2024 Session 2: TLQuest week 10

 Hello everyone from a (hopefully only briefly) very hot UK.  I'm aware our hot is many others' lovely mild day, but between the humidity and the way our architecture is not designed for this, it's been A Bit Much (even Shoutypants the cat has been taking long naps during the day, and making up for it with heat-energised running around busily in the night).  So let's talk about some practical stuff this week - when the weather is tropical (or otherwise the least work-inspiring summer conditions for you), and your animal instincts are to lie in a hammock with a cold beverage under a tree until later, but you're supposed to work, how do you make that happen?  Do you change when you work, where you work, what you work on, or tweak the details of your work environment whether that's a fancy beverage or sitting with your feet on a cooling gel pad designed for pets?  

Oh, and a second question: is there still interest in trying to arrange a virtual write-in this summer?  If so, can you indicate which weeks and which days of the week are either good or no-go for you, so I can do a quick check of what might be possible?

THIS WEEK'S GAMEPLAY:

You're all currently lurking some distance from the pool, quietly watching to see if anything happens.  When Scout tossed in the different pieces of food, the fish snatched all three with the same agressive, toothy lunge, which definitely inspired you to back off and have a think.  Martha and Linnet will very quietly move a bit further away from the pool and see if they can find anyone to talk to, whilst Scout and Alice keep an eye on the water and Cornelius has his scary nap experience.  

Martha is looking for some small creature to talk to - I rolled a 12 on the d20, and since Martha has specific skills in this area, it only takes a few minutes for Martha to spot a squirrel, and given her abilities she quickly has half a dozen of them in the tree above her all eager to tell their version of the News Of The Week.  Amongst a lot of squirrel extended family gossip, observations on the weather and the quality of the potential Autumn food surge, a particularly reckless adolescent squirrel will tell her how he saw the "greenery toothery two leggers" carrying a wriggling bundle of canvas towards the pool, stopping to dunk it in the stream several times.  He thinks they buried it as they didn't have it later and he supposes they had a good digging place in mind.  He's rather vague about how long ago it was, but it was some time since the last crop of babies arrived, so quite recently.

Linnet will have gently cast "animal friendship" to help the conversation along, then backed off to give Martha some space and, honestly, because the gossip and chatter of half a dozen squirrels given a new audience is really quite a lot to put up with.  Whilst she's sitting quietly on a large, twisted root, extending her senses into the vibrant wood, a pair of sprites will alight next to her.  "We notice you're not doing anything about the fish yet" one says, "do you doubt our word about it being a problem?  Or are you afraid?"  Linnet will politely reply that you don't want to make anything worse, so are trying to collect more information about the situation.  I'm going to roll a d20 dice to see how much Linnet knows about Sprites specifically - she got a 17, and as a druid and woodland dweller, that is high enough that I think she must have actually had a neighbourly relationship with sprites near her remote cottage.  Linnet is well aware that Sprites are unusually "strait-laced" for fey; they pride themselves on their honour and act as border patrol and protector of their communities, and whilst they do sometimes play tricks on humans they are never malicious or harmful.  

The two sprites look at each other, then the other one says "assuming some of the people you travel with are ignorant, we will not at this point be insulted.  Pray assure them that our nature is highly honourable, unlike some of our fey brethren, and tell them that this fish appeared in our pool all unexpected two moons ago. It must have been brought or magicked, the small folk of the waters would have seen it growing and dealt with it appropriately if it were a natural beast.  The naiads were able to move out along the stream, but are in much distress as the fish ate several of the small fey and of their pet frogs before they realised it was there, and there are still small fey trapped in their underwater nests.  As we said, at the behest of the Ladies we are designing a raid to destroy the creature, there is not enough food for it and it is too dangerous to stay in the pool, but the peoples we can call on here are mostly not fighterly, and we prefer not to jump into its jaws with no chance of success." Linnet will thank them for the information, and ask if there were any outsiders in the area before the fish appeared, since the sprites will surely have noted any movements through their territory.  The two Sprites will look at each other again, and their wings droop a little. "The naiads saw the pair who were patrolling this area fall victim to the fish, defending the small fey, before they were able to report - they may have known more.  All we can tell you is that we have not had a powerful magic-user through the woods for months, that we can state with confidence, but small groups of disorderly humans or goblins pass through quite often, restless creatures that they are, and last winter there was an orc band."  Linnet will assure the Sprites that she will share this information and that she believes the group may be able to help.

Pooling your information, it seems like it's in everyone's interests to take action - Cornelius' dream interaction may have been with the small fey trapped in the lake, "greenery toothery two leggers" is a pretty good description of goblins for a squirrel, and the fish is clearly not going to be able to live in the pool long term or escape on its own.  So, what are your next steps?

LAST WEEK'S GOALS:

DAISY

None (other than surviving woods and brooks)

DAME ELEANOR HULL

- swim x3, weights x2, yoga x4
- finish Alms!
- create syllabus for new class
- re-read conference paper, think about expansion
- Greek 1 unit
- dentist
- defrack habitat

HEU MIHI

1. Intro work: Do at least two of the four tasks I've written out for myself.
2. Read part of an Italian novel.
3. Start reading essay collection for review.
4. Look at Festschrift document, at least.
5. Email grad student to check in about progress.

JANEB

1. self-care: 75%+ of regular chores list, sort the Clothes Pile Of Doom, additional intentional movement three days, do physio recommended stretches with great caution at least once, practice rest as needed. Attend eye clinic for lenses, meet with possible garden person, meet with employment counsellor, try to progress one other house project.
2. fun: play D&D, crochet some, draw something, read a lot of somethings, do some paintgemming, write something. Main goal for this second week of annual leave is to do something enjoyable or at least that induces a flow state of mind every day.
3. teaching and administration: NOTHING
4. research: NOTHING

JULIE

1. Plan for rest of session: read through notes, work out priorities, request readings through ILL.
2. Read at least one book/equivalent articles
3. Work through some archive material related to the article I just submitted abstract for (needs doing even if abstract isn't accepted).
4. Keep email to essentials only.
5. Meetings: 1 x post doc, 1 x PhD student, 1 x difficult undergrad, 1 x university PR (with people from Spanish consulate - not quite sure what I'm supposed to be contributing, but involves fancy lunch and some citizenship points)
6. Bathroom project
7. Life admin: birthday presents for niece and nephew, hairdresser, various extra-curricular stuff for son, kit daughter out for trip with friends in two weeks.

SUSAN

1. The rest of today is fun: going to an exhibit that is vaguely work related, then to see Kiss Me Kate, one of my favorite musicals.
2. Three more chapters of Famous Author, and check the references I've got at Big Library.
3. Follow up with editors
4. Start on forgotten task for Big Collaboration, and see whether we need more help.
5. Keep reading for fun
6. Visits with people
7. Any admin stuff that needs doing...

SUMMARY

for real life TLQ - goal check-in and working when the weather is not helping tips/habits

and are you interested in a "write-in" and if so, which week day/week(s) work well or badly for you between now and the end of August? 

for TLQuest: now you can see the big fish, what do you want to do next?  See what you can recall or deduce (effectively ask the DM for more information!)?  Launch into action?