iSaac

Isaac was in town for Amtgards this weekend. Met up with him at Spotted Dog Thursday night. Their amber ale is delicious. And there was parking this time, unlike when mom and I tried to go a few weeks ago. Haven't had a chance to just sit and chat with Isaac for a while, was refreshing. Wish he was still living in Cruces. Friday we picked up El Sombrero Express and had him over for dinner and to visit with the whole family. Isaac graciously helped me slay the Smaug Stout I got for Xmas while we watched Frozen.

Alex stopped by for a little while before heading down to El Paso. His dad has had some recent health complications and his heart isn't doing good. They're just starting up home hospice. Sad.

Home/Life

I looked back at old LiveJournal entries yesterday, expecting to be mostly embarrassed at whatever it was I was talking about 10 years ago. Or at least bored. I wasn't expecting to be kicked in the gut by nostalgia. I had thought that all the minutiae would engender more boredom upon rereading but I think it frames all the other crap I was talking about and gives it context. Man, I had a lot of time on my hands back then.

So, what's home life like now...

Abigail May. She was born on September 22nd. Four months old now and I'm finding that equating this new baby to whatever we went through with the twins doesn't track. Carrie's mentioned more than once, since she was born, that we deserve medals for dealing with twin infants. I don't disagree. It's easier, for sure, but this time around Carrie and I have vastly different obligations. Since she's breastfeeding there's only so much I can contribute. But I'm doing what I can.

My day-to-day for the past four months has looked something like this:
Get up in the morning, feed Piper, shower, then we get Owen and Paige dressed and fed while they watch a little tv before daycare. One of us takes the twins to daycare and I'm off to work, generally getting in between 8 and 8:30. Work 8 hours then home where Carrie's picked up the kids. She's a lot better than I am about keeping the tv off till I get home most days. Then fix dinner, feed piper, and get the kids baths and into pjs. Let them watch a little tv before brushing their teeth, reading books, then into bed for them and Abigail. After the kids are down Carrie and I watch some tv then she goes to sleep and I stay up a while watching tv or reading (books or comics or internet). Sleep.

That's pretty accurate I think. It doesn't account for Monday being swim lessons for the kids, which means Wendy's (usually) for dinner. Or for when the kids were in soccer this past fall. Or when I get home and there's still some light out so we actually get outside for a little while.

Abigail starts daycare on Monday. Constant flux, this parenting thing.

The Ghost Ship of Sezrekan the Mad

The Ghost Ship of Sezrekan the Mad

Here's a basic rundown of what I've got, partly because David Jenks asked, and partly because I need to write this down.

So Sezrekan, back before his apotheosis, traveled around looking for stuff to make that happen. That took him to some pretty weird places, both in and outside this reality. The ship he took to these places sucked up the weirdness in various ways. Here's some of those ways:

The ship is possessed by some alien intelligence from BEYOND. The ship's all rotted and torn up, but the possession by this thing keeps it from falling apart. It also keep the ship sailing, on some enigmatic route. Partly this thing either (depending on campaign needs, and I haven't really decided yet myself) either hates Sezrekan and is traveling to places that could facilitate destroying him, or it is drawn to/loves him and travels to places that could better bring his attention. Probably both.

There's a hole in the bottom of the hold, straight out into the water. Water doesn't flood the ship though, the alien possession keeps it out. If somebody dives through the hole they get stuff to help them underwater: gills, webbed hands/feet, nictating membranes on their eyes. Coming back up through the hole into the ship reverses it. The more someone does this the more likely this stuff is to become permanent.

The captain's quarters is haunted by the sadistic ghost of Grokkus Brell. If someone sleeps in the cabin they wake up having been tortured, and the ship coughs up one of a number of magic items tied to it. The torture gets worse the more nights someone has slept in the cabin. I have some tables written up for this one, but the items bit is unfinished. Each of the items corresponds directly to some kind of ship's business, some of them interacting with other places on the ship, or being required to make certain effects work. Most of them are in the good/bad vein of magic items. Ex: Bos'n's Pipe - a whistle that allows you to command people. Commanded people (npcs) get increasingly pissed off by this and will eventually snap and attack the user.

The crow's nest pokes up out of reality to a space in-between (the phlogiston?). Arcane magic works crazy well there, although there are also automatic corruption effects and mercurial magic is rerolled each time a spell is cast (caster keeps the last mercurial magic effect rolled for the spell). Getting up the mast to crow's nest is a little wonky as you have to climb up out of reality and that can make one dizzy. Clerical magic only works on a critical, and automatically incurs disapproval.

The boy's cabin is a little closet off the main cargo hold and requires the key from the captain's quarters to get in. There are a slew of small portals embedded into walls and ceiling, each leading to a seemingly idyllic pocket dimension that turns out to be a nightmare realm. Should probably come up with some kind of multiple column random table for this one. These pocket dimensions are also centered around objects of power the ship's boy pilfered during the ship's journeys and squirreled away.

There are four rune-inscribed barrels secured around the mizzen mast that contain the pickled, quartered remains of one of Sezrekan's old rivals, Gor-Mal the Butcher. Each quarter of the body has a magic item on it but opening the barrels is dangerous and could end up resurrecting the crazed wizard, who's been conscious since Sezrekan 'killed' him.

That's most of the detail I've got so far. I've got some other ideas too. Something about potentially killing yourself to contact the alien possessing the ship and then gaining some limited control over it. Also, there's probably a skeleton tied to the bowsprit that talks and lies a lot.

If I statted this thing up fully I think I would probably dual stat it for DCC and LotFP.

The Ghost Ship of Sezrekan the Mad

Here's a basic rundown of what I've got. I need to write this down before it slips from out my head.

So Sezrekan, back before his apotheosis, traveled around looking for stuff to make that happen. That took him to some pretty weird places, both in and outside this reality. The ship he took to these places sucked up the weirdness in various ways. Here's some of those ways:

The ship is possessed by some alien intelligence from BEYOND. The ship's all rotted and torn up, but the possession by this thing keeps it from falling apart. It also keep the ship sailing, on some enigmatic route. Partly this thing either (depending on campaign needs, and I haven't really decided yet myself) either hates Sezrekan and is traveling to places that could facilitate destroying him, or it is drawn to/loves him and travels to places that could better bring his attention. Probably both.

There's a hole in the bottom of the hold, straight out into the water. Water doesn't flood the ship though, the alien possession keeps it out. If somebody dives through the hole they get stuff to help them underwater: gills, webbed hands/feet, nictating membranes on their eyes. Coming back up through the hole into the ship reverses it. The more someone does this the more likely this stuff is to become permanent.

The captain's quarters is haunted by the sadistic ghost of Grokkus Brell. If someone sleeps in the cabin they wake up having been tortured, and the ship coughs up one of a number of magic items tied to it. The torture gets worse the more nights someone has slept in the cabin. I have some tables written up for this one, but the items bit is unfinished. Each of the items corresponds directly to some kind of ship's business, some of them interacting with other places on the ship, or being required to make certain effects work. Most of them are in the good/bad vein of magic items. Ex: Bos'n's Pipe - a whistle that allows you to command people. Commanded people (npcs) get increasingly pissed off by this and will eventually snap and attack the user.

The crow's nest pokes up out of reality to a space in-between (the phlogiston?). Arcane magic works crazy well there, although there are also automatic corruption effects and mercurial magic is rerolled each time a spell is cast (caster keeps the last mercurial magic effect rolled for the spell). Getting up the mast to crow's nest is a little wonky as you have to climb up out of reality and that can make one dizzy. Clerical magic only works on a critical, and automatically incurs disapproval.

The boy's cabin is a little closet off the main cargo hold and requires the key from the captain's quarters to get in. There are a slew of small portals embedded into walls and ceiling, each leading to a seemingly idyllic pocket dimension that turns out to be a nightmare realm. Should probably come up with some kind of multiple column random table for this one. These pocket dimensions are also centered around objects of power the ship's boy pilfered during the ship's journeys and squirreled away.

There are four rune-inscribed barrels secured around the mizzen mast that contain the pickled, quartered remains of one of Sezrekan's old rivals, Gor-Mal the Butcher. Each quarter of the body has a magic item on it but opening the barrels is dangerous and could end up resurrecting the crazed wizard, who's been conscious since Sezrekan 'killed' him.

That's most of the detail I've got so far. I've got some other ideas too. Something about potentially killing yourself to contact the alien possessing the ship and then gaining some limited control over it. Also, there's probably a skeleton tied to the bowsprit that talks and lies a lot.

New Job, Same as the Old Job

Not really the same, but I'm driving to the same place every day and working around a lot of the same people (for better or worse.)

Having the past few weeks off was pretty great, especially falling in the summer as it did. It meant the family got to spend a lot of quality time together, and do some honest-to-goodness road trip summer vacationing. After my last day with Harris I flew up to Jon's and hung out there for a few days while Carrie and the kids were off on a trip to Leadville with her family. Dad flew out too and we got in some brewery visits before Carrie and the kids came down and joined us. Hung out at Jon's for a couple more days then Carrie, the kids, and I drove back home together.

Summer Vacation, how I've missed you!

The Ocho

Carrie and I have been married 8 years today. Pretty great! Love you, baby!

Saturday Carrie posted to Facebook something to the effect of, 'it would be in your best interest not to finish all the ice cream for the next 6 months.' The next 6 months being, of course, the remainder of the current pregnancy. I accepted my failing, and on the way home stopped by Walmart and bought one of every basic Ben & Jerry's flavor they had. She woke up to the top level of the chest freezer filled with ice cream.

Last week I lost my wedding ring for most of the week. On Sunday I grabbed a pair of jeans out of the closet and found my ring in the pocket. That's pretty much where it is 50% of the time that it's not on my finger. The other 50% it's next to a sink or on the kitchen bar.

Later that same day we took the kids to the pool. Carrie hasn't seen her wedding ring since. She definitely remembers having her turtle ring on in the pool, which likely means her wedding ring was on when she got in as well. Doh!

DW - Across the Plains of Hell

Lasts night Dungeon World was pretty sweet. It having been months since we last played, we started in the midst of the endgame for one of the fronts. Hamshire was now overrun by a voracious swarm goblins. The cast included both old and new characters. From previous sessions, Gregor the Fighter and Piotr the Cleric of Torbath; new to the scene, Ssor the warforged Fighter, Regulus the Paladin of Torbath, and Dagolear the elf Wizard. After two disparate goblin swarm encounters, the new folks managed to handily undo the binding of Azathoth that the old guard had previously spent so many resources putting in place. The doorway to hell was opened. Regulus, after burning his sword hand to a stump trying to close the portal, opted for a noble sacrifice and stepped into the burning void. Everyone else followed him through. Thereafter saw a Perilous Journey undertaken across the plains of hell, searching for Cadeus, the man who had originally sacrificed himself to close Azathoth's portal, and been bound in hell in the bargain. Ssor set a brutal pace, his warforged-ness having no pity on his fleshy companions. Piotr maintained his connection to Torbath even in the depths of hell, and provided temporarily sanctified ground in which his companions could rest. Their travels were briefly interrupted when the devil lord Blix confronted the group, trying to figure out how and why a group of heroes had found their way into the nether realm. He was convinced to leave by Regulus, but only barely. Finally making their way to where Cadeus had been bound, on a platform above a lake of fire, they woke him from within his broken binding circle. Cadeus outlined how they could sacrifice an item of great power to both close the now open portal and return the group to the mortal plane. Piotr, having rescued the Shield of Torbath from the goblin swarm, briefly conferred with Torbath to assess whether its sacrifice would do the job. Torbath answered in the affirmative but also returned a warning not to trust the man before them. Regulus quickly grabbed the shield of Torbath and slammed it into Cadeus, who was thrown aside in a blast of holy light and revealed to be the devil lord Blix. Commanded by the word of law, the devil lord was forced to retreat. As he disappeared the crumpled form of Cadeus was revealed within the broken circle. The woke the old priest and enacted the ritual, Gregor and Ssor holding off the devil swarm that Blix brought down on them for ruining his deception. There was a tense moment when Ssor was almost carried off by the devils, but in the end our heroes sacrificed the artifact, closed the portal to hell, and found themselves back home. Unfortunately Blix and five other devils followed them through, escaping them and scattering out into the world. Shortly thereafter they took stock of their surroundings and realized that they were back home, but some three years in the past.