List of people who know me by sight

Originally published at a denizen's entertainment. You can comment here or there.

The staff at the local pharmacist, the staff at the unemployment office, the staff at the local library.

Despite learning the test for my unrestricted licence would not involve a live driving evaluation, I've kept up focusing on driving carefully and according to the road rules (not that I'd ever been flouting them, but am trying to be conscientious so as not to fall into bad habits), and continuing since attaining the licence. I'd feel silly having my first accident so soon after getting out of all that licencing procedure.

Had a weird situation on the way to the library yesterday. Care in front in the left-turn lane was indicating to turn right, so I had to sit through two green lights before they could make their turn and I could make more. Am almost but not quite sure it is illegal to turn right from that lane, as it would have been for me to try and turn left from the other lane. Will have to check the lane markings next time.

Ah well. I don't consider myself an especially good driver. Need to take care and practise and keep focused to not make potentially dangerous mistakes.

The library itself was unusually quiet. There was the same girl studying in the same spot, who vacated again when she saw me and realised the space would be needed for toy librarying. I wanted to say she didn't need to go far, but it can get noisy anyway, so probably better to move.

Few children showed up. The loudest (but not a problem to me) were those of the first other volunteer to show up this year (to that session - the others have definitely had people, but the session I attend is supposedly the hardest to get people for). Was very weird being treated as somewhat authoritative by the other volunteer - am sure she must have volunteered at least a few times before I started! And especially I didn't feel very certain. But it worked out.

Helped to have someone else there, but all the adults left with their children about ten minutes before closing time anyway, so I didn't even have to announce it this week and did get to start packing things up early. Some people showed up at the last minutes, but no trouble there.

It went well. Am feeling good about that one.

Also pleasant surprise, on drive back found $20 of petrol is enough to fill half the tank again. Had been worried, since it only filled a quarter of the tank last week, that I would have to significantly rebalance my budget for fuel. So, relief.

End of post.

Roguelike Roulette [Slot 1b]

Originally published at a denizen's entertainment. You can comment here or there.

[image-free edition]

Level 3: "This place looks uninteresting"

Another corridor. Marash backs away from a sleeping snake and a patch of shrieking mushrooms, kills a clear icky thing only to see another almost immediately, and scoops up a pile of crossbow bolts. This place is unnerving her: the deeper she goes, the more the place seems to be packed with monsters and bizarre creatures. Not unexpected from the lair of Morgoth, but disturbing still.

A sleeping salamander prompts another round of backing away, along with hoping killing a clear icky thing in the same room wouldn't wake it. Instead, she stumbled across a kobold shaman that wounded her with words from a distance. Even after it cast some spell to confuse her, she beat it down quickly and claimed some more crossbow bolts from its remains. Even better, there was a shortbow in the room. If only she had something to fire from it...

At last she begins to grow hungry and consumes one of her rations of food.

Some more rambling, some more potions collected. On a sudden hunch she tries one of the clear potions, but it is not water as she suspected. Rather, she has found potions of Cure Light Wounds. That went so well she tries one of her two purple speckled potions and discovers those make her feel resistant to cold.

Two triumphs, another sleeping salamander and finally some stairs down discovered, Marash chooses the stairs over the salamander.

Level 4: "This place looks uninteresting"

Indeed not. Yet more dungeon...

A rock lizard foolishly approaches from the north. After killing it, Marash foolishly approaches a kobold shaman to the south. As she chases it, she can see another approaching from behind her. Fortunately, even confused she kills the first one quickly. The second one is tougher, but after much blundering into walls she survives to learn the prayers of Bless and Cure Light Wounds.

Quickly, Marash uses her prayerbook to heal and find the path down. She will not make use of the latter yet, but is reassured knowing where it is when she wants it.

A novice rogue steals some of her gold and vanishes before she can stop it. The next room she finds has a stack of Cure Light Wounds, and a Blue Jelly. The jelly doesn't look very mobile, so she creeps into the room, hoping to snatch the loot and escape. She manages to get in, grab the potions, and sneak out the far side without the jelly even waking.

As she spots the rogue sneaking up behind her, she gets the feeling there's nothing special about the bow she found. The second set of bolts, on the other hand, seem to have a touch of magic. A shame she still lacks a matching set of ammunition plus launcher.

Marash struggles with a novice paladin, wondering who is on what side here. A mage sneaks up during the fight, but blinks away as Marash closes in to finish off the paladin. The paladin was carrying a cast-iron rod, and now Marash is. Did that device somehow corrupt such a holy warrior?

Time to head down again, but winding corridors entice and distract here. Then a kobold archer distracts her further. Those arrows hurt a lot, and she swallows a couple of her Cure Light Wounds potions. Not enough, when a kobold runs in from the side to aid its fellow. She drinks one of the two potions of Cure Serious Wounds she began her dive with, quickly finishes off the archer and turns to this new foe.

The kobold goes down easier than the archer and Marash scoops up the coins it drops. As she does so, Sméagol steps out from the hole the kobold came from. She can't believe her eyes. A quick thwack and he seems to step away, but when she waits to see what happens next he quickly snatches some gold from her and vanishes. He was too far away to be seen when he did it!

She heals herself and returns to her path down. A few coins are not worth the pain of tracking down these thieves. At least she has been granted the prayer of Slow Poison for her trouble.

Another priest, a centipede, a harpy, a black naga and even a slowing dart trap don't stop her reaching the stairs. However, during the fight with the naga something she couldn't see kept draining psychic energy from her. A frightening situation, and once her visible foes were gone she heads down as quickly as she can.

[to be continued...]