Stray Thoughts [now liveblogging Deltarune ch 2]

Idea stuck in my head:

An RPG campaign where the overarching goal is to deal with a huge and completely disorganized magical library. The owner has died, and the PCs have inherited it, either literally or because they answered some misleading job-offer letter sent out by the lord of the city or something. It turns out that a lot of the books are books of magic with power of their own instead of just books about magic, others are recorded accounts of some truly disturbing supernatural encounters with things that would rather not be remembered, the density of recorded knowledge in the library twists space and makes the building much larger and weirder on the inside than the outside, and being in charge of the library makes the PCs a semi-official authority on spooky bullshit and they are expected to Deal With things. Also, just getting the books organized and catalogued is a huge job, and not always a safe one.

 

Today's cooking project:

Chili

This is one of those meals I change every time I make it. This time I started with dried beans, a pound each of black and kidney, and set them to soak overnight. First discovery: that's a lot of frigging beans.

Soldiering on, I put the de-dried beans in the crock pot with four cans of diced tomatoes. Then I browned a pound each of ground beef and ground pork, put that in, and then used the remaining liquid to sautee the garlic (a heaping spoonful plus a little more) and peppers (a tiny can of green roasted ones, plus two small cans of peppers in adobo sauce, cut up, and a few dried arbol chiles I mushed up by hand). The resulting spice mush went in the pot. (I also swirled a little water into the adobo cans and poured that in the pot, to save the sauce.) The onions, three smallish - I should have done that before the spices but I forgot. I deglazed the pan and put that juice in.

For other seasonings, I just used a lot of salt, maybe two or three Tbsp since it's a huge pot and I didn't have the salt I was used to getting from canned beans, and a generous dusting of cinnamon. Stir, cover, and wait.

The pot is set to six hours, so I'll find out how it tastes later or tomorrow. At least it all fit, which I wasn't sure it would. I'm used to more of my spice being dried and powdered, so it's my first time activating-spices-by-sauteeing-in-oil with this much capsaicin. I wasn't ready. Another time, I should remember to wash my hands before using the bathroom.

 

Chili good! Tasting as it cooked, I was afraid the beans were going to stay crunchy, but in the end they turned out great. Next time I think I'll make it a little less spicy.

 

Boss: It's so dark and gloomy this time of year, let's have special days where we play music about the sun while the students are working to cheer everyone up.
Me: Good idea!
Boss: I'll make a playlist.
Playlist: "Here Comes The Sun"
Me: Cool
Playlist: "Pocket Full Of Sunshine"
Me: *nods*
Playlist: "House of the Rising Sun"
Me: um. Wait a sec.
Playlist: "No Sunlight" by Death Cab For Cutie
Me: ... that's actually the opposite of correct.
Playlist: "You Are My Sunshine," performed at 20 beats per minute in the key of H Minor by George the Very Sad Cowboy
Me: okay, now you're just fucking with us

 

I've been trying out a new Minecraft modpack, SevTech. The concept is you progress through different "ages" of technology (and magic, though I haven't gotten to any of that yet.) So far I've discovered stone tools, masonry, carpentry, animal husbandry, kilns, tanning, thatching, and rafts. Oh, and fire. Not only can I start a fire with two sticks, I can set myself on fire with two sticks. (Yay?)

Navigation is... challenging. The modpack includes JourneyMaps, but it doesn't activate until I've progressed to a certain point, and my unaided sense of direction is fairly poor. Using a written map when my character hasn't discovered paper or writing feels like cheating. I've got a lake to my immediate south, hills and then cliffs to the east, a silver forest to the north, a quarry and then a grassland to the west. Beyond the grassland and the northern forest there is an ocean. All this I know, but this is not enough information to efficiently find my way home. And there are technologies you have to trade for, so I'm going to have to go looking for a village. I'm going to try looking by sea, following the coastline, which would make navigation a more or less one-dimensional problem. If I leave a beacon on the shore I'll hopefully know where to land to get home again...

 

(vibrates with hype)

Spoiler: big image

Here we go! When last we left our kid, they threw their soul in a cage and reminded us that they're named after a knife.

 

Spoiler

Oh never mind, that was my pie-eating knife. And my pie-eating... glowing red eye... I guess. Yup, nothing to see here, definitely no disturbing psychological happenings afoot.

Spoiler

 

Spoiler

This wasn't here last time, but that's probably just because there wasn't any use for money in the "light world" last time. More importantly, this explicitly confirms that the left side of the room is Asriel's. I had wondered if Kris was sleeping in their brother's bed, from missing him or something, and that side was bare because Asriel had brought all his stuff to college.

(I'm not gonna take it.)

 

It's time to play "Sarcasm or Dehumanization"!

Spoiler

 

Spoiler

I feel like this is a really unwise thing to say to Suzie.

Spoiler

Yup.

 

Spoiler

Hmm...

 

I would say this joke never gets old...

Spoiler

... but on the other hand, getting old is kind of the point.

 

Suzie drags us back to the supply closet after school.

Spoiler

And brings up the doubts that lie in our own heart.

Spoiler

Then again, Suzie isn't very good at doubts.

 

Spoiler

Awww yisss. We're back, baybee!

Spoiler

And we... leveled up? That's... good??? Right? Because this is a normal ordinary video game where LV2 is definitely better than LV1 and not at all subtly horrifying.

(Also, secret hidden menu dog!)

Spoiler

Hey, Ralsei! Glad to see you're getting in on the "It feels like it's been [real world elapsed time]" joke!

 

Sooo... Suzie asked Ralsei where Lancer and everybody were. And then Ralsei whispered to us,

Spoiler

In other words, this stuff:

Spoiler

Ralsei. Buddy. Our epic adventures are acquiring a distinct and unfortunate Fakeness Attribute, here.

I get why he's hiding this from Suzie, she would obviously be upset. But, like, I'm also upset? Why wasn't he hiding this from Kris?

 

Spoiler

Okay, wait. Wasn't there some mystic balance thing going on with these fountains? Is it really okay to overload it with all the ordinary-object-based friends we can imagine?

Spoiler

Is it... the death of all things? I'm guessing it's the death of all things.

 

Ralsei set up bedrooms for us in his castle! I wonder what Kris's is like...

Spoiler

Ah. I see. A copy of Kris' side of their Light World bedroom, except furnished and decorated with the same love and attention as Asriel's. Well, then. I'll just be

crying

I guess.

 

Hey, wait, why does Suzie's room look like half a room?

Spoiler

Is that what her Light World bedroom looks like? Come to think of it, where does she live in the Light World? I don't think I found her house when I was exploring in Chapter 1...

By the way, Ralsei, where's your room?

Spoiler

Hmmmmmm......

 

Spoiler

That's... my name. The unsettling fakeness attribute is acquiring an unsettling realness attribute.

 

Suzie made the mistake of mentioning homework, and:

Spoiler

So, are we still pretending you're not the spirit of our goody-two-shoes big brother? Because "Prince Ralsei of the Dark Kingdom" shouldn't even know what school is. There isn't anything like that down here.