vallo

Who: Henry and Eddie
What: Henry almost gets sucked on by a vampire, but Eddie steps in
Where: The Last Drop night club
When: Late August
Warnings: Slightly PG-13 at the beginning, but otherwise safe for work
Status: Complete!

( Eddie wasn’t a hero…but that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to do something )

Wait

Fuck

It's this shit fixed or not? WHO'S GOT EYES ON HENDERSON? This shit still isn't funny

Filter: Hawkins House

I’m coming home early. Just generally check in, and let know if anyone has eyes on Mike.

Filter: Mike Wheeler

Breaking shit helped for me so if you want to do that, let me know. Just tell me where you are and I’ll come to you.

So I've come to a realization that this is the second time I've apparently broke something from Vallo's crazy shenanigans and it always happens around this time of the year. I'm going to have to start bubble-wrapping myself or something prior to doing anything in future fall seasons or at the very least... try to ask Vallo to give us a fucking break.

But, I appreciate my colleagues replacing my beloved old water bottle with a new one with one that says Slaughter Bottle. I'm going to get a whole lot of uses out of this one!

[...] for hydration only.

Oh ye, Vallo, you great betrayer, you fiend, you Judas. I'd grown too complacent, too trusting, but oh, now I see how that trust was mislaid.

I'm pretty sure I lost at least four hours of progress in Knightmare's Call.



Alright, now that I'm done lamenting the fact that I'm going to have to face Zeddicus Grail all over again when I barely beat him on my fifth attempt (I'm not done lamenting. I am still anguished. Still bereaved), I need some help settling an argument:

Are candlelight dinners always romantic, even when the candlelight is necessary because you have no power?

Well, this certainly wasn't on my list of things to do today.

Granted, I've seen some pretty weird crap. This maybe breaks into the top ten. Maybe. I'm still weighing somethings before I finalize the list.

I'll work on the list after I take a shower. And maybe a nap.

Anyway, I might as well introduce myself, since I'm apparently going to be stuck here for awhile. I'm Buffy Summers.

So you all were serious when you mentioned my getting a... job? Well. Such is the price of freedom, I suppose. Not to sell myself short, but I am uniquely qualified to be decorative and hilarious and little else that can be repeated in polite society. Unless you need someone stabbed? Do you need someone stabbed? Or perhaps something unlocked?

But only at night, of course. I'm a vampire spawn (worst kept secret, isn't it), and so can only maim, murder and preen during the evening hours. I assume is explains my hanging around your little government office the other day. It certainly wasn't out of ardor for your company so much as a requirement of survival.

I'm getting ahead of myself; I haven't introduced myself. My name is Astarion.

It's probably rather... pedestrian of me, but I'm actually looking forward to having a profession again. It's been a very long time. I've got to show up on time? Take lunch breaks? Sit at a table with other coworkers and talk about processes?

Precious.

I HAVE HALLOWEEN DECORATIONS!

Yes, I know, it's only the first of September, I don't care. They were there in the stores and I got them. I'm already planning on decking out the entire castle as soon as possible.

I just need some assistance because, you know, I can't fly. The castle is really big.

Okay, look. I know there's no way to tell who was going to win that pasta eating contest, but I'm pretty sure that I was at least still in the running before that disgruntled ogre flipped the table, and I was really gunning for that year's worth of free garlic knots.

I demand a do-over.

Who needs a car when you can ride a big bird? Not Big Bird, but yeah, you get it. And I didn't even fall off or crash, so that was even a surprise for me. Second place is like winning without the extra attention, so I'm more than all right with that.

Kinda feels weird having cut in the middle of Lance and Atreus, but I'm kinda used to the third wheel thing.

Anyone want a castle?

No, seriously. There's a castle up in the north area of Vallo that was overrun by those hands and I guess the owner was so damn generous for the save he wants me to have it. But it comes with a condition.

You gotta marry his statue daughter.

And listen, Annabeth may not be here right now, but I love her and straight up not interested. BUT, I figured someone out there might if they really want a castle.

Okay, the last time I drank this much was back in 1984. Or, you know.. two years prior to showing up here. Never thought I'd be doing that again. Not that it was an entirely bad things because that party was absolutely amazing. Whatever I had planned for my high school's prom that year was definitely not going to come halfway toward being that good. And I thought the Snow Ball was the height of creativity and fanciness in the category of school dances.

The only bad thing.. is this massive hangover. Tell me there's an instant magical cure here.

P.S.: don't ask me what the plan for the 1986 prom was, my brain scrapped that when we realized the town was going to shit.

Filter: Friends* and Family

I went ahead and dropped one of my classes because I realized I wanted to focus more on writing, and the rest I can do in the longer months in the fall and spring instead of crammed into the summer. So, no math class, and going from 3 to 2 classes. Sorry to anyone I had planned study groups with involving the math class. At least this way I also get to have a little fun in the summer, and also keep working at the library. Hopper, you can't tell me I need to lighten up. I just did and I have a hangover from it. Also, I have realized I like girls, so this is me coming out. Okay, bye, will talk more about study groups when summer classes start!

Filter: Robin, Steve, and Eddie

You boys are as subtle as several brightly colored flying bricks.

*no need to ask, just assume you're friends if you've talked

Got my outfit half-planned out for prom. Just picked it up today. I'm thinking a nice pair of black jeans will really complete the look, but there's something to say about a nice pair of cargo pants with a hundred pockets for being stylish and functional.

Now taking opinions. Specifically on the pants, I mean. The shirt stays.

[Nancy]

Hey, I need your help.

Camping at Dinosaur Island was AMAZING! Seriously one of the best weekends of my entire life. Thanks for setting it up and making sure none of us got ourselves eaten by being dumbasses, Atreus. You rule.

[Filtered to Outlander High Schoolers]
Hey. So we have a bunch of cool nerds here, and I figure most of us aren't getting invited to other people's end of the year cookouts and whatever. Do you guys want to try having our own? The people at my house would probably let us host, if there's any interest in it. (I haven't asked yet. I wanted to see if the response was more "yeah, let's hang out" or "shut up you dumbfuck" before I bothered.) It could double as a graduation party for the people getting out this year.
[/filter]

[Filtered to Starfarers gaming group]
I GOT MINIATURES! Not as many as I wanted, but enough that all the NPCs aren't going to be played by paperclips this week. If anybody wants to help me and El paint them, we'll be working on them after school.
[/filter]

[Filtered to El]
Hey, since I actually have money to go places now: wanna go on a real date? Dinner and a movie?
[/filter]

[Filtered to Hawkins House, after getting a few responses]
Hey, is it okay if we host a cookout to celebrate the end of the school year here at the house? I was thinking either evening on the last day of school, or afternoon the day after the last day. So Friday the 16th or Saturday the 17th.

Hello. I am Spock.

I have familiarized myself with your communications device and message board. Please correct me if message board is an inaccurate descriptor of your communication interface. I am still becoming accustomed to the features and limitations of local technology and wish to be precise.

I have additional queries for the Outlander population should anyone have the expertise and inclination to answer them. For the sake of efficiency I did not wish to take anymore of the DOA's time than necessary.

[...]

Thank you.

Filter: Steve, Robin, and Eddie

I hope everyone has stopped spewing flower petals or WILL stop spewing them long enough to entertain an idea.

Adult prom. I shamelessly want to attend especially since I kind of had plans and then Hawkins blew up and we ended up here. What are your thoughts?

[Filtered to The Mage, The Bard, The Banished, Bat-Man, The Band Geek, My Sister, and My Girlfriend's Dad*]
Guys, I think something's wrong with me. I got stung by a plant with pretty flowers that smell good and now I can't remember the right names for things. Or for people. I don't even know if this filter is going to work. Do I need to go to the magic doctor?


*if one of these labels could also apply to you, feel free to decide you can see this filter

[Filtered to Dustin, Eddie, and El; filter edited to include Kamala a little later]
Welcome to the beginning of talking about our Starfarers game!
First, a question: how would you guys feel about asking Kamala Khan she wants to join? She's cool at school, and I don't think she has a game right now. Or maybe she does and it's just the timeslip version of her didn't. But I figured I could ask anyway, and that would bring us to four at the table, which is a pretty good number.

Second thing, here's a quick rundown on the races and classes, so you can start thinking about what kind of character you want to play.

Classes:

• Marine: Basically your fighter class. Uses laser guns and hand to hand combat to kick ass on the ground.
  
• Pilot: Basically another fighter class, but provides air support with a shuttle or flies the main ship
  
• Engineer: Uses a drone and some other tech tricks in a fight, kind of feels like a space-ranger to me.
  
• Starwalker: closest thing to a mage class. Uses natural telekinetic abilities and space manipulation in battle. NOTE: this class cannot be played by humans
  
• Medic: Healer class, obviously. Keeps everybody alive (hopefully)
  
• Captain: Has some combat abilities, but mostly works as a support class, kind of like a bard. NOTE: If you want your own ship, you have to have someone playing this class.
  
• Smuggler: Basically your rogue class, but in space.

Note: El already mentioned she wants to play a Starwalker

Races:

• Kanbarans: Long-lived residents of the planet Kanbara (average lifespan about 200 years). They're built like humans, but their skin comes in varying shades of blue and green, and they are comfortable in much colder temperatures than most humans. There is a dominant matriarchal religion on the planet, which if you're not going to follow you'll need a good reason for. They get bonuses to Intelligence and Wisdom.
  
  
• Oransi: Similar lifespan to humans, from the planet Insal. Their homeworld is much warmer than Vallo, with most regions being either tropical or desert by comparison. Don't call them lizardmen unless you're deliberately trying to be rude. They get bonuses to Dexterity and Strength.
  
  
• Human: You know humans, but we're kind of different in comparison to the other races. Humans are known in the galaxy as persistence predators, able to survive in all kinds of environments and keeping going when others would fall. Being from Vallo, they also have little bits of magic - nothing fancy, but any human character will have a minor magical talent or two. Humans get bonuses to Constitution and Charisma.

There are some other races available in the Bonus Books, but these are the ones in the base game, and I would really like it if we could stick to the base game for our first run at a campaign.

Okay, so there we go! Hit me with your thoughts! And when we decide about adding another person, then we can start talking about your ship and stuff.

[Filter to Kamala Khan, added a little later]
Hey Kamala! Dustin, Eddie, El, and I are getting ready to start up a game of Starfarers with me DMing. It's a local Vallo tabletop RPG that none of us have played before, so we'll kind of be learning together. Want to join in? We haven't got a schedule set yet or anything, but we're thinking we'll play at Wicked Games.

[Texts to Steve]

» Guess who made a killing last night?
» Do you want to go out for dinner?

Here is a list of my favorite gaming shop customers:

• The Board Game Couple: they constantly (good-naturedly) shit-talk each other about who's going to win whatever game they're buying and it's hilarious.
  
• The Dice Princess: I don't know how many dice this lady has, but I'm pretty sure she could bury me in them. I don't know what she does with them all. She loves sparkles, and even though it's sometimes a pain in the ass to sit there while she gives each d20 a "test roll to make sure they're not cursed" she's nice enough that I don't mind.
  
• Chill MTG Guy: He's an incredibly good player, probably the best in the shop, somehow without taking it seriously at all? Like, any time somebody starts to get more wound up than they ought to about a match, he just talks them right down, so I never have to step in and referee somebody's big dumb card game feelings.
  
• Thursday Night DM: Thursday Night DM always brings cookies or brownies or something for her group, and she always shares them with whoever's working that night. I love working Thursdays.
  
• Space Shanty Guy: Sunday nights we have a group that plays a game set on a spaceship, and their bard equivalent actually writes his own space shanties. I just love the creativity and commitment. He reminds me of Will

[Filtered to Eddie]
So, I was showing the guys at the shop the D&D For Babies rules we put together, and they thought it was really cool! They asked if we'd want to maybe run a game for kids here at the shop, and...

...sit down for this one

...

THEY WOULD PAY US TO DO IT.

They'd be looking for a weekly Saturday or Sunday afternoon thing. What do you think?
[/filter]