As of tonight, the KanriKyara/ManaChara project now has a presence on Archive of Our Own. We're still going to post our work here, but eventually everything will also be posted on AO3 as well. We're only posting one chapter a week or so there, so as long as we keep writing at a reasonable pace, the Stories subforum should always stay ahead of it.
effect: Doug can continue functioning at his peak despite any physical damage ... for as long as the song lasts. Then he'd better have reached someone who can at least do some first aid, 'cause the song only lets him hold out until the end of its runtime. Still useful if its five minutes to midnight when his power resets if he's already used all his healing songs that day, has some kind of no-magical-healing debuff, or similar (admittedly quite situational) circumstance.
So earlier today, the VA nurse called up to say not to come in for Dad's regular weekly appointment, because they were having a "big COVID outbreak" in the Brockton MA office. If this means among the staff or the patients who come there as the closest VA hospital or in general I haven't found any further information,. but I know "Totally not COVID, guys!" "white lung" has had hospitals in China filled to capacity and unknown but sufficient to have the crematoriums running 24/7 and make coffins hard to buy numbers of deaths, again, for at least a couple of months.
So not to be alarmist, but it might be a good time to make a point of masking up and keeping social distance etc. assuming you stopped. Doesn't hurt anything if it's unnecessary, after all, and if it's in Brockton it's certainly in Boston, and that's a major travel hub that could have gotten it to or from anywhere.
So a while back I rolled up a zombies mastermind mostly just to see what zombies were all about. Hat tip to Bushranger in the Discord channel for the name, because I wanted /Time secondary.
Then I had to come up with a schtick, because ... well, I have to. I can't not. It's a curse.
So I present to you... Tomorrow Mourning's in-game bio, plus more:
Welcome to Tomorrow Mourning(tm), Paragon's finest post-living general services contractor! Our trained and licensed morticians use only all-natural components and guaranteed safe thaumaturgic rituals. Unlike some of our competitors, you'll never have to worry about your dearly departed joining some mindless horde of brain-eaters! Our franchise operators are all licensed and fully equipped to make sure that your former loved ones will return to their grave in like-newly-dead condition*, and not roam the neighborhood indefinitely, scaring children and eating people's pets.
Ask your Tomorrow Mourning Sales Representative about our no-scuff treatment! For that long-lasting like-living shine!
Tomorrow Mourning(tm)! We're never more than a day away!
* minus normal wear and tear. Money-back guarantee subject to limitations and conditions. Discounts available for bulk orders. Void where prohibited.
Daphne is the Senior Field Mortician. Phil is the newly-hired Provisional Mortician. Their manager, Mr. Hooper, tends to stay in the office and send them to do the dirty work -- though he'll step in sometimes if needed to tackle a particularly big job.
You may also notice a... recurring theme... among the minions.
And yes, I color-matched a certain cell phone company's color as best I could, because with those initials, how could I not?
(why, no, I don't tend to carry jokes too far, whatever do you mean?)
Blows off dust.
I have returned after a decade away... and am shocked by how much I missed the old game.
So hey, I might start producing bad art and worse fanfics again.
effect: very old beings in the AoE such as most sorts of vampires, Highlander style Immortals, demigods, upload AI, some particularly long lived species like standard Tolkien-adjacent elves, even individuals with just the right genetics, resources, and luck to have lived an exceptionally long life, will be struck by the utter sameness and ennui of their existence and stuck in reminiscence for at least the length of the song, and possibly fall into a reverie or depressive spiral if already prone to it.
Actively being engaged in combat gives an immediate saving throw, another each time they're hit, and every turn, with increasing bonuses to put it in game terms, but against the right target it's a great distraction to keep combat from breaking out in the first place.
Could be useful for the Buffy step, among others. Or Evangelion if there's a chance to get one or more of the geezer council into Doug's AoE.
edit: Wasn't thinking about Worm before, but Scion would probably just pop his avatar and set his remaining shards to disperse and find hosts, if Doug used it on him...
Does anyone recognize this story? I know I have it in an anthology somewhere, and I first read it in either the late 70s or early 80s. But I can't remember title or author, even though I recall most of the action, such as it is, and the final line.
The story takes place in an alternate universe where World War II never happened. Two men from different nations, friends, play a tabletop wargame that mimics World War II starting from the randomly-determined alliances on both sides to two burn marks made on the islands of Japan by falling cigar ash at the end of the game. (Followed by a comment about the flammable varnish on the game board, and how the next game might set the entire board on fire.) IIRC, one of the players is Churchill, who's playing the Allies, and it's his cigar which burns Japan. The narrator is an observer who remains unnamed until the final line, who comments on the ridiculous aspects of the game starting from the nations on each side through bizarre developments in the flow of the game. The player of the Axis is, IIRC, a German who tries something new he calls "the lightning war" -- blitzkrieg -- to many early victories. The story ends with a "note from the editor" wishing the narrator/author much success in his future endeavors, ending with "Good luck, Dwight!" (Eisenhower).
Pretty obvious from the lyrics what this does: puts anybody in the area of effect into a hypnotic trance, with a secondary effect of Doug and the song's subject becoming well-disposed toward each other because the lyric "and you’re fond of me" is traded off between two singers. (In most cases, Doug had better play "I'll Play for You" first... although ending a melee by having the fighters suddenly like each other does have a certain appeal.)
![[Image: DragonAurora_Zhang_960.jpg]](https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2401/DragonAurora_Zhang_960.jpg)
