butleroftoast

[butleroftoast]

They say that in the desert beyond Scrantz, hidden within the dunes, beyond the reach of any travelling caravan, lies a forgotten city, its technology advanced far beyond anything known in the kingdom. They say that the people who dwell within, if they can be called people, are reclusive and shun contact with the outside world. They say that anybody who tries to find this place will die of thirst long before they reach it, and even if they did they would be taken prisoner and used as a test subject in unimaginably horrific experiments.

It's all nonsense, of course. No evidence has ever been produced other than a few unconvincing carvings and ambiguous scraps of text. Some people who have ventured deeper into the desert, such as the nomadic worshippers of Bos Hwansek, claim to have seen it, but they will also claim the sky is brown if they can make some coin out of it.

The Marquis Skullduggan insists it's real. Okay, they've never seen it, or any compelling evidence of its existence, or in fact any evidence at all, but in their words, "it stands to reason, yeah?". Apparently they think there wouldn't be any point in the desert having so much space if nobody was going to use it for anything.

Morris is never entirely sure whether they genuinely buy into in that rubbish or whether it's an excuse to wind people up before heading south and fighting bandits. Even when they're alone and the Marquis is being comparatively sincere, however, they keep claiming the city is real, so they probably do believe in it. It's exactly the sort of dumb, waste-of-energy idea they would latch on to, Morris thinks.

#house skullduggan

[butleroftoast]

Flying Crocodile

A view from below. A crocodile swims in the open water area of a cenote, surrounded by mangroves.

By Alvaro Herrero Lopez-Bletran, Mexico

Mangrove Photography Awards

#photography

[butleroftoast]

I saw this at QuiltCon 2023 in Atlanta today and wanted to share. I have so many more pictures and can’t share them all right now, but this peaceful scene felt like a good one to leave you with for now

#crafts

[butleroftoast]

Under the cut: BG3!Morris v Tav Skullduggan.

BG3!Morris: Gradually learns to trust and ultimately befriend companions, overcomes his personal problems to make the world a better place.

BG3!Skullduggan: maybe I will take control of the BBEG and enslave the Sword Coast. as a treat.

#tozby plays bg3 #tried to keep it vague enough not to spoil anything but hints at one of the endings #druid pol morris #house skullduggan #stupid

[butleroftoast]

#transgender #nonbinary

[butleroftoast]

Why Morris eats poisoned food: An Essay

Or, why don't you just ritually cast detect poison you freak

Because:

This is often happening underground, in a tunnel, in a wall cavity. Easier for Morris to grab the dubious food in wildshape then beeline it for an open space if he starts to feel unwell (so he doesn't drop wildshape inside a two-inch cavity between hard stone walls).

It requires verbal and somatic components. Again, impossible in wildshape, and even if he gets the food out without anyone eating it, the fact that someone is putting rat poison down suggests they don't want rats and a druidic nutcase who aids and abets them crawling around in that location. They might not take kindly to hearing someone casting spells there.

okay why not cast protection from poison on himself or a rat who consumes poisoned food

To ritually cast it takes ten minutes. Good luck keeping an entire pack of rats away from a tasty morsel of cheese for ten minutes while Morris sits there muttering at it.

Again, see above, verbal and somatic, he has to be able to speak, so he can't do it in wildshape and by the time he's dropped it the rat could be dead.

That said, he would cast protection from poison on a poisoned rat if he could do so quickly enough, but it can't be done ritually, so it uses up a spellslot. This is why he doesn't use it on himself - saves the slot for when a rat is in imminent danger.

If he does use a spell slot to heal himself, it'll be with lesser restoration, and he saves that for when he's caught a disease on account of living, you know, with sewer rats. You only get to remove disease or poison.

Also, the "unruly rats might eat it before Morris finishes dealing with the problem" issue remains even if he knows for a fact it is poisonous, so the original point of him setting a bad example by claiming poisoned food for himself stands. He can try and command an entire colony of 100~ rats not to touch it, and on a bad day he will literally tell them that if they eat it anyway they will die and he takes no responsibility for that, but more often than not his conscience won't let him commit to that and he ends up taking the food.

Which still hasn't quite solved the problem. Now he has poisoned food in his pockets and some of the rats like to hitch rides in there, precisely because he so often keeps tasty things tucked away for them. If he throws it away some other rats will find it. Probably he keeps a pouch for food he knows is poisoned and, once full, ritually casts purify food and drink on it.

But he can't give that to the rats because then they will think the pouch is another secret treat stash.

Maybe he saves it for when he has guests.

"This cheese is nice. Where did you get it?" "Found it on the floor next to Lord Soandso's bins." "…" "It was poisoned, but don't worry, I purified it."

#druid pol morris #the oak and the mistletoe

[butleroftoast]

#miscellaneous #mineralogy

[butleroftoast]

Trying to design Cleric and Monk (who do actually have names now, at least).

Monk is a Lawful Good Hobgoblin, and while trying to find justification for that, I saw someone's suggestion that a character could have been cursed to reverse their alignment.

It does not fit my plans for her at all but oh, I want to steal that idea. The tension of knowing that evil is inside her and of being unsure how much she would change if the curse was removed. The irony of her rivalry with Skullduggan based on their conflicting alignments. The drama of the curse inevitably being dispelled one day. The character development of realising she preferred being Good and is now free to choose that for herself. Choosing to be good is so much more meaningful when you have the freedom to be evil, and all that.

Meanwhile Cleric's entire schtick is "imagine Boring McGenericface, that's her". Which is... well, boring, but I feel like someone in a group otherwise comprised of Monk/Morris/Skullduggan/Tozbarb requires the ability to be normal.

#the oak and the mistletoe #feeling uninspired about the cleric is why this is taking so long #there are loads of gods to choose from with so much potential for weirdness #but the story kind of requires hers to be a bland peaceful nonentity. boring.

[butleroftoast]

#cats

[butleroftoast]

#cats

[butleroftoast]

Under the cut, Skullduggan continues to bring the chaos, along with Act 3 spoilers.

"Stop panicking, guys, taking out the Dead Three's chosen will be easy. We've already done two and we're not even in Baldur's Gate yet."

#tozby plays bg3 #bg3 spoilers

[butleroftoast]

Bowl Depicting a Swarm of Mice. Medium: ceramic and pigment Period: 180 BC - 500 AD. Culture: Nazca; South coast, Peru. Now on display at the Art Institute of Chicago. Illustration by Elena Izcue (1889-1970).

#miscellaneous

[butleroftoast]

I'm learning new types of stitches for embroidery! They may be wobbly and messy but darn it, I am learning.

#an art form ai cannot yet imitate #humanity is stored in the stitches #tozby does crafts

[butleroftoast]

Abismo de Anhumas - Bonito, Mato Grosso do Sul (Caio Vilela/Wikimedia Commons)

#abismo de anhumas #brazil #travel #caves

[butleroftoast]

(by Jose Figueroa)

#travel #tikal #guatemala

[butleroftoast]

Sorting dice, supervised by a cat. Dream job.

#cats #the mysterious mr e

[butleroftoast]

If the sky could dream, it would dream of dragons

Wat Samphran (Dragon Temple) Nakhon Pathom, Thailand (via Instagram: เพจ “หลง ทาง-Lost In My Way”)

#wat samphran #thailand #travel