Night DnD, we kicked a cat's ass... well, that cat was also a murderous, jewel thief druid... so... you know... she had it coming.

Oh, and we found a magic carpet. Well, I found it.

Anyway...

Today was pretty much just shopping. Because, honestly, the weather isn't really conducive to going anywhere and going things.