That is a nasty level of subtle torture! (I had a similar experience last year in the ER waiting room.)

Right! I do a bunch of intermediate calculations off to the side because I often don't know how to do the three steps as a single process or command. I know that it should exist... but never seems to show up in searches.

That sounds delicious, but hard to stay ahead of the salad breakdown. Hope you don't get tired of it before it's gone!

TTRPG about me

First game: Original D&D
Last game: Follow (Ben Robbins)
Longest Game: Mage: The Ascension
Favorite Game: Mage
Favorite Mechanics: Scum & Villainy (space Forged in the Dark)
Favorite Art: The Questing Beast

I still subscribe to a few magazines in print for the same reason -- even, ironically, Wired.

My wife is calling in this week; it's been pretty steady for her the last few years. For some reason I'm less popular to summon these last few years.

I do like "half your country unlocatable" as a mic drop insult.

That came so fast after the one good day a year, when the humans feed you on schedule [an hour early], before you even have to pester them!

My wife commutes about 8 miles (each way) to work by ebike; plus we head out for rides on the weekends, etc. She spent a long time researching, and decided on a Gazelle in the end. www.gazellebikes.com/en-us We took a road trip to store about 2 hours away for a test drive.

You've persuaded me; I've added the first three books to my library queue!

For such a short evening, a lot happened – particularly given the widely separated storylines. When we wrapped up, people were excitedly discussing that the heroes stories were just beginning, and noting that there was a lot of potential for quite long adventures.

The Saxons broke, abandoning their prisoners and fleeing into the woods.

Soon the Saxons were nursing a dozen wounded and growing reluctant as the knights showed few wounds at all. Grayson’s athletic strength and control inspired the knights, as he landed damaging blows with his heavy hammer, then leaped back out of range of the snarling wolves.

At Grayson’s urging, the knights formed up using stone spires to limit the Saxon’s front that could engage the knights. With their discipline and training, the knights were able to make use of their superior armor and trade out when the front line grew tired.

Almost thirty raiders with more than a dozen prisoners emerged from the treeline. Them raiders dropped the lead ropes binding their prisoners together, drawing weapons and charging forward to overwhelm the knights with their numbers.

While they debated whether to scout the nearby woods or descend to the beach to hunt out more clues, their alert rearguard called their attention to the sound of an approaching throng.

Grayson and his knights scouted out a cliff edge; looking down at the beach at the cliff base they saw deep scuffs from ship keels and the remnants of driftwood fire for many raiders.

When the path led back to the road, the bandits had moved on. He continued south, crossing paths with Bede, exchanging stories. [By the end of the session, Jeff decided that Sir Cuthbert wasn’t as inventive as originally envisioned (down to +1 from +2)… but he was proving quite the Optimist (+1).]

Sir Cuthbert came around on the far side of the lake, still clutching the traitorous spear that had landed him in the lake in the first place. With incredible nerve, he removed the arrow that still was in his shoulder. He’d drifted out of reach and still had his lord’s tax, so resumed his journey.

The villagers grimly confronted the foreigners and drove them out of the village steps ahead of the local toughs who were set to punish them for killing their own.

Other rumors, spread by the village children behind the watchful eyes of the foreigners, spoke of the outsider’s arbitrary murder and wondered which villager would be next to be slaughtered. [Kind dice]

The coven together decided to remind the villagers that Una had lived amongst of the life debts they owed, for wounds set, successful midwifery, lives saved and fevers cooled.

Alara brought her fallen friend back to the ritual stones in the woods; a quiet fell at the sight of their fallen coven member. They debated how to take vengeance, straightforward or subtle.

Arthur and his lord marshal took advantage of the quickly provisioned knights, nominating a dozen knights (including Grayson’s four) to travel as a vanguard, scouting ahead to identify the key locations where the Saxons were striking from and landing along the shore.

The quartermaster quickly capitulated, allowing Grayson and his knights to be ready the next morning while the other knights were still getting supplied.

With a little parkour, he arrived near the beginning of the line. He had to explain (and maybe intimidate a little… he is a Panther after all) that he needed supplies for 5 – his four knights and himself, despite the single knight’s token in hand. [Good dice]

Arthur’s knights would head east to reply as soon as they were equipped. Grayson immediately understood that the pinch-point was going to be drawing those supplies; he took Sir Gwraid’s token and acrobatically swung into action.

One of Grayson’s knights (squires were scarce in Camelot; even “not real squires” like Grayson being in short supply meant that he assists four knights) excitedly informed Grayson that scouts reported to Arthur that Saxons were on the march;

Bede pointed out that he would slow them down greatly, since he had no mount (and they saw he was a turtle…), so he persuaded them to go ahead and he would follow. They gave Bede their names and told him that the gate guards would be expecting him…

Bede made some insightful arguments about the virtues of allying early, particularly since the peasants love Arthur. [The dice gave victory.] The knights were impressed by his reasoning and asked him to explain that directly to their king – he would be an honored guest if only he would join them.