Getting the COVID Vaccine

Mister Ed Science, Social Stuff , , , , ,

My lab works with tuberculosis, which requires BioSafety Level 3 (BSL-3) containment. You know what else needs BSL-3 containment? COVID-19!

BSL-3 lab spaces have a lot of specialized safety features that make them expensive to construct. To save money different labs at UC Davis often share the same BSL-3 space and just schedule their time in that lab space to not get in each other’s way.

Because of that, when researchers started working on COVID-19 at UC Davis they needed a place to do it. My boss’s space was volunteered, so now another lab researching COVID works in the same space as us.

Besides the safety features, the BSL-3 also requires biohazard suits and respirators. Additionally anyone working in the room within 24 hours of COVID being used in the room has to do temperature checks for two weeks afterwards. Our safety protocols have been successful and no one working in the space has contracted COVID-19.

But working in that space puts our lab into a high risk factor, just like healthcare workers. As such, I got contacted by my HR supervisor at UC Davis Health that I’d been approved for being one of the first people to get one of the COVID vaccines.

So here’s what that was like!

I scheduled an appointment for 8:30am on the first day of distribution. I got there at 8:25, checked in, and promptly waited for an hour in line.

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The First Vampire of Cimmeria Part 4

Mister Ed Dungeons and Dragons, Writing , , , , , , , , , , ,

Previous: The First Vampire of Cimmeria Part 3

The Blue Dragon menace had returned to Cimmeria, but there was a silver lining; Tracy had returned as well. The magic tying her return to the breaking of the Blue Orb also controlled the location of her return. Tracy reappeared next to the people most likely to help her fight the blue dragons. Those best suited for reimprisoning Bavastatner and Renvesharhialisv were the Gish Trio, Galandir, Tereman, and Blendegad.

Tracy cheerfully introduced herself to the Gish Trio and the four agreed to a partnership in their mutual goals of ending the threat of the Githyanki and the blue dragons. Galandir, Tereman, and Blendegad were accomplished warriors and magicians. Additionally, they had the most experience out of anyone in fighting the Githyanki. Tracy was a trickster thief of legend and could call on the resources of Nomingburg and Crafterton to help their struggle.

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The First Vampire of Cimmeria Part 3

Mister Ed Dungeons and Dragons, Writing , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Harssafs look like sand demon people

Previous: The First Vampire of Cimmeria Part 2

The Blue Dragon Cult had gotten closer and closer to the Blue Dragon Orb in the years since it was sealed away. They knew it was in the Shacklack Desert. They even knew which region of the desert, but that region belonged to the Harssaf people who violently repelled any intrusion.

The Githyanki provided the power the Blue Dragon Cult needed to reach the Orb’s resting place. The Lich-queen sent her best troops, the sarath, to assist in the Blue Dragon Orb’s extraction. They cut through the Harssaf warriors with ease and reached the dungeon containing the Orb. Powerful magical defenses prevented the sarath from safely penetrating the dungeon. Rather than risk their own lives, the sarath sent members of the Blue Dragon Cult ahead to their grisly deaths. With this trial and error method the Githyanki reached the inner sanctum of the dungeon. There the sarath defeated the plant and golem defenders placed by Bigby and Tentineh. With that, only one barrier stood between the villains and the Dragon Orb, Bavastatner, the blue dragon patriarch set by Tentineh to guard the Blue Orb.

Bavastatner tore through the Githyanki sarath, killing many and forcing the others to retreat. They reported their failure to the Lich-queen. She sent one of her most powerful servants, an adlishar, to capture the Blue Orb. The adlishar entered the minds of the surviving sarath to study their battle with Bavastatner. He determined that the dragon was beyond his ability to defeat. Instead of fighting it, the adlishar stole the Orb and teleported away. The Orb would not be safe for long though. Bavastatner had a powerful connection to the Orb’s magic and could sense its location. The Githyanki and the Blue Dragon Cult would have to act fast in their plan to destroy the Blue Orb.

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The First Vampire of Cimmeria Part 2

Mister Ed Dungeons and Dragons, Writing , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Previous: The First Vampire of Cimmeria Part 1

Galandir, Tereman, and Blendegad split the work of investigating the Githyanki. Galandir inspected the unusual silver swords the Githyanki wielded. He discovered that they somehow attacked the body, mind, and spirit simultaneously cutting through every aspect of their victim. Tereman used divination magic to probe the other side of the dimensional portal the Githyanki used. He saw the void of the Astral Plane where the Githyanki made their home on the titanic corpse of a dead god. Blendegad examined the various alchemic items the invaders brought with them. He determined that they could be used to collect some form of energy from the Githyanki’s captives. Galandir, Tereman, and Blendegad’s investigative and adventuring work together would earn them the name “The Gish Trio.”

Gish is a word in D&D that refers to a character who is good at using magic and fighting in melee combat. The term originally described the Githyanki style of fighting! Over the years gish came to refer to all D&D characters that know how to swing a sword and cast a spell.

While the Gish Trio did their work, the Githyanki spied on the Material Plane and their eyes fell on the dragon cults of Cimmeria. After the Dragon War groups of the Draconic side’s followers began to worship the primordial beings as gods. These dragon cults ultimately sought the return of their gods by destroying the Draconic Orbs. Applying the old saying of “the enemy of my enemy is my friend,” the Githyanki began building an alliance with the dragon cults. Trading arcane knowledge and information about their two locations made both sides stronger.

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Cimmerian Timeline Part 32

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Previous: Cimmerian Timeline Part 31

841BCE: A group of Humans, Elves, and Halflings settled a small village at a river junction in the Aractrashan Jungle. It was an important trading post for hunters and traders. Many visitors stayed at the village inn, the Inn of Lost Souls. The village was named Satronwook.

820BCE: Dionysus and Pan began their parade tour of the Caspian starting at the Persian trade post of Baku. They traveled northward, keeping the Sea on their right.

816BCE: Dionysus and Pan arrived at Satronwook. Dionysus created the famous alcohol fountain and the pair founded the drinking contest that now decides the leadership of Satronwook. The first winner was a Halfling woman, Baradera, who the contest is named after. Dionysus crowned her and turned her into a magically intelligent panda. He gave Panda Baradera the command of a pack of blink dogs to enforce her decree for a single year until the drinking contest was held again.

815BCE: The Baradera of Satronwook crowned a new Panda, but Baradera was shocked to learn that she would not be transforming back into a Halfling. Her true form would forever be that of a talking panda. The blink dogs served the new Panda, enforcing her decrees and those of all previous Pandas.
The novelty of Satronwook’s leadership and alcohol fountain attracted many people to the village and it grew into a sizable trading town.

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The First Vampire of Cimmeria Part 1

Mister Ed Dungeons and Dragons, Writing , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

When the Olympians moved east they gave the Cimmerians additional magic power. These powers provided great entertainment for the Olympians, but were not without their costs. The Greek gods occasionally came into contact with other pantheons, most notably the Persian and Goblin pantheons. The additional power of mortals in Cimmeria attracted the attention of another semi-divine entity, the Lich-queen of the Githyanki.

The Githyanki come from a place between dimensions known as the Astral Plane. They wield strange psionic magic and are led by an immortal despot, the Lich-queen. While immortal, her power still pales before a true god’s. She constantly hungers for more power. Any Githyanki who rise above a certain level are summoned to the Lich-queen’s court to be consumed by their monarch. She absorbs their power into herself, becoming stronger by inches as she comes closer and closer to godhood.

The Lich-queen observed the growing power of the mortals in Cimmeria and sent a squadron of Githyanki soldiers to investigate. They attacked the small town of Shalerton, kidnapping several residents to torture and interrogate for information about the new dimension they had invaded.

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Cimmerian Timeline Part 31

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Previous: Cimmerian Timeline Part 30

761BCE: Lord Bjorn of Dalleer died of old age. Bjorn’s son did not succeed him. Instead, Ballath, a wise, human friend of Bjorn’s, assumed the lordship. Bjorn’s family was outraged. Ballath took Bjorn’s name as a title in a failed attempt to keep the peace, but he refused to surrender control.

759BCE: Bjorn’s children moved to Jord. Most of Dalleer’s Dwarven population followed.

737BCE: Bjorn Ballath of Dalleer died of old age. Like his successor before him, Ballath overlooked his children in favor of an experienced friend, Skizofren.

736BCE: Bjorn Skizofren began to drink heavily after Ballath’s death. He started drafting insanely foolish laws while drunk and he was always drunk. Ballath’s heirs attempted to correct Skizofren’s decisions, but the Bjorn seemed unnaturally skilled at political manuevering.

735BCE: Bjorn Skizofren insulted Ballath’s family. Frustrated with the Bjorn, the children of Ballath left Dalleer. They traveled downriver and founded Bradel Fields near the mouth of the Black River.

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Cimmerian Timeline Part 30

Mister Ed Dungeons and Dragons, Writing , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Previous: Cimmerian Timeline Part 29

883BCE: Many of the Naturalists of Bigby’s Forest elected to take over the trading post at Semanarie. They set up a druidic enclave there that preached naturalism and separation from civilized society. Most of the buildings were knocked down and the residents slept outside, protected by the druids’ magic.
The Naturalists who did not settle in Semanarie set out to find a new location for their community. They traveled eastward along the Caspian Sea, collecting followers along the way.

882BCE: After Semanarie became a druidic commune it could no longer serve as the trade post for Bigby’s Forest. An enterprising Halfling merchant, Glospiel, set up a trading post, but not on the forest’s edge as one might expect. He laid the foundations for a town on the Caspian coast. Glospiel named his city after the Halfling word for sea spray, Makotako.

881BCE: Condrofalspeth, a descendant of Sadroston, gathered people to resettle Jeutontic.

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Cimmerian Timeline Part 29

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Previous: Cimmerian Timeline Part 28

973BCE: Shivara and Tikanile coronated one of Sadroston’s weakest children, Tachydorn, as King of Nox. The stronger of Sadroston’s remaining descendants were taken back to the White Dragons’ lair at Doom Peak. The White Dragons changed their forms and mated with their captives to produce human-dragon crossbreeds. They were raised by Shivara and Tikanile. Their draconic parents taught them magic, combat, and an icy hatred for their human ancestry.

950BCE: The white dragon children of Shivara and Tikanile were sent back to Nox to act as viceroys for the draconic couple.

876BCE: The leader of the Hobgoblins, Kruk-Sho-Kar, invaded Eastern Cimmeria. He and his army destroyed the settlements around the Aral Sea. Toffoun, Amalgami, and Jovy responded, but the scattered people of the region were unable to form an effective army.

875BCE: Jovy brought in reinforcements from Those Blasted Islands. Toffoun negotiated a deal for supplies, weapons, and armor from Queen Shortrastor of the Dominarie Mountains. Amalgami avoided open battle while training and drilling the soldiers around the Aral Sea.

874BCE: The tide of the war between the Aral Sea people and the Hobgoblins turned. The unified resistance of Toffoun, Amalgami, and Jovy’s efforts deflected the Hobgoblin advance. Kruk-Sho-Kar’s progress stalled. His leadership came into question within the Hobgoblin command structure and Kruk-Sho-Kar was forced to retreat to secure his position.

873BCE: Knowing that the Hobgoblins could return at any time, Toffoun and Amalgami organized their people into a city-state at the Dirt Plateau. They named the city, Jipangu. With the Hobgoblin threat passed, Toffoun and Amalgami left to continue their work with Tentineh to secure the Dragon Orbs.

Next: Cimmerian Timeline Part 30

A Level One PC

Mister Ed Dungeons and Dragons, Music , , , , , ,

I wrote a little song that’s sung to the tune of “Do-Re-Mi” by Rodgers and Hammerstein. It’s about how to make a character in Hackmaster (sort of).

Let’s start at the very beginning
A very good place to start
In reading you begin with A-B-C
In Hackmaster you begin with a level one PC
First roll 3d6 to see your stats to be Continue reading →