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Kryslin said:
Funny story : Our group of adventurers had just finished the task of killing an adult red dragon that had been raiding the frontier of a duchy. Yes, we lived. Yes, we were walking wounded afterwards (like maybe 30hp between all 6 (L10-14) of us). Such that when the Duke arrived, with his 4 champions, mage, high priest, and head tax collector, we were in no shape to to contest him taking about 1/2 of it as taxes - a third of it was income taxes, the rest was lost sales tax revenue on the swords, armor, and other trade goods. At least the mage only wanted a couple of scrolls, and the priest took a weapon and a couple of potions of cure wounds. So yes, we got some nice magic items but we lost half the coinage. We got a pretty good deal on the gems, and the few items we couldn't use we traded with the local mage for a lot of Identify's being cast, since our wizard was still in bad shape (as in, while healed, his spell book had gotten torched by the dragon, and he didn't want to cast anything until he had written them down in a new book).
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Yeah... that is a Dukedom that won't last very long as the story gets out of how he'll backstab adventurers. Which means that no one will trust him, thus when he does need help... Well, either he won't get it, or he'll piss off the wrong group who will then sack his dukedom in retaliation.

Because reputation is a thing after all in such settings.
Ravenwood240 said:
Despite the attempts of modern culture to make werecritters 'nice', if you look at the legends, they're not at all nice and at least once a month, depending on the myths you're reading, are quite fond of humans for lunch, or dinner or even a bedtime snack.

It's a curse, not a condition or a 'furry little problem'.

They, along with non twilight vampires are the only predators that regularly prey on humans.

You smile at them, I'll stick arrows in them and we'll see which of us lives to a ripe old age.

Remus Lupin, by the way, would have killed Harry, Hermione, Ron and an unconscious Snape that night, had Sirius not been there. I wouldn't really hold him up as a paragon of virtue.
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Actually... you're kind of wrong here. Folklore wise, there were good lycanthropes, rare as they were. Heck, in France, particularly the region of Normandy, you have the Lubins, female werewolves. Generally put, the worst that they did would be dig up graves to gnaw on the dead and that was it. Otherwise, they were shy beings that tried to avoid humans.

Also, technically, Selkies, swan maidens, and the like could be counted as were creatures of a type.
 
And...we're up! Cooler transplant is successful! Temps are back down under 30C, peak load test so far has temps hitting 50C (8 cores @ 100% load for 10 minutes, clock ramped up to 3.8Ghz). However, this is the last bit of maintenance I'm going to do on this machine, I think. Anyway, I can get back to story stuff. ~yay!~
 
Jacen1 said:
I would point out that at least one of the other were-creatures in First Edition AD&D was based on a mythical creature that had nothing to do with Werewolves; the Fox Ladies. From what I can tell, these were based on one or more version of East Asian shapeshifting Fox Spirits, and not the werewolves of Europe.
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Fun fact: Foxes were also shapeshifters in Ireland. Heck, one legendary king got pissed when his son killed and cooked some foxes because they might have been his relatives.
Jacen1 said:
Which leads me to wonder, what other folklore creatures from around the world ended up bundled as were-creatures in D&D?
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Avernus said:
Werebears are based on Beorn from Tolkien, thus the Good alignment. Not sure if that's "folklore" or not, though.
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And he was in fact based on Norse "Berserkers" who would dress in bear hides (because they felt that the spirit of the animal would infuse them and give them strength), drink a concoction that would get them higher than a kite and more aggressive than a person on PCP, and then pointed at the enemy.
Kryslin said:
Tiamat decides to add her 5cp to the discussion. "I'd actually want to try the nacho cheese and ghost pepper sauce from Miguel's Tacquiera. It really does make you breathe fire!"
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Kryslin said:
Tiamat decides to add her 5cp to the discussion. "I'd actually want to try the nacho cheese and ghost pepper sauce from Miguel's Tacquiera. It really does make you breathe fire!"
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Nah, she would want one of Blair's special reserves, like their 5AM hot sauce.
 
Kryslin said:
And...we're up! Cooler transplant is successful! Temps are back down under 30C, peak load test so far has temps hitting 50C (8 cores @ 100% load for 10 minutes, clock ramped up to 3.8Ghz). However, this is the last bit of maintenance I'm going to do on this machine, I think. Anyway, I can get back to story stuff. ~yay!~
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Celebrate good times, come on! It's a celebration!


Harry Leferts said:
Nah, she would want one of Blair's special reserves, like their 5AM hot sauce.
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Sure she wouldn't want a bottle of Wowwow sauce?
 
I've got some stuff here that I use very sparingly - Dave's DeAtH Sauce. 5M Scoville Heat Units. 1-2 drops makes a pot of chili nicely spicey. You wear the chemical handling gloves, rubber apron, and a face shield while handling/using this stuff.

I have some Peri-Peri sauce, made from the Peri-Peri peppers. Goes good with Sambusa (East African fried spiced meat pockets). It's nowhere near as hot.

Mongolian Fire Oil is usually just Chili Pepper Oil, but beware some the imported from China stuff; I got some that lives up to the name, much spicier than usual. I usually put a couple drops in with some sake and togarishi pepper in my ramen in the winter time. Nicely warming.
 
As someone who uses "hot" spices sparingly, I can assure everyone that the subtle fruity flavors of a good salsa are indeed present, though my definition of good salsa is somewhat skewed by my being one of those who, thanks to a specific genetic marker, finds Cilantro tastes like Soap, and thus must exclude any salsa containing Cilantro.

This is a problem I have with many products sold as "tex/mex" cuisine, so my definition is based on homemade......

Then again, to someone that is used to the overwhelming heat of hot salsa, I would expect the subtle flavors to be lost on them.....
 
If you're caught up on the CTC chapters (warning, minor spoilers for up to 5.7 ahead), Saint is indeed up to something.
to copy my comment from there:
Looks like Saint's getting ready to do something stupid, then get smacked down by Dragon & Dragons.
Here's to a lightly toasted and slightly squished imprisoned Saint.

Kryslin then replied:
There's a nice spell that takes care of things with Saint, Stabbypuppy, Kaiser... Heat Metal.

The description says it gets to red heat, or around 1000F. Lots of metal in Powered Armor, Laptops, Kaiser, Hookwolf...
And because Taylor's the queen of escalation... Yeah, Saint's going to be medium rare, Hookwolf a puddle, and Kaiser'll be in the burn ward...
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Harry Leferts said:
Yeah... that is a Dukedom that won't last very long as the story gets out of how he'll backstab adventurers. Which means that no one will trust him, thus when he does need help... Well, either he won't get it, or he'll piss off the wrong group who will then sack his dukedom in retaliation.

Because reputation is a thing after all in such settings.

Actually... you're kind of wrong here. Folklore wise, there were good lycanthropes, rare as they were. Heck, in France, particularly the region of Normandy, you have the Lubins, female werewolves. Generally put, the worst that they did would be dig up graves to gnaw on the dead and that was it. Otherwise, they were shy beings that tried to avoid humans.

Also, technically, Selkies, swan maidens, and the like could be counted as were creatures of a type.
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Oh oh! And there were Scottish wolf-men....

The Scottish equivalent is the legend of the Wulver on Shetland. The Wulver was said to have the body of a man and the head of a wolf. He was usually seen sitting on a rock, fishing, and would then leave a gift of fish on people's windowsills.

 
Malcanthet said:
With that I wonder how functional your tongue actually is. Because most mild salsas tend to be quite bland and flavourless ...
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From a logical analysis perspective, you're actually offering evidence that it's your tongue that is so badly damaged by the severe/harsh flavor/burning of hotter spices that you cannot taste the subtler flavors that the person who prefers mild salsa does, since, to you, it is bland and flavorless.

"I have listened to heavy metal at 120 decibels in my ears for years! I suspect the guy who likes classical music played at 70 dB has poor hearing, since when I listen to it, I can't hear anything but a faint murmur!" is of a similar form to how this argument reads to me.
 
I have an almost non-existant sense of smell. Only extremely potent things like ammonia and skunk musk even register to my sense of smell. Which in turn means my sense of taste is very dulled as a result. I like spicy food (even though my stomach can't take too spicy of food anymore) because for one thing, I can taste it. And yet, even I can tell differences in taste between various mild salsas. Hot salsas or hot sauces on the other hand, well, they all taste pretty much the same to me. The only real difference between them is just how much liquid I need to drink while eating it.
 
FaerieKnight79 said:
I have an almost non-existant sense of smell. Only extremely potent things like ammonia and skunk musk even register to my sense of smell. Which in turn means my sense of taste is very dulled as a result. I like spicy food (even though my stomach can't take too spicy of food anymore) because for one thing, I can taste it. And yet, even I can tell differences in taste between various mild salsas. Hot salsas or hot sauces on the other hand, well, they all taste pretty much the same to me. The only real difference between them is just how much liquid I need to drink while eating it.
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Protip: Milk dissolves and dilutes capsaicin (which is an oil, something water doesn't do well at all), so if what you're eating is too spicy, either for your tongue or for your stomach, drink some milk with it. It washes away the heat and helps protect your stomach and intestinal linings from chemical damage.

Assuming you can drink milk, anyway. Obviously not everyone can.

Though you might already know that. *Shrug*
 
Lycanthromancer said:
Protip: Milk dissolves and dilutes capsaicin (which is an oil, something water doesn't do well at all), so if what you're eating is too spicy, either for your tongue or for your stomach, drink some milk with it. It washes away the heat and helps protect your stomach and intestinal linings from chemical damage.

Assuming you can drink milk, anyway. Obviously not everyone can.

Though you might already know that. *Shrug*
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Milk is also mildly acidic, while capsaicin is a base, helping neutralize it. Soda also works, though is less effective.
 
In my case, for whatever reason, milk doesn't help. Water helps, in sufficient amounts. Eating saltine crackers helps too. But milk makes things worse for me.
 
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