Thoughts on: Star Trek TNG Season Four

• I am rather glad they changed the design of the Trill; leopard spots are much better than yet another funny forehead. ("The Host") [I haven't seen much of DS9; it's next on the list.]
• Now I've seen the episode that was the likely inspiration ("The Wounded"), I'm afraid I think "The Orville" did the whole 'war hero survivor out for revenge and wants his friend to help' thing better.
• I think "Family" was my favourite of this season; we actually see some fallout from a major event involving the crew. Most of the aftermath of the various occurrences is glossed over as happening between episodes; even major ones like Deanna Troi losing her empathic abilities in "The Loss" - we see the temporary effect of grief while it's gone, but as soon as she gets it back it's all ok again? Not how it works; you can't just bounce straight back from something like that no matter what race you are...
• The main story of "Galaxy's Child" was good, but again, the b-plot was done better by "The Orville." Though I could be letting a modern lens, and the fact I saw "The Orville" first, skew my perspective...
• Blonde is not a favourable colour on a Romulan! ("Redemption pt 1") Though could this be mirror-verse Tasha Yar in disguise?
• I thought Timicin looked familiar ("Half a Life")! After "M*A*S*H", David Ogden Stiers sounds weird without the upper-class-Bostonian accent. I didn't know he died so recently either (May 2018).
• Actually, many of this season's episodes seem to have been the inspo for "The Orville" episodes, though I think this time the 'in trouble on an as yet uncontacted planet' storyline was done a bit better here. "The Orville"'s 'society run by direct democracy' (everything you do is monitored and people can instantly upvote or downvote you depending on how they react to it; reach 1million downvotes and you get lobotomised) was interesting though.
• I really need to stop comparing "Star Trek" to "The Orville"
• "Remember Me" was freaking TERRIFYING.
• "Brothers" made me realise: people (seem to) expect me to be like Data but I'm actually more like Lore...

Thoughts on: Star Trek TNG Season Three

• I'd seen clips of Lal on Tumblr but I wasn't quite prepared for how sad that episode ended up being ("The Offspring").
• The use of the holodeck as like a giant 'nutshell study' (a crime scene recreated as a dollhouse for further examination after the original scene is cleaned) is a genius idea ("A Matter of Perspective").
• I'm beginning to think that a season without Q is an incomplete one, as so far he's been in at least one per season; this one was spectacular and rather redeeming ("Deja Q"). He's still annoying though!
• "Sarek" hit particularly close to home, with the whole 'mental degeneration with old age / losing your self to incurable illness' thing being one of the things I especially fear.
• I have a feeling I would probably end up in the same situation as Lt. Barclay and spend too much time in a holodeck simulation where everything goes my way and end up late for real life things ("Hollow Pursuits").
• It was fun seeing Tasha Yar again, even if for one episode ("Yesterday's Enterprise").
• From everything I've read on various sites, "The Hunter" isn't too far from how  war veterans (American at least) are treated IRL - expected to be able to just turn off their training and PTSD and become normal, 'productive' citizens without needing support upon discharge.
• Despite knowing that everything turns out ok - because I have the rest of the series on my computer - the cliff hanger at the end of "The Best of Both Worlds pt1" is still tense!

(Tales from the D&D Table) Lost Mines of Phandelver; Session Four

 And here is where it all fell apart.

The missing player finally turned up to a session. The DM had decided to give Roll20 a try, so we had a virtual tabletop to play with, but no-one wanted to listen to his explanation of how to use it and the absent player kept trying to talk about unrelated stuff that no-one was interested in.

Everyone else was finding it difficult to work out how to use the new site, especially with the other site that our character sheets were on, and so instead of listening to the DM who was still trying to explain how to use it and being interrupted by a blast of LOTR tavern songs, they gave up and decided to chat instead about video games. At this point I quit the chat because if the game wasn't going to be played I could be doing other stuff; but apparently it was decided that the game would be postponed until lockdown is lifted. If it is ever lifted.

I am so disappointed in everyone. The DM was blaming himself for it all going wrong when it wasn't his fault; if everyone had listened to him as I had, we could have gotten it all working and have played the session, but apparently discussing Fallout glitch exploits is more important. You'd think people would have the decency to listen to the people they consider friends, but they can't even do that. They won't do any of the background stuff necessary for a playable game outside the play session so we waste an hour at the start of the session waiting for them to do it then. They weren't willing to spend a little money on a subscription which would reduce the amount of reading they'd have to do, despite the fact their respective disabilities render them all but illiterate.

I'm letting my frustration get to me and I am probably exaggerating a bit but I just wish something would work properly for once and that people would actually do the things necessary for everyone to enjoy something.

So, obviously, this is the last instalment of this particular series until we pick it up again.

If we pick it up again.

(Tales from the D&D Table) Lost Mines of Phandelver; Session Three

 Sildar, the Gryphon Knight we rescued, decided to head back to Phandalin, and after some debate the party followed, quickly catching up as we were on our wagon and he on foot. Along the way, our bard loses his fashionable new goblin gauntlets (his goblets), and is left with two bloody sleeves.

We decide to spend the night at the inn, paying for rooms and as thanks Sildar buys them all some bread and ale for dinner. The group proceed to thoroughly embarrass themselves and the unfortunate knight, having a truly mindless conversation that ambles through as many topics as there were words exchanged. At some point, our need for further information about the town and the local happenings is mentioned and a nearby townsman offers his services as a guide for a couple of gold. The band of warriors agree to meet him the next morning and retire to their rooms, Punky bedding down in Firenze's closet.

The next morning, leaving the bard behind (absent player), we pay the man and we are taken along the streets toward an old manor, where the townsman had mentioned the night before that he had seen a strange dark beast skulking around. Along the way, we come to realise we are being closely watched by some roughians in red cloaks, and Firenze, tiring of the scrutiny, attempts to intimidate them into leaving us be.

Instead, they quickly tire of bandying words and attack. Their attempt is swiftly returned, the first of the thugs to attack earning himself an arrow twixt the eyes from Merielle. The apparent leader of the gang, angered by the death of his friend, fires his own shot at the archer, dealing a damaging blow.

The other two redcloaks charge toward Firenze, who is joined in her defence by Nic and a very hungover Punky. The two fighters are swift and sure, while the wavering goblin misses every shot in his haze. The leader is downed with another well placed arrow, and another is swiftly slain by Nic's longsword. Firenze attempts to kill the last, but her attack misses - the fatal blow is instead dealt by a now very injured rogue.

Once the fighting is done, the party's townsman guide emerges from his hiding spot and offers first aid - for a nominal fee, of course. Having paid, he leads them to his house where he bandages their wounds with his clean socks.

Not too impressed by this, Firenze leads the way back to the inn, where the group take a short rest to recover somewhat, before making a second attempt to reach the old manor, named Tresendar Manor by the townsman who, as decided by the party, was no longer needed as a guide, as they had traversed most of the distance before being attacked.

Sildar, who had remained at the inn talking to the locals about his own missing friend, decided to accompany us, as we had the same destination.

The group arrives at Tresendar Manor, finding it thoroughly abandoned and crumbling, nature reclaiming the stonework. A narrow track leads the group out of the ruins, around a few trees and into a carefully excavated, and much newer, tunnel leading back under the building into the cellar. Exploring the musty room lined with barrels, the group finds a door at each end, one to the north at the bottom of the stairs in and one behind a water-filled cistern. The north door is chosen.

Beyond is a corridor, the floor in the centre sunken and the dust disturbed in a trail that clearly avoids the dip. Reasoning that there must be a trap in the sunken area - why else would it be avoided? - the group edges around, following the trail through some large doors into a room, occupied by three sarcophagi. Atop the carved lids of the coffins, depicting the deceased occupants, lie a trio of red cloaked skeletons.

Ignoring Merielle's distrust of the 'bony boys', Nicolas strides over to inspect one of the coffins, awakening the skeletons.

Firenze, quick to draw her trusty halberd, lashes out at the one nearest her, dealing small damage to the decaying bones. The whoosh of blades missing their target fills the room, until Merielle successfully caves in the skull of the creaking corpse.

Sildar is having a tough time with one of the other two skeletons, and the fighters rush to his aid. More wild slashing of blades and clattering of bones follows, as the living warriors learn the hard way that pointy weapons do little against fleshless beings. Punky, still suffering from the large amount of alcohol imbibed the night before, is still useless, sending goblin shafts flying into walls and bouncing off coffins.

The conflict finally ends with Firenze wearing a new, unwanted piercing, bones scattered all over the place and red cloaks causing concern to Merielle, who suspects a connection to the thugs from before. Why else would they be wearing the same cloaks?

A quick investigation of the coffins proves them to be of the owners of the mansion above. The signet rings are saved, either for use or selling later.

The group decide a short rest is in order, and hope that the bard has recovered from the shock of wearing goblins - a life studying books leads to a weak constitution, it seems - and that he will shortly be joining them in their exploration of the dungeon.

(Tales from the D&D table) The Lost Mines of Phandelver; Session Two

Leaving the corpses behind, and towing a now catatonic bard (absent player), we search the other half of the cave to find a set of crude cages, in which is a beaten-unconscious human man in rags. Firenze breaks the cage, freeing the fellow, and we use the remains to craft a stretcher to carry him on. We then leave the cave and go through the sleeping area and follow a tunnel from the other side across a narrow bridge across the now rapidly flowing river.

At the end of the tunnel is a half flooded cavern, a slim path leading around the edge and into another cave with a trio of goblins inside, one larger than the other two and accompanied by a dozing wolf.

A swift plan is formulated, and leaving Punky and the bard to watch each other and the temporarily-dubbed Mr. Unconscious, Merielle tosses a flask of oil at the goblins, dousing one; Nicolas swiftly follows with a lit crossbow bolt, lighting the goblin and alerting the other inhabitants to our arrival. Merielle quickly fires an arrow of her own at the other small goblin, skewering it between the eyes leaving it to fall onto their campfire and adding to the claggy smell of barbequed goblin.

Firenze charges in with her halberd and drives it into the taller goblin's shoulder. The goblin barely flinches, and his wolf attempts to attack the fighter, but misses in its scramble to its feet.

Nic fires a bolt into the goblin's other shoulder, and it tries to retaliate by picking up and swinging its club at Firenze, but also misses. Meri, considering the goblin handled by the fighters, fires a shot at the wolf, and her arrow penetrates far enough to stick, but not enough to do any real damage. 'Renze and Nic attempt to intimidate the large goblin, stabbing and shooting it again respectively, and it is hurt but not cowed.

With another extremely luckily placed shot, Meri slays the wolf, her second arrow driving through the first Robin Hood style and delving deep into the unfortunate canine's heart. The death of his wolf breaks the goblin, and it tells us that our patron had been taken to the tribes' chief, somwhere out west.

In a strange attempt at mercy, Firenze finishes off the goblin and the group turn their attention to the glimmering pile of loot behind it. This heap consists of a trio of healing potions, which are shared between Firenze, Nicolas and Mr Unconscious, a load of gold which is piled into a backpack for dividing later, and the various accoutrements of a knight, which the group assume to belong to the now-conscious man.

At the back of the cave is a sheer drop into another cavern below, so a rope is tied to a secure looking rock and Nicolas descends first to find the cave beneath is occupied by a trio of wolves, sleeping and chained to the wall.

Explanations promised for later, the man follows, and is given his gear to put on as Punky and the bard are the next to descend the rope. Firenze is the last to use it, as Merielle unties it and climbs down without its assistance.

Meri and the knight successfully sneak past the wolves, but the others wake them, dodging their startled maws as they lash out. The group flee the caves and Merielle swiftly orients them, and they head away from the now flooded caverns and toward where they left the wagon.

As we walk, we explain who we are and what had happened to the knight, who then introduced himself as Sildar Hallwinter of the Gryphon Cavalry of Waterdeep. He had been accompanying their dwarven patron as he had been headed in the same direction when they were ambushed by the goblins who had proceeded to torture him and leave him in the sorry state we found him.

Having reached the wagon, we decide to bed down there and rest for the night.

(Discord, as it turns out, is decent enough to play over - after adjusting the sensitivity of our mics, ofc. Also playing from the comfort of your own bedroom can be fun, but not as fun as in person play. Hopefully we can return to that soon enough; if only people can learn to think of more than just themselves.)

(Tales From the D&D Table) The Lost Mines of Phandelver; Session One

We set out from the inn in Neverwinter with the wagonload of things we were hired to deliver and follow a path through the woods towards Phandalin. A couple kilometres into the forest we encounter two dead horses full of goblin arrows across the road through a small gully, which we realised would be a perfect ambush site. While the two fighters and the rogue are arguing over who should be the one to move the corpses, the bard goes over to them and gets shot at.

Nicolas, the male fighter, ran over and dragged the bard away, while the rogue shot in the direction the arrow came from, missing. The other fighter yells for the ambushers to show themselves.

A goblin tries to sneak up behind us, but is not very successful and Merielle the rogue tries to shoot it, but misses again. Nicolas yells at it to get out of his sight, and the goblin, terrified, turns and runs. The other ambushers give up as Arthan, the bard, uses magic on the fleeing goblin while mocking it.

Firenze, the female fighter, intimidates the remaining goblins into giving up completely for the day, and we investigate the area. On the dead horses Merielle and Arthan find an insignia, which the bard recognises as being that of our employer, and in the hide that the goblins had made, Firenze finds a pair of drag marks leading along a narrow path through the forest. Anxious to deliver our cargo, however, we elect to forgo investigation to take the wagon to Phandalin as we were supposed to.

Upon arrival at the tiny old mining town, the party divides into two; Nicolas and Merielle go to attempt delivery of the wagonload while Arthan and Firenze try to entertain the villagers. Arthan and his lute are a roaring success, while Firenze’s ‘singing’ is studiously ignored.

Meanwhile, Nic and Meri are learning that their patron never arrived in Phandalin, and the storekeeper is refusing delivery because of that. They return to the small inn where the other two have retired, Arthan earning their room by playing for the customers. The news of their employer’s disappearance is shared, and investigation of the ambush site is decided upon for the next day.

The next morning, the storekeeper having finally bought the supplies for 10g total, the party takes the now empty wagon back to the ambush site, to discover a pair of sleeping goblins, bows in hand. The bard and rogue sneak up behind them and scare them awake while a pair of their compatriots attempt to shoot at us, successfully hitting the bard in the shoulder. Firenze, seeing an opportunity for heroics, charges in with her halberd and rapidly bisects one of the surrendering snoozers, terrifying the other into fleeing.

The other two, one of whom had been at the last ambush attempt, try to avenge their friend, but are scared into submission by the bard; one flees and the other, quickly named Punky by the noble fighter due to his many piercings, is coerced into leading us to his clan’s cave, where the prisoners were taken.

Upon arrival at the cave, a quick plan was formed for scouting the cave, and Merielle was given the appearance of a goblin by the bard with a cantrip. Having reached the mouth of the cave, and spotting a trio of goblins hiding behind a thick bush at the entrance, the plan was swiftly forgotten as the elf drove her daggers into the backs of two of them, and the male fighter sped in to finish the third.

Any annoyance at the plan’s dismissal by the rogue was delayed until later, as Punky led them deeper in. One tunnel was a small challenge, being a slope with very worn steps, but was swiftly scaled with the aid of a crossbow bolt fired by Nic, the rogue’s piton on one end and her rope tied to the other. A swift investigation of a small cavern being used as sleeping quarters revealed nought, and they sneaked towards the area the goblin tribe was using as a jail, where they discovered the goblin chief and four bodyguards.

Combat swiftly ensues, Punky hiding inside a crate nearby, and soon descends into bloody madness as Meri’s arrows fly past, the goblin chief yells something in a strange language and Arthan successfully skewers not one but two goblins so thoroughly as to drench his arm in blood and goblin. Firenze is shot, and in her anger and pain she lashes out at the goblin chief, driving her rapier through him head to tail. The remaining pair of goblins flee.

The fighting over, we discover that the peril is not over as the water from a stream running through the cave system is starting to rise…

Thoughts on: Star Trek TNG Season 2

• "Shades of Grey" is one of the better 'lazy' episodes of anything I've seen (most of the episode is comprised of clips of previous episodes, also known as a 'filler' episode.)
• I don't know why Salia was so worried that her true form was ugly ("The Dauphin"); I thought it was beautiful.
• "The Measure of a Man" was my favourite of this series, and the best one overall so far. It does a far better job of 'do synthetic people count as people' than Fallout 4!
• "The Schizoid Man" was terrifying; though I think Get Out did it better.
• I wonder why, during "Unnatural Selection", they weren't reminded of the similar situation from TOS ("The Deadly Years") in the same way the 'drunk disease' did in S1?
• To be honest, I think "The Child" was a rather unnecessary storyline. And a bit problematic, as it brushes on being on the wrong side of the body autonomy arguement...
• Also, I'm pretty sure that no matter how 'caring' and 'polite' the being was, they wouldn't be able to avoid literally ripping Troi open from such a fast gestation. Seriously, a week? Two max!? It couldn't wait the 9 and a half (the average that I'm guessing a human/Betazoid gestation period would be) months? It's not like they had anything super urgent to do - they only did what they did to learn about humanity after all.
• "The Royale" was quite the interesting episode. You think they'd realise that their 'guest' was deceased and so their creation was no longer needed. Though I can sympathise with the whole 'needing to see the ending of the story' aspect.
• Was I the only one who saw the solution to the problem the Mariposans were having long before they did? ("Up the Long Ladder")
• It's nice to see that Miles O'Brien was upgraded from 'named background character' to Transporter Chief. It felt like he was just hanging around trying to be useful in S1; like the character was supposed to do some important things but it all got rewritten so it was the other characters that did them.
• Thanks to "The Measure of a Man, I now ship DaForge. Definitely something I didn't see coming!

Just Uuuuuuugghhh.....

  If you were to ask me how things are for me right now, my response would be the above.

  This whole lockdown mess is fine, really; it's for the common good and nothing has really changed about my lifestyle anyway. Which makes this damned cough I have all the more confusing because where the hell did it come from!?

  I've had it two weeks now, which is longer than any other time I've been sick with a cold, but I've had literally no other symptoms at all, which just confuses things so much. I haven't been to pick up the prescription I need because I don't want to freak people out by coughing all the time. The worst part is sometimes I'm fine, but then I cough almost on autopilot which makes me need to cough more, and it all starts over again.

  At least it's got me drinking more water... silver lining there I guess.

  I never thought I'd miss going out to see friends; I've always been fine before with missing out on catch-ups because there's always next time; but now it's like, is there even going to be a next time? Everyone is talking over FB messenger, which is actually rather annoying since C set up a Discord for us all to use and almost everyone is on it, and it pings quieter on my phone than FB does. Also means we could voice chat, which we can't really do on the FB group message - not that we'd use it all that often (LOL) but it's there as an option.

  And it's much preferable to Zoom, which I can't bring myself to trust if only because other people have found that it discloses any private messages sent to people during 'meetings' in the 'minutes' afterwards. And then there's the apparent lawsuit against them for selling data - their FAQ might say they don't but they work closely with Facebook which doesn't even bother to pretend it doesn't anymore.

  AD has been - apparently - doing school online, but whenever I pass his room he is definitely not using classroom friendly language, which just persuades me he's playing HOTS with his friends or whatever they get up to these days.... Memeing stuff, probably...

My sleep's all out of whack again, after almost being back on 'proper' track for a few weeks - hence the lack of further Star Trek posts; I haven't been able to watch any as any time I have my headphones on is whenever there is apparently a job I have to do instantly or the sun will explode, and it's so hard to concentrate on something when you have to stop every few minutes to see what it is they're saying to you this time...

  At least I have my projects to work on though, right? LOL yeah right. Executive dysfunction plus procrastination multiplied by lack of motivation equals bugger all! I have done a little; I got a bit more knitting done, and I finished sewing together the top half of the dress I'm making, but since the start of this year I still have only added one panel to FO:A and I've done nothing toward Closing Time - though I did manage to respond to a prompt on r/WritingPrompts a little while ago.

  I've also started a new project, of a sort - a friend of ours set up a server on Minecraft for all us Treehousers, and it gave me the idea to make a world of 'mega builds' to share with them when the first 'build' is done; a huge multi-level maze with a monster farm in the middle. Which is what I've been doing overnight recently instead of Star Trek and knitting. Doesn't stop me from getting distracted by other things - I've got Minecraft open in the background as I type this, as I got the motivation for this while foraging in the kitchen.

  Time to go back to digging the giant hole I'll be building the 'Mega Monster Masher Maze' in...

Thoughts on: Star Trek The Next Generation Season 1

• I will always enjoy the fact that men's fashion on Angel One is a tiddy-out look. ("Angel One")
• Q is immensely annoying. I can see why people like him though.
• Wil Wheaton looks like he just wandered onto the set during a school tour and got roped in.
• I am not happy that they killed off Tasha Yar ("Skin of Evil"). One of the best characters ST has had and they couldn't keep her for at least one whole season? (Though I do stand by Ms Crosby's decision. You shouldn't be made miserable doing something you love.)
• It's very different to TOS, but that's a good thing; if it was exactly the same it would be an uncomfortable viewing experience as it would be like they were trying to directly replace the characters.
• I may have missed out on a bit by not watching the movies, but it is still easy to get into as it doesn't rely on you having seen them, or even any ST at all.
• I much prefer the Klingon's new look; anything is better than blackface.
• The Romulans got lumpy?! ("The Neutral Zone")
• You never realise just how annoying and selfish capitalists are until you see one in a setting where society has outgrown Capitalism. ("The Neutral Zone")
• Does Deanna Troi really have to wear something so revealing all the time? I mean, I'm not complaining - she's very attractive - but seriously!
• I do like the callback to TOS S1E4 ("The Naked Time") in episode two ("The Naked Now"), and how they kept it tense by making it different enough that the original cure didn't work.
• I will always find anything to do with mind-controlling parasites terrifying. ("Conspiracy")