A Wicked Convergence of Circumstances Mk 2.0

I should try to be on Kintsugi more, but I am a lurker by nature and also a flake. And I have been mostly on only one discord server regularly to the point where I haven't bothered with my own dead-quiet server.

 

I feel extremely gross and crampy. My throat hurts and also my sinuses hate me. (I am apparently having a period, though it is extremely light and I wouldn't have noticed it except for the the weird cold/allergy symptoms I get when I'm on my period.)

 

In other news, I have been writing lots of book reviews! (I have been arcs/galleys from a site called NetGalley and reviewing them on my writing blog.) I am trying to do some other writing but I have a bunch of other stuff I'm trying to also get done. Also, as stated above I feel like crap.

 

So, I have successfully moved to the new clinic, (after three years of effort) though I'm currently confused about who my case manager is for the SMI clinic. I was given a name...which is the same name as the person who is apparently going to be my case manager at the Autism Clinic.

Tuesday I have to go to the SMI clinic and find out about potential services available and so on.

I still haven't gotten my annual paperwork done. The therapist has had to reschedule several times. >_<

I should be writing, but I have been too busy worrying about Various Real Life BS. (I am having difficulties with my landlord and I needed to get some financial help because I ran short again.)

 

At the Autism Clinic I am currently in a Social Skills group cleverly disguised as a TTRPG. The Therapist who told me about it seemed initially confused about whether it was a D&D group or not. (She seemed to think that it was roleplaying real-life situations but no, we are murderhoboes.) The DM/Group Facilitator is a *very* good DM whose general method is collaborative storytelling--which is my favorite game play method. This same group facilitator is going to be doing another group that's various board and card games that I'm also interested in.

I am running a Nerfed Version of the protagonist of the web novel that's been on hiatus for a year.

 

We have inadvertently discovered the precise dosage of anti-anxiety medicine that will more or less ACTUALLY MAKE ME CHILL. The inadvertently comes because I accidentally took a previous prescription for Sertraline plus the new prescription. Which came out to 200 mg. This is a great discovery. Previous dosages with other meds were either not strong enough (I would have just enough chill to know when I was about to have a melt down, but not enough chill to avoid the meltdown) or too strong (I would basically faceplant and sleep for hours.)

Now if I could just find a med for my back. (The had me on Naproxen, which didn't work. Then they switched me to Lyrica...which also doesn't work!) I also have bad knees and for some reason it feels like someone took a baseball bat to my achilles tendon. (I was given a name for what it probably is, but I forgot it. I will hopefully be getting an appointment with a podiatrist.)

 

So, last week there was a hiatus from the game, but it's restarting tomorrow. I am excited because where we ended was (yet another) cliffhanger. Some highlights of the previous game include...

• Because this is a communication/socialization group we had to do some actual social communication: It was requested of Dwarf to maybe tone down the alcoholism stuff. Because reasons. Also discussed finding ways to interject/participate/let other people stand in the spot light. Some discussion about the concept of Safe Space. I am hoping group leader talked to Dwarf about Fantasy Racism. (Bro's name is Glint Orcbreaker and just no.) Which was an issue I pointed out in a previous session.
• My poor mage character is so stressed right now. He's fallen in with a group who have managed to get themselves neck deep in trouble, had to switch classes as a result of a faerie bargain, and is now a bard. (he was a mage, and was given the choice give up magic/the arcane or his knowledge. Our boy is an academic at heart, and gave up magic so he could come back from being dead.)
  
• The Dwarf in an epic display of "what ever the fuck the opposite of being Genre Savvy is" picked the wrong option and now has a curse mark because he accidentally allied himself with the Bad Guy of the game. Fortunately he did not compound his error by trying to hide it. (It would be hard for him to, as we all know he didn't show up on the island, but still.) He told us everything, and is looking for some kind of Gimmick to fix the curse. (Bro, just do the quest.)
  
• My extremely stressed "suddenly a bard" is stuck in a town where he has to help fight an incoming horde of goblins. The other characters either went looking for previous allies/encounters. Joris had a minor IC flip out because one of the potential allies is a naga, two of the characters are Very Cursed, and none of the other characters are very willing to TELL HIM HOW THAT HAPPENED.
  
• Joris also went on a three day research bender, reading a book he'd been given by the Fey/Primordial. In it was a spell that basically made a bomb out of life-energy.
  
• The Dwarf made molotov cocktails. My character: Seriously? You're going to give someone babysitting a death spell a molotov cocktail? (I don't feel that molotov cocktails are sufficient artillery. Should have gone for pots of boiling oil.)

 

Last week I lost my phone somewhere between my house and [street number] Neither I nor the map function was able to accurately locate it. In a fit of irritation, I nuked the phone and then decided to get a new phone and switch over to [cable provider] which recently started up a mobile program. It was something of a hassle getting the new phone set up. I couldn't get the little sim card tray to come out, and I had to take it to the [provider] store. (There is a ramen place next door to the store. I will have to try it some time.)

Phone is currently set up, and I am hoping the current version is easier to read in sunlight than the previous version.

Today is the rpg game day! I have no idea of what the DM has planned for my character and was not able to attend last week due to the entire "where the fuck is my phone?" thing.

Last Friday was the first day of the Board Games group. One of the members is a professional author. She Seems to write Urban Criminal Justice Themed Fantasy, and romance, which are not really in my wheelhouse.

 

The Socialization and Communication Group Disguised as a DND game has run into a problem. That would be my inherent reaction to someone is playing "silly times" when I want to follow the plot. (And that reaction would be increased aggravation with the person responsible.) Especially when the situation is extremely high stakes. (Our characters are at the edge of Known Civilization in a place where everything is extremely overpriced.)

The other problem is the Extremely Racist Dwarf. (Okay, he's racist against goblinoids and drow specifically and his surname is "Orcbreaker." *insert nsfw dom joke here*) I don't like inherent evil species. This is one of the reasons I stopped trying to play d and d. (The other reason would be my complete inability to remember any of the rules for longer than the time of the game.)

 

Okay so the conflict started when Athena, the druid of the party decides to pay for a room. Problem: Our party is being shafted as far as pricing is concerned. We are at the very edge of Known Civilization, so everything is overpriced. Joris, who has become some kind of bard due to a fairy bargain. (He used to be a necromancer, but had to give up being a mage-class.) Decided that the best thing to do would be to rent a pavilion and a lot to put it on. (He then had to go around to the other team members to get more money and he is now entirely cleared out.)

Joris was not happy that Athena wasted her money on a very expensive room, so he made fun of her a bit and told her that she was not allowed to play with the "wolf" puppy that turned up and which is definitely a spirit even though it otherwise generally actslike a baby wolf.

Athena decides she's going to steal it.

Now, back track a bit. Joris, the paladin and the racist dwarf are on a case they are not high enough level to be on. This case was described as a "kidnapping ring," and the racist dwarf thinks that drow are responsible because this hellhole of an island has a slave market/is apparently involved in trading slaves, particularly "exotic" ones. (The alternate job was "debt collecting" which wouldn't have been the better option.) The barbarian of the party and the druid had opted out on the kidnapping ring mission.

Joris does not trust any aspect of this case, it should be clear. He also doesn't think there is much the group can do about it, since the specific problem is "kids are being stolen off of ships (as hostages?) along with whatever is not nailed down." Our group is at about third level and is much lacking in the fleet of ships necessary to track down raiders/pirates.

So, after getting the pavilion set up, Joris attempts to talk to the spirits! His initial question was "what happened to the kids." The answer seemed to be generally "they were stolen of the boats by critters that looked like wormy cyborgs/mini-mechs and they most likely died." (I need to clarify some things with the group counselor running the game.) Guess what happened while Joris was in the middle of speaking to his informants?

Go on.

Guess.

If you guessed that the druid decided to interrupt the seance or whatever, then you are absolutely right!

She steals the wolf and runs. The wolf is not happy about this! Neither are the spirits, who turn malevolent and immediately attack her.

So, the wolf is apparently my focus/protection when contacting spirits? I guess?

She gets clobbered, and also gets clobbered by her curse (two of the party are Extremely Cursed, she's one, racist dwarf is the other one) due to breaking her own fae bargain. In addition, the paladin is also severely injured in the effort to save the druids silly times ass. So we have an deathly injured druid, who is stuck in a horrifying between shape, and a deathly injured tiefling paladin. (Either of them could be kidnapped and end up for sale in once sense or another because "exotic" so they are super in danger.) On an island where everything is overpriced and debt slavery is a more than likely a thing since the whole place seems designed to *put you in debt.*

(Note: My interpretation of the scenario is probably darker than the dm intended.)

 

Wednesday's game was mostly Talking About the Week Before As One Does Because This Is Actually A Communication Group, Even if It is Also a D&D campaign. So, we had to work out my general paranoia and misgivings about the setting, discuss the various aspects of Interacting With Others and so on.

The Barbarian's player was a little frustrated because we weren't getting things done quickly enough or in the right order. (Which, mostly my fault. Bluh.) We had to take the druid and the paladin to the healers. We went with a House (a kind of guild/political unit) that specializes in healing, which was apparently staffed primarily by halflings. Racist Dwarf for some reason decided to jump up on the receptionist desk, apparently in an effort to intimidate the receptionist, who was absolutely unimpressed. (She also said she was sorry, but they didn't treat insanity.)

So we had to apologize for the Racist Dwarf. (We would have to do so many apologies for the racist dwarf. The Player says dwarfs are brash and to the point, and he's being brash and to the point. My feel is that this is bullshit.)

We are of course not able to completely pay for the treatment, so the paladin (and the druid when she wakes up) have the option of paying with interest, some other thing I don't remember and working off the debt. Specifically, a job involving diving for a particular kind of seaweed. My character wants to also take the job because he wants to continue the investigation.

Racist Dwarf was so obnoxious and rude to the doctor/hospital staff that the doctor cast Suggestion on RD and sent him back to the pavilion, and banned him from the hospital for three days. This was hilarious, and we had to apologize. Again. I said Racist Dwarf couldn't help it, he was raised in a barn. (I may expand on this in a number of "descriptive insult" ways.)

After group, I talked to the Barbarian's Player, to make sure everything was okay/apologize for the way things dragged at the start.

I have been given permission to make Drow Dominatrix Jokes, and possibly also "The Perils of Dating a Drow Because They Are High Maintenance and Full of Trauma, According to My character's Uncles."

 

We were missing two players but still had a lot of fun. We had to do some pre-game discussion on a variety of points.

Our Druid was extremely overwhelmed because she doesn't actually understand how to use her class. I am not sure she understands how to be in a TTRPG. (I can sympathize with the former because I have never been a bard and I desperately need to settle down and get a better handle on potential tactics using my bardic abilities. I have an IC excuse though: my boy used to be a mage.)

Anyway, we're currently doing deep sea diving to gather a specific type of grass. (The druid and paladin need to pay off their medical bill, the rest of us are trying to gather more funds.) Sadly, we are in primitive diving suits and being attacked by weird mounds of earth. Under water. This kind of sucks. I think the counselor throws high level situations at us to give us a similar amount of stress that we might experience if interacting in other settings.

The druid decided to be silly, and we were almost too late for work. There was an incident with the ship captain, and the supervisor is a cold-blooded asshole. Which is to be expected because this island is a shithole!

At one point, Druid's player wanted to rage after our Barbarian said he was going to rage. The DM goes, "you don't have that ability. You can't just use an ability someone else says they're going to use if you don't have that ability!" The Druid was having a time trying to figure out what she could do (again, she didn't have a handle on her abilities and couldn't figure out how to use them effectively.) Player abruptly decides she wants to change class. In the middle of a battle.

This was the point the Barbarian's player started cracking up, and buried his face in his arms. The DM says, "Oh no, we broke B!"

There is more conversation, and the DM reasons out that the Druid Player might be better suited to play a rogue. (I have my doubts. She's going to be very upset if she can't shapeshift any more.)

Anyway, we're still under water, in the middle of a battle. So we ended on something of a cliffhanger.