Raithe

I am frustrated. Gloriously frustrated. Fuming at the cat and angry at myself. Had to do an online timed Reading Verbal understanding test for a job application. I'd spent 15 minutes or so playing with the cat, giving him treats. Settled him down. Then went to start the test. Cat went freaking mental. Singing the song of his people at full volume, and running up and over and demanding attention and doing the full pounce on keyboard type of needy cat. Threw him in a room and shut the door. He somehow increased volume and started hammering on the door. In my distracted annoyance I let myself get snappy and royally screwed up the test. I have never scored that low on a reading understanding test before.

You do get access to a bunch of Vanish / Invisibility type potions, and as I recall they can allow you to break combat which lets you run away and leave the map on random encounters. Plus, within a few levels, you'll have someone with Knowledge:Nature high enough to start spotting them and allow you the choice of evading or fighting. I only noticed the silly slaughter high random encounters (of elder elemental types) if you had reaaaally wandered far afield from where you were in the story arc.

BBC = 8 yr old girl, named Saga, pulls 1,500 yr old sword from a lake in Sweden

I went strictly TN to begin with, and seem to have made a bunch of NG and LN choices as I've gone along. Also, I know some people complain about handholding for quests in some RPGs.. but man, the direction sense with some of these quests that are not spelled out. "We come from a cave to the north" = look for a cave in the south east. "She was last seen headed to the Torres of.." (Which are in the absolute SE corner of the map) = go the middle of the map, and head north.

"Knowledge is power.... The problem today is that way too many people are choosing to fight that power."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvipPYFebWc

Please Don't Tell My Parents You Believe Her Because sometimes, you just need pulpy entertainment.

Hm. Well Amiri is back. Sort of. Not fully functioning as a party member, but at least it recognises her as one for the most part. I've managed to be crowned King, so that's something. You do get a decent amount of time to start focusing on the kingdom side of the issues, but now I've had the slight glitch of upgrading both Divine and Arcane to the next rank, getting the message that the respective advisors want to see me in the throne room... but those events aren't triggering. So now I can't upgrade either until that gets resolved. Also, I have to say, choosing any non-evil, non-chaotic response to any event relating to Nok-Nok makes you feel like you're kicking a puppy. Goblin doing sad-eyes and the whimpering "I just wanted to be a Big Hero." - His version of being a Big Hero involving putting up shrines to Lamashtu around your capital city, encouraging goblins to come live in the capital, or pointing drunk hill giants looking for mates in your direction...

That's most of the actors under contract with Disney for the Marvel films. They are contractually obliged to keep the "heroic figures" because Disney has them on-call pretty much constantly while the contract lasts. So huge amounts of boiled chicken and constant working out... I imagine Chris Evans can barely look at a chicken now he can eat what he wants.

According to Lara Croft, it was meant to be plunged into a mystical box to stop the sun going out....

Heh. Business Insider - Major study finds that the US is in fact an oligarchy

For those interested in the academic paper, and not just the pretty pictures and highlight... "Ivory craftsmanship, trade and social significance in the southern Iberian Copper Age: the evidence from the PP4-Montelirio sector of Valencina de la Concepción (Seville, Spain).”

Tor - A look of the cast for Good Omens

I've been waiting for this since they announced a movie ten or more years ago. I will only believe when I see it. Call me a heretic, but while there was much to dislike about the crappy tv gimmick that was used by Red Eagle in an attempt to keep the licence, I actually quite enjoyed Billy Zane sinking his teeth into the role of Ishamael for that 22 minutes.

So apparently it is now officialy on the move past writing out screenplay scripts and testing the waters... Variety - Amazon studios orders Wheel of Time series Deadline - Jordan's Wheel of Time to tv series

Hm. I might have to take a break from Kingmaker for a bit now, ran into a bug in the Twice-Born Warlord quest. Amiri leaves the party to do something, but for some reason once that's done and dusted she's not re-joining the party. Just lurking there running an old conversation over and over. So rather than play on, then have to replay it all later when the bug gets fixed, I think I'll just pause for a bit and see when it gets sorted.

Oh the memories....

For Ranger's favoured enemies, there's a fine mix depending on where the story is. But Giant Humanoids, Monstrous Humanoids, Undead, Fey, and Magical Beasts all tend to crop up at different stages so far...

You can only upgrade buildings if you've improved the settlement - from Village to Town, from Town to City. You need three villages before you can upgrade one to a town. Then you can upgrade the buildings in the Town. It all follows on from there. Not really sure what to make of Nok-Nok. He seems very much a gimmick Companion regardless of how well written his story might end up being. I mean, regardless of whether you're a good, neutral, or evil player... He's a goblin who thinks he's a seer of Lamashtu (ie, Evil Goddess of all the Foul Monsters that is outlawed in every country in the woooorld.) Especially since he's a Rogue specialist in knife-fighting, and he's pretty much the last companion you encounter and pick up. Also of note, there's that Season of the Bloom story arc that will leave you with a decision choice to make which could end up with one of two NPC's of your court being killed. You can actually get around it if you want though...