Vagabond Treehouse ~ [Fall 2025: World of Chains #1-3 (Wayward Bard) | The Perfect Run 1-3 (alternating)] Showing 2,501-2,550 of 2,660

[Narilka]

The Wayward Bard Through Ch 21 (view spoiler)[Daniel is finally getting the hang of things. Pretty neat that bards can learn spells with a combo visualization while playing the right music.

I've been thinking his chronicler class could lead to being a good spy and seems I'm right based on that hint his mentor gave. Or at least in politics of a sort. Though I think it's meant more as a historian based on his current quest, it is still information gathering and discovering hidden knowledge.

He's just met another player and they're heading off on a quest. We'll see how this goes. (hide spoiler)]

The book is entertaining so far.

[RachelG.]

I am nearing the end of Wayward Bard and agree with you Narilka. It's been interesting seeing Daniel's priorities change throughout the book. Is there plans to continue the series?

[Narilka]

I'm waiting to see how I enjoy the first book to see if I want to continue.

[Narilka]

I finally found on Reddit that it's planned as a 6 book series so one more book to be published. The narrator is supposedly working on recording it now. From 3 months ago: https://www.reddit.com/r/litrpg/comme...

If they packaged the first three into an omnibus, I wonder if they'll do that with the second three also.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I was confused by what I found online... I found stuff that indicated book 6 was done 3 years ago with a different name and commissioned art... and then I found that he was writing it / finishing it this year, and now it's being recorded with a different name...

Either way, an omnibus would be great... we'll see how I feel and if I want to buy 4-5 separate, after we read 2-3... no rush...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

AC chronicles continue...

Maintenance Man came out 2hrs ago to replace the Disconnect that controls the power to the AC from the meter box behind my house/apartment... was supposed to take 15-20 minutes and took an hour because of a stripped screw and other issues removing old disconnect and installing new...

AC ran for 5 minutes then shutoff... tripped the entire meter breaker... also there were some weird noises while it was running and I backed off...

Maintenance guy reset it, and then I made sure everything in my apartment worked with AC off, and it did, then mainenance wanted to test a 2nd time, and THAT time it shorted out the second I turned the AC on... kinda scary, and apparently worse out back where sparks flew a bit...

Disconnect kept turned off from here, and I tested everything again, then tested that I could fiddle with AC with backyard power off without breaking anything (run fans in on setting separate from AC, heater setting, and try AC but not work because disconnected, without losing power)...

All fine there... then electrician boss came out and took a look at it, and I showed maintenance guy the power company's website helper image for who is responsible for what parts of the power connections...

So now, the next step is to interrupt my regularly scheduled midday sleep with a meter socket box replacement of some sort... maintenance guy went to get some parts and deal with some other maintenance calls, and then he's be back, along with a technician from the power company, and they have to do it together, since the power company removes the meters to access the stuff behind the meters...

My neighbors also get in on the fun, since the meter is a triple meter for me and my 2 upstairs neighbors in a single tall box, kinda streetlight shaped...

That should be happening in the next 1-2 hours, and take 15-60 minutes?... everything takes longer than estimated...

This chronicle never ends...

[Narilka]

Not so fun times. Hopefully that fixes it.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

No idea... Round 5 just ended... Power company came out at 2pm and turned off power before landlord maintenance could warn me... I went back to sleep for 90m and woke up... Went to see what's up and nobody was working on it... Saw meter and cover and meter locking rings sitting on my AC ... Texted maintenance, called landlord office, never got callbacks/responses I was hoping for... Waited 30m, and started prepping to visit landlord office in person and but bagged ice for fridge if I got bad news... Then I heard voices out back window and found power company talking to dispatch... Relayed info, they set about putting the last bits back together and I have power... Not sure if AC fixed but that's a tomorrow problem since I have window AC and power again and need to sleep for work some more...

The fun never ends... This took 2-8x longer than I thought it would... 2.5hrs from beginning to end, basically...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Beware of Chicken 5: A Xianxia Cultivation Novel is coming out December 2nd, on Audible... pre-order is live...

[Narilka]

Sweet. That sounds like an excellent Christmas read :D

[Narilka]

I finished The Wayward Bard. I liked it. 3.5 stars. There were some odd spots in the audio where it sounded like the main narrator went back and rerecorded some sections and they didn't blend, which was odd. (view spoiler)[Archangelo made some interesting decisions. I'm glad he's staying as the town's bard though. He could use the experience. (hide spoiler)]

I'm open for continuing this series or switching to Perfect Run.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

AC round 7...guy that's been working on AC past week isn't working today... Other idiot guy came out and fiddled with power on and AC running and tried to burn apartment down... Junction box sparked and almost caught fire, part melted, electrical backlash left inside AC/furnace hissing for 5m and my apartment is airing out and I have to stay outside... Another day of sleep ruined...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Do you want to alternate this series and perfect run?... 1/1/2/2/3/3?

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Back in Apt and back to bed, with AC breaker turned off... Until round 8 tomorrow no doubt...

[Narilka]

Well crap. Audible is having a 2-for-1 sale lol I'll go post on the sale thread. Alternating series sounds like it could work though.

[Nirkatze]

Timelord Iain wrote: "Beware of Chicken 5: A Xianxia Cultivation Novel is coming out December 2nd, on Audible... pre-order is live..."

Make it a BR for Christmas?

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Sounds good, similar to last year

[Narilka]

I've gone ahead and picked up The Perfect Run to start tomorrow or Saturday.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Alright

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

So, this is what it's like to get a full 8hrs of sleep on a work day...

I've been so sleep deprived lately, that I went to bed before 9am this morning, and got up around 5pm...

My AC saga hasn't ended yet, but it's hopefully in it's final stages...

After all the stuff I mentioned before, with the grocery bag clogged fan, compressor capacitor replacement, fan moter replacement, rewiring, AC disconnect switch replacement, main breaker replacement... that spanned Tuesday the 16th thru Monday the 22nd, I think... then the guy working on my AC quit apparently, and the substitute tried to blow up my apartment, pulling the disconnect switch power pullout out and trying to put it back in with live power running through it and caused a big spark and small fire and melted the pullout... that melted something in my indoor furnace too, probably related to wiring, and I had to go outside while my apartment aired out, for safety...

Then they admitted defeat and called out 3rd party HVAC team to replace the AC and furnace... that was yesterday/Thursday... they were here for 5hrs... ripped out old units, took a short break and brought in the installer, finished setting up outdoor AC... shut power off and rewired my power because apparently there were screwups when messing with the AC disconnect and main breaker, and the power wasn't running through the main breaker (and this caused the overloads and spark/melt situation most likely on Tuesday/Friday)...

THEN, they went back inside and started trying to install the new furnace, and managed to drill a hole right into my water pipe while looking for a spot to secure the new furnace to the wall... OOF... the necessitated a plumber come out to weld a fix in, and maintenance come out and dry floor/dehumidify...

The time that took, and I asked about finishing on a second day, so I could get some sleep before work, so I still managed 5hrs of sleep yesterday for like the 8th work day in a row... being tired while operating heavy machinery sucks...

They'll be back out to install furnace on Monday... so I got a break today... maintenance came back out while I was at work last night and patched the wall with drywall and left markings for all the pipes to avoid a future mishap...



Nice little drill hole near corner and T-intersection of pipe... HVAC wasn't expecting a horizontal pipe...



Welded fix... I dunno how they do their jobs... seems super dangerous, using a blowtorch to weld, and trusting some fire-retardant fabric to protect house from catching fire...

[RachelG.]

I hope that things can get totally fixed and will be better than before soon! What a nightmare!

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Started The Perfect Run...

about 33% in already... 6hrs out of 18hrs...

This kinda just throws you into the story, to start, and then slowly starts filling in the backstory...

I'm definitely liking the settings and all the superpowers... and the use of save points / time travel are alot more fun/robust than Dark Lord Davi, which overall felt like it underused the gimmick, after the first 25% of the first book...

I'm curious about why this series is The Perfect Run, and why/how it's the definitive one, since it sounds like the MC has been doing this Perfect Run business many times, exactly like a speedrunner seeking the perfect run across multiple saves, before going for perfect run with no saves... repeating sections of time/life until perfect run is achieved, then creating a new save point and seeking the next perfect run segment...

[Nirkatze]

Timelord Iain wrote: "So, this is what it's like to get a full 8hrs of sleep on a work day...

I've been so sleep deprived lately, that I went to bed before 9am this morning, and got up around 5pm...

My AC saga hasn't ..."

Egads, Iain, this is a saga worthy of a Soap Opera...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Feels like one... my kind of year... as I told my grandma a month or 2 ago, it just feels like everything is breaking on me this year... started noting it when my PC broke followed shortly by my last iPod... could count my knee issues in a similar vein... and from there I just started tallying things to the list, like my recliner breaking in ways I couldn't fix anymore, a stovepot handle cracking loose, TV developing a spreading dark spot, bedsheets tearing, now these AC/furnace problems...

So some weeks on our talks I just mention the new things that broke this week, and how I manage to find things remaining in my apartment to break... it feels like, sooner than later, I'll just own all new stuff...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I paused The Perfect Run and read other stuff at work... gonna finish the rest this morning/tonight...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I actually read a bit more last night, after my 33% post... more like 40%...

And the suprising and speedy plot progression reminds me of WORM, another web serial with super powers...

Like (view spoiler)[I didn't expect the MC to run into Len so early, his main goal... seems his goal is gonna have to evolve, and he has a long way to go to reunite with her...

Also, the revelations about being nearly 1000 years old when you add together resets...

And that his interest in reuniting with Len is more platonic than romantic/sexual... makes sense given his time resetting, and reminds me of the romantic struggles of Zorian, after a few decades looping... (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

The more I listen, the more complicated it gets, and the more I question my earlier comments on Perfect Runs... seems he's been trying to perfect this segment for a long time...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I can't wait for you guys to read and comment, because I know I missed stuff in the second half... between the worldbuilding flashbacks that slowly become relevant to the present...

Aliases overlapping with different characters in flashbacks...

And the MC's variable definition of "looping"... to me, it's the current reset, but sometimes I think for the MC it's every reset linked to the current save point, as he builds a mental/social map of every possibility in the current location/time period...

[Narilka]

I started The Perfect Run this morning. Through Ch 4, this is reminding me of a mash up of Marvel with Groundhog's Day. Funny how the MC even mentioned "quipiness" heh

[Narilka]

I also like that the setting is post-apocalypse Italy. It's something different from my recent reading.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Guess I was at the ending... the last 45 minutes is a sample of the author's other series Never Die Twice...

(view spoiler)[I wonder, now, if "get the girl" in the blurbs is purposely vague and lacking a name, because it changes over the course of the series... it started off seeming like Len, and then he revealed some truths to Jasmine, but it sounds like it's gonna be a 1 loop thing, rather that repeated slightly differently...

This series is really showing the existential horrors of looping and creating relationships that only you remember...

Kinda reminds me of Palm Springs (the Andy Samberg Groundhog Day wedding movie)... one of my favorite time loop movies... it's implied in the movie and confirmed in one of the streaming "DVD commentaries" that he's been stuck in the loop for thousands of years, and doesn't even remember much about his life outside the loop anymore... he gave up on escaping a long time ago, before accidentally pulling Christina Millioti into the loop with him at the start of the movie... (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Deep into my Kate Daniels re-read again, since I loaded my phone with sideloaded audiobooks for October... I'm so lazy and only do that once or twice a month, now, lol...

Read #0.5 Questionable Client, #2, and now reading #3... probably go back to BRs at work tonight...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

My AC Saga might finally be done... had HVAC tech out since 8am, and they're just finishing up now, sealing and testing the new AC/Furnace... and packing away tools..

Heating was tested a few minutes ago, heading outside to turn on AC and test that inside, I think... pretty much took 2 weeks from start to finish... I called landlord around this time on the 16th, with the initial problems...

Just in time for me to get a normal amount of sleep today, too...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

AC's been working for 10-15 minutes... HUZZAH!!!... they're cleaning up now, and just want to do some electrical tests/checks on the new unit before leaving...

[Narilka]

Huzzah!!!

[Narilka]

I've been sort of reading. Last week was another stressful one that kept my brain more distracted than I prefer :( Short version RL stuff, skip if you'd like to keep it to books. (view spoiler)[Mother in law had neck surgery for her arthritis and the doctor/hospital kept her appointment unknown until the day before. My husband has gone to help her out for a little while during her initial recovery.

Then one of our best friends had a stroke :( He's younger, early 50s, and seems to be recovering well. I'm still having trouble wrapping my head around that one. (hide spoiler)]

On the bright side, my stress buster was to buy a bunch of storage containers and finally organize our junk closet. It looks great! I'm very happy having everything stored and put away properly.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Seems like you've been having turmoil every other month this year... I know that feeling...

Hopefully it's smooth sailing going forward, and things return to normal soon...

[Narilka]

Yeah, it's giving me echos of the lead up to when my mom died and it has me on edge. I need to make time for a nice long walk in nature this coming weekend.

[Narilka]

The Perfect Run half way through Ch 21 (view spoiler)[That was pretty funny that group wanting to rename Quicksave to Timelord LOL Made me think of you Iain :)

This is an interesting book. It is deeper than I thought at first. Since there is no known end to Quicksave's loops, I can see how he is basically seeking novelty in addition to his desire to "perfect run" his meeting with Len. I have a bad feeling he's going to be disappointed since from the small snippet from her POV seems she doesn't want to meet him again, but theoretically he can take that into account for his perfect run scenario and win her over or something. I'm glad he still has a few morals as that would be easy to lose over infinity and while seeking novelty.

I like that we got to experience a few of his really fast restarts in this chapter as he figured out what to do about the truthteller guy lol Both entertaining and pretty horrible :)

I think it's interesting how QS can make things happen exactly as before where in Zorian's loops, little things were different a lot. Just different takes on the concept by the authors.

I also think it's good we put a little space between both series so I'm not constantly comparing them in my head. (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Yea... (view spoiler)[he's actually lived whole lives, apparently, and just returns to last save point when he passes away of old age, I think... explains his 100s of years of experiences, a bit...

I wonder if he pulls off repeats on the next try, or skips in-between tries that didn't exactly work out...

This definitely leans into video game / speedrunner logic, where it's about repeating the same actions to get the same results, until it's time to change tactics... (hide spoiler)]

[Narilka]

The Perfect Run through Ch 27 (view spoiler)[Sadly, I was right about QS's meeting with Len. Pity. He said he's going to focus on side quests so I'm not entirely sure where the perfect run part will come in yet. I know he's given up for now but I'm not sure if it's forever.

I hope he takes that lady up on her offer for armor to enhance his superpower. I have no idea what that would do and I want to find out :D

Interesting backstory on Augustus. He's a right bastard. I'm not sure him taking the child is good or not in this world. (hide spoiler)]

[Narilka]

The Perfect Run mostly through ch 34 (view spoiler)[I'm glad Quicksave decided to trust Len, tell her the truth and they're sort of working it out. Sort of. It was fairly low risk for him since if it had gone bad he could restart but still. It's nice to hear more about how his ability works and that he has lived a good many years.

Ok, the plushie is terrifying. That's probably the most terrifying thing I've read in a while lol Whatever is inhabiting it can follow across all of QS's loops and I'm not sure QS really is aware. I'm not sure if it's nice it wants to be his friend forever or if it's horrifying lol (hide spoiler)]

[Narilka]

I finished The Perfect Run. That was one crazy ending. (view spoiler)[He did get injected with the real blue serum right? Isn't he a genius now? Or more of one? The whole scenario is seriously messed up. In a way I'm sad QS is going to honor Jasmine's request to not have a relationship with another her as they were pretty good together. Luckily he did memorize those schematics so he can make the armor again.

I think I understand that the perfect run is going to be about saving New Rome, along with reuniting with Len (he has a success route now), preventing the destruction of Rust Town, saving Schrodinger the cat and likely preventing as much destruction as possible while neutralizing that underground lab. That is a lot for Quicksave to work through. (hide spoiler)]

Between the two series, I definitely enjoyed Perfect Run more and would love to continue it immediately lol

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

That's fine... I'll continue Wayward Bard eventually, but it's in no way a priority... we could easily do Perfect Run 2-3 instead...

[Narilka]

Timelord Iain wrote: "That's fine... I'll continue Wayward Bard eventually, but it's in no way a priority... we could easily do Perfect Run 2-3 instead..."

Agreed. Perhaps when it is a completed series.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Sounds good... Less chance of forgetting everything...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Returning to Battle Mage Farmer has been so pleasant... Halfway thru #6, and I'll probably read 7-9 over the next few days... Toss in 1-2 BRs

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Yea I love this series .. it keeps flipping the script in great ways...

[RachelG.]

Battle Mage Farmer is a great series.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Yea... (view spoiler)[book 3 upped the ante on the original plot, shifting from doom to apocalypse points... and book 6 surprised me when he was just like, "screw it, the world needs to end and be reborn"... and now we're on to Eldritch entities in the Void between worlds, and focusing on Faith as an alternative to Mana, and how world seeds are replanted... kinda reminds me of the Anima Mundi / Crossroads in InCryptid... (hide spoiler)]